UO’s 15th anniversary triggered several articles and reviews. Here is the EA Press release:

EA CELEBRATES 15 YEARS OF ULTIMA ONLINE
Mythic to Crown a New King To Mark The 15-Year Anniversary Of The Longest Running MMO Of All-Time

Electronic Arts and Mythic are proud to announce the 15th anniversary of the massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) Ultima™ Online. Originally released on September 24, 1997, Ultima Online is a fantasy MMORPG set in the legendary Ultima™ universe and was the first game of its kind to gain a dedicated widespread audience. To celebrate this occasion, the development team at Mythic has crafted a long running seven month story arc that will usher in a new king in an upcoming in-game event.

With 15 years under its belt, Ultima Online is a sandbox RPG that has truly evolved into a creature of its own. Players have 58 skills they can build in any way they want to become whatever kind of character they want, such as a warrior, mage, miner, lumberjack, among others. The player choice within the game is endless – players can engage in Player vs. Player combat, fight against the game’s many types of monsters or even just sit at a bank and talk to people.  The only element that holds players back is their own creativity and imagination.  To learn more about Ultima Online, the 15th Anniversary celebration and how players can become a part of this still vibrant community, visit http://www.uo.com.

“I personally have worked on Ultima Online for more than 13 years and I’m still inspired by our players and actually learn something new from them every day.  We truly have any amazing community who have been responsible for keeping the game alive for 15 years,” said Producer, Bonnie Armstrong.

Spanning over three decades, the fantasy world of Ultima has entertained millions of players from around the world with dozens of award-winning titles. The passionate and loyal fans of Ultima have braved perilous dungeons, faced off against fearsome enemies and creatures, conquered expansive lands and seas, and saved worlds. It’s time to revisit this enchanting universe and step into the shoes of your very own Avatar to find out where your choices will take you.

 

A very interesting aticle was written by the original Ultima Online developer Raph Koster, bringing some insights of the early days of the game.

“A lot of the time we were trying to solve problems like stairs, or buttresses. For those who recall the Mage Tower in Britain, I created the templates for arches and flying buttresses just for that building. Trinsic was the reason we got sloping walls at all. I also created the templates for how to do stairs, and later, sloping terrain.”

 

Last not least we recommend to check Massively’s Twitch TV channel every evening until Friday at 5pm EDT (9pm GMT) when Beau Hindman explores the game again. You can find the recording of the first session including several members of the UO team already online.

Happy Birthday Ultima Online!!

I wanted to drop you guys a note on this extremely memorable day. Can you believe its 15 years already? I have been reading all your stories, which are great I have to say. Some have made me grin, some I have shared with people not on our team and some I just shook my head thinking yep I know what they are talking about.  *grins*

So with that said I want to share a few of my memorable moments that stand out to me, I hope some of you can relate.

Back in September 1997 when I first logged into UO, I was in Skara near the bees at the bank, and these bees started talking to me … I swear I logged out of the game after that thinking ‘ok, talking bees are just too weird for me.’  Of course this was back in the day when you could stay hidden and talk to people.  My friend talked me into logging back in after that, so I continued on with my quest of building my first character, man I thought it was a badass cause I could kill a troll…*chokes laughing*.  Then I ran into my first PK … not only did he kill me but he killed my husband. I was sooo upset, I had gathered a lot of liquor and backpacks to make money and he got them all!!! To this day I will never forget my first PK’s name MIM.  That name stayed written on a monitor for years and years.

