We have another Ask and Answer for you and this one is full of great ideas that will help us to make Ultima Online even better. So go to your favorite fan site and submit those questions and ideas. We may even feature yours next week!

Ultima Online Bibliothek

Why is such a huge amount karma granted when choosing the “nice” option to fight Exodus? Participating two or three times in the fight easily capped my karma. Zero to 20k took years, 20k to 32k was done in minutes. That really cheapens the continuous dedication of being “kind”. (Pcuvush)

Kyronix: I think the ship on karma/fame sailed when you were able to get double gains from battling creatures in Fel.  The intent with the exodus encounter was to give a quick and dirty way to swing your karma one way or the other since all we’re really talking about is a cosmetic title anyway.  One thing I would love to tackle is the idea of making fame and karma more of a personal choice with real consequences more than just a cosmetic title.  Am I saying this is on the horizon? No, but it would be something nice to put some work into if we ever get the chance.

Using the Classic Client it often happens that the current target is changed, because another enemy is closer than the one that was attacked before. This may happen due to a monster fleeing or an already injured monster being not fast enough to close up. The “New Targeting System” is not disabled. Such behaviour makes it difficult to apply special moves in a controlled way or honoring opponents before hurting them. (Pcuvush)

Bleak: We will look to fix this issue in the future. Providing more details on reproducing this issue will help to resolve it more quickly.

UO Forums

I was curious about certain items becoming stackable:
small pieces of blackrock
messes of small fish
And why certain potions in bottle give the message “you do not know what this is” and will not combine the bottles with kegs of the same type. (Kahlan)

Kyronix:  When time allows we can make additional items stackable, messes of small fish and blackrock  being just a few on a long list. 

Has it ever been discussed to offer a way to purchase veteran account status for newer accounts? If so, is it something being considered and to what extent? Spending say $100 to make a new account 5 years old might be worth while to some individuals. Or, say, $500 for 10 years. Just spit-balling prices but you get the point. (Quintus Batiatus)

Mesanna:  We have discussed this several times due to the fact we want all players to be equal but we also want to honor our Vets, the people that have stayed with us for so long.   So yes we are still kicking this subject around.

Would it be possible to somehow have a character switching feature? Possibly one that is grayed out or unavailable unless you are in your house and hadnt been in a fight in the allotted time. A Switch Characters drop down menu in essence, would be very nice!  (Quintus Batiatus)

Phoenix: We have researched a feature such as this in the past. While we all agree it is a great idea, we don’t have time for it on our schedule in the near future.

DEVS: Some questions regarding Davy’s Locker vet reward
Hello all –
I’ve noticed a few things about my shiny new 8th year vet reward that I’m hoping the dev team will address:
1. Why is there no option to sort the maps? Either something like the BOD book filter, or (even better) a feature that would allow us to sort ascending/descending for each column, exactly like you’d see in an excel spreadsheet
2. Are you aware of the error with map coordinate display? Often, the East portion of map coordinates is displayed incorrectly by the reward as West
3. Why did you dumb down the coordinates displayed for decoded treasure maps? Any chance you could have them display the entire DDMM format?
4. Can you add the ability to drop maps onto the table. Don’t remove the ‘add maps’ button, please, but it would be nice if the table worked the same way as BOD books, for example. Fairly minor, but I always find myself dropping maps on it!
5. Is it possible to have the map display the pin location without removing it from the table, or is that too problematic?
Thanks! (Magister_Returns)

Phoenix:  We do agree that the usability and interface for the Locker can be better.   We have it added to our list to address in the future.

UO Stratics

Will there be any plans to extend trophies to all types of “Big Fish”? I got a Big Fish Yellowtail Barracuda, now i have been fishing for years but this is my first big fish i have ever gotten. I was very disapointed that i could not mount this fish for display above my home of the hearth fire. (cdavbar)

Kyronix:  Right now there is only one type of art for the big fish trophy, so if it’s a case of just wanting to be able to name the same art based on your catch, that is a much easier thing to do then make trophy art for all the different fish types. 

Mesanna:  I will add this to the massive list of art we want =)

Q: Is there any chance we’ll see the list of herdable creatures expanded beyond merely tameable types? Some observations:
– Firesteeds cannot be herded, although you can try, even at GM Herding. Are they meant to be herdable or not?- Of followers, only the tamed variety can be herded. Summons and reanimates would be great additions to the list of herdables, allowing a shepherd to have greater control over their own creatures. A good investment of skill points. Make it a GM bonus ability, perhaps.- Most monsters would be another great addition to herding. I can herd a greater dragon, but not something far weaker such as a daemon, elemental or the like. Peerless and such would be off-limits, but there really are a lot of in-between creatures that could make the profession of Shepherd much more flexible.
Can we get some more Herding enabled in the Abyss? There is next to nothing that can be herded, an enormous oversight as just about everyone else got thrown a bone with the expansion. Also, I don’t care if they can be tamed or not. Animals that run in groups should be herdable. And yes, I’m serious.(Fink)
Could we do something with herding? I mean, ya it’s great for Bo Peep RP’s but in the real game of killing monsters and players, it has no benefit… Here’s a thought, make it viable for tamers:For every X points of Herding you have, your pack instinct pets (I.e. your “herd”) get a +Y% boost over their normal pack instinct bonus…just a suggestion (Boomers)

Phoenix:  Right now we don’t have any plans to adjust creature herding values, but we will certainly take note of these suggestions and add them to our backlog.

