As part of its Wayback Wednesday live stream series covering classic MMOs, two MMORPG.COM broadcasters (Rob Lashley/”Grakulen” and Hillary Nicole/”Pokket”) ventured into the world of Britannia for two and a half hours during the evening on Wednesday, May 16, 2012.  They joined the Ultima Online development team and community representative, as well as a number of UO players, in exploring the newly revamped Covetous Dungeon on UO’s Test Center shard.  They also ventured into Felucca to interact directly with many of UO’s PvP community on the Test Center shard.

What follows below and on the other linked pages is a transcript of the audio portion from a recording of the live stream.  For the purpose of providing context for many of Grakulen’s comments, the transcript has been annotated to indicate which Enhanced Client gumps or menus Grakulen had open at various times or to indicate when he was looking at the feed’s chat channel.

LINKS

Note:  The first two hours of the live stream recorded video may be found at either of the following locations:

http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom/b/318460192  OR  http://youtu.be/dcU5tO7gwhM

The last half hour of the live stream recorded video may be found at either of these locations:

http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom/b/318462433  OR  http://youtu.be/8R8DSttpj_s

Note that the time stamp in the transcript starts at 0:00:00 for the first 117 minute video and begins again at 0:00 for the second, shorter video.

The video and this transcript begins with Grakulen, Pokket and various members of the UO development team at the bank in New Haven on the Test Center shard.  You will find the remainder of the interview at the links below.

• Covetous Dungeon (Trammel) Entrance and Level 1
• Covetous Dungeon (Trammel) Level 2
• Covetous Dungeon (Trammel) Levels 3-5
• Wind Maze (Felucca)
• Yew Moongate Area (Felucca)
• A Player’s House in Trammel

LOCATION:  At the bank in New Haven, Test Center Shard

[As the video begins, you see Grakulen’s UO desktop in the Enhanced Client.  The bank box gump is open.  His character’s paper doll is also visible and shows a human male who appears to be wearing an assortment of chainmail and studded armor, as well as a Crimson Cincture, and who is not carrying a weapon. The only visible hot bar is completely empty. You periodically hear characters dying in the background as a crowd gathers in front of the bank. Near the stable are portals to Covetous Dungeon and one of the arenas.  Also visible in the feed is a web camera view of Rob/”Grakulen” from MMORPG.COM.  ]

[0:00:00] Mesanna:  Come to New Haven, please.

[0:00:03] Pokket: OK.

[0:00:22] Grakulen: Interesting.

[0:00:24] Pokket: Yeah, when I quit what was actually popular, or maybe I should save this for the stream.  [laughs]

[0:00:34] Grakulen: We should be live.  I’m not seeing us on the channel, though.  Let’s see…oh, there it is.  It’s just lagged up.

Hey, everybody, this is Rob, aka Grakulen, with MMORPG.COM and welcome to Wayback Wednesday.  Tonight, as you can see, we are playing Ultima Online and I have a full house with me tonight.  Normally I have myself and one other person, maybe two other people.  But I’ve got a whole crowd from the Mythic team here, as well as a fellow caster on MMORPG.COM, Hillary Nicole, aka Pokket. [A trade gump appears.]

[0:01:09] Pokket:  Hi there.

[0:01:11] Grakulen:  As you can see, someone came up to me and gave me a mount.  [The trade gump closes.]  Nice people.

[0:01:18] Pokket:  That was me.

[0:01:19] Grakulen: I appreciate it.

[0:01:19] Pokket: Oh no! I’m dying.  [laughs]

[0:01:21] Grakulen: And Hillary’s dying.  The show’s not even one minute into it and Hillary’s dying.

[01:01:29] Pokket:  [indecipherable] attacking me.

[0:01:29] Grakulen: We were promised lots of deaths.  So, why don’t we go ahead and go around the table and start introducing ourselves.  I guess we might as well go ahead and start with ladies first.  Bonnie, do you want to take a minute and let everybody know who you are?

[0:01:42] Mesanna:  Sure.  My name is Bonnie Armstrong and everybody knows me as Mesanna.  I’m the Associate Producer of UO.

[0:01:52] Grakulen: Thanks for coming.

[0:01:55] Mesanna: Thank you.

[0:01:58] Grakulen: I guess we’ll go with Mike.

[0:02:04] Phoenix:  Hi, this is Mike Moore, also known as Phoenix.  I’m one of the designers on Ultima Online.  Nice to see everybody.

[0:02:13] Grakulen: Michael?

[0:02:14] Misk:  Hi, I am Michael Armstrong and I work in QA on Ultima Online.

[0:02:21] Grakulen: Stephen?

[0:02:24] Bleak:  This is Stephen Brown, better known as Bleak.  I am a software engineer on Ultima Online.

[0:02:30] Grakulen:  Greg?

[0:02:32] Kyronix:  I’m Greg Havlusch.   I’m one of the other designers on Ultima Online.  Otherwise known as Kyronix.