The next one was the first time a GM pulled me into a closed in area (not jail) and tells me not to go anywhere. Do you guys remember when the game would drop those awesome vanquishing weapons … the ones that did like 80 points of damage in one hit?  Yes I had one!
I was out one day with my lumberjack when I got PK’d again….Please remember we are talking about when if you were red you stayed red. If you were a GM in anything you were good!  So after this guy kills my little resource gather I went and got my red, I found the guy and killed him and took my stuff back … then he calls a GM … I lost my weapon =(  Oh well it was a good while it lasted. *laughs*

The last memory that I will share today is the one where it opened the door to where I am at today, a group of us were playing on TC, this was when there was not a set skill ability … you had to make your characters. This was when Devs would come there and get their special groups to help them test things. What I mean by special groups is each dev had a group of players they liked to work with the most … one liked the PK’s, one liked the crafters and one liked the overall players that liked all of it. We all needed to blow off some steam one day, so the two Devs had a bet I think to see whose group was the best. Good guys outside and bad guys hide in a house. Each dev could not interfere but could feed us potions or regs. We all had a blast, and of course my side won cause we rocked! And this is how I was introduced to my beginning with Origin – now EA. I was a Mechanical Engineer working in aerospace. One day I just needed a change and I started working as an external tester back in 1999, I have been with UO ever since. I love the players, I love the game. Everyone I meet amazes me how creative and informed they are. Every day I learn something new and every day I look forward to coming to work. Now that is not something everyone can say!!!

Thank you everyone for helping make Ultima Online the best game unlike any other out there!!  *hugs*

Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong
Ultima Online Producer

Also, some more pieces to the puzzle:

The Ultima Online team has received another set of questions last week. Here are the answers.

The Rustic and Gothic theme packs can not be bought together, as they could from uogamecodes.com, are there any plans to make that possible? (Snyder330) 
When the change was made to Origin Store that was left out, we will add it back in next time we go to put something up on the store.

Some Origin stores outside of the US don’t all have the full range of items – when the High Seas booster will be available in EMEA region? (Sir Z), – Stygian Abyss is still not available in Brazil store (Bealank). Will the missing items become available?
We have reported this to my contact, also inquiring when the items from the Korean store will be back, when we hear something definite we will let you guys know.

Is there a reason to keep town loyalty up other than for the banners and the town titles? (Ingame Question)
Mesanna:  Yes there is, we have another reason that will be revealed very soon.  Sorry don’t want to spoil anything.

Will there be more and new casino games added in the future? (Ingame Question)
Phoenix:  Yes!  We are planning another dice game, plus a card game.  Both will be in the style of the casino table games.

While I appresiate the good new new player guide you made for the “Playguide” section on herald.. is there any particular reason you removed alot of valid pages that people frequently used as a look up guide, such as the material bonus page? And why is the new new player guide in PDF? It is terrible to navigate for specific info. (Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: We are moving over to a new site named UltimaOnline.com and it is in a html format, no more PDF.

Here’s my question: With everyone asking for new content and revamps for old dungeons like Doom, etc, would the DEVs consider re-instating imbuing artifacts/replicas as long as the item caps remain the same for non-exceptional items, meaning all artifacts/replicas would be imbueable to 450 property cap? I mean its a huge undertaking to come up with new artifacts/properties, think about the balance required, and most of the stuff will probably be a rehash of older items anyhow. Why not let us have some fun with it? I think it would really invigorate older lesser/minor artifacts without making anything overpowered, considering how some reforged/new shame loot is insanely good now. (Arcades)
Kyronix: This is a really interesting idea, but one that would need to be tread upon very carefully.  What we’ve talked about is trying to incorporate allowing players to revitalize outdated artifacts via traditional crafting means and at the same time revitalizing the crafter class.

Hello Mesanna and Dev Team, because of the all-time discussion about the UO graphics I like to ask if there are any plans for the 2D/Classic Client to get better a screen resolution? We still have 800×600 max, this is quite outdated for today’s games. (Medea, Ultima Online Bibliothek Forum)
Kyronix: There are draw issues associated with the world building when increasing the size of the client window in the 2D/Classic client.  We’ve experimented with it, but unfortunately the results were not aesthetically pleasing.  You can always come over to the dark side and switch to the EC….*evil grin*

Hallo Mesanna and UO Dev Team, are there any plans to have the small, round Radar Map in the 2D/Classic Client replaced by a zoomable/bigger version of it or even a real map like the Enhanced Client has now? (Ultima Mapper works not on my system so I have no really usable solution at the moment.) And if a new map would be built in, is there a possibility to add Towns, Dungeons and important points too? (Waldschrat and MeneTekel, Ultima Online Bibliothek Forum)
Phoenix: Currently we are not very likely to make any significant changes to the Classic client. The Enhanced client has a much-improved map. Since that client’s UI can be completely customized, player-created user interfaces for the EC offer greater improvements still.

