Game Update: January 2024

Introduction

It's a new year, and a great time to lay out what's going on with our game. As we step into 2024, we're excited to share our vision and the proactive steps we're taking to ensure the game's ongoing success and evolution. This update includes a rundown of our priority items and our action plan for the months ahead.

Your engagement is vital to us. Whether you're a dedicated player or a valued supporter contributing through donations or subscriptions, your role in our community is indispensable. We're incredibly grateful for your continued support and enthusiasm. Together, let's make this year the best one yet for our game!

What we are working on

New Player enhancements & New Player Island

• Ocllo/Haven Island with New Player Dungeon & more content for newer players
• Extension of Young Player duration (providing more time to play as a Young Player)
• See more of our current New Player plans here: https://trello.com/c/FQUuKTgr

PVP balancing (player versus player)

• On-going balancing efforts for player-versus-player encounters
• See more of our current PVP Balance plans here: https://trello.com/c/YoKynuNu

Multi-level building support

• We've achieved some success with adding multi-level support to the game via our SoB Launcher game extension
• We will need to perform Unity updates to every building in the game to complete this feature
• We are still experimenting and is not guaranteed to be added to the game

Naval Warfare

• cannons
• new mining material & crafting recipes to obtain
• grappling (for piracy & fetching loot from wreckages)
• NPC warships

New water content & water pets

• Will be able to use cannons to take out water creatures & NPC ships
• New pets coming: Shark (aquatic mount), Water Wyvern (amphibious) & Water Dragon (aquatic)
• Audits to collision inside of water that currently blocks passage in some spots
• Completion of collision around incomplete islands

House Collapse changes

• We're considering offering house decay warnings to players on login if their account owns a house and it needs refreshing (same for boats)
• We're considering offering to send Patron-bound items to the owner's account if a house collapses
• Houses that are IDOC (in danger of collapsing) will soon have their contents put into barrels when the house collapses, requiring players to punch their way through the barrels to look for loot
• Considering: IDOC Announcement Board for players to see houses that are nearing collapse

What is being planned or in discussion

Combat Balancing

• We've got ongoing discussions in the team to try to balance combat. Recently we have tried some different changes and they were reverted for further review.
• We plan to conduct more testing in the near future

PVE Content

• We are continuously looking for ways to enhance our existing PVE content and explore opportunities to introduce new content
• Our plans include continuous addition of more exciting content, which will feature new abilities for monsters, making each adventure engaging and unpredictable

Crafter Pets (previously Tinkering Golems)

• Introducing new pet options for crafters, currently in discussion: Craftable Construct beings, Ore Elementals that can be subjugated & tamed via Tinkering trap
• These pets will have durability instead of health and will need repaired with materials like Ore & Reagents
• These pets are intended to be useful for both PVP & PVE

Evolving Pets/End-game Taming

• We're looking into the possibility of end-game pets, commonly referred to Evo Pets in the UO community
• These pets would start out as smaller, weaker beings and you would train them to grow and evolve into tougher beings, with different species to pick from
• We've got a few new pet models ready to use for something like this, like beautiful new Dragons

Player Jails

• We're discussing the possibility of adding a Jailing system where players can "press charges" against their murderers. The culprits could then be captured and sent to jail to serve a sentence for their actions. This is a rough idea, and there's no solid plans or ideas yet.

What we've completed recently

Seasonal Challenges

• We've completed Season 1 and have just started Season 2
• Seasonal challenges offer a large variety of tasks for players to engage in, accruing points to unlock vast rewards

New mini-games

• Snowball Fight (available now near Windemere)
• Jousting (available now in Vesper)
• MOBA Game (was used with Chucky Doll for Halloween, will continue to iterate)
• more to come: Life Size Chess, and Texas Hold'em Poker

Water & Boating Expansion

• We've expanded the waters of the world. Previously only 2 regions were prepared for players to drive their boats around in, now every online region is capable of being sailed in.