[0:02:40] Grakulen: Kai?

[0:02:40] Kai:  My name is Kai Schober.  I work as a Community Manager for Bioware Mythic.

[0:02:47] Grakulen: And Hillary?

[0:02:49] Pokket:  [laughs] My name is Pokket and I play a lot of video games and I work for MMORPG.

[0:02:55] Grakulen: There you have it!  I think this is eight people.  This is definitely the largest crowd we’ve had on a Wayback Wednesday.  So I hope you the viewers get a chance to enjoy it.

If you’ve got any questions, toss them in the Chat channel and we’ll try to answer them if we can.  I’ll let the community manager decide what we can and can’t.  That being said, as you can see right now, we’re doing some last-minute adjustments.  I know we’re running a little bit behind, but I wanted to get the stream going since I saw a few of you waiting out in chat.  I wanted you to actually see that we’re here and doing something.

I’m a newb, I don’t try to hide it.  Ultima Online is a game I knew about, heard about, tinkered with a little bit, never really got too deep into it.  But it was definitely a game that I wanted to make sure that we got to cover in this series.  So here we are.  I expect us to have quite a lot of fun.  I’m just finishing up gearing my character, so you’ll have to bear with us just a few more minutes.  And then hopefully you’ll see some of the new dungeons that they’ve got in UO and you’ll get to see a lot of deaths by myself, Hillary, and the rest of the dev team.  [Grakulen’s bank box gump closes.]

[0:04:00] Pokket: [laughs] I’m not gonna die.  I’m not gonna die, I swear.  [laughs]  Wait, what are all these portals?

[0:04:09] Mesanna: Come down to the black and red gate, the one that says Covetous Dungeon.   That’s where we’re going tonight.

[A trade gump opens as Misk offers Grakulen various pieces of gear—a Rune Beetle Carapace, Fey Leggings (Elves Only), Spirit of the Totem, Obi De Ense, Elder Detective of the Royal Guard, Lieutenant of the Britannian Royal Guard, Totem of the Void, bracelet, ring, Gladiator’s Collar, Wall of Hungry Mouths, Soul Seeker.  He also opens his backpack gump.]

[0:04:16] Pokket: Oh no, uh, does anybody have a bow?

[0:04:19] Mesanna: [laughs]

[0:04:19] Grakulen: Somebody’s giving me stuff….  Oh, Wicked.

[0:04:22] Pokket: Did I get the wrong skill?

[0:04:25] Mesanna: No, you didn’t pick the wrong skill.  Go to the bank and say, “Give artifacts” or “arties” and pull one from there.

[The trade gump closes.]

[0:04:32] Pokket: Oh, OK.

[0:04:43] Grakulen:  Hmm.

[0:04:44] Mesanna:  I should have met up with you two beforehand.

[0:04:49] Pokket: [laughs]

[0:04:50] Mesanna: You have no armor on!

[0:04:51] Grakulen: Who?  Me?

[0:04:53] Mesanna: No, Pokket.

[A trade gump appears.]

[0:04:54] Pokket: I know.  [laughs]  I’ve got this!  Don’t worry.  Back when I played, we didn’t need armor.  [laughs]  Well, I did.

[0:05:01] Mesanna:  Yeah, but that was a long time ago.

[The trade gump closes.]

[0:05:06] Grakulen:  I’m dragging and dropping gear onto my paper doll and I thought that’s what you did to equip it.  But it doesn’t look like it’s actually….

[0:05:13] Misk:  If you already have armor equipped, it will not remove the armor that you have equipped.

[0:05:18] Grakulen: OK.

[0:05:19] Misk: So you’ll have to remove the chest piece, or the tunic, to equip another tunic.

[0:05:22] Grakulen: OK, so I’ve gotta get naked to put my clothes on.

[0:05:27] Kai: Which makes sense, kind of.

[0:05:28] Grakulen: It does.

[0:05:31] Mesanna:  Kai, are you ready to go?  Do you have your character made?

[0:05:37] Grakulen: Are you talking to Kai or to me?

[0:05:38] Mesanna: Kai.

[0:05:39] Kai: Yeah, that was me.  No, I’ll stay a little bit behind today because I have to leave early.  My day tomorrow starts at 5 o’clock.  So I won’t get in the way.

[0:05:52] Grakulen:  Hmm, I can’t get my boots on.

[0:05:55] Mesanna:  So do you want me to go ahead and kill you now so you can be a ghost?

[0:05:58] Misk: You already have thigh boots on.  That’s why you can’t put other boots over it.

[0:06:02] Grakulen:  Oh.  I’m just trying to put on what everybody keeps….  Hello, put this on, and this on.

[0:06:13] Grakulen:  If anybody out there in viewer land sees me and recognizes me as being naked or missing anything, feel free to tell me.