Dear UO Team, what about completing the house- and roof house building tiles? There are some of them and it would be fantastic to have with every set the complete (small) walls, windows, archs and for the roofs all directions of them. (Medea, Ultima Online Bibiothek Forum)
Mesanna: We do know there are missing directions of certain tiles but if you could email me the wall tiles and roof tiles you would like to see in the customization gump that would help us with adding the tiles you guys want.

Dear Dev Team, I am thinking about new instruments for bards – what about a bagpipe? It would fit quite perfectly for some of the races/classes! (Raknar Skarsol, Ultima Online Bibliothek Forum)
Mesanna: First off before I answer this question, are you JP in disguise? *grins* I think bagpipes would be different, but since the instruments are not equippable some of the magic would be lost don’t you think? Of course if you just want some for display and sound that would not be as difficult.

If you have something you want to know about Ultima Online and the team, post your questions on your fansite. All interesting questions will be collected and send to our team, so we can continue to answer them.

While our final preparations for the Anniversary Party here in Fairfax are on their way, we would like to take a moment and encourage all of you who will join us next Saturday to show up in costumes.

We’ll hold a costume contest and the best male and female costumes will win to games from the EA Store.

If you can’t make it to the party, here is something else to keep you busy:

Written by members of the community

Issue 8

WORLD NEWS

ELDERLY EXHIBIT BAFFLING BEHAVIOR

Britannia’s recently appointed sleuth and oracle, Misk has been looking into the recent bizarre behavior of New Haven citizens offering quests to new adventurers in town. Industrious do-gooders looking to make a quick sack of gold have been oft times led on lengthy goose-chases for very little compensation for the effort. Misk claims that an attempt to create more diversity in the town community with a varied age range, may have affected those individuals’ personalities particularly towards the upper limits. In other words, old people are acting like old people. Most complaints include: Being asked for an escort to an elderly woman’s home, followed by a request to come inside and massage bunions, clean the oven, rub liniment on aching legs, lowering shelves, and cleaning rain gutters. Questors instead of receiving their usual 500 gold have been compensated with “something better than gold” such as dishes of stewed prunes, coupons, crocheted doilies, and bingo markers. Young adventurers will likely move onto greener pastures until the issue is resolved.

RIDDLE CONTEST OUTCOME DISAPPOINTS ATTENDEES

The second annual riddling contest ended on a particularly bad note leaving organizers to wonder if there will be a follow up next year. When participant Mordred Greyskull brought his attorney to accompany him, the judges should have seen the writing on the wall. “Greyskull wouldn’t have advanced as far as he had without the audacity of his lawyer arguing to legitimize his rIdiculously incorrect answers”, claims one judge, Draven Rilit. “The crowds were incensed. The icing on the cake was with the final winning question. It was: I have been worshiped by many men. I make your bread and I give life. I will give you pain if you abuse me. If I am not watch carefully, I will go astray. But if you put me in water, I will die.” Rilit says, “The answer of course was FIRE. But the fool insisted that the answer was A WIFE. When we challenged the notion that wives don’t die when you put them in water, his lawyer retorted, “They do if you weigh them down enough.”

 
HEROIC CHICKEN SAVES TODDLER

Emily the chicken is celebrated as a hero today, following her rescue of the family’s 22 month old toddler who fell from the dock into the pond on their property. Emily began to cluck frantically which drew the attention of the boy’s mother, Livia Greenwell, who was doing housework and had not noticed the child’s disappearance. Greenwell asserted that before she could react, the plucky chicken launched itself into the water, and chickenpaddled the boy to shore. The boy has been examined by a local healer, and will not require any additional treatment.