Mesanna:  We love to hear everyone’s ideas so please keep them coming.

Assassin Honed weapons – There should be more interest in these great weapons, but unfortunately most people agree that suffering from a lower weight intensity (450 instead of 500) AND the inability to enhance make these pointless items.Why not allow them to be enhanced? Keep the lower intensity as an offset. Breathe some interest back in these! (Jynxx)
I would like to know if there are any plans to look at Assassin Honed weapons at all. For the difficulty it takes to get the weapon you actually want, they should at least be useable. It would be nice if they could be reforged and enhanced, then I could see them being worth the effort it takes to get them, currently I have trouble giving away some of them. Also I would love to see some actual numbers on them, and a better description than what we got in the pub 74 notes:
New Item Property: Assassin Honed (found on items in the treasure room) – A successful hit with a weapon will provide additional bonus damage based on the attacker facing the same direction as the target. The percentage of the damage is based on the weapons original swing speed. Ranged weapons have a 50% chance to proc.
I love the concept, it makes positioning while melee fighting important, however I’m not sure wether it is the 450 imbuing cap and the fact that they cant be enchanced that makes them less desireable. A positive spin would be potentially when the weapon rebalance happens, some more of the assassin honed weapons may become popular.
Currently it seems that this post is the extent of player understanding of the property:
Assassin Honed. | Stratics: A Career Path in Gaming Thank You. (Mentiras)

Bleak: There are no current plans to allow these weapons to be reforged but we will look into allowing Assassin Honed weapons to be enhanced. The damage bonus scales based on the original weapon speed were 2 second weapons can receive up to a 73% damage bonus while 4 seconds weapons can receive up to a 33% damage bonus when triggered. The damage bonus is subject to the 300% damage cap.

Would it be remotely possible to have some sort of Exodus life bar, or on screen timer message, pop up when a group trying to place Summoning Altar is not allowed? Then the group waiting can know if Exodus is still alive, and when he dies, or how many minutes until the altar can be placed.The not knowing if Exodus just went below 60%, or he died 9 minutes ago, really leaves players up in arms about what they should do, wait or find another adventure for a while.Since UO has so many various messages pop up on screen, seems like a countdown timer wouldn’t be difficult to program. (think of the 5,4,3,2,1 minute Compassion Escort messages for example) (madmischlers)

Kyronix:  We do not have time this upcoming publish to addresss this but we will add it to the next publish.  We can add a feature to the  zealot NPC outside of Exodus’ lair…maybe a crystal ball that shows Exodus’ health/time till respawn.

We have had some issues with Hokuto and will be bringing it down to restart the shard.  We are sorry to inform you that as a result, it will be experiencing a 6 hour revert.

We would like to start by thanking everyone who has submitted feedback on the proposed publish 81 changes.  Below are a few changes you will see on TC1 as early as next week. Providing more choices of play styles while not invalidating any current play styles is the goal of these changes. We look forward to your additional comments. Here are a few changes that we will be making from your feedback:
 

Armor Stamina Loss Update:

Player’s stamina loss will now be based on the type of armor as well as the amount of armor that is equipped*. Each piece of armor up to five pieces will reduce the amount of stamina lost when taking damage. The armor pieces which provide the most stamina loss reduction will take priority.

• Cloth armor, leather armor, and jewelry will give the same stamina loss reduction as Pub 80.
• Blacksmith armor (platemail, ringmail, chainmail, and dragon armor) will provide a heavy bonus to stamina loss reduction.
• Studded leather armor, stone armor, bone armor, woodland armor, and hide armor will provide a light bonus to stamina loss reduction.

*Human racial ability Tough now provides a small bonus to stamina loss reduction.

Armor Inherent Mana Phase & SSI Debuff have been removed and replaced by the following:

Armor Inherent Lower Mana Cost

Each piece of non medable armor will provide lower mana cost with the exception of woodland armor. Each piece of armor up to five pieces will provide a percentage which is still subject to the lower mana cost cap of 40. The armor pieces which provide the most lower mana cost will take priority.

1. Platemail, ringmail, chainmail, and dragon armor provides 1% of lower mana cost per piece.
2. Studded leather, hide armor, stone armor and bone armor provides 3% of lower mana cost per piece.

Weapon Revamp

Weapon Update:

• Special Moves
  • Daisho – Primary: Feint / Secondary: Doublestrike
  • Leafblade – Primary: Feint / Secondary: Armor Ignore
• Soul Glaive: Base damage 16-20 / Weapon Speed 4.0 seconds
• Composite Bow, Base damage 16-20 / Weapon Speed 4.0 seconds
• The” Balanced” property can now be found on loot generated two handed weapons. Weapons with this property will be unable to parry or evade.

Weapon Special Move Mana Cost Changes

• Bladeweave mana cost decreased from 30 to 15.

