Bonnie “Messana” Armstrong has published a new Producer Letter on the Ultima Online website, in order to update players about a number of matters either affecting the game at present or planned for it in the near future:

…we would like to thank everyone for your patience while we worked out the shield transfer token fix. We are still taking care of a few loose ends and hope to have most of it finished by the end of this week.

We are working on an update to hopefully publish TC1 this week so we look forward to your feedback. Please keep an eye on UO.Com for the updated notes.

We are doing a Backpack Art Contest only on the shards that do not have owners to the Abyss Houses. Please check our facebook page for the rules to the contest and the shards which will be eligible.

We will be sending out more invites to join the Internal Vice vs Viture Focus group this week. Please check your emails and respond as soon as possible.

Last but not least, I am sure everyone has seen an increase in the decay rate of items on the ground, houses, and boats. This is due to a fix we had to put in for a shard crash. Due to the fact that the house decay does not give players enough time to move their items from one house to another, we are going to be putting in another patch to change this…

Click on through and read the whole thing; there is a bit more to it than what is quoted above.