Publish Notes from 2006-05-18

Publish 40 Additions, Changes, and Fixes

UO Team 05 May 2006 00:00:00 EST

Publish 40 contains a number of game updates and bug fixes. This article contains an updated summary of the game improvements that will come about with Publish 40.

Features

• Buff/debuff (Server-side support to enable feature)
• Targeting (Target Hostile cycle macro support)
• Humility Cloak Quest
• New Buddy Reward selections
• Added a book “The Shattering” into bank boxes

PVP

• It is no longer possible to cast explosion or use an explosion scroll if another explosion spell or scroll is already in progress
• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to temporarily be over the skill cap
• Balanced weapon speeds. Weapon speed is now displayed in seconds.
• Backstab, Focus Attack, Ki Attack, and Momentum Attack now do less damage against players
• The bonus to damage from Evil Omen has been reduced against players
• Damage bonus from Perfection and Honor will no longer affect players
• Honorable Execution no longer works against players
• Poison Strike. Casting time has been increased slightly from 6 to 7, and the minimum base damage has been decreased from 36 to 32
• Death Strike now clears its stalking bonus correctly. This fix also effects Backstab and Surprise Attack
• Capped Stalking Bonus based on stalker's Tracking Skill. Stalking bonus is now capped at 10 + 1/10 skill
• Players who use a wand to cast a spell are now frozen for a few seconds while the targeting cursor comes up
• Changed the way wands work so players cannot use them while casting other spells
• Ki attack no longer works with archery
• Dog and cat animal forms now regain hit points at a faster rate
• Mana vampire and paralyze now flag as criminal
• Fixed a flagging issue that involved attacking another player while in animal form
• Damage from blood oath and damage reflect armor will no longer stack
• Fixed an issue where auto-defend would override a player's current target
• Actively attacking a target while in peace mode will now put you into war mode
• Hit-area weapon effects now check for line of sight
• Re-applying a stat altering spell now resets the duration of the spell correctly
• Improved the behavior when two stat altering spells that affect the same stat in the opposite direction are applied to a player.
• Fixed an issue with the PVM damage cap not working correctly in certain cases involving slayer weapons

Misc

• Lowered the amount of points it takes to increase tiers at the Zoo Community Collection
• Lowered the number of points for a buckler in the Library Collection from 16 down to 9
• Placing an Arcane focus stone into a Sacrificial Altar will now destroy it immediately
• Fixed an issue where the True Harrower did not appear sometimes after the Harrower was killed
• Summoned bonded pets (for example Paroxysmus Swamp Dragon) can no longer be dispelled by creatures such as Dull Copper Elementals
• Added a fix for some pets (ferrets/Squirrels) to prevent them from having their hit points lowered under certain conditions
• It is no longer possible to engrave pets
• Creatures with spellcasting with a Range of 9 tiles will now be able to reach 10 tiles
• Players who have over 200 points of skill who try to use an Advanced Character Token now get a message telling them why their action failed
• Fixed an issue where some books were appearing as “A Buggy Book”
• Repair deeds no longer decay quickly when left on the ground
• Gypsy bankers no longer give the appearance that they can train skills
• Parrots can now mimic Japanese text
• Fixed the width of the “yes” and “no” text fields on the murder reporting gump, so they wouldn't be truncated in Japanese
• Moved the exit in the Blighted Grove Peerless encounter area
• Bloodwood Talisman now gives a bonus to necromancy as intended