Combat Changes:

• All cool downs have been removed from refresh potions.” Total” refresh potions have now been converted to “Greater” refresh potions which will provide more refresh than standard refresh potions.

Armor Revamp – Phase 2

Phase two of the Armor Revamp will allow players to apply Refinements to non-medable armor. 
Armor Refinements are crafted from refinement components that can be collected from:

• Treasure Maps
• MiB Chests
• Merchant Vessels
• Pirate Vessels
• Town shop container stealables
• Champion Spawn Bosses

When combined with additional raw materials Refinement Components can be crafted into an Armor Refinement.  There are three varieties of Refinements:
 

Plating – Blacksmith Armor

Threads – Tailor Armor

Resin – Carpenter Armor

There are seven levels of intensity for refinements ranging from “Defense” to “Invulnerability” and can be used by a Grandmaster Craftsman to increase one of two item properties:

• Max Resists – Armor Refined to increase max resists will provide a bonus to a resist category cap up to 75, while lowering the Defense Chance Increase cap.
• Max Defense Chance Increase – Armor Refined to increase max Defense Chance Increase will provide a DCI cap bonus up to 95 while lowering max resists.

Please submit feedback through one of the following:

• Contact Us – Under “Game Feedback”
• Stratics

Update 7:30 am EDT: The maintenance is over. All functions of the account center are available again.

Greetings,

We will bring down the Account Center for a short maintenance tomorrow, Wednesday February 6th, at 5am EST (11:00 CET). During the maintenance you will not be able to change subscription or redeem game codes.

At the moment we anticipate the Account Center to be back online at 9:00am EST (15:00 CET).

Thank you for your understanding.

Greetings everyone,

I wanted to take a few moments to address the Publish 81 Weapon and Armor changes on TC1.  Please understand this was put on TC1 over a month ahead of a normal publish because the changes are so extensive that we wanted your feedback.  We appreciate your constructive feedback as to why you like or dislike the changes to Armor and Weapons.

We have no intentions of releasing these changes to production as they are.  Right now we are compiling your feedback that is on Stratics and from the feedback emails.  We expect to make several changes before this is actually released to all shards.  

Bleak currently has on a fire proof suit so have at him =)

Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong
Producer UO

In this week’s Ask & Answer we received many questions requesting changes and our developers give a glimpse of what is being planned.

UO Auctions

Question: Have the dev team considered adding further to the high seas content? it seems most gave up a life at sea when they realized the resources it takes to run a ship. but piracy/bounty hunting are fantastic parts of the game. do you think that perhaps a hand in system for titles might bring attention back? perhaps items gained from merchant/pirate vessels could be handed in at Serpents Hold/Buccaneers Den for the Pirate/ the Bounty Hunter Titles? (Treasure Seeker)

Kyronix:  We have talked about different ways to enhance High Seas content and provide a greater reward for the requisite investment as well as having a look at balancing that investment.  A portion of the upcoming armor revamp will involve acquiring components for customization that will be available through a variety of means including pirate and merchant ship cargo. 

Mesanna:  We are also planning to add one or two deep water encounters…maybe of the ghostly kind =)

It is fairly well know that books are often abused by the criminal element in UO and game master response so poor, how about a slight adjustment to the books decay time? Like the same time as death robes. This would terminate the abuse. Anyone wishing to broadcast normal information may use house runes, like any other establishment or vendor mall… and lock said book down on their step. It would be a lot easier on everyone playing inside the rules. ~ (Mindy Hit-Girl – Atlantic)

Mesanna:  I happen to agree with this,  if we reduce the time books will stay on the ground it’s going to be all books, so everyone will have to be very careful when placing books that are going to be locked down in a house.

UO Japan

“+20 power scroll” drop rate seems to be decreased recently. Did you make any changes to the drop rate recently? （Nickname eli）

Phoenix: We have not adjusted power scroll drop rates in any recent publish.

Ultima Online Bibliothek

Would there please be a possibility to give blacksmiths the ability to smelt crafted metal items back into ingots?
At the moment each time I need an item smelted back, I need to log to a different character with mining skill. Although this doesn’t take ages, it IS a bit of a hassle. A tailor can unravel the leather and cloth that was crafted, so I think it would make sense that a blacksmith can do the same. Many thanks! (Tarragon Slayer)

Phoenix: We agree,time permitting we will slip it in the upcoming publish if not we will do it in the next publish.

It sometimes feels like having bardic skills enhanced using equipment (like jewelry) is inferior to having real skill of the same amount. When using Spellsongs of the bard masteries it is obvious that having 107 skill and using a +13 skill ring the effect is much lower than having natural 120 skill. Aside from bard masteries the gut feeling is that success chances using a bardic skill, like Discordance, on a monster also is lower. Granted, that might be tinted by expectations and the unlucky streaks the random numbers seem to have frequently, but this is why I would like to see a confirmation that it is just a wrong impression. (Pcuvush)

Phoenix: Many skill checks and skill effects utilize the character’s base unmodified skill value. In many cases this is by design, to mitigate the power of skill from items. But, we are willing to review particular skill checks if there is a clear bug or other good reason. For example, we are investigating an issue with differences in results from Stealth depending on whether you use the skill directly or attempt to walk while hidden.