STARGAZING SCHOLARS CALL FOR END TO SHENANIGANS

Mages in Moonglow are sending out a message to the wise-cracker who is putting black ink on the eyepiece of the great telescope to cease and desist immediately. Heironymous, chief astronomer in Moonglow conveys this message, “The whole black eye gag was a bit humorous at first; even I got a chuckle out of it. But it’s been several weeks now, and it’s already become a bit tiresome.” There are no current leads on the identity of the prankster.

TRAVELOGUE

Welcome, gentle readers! Mr. Brucetta here, Designer to the GODS! How, you might ask, would one get such a lofty title? Self-claimed, of course! Just the other day I was taking a stroll through the Prism of Light, looking for inspiration (and the occasional crystal to augment my trust fund), when I was overtaken with ennui. I sat down on a FAR less than comfortable outcropping, and slipped into a fitful doze. When I awakened, I found myself in the middle of a humid and snake-infested jungle, with a large undistinguished Ankh behind me and a headless oaf in front of me. Well, I promptly raised my silver-handled walking stick and rapped the brute on the head… or where his head WOULD have been, had he had the sense to possess one… and surveyed my surroundings.

It took me only a moment (being a student of local geography) to realize that I was on the Isle of the Avatar. I also realized that the huge, worn Ankh behind me and the grimy blood-stained tile beneath my feet indicated that I had been transported to the Shrine of Humility. The first thing I thought, of course, was “How in Dupre’s name am I going to get back to a city with a tavern and a day spa?” The SECOND thing, however was the realization that all this Shrine needed to attract tourists… I mean PILGRIMS… was a MAKE-OVER! But the Humidity, the Heat from the Lava (they haven’t started calling it the Isle of Fire for nothing!), the Subtropical Foliage… Why would anyone EVER trek all the way out here… and then it struck me. A SPA! That is what this shrine needed. I knew at that moment that I had found a calling. I, Cornelius Brucetta, would take on the colossal task of remaking the Shrines of Britannia! Designer to the GODS! I would start here, at the Shrine of Humility. A Day Spa and Resort was perfect. Natural hot springs, built to exacting specifications and heated by the very Lava that flowed beneath my feet, where gentlefolks could relax with a facial and foot massage while contemplating their Humility. Balms and unguents made from the tropical plants. And fortune had smiled on me… just a short dragonboat ride away was the new Fortune’s Fire Casino!

This, of course, would be only the beginning. Every Shrine deserved the Mr. Brucetta treatment! The Shrine of Spirituality, with its raised platform and spectacular light show, would be PERFECT as a Medieval-themed Discoteque! The most sought-after DJ’s (that is Dulcimer-Jockeys, for the uninitiated!) in the land would clamor to spin on that white marble stage (the steps will have to be fixed to avoid lawsuits, of course). Unicorn jousting matches, fabulous feasts, and the occasional Arthurian RAVE… what could possibly say “Spirituality” better than a mindless, self-absorbed night on the dancefloor?

And Justice? JUSTICE!  I have a WONDERFUL idea for the Shrine of Justice!  We will do the ENTIRE area as Mount Olympus!  Greek Columns… alabaster marble, of course!  Statues of ALL the old Gods and Goddesses… Ares, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Apollo… oh, of COURSE Apollo!  And sitting in Judgment, Zeus!  One can bring their petty squabbles there, and by His whim, you either are rewarded with riches, or struck by a thunderbolt!  And wrestling… there must be wrestling.  Greek wrestling.  Oh, it is just too fabulous!  We MUST do it!

We will cover the entire peninsula in gold brick, laid by gargoyle slaves from Ter Mur (after all, the poor things really have nothing better to do. Have you seen those tents?  Atrocious.)  It will rise, step by step, brick by brick, to the Seat of Justice!  Where reward and punishment are meted out by the whims of the old Gods!  We will have to construct a lightning machine… real bolts, mind you!  None of this magery nonsense… I want those peasants….er…citizens to KNOW when they have been hit!

