UO:Patch Notes from 1997-07-08

Beta Phase 2 Tester email

Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 08:48:50 -0500

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Dear Ultima Online Beta Tester, As we promised , the second phase of the Ultima Online public Beta test is about to begin. CDs are being pressed and shipped even as you read this. As always, we thank those of you who have waited so patiently for so long.

The CDs will be mailed in lots of several thousand at a time, and we expect all of them to be in the mail by the end of this week. This does include all international testers' CDs. If you were in the Phase 1 Beta, you will be included in Phase 2 as well (but your Phase 1 CD will no longer work - your Phase 1 and Phase 2 CDs look EXACTLY alike, so mark your Phase 1 CD now so you'll know the difference). This phase of the test will officially start on July 9, meaning that with a bit of luck, the servers should be up and ready when testers begin to receive their Phase 2 CDs.

There are no plans to send out any further CDs (other than the Phase 2 CDs) for testing - updates and changes will be downloaded from our servers automatically upon connection. Your Phase 2 test CD's installation program will take you through the registration and logon processes. Your CDs will come with a unique serial number stickered to the CD sleeve - do NOT lose this number, you'll need it for registration, and probably several other times throughout the test. If you have any trouble, please use the customer support mail link on the Ultima Online web site (www.owo.com). Remember, ORIGIN Customer Support will not be able to offer phone support for this test. The duration of the test is undetermined at this time, but we anticipate ample playing time for all testers.

Those of you who participated in or followed Phase 1 will find this version dramatically improved, with new character art and animation and new option screens, some experiments with starting equipment that you should find intriguing, and of course improved play balance. There remain, however, many important balance issues that can only be addressed by the test itself, and we ask your patience and cooperation as we resolve them together.

Some realities of the testing environment for which we apologize in advance: we will have to take the servers down at unpredictable intervals for updates and adjustments. You should also expect to have all current characters erased at certain times, without warning, so that all testers will have to create new characters every so often. Also, it may be necessary at certain times during the test to limit server capacity (in order to insure that nobody ever receives a "server busy" message in the final game, such limits may be necessary during Beta). Please be assured that when such events occur, it is our priority to make them last as short a time as possible, and that they are for the good of the final game.

On the other hand, there will also be certain times when our goal will be to get everybody possible online all at once, to test the servers to their limits. Please plan to attend such events if at all possible. There will certainly be something interesting going on.

All of us here at ORIGIN have been immensely gratified at your keen interest in Ultima Online thus far, and we trust that with this phase of the public test, and with the approaching final release, we can show you that your faith and patience have been justified.

Your Obedient Servant, Lord British

P.S. On a personal note, my dear fellow citizens of the glorious lands of Britannia, a great challenge lies before us. The true nature of this world will only become clear to those who seek it. Those who follow the path of Virtue will surely know, as do I, what we must do to solve the problems of our world and others like it. Seek you to understand the truth of shattered Britannia!

UO-Patch Notes