In the case of bard masteries, making their effects be based on real skill was intentional. For basic Discordance, the chance and power of the effect are based on modified skill values.

Hello, though the High Seas add on has added a lot of fun to the fisherman’s profession there are some things that don’t seem to make sense for me.
a) Most of the fish can’t be sold to anyone, not the fisher NPC, cooks, inkeepers and so on will buy it. Even cut or cooked (miso soup is only 1 gp each and very heavy, needs to have high level cooking) there is little market for it.
For a beginning char that wants to be a professional fisherman and earn money to buy a boat by selling what he fished it’s very frustrating and even impossible. It’s the same or even worse with crustacean, nobody wants the unnamed ones except brit library, they can’t even be used by cooks in any recipe.

An example:
I needed to get 20 fred lobster,I used 40 traps to do so.
1 trap is 144 gp, I spent 7200 gp to get those lobsters.
I didn’t even get 10 of one kind of any of the other named ones in the process (smallest quantity for the fishmonger quest).
As I pointed first in this post, the unamed ones I got are completely useless, except as donation to the brit library.
Using a sum of money to buy traps, get and then give crustacean may give more reward points than if you had just directly given the same sum of money to the libary, though I didn’t do the math to confirm this, but the time spent doing so doesn’t make it worthwile in my opinion.
In the same time, using my fishing pole that didn’t cost me anything (wood shopped and pole crafted by one of my chars) except the 10 gp to insure it, I could get enough fish to earn as many reward points or even more. As a bonus I would get White pearls, delicate scales, T-Maps, special fishing nets and MIBS, not counting the leather/scales from the sea serpents I would kill.
It also would be much less boring though that is my ersonal point of view and not an objective argument. Still I know I’m not the only one with this opinion.
If you do BODS in tailoring and blacksmith profession you earn a reward on top of being paid some real money for your work.
In the fisherman profession you don’t get money, how are you supposed to make a living of it then ?
Once again comparing taloring/blacksmith profession with fisherman : in the two first ones you can get a title (fame) by doing BODS and never have to fight in your life, while a fisherman will get an internal reputation in the guild allowing him to get better quests/rewards but has no mean to get a title just by his profession.
It’s not as important in my opinion than my other arguments but still I though it deserved to be pointed out.
If some though could be given to those issues I think it would improve greatly the fisherman playstyle!
Thanks, (Jeza)

Kyronix:  This is a valid point and we’ll look at ensuring the wares of the sea provide a basic level of financial support for Britannia’s fisherman.  While being able to handpick which quests you are offered isn’t a feasible solution, adding lobster traps to the crafting system is something that can certainly be done to ease the financial burden. 

Phoenix: We are not 100% happy with how crab and lobster fishing works. At its core is a game of risk and reward, but we think that it is not well balanced. We would like to make some real improvements to this system, but we always have battling priorities.

UO Stratics

Origin Store:
Why there is no Stygian Abyss expansion packge to buy in Brazil? (Marcus Lessa)
Hello. For a lot of time we don’t have High Seas addon in Russian Origin Store. We have only Stygian Abyss, BUT we have Captain’s Set which players cant use without High Seas addon.  Please add High Seas addon to the Russian Origin Store. Thanks!  ( tangar)

Mesanna:  I will address this with the Origin store and get back to you when I have an answer. 

Is there any plan to allow a single command to set the Security of all items within a Locked Down container at once, to save having to manually set each individual item? This would be of intense usefulness for those of us who maintain public libraries of Books, Runes, Soulstones etc…( Adol)

Phoenix: Making some good convenience and usability improvements in house security is high on my list. Time permitting, I will work to address issues specifically related to locked down books and soulstones, and add ways to better manage the security of lockdowns in a container hierarchy in batch.

Would you consider having a way to remove unwanted Mods from weapons/armor. It is disappointing to find a great 100% poison weapon to imbue for your dextor, only to have a mage weapon property on it taking up property weight and 1 of the imbue spots.
Several possible options:
1. Open up modded weapons/armor to reforging
2. A craftable acid that cleans off all mods indescriminately
3. A craftable acid that cleans off 1 mod randomly
4. Multiple acids that work on different groups(Casting, Combat. misc)
5. Store purchased item that lets you select the undesirable mod to remove
The acid could be a difficult process, having to collect rare ingredients, alchemist to create and acid, and needing a chemist/smith/imbuer to apply. Something like what is necessary to remove the damage increase property. (swroberts)

Phoenix: I am generally in favor of allowing more powerful options for imbuing and re-forging, but doing so needs to be balanced. Generally, the balance should work along these lines: Powerful, Cheap, Durable – you can only have two. So, removing an undesirable item property may be workable if doing so caused a significant durability reduction and prevented use of Powder of Fortifying, reducing the item’s life span significantly. Alternatively, it could do something like apply a large multiplier to the item insurance cost, or require great expense to repair.

I am interested in getting some feedback on how this and other item improvements (like removal of Cursed or Cannot Be Repaired) can be done in a fair and balanced way that would also be acceptable to most players.

