UO is always what you make of it. There are still plenty of active guilds and groups doing daily activities and hunts. Whatever you're looking for - PVM, PVP, Role play, casual trading or serious game play - it's out there. There is a guild or Discord server that serves every niche of our community.
Atlantic is the most populated shard. If you're returning to the game after a long absence, that's where I would suggest you begin your journey.
A younger or older account should not impede your gameplay. If you have an older account and access to some Vet rewards, that will help you make money a bit easier to get started, but it's not of crucial importance.
It's going to depend on what you're looking for, but the key to success no matter your preferred game play style will be to find a good group or guild to join up with. UO is not a solo game. If you want to have fun, join with a guild that has an active Discord or voice server. Whether it's actual in game play or just having fun laughing and BS'ing with people in voice late at night, that's the one aspect of the community that has kept me around for so many years.
There are many aspects of UO whereby I believe this world of ours reflects our outside world - and the economy is one of them. There has been a great deal of inflation that occurred during the pandemic era. Most specifically with housing. However, I do believe we're on the backside of the hill at this point and prices are beginning to even out. There are still plenty of ways to make money in the game and plenty of people who will help you get on your feet by way of building a suit or donating some weapons, spellbooks, etc. Alot of that is guild and group dependent. Happy to give you more economy related specifics if you have other questions.
That depends. You're not going to build an end-game character over night, but that shouldn't be much of a surprise as that is an aspect of almost all MMORPGs. UO does have a 'pay-to-win' factor that allows people to jump ahead faster than compared to some other games, which is a topic that has its share of both supporters and detractors. If you have a good guild that can help you get your feet off the ground and that you have fun playing with, then I think you won't be bothered as much by some of the initial new player barriers.
A few years back, there was a major change made to the taming system whereby you can now train pets to add additional skills, abilities and stats. While it largely ended the age of Greater Dragons being the top pet, it greatly increased the viability of several other pets so that there is alot of variation to what a tamer can do. An argument could be well made that these changes made tamers the most powerful PVM template in the game.
That's a bit of loaded question. The answer you get here will depend on who you ask. For me personally, someone that's been pretty active the last 4-5 years, the game is becoming extremely stale and boring. There seems to be an average of 3 event arcs a year that might be a little different (they last 2-3 months) but are very similar (Spring event / Halloween event / Krampus & Artisan Festival). They are pretty cookie cutter being styled after the Treasures of Tokuno but usually have a couple of rewards that are worth working for even for vets.
Atlantic is going to be the most populated (this helps with being able to buy things you might need/want more easily). Account age doesn't really matter too much as everyone can ride ethy's now and use most rewards (shard shields are acct bound and need to be 14yrs to use).
It is on UO Classic format. But if you are using dark, it looks ok. I do not like the dark on forums, but from seeing screenshots, it seems popular among the cool kids.
ARRRRRRRRR, it be like a ray o' sunshine hittin ya in yer face! It be great on a dreary mornin when ye be low on coffee and rum!!
