We would like to thank everyone who participated in assisting the Mysterious Healer in combating the horrid plague that has afflicted the Gargish of Ter Mur. Thanks to your hard work and dedication the Gargish will survive!

Keep an eye on the Herald in coming days for more fiction as we finish The Awakening leading up to our 15th Anniversary.

Publish 78.0.0 has been patched to TC1. 

Here are the publish notes for your reading pleasure.

Publish 78.0.0

Anniversary Items

Anniversary items for the 15th Anniversary of Ultima Online have been added. Considering  these are a gift from us to you, we will drop a few sneak peaks in the upcoming weeks.

• All Characters older than 30 days will be eligible to receive Anniversary Items beginning September 1st, 2012 and ending September 30th, 2012

Despise Dungeon Revamp

      Two brothers, both well learned in the arcane arts, lusted for the same woman.  She was but a simple maiden, tending to the ranches dotting Britannian countryside, her beauty, however, was without equal.  Both men knew should they compete against one another, neither would succeed in bearing fruit with such beauty.  So the brothers conspired, and began to corrupt the very fabric of her love.  Together the brothers conjured a powerful Polymorph spell to transfigure themselves into the perfect man for the maiden to love.  For months they would deceive her love, the maiden unknowingly accomplice to a corrupt triangle.   Finally, she gave birth to twins. Despite the powerful magics the brothers used to pursue their ruse, the mother’s love for her children was too great and the brother’s trickery was uncovered.  Outraged at such a thing the maiden cast away her lovers forever, cursing them to the Abyss.  As the twins grew and their mother aged they would learn of her hate towards their fathers.  As each twin grew to adulthood and became their own man, they would blame the other for their own father’s fate, and come to despise one another.  Already practiced in their fathers’ art and fully possessing their arcane talent the twins began bartering with the mysterious Wisps.  Eventually each convinced the Wisps to conjure an army with which to destroy the other.  Their mother, bearing witness to this feud and knowing the dangers of the likely outcome, pleaded with her sons to reconcile.  Corrupt with rage, there was no foregoing their anger and so she mediated at the Shrine of Compassion, hoping in her heart of hearts for her sons to end the feud.  As she meditated a mysterious Wisp appeared to her and in an instant an eternal pact was struck.  The mother’s love was enough to save Britannia from impending war, but her sons, filled with despise would be cast there forever… 

• Note that this new content is on Trammel only
• There is a mysterious wisp near the entrance to Despise. Double-click it to have a conversation and learn something of the new dungeon content.
• The top two levels of the dungeon are now aligned to Good and Evil and are at war
• Look for the stone ankh inside the dungeon, and use it to commune with a Wisp
• Your purpose is to help out your side in the war by building and training your army
• The strongest army will periodically be transported to the Final Battle in the depths of Despise
• Collect Putrid Hearts (the Dungeon Crystals of Despise) and spend them with the Mysterious Wisp on powerful rewards
• The Final Fight can yield new artifacts!

Despise Artifacts

Compassion’s Eye
Ring

• Intelligence Bonus 10
• Mana Increase 10
• Mana Regeneration 2
• Luck 250
• Spell Damage Increase 20%
• Lower Reagent Cost 20%

• Nightsight
• Random Damage Eater 2%

• Archery +5
• Damage Modifier 10%
• Dexterity Bonus 5
• Reflect Physical Damage 5%
• Hit Chance Increase 5%
• Random Resist 10%
• Lower Ammo Cost 30%
• Weight Reduction 30%

• Random Super Slayer
• Hit Lightning 15%
• Hit Mana Leech 30%
• Hit Cold Area 100%
• Hit Chance Increase 20%
• Swing Speed Increase 25%
• Damage Increase 50%
• Cold Damage 100%
• Durability 255/255

Cleanup Britannia Dyes

• Black and Green Pigment
• Shadow Blue Pigment
• Vibrant Crimson Pigment
• Reflective Shadow Pigment

Halloween Masks Added

New Casino Games

• Visit the Fortune’s Fire Casino at the base of the volcano on Fire Isle
• See the Cashier to buy Casino Chips or to cash out your winnings. The exchange rate is 100 gold for 1 chip
• Bet your Chips with one of the two dealers in the Dice Tent:
  • Chuckles’ Luck: Bet on a number between 1 and 6. The dealer rolls 3 dice. You win your bet amount for each time your lucky number comes up!
  • iHi-Middle-Lo: Place a bet on “High”, “Middle”, “Low”, or “Outside”. For the real gamblers out there, the “Outside” bet pays 5:1 on a win!
• Enjoy a mug o’ Fortune’s Fire Grog, and don’t forget to tip your waitress

Stewards

• Can only be placed in public houses
• Can be named 
• Can be dressed
• Can be programmed using key words to hand items out to other players when the correct word or phrase is spoken.