Music & Sound Additions

• We've deployed several custom Music tracks written by previous team-member Beekel & some additional tracks sourced elsewhere by our team
• We've also added dozens of new sounds that may sound exactly like our favorite classic game!
• We will continue to expand and add more as time permits, including additional or replacement Sounds, Ambience tracks, and Music
• Disclaimer: All recognizable sound-effects incorporated in our project have been sourced from the US Library of Congress and are classified as Public Domain content.

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There's much more that we haven't listed here, to see a list of recent patch notes, check out our News page here: https://shardsofbritannia.com/search/query:patchnote

Marketing

We periodically run paid ad campaigns on popular marketing platforms like Google, TikTok and other social media outlets from time to time. As you may know, advertising is very costly, so we are unable to run paid ads all the time. We try to run campaigns when it is strategically advantageous.

We've recently completed a polishing pass on our website to improve education for new players & to improve the general flow for new visitors, as this is where we point advertising viewers to when they click on our ad.

Joining Hands with Our Community

Fostering Positivity & Good Vibes

• We highly value the power of positive and productive interactions among our players. While we recognize the importance of expressing one's thoughts and emotions, it's crucial to ensure these expressions contribute positively to our community. Voicing opinions in a manner that isn't constructive or beneficial could potentially discourage new players from participating in discussions or trying out our game. Critiques about the game are not discouraged; however, we request you to frame them constructively.

Spreading the Word

• Your help in promoting our game would be greatly appreciated! We invite all members to share their experiences with friends, family, or anyone who might be interested. Whether they're fans of Ultima games or Ultima Online, or simply enjoy online sandbox games without any prior knowledge of Ultima, your word-of-mouth recommendations can make a significant difference. Please remember to do so respectfully and considerately.

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Reminder, as previously scheduled, Xmas Activities have come to an end. Santa will remain until the end of the month for you to finalize any trades & purchases.

The Christmas House Decoration contest deadline is Jan 12th and the judging will commence at that time with prizes announced shortly after, you can enter and see current entries here: https://discord.com/channels/369023244038045697/1186715359647113287

The Christmas Lottery deadline is Jan 15th and the drawing will commence at that time with prizes announced shortly after

Happy new year!

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• Some items that can be stolen in dungeons have been fixed. Previously, players were unable to see these items in order to steal them.

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The Map page has been updated to reflect the new world boundaries for boating: https://map.shardsofbritannia.com/

Edit: The map has been updated once more to add Yellow lines along the shared waterways/harbors in Yew/Skara, Britain/Cove, and Minoc/Wind. The following labels have also been added: Incomplete Area (off-limits), Castle Britannia, Yew Jails, Snowball Fight Arena

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We've deployed the following fixes:

• fixed an issue with lag occurring, that is perceivable to all other players in the region, when players log-in or transfer regions
• fixed an issue with Mining Caves not being mineable

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• Selection issues with the 4-year veteran ethereal spider mount have been fixed. You will need to re-log into the game.

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• New Corrupted Dragons have now been added inside dungeon Destard
• For a limited time, you can now buy 5 noble coins from the vendor in Shame for 15 Dungeon Tokens

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We're receiving reports that players are seeing graphical glitches or display issues with the in-game mini-map; it's not intended for there to be any changes to the mini-map at this time, so we will be investigating the cause and working on a fix ASAP. If a workaround is found, we will post again with more information

EDIT: If you are having this issue, please try switching regions to resolve it (eg travel from Britain to Minoc.) We'll continue to investigate in the meantime.

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We've deployed the long-awaited sound and music tweaks, where we will utilize more of the wonderful tracks that Beekel composed for us, in addition to replacing many sound effects. Turn your volume up!

There'll be more to come in this area, however we hope you enjoy what we are able to provide today. Please note that as part of the patch, it was necessary to update two of our largest asset files, britanniamain and loudungeons - these will download on your next connection attempt. For anyone with slower connections, we apologise in advance!

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• The animations for the 4-year veteran ethereal spider mount have been fixed.

• New items have been added to the moat fishing loot, and drop rates have been slightly increased.

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The Item Fixer NPCs have a new option to fix Vanity Pet Cages that don't work when double-clicking them

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New items added to the fishing SOS loot!

