View source for Updates in 2003

==Lastest Updates==
===29 Dec 2003===
* Kill quests get a 60 min timeout.

===24 Nov 2003===
* fixed monsters with wrong names on their heads
* fixed time jitter
* blinking from a raft will make you exit the raft if u end up on land
* right shift & control now work as they should have from day one

==1.004 - 3 Dec 2003==
http://forums.swut.net/viewtopic.php?t=440

* All spells circle 2 and over will require an equipped mage-staff. An Mani will go to level 2, while An Nox & Ex Uus will become level 1. This is aimed at separating mages & fighters. They will not be balanced for PvP, but who cares about PvP. They will be co-dependant for adventuring however.

* Resurrection tax: SCRAPPED (drop gold on death now, except for pk's)

* Banking tax: 1% of item value per transaction. Eg, taking out that sword worth 50k will cost you 500 gold. This is a gold sink.

* Regular merchants will now buy your magic items, but no, there will be no merchant selling magic items. This is aimed at destroying the magic items in circulation. There are far too many.

* Item level/skill requirements. AC+ items will require 10 levels per +1, so that +3 of defense will now require you to be level 30. Weapons (slayers) will require 10 skill points per +1 of that weapon. Stat boosters will require 2 levels per +1. A +20 INT ring will require level 40. This is aimed at stopping newbie tanks.

* Bosses rarer: now 2x as rare as before. This is aimed at reducing magic item production.

* Prices for un-id'd and cursed items are up. This again is aimed at encouraging people to get rid of them.

* NERFS: skill gains slowed, esp for magic. Ebony and Adamantium are now 2x as rare (6x as rare combined with boss rareness). XP gain nerfed, esp for bigger monsters (eg dragons down from 3k to 2k). Prices of mag items dropped. Max value of stat items down from +50-ish to +25-ish.

* BEEFS: vampyric weps more effective, since Vas Mani will be off limits for fighters. Tactics more effective on AS. AS has been upped by 20% anyway, since AC's are currently too high. slaying drops up from max of +6 to +9 or +10. Again aimed at balancing AS & AC, as well as giving fighters a boost. 

== 1.003 - 23 Nov 2003==
*  added blink spell (IP)
* fixed telefrag bug
* fixed grav por for moving targets (this spell should be core MU spell now - get some INT)
* cursed & unid'd items are now sellable
* price of unweld & curse scrolls dropped, and are more available
* waterfalls cascade players properly
* mag merch sells only his 10 most recent items
* nerfed adamantium, nerfed ebony (armour only)
* client side clock is more accurate (sunsets should be smoother when standing still)
* npcs will only reply if they are flagged as quest npcs
* merchants dissappear at nite
* stat points loss on level up bug
* disabled XC vs players on PD
* VYR AC now 40 (was 30)

===20 Nov===
* experimental magic merchant with REAL Dynamic inventory
* added emoting
* fixed inventory sync lag drama
* unarmed critical is a fraction rarer
* cursed items on ground will decay
* press up when chatting will let u resend last message
* when polymorphed, you must now use a melee attack 

==1.002 - 13 Nov 2003==
http://forums.swut.net/viewtopic.php?t=373

* raft
* grappling hook
* buccaneer's den
* time, day & night
* fountains
* shaded lighting

===24 Oct===
* finished off magic resistance calculations - you may not even notice the difference
* renamed the 3 jeweled amulets to necklaces
* magic merchant has more stock & more variety
* revised pricing system for magic weps - items affected are stat boosters & night vision mainly - their prices have increased dramatically
* magic rings slightly more common in chests. Unenchanted jewelry MUCH less common in monster drops (was a bug)
* revised ban control code
* reapers are now immobile (forgot to test - hope it works)
* added pants merchant in izumi to the non-PD shard

===20 Oct===
Fixed a massive client memory leak & made some drastic changes to how the dat files are transferred in order to fix numerous problems. Not much else made it in tho that wasn't already in the post above.

===19 Oct===
* when making a character, you decide on a password
* equippable rings, amulets and trousers! Infact, there are two ring slots.
* the ready inventory 'dialog' now displays little icons next to readied items, just like Ultima V
* players can now see their own health bar. You can turn it off by pressing H if you don't like it
* when poisoned, the health bar in the bottom right corner of the screen turns green
* new tiles for chain boots, leather gloves, normal gloves. Added new tiles for the trousers (see below)
* strength requirements for equipping items has increased from 5x to 8x (if you don't know what this means, you now need to be 60% stronger, overall - most ppl wont notice this, but it means you can't deck out in full plate till your strength is about 120)
* quite a number of cosmetic fixes no-one will ever notice

I've added 5 rings, 6 amulets and 4 wearable pants. The pants are:
* padded leggins
* leather leggins
* chain leggins
* greaves

Now trousers are meant to complement the other armour. Consequently, the AC's of all body armour as been nerfed down. But the overall, a full set of matching armour will give you a slightly higher AC than before. Coupled with the tougher str reqs, it should balance somewhat. 

