Ultima Online News Letter for July 2017

[Zardoz of Crete aka Kimi aka Victoria Secret]

http://mailchi.mp/broadsword/ultima-online-newsletter?e=10db9daaab



Producer Notes
As most of you have probably noticed, Publish 98 was released to TC1!  There is plenty to experience in Publish 98, so head on over to TC1 and check it out and be sure to send us any feedback you have!  Publish 98 brings the majority of our seasonal content and a new event arc for the 20th anniversary.  Some of these features will not be available for testing - so please check out the notes for full details.

Once Publish 98 goes world wide, I will be giving away the houses removed from the player on Atlantic.  You will find the Raffle Stone in front of the house.  On TC1 I will also be placing the Raffle Stone for the three (3) Grandfather houses we will be giving away in Malas or Vesper (space permitting on the selected shard) for the 20th Anniversary. Winners will be announced at the 20th Anniversary Party in September!

I also want to let you know that our next development cycle will be shorter than usual, and instead of doing a full bump to Publish 99, we will be releasing an updated version of Publish 98 which will include our holiday rewards, updates to the Artisan Festival, Vet Rewards, and more!  Keep an eye on UO.com for updates!

See you in Britannia,

Bonnie "Mesanna" Armstrong
Producer
The Broken Obelisk
To celebrate Ultima Online's 20th Anniversary we are pleased to announce the next chapter in Britannia's storied history, The Broken Obelisk.

The Broken Obelisk draws inspiration from Ultima's more than three decade long history and introduces exciting new gameplay while rekindling a few fan favorites from the past  The Broken Obelisk will begin in August.  We want to keep the experience as organic as possible, so keep an eye on UO.com for official fiction and in game Town Criers for updates.

Question & Answer Corner

1. Why was the Consume Damage Mastery ability nerfed?

The amount of HPR and HCI that could be attained using Consume Damage was pushing pets to a level of near invulnerability.  While we fully intended on increasing pet power with the Mastery Abilities released in Publish 90, the changes in Publish 97 related with Animal Training proved a major balancing concern.  With these changes pet HCI is capped at 45, the same as a player, while HPR is capped at 30.  Remember too that additional sources of HPR can increase this for a pet.

2.  In the EC, when I have a mountable pet's healthbar up and another player mounts that pet, the healthbar remains.  In the CC this doens't happen, why?

This is a bug in the EC and will be fixed in a future update.

3.  Can pet damage numbers be different hues in the classic client?

This has been added to the backlog for a future update.

4.  Can the star field effect in the EC be changed to the previous version where the stars at the edge weren't skewed?

Although low priority, we have added this to the backlog for a future update.

5.  Can the Giant Horde Minion be added to the EC?  Those of us in the EC can't see it at EM events.

We have added this to the backlog for a future update, and EMs have been instructed to not use this body type.

6.  The beaded and pendant necklaces are reversed in the EC paperdoll and equipment slot, can this be fixed.

Although low priority, we have added this to the backlog for a future bug fix.

7.  The height of the ruined tapestry is too high and cannot be hung properly.

Although low priority, we have added this to the backlog for a future bug fix.

8.  The ring of fire/supernova/big explosion effects are very resource intensive, can this be resolved?

This requires future optimizations both client and server side, we hope to address this in a future update.

9.  Can anything be done about books in the EC vs the CC?

This is a delicate issue, as there is so much history contained in those books we definitely do not want to do anything that would jeopardize that history.  We are working to find the most elegant and least destructive solution to this issue and hope to release it in a future update.

10.  Can we get a bigger circle of transparency in the EC?

This is something we would have to investigate.

11.  Some of us experience lengthy death times in the EC, can this be fixed?

This requires additional investigation, those who are experiencing this issue are encouraged to send in a dxdiag as well as location, time, server, and a screenshot of the issue to uo@broadsword.com

12.  Can I purchase "catch-up" months for when my account was inactive to be able to get vet rewards?

This is something we are still considering and look for additional community discussion before we make a final decision.

13.  Can anything be done with old faction silver?

At this time, faction silver is decorative only.  We may add it to the Cleanup Britannia system in the future.

14. Can a setting be introduced to set housing security to guild/alliance only so only my guild and alliance members can enter?

This has been added to the backlog and we hope to release it in a future update.

15.  Can we get a blessed book satchel so spellbooks & runebooks do not get messed up inside our backpacks in the classic backpack container?

This has been added to our backlog, the satchel would only apply to spell and runebooks.  We hope to released it in a future update.

16.  How does Armor Ignore work when a creature uses it?

Creatures trigger their special moves on every swing, because of this the creature can swing at you and miss, as a result Armor Ignore will not fire.  In order for the creature to actually land the special move, they need to land a successful hit.

17.  Can swamp dragons be trainable via Animal Training in the future?

No, because of their reliance on armor.