Ultima Online’s publish 101 has begun rolling out to the first-wave production servers today, meaning the update will trickle out to the rest of the servers soon enough.
As we’ve previously noted, the update includes an anniversary gift that ties into what’s effectively an astronomy system for the game, with telescopes, orreries, constellation charting, and nifty perks for cartographers. There’s also a new detective quest and new caddellite crafting for multiple crafting skills.
Broadsword’s latest newsletter recaps the game’s castle and keep contest, which allowed players to submit new designs for the largest buildings in the game, the best of which are destined for inclusion in the update – at extremely expensive prices, mind you. The studio says the high gold price is just one more way to combat inflation in the 21-year-old sandbox.
“As far as the costs of these homes in relation to legacy housing, we want to share with you why these homes cost substantially more than a standard castle. One of the top 5 most common areas of feedback we receive is that the game world lacks adequate gold sinks to effectively combat inflation within the economy. One of the most effective ways to combat this is pulling gold out of the game by providing high end luxury items. A castle is the most luxurious item Britannia has to offer, and the new designs are the top end of that luxury. Gold is by no means in short supply, and rallying around the fundraising efforts for luxury items is one of the greatest motivators for group activity in our beloved MMO.”
Players have compiled all the entries on Stratics, making for an incredible screenshot repository of what’s possible housing-wise within Ultima Online in 2018.
The Halloween events and Khaldun loot drop event are technically part of this patch as well, though it won’t technically turn on until October.