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We are thrilled to unveil the arrival of Season 2 in Shards of Britannia! 🚀 Embark on a new era of challenges, quests, and triumphs. Your dedication has fueled the evolution of our server, and we're excited to present a host of thrilling updates:

🏆 Season 2 Kick-off: Sharpen your blades and ready your spells as Season 2 begins! A fresh wave of challenges awaits, promising riches and glory for the intrepid.

🎁 Rewards Galore: Season 2 introduces a treasure trove of rewards! From the coveted Season Chest to unique items that will dazzle the most seasoned adventurers, your feats will be duly rewarded.

🌐 Updated Seasons System: We've fine-tuned the Seasons System based on your invaluable feedback. Expect a smoother and more engaging experience as you navigate through challenges, earning points and climbing the ranks.

📅 End Date: March 31st

Your journey in Shards of Britannia is about to reach new heights. Season 2 is not just an update; it's an invitation to partake in an epic adventure. Thank you for being a part of our vibrant community.

See you in-game! ⚔️🛡️

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Castle Britannia, in West Britain, despite being unfinished, is now accessible to visitors!

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We've identified and resolved an issue with Fishing where the chance to reel a General Loot item was successful but the dice-roll to select an item was unsuccessful, causing the fisher not to reel anything in. This should also improve conditions for special Fishing events like Icefishing, Britain Moat, and Holiday Fishing. We've deployed a hotfix for this, so if you are currently Fishing, prior to this note, please log out and back in to receive the update. Thanks for your patience while we investigated and resolved this, and happy fishing!

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Just a reminder that Season 1 quests are about to conclude after today (not to be confused with Xmas Activities).

We hope you've enjoyed our first Seasonal Quests content release! Thanks for participating and we hope to provide as much or more fun in the next one and in future seasons. :) Stay tuned for updates about the next season

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We're aware of a widespread issue causing players to be unable to quick travel to Covetous Level 1, seeing "You cannot travel into that area." We are looking into the issue and hope to have it resolved quickly, thanks for your patience

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Santa Claus now sells 'Crystal of Windemere' that can be used to start the Winter Invasion spawn! This requires at least 4 unique players to activate and has a 24 hour time limit once activated. This spawn will not be announced server-wide while active.

Reminder: All holiday activities will be coming to an end soon, on Jan 9th! The Winter Holiday Decoration Contest deadline is Jan 12th & Santa Claus will remain available until February 1st.

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Note: Battleships & Cannon Warfare features will not be immediately available as we work on completing them

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World Changes:

• Extended and connected waterways in all subregions, adding boating access across the world, with the exception of regions that are still under development
  • Removed the need for Server Boundary walls placed around Britain & Minoc sea
  • Three harbors/waterways share boundaries with neighboring regions, now designated as mixed-subregions. Barriers with two gateways have been placed at their entrances, allowing you to choose which region to sail into. Keep in mind: you can only exit a boat to land within your current region; you'll receive an error message if you attempt an invalid exit
• Added world-wrapping when driving a boat into the world boundary, ensuring a seamless world (e.g., driving west of Yew brings you east of Moonglow)
• Conducted a comprehensive audit of the entire world to address gaps in water regions
• Introduced new subregion to cover the southern water expanse called "South Sea"
  • Established a South Sea Market protected docks area
  • Boats will be automatically moved nearby if they are parked at the South Sea Market for too long
• Bucc's Den smaller Arena island has been re-combined with the larger Bucc's Den island, and the Arena has been moved to the Arena Hub in Green Acres; this smaller island will now be accessible by boat and may be used for housing or more in the near future

Boating:

• Numerous performance optimizations
• Improved AI for monsters in/around water
• Fixed lag caused by water monsters attacking players on boats
• Introduced storage and weight limits based on ship type
• Added a "Retrieve Boat" option accessible from the Shipwright
• Added a Compass HUD and boat-facing direction to the Boat Controls window
• Introduced Interactive Boat Teleporters, which can be activated by saying "cross" or double-clicking them while aboard a boat
• Characters will now be faced in the direction the boat is traveling when the boat moves, helping with visualizing the current direction on the mini-map
• Eliminated character freeze during boat movement
• Introduced new commands:
  • navigate: Initiates navigation toward a set waypoint
  • set waypoint: Allows the skipper to auto-navigate toward a specified destination when using the command "set waypoint [coordinates]"
  • move towards: Enables targeting a position for the boat to move toward