Well, impassioned souls, I know that you cannot WAIT to experience the Mr. B Shrine Spectacular, so I am OFF! I promise sincerely to keep you updated! TaTa for now!

ADVERTISMENTS

I’M NOT JUST THE BEAR CLUB PRESIDENT, I’M ALSO A CLIENT
Hi, I’m Thrud Sperling!
If you’re concerned about thinning hair, contact Bear Club for Men. We attach your choice of bear-headwear to your scalp to give you the freedom you always wanted. Your new bear weave will look and feel like a part of you. So, whether you’re battling mobs or just enjoying a romantic evening out on the town, you’ll feel confident with your new bearpiece. We even have polar bear weaves for older men for that mature, natural look. So, send for a brochure or write to us to receive alternatives about your hair loss.

PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE

The chief librarian at the Lyceaum has requested that we pass on this messages to our readers on his behalf:
Dear citizens of Britannia, In times such as these where the economy is in a slump, unemployment is climbing, and other forms of entertainment are unaffordable to many of us, is when assets such as free public libraries become more valuable. So, we ask that when you borrow a book, please return it; as the cost of replacing it becomes a burden on our budget, which is increasingly slimmer in these hard times. We have noticed in particular that books on suicide are not being returned at all. There has been a great demand for these books lately, with none to be readily available anywhere. Remember, readers turn to books to lift their spirits and sometimes to learn new skills when jobs are scarce. So, when these particular books are not returned, readers are deprived of that small glimmer of hope. So please, be responsible and remember to return your books.

HOROSCOPES

The Peddler-January
Your fortune is not coming in very clearly…something about being buried under a pile of burning zombies, or something along those lines. I’m sure things will all work out for you.

The Mongbat-February
A kind hearted dryad will grant you the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of nature by turning you into a tree. Then you will get dutch elm disease and a limb will fall off.

The Phoenix-March
Ruthless agents of retribution will show up at your doorstep as a direct consequence of breaking that chain letter that you were so smug about being a total joke. So, who’s laughing now?

The Sea Dragon-April
It is time to get serious about career choices and stop all those silly get quick rich schemes. Remember the time that you trained a llama to jump onto the other end of a teeter totter so you’d be catapulted into Lord British’s treasury?

The Hermit-May
Someone will respond to your classified ad, that they too also enjoy long walks on the beach. As the relationship progresses, you will find that walking on the beach is your partner’s sole interest with the exclusion of everything else. Soon, you will discover that you probably didn’t enjoy long walks on the beach as much as you thought you did.

The Llama-June
Why not make the best of your free time by focusing on self-improvement, and improving your vocabulary. By making your speaking much more good, people will think that your big words will make you sound much more smarter and when you go out to places where people go to do fun things, they will want to be around you.

The Ancient Wyrm-July
You are probably not receiving the respect that you think you deserve. Your pets make goofy imitations of you behind your back.

The Anvil-August
The planets will seemingly align in accordance with your will, providing you with the most favorable portents and blessings. From the perspective of those inhabiting those planets, this will spell disaster, death and destruction.

The Weaver-September
You will find yourself volunteering your time towards humanitarian causes; namely helping gargoyle junkies recover from their silver serpent venom addictions.

The Wisp-October
Your should ignore this horoscope entirely. It is very misleading and fixating on it will likely complicate matters in the long run with its vague statements and generalizations. As you are reading this, ninjas are stealing snacks from your pantry.

The Unicorn-November
The full moons will have a powerful effect on the tides. This will have very little effect on your life unless you own a boat or live very close to shore.

The Wanderer-December
The soulmate that you were destined to meet, has disappeared without a trace. Well, better luck to you in the next life.

