Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss

Open Beta

This section will include links to the latest news, pages, videos, images and information found during the beta.

Gargoyles

Gargoyles are unable to ride mounts
Gargoyles can not wear Leather/Plate/Chain/Studded armor, only new Gargoyle Armors
Gargoyles can not equip most weapons (War Fork, Katana, Staff, etc.)

Pet Resurrection

NPC vets will now res your dead pet for a fee
NPC Vets have a slot-based resurrection menu, scale their costs according to taming requirement, and institute a 0.2 skill loss for resurrected pets (its 0.1 from other players)
Costs scale with required taming of the pet, with a maximum cost of 30k gold.
Very cheap for low level pets, less than 100gp for pets that require 50 taming or less.
Taming requirement of 100 is over 12,000gp. It's 30k at 110.

There are other changes, that add bonuses to player vets -- Compassion virtue now will work on pets to a degree.

120 vet and lore gives you 20% of your pets HP at res.
Up to an additional 20% of the pet's Max HP based on their Compassion level (stacks with the previous bonus)
- Seeker of Compassion: 5%
- Follower of Compassion: 10%
- Knight of Compassion: 20%
Health bonus is capped at 200 HP
There is now a 10 second timer before a dead pet can be resurrected (to help prevent accidental bandage use)

- http://vboards.stratics.com/showpost.php?p=1352729&postcount=23

2D Client Changes

New Make Max/Make Number buttons in crafting menus
New mark as quest item in crafting menus
"Altar Item [Gargoyle]" option in crafting menu
Racial abilities book in Paperdoll next to profile scroll

Imbuing

Break down magic items into magic components (IE: a relic) and combine that with gems and special resources to imbue properties.

Monsters

Maddening Horror

Champion Spawns

...

Abyssal Inferno

Stage 1 - Horse Familiers and Chaos Demons

Features

Gargoyle Race - A new player race. One ability includes being ably to "fly" (cross certain obstacles and move at mounted speed). Gargoyles can not learn Archery or use bows.
Ter Mur - The Gargoyle homeland. Players will be able to place Houses in this area.
Stygian Abyss Dungeon - The largest and most intricate added to date. Based off the one seen in Ultima Underworld, the entrance is found on Fire Island on both facets. Creatures found inside include the Medusa, Primeval Lich and the Stygian Dragon. There will also be non-consensual PVP combat areas inside the abyss.
Imbuing - A new crafting skill that allows players to manage the properties added on a crafted weapon or armor piece. This will also include the ability to harvest magical properties from existing items.
Mysticism - A Gargoyle form of spellcasting complete with it's own set of spells.
Throwing - A new ranged weapons skill utilizing throwing weapons and consumes no ammunition. Can only be learned by Gargoyles.
Housing Tiles - Nine new sets showing off the style of Gargoyles.

Development History

The expansion was announced a week early with an accidental posting, which is no longer available, on the Japanese Ultima Online Stygian Abyss website. The following message has been translated by athos_uo on the Stratics forums and may not be exact:

"Ultima Online Stygian Abyss" is the first expansion that will be released a few months later after the launch of "Ultima Online Kingdom Reborn". You can buy it in a package on the shelf or downloading it.

New features and contents

Gargoyle race comes back to Sosaria, having escaped from the subordination that lasted hundreds years in the harsh land, unfortunately through which a part of the harsh land was brought to Sosaria. The Stygian Abyss opens its mouth and unfamiliar and bizarre creatures stalk on the ground. But you can find adventures only there, where there are risks. Abyss would offer the treasures beyond imagination to the braves who made their way into it.

The new playable race that players can select to play: The Gargoyle race

They appear already in a part of the story since Ultima III and are mystic and thoughtful race which is known for their ability to control, infuse or transform energy.

The largest dungeon in the history of UO: Stygian Abyss

It was through Abyss that Gargoyle race came back from the underworld. This dungeon is several times as large as any other current dungeons in UO and offers various dangers, new monsters, new tricks and new treasures.

Originally, Stygian Abyss was to have been launched a two months after Kingdom Reborn in summer 2007. The release of the expansion had been delayed due to poor performance of the new client. At a Town Hall Meeting in Seattle on August 30 2008, it was announced as targeted for sometime in 2009. On April 29, 2009, it was narrowed to a Summer 2009 release window.

The official Stygian Abyss website was unveiled September 9, 2008.

Beta tester applications were open for submission via UOHerald.com on May 7, 2009. The first batch of Beta tester confirmations were sent out to selected UO players on June 4, 2009. Open beta began August 14, 2009 and lasted until August 23.

Concept Art

The following was distributed to the press for the announcement message. It should be noted that works of concept art are not actual images from the game, but an artist's rendering of possible game elements. Click for full view.

A male gargoyle	A female gargoyle	A closeup of gargoyle face
A temple	Another temple	A city