Lorgus was kind enough to answer to a post about drops on certain critters, Slasher, Medusa, Narvey and the items they might drop; Night Eyes, Slither, Tangle, but it ended up being a complete dead end.There are players who have spent HOURS (days and prob months) killing Medusa and have yet to get a Slither. Same goes for Tangles off of Narvery. Then there are some player who wander in for the first time and Wala Slither / Tangle.As a long time player and killer of both of these bosses in particular I think we are entitled to finally get and answer to why these drop or don’t. Also what is the value of items on each critter ex; stone dragons tooth – slither of off Medusa?Or it is time to implement Doom rules (time, # kills) to produce a drop.TY Lorgus for trying but since you aren’t there anymore someone in the know needs to produce some answers. (weins201)

Phoenix: These bosses have very low chances of generating special drops that include SoTs, certain artifacts, and some other things. On each death, the boss makes ONE roll to drop a special item. If the item is generated, then it is given to a random top attacker. So, even in a small group, your chance of getting the special drop is close to 1 in 100, and the chance of getting the specific drop you want is even smaller. It’s straight probability, with no weighting or anything. This means that on rare occasions someone might get the perfect drop the first time they fight. But due to the nature of probability, these items are never 100% guaranteed to drop. For example, for an event that happens 1 time in 500, then there is a 13.5% chance that the event will not happen in 1,000 consecutive trials. But, it could also happen more than once – for those same odds and 1000 trials, there is a 0.5% chance that the event could happen five times, averaging one every 200 trials.
When events have low probability of happening, it takes a very large number of trials before the rate of occurrence of the event converges to the actual odds.
TL;DR: Lady Luck is fickle.

Publish 81.0.0 has been patched to TC1.

Please Note:  An alternate client is needed to test the changes.

Currently testing Publish 81.0.0 on Test Center

*Weapon special move changes requires alternate game client found in patch directory:  client_tc.exe or UOSA_TC.exe .  This client is needed to test the following changes.

Weapon Revamp

All weapons have now been normalized based on weapon speed and handedness.

Mace:

• Gargish Tessen & Tessen, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Wild Staff, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Quarter Staff, Base damage 11-14 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Glass Staff, Base damage 11-14 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Nunchaku, Base damage 12-15 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Tetsubo, Base damage 12-15 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Club, Base damage 10-14 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Disc Mace, Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Mace, Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Shepherd’s Crook, Base damage 13-16 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Wand, Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Black Staff, Base damage 13-16 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• War Axe, Base damage 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Diamond Mace, Base damage 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Gargish Gnarled Staff & Gnarled Staff, Base damage 15-18 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Sledge Hammer, Base damage 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Smith’s Hammer, Base damage 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Gargish Maul & Maul, Base damage 14-18 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Serpentstone Staff, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Scepter, Base damage 14-18 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Hammer Pick, Base damage 15-19 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds
• Gargish War Hammer & War Hammer, Base damage 17-20 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds
• War Mace, Base damage 16-20 / Weapon Speed 4 seconds

Fencing:

• Gargish Kryss & Kryss, Base damage 10-12 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Bloodblade, Base damage 10-12 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Gargish Tekagi & Tekagi, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Sai, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Assassin Spike, Base damage 10-12 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Gargish Dagger & Dagger, Base damage 10-12 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds  
• Short Spear, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Kama, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds
• Shortblade, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Dual Pointed Spear, Base damage 11-14 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Double Bladed Staff, Base damage 11-14 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• War Cleaver, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Gargish War Fork & War Fork, Base damage 10-14 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds   2.5
• Pitchfork, Base damage 12-15 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Elven Spellblade, Base damage 12-15 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Spear, Base damage 13-16 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Leafblade, Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Gargish Pike & Pike, Base damage 14-17 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Lajatang, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Gargish Lance & Lance, Base damage 18-22 / Weapon Speed 4.25 seconds

Axes:

• Hatchet, Base damage 13-16 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Gargish Axe & Axe, Base damage 14-17 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Dual Short Axes, Base damage 14-17 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Executioner’s Axe, Base damage 15-18 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Double Axe, Base damage 15-18 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Battle Axe, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Gargish Battle Axe, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Two-Handed Axe, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Ornate Axe, Base damage 17-20 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds
• Large Battle Axe, Base damage 17-20 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds

Swords:

• Bokuto, Base damage 10-12 / Weapon Speed 2 seconds  
• Butcher Knife & Gargish Butcher Knife, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Skinning Knife, Base damage 10-13 / Weapon Speed 2.25 seconds
• Cleaver & Gargish Cleaver, Base damage 10-14 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Cutlass, Base damage 10-14 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Gargish Katana & Katana, Base damage 10-14 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Crescent Blade, Base damage 12-15 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Radiant Scimitar, Base damage 10-14 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Wakizashi, Base damage 10-14 / Weapon Speed 2.5 seconds
• Glass Sword, Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Elven Machete, Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Daisho & Gargish Daisho, Base damage 13-16 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Bladed Staff, Base damage 14-17 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Pickaxe, Base damage 12-16 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Scimitar, Base damage 12-16 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Rune Blade, Base damage 14-17 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Bone Harvester & Gargish Bone Harvester, Base damage 12-16 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds  
• Broadsword, Base damage 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds  
• Longsword, Base damage 14-18 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds  
• Gargish Scythe & Scythe, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• No-Dachi, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Dread Sword, Base damage 14-18 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds  
• Gargish Talwar, Base damage 16-19 / Weapon Speed 3.5 seconds
• Stone War Sword, Base damage 15-19 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds  
• Viking Sword, Base damage 15-19 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds
• Bardiche & Gargish Bardiche, Base damage 17-20 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds
• Halberd, Base damage 17-21 / Weapon Speed 4 seconds
• Paladin Sword, Base damage 20-24 / Weapon Speed 5 seconds

Bows:

• Repeating Crossbow, Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Magical Shortbow, Base damage 12-16 / Weapon Speed 3 seconds
• Yumi, Base damage 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Elven Composite Longbow, Base damage 16-20 / Weapon Speed 4 seconds
• Bow, Base damage 17-21 / Weapon Speed 4.25 seconds
• Composite Bow, Base damage 18-22 / Weapon Speed 4.5 seconds
• Crossbow, Base damage 18-22 / Weapon Speed 4.5 seconds
• Heavy Crossbow, Base damage 20-24 / Weapon Speed 5 seconds

Throwing:

• Boomerang: Base damage 11-15 / Weapon Speed 2.75 seconds
• Cyclone: Base damage 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 seconds
• Soul Glaive: Base damage 18-22 / Weapon Speed 4.5 seconds
   

Weapon Special Move Updates*

• Sai – Primary: Dual Wield / Secondary: Armor Pierce
• Dagger – Primary: Shadow Strike / Secondary: Infection Strike
• Tessen– Primary: Feint / Secondary: Dual Wield
• Nunchaku– Primary: Block / Secondary: Double Strike
• Club – Primary: Crushing Blow / Secondary: Dismount
• Gnarled Staff– Primary: Concussion / Secondary: Force of Nature
• Maul – Primary: Double Strike / Secondary: Concussion
• War Mace – Primary: Force of Nature / Secondary: Mortal Strike
• Skinning Knife – Primary: Shadow Strike / Secondary: Bleed
• Daisho – Primary: Feint / Secondary: Nervestrike
• Leafblade – Primary: Bleed / Secondary: Armor Ignore
   

Weapon Special Move Mana Cost Changes

• Block mana cost decreased from 30 to 20.
• Crushing Blow mana cost decrease from 25 to 20.
• Concussion mana cost decreased from 25 to 20.
• Dual Wield mana cost decreased from 30 to 20.
• Defense Mastery mana cost decreased from 30 to 20.
• Double Shot mana cost increased from 30 to 35.
• Force Arrow mana cost increased from 15 to 20.
• Force of Nature mana cost decreased from 40 to 35.
• Frenzied Whirlwind mana cost decreased from 30 to 20.
• Infectious Strike mana cost increased from 15 to 20.
• Moving Shot mana cost increased from 15 to 20.
• Mystic Arc mana cost decreased from 25 to 20.
• Serpent Arrow mana cost decreased from 40 to 25.
• Shadow Strike mana cost decreased from 30 to 20.
• Talon Strike mana cost decreased from 30 to 20.
• Riding Swipe mana cost decreased from 30 to 25.
   

Weapon Special Move Changes

• Disarm, now applies a 10 second disarm immunity timer when performed using weapons. Wrestling moves are not subject to the immunity timer.
• Dual Wield, base chance to proc extra attack increased from 15% to 25%.
• Crushing Blow, now drains 10 points of stamina from target on impact.
• Double Strike/Double Shot, now have a 15% hit chance increase on the second hit attempt.
• Mortal Strike, now grants eight second effect reduction once removed by non consumable and talisman items. Attempts to reapply Mortal Strike while the player is under effect reduction will scale the duration base on the last successful Mortal Strike.
• Bleed, now grants five second effect reduction once removed. Attempts to reapply Bleed while the player is under effect reduction will scale the duration base on the last successful Bleed.
• Bladeweave, now can be set to offensive or defensive mode. Both modes still have a chance to select all available moves but will have a higher chance to select certain moves.
• Armor Pierce, now applies a “pierced armor” effect to the target which increases all incoming damage to the target by 10% for 3 seconds with the exception of direct damage special moves.  Ranged weapons with this special move will not reset duration if target is currently under the effect.
• Force of Nature rework, now applies 15-35 delayed direct damage to the attacker. The attacker receives a damage increase of 50%-100% based on their strength. The attacker also applies a stun their target for two seconds which can be reduced by magic resist every 12th hit. Equipping the weapon will reset the hit count.
• Frenzied Whirlwind, now applies a movement slow to its target if it is player every 5th hit and equipping the weapon will reset the hit count. The initial delay of damage over time has been removed.
• Talon Strike, now can increase the duration base on how the amount of true skill over 50 which caps at seven seconds at 120 skill. Looting right damage is now properly applied.