Written by the EM Team

  The power was inimitable and without equal or peer; he could feel it flowing through him as he channeled the energies of the shrine itself into the spell that he’d pieced together from his own research and what Gilforn had taught him. Was this how Nystul had felt when he had created Trammel? The rush of power that coursed through Gilforn’s hands as he fashioned the gates initially? Or could this perhaps be something else entirely…the power of his friends Virtues at work? He let his wandering thoughts go as he focused on the spell, and felt the power suddenly rush out in an instant. Flames and fury rushed forth along the course of tiles that formed the Honor chalice, as magical energies cascaded along the path before them. It was exhilarating and incredible, and a line of purple flame stood blazing as a testament to the power that was used. He approached the gate slowly and took a breath, looking back at those gathered, and stepped through…and came out the other side into Britain in Trammel. Exactly where he’d wanted to. He stepped back into the gate to speak briefly to those still gathered at Honor, Ilshenar.

  After he’d addressed them and spoken briefly, he once again stepped through the gate, but this time arrived in a cracked and broken landscape. A harpy screeched loudly as it’s flapping wings led it towards him on a dive, but he was not deterred for an instant. It took only a moment to hurl his hands out and chant the words. “Vas Ort Grav!” The heavens shook with a resounding peal of thunder as a burst of lightning arced out of the sky and took the harpy full force in the chest, blasting it aside into so much cooked flesh. Lord Blackthorn straightened his robe as he eyed another approaching harpy, which chose discretion over valor and fled. He took only a moment to look at the landscape around the gate, and he held his hands out much as he had at the Honor shrine. Here, too, he could feel that same power, just waiting to be used and set to some definite purpose…and he let his hands drop down to his sides. No matter what power there was here, it wasn’t what was needed. He stepped back through the gate and headed towards the camp in Ter Mur.

  Having reached the camp he sat down and looked over his notes. The cures were keeping the disease at bay and none of those treated were showing anything but signs of remission. There were no recurrent cases and reinfection didn’t seem to be occurring either. Even with the gargish plague counteracted and the Honor moongate fixed, there were other problems…though the one that troubled him most was what was occurring in the cities of the once unified realm of Britannia. They were on the verge of outright warfare amongst some of the cities and it was difficult to think of anything that might be able to be done about it…but there was always a solution to any problem. Some of them just took a bit more lateral thinking than others. A heavy step heralded the arrival of another, and Blackthorn waved him over.

  “I’m surprised to see you return and come calling once more, Lord Dupre. I had assumed that your own endeavors with the True Britannians had once again drawn you away.”

  “I wish that I were in those lands, where cold valorite and iron answered all problems. Not in this one where the nobles duel with words and propaganda.”

  Blackthorn steepled his fingers together as he lost himself in thought, finding his way back to his original ideas of lateral thinking. “Dupre, I think perhaps that your answer isn’t all wrong. It just needs to be applied correctly.”

The Ultima Online team has received another set of questions last week. Here are the answers.

Concerns

People using high Seas boats, moored along side each other, to ‘house hide’ in PvP.  
Mesanna: We have written this up as a bug and hope to have it fixed soon. 

Questions

Are there any plans to make gargoyle horn dye and/or restyle available on hairdressers? Daslo, Neverplay UO, Cerwin Vega
Mesanna: After speaking with the team we think Horn Dressers is a good idea…Thanks  for the suggestion.

Are there any plans to revamp Doom? By this I mean changing or evolving the bosses, changing the loot, artifact pool or drop mechanics. There are several problems, for one an increase in players causes more bosses to spawn, however there is no obligation to complete a full round (which would be my definition of running a gauntlet), so people do the 5 rooms then leave before the Dark Fathers, usually leaving one skilled soloer to spend 30 mins plus killing each of them. Now we have gargoyles some gargoyle drops should probably also be included. (CKTC, ask the devs)
Mesanna: CKTC,  Doom is on our list, it needs updated as much as champ spawns, dungeons and  peerless do.

