Update 4/13/2010 ( 119 Replies (Page: 1 2 3) )
Ryan on Tue, April 13th, 2010 @ 10:18am

So we're well on our way to finalizing what you can now consider a complete overhaul of Divinity. Divinity in it's current iteration was obviously not working. We've decided to change things up (quite massively) to offer an entirely new experience the day of our 'patch'.

I think at this point due to the sheer amount of work we've done calling this a patch is really an injustice. We've essentially redesigned Divinity from the ground up.

I figured I'd share some of the details of what we're working on to give you an idea of how far we went into the details on this to make things better for you, our players.

1 - Complete revamp of monster AI and loot tables associated with them to ensure you have a challenging and fun filled pvm experience.
2 - We overhauled lockpicking and fixed lockpicking chests in dungeons
3 - We're working on and hope to have for day 1 a completely new quest system in place which will allow you to gain rare items as well as other things I cant currently share!
4 - We're working on a much tighter integration to the website which will essentially allow you to manage your account and players from the website. This could even include web based character creation depending on how much time we have before launch (no promises on that though!).
5 - We've essentially FIXED PVP by going back to 2.0 Publish 1 as a starting point and building in fixes from there.
6 - Complete removal of XML spawner.
7 - Complete world respawn (every single NPC will be removed and all new spawns will be imported for the 'patch').

There are many more items going into this and I will gladly let MasterM share his thoughts of what he's been seeing and playing with on the dev server and test server. If he wants to share any more of the details he's more than welcome to do so but I don't want to ruin the surprise by sharing too much.

As for "updates"....

I get the feeling that because I'm not providing updates to you all the time you feel as though I am not working on the server... and nothing could be more untrue. This server is getting attention every single day... and has been getting said attention since I announced the house cleaning a few months back.

Unfortunately the damage done to the shard was essentially catastrophic and has required what one could consider a complete and careful rebuild to ensure things are fixed and all exploits are closed... not to mention the sheer amount of issues with overall game play and just the non-existent "fun factor".

Day 1 of the 'relaunch' will surely be a day which I believe will change the way you think about Divinity and UOGamer's as a brand. We don't take our shards lightly and have always worked hard to provide a good gaming experience for our players. Since I've essentially relegated all of the daily activities for Hybrid to Mark it has freed me up to work on Divinity which has always been my favorite UO era and project.

While some of you don't like the way I've done this or don't agree with the process questioning our commitment is not going to get us anywhere. We've obviously been working our asses off and when we open this thing up to the public you'll get a quick taste of what our success feels like and instantly return to those days where Ultima Online was the only craving we had.

When this game came out it was essentially a new kind of drug. We were all addicted and we all loved that feeling... that feeling of being a newbie and immersing ourselves into a virtual life it was a kind of "high"... unfortunately that experience is completely lost on Divinity and about the only thing left is dueling for houses. I refuse to let that be what this shard is all about and I promise you when you start playing this latest version it will be like the old proverbial "high" we all miss.

This project is not something I've taken lightly and I assure you the results will be nothing less than astonishing.

Regards,
Ryan

Ventrilo To Use Until Divinity Vent is Back On Line. ( 0 Replies )
Backdraft on Fri, March 19th, 2010 @ 1:45pm

You are all free to use this thanks to wgehalo



HeavyFlow.clanvent.com
Port: 5912

Be advised:
Myself and FromFirstToLast are the admins.

It is my understanding that any Divinity Players will be able to use this Vent for playing Divinity Shard.
Thanks again whehalo for your support of the shard.

Spam Bot attack ( 0 Replies )
Backdraft on Fri, February 26th, 2010 @ 8:36am

Just want to say that im sorry if some spam gets by me. I have been busy for over an hour now removing posts, threads started and terminating accounts of numerous spam bots.

It seems we are being targeted by someone. I will do my best to keep up for as long as I can.

Prisoner Spawns ( 14 Replies )
Sadus on Fri, February 12th, 2010 @ 12:46pm

The prisoner spawns have been updated, fixed, and re-released. To get a clue on the location of each prison, go talk to Laken in Moonglow.

Upon completion of the quest, a player has a chance to receive a nice reward depending on the difficulty of the spawn encountered.

-Sadus

Puzzle? ( 0 Replies )
Sadus on Tue, February 09th, 2010 @ 10:47pm

In the depths of Deceit, south of the poison elementals of level 3, is a room with a strange puzzle. Players must match up 3 (sometimes 4) levers in the correct position, then stand near the magical sparkle to see if the combination is correct.

A correct guess leads to a silver, medium quality magic weapon, plus the chance at another rare item.

An incorrect guess could lead to several different outcomes, depending on player ability and luck. Everything from piles of snakes to blade spirits to "Death". If you can last 2 minutes in a locked pit against Death, you're doing pretty good.

If a player solves the puzzle, the puzzle remain inactive for 3 hours before randomizing itself.

*If the sparkle is not seen or no messages are being received, the spawn is recharging.

-Sadus

PS: This is temporary.

Upgrade and Update ( 11 Replies )
Ryan on Tue, February 09th, 2010 @ 12:22pm

I know some of you are just dying for more news - as you can see our commitment to Divinity still remains strong. Last night we made a large scale improvement to the overall experience of Divinity by moving it to new hardware. The hardware is about 10x better than what Divinity was running on previously.

As for the code/beta progress...

I haven't got it done! I suck and I should be flogged - I guess you can line up and have at it!

I actually spoke with Mark this morning while he and I were doing the move and we both agreed pushing the beta right now would be a bad idea as it's just not ready! I'm still working on it and Mark and I are going to do some code stress testing and perhaps we'll get it knocked out this week and start bringing some of you in to test! I'll keep you updated (like I have been) but alas it just isn't done yet!

I'm still committed to getting this done... just have some patience and it will all be worth it!

Hardware Upgrade ( 3 Replies )
Mark on Tue, February 09th, 2010 @ 4:58am

Divinity will be unavailable for the next few hours while we work on moving it over to new hardware.

This hardware upgrade should result in a noticeable increase in performance.

We sincerely appreciate your patience and we will let you know as soon as we have a more specific time estimate.

EDIT: Divinity's IP address is now 208.43.1.25; the hostname login.uodivinity.com has been updated to reflect this change.

EDIT #2: Migration is complete.

Server Maintenance ( 18 Replies )
Mark on Mon, February 08th, 2010 @ 1:06pm

Maintenance complete.

Thank you for your patience.

Deceit LL Room ( 12 Replies )
Sadus on Fri, February 05th, 2010 @ 11:50am

Has been converted into a progressive spawn starting with basic liches. Continual farming of the spawn will lead to harder mobs. Good source of mid level magics, silver and other surprises.

Hint: If you hear bells, the progression is triggered. If you see fiery explosions, get ready..

Feedback thread in the PvM section is up, please give positive feedback for modifications.

-Sadus

PS: Harder liches will feed into the lich rewards (statues) at different rates depending on difficulty of the mob.

Deceit Level 4 ( 0 Replies )
Sadus on Mon, February 01st, 2010 @ 4:51pm

Deceit level 4 has been updated as to award a milestone like achievement upon the killing of a certain amount of lich lords. That amount is for you to discover in due time.

The spawn has been adjusted slightly in other areas of the level.

Enjoy.