An interview with Ultima Online’s Lead QA, Michael “Misk” Armstrong, was recently published on the UO Forums. The interview contains lots of interesting information such as where the name Misk came from and what’s the biggest challenge in supporting UO. Be sure to head over to the UO Forums to check it out.

In an effort to improve hardware performance, Napa Valley will be taken down today, at  11:00 am EST (17:00 CET).  

At the moment we anticipate the servers to be back online at 2:00pm EST (20:00 CET).

After the improvements have been implemented, we would appreciate any feedback regarding lag issues on this shard sent to barmstrong@ea.com.  In these emails the following information would be greatly helpful:

• Geographic location
• Location in game when you experience the most lag
• What  activity you were doing ( if applies)
• Time you see the most lag

Thank you for your patience as we work to improve shard performance.

Update 2:30pm EST: Baja and Great Lakes are back online.

In an effort to improve hardware performance, Baja and Great Lakes will be taken down today, at 10:45 am EST (16:45 CET).  

At the moment we anticipate the servers to be back online at 1:00pm EST (19:00 CET).

After the improvements have been implemented, we would appreciate any feedback regarding lag issues on these two shards sent to barmstrong@ea.com.  In these emails the following information would be greatly helpful:

• Geographic location
• Location in game when you experience the most lag
• What  activity you were doing ( if applies)
• Time you see the most lag

Thank you for your patience as we work to improve shard performance.

Greetings everyone,

Just wanted to drop everyone an update on the current lag issues you are seeing. We are working hard on this issue and will keep you updated on our progress.  I just wanted to let everyone know we appreciate your patience and we appreciate any constructive feedback you can give us regarding the lag you are experiencing.
Last night a new client was released.  This client fixed the crash players were experiencing at the Exodus Encounter. 

We are putting out a server publish tomorrow with the following fixes during the next maintenance cycle:

• Fixed the issues with pets at the Dread Horn Encounter
• Character statues will no longer be ejected from houses during house customization
• Fountain of Life and the Hearth of Fire will no longer be turned when customizing your house
• Container addons and House Teleporters will no longer lose security settings during house customization

Bonnie “Mesanna” Armstrong
Producer UO

Changes to Publish 81 have been patched to TC1. Click on more for the updated publish notes.

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 12-16 / Weapon Speed 3.0 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 13-17 / Weapon Speed 3.25 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 18-21 / 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 15-19 / Weapon Speed 3.75 seconds
• Bow, Base damage 17-21 / Weapon Speed 4.25 seconds
• Composite Bow, Base damage 16-20 / Weapon Speed 4.0 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 16-20 / Weapon Speed 4.0 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: Crushing Blow / Secondary: Mortal Strike
• Skinning Knife – Primary: Shadow Strike / Secondary: Bleed
• Daisho – Primary: Feint / Secondary: Doublestrike
• Leafblade – Primary: Feint / 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.
• Bladeweave mana cost decreased from 30 to 15.

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%.
• 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 deals scaled damage based on Ninjitsu/Bushido skill levels within a two tile radius over 2 seconds. Applies a movement slow to its initial target if it is player. 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.
• Concussion, now applies scaling direct damage between 10-15 based on weapon speed. Ranged weapons mana drain max 50% and return max 40%. Melee weapons mana drain max 80% and return max 70%. Two handed melee weapons mana drain max 80% and returned max 40%.
• Crushing Blow, now drains 10 points of stamina from target on impact when used on weapons with speeds 3.5 or greater.
• Paralyzing Blow,  paralyze immunity applied to targets have been reduced to 6-8 seconds when used on weapons with speeds 3.5 or greater.

Armor Revamp

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 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 not 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.

Armor Refinement

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

There are two methods of refining armor:

• Increase max individual resist while lowering max defense chance increase by two.
• Decrease max individual resist while increasing max defense chance increase by two.

Blacksmith Armor
Wash (DCI) & Cure (Resists)

Tailor Armor
Polish (DCI) & Scour (Resists)

Carpenter Armor
Gloss (DCI) & Varnish (Resists)

Refinement Levels:

• Defense – provides least chance at achieving maximum individual resist/ DCI bonus.
• Shielding
• Guarding
• Protection
• Hardening
• Fortification
• Invulnerability – provides greatest chance at achieving maximum individual resist/ DCI bonus.

Components can be combined with 20 raw materials available from NPC Merchants:

Blacksmiths
(Malleable Alloy)

Weavers
(Leather Braid)

Carpenters
(Solvent Flask)

When combined with the appropriate raw material the crafter will create Armor Refinements that can be applied to non-medable armor:

Plating – Blacksmith Armor

Threads – Tailor Armor

Resin – Carpenter Armor

There are seven levels of intensity for refinements ranging from “Defense” to “Invulnerability”.  There is a much greater chance to acquire high intensity components in Felucca.

When applied to non-medable armor the Refinement can provide a bonus to:

Max Resists – Armor Refined to increase max resists will provide a bonus to a resist category cap up to 75 (80 energy resist for elves), 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 a maximum of 95 while lowering max resists.

Misc 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. Faster casting now longer effects animal form.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• The two handed melee “Balanced” property has been added to imbuing. Weapons with this property will be unable to parry or evade.
• Imbuing base intensity caps have been increased up to 550 for two handed melee weapon and up to 500 for bows and crossbows.

Please submit feedback through one of the following:

• Contact Form – Under “Game Feedback”
• Stratics Test Center Forum

Greetings,

We will bring down the Account Center for a short maintenance tomorrow, Thursday February 21st, at 8am EST (14:00 CET). During the maintenance you will not be able to log in, change subscription, redeem game codes, select vet rewards or place new houses.

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

Thank you for your understanding.

We have confirmed an issue with pets at the Peerless Dread Horn Encounter. Until further notice please do not use your pets at the encounter. We hope to have a fix in place soon.

Thank you for your patience.

Update 10:30 am EST: 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, Thursday February 14th, at 10am EST (16:00 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 11:00am EST (17:00 CET).

Thank you for your understanding.

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.