So awhile ago, I inquired about this and someone said the refer a friend program would be making a return. I recall someone saying the program would be back, but now I can’t find where this was said. Is there any chance the program will be making a return soon? I am asking because there are many players who gave their accounts away or sold them. Some of them that I have pestered mean to return via the trial so it would be really great to get referred by them if the referral program returns. (Sablestorm, Stratics)
Mesanna: Sablestorm, at this time we are not starting up the Buddy Referral program.  With all the account management changes this is something that was not moved into the new system and would require.

A while back I read about EA’s plan for WAR/UO/DAoC: They planned to switch from ‘continuing content patches’ to so called ‘booster packs’. For UO that resulted in the ‘High Seas booster’ and the ‘Gothic’ and ‘Rustic’ theme packs. My question is: Will you continue to add boosters? And if so, will they be more in the line with the theme packs or the High Seas expansion? What is the timeframe in which you will add new content (other then differently colored items…  . (from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: No UO is not going to be working on a booster pack or a theme pack for a while. We want to take the time to do a big bug push. We want to put in an in game Vendor Search, we want to be able to update the outdated armor in the game, we want to improve the fishing rewards, we want to finish virtues, and we want to finish the high res art.  So at this time we don’t have a booster pack or expansion in the works. I am not saying we never well but just not at this time.

When will the Virtue system be completed? (from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: We have come up with several ideas but just don’t feel they are worthy of the last two virtues.  We have read some of your ideas on stratics but would love to hear more.

Will the “brainstormed” Order/Chaos involve Warfare in usual None-PvP areas, Such as trammel? (from Knuckleheads.dk)
Mesanna: We have not gotten that far in the discussions with this, hopefully we can talk to everyone during the 15th Anniversary Party and get a good discussion going.  Since a lot of you are not able join us we will also start a thread when we are at the point of go or no go on the project.

Non-medable armor is underpowered compared to medable armor. Is there any plans to boosting non-medable armor without ruining the usefulness of leather? (from UOForums.com)
Mesanna: We are in discussion regarding updating armor, making all armor useful again. We are going to do our best not to mess up leather but still make the other materials a viable option.

It is very bad impression goldspammers leave on newbies and returners, with the default channel being help, trials unable to change, and returners often not know they can switch channels. Could you at least make the default channel “General” if the account privileges grants access to it? (from UOForums.com)
Stephen: If you account is not a trial account we will make the change to have the default as general instead of help, this will be made in one of the upcoming publishes. Trail accounts will still be placed in the help channel. Please keep in mind the gold spammers are trial accounts those have to stay in the help channel.

Is it possible to see if your character is friended to the Ants? If not wish they could make something on the character sheet.(Ingame Question from Drachenfels)
Mesanna: Currently there is not a way to tell if your friended to the ants other than not getting attacked. It is something we can add in the future so I will add it to the backlog.

Still I must ask, Will you please fix houses to allow more than 10 Co-owners? Many of us have multiple accounts and are sick and tired of being nothing but a Friend in our own homes… I know I’m not alone and I know I’ve asked time and time again but PLEASE can we have at least 70 co-owner slots on our house. From MalagAste, Uhall. Risso, Ask the Devs (Clarification: Only the owning account characters are all counted as owning. Subsequent account characters are treated individually. Therefore it is not possible to co-own more than 8 characters from other accounts, any above that number can only be friended.)
Mesanna: Everyone will be happy to hear (or I hope they will be) that we as a team have talked about it and want to make a change to the housing co owners.  Instead of 10 co owners we want to change it to 10 accounts which is 70 players total. 

If you have something you want to know about Ultima Online and the team, post your questions on your fansite. All interesting questions will be collected and send to our team, so we can continue to answer them.

Yarrr!

