2001-12 Newsletter

Ultima Online Newsletter: December 2001

• Fan Event News — News from the Ultima Online Fanfest 2001.
• Special Announcements — Featured promotions and special offers.
• What's New? — New and exciting information from the game.
• Ultima OOC — Out of character tidbits from the developers.
• New at UO.com — Latest website developments and updates.
• Ask Dawn/Blackthorn Says — Witty commentary from two prominent figures in UO.

Fan Event News

Sign up for the Online Worlds FanFest 2002!

This January 11th and 12th marks the second annual Online Worlds FanFest!This year's event at the Austin Renaissance Hotel will feature a wide array of sessions hosted by the UO team and speakers such as PC gaming icons Will Wright, creator of The Sims™, Brett Sperry, creator of Command and Conquer™, and Gordon Walton of The Sims Online™.

Fans can also attend a session hosted by Todd McFarlane, originator of the widely successfully Spawn™ series on Saturday, January 12th, and visit with Todd and the UO dev team during the Happy Hour event immediately following Saturday's sessions! For more information, visit the Online Worlds FanFest 2002 Homepage at http://www.onlineworldsfanfest.com. See you there!

Special Announcements

Into the Future of Ultima Online™: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge

If you haven't seen the newest incarnation of Ultima Online, visit the UO: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge website! We've teamed up with Todd McFarlane, the award-winning creator of Spawn, to bring a whole new look to parts of Ultima Online. If you've been to the site before, you'll want to know that even more content has been added, including an updated assortment of new creature renderings, new fiction by Austen Andrews, and beautiful digital music files. Read more about it at http://www.uolbr.com/

What's New

Publish 14 is here!

With our latest publish, we've implemented several new features, such as new crafting tools and transparent menus, a bulk order deed system for smiths, and a whole lot more! For more information on these changes and more, peruse the Latest Game Updates page at http://www.uo.com/latest.html.

The Virtues

Whether you've always wanted to experience more "Ultima" in Ultima Online, or whether you're new to the Ultima™ universe, you'll want to read up on the new Virtue system! This proposed system will reward players for actively pursuing activities associated with each of the eight virtues first detailed in the original Ultima PC game series. Do you have what it takes to be one of the virtuous? For more information, see our Virtue System Proposal doc in the Update Center at http://update.uo.com/design_387.html.

Ultima OOC

Interviews

This month, Stratics had the opportunity to interview Daniel "FierYiCe" Buckler of the UO Live Team about himself, as well as different aspects of the Champion spawn system. An excerpt:

Q: "A third Champion (vermin) was recently summoned. How satisfied are you with the frequency (or infrequency) of Champion success?"

A: "Yeah, Barracoon. He's actually my favorite because he can make players dance in 3D. I did address some issues in publish 14 that will make it a little easier to summon the Champions. I was disappointed in how infrequently they were showing up, only twice now. Publish 14 should take care of that…"

Want to read more? You can find the complete interview at Stratics.

New at UO.com

Comments from the Team

Get to know your Ultima Online development and support teams through the continuing introductions, bios, and general thoughts posted in the Comments from the Team section of the UO.com Update Center! Comments from the Team for the past month include Alai, Adrick, and GM Mustang. See current and past comments at http://update.uo.com/comments.html!

Ask Dawn/Blackthorn Says

"Growing up with my Grandfather, a royal knight, I heard many stories about Lord Blackthorn and how he favored chaos over order. Even though I was raised to stay away from chaos, the peer pressure sometimes made things difficult. Some of my friends were always trying to get me to use chaos shields, but my Grandfather's words stayed with me. I wish more people would talk openly with their children about chaos."

"Dawn... who? This is the first time I've heard of her. Honestly, why would I notice a simple farm girl? Does she have a big mechanical claw?"