News

News ::  Jan 06 2009 6:10:22 pm  -  Added voting and donation stones
I did this a few days ago and forgot to mentioned it. You will notice two stones in luna. You can double click them to vote or donate. I also placed some vote stones in other hot spots and may add more. These stones can be reconfigured to go to any url (they default to the vote thread) so we may take advantage of them for other purposes. Was actually fairly easy to code too.
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News ::  Jan 04 2009 11:09:03 pm  -  December 2008 Server Report
I'll try to do this every month but wont commit to it since I'll probably end up forgetting and stuff. This is our bandwidth usage for this month. We are barely using all of our resources. We have a 100mbps uplink so plenty of bandwidth to spare! The spikes that you see are automated backup jobs for AoV as well as other data.
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In progress ::  Jan 04 2009 8:15:32 pm  -  Shard Revamp Information Thread
This thread serves as the central point of info on the 2009-2010 shard revamp. Please note that this is NOT a shard wipe. So you are not going to lose out on anything. However, some things may change such as artifacts/customs but we will reimburse equivalent items if we do in fact remove any items but there are no plans for sure. If you have mostly OSI items you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Throughout the years of AoV there have been many customs and other stuff added and we have strayed from what UO should be. The issue is some customs overpower what OSI has and without finishing everything OSI has, we should have never made this many customs. So the shard revamp is an effort to steer us back in the right direction. We are aiming to go OSI clone + some custom and some changes. But the rule of thumb will be 90% OSI 10% custom. Customs that do not affect game play like the in game chat or the event system are exempt from this and will remain. The revamp will also consist of major back end changes to clean up some of the nasty left overs of RunUO code. Some of the ML stuff is very hard to code using the existing system. We will either start from scratch and write a server engine in C++ or just totally revamp RunUO, which is our main goal. Below or the phases and steps that will be undertaken. This plan can change at an time. Each phase will most likely consist of a release. PHASE 1: backend - Make our current code base Linux compatible using Mono and fully test on Linux platform - Recode most core item/mobile/guild systems to use a MySQL back end instead of flat files. This will eliminate long world saves. - Redo the Item property system, move/add some classes around. The way weapon/armor derives is very badly designed and will be redone. PHASE 2: In game affecting existing stuff - Recode loot system to take advantage of new property system - Recode polymorph system to take advantage of new property system - Recode crafting system to take advantage of new property system - Add/fix any entries having to do with the above (ex: if a polymorph spell is not doing what it should, etc) PHASE 3: customs and ML - Remove most customs - Finish all of ML, code all the OSI artifacts/items that we are missing. (100's, if 1000's - this will be huge on it's own) - Rethink customs and reintroduce the ones that won't kill game play - Replace all existing customs (that were removed) with equivalent items or gold followed by a huge auction. This could change at any given time as we discuss things further. Note that this is very rough and there are many missing steps. The revamp is planned to be completed by September/October 2009 but only released by end of 2009 as there will be lot of beta testing and possibly changes as we progress. We want to ensure this goes in very smoothly and that everyone is happy. There is no expected downtime during any of these updates, other then regular server wars. The only possible downtime is when converting from file based to mysql, as there may be a data conversion required but we will plan to minimize downtime as much as possible. Also, this should not discourage players from playing on the current live server as the final product of the new server will be a mirror of what you have previously obtained, minus changes. For example, if you recently obtained an ornament of the magician, you will have that item on the new server. If you recently obtained an item that has been removed or changed, you will get the equivalent, or something of equal value. We may decide to reward a monetary value for the items as gold will be very valuable on the new server with the introduction of the exciting plan for an automated auction system which recycles items in the economy (More details provided later on).
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News ::  Jan 01 2009 12:05:53 am  -  EA to crack down on free shards by end of 2009
This should not affect us as we're still a small shard but something to consider. A video of some of the EA execs discussing shutting down some of the major shards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0 This can't be good.
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News ::  Dec 31 2008 4:22:46 pm  -  Happy New Year from AoV!
Happy new year everyone! Don't get too smashed or you might do stupid things like drop your whole suit in luna. :P This year also marks our 2nd anniversary (we actually launched around December 12th 06) I don't know what everyone's resolution is, but ours is to finish ML by end of 2009 and be running on a shiny new back end. I think it can be done.
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News ::  Dec 26 2008 6:56:41 pm  -  Video of Christmas event
This is a video I made of the final boss battle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5gEnG_7Bk Be sure to click "watch in hd" (realized my last one was not true hd) Enjoy.
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News ::  Dec 23 2008 5:40:37 pm  -  Winter Reapers spotted after massive blizzard!
A warning to all Sosarians, A massive snowstorm has left a blanket of fresh snow around the facets of Sosaria. Although it is not unusual to have a lot of snow this time of year, it has attracted an increased amount of winter reapers. Winter reapers are normally isolated to the winter spur in the Tokuno Islands due to the bone chilling temperatures. Winter reapers are sensitive to heat and rarely leave the confines of the frozen mountains. However, during larger snowstorms, the air becomes cold and frigid, allowing the winter reapers to move outside the winter spur. Winter reapers have caused fatalities in the past. Although they aren't that much worse than regular reapers, this particular variety does have a severe weakness to fire and a strong cold tolerance. The cold, frosty aura they send off has been the culprit of many deaths and it is not uncommon to find a frozen rabbit or bird corpse near their roots. The wildlife council of Yew has given permission to the citizens of Sosaria to destroy winter reapers if they pose a threat but caution those who may try to remove the beasts. They also request that the winter reapers not be bothered in their natural habitat of the Winter Spur as to not endanger the species. (Note: These winter reapers are spawned solely for the spirit of the season and don't drop any special loot).
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Event ::  Dec 22 2008 5:22:39 pm  -  CTF + Harrower (complete)
This ran yesterday and I recorded it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8YaDtrPwJ4 VERY quickly thrown together, I wanted to see how youtube HD looks like, turned out fairly good. Don't mind the music, like I said, was very quickly thrown together. :P that, and I forgot to record sound during capture, doh.
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Event ::  Dec 19 2008 10:40:16 pm  -  The threat that halted Christmas
While the battle between the santa elves and dark elves continues, there is a much bigger threat that has almost been forgotten. The dark elves have crafted this fight in order to draw attention away from the beast of the snow, also known as the Abominable Snow Man. He is the one holding Santa hostage and must be defeated! It is said that he will rise December 22nd! Sosarians are urged to prepare for this epic battle which may last multiple hours. This beast will be extremly difficult to deal with and have plenty of cold tricks up it's sleeve. Be ready for destruction. Unlike many rumors, he is actually very resistant to fire but burning coals may still help. Continue to collect coal as you go along as while it is often seen as a bad thing to have on Christmas, it may possibly save Christmas! More coverage to be made durring and after the battle.
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News ::  Dec 18 2008 5:15:25 pm  -  A reminder about the 3 account limit (per person)
This is a reminder that there is a 3 account limit. I have a feeling some may have more then 3 accounts. I've seen some possibility but never investigated further as I was busy with something else when I would notice. Please note that when we switch over to the new account system we WILL be looking for these and any extra accounts will either be banned or not be accessible. The new system will be this way by design. But before the time comes I am warning so if you do have more then 3 accounts be sure to delete the characters in the one you do not want and it will be automatically deleted at server restart. The new system will allow us to do more in depth reporting on account usage trends and it will be easier to pin point who has more then 3 accounts.
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