Ultima Online

[F. J. Rothchild III]

Do any codex folk play on any UO free shards? What are your thoughts on UO, in general?
Playing on shards that recreate really early versions of the game is like a comfort food. It's both refreshingly simplistic and super deep, somehow.
I'm not much of an MMO guy but I still always come back to UO every five years or so just to get that feeling.

 

[Beast British]

Been playing on Outlands for years now. It's a great server.

 

[F. J. Rothchild III]

Been playing on Outlands for years now. It's a great server.

I've heard that Outlands is in a different map (not Britannia) and plays so much differently than UO, that it might as well be an entirely different game.
Would you agree?

 

[Beast British]

Been playing on Outlands for years now. It's a great server.

I've heard that Outlands is in a different map (not Britannia) and plays so much differently than UO, that it might as well be an entirely different game.
Would you agree?

A much different map (although there are homages all over to the old map) and definitely so. I like to think of it as UO2. There are a lot of systems added for the person that likes to see numbers go up but it still retains the T2A style PVP. It's easily the biggest and most successful UO server, even beating out Broadsword's shitty offering with Atlantic.

It's almost a crime to play UO nowadays without the ClassicUO client, but Broadsword won't sanction its use on their servers - fucking dumb as hell. The old classic client runs 12.5 frames per second while the opensource ClassicUO is 60+.

Outlands is at least worth a look. It presses the right buttons for me. Farmed millions upon millions of gold and many fun PVP/PKing encounters.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Still haven't touched UO despite being a big Ultima fan. I was interested in Outlands, but became disinterested again when I saw the terms of service. I had heard UO described as this ridiculous anarchy world where you can do whatever you want, but it's pretty lame when even just naming a pet or an item something considered offensive by the moderation staff can get you penalized or banned; some of the stories the devs told during their GDC session were absolutely hilarious, but it appears that the community from back then is far gone and only people with sticks up their asses are left.

I also imagine the playerbase is full of a bunch of forumdads that I wouldn't really be able to relate with the same way I can with the 4chan-derived Space Station 13 community. I hear a lot of UO players don't even know anything about the main Ultima games.

I might be wrong about all that, though, since I have never actually played UO or Outlands. I'll have to try it out eventually.

 

[Bester]

It's almost a crime to play UO nowadays without the ClassicUO client, but Broadsword won't sanction its use on their servers - fucking dumb as hell. The old classic client runs 12.5 frames per second while the opensource ClassicUO is 60+.

I don't get it. I installed something that's called ClassicUO, but it's for Outlands. How come?

Also, is there a short beginner's guide to get into the game?

 

[F. J. Rothchild III]

It's almost a crime to play UO nowadays without the ClassicUO client, but Broadsword won't sanction its use on their servers - fucking dumb as hell. The old classic client runs 12.5 frames per second while the opensource ClassicUO is 60+.

I don't get it. I installed something that's called ClassicUO, but it's for Outlands. How come?

Also, is there a short beginner's guide to get into the game?

Hey! DM me if you'd like! I'm just getting back into it myself, so I'm no expert, but i'd be happy to help how I can.

If you're interested in the "UO: Renaissance" server, or really any server that replicates the original UO, this list of guides: http://www.uorenaissance.com/list/GettingStarted/Pthread
and this thread (very well organized and in-depth) should serve you very well: http://uorforum.com/threads/one-guide-to-rule-them-all-one-guide-to-find-them.682/

 

[Beast British]

It's almost a crime to play UO nowadays without the ClassicUO client, but Broadsword won't sanction its use on their servers - fucking dumb as hell. The old classic client runs 12.5 frames per second while the opensource ClassicUO is 60+.

I don't get it. I installed something that's called ClassicUO, but it's for Outlands. How come?

Also, is there a short beginner's guide to get into the game?

There is an Outlands install that has the ClassicUO client already setup. Honestly, most of the servers nowadays will have their own client with ClassicUO already setup.

A guide really depends where you're playing and your experience. Outlands has a wiki, and uo.com is probably still up and running for general stuff. The Outlands forums also has a lot of beginner setup info if you look around.

If you're wanting to play with a ton of people and have active development/events I'd go Outlands. If you want to experience what UO was like back in the day (but it be sort of a ghost town) I would try UO:Renaissance and if you're a masochist I'd try Adam Ant's Siege Perilous server which released about 2 months ago. Siege you get just one character on the server and everything is harder.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Started playing Outlands yesterday, seems p. good so far.