Armor Revamp part 1

Player’s stamina loss will now be based on the type of armor as well as the amount of armor that is equipped*. Each piece of armor up to five pieces will reduce the amount of stamina lost when taking damage.  The stamina loss protection provided is ranked as follows where 1 provides the best protection:

• Blacksmith crafted armor (platemail, ringmail, chainmail, and dragon armor).
• Carpentry crafted armor (woodland and stone armor).
• Tailor crafted studded leather, hide, and bone armor.
• Cloth, leather, and jewelry armor.

*Human racial ability Tough now provides a bonus to stamina loss protection.

Armor Inherent Mana Phase

Each piece of non medable armor will provide a chance to trigger a mana phase effect. Triggering mana phase will make the next mana check become free within ten second duration until you attempt to use mana again. The chance is triggered whenever a player takes damage and has a cool down period of 30 seconds. Each piece of armor up to five pieces will provide the following chances to fire with a total cap of 15%:

• Blacksmith crafted armor (platemail, ringmail, chainmail, and dragon armor) provides a 1% chance.
• Carpentry crafted armor (woodland and stone armor) provides a 2% chance.
• Tailor crafted studded leather, hide, and bone armor provides a 3% chance.
   

Armor Inherent SSI Debuff

A defender wearing non medable armor will have a flat 10% chance to apply a SSI nullifying debuff to attackers wielding weapons for five seconds. The chance is triggered whenever a player takes damage and has a cool down period of 30 seconds. NPC attackers will receive a 30% swing speed increase debuff instead of a nullifying debuff.
 

Combat changes:

• The Gargoyle race hit chance increase cap has been reduced from 50 to 45.
• Hit lower defense now scales 55% of the players Max Defense Chance Increase. The default max defense chance increase of 45 has a -25 defense penalty. A max defense chance increase cap of 95 has a -52 defense penalty.
• Ninjitsu:  animal form can now be interrupted while casting.
• Throwing: Adjusted throwing sweet spot hit chance and damage reduction penalties. Throwing damage reduction penalties now scale based on player stamina and strength.
• Necromancy: Evil Omen now reduces Mysticism Stone Form Immunity by 30.
• All stamina potions now operate on a global cooldown. Total refresh potions apply a ten second cooldown, refresh potions apply a two second cooldown, and faction refresh potions apply a two second cooldown.
• Weapon effect: Hit stamina leech is now subject to diminishing returns based on max player stamina.
• Mysticism: Increased Cleansing Winds healing power reduction based on curses. Cleansing Winds will always heal for maximum potential when the target is the caster. Cleansing Winds power will now scale based on the number of targets when healing targets that are not the caster.
• Chivalry: Divine Fury stamina regenerated decreased to 2.5x duration from 4x duration.

Please submit feedback through one of the following:

• http://uo.com/contact – Under “Game Feedback”
• http://stratics.com/community/forums/uo-test-center.531/ – Stratics

The new Ask and Answers has arrived! The holidays and a business trip had caused a delay in our answers. We now return to our regularly scheduled Ask and Answer posts with a very creative set of questions and answers.

UO Stratics

Moonstone Jewelery – Can a dev please make another statement on this drop? Specifically where does it actually come from now? Is it Fezzik the Chef or a cannibal mage or a chest in Fezzik’s area? all ove the previous? Has the drop % been altered because of the increase in difficulty of the target now? Thank you. (Mentiras)

Phoenix:  It drops off Fezzik the Chef in a full moon when Venus is in the house of the Orion and the flaming pulsar has crossed the horizon on the first Tuesday of the Month of May.  Silly Friday,  it is a rare drop as in 1 in 1000 chance.  We do not want to make this item a house hold name but we will review it.

There were always rumours about secret halls/rooms/whatever in the Stygian Abyss.
As of today I never heard of anybody know more about this “mystery”… is there really a secret part of the Stygian Abyss/Underworld or is this just what it was – rumours?  (MedeaDF)

Mesanna:  All false, total rumors *grins*

I was wondering if it would be possible to darken or offer a different color altogether for the journal in the classic client. Some text is very difficult to read and without having to go and change a lot of various text colors simply darkening the journal background color would solve this issue. (Vercingitorix)

Bleak:  Even though this is an option in the Enhanced client, the only option we have is to make the journal always default to black.  Feedback on that option?

Could we please get a token/code to buy from the origin store, that would allow a player on a younger account to get the 720 skill cap? (mikni)

Mesanna:  How about we just raise everyone to 720 ?

The Bookcases you buy from the UOGameCode store you can engrave but not dye.
-The Bookcases you make from stealing Academic book cases you can dye but not engrave.
I know the Academic bookcases are suppose to be a little more special since you have to steal them but why cant we engrave them? Then the ones you purchase for $3.25 per case….you can engrave but cannot dye? For the Library I am planning to open I purchased over 40 bookcases spending approximately $130.
Now I would buy more to replace the Academic ones except you cant dye them. I would craft more Academic books but I cannot engrave them….
Any chance one of the two could have the ability to do booth? (Lord Gareth)

Mesanna:  I cannot answer a question about an item not sold in the Origin store. (psst UOGameCode store does not exist any longer)  No one on the team has any objections to allowing  these to be dyed or engraved.