Prepare yourself for adventure when Ultima Online: High Seas sets sail October 12, 2010

For $14.99 USD, players will enjoy:

• Brand new NPC Ship Combat with enhanced ship-to-ship combat and damage states
• Bank/Character Storage Increase, Sea Markets, new fish, fishing buffs, and recipes, paintable boats, Level 7 Treasure Chests and new boss encounters: the Scalis and Corgul the Soulbinder
• All new ship combat! Features include new ship to ship combat,  ship weapons and ammunition, and NPC Ship Combat (Pirates and Merchants)
• New ship types, Tokuno, Orc, and Gargoyle with customizable hues. New cannon types and ammunition!

Buy it today!

* After purchasing High Seas, consumers will receive a retail registration code to be entered into the account center at: https://accounts.eamythic.com.

Verbal Harassment

Verbal Harassment is almost by definition a frustrating experience for those affected. Unfortunately we continue to see a few mistakes that turn many potentially valid harassment reports into situations we cannot assist with. As your glorious GM overlords we suggest following the steps below to avoid these problems:

1. Do not exchange insults or taunts with the harassing player. This is by far the most common mistake we see. If both parties are involved in harassment or the reporting player instigated the situation then it becomes mutual harassment and a GM will not intervene for either side.
2. Ask the player politely, by name, to stop. For example: “Please stop insulting me.”
3. Stop talking to the player. You may also want to leave the area.
4. Add the player to your ignore list (In Options under Filter Options.)
5. Wait a few seconds and if the harassing player still does not stop then you should immediately report them. Do not wait more than a minute or two after this point to report them and do not log out of the game before reporting them. Open your Help menu, choose “Another player is harassing me”, then pick “VERBAL HARASSMENT”.
6. You will be prompted to enter some details about who and what you are reporting. Keep this short and to the point. For example: “Acheren will not stop calling my llamas fat”.
7. Select the harassing player as a target.  There are a number of ways to add targets, the most common methods are “Target Involved Players” which allows you to simply click on the character you wish to report and “Type Names of Involved Players” which allows you to type in the character name even if they are no longer online.  You can always include a target, even if the other player has left the area or gone offline. This is the second most common mistake because with no target included the GM cannot see the chat logs and may not even be able to determine who exactly you are reporting. As a result the GM will not be able to investigate your report in any way and your petition will be closed.

Disruptive Behavior

Be aware that in addition to the Verbal Harassment policy there is also a seperate Disruptive Behavior policy. Disruptive Behavior applies to the use of Vulgarity, Racism, and Objectionable Content in public chat channels such as the General channel. Unlike Verbal Harassment you do not need to ask players to stop or take any other additional steps prior to reporting this behavior. Unlike the default channels we do not tolerate the use of profanity in public chat channels so for Disruptive Behavior you may simply witness a player using vulgarity a few times in a public channel and skip straight to reporting them. For rather obvious reasons this means you should avoid responding to such players with more vulgarity in those same public chat channels lest you both end up in jail.

Physical Harassment

Physical Harassment can present itself in many forms, from luring monsters to grief play. It is considered physical harassment when a player performs an act that has no other purpose than intentional malice or annoyance. This includes but is not limited to luring, casting unwanted spells, opening “death gates”, and releasing dangerous pets, also using game mechanics to flag others criminal, following players to multiple areas or trapping players as well as trapped boxes.

The steps to report a player for physical harassment are identical to verbal harassment apart from selecting PHYSICAL HARASSMENT instead of VERBAL HARASSMENT in the Help menu.

You may find a great deal of additional information on harassment here under Policies and Rules.

Have you visited1Up.com’s website today? They posted an interesting article about Ultima Online.

“It’s actually this near-total anarchy that most sets UO apart from what came after. Nobody had done anything quite like this before, and it shows. While today MMOs have become mostly formulaic and carefully manage player progression, interaction, class balancing, and just generally make sure that the entire experience is a known quantity, Ultima Online faced no such constraints. There was no “common sense” when it came to this sort of thing, and while the kitchen-sink approach of providing everything one would expect from a single-player RPG and then letting a few thousand people play with it at once had occasionally disastrous consequences, it also led to the kind of freedom and surprise that one doesn’t often encounter in a modern MMO.”

 Check out the complete article.