===16 Oct 2003===
* Permanent death server created.

===12 Oct===
* players now res with 1 hp rather than full hp
* have removed the magic property 'resist poison'. Added the mag property 'vigour', which boosts your mana regen. All items that were 'resist poison' are now 'vigour' enchanted.
* added the magic property 'leeching'. This is a mana stealing item, and applies to weapons only. It works the same as vampyric. This is an enchantment, not a material, so it is possible to have a weapon that is both vampyric & leeching!
* have added a new item 'swamp boots'. Swamp boots are out of u5/u6 (u6 I'm sure of), and you'll resist poison from SWAMPS ONLY if you're wearing them. There is now NO way to resist poison from Poisonous attacks, including other players' venomous weapons
* server speed & memory usage optimisations that amuse only myself - everyone else should care less since they don't effect play
* party chat
* private / whispering
* magic weapons are now valued accordingly & can be sold at higher than non-magic prices
* added magic wep merchant & a merchant that sells teh last of the spells in an ULTRA SECRET LOCATION :cool:
* permadeth is coded
* Vas Mani nerfed to circle 6
* no pking of players under level 5
* added tower shield and field plate
* bug fixes 

===7 Oct===
* astray TP bug fixed
* look bug fixed
* res bug fixed probably
* did a workaround for cath's stop/reconnect bug
* invis teleporter support
* cross-level teleporter support

==1.0 - 2 Oct 2003==
* server side player files

===15 Sep===

* movement speeds slowed in forest, swamp, hills and scrub
* AI efficiency improvements
* barriers now appear as a pink force field
* lava (it burns)
* + other bug / cheeze fixes
* Also added Catherine's most excellent Minotaur halls maps.

===8 Sep===
*fixed a lot of crashing

===6 Sep===
* new maps

===16 Aug===
* IP BANNING.
* Player jails
* summon slots (thanks gerrard): you can now only summon 2 demons at a time, or 1 drag, or 5 skels. So much for being a power mage.
* polymorph self now up to 20 sec duration, from 10 sec. AC for polymorph is now 30, while AS stays at 20, and dmg is 4d8.
* Fixed some network dramas, maybe. Hoped to have fixed fatal network choke the servers been experiencing lately.
* Named items - eg, look out for Neinars Bane, the poisoned longsword + 6, or something. Just a slight change, but can make for some interesting sounding weapons at least.
* more hack checks
* fixed player STR/INT buffed item removal where HP & Mana werent instantly dropping to what they should be (they were staying buffed).
* I'll probably put some new tiles in, namely 3 types of minotaur (yes, made by Lurid, I'm sure he's told you this already). Also made a red orc variant. Looking to add more of Broden's trolls soon.

===13 Aug===
* attempt #2 at addressing lag cheezing through doors
* ogres are no longer ranged
* you can no longer sell fish
* added some material effects

===7 Aug===
* summoned creatures will now cast magic if they can
* enemies will attack your pets if they are adjacent to them. This means that you can use a pet as a decoy while you step back and have a rest or whatever
* pets give you or your party 1/3 of the exp of the creature they killed.
* death penalty has been put down to 2.5% of exp.

===4 Aug===
Player death now incurs a 5% experience points penalty. Ie, you have 100k xp, you die, you'll lose 5k xp.

However, the good news is that obtaining levels after 25 is now easier. I've posted the revised xp table on the main page in the characters section. Also, monsters are now giving 50% more xp per kill, so xp should go up 50% faster. So really, it's all balanced in the end, and having to run to save your ass is now a little more important.

Don't mind if your over level 25, and your next kill puts you up about 5 levels. You're level is just accommodating itself to the new xp table.

Also tweaked treasure spawning. Gold should be dropped a little more often, and boss monsters, although a little rarer now, will always drop a magic item. Also renamed hiking boots to chain boots, and put leather boots into the light armour category. Renamed iron helm to full helm.

Magic items now also have a rare chance to be of a special material - eg silver, adamantium, gold, ebony and glass. Apart from looking pretty, silver weapons also do 50% more damage vs undead. 