UO Japan

I love new art items such as soulforges, Nexus, Harpsichords and Davies’ Lockers. They look very cool! Unfortunately, they are so large, that I can’t place all of them in my house. Is there any chances to add options which allow me to select smaller version of them? (Nickname: MESORIN)

Mesanna:  Maybe in the future but not at this time

House ghost image which appears when you place a house is very good guide to determine where you place it. Unfortunately, house add-ons don’t have those images. I often have to retry placing my add-on several times because I misplace it. Is it possible to add such ghost image guide to house add-ons? And, I have another request about house add-ons. Please show add-on image instead of deed image in crafting menu. I sometimes create add-on deeds which don’t face towards direction I expect. Visual guide would help me see if it is the one I wanted to make. (Namako)

Phoenix:  This is not as simple as it sounds and it’s not a task we really want to undertake at this time.  The second part of this is also a no at this time for the same reason.

If we took long time to perform the ritual, the Exodus could be defeated before we arrive at the boss area. Do you have any plans to address the issue? (a Twitter user)

Mesanna:  This is already fixed

UO Mania

Can we get a way to dye an Artifact with its original color? The bleach can dye an item with the color of its basic item type, but why not restore the item to its original color (at least for Artifacts for which the original color is known) (clorenz)

Kyronix:  Sorry we can’t do that without redoing all the dyes in the game.  So at this time it is not an option.

UO Auctions

Since we now have Town Loyalties, a great addition, are there any plans to open up a system for Ter Mur Loyalty? perhaps just titles based on reputation with the queen? (Treasure Seeker)

Mesanna:  Not a bad idea we will look into it.

We will be performing an extended maintenance on the following shards today, January 28th starting at 6:00 pm EST (11 pm GMT):

• Yamato
• Izumo
• Wakoku
• Hokuto
• Asuka
• Mizuho
• Mugen
• Sakura
• Formosa
• Arirang
• Balhae

At this time we anticipate that the shards will be back online no later than 11:00 pm EST (4:00 GMT).

Greetings Everyone,

   It’s been a while since I sat down and wrote to everyone so bare with me.  In this letter I will be telling you about some issues that we are going to be addressing and what is in the next Publish.  But before I do that I want to address all the “extended maintenance” we have been going thru.  As I am sure some of you might have already noticed we are moving off the old servers onto the Cloud.  With a game as old as UO it has been challenging but we are working hard to iron out the kinks.  Both the East Coast and West Coast servers have been moved in addition to Europa, Oceania, and Drachenfels. 

Current Issues

• Please be cautious of buying spellbooks from vendors that might look like this xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDemon Slayer.  It is not a valid Demon Slayer book and has just been engraved to appear this way.  We are fixing this so all engraved text is hued in some fashion in the next publish.
• Please do not try to resize your house immediately after placement.  There is a known issue that you will not be able to please wait till the next maintenance cycle to attempt to resize.  We have not worked out all the details that cause this so any additional information would be helpful.
• Please know that fighting your pets to drop pools of blood to block house placement is being viewed as a griefing tactic.  If a GM is called he will warn you, if you do not stop you will be removed from the area.  This will be fixed in the next publish.

Now for the exciting news!

Next Publish

• Revamping Weapon System –  Reviewed and adjusted all weapon damage based on weapon speed, as well as updated various special moves.
• Revamping Armor System –  Made all armor types useful again.
• Introducing a new Housing Theme Pack which will consist of:
  • New couches, chairs, tables, beds, lots and lots of lamps, pictures, and tapestries. (46 new pieces of art total)
  • Advanced Tinkering – This will allows players to create new gadgets, one example is being able to create a light switch for your house to turn off and on your lamps
  • Changing the Co Owner status from 10 co-owners to 10 accounts as co-owners on one house (70 players)
• You will no longer be able to place duped items on vendors. 
• New Player Council and City Voting system – Players with city loyalty will be able to run for the Ambassador for the appropriate city.  This will allow them to enhance role play and manage activities in and around their cities.  And new Ambassador titles.
• New Instruments – 3 new Bells, Cello, and Trumpet
• New Aquarium art – New sponges and Coral types
• We are looking into the possibility of allowing players to have a house on Siege and on Production.
• Continuing to work on High Res art..currently working on all the wall pieces.  These will not be released till all pieces of a house are finished due to the fact they look horrible together with old and new.  We still have many wall sets to update including doors, signs, and the roof before any high res art will be released.  Please understand its taking us 3 weeks from start to finish to get each wall set type in the game.  So yes this is slow going but we are going to finish it  *grins*  Remember now there are 45 wall sets total and we have totally completed 7.  Below is a sneak peak of what you can expect to see in the future.
• Adding additional turn in items such as bones, jack o lanterns, harpsichord rolls for turn in points
• Adding 2 new dyes to the turn in reward system

We will be working on a new Global Arc for the future (of course it will not run for 8 months) but we hope you will enjoy the evilness of it anyways *grins*

Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong
Producer UO