[0:06:20] Mesanna:  [laughs]

[0:06:23] Grakulen:  Help is welcome and appreciated.  [Grakulen’s character is now carrying a sword.]

[0:06:26] Pokket:  I was checking out the viewer list and there’s someone on there called, well they were on there, called “JC the Builder.”  I’m pretty sure that’s someone from my server.  Can’t remember his name, though, in-game.

[0:06:40] Mesanna:  JC.

[0:06:42] Pokket:  JC the Builder.

[0:06:43] Mesanna:  He’s from Atlantic.

[0:06:44] Pokket:  Yeah, I think so.

[0:06:45] Mesanna: Yeah.  I think his character’s name…what in the world?

[0:06:52] Pokket:  You keep dying and it’s like….

[0:06:55] Grakulen:  I’m having a hard time keeping my shield on.

[A trade gump offering a pair of Stormgrips appears, is accepted, and then closes.]

[0:07:07] Grakulen:  Like it pops into my character pane and then it pops back out.

[0:07:14] Misk:  Oh, I know why.  That’s…

[0:07:19] Grakulen:  I must upgrade to the Stygian Abyss to use this.

[0:07:22] Misk:  Yes.

[0:07:28] Phoenix:  Does anybody have a party going yet?

[0:07:30] Grakulen: Wicked.

[0:07:34] Misk: I have one, but it was primarily just being used to set him up.

[0:07:44] Pokket: LS Forever.  I don’t think so.

[0:07:48] Mesanna:   Oh.  Don’t hate on LS.

[0:07:50] Pokket:  No, it’s totally Atlantic.  That’s where it was at. That’s where all the drama was too.

[0:07:57] Mesanna:  Atlantic’s a pretty big shard.

[0:08:01] Grakulen:  OK, so don’t hate it or we’re all gonna get ganked.  They’ll end up over here on Test…destroying us.

[0:08:12] Mesanna:  Well, if you really want to see something, we can all go to Felucca.

[The chivalry spell book gump appears and then closes within a few seconds  It shows 0 tithing points.]

[0:08:18] Pokket:   Oh, I’m already there.  Let’s go.  I don’t have any armor or anything.  It didn’t work.  I must have typed it wrong or something.

[0:08:32] Grakulen:  I’m running out of the bank.  I’m making a break for it.

[0:08:37] Mesanna:  No, just say “Give arties.”

[0:08:40] Pokket:  Oh.

[0:08:41] Grakulen:  I’m down by Roberto the Noble.

[0:08:44] Pokket:  It looks like nothing happens though.  Am I doing it wrong?

[0:08:49] Misk:  Spell it with an “e.”  A-R-T-I-E-S.

[A backpack gump opens.]

[0:08:57] Pokket:  Oh, I finally did it right.  OK.  User error.  [laughs]  Awesome.  I have no idea what half these are.

[0:09:11] Bleak:  Hey, Mike, can I get a party invite?

[0:09:15] Misk:  I thought I invited you.

[The backpack gump closes.  A trade gump opens, as SunWolf offers a shield, and then closes after Grakulen accepts it.]

[0:09:19] Mesanna:  How many do you have in that party?

[0:09:24] Misk:  Three now.

[The backpack gump opens and Grakulen equips the shield.]

[0:09:27] Grakulen:  And I have an Aegis.  There we go.  That works.  Now I’ve got a shield.

[Grakulen clicks on the Charger of the Fallen statue, drops it on his hot bar, closes the backpack gump, and then presses the function key to use the Charger.]

[0:09:46] Grakulen:  Oh.  Apparently…there we go.  Oh fear my pony!

LOCATION:  Arena, Test Center Shard

[0:09:55] Grakulen:  Uh-oh.  I just went through a portal.

[0:09:58] Pokket: And you’re dead.

[0:09:59] Grakulen: And I’m in the arena.   I’m going back through the portal.  [laughs]

[0:10:04] Mesanna:  Wrong portal.

LOCATION:  New Haven, Test Center Shard

[The crowd of characters in front of the bank appears to have grown to about 30-40 in number.]

[0:10:08] Grakulen: “Kill the guy with the polar bear now.”  That’s what they’re saying.   So…which portal is it that we’re supposed to go through?

[0:10:18] Mesanna:  This one.  The black and red one.  The one that says Covetous Dungeon.

[0:10:24] Grakulen:  There’s a black and red one?  I see a….

[0:10:25] Pokket:  The one that says “Go in this portal.”

[0:10:27] Misk:  The colors don’t show through correctly in the EC because of the effect in front.

Go to Part 2:  Covetous Dungeon (Trammel) Entrance and Level 1.

Covetous Dungeon (Trammel) Entrance and Level 1 | Covetous Dungeon (Trammel) Level 2 | Covetous Dungeon (Trammel) Levels 3-5 | Wind Maze (Felucca) | Yew Moongate Area (Felucca) | A Player’s House in Trammel