Bug Fixes

• The rockslides preventing passage into Central Ilshenar have been cleared.
• Act II of the Awakening has been disabled. 
• The Afflicted Gargoyles of Ter Mur have been healed.
• Seedboxes will now hold up to 300 unique seeds and 5000 total seeds.
• Rare hued vanilla plants are available from completing the Naturalist’s Quest.
• Lava Lobster traps will now retain the correct name when returned from buoy form.
• City Raiders have been added to the Brigand Fort between Yew and Britain.
• Ghosts will no longer get stuck in the Experimental Room within the Underworld
• The maximum price of an item on a player-run vendor is now 175,000,000gp
• Players who kill certain creatures in other parts of Covetous will no longer receive score credit on the Void Pool scoreboard.
• Mannequins can now wear faction armor.

Classic client  7.0.27

• Cliloc Changes
• Fixed issue where the sitting animation and a chair can allow the classic client to become out of sync.

Enhanced Client  4.0.27

• Cliloc Changes
• Fixed EC crashing periodically when dealing with loading and unloading dynamic objects.

Enjoy your day!

Greetings!

We would like to take a moment to remind players to be wary of efforts from outside sources to compromise your account security. Please remember, BioWare Mythic will never ask for your Master/Play Account password through in game communication. Additionally, please be mindful of websites you are visiting. Please remember that you will never be asked to enter your account information anywhere but the Mythic Account Center (https://accounts.eamythic.com/), and in the Mythic Patcher when launching the game.

As always, we encourage our players to be safe and secure with your account information by never sharing your account information with anyone, using a strong password utilizing letters, numbers and symbols, paying close attention to websites you visit, and by updating your passwords regularly by visiting the Mythic Account Center.

You also have the option to add a Secret Word to your account. This word will identify you as the true owner of the account in case your details got lost or changed. Again, please make sure that nobody else knows this word.

Thank you for your continued support.

On June 5th, the Ultima Online website encountered a critical failure and lost its database. We were able to restore its content up to March 28th and we’ll continue to update the rest of the content as soon as possible, prioritizing publish notes first.

Thanks for bearing with us.

Update 01/16: Housing decay will be reactivated in TOMORROW.

Update 01/11: Housing decay will be back on in SIX DAYS. Since Monday, January 16 is a holiday in the US (Martin Luther King Day) have decided to extend the grace period by another day. Housing decay on will be re-activated on Tuesday, January 17.

Please note that even if your account has been inactive for more than 90 days, you still have 5 days after housing decay is back, before your house is gone.

We will turn on housing decay on Monday, January 16. Please take the necessary steps to secure your house before its turned back on.

If want to log in but you haven’t had the chance to link your account in the Account Center yet, please check the Account Center Management Page guide and the How to link my Accounts guide. You can always contact ‘support@ultimaonline.com’ if you encounter a problem.

See you in-game!

The 15th birthday of Ultima Online is approaching in 2012. MMORPG.com started the year doing a short interview with UO Associate Producer Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong.

Ultima Online has been on the market for almost 15 years, can you tell us why you think it has such longevity?

Ultima Online is the ultimate Sandbox. We have something for everyone from designing your house from the foundation up to slaying dragons. We are probably the only game on the market that you can still run on a low end computer, in addition to the personal one on one interaction with the players that has forged an amazing community. I personally have played UO since 1997 and worked on it since 1999 and I continue to learn or see something new and entertaining every day.

Follow the link to read the complete interview.

See you in-game!

Greetings!

As promised, the site dedicated to the long and storied heritage of Ultima, www.ultimaforever.com, has been updated today. Make sure to have a look through the history pages, and don’t forget to download and play the full, original PC version of Ultima IV from our friends at Good Old Games.

And Happy New Year!

-UO Team