Publish Notes from 2001-10-11

Publish 13.5

The following is a list of changes deployed on October 11, 2001 in between Publishes 13 and 14. It is now known colloquially as Publish 13.5.

Commodity Deeds

New items known as “commodity deeds” will give players the opportunity to transport and trade resources, of sizes that were previously unable to be held within a character's backpack, with greater ease and security than before.

Listed below are some additional details:

• Commodity deed “contracts” may be purchased from NPC bankers
  • Commodity Deeds are “blessed,” in that they cannot be stolen (if kept in the top level of one's backpack), and cannot be looted.
  • These contracts will appear in the form of a light green deed
• When first created, commodity deeds will be empty and hold no items
  • Empty commodity deeds will be labeled as “an unfilled commodity deed”
• The commodity deed may be filled by double-clicking the deed, then targeting an applicable item
  • The target item must be of a stackable type (ex. logs, ingots, or Mandrake Root)
  • The target item must be within the targeting character's bank box
  • The items which may fill a commodity deed are as follows:
    • bolts of cloth
    • pieces of cloth
    • pieces of leather
    • piles of folded cloth
    • piles of hides
    • arrows
    • crossbow bolts
    • feathers
    • shafts
    • boards
    • logs
    • Black Pearl
    • Blood Moss
    • Garlic
    • Ginseng
    • Mandrake Root
    • Nightshade
    • Spider's Silk
    • Sulphurous Ash
    • iron ingots
    • agapite ingots
    • bronze ingots
    • copper ingots
    • dull copper ingots
    • golden ingots
    • shadow iron ingots
    • valorite ingots
    • verite ingots
  • Commodity deeds can only be filled once
  • Attempts to re-fill a used commodity deed will display: “To claim the resources represented by this deed, drop it into your bank box.”
  • Used commodity deeds will be labeled as “a filled commodity deed,” along with a second notation in the form of “[item description] : [quantity]”
• Players may “cash in” a commodity deed by dropping it into her character's bank box
  • The “cashed in” commodities will appear in a stack in the bank box

Repair Service Contracts

One of the cornerstones of Ultima Online is the activity of players sharing items with other players in order to obtain repairs for their armor and weapons. A supplement to these transactions will now exist in the form of “repair service contracts.”

Listed below are some additional details:

• These contracts will appear in the form of a deed
  • Repair Service Contracts are “blessed,” in that they cannot be stolen (if kept in the top level of one's backpack), and cannot be looted.
  • The contracts will be labeled as “a repair service contract from a [level] blacksmith,” where [level] is the skill level title of the smith which has created the contract (i.e. apprentice, journeyman, expert, adept, master, or grandmaster, as appropriate).
• Characters with the blacksmith skill will be able to create the repair service contracts by performing the following steps:
  • Use a smithing tool as normal.
  • Choose the “Repair” option from the menu that appears.
  • Target a blank scroll. The scroll must be within the blacksmith's backpack.
  • The repair service contract will appear in the creating character's backpack.
• Blacksmiths will not gain skill by creating these contracts.
• These items cannot be sold on player vendors.
• Characters must be standing in an NPC blacksmith or armorer shop in order to use a repair service contract, as follows:
  • Double-click the repair service contract.
  • Target the item-to-be-repaired.
  • The used repair service contract will disappear after use.

Note that the current Blacksmithing repair methods will not be removed. Blacksmiths will still be able to gain skill by repairing items directly.

Secure House Trading

A method for increasing the security of house trading will implemented.

House transfer procedures will continue as normal, with the following modifications:

• The deed in the trade window which represents the house-to-be-traded will no longer list the house's name, but will instead list the house type
• Both the buyer and seller must both be within two paces of the house sign in order to initiate the trade