===28 July===
* meditation skill goes up a bit quicker
* can no longer chat to your summoned npcs
* bosses drop magic weapons a little more often now
* effective maximum player movement speed bumped up a little
* known spell list is now sorted by circle order 

===27 July===
* meditation now actually works if you have low HP max and Low med skill (thanks to crappy rounding and poor foresight). Meditation also restores mana now, but you will have your med interrupted if you get swung at - even if it's a miss (i.e, no more med during combat)
* magic monsters cast a little less aggressively, but will cast occasionally even when you are standing next to them (so running up to them no longer works)
* quests now give xp - they were always meant to, it was a bug that they didn't
* water creatures don't hammer you so badly from so far away

===23 July===
I've just patched the server so you can do ultima-V style conversations with NPC's. Note that at the moment, only the Lich/Xile quest (in monferrato) as well as Max the trainer Druid in Nordhausen actually use this new feature - the old guard quests and the book quests use the old style. I can't be bothered at the moment updating them all.

However, I have a 5 level quest made by Urgue which I'm just polishing off, and it will feature the new conversation system. As you may imagine, a whole lot more info, story, whatever can be packed into the dialog with the NPC. 

===11 July===
* added mediation
* combined lumberjacking and woodworking
* scrapped tinkering
* revised smithing & woodcrafting

===5 July===
* monsters casting spells

===27 June===
* Encumberance is on
* health bars are different colours depending on creature alignment
* potions will now heal a random amount - you might get fully healed, or there may be only a small effect. Same goes for Mana (blue) potions
* Xen Corp and Quas An Wis now work (finally)
* maximum effective dex for walking speed is now 100
* fix quest / NPC not accepting item bug (hopefully)
* fix disappearing gold on death on stairs bug (hopefully)
* client won't allow movement of player in heavy lag (so now you can't cheeze your way through locked doors) - if this makes your movement a little jumpy, which it won't, then tough
* boss monsters now drop magic weapons & armour only 1/3 of the time, instead of 100% of the time
* merchants will pay only 1/3 of an item's value instead of 3/4 when selling
* Town portals can only be placed on empty squares
* when invis and polymorphed, you'll see the correct avatar (shadowed dragon)
* fixed/removed 'target moved' splats in PvP & other combat
* changed 'attack with NOTHING' to 'attack with bare hands' 

===25 June===
* added bank
* added Buccaneer's Den

===21 June===
* Groups/parties (where xp is shared when monsters are killed)
* Mani, Vas Mani, and An Nox all can now be cast on other players (and creatures!)
* You can now see other player's missiles
* improved (but not final) missile tile
* waterfalls (lava maybe next time)
* new troll tile (thx broden), new wizard tile, boat parts, mandrake's wizard tower (thx mandrake), lighthouse tile
* boat travel slightly more sophisticated than just pressing space on the dock

'''backend stuff'''
* rewrote magic slightly to allow for easier expansion. look out for spells like In nox, more summon spells, hell, whatever's in the UO playguide that doesn't suck
* hopefully fixed server crashes
* turn now is de-powered. it kills creatures depending on your intelligence. if it doesn't kill them, it doesn't harm them either. Also, it's now unlikely anyone will ever turn a vamp or lich.
* an-mani does damage proportional to your intelligence. It might be too powerful now.

Along with the patch will be stage one of the underworld open, and one new town, + a replacement for Izumi. To get between the continents, go to Izumi (yes its a port now) and take a boat. You'll need to buy a ticket - just talk to bluebeard if you can't figure it out.

With parties, type /inv whilst standing next to another player to invite them to your party. If you don't have a party, one will be created. It's all not very fancy - however it does work. Any monsters killed by a party member will give a portion of XP to any alive party member within sight of the player who killed it.

If you leave the game you'll lose your party membership and have to be re-invited. You can kick ppl out of the party, and list who's in your party - these commands have yet to be finalised. 

* ai fixes
* an mani now does 3d4+1 per 20 int
* an xen ex (charm) now works
* claymore does 2d6, 2h axe 1d11, halberd 3d5 !
* damage bonus +1 per 30 str for combat
* skill and xp gains reduced again
* fixed quest xp bug
* fixed stat bonus/levelling bug 

===16 June===
* added Abyss & Wizard's Tower

===11 June===
* revised combat using a mod of 3rd ed DnD as opposed to 2nd ed
* slower combat
* slowed down leveling (revised xp table)

===4 June===
* nearly finished ranged weapons
* Added Grav Por
* Targeting recticle
* moved item usage server side
* more dm commands

===2 June===
* player merchants
* started ranged weapons
* DM possessing NPCs
* lots of DM NPC modding commands

===27 May===
* getting quests working properly
* nordhaven guard quests

===24 May===
* spawner weights
* fixed summoned creature AI
* added KX
* Also changed Sanct Lor (invis) so that if you hit a creature you lose the invis.

===22 May===
* player levels

===21 May===
* boss monsters
* treasure spawners

===20 May===
* rewrote monster treasure system

==unversioned initial release: 3 Apr, 2003==
No actual changes since Oct 2002.