In preparation for the upcoming Battleships & Cannon Warfare:

• Crafting workbenches are now containers. To update your existing workbenches, simply re-deed and re-place them. Materials can now be crafted from inside the workbench or directly from your backpack

Fishing & SOS:

• SOS destinations now exclusively exist in Deep Water locations; prepare your boat

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We've added a Lights Control menu to the Pre-lit trees that can be opened by double-clicking the tree, offering Alternating, Blinking & Solid Color choices

Hotfix: If this menu does not appear for you, please log out and back in to receive the hotfix; double-clicking should now work for house owners, co-owners & guildmates

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Xmas Bonuses:

• increased chances for Fishing Lottery Token
• added some Christmas items to moat fishing loot chances
• added Christmas Lottery Box to Lottery Token Vendor

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The Christmas lottery official is now stationed outside Britain Bank! Three winners will be drawn on January 15th, and prizes will remain a surprise until the drawing. Raffle tickets to enter the lottery can be found on Paragons.

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As the festive season twinkles with lights and joy, the team wishes to extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you. Your dedication and enthusiasm in exploring our world and engaging in epic adventures make this journey truly special.

This holiday season, we hope you’ve enjoyed the festive spirit in Shards of Britannia, collecting Christmas goodies, and reveling in the unique experiences our game offers. Your presence in our community is the greatest gift, and seeing you spend your free time with us is genuinely heartwarming.

May this holiday season fill your life with happiness, peace, and plenty of gaming fun! We’re thrilled to have you with us and look forward to sharing many more adventures in the coming year.

Happy Gaming and Happy Holidays!

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• Christmas Paragons now have a chance to drop some of the items available from Santa
• The following Winter Weapons & Shield, with an icy appearance, have been added as a loot possibility to Frostfang the Ravager and Christmas Paragons:
  • Winter Sword
  • Winter Spear
  • Winter Axe & 2-Handed Axe
  • Winter Mace
  • Winter Shield

Santa Vendor:

• The Winter Weapons & Shield listed above have been added as an option to buy from Santa
• The Fishing Icepick has been added as an option to buy from Santa
• Evergreen & Snowy Tree Deeds have been added as options to buy from Santa

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Carpet Stretcher enhancements:

• The carpet stretcher can now make adjustments to Cloth, to use as a floor covering
• Releasing a re-sized object will cause it to be reset to it's normal size
• The carpet stretcher now has a "Copy" button that allows users to copy size adjustments from one object to another

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The Faction Town Stones in Skara Brae & Cove have had their sigil status reset & we've implemented a fix to make sure that the sigil state does not get stuck again in the future for any town stones.

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In the mystical realm of Windemere, a dire threat looms on the horizon. The formidable Frostfang the Ravager and his savage horde have established their chilling camp in the unforgiving South-Eastern reaches of our land. Only the bravest souls can rise to the challenge and combat the icy terrors that threaten our world.

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• Increased amount of candy received for participating in Snowball Fights (100 for winner, 25 for losers)
• Adding Windemere invasion spawn with candy drops + new winter boss that will drop some Xmas items
• Adding a new Christmas Sword that includes an AOE Snowball Flurry ability that requires Stamina and also has a cooldown
• Adding option to buy Glacial Staff & Christmas Sword on Santa Vendor
• Glacial Staff & Christmas sword can also be obtained as drops on Ice Fiends, Ice Wyrms (elf camps only) and the new Frostfang winter boss in Windemere
• Adding many items to Santa Vendor's buy list, so Santa will buy some of the more common items for a small amount of candy

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Christmas activities:

• Some elves have been kidnapped from Santa's Workshop by the wintery monsters of Dagger Isle, help save the elves by seeking out the monster camps throughout Dagger Isle (Windemere)
• Collect Elf Food by killing the monsters, smashing open the gift boxes they have stolen, and by rescuing the prisoner Elves and leading them back to Santa's Workshop
• Santa will be rewarding players for helping to rescue Elves & keeping them fed, for gifts in exchange for Elf Food
• Santa can be reached by going to Windemere and using the Cellar Door teleporter that leads to Santa's Workshop
• Christmas Paragons will be spawning throughout, whom will spawn a Gift Box at their position when being killed which may contain Elf Food
• Ice Fishing provides chances at obtaining Elf Food
• Completing Snowball Fights will also grant Elf Food
• New Addition: Glacial Staff (with 3 spells included), drops rarely on Ice Fiends (spawns in Ice Dungeon) and Ice Wyrms (found occasionally at Elf Prison Camps)

Login Handout: Make sure to login starting on Christmas Eve, through Jan 1st to receive a gift, on your account, from Santa!

Garnet Dyetubs: Available for a limited time on Donation Vendors starting on December 25th until January 9th

Necromancy Vendor: Available for a limited time from now until Jan 9th the Ethereal Undead Reindeer Statue

Planned additions:

• Bazaar
• Quest(s)
• Invasion(s)
• Boss encounter requiring special task to cause damage (ex: snowball, snow cannon, glacial staff, etc)
• New assets & more activities as time permits

Stale Elf Food: Prior year's Elf Food will now show as 'Stale' but can be turned into the Cleaning Up Britannia trash can for points, which can be exchanged for fresh Elf Food at the 'Cleaning Up Britannia: Holiday' vendor

Pictures: We have started a forum thread here where we will be posting pictures of the items available as time permits

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See Also:

• Updates Dec 13th

The Snowball Fight event is about to start again for the season:

• Snowball Fights are a PVP event that requires no skill and no items, all characters welcome!
• The event will run every 2 hours, avoiding overlapping with Faction Pillar events & server restarts; Players can also manually start the fight by using the Giant Snowball teleporter at Windemere bank and talking to the Snowball Fight Coordinator (requires at least 4 players from different households to be in the lobby)
• Before the event starts, portals will be created at each bank that leads to the Snowball Fight Arena waiting area
• Online characters will be sent a notification that the event is about to start with an option to Teleport To Event; this can be disabled in the Notifications Settings (fixed previous issues with pop-up appearing even when ignored)
• What's not allowed in the arena: Bandages, Potions, Pets (please bank your resources first, dismount & leave your pets in the waiting area or stables)
• After a 15 minute waiting period the game will begin and an Entrance Portal will be created for a minute at the entrance to the arena, please enter this portal immediately!
• After entering the arena there will be a 1 minute cooldown where you will remain hidden while other players load, after which you will become un-hidden and ready to start throwing!
• Snowball Fights require at least 2 players and no more than 20 players, and the game is Free For All
• The match will last 20 minutes or until someone gets 20 kills, whichever comes first
• The objective is to Pick-up & Use snowballs and Throw them at other players
• Players will automatically receive 1 Snowball when joining and you can find more on the ground
• Snowballs have a 90% chance to hit your target & they will do 50% damage
• You can Dodge snowballs by breaking line-of-sight or going out of range from the thrower
• You will also need to dodge periodic Giant Rolling Snowballs; these will flatten you if they run you over, freezing you in place for a moment, these will dissolve once they reach the water
• There's a chance to find Ice Bombs on the ground. Ice Bombs can be thrown like a grenade to freeze nearby players for a few seconds
• The Snow Cannon can be used, with a snowball in your backpack as ammo, to shoot Homing Snowballs that will follow the first player that comes within range and performs a normal Snowball Hit on them, giving credit to the shooter if they die
• Temporary heal potions can be found in the hidden Chests around the arena that may offer you a lifeline to stay in the game longer
• Tied matches are settled with a Sudden Death match where all of the tied players will be put into a final match until the last person standing becomes the winner
• All participants will receive a trophy etched with their game stats
• During the Xmas Season (dates TBD), participants will also receive Candy Canes that can be traded for Xmas Gifts
• You can use the command /snowballfight during the match to check your stats, or /leavesnowballfight to leave the match and forfeit

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