Returning to UO after 8+ years

[zeale]

Hey everyone,

I've got some really fond memories of my time spent in Ultima Online, which was about a year and a half back in 2000-2001, and I'm about to hop on the 14-day trial to see if the magic is still there for me. Anyways, I was hoping to get some info, and this is the board I used to spend all my time on way back in the day, so I figured I'd come here first

I remember that the skill system allowed you 700 points to spread amongst all the skills. is this still how it works? I also noticed that there's elves now .. how's that work? Are all the main cities on the old britannia continent still the happening place, or have expansions moved players onto new zones? The only expansion I was around for was The Second Age (I even still have the prima strategy guide for it) I remember that mining used to be a pretty good way to make some money back then .. and since I'll be starting penniless, I'd like to primarily pick some money-making skills to get myself started back up.

I used to own a house .. back then, the spots were so limited that houses sold for millions .. is this still the case, or are there new zones to build in now? How long would it take me to get enough cash to buy myself a tiny house again?

I know that was a lot of questions, but I'm excited about hopping back in, and the trial client should be done downloading soon. Thanks for any information you have to share!

PS: what shard should I roll on?

 

[Nexus]

Hey everyone,

I've got some really fond memories of my time spent in Ultima Online, which was about a year and a half back in 2000-2001, and I'm about to hop on the 14-day trial to see if the magic is still there for me. Anyways, I was hoping to get some info, and this is the board I used to spend all my time on way back in the day, so I figured I'd come here first

I remember that the skill system allowed you 700 points to spread amongst all the skills. is this still how it works?

Yea that's still how it works except you get an extra 5 points per year up till 5th year for a total of 720 points as a vet bonus.

I also noticed that there's elves now .. how's that work? Are all the main cities on the old britannia continent still the happening place, or have expansions moved players onto new zones?

That depends on the shard. On many they've moved to Luna on the Malas Facet. On others it's still WBB or other locations.

The only expansion I was around for was The Second Age (I even still have the prima strategy guide for it) I remember that mining used to be a pretty good way to make some money back then .. and since I'll be starting penniless, I'd like to primarily pick some money-making skills to get myself started back up.

Not really, the way you make money has changed drastically. There's very little player to player trading anymore it's mostly done through vendors now.

If you want some starting gold then I'd suggest split time between working skills, doing escorts in New Haven, and doing clean up duty around the popular banks and selling stuff people discard to NPC's you can build up a couple 100k in a few days with little effort this way.

I used to own a house .. back then, the spots were so limited that houses sold for millions .. is this still the case, or are there new zones to build in now? How long would it take me to get enough cash to buy myself a tiny house again?

I know that was a lot of questions, but I'm excited about hopping back in, and the trial client should be done downloading soon. Thanks for any information you have to share!

PS: what shard should I roll on?

Plenty of room for houses now, and I know from returning myself I placed a house in 3 days using the method to get cash I described. One thing to note though is they have recently changed it so you can't place or own a house if your character is under 15 days old. If your reactivating an old account you'll be good if it's a new one then well you can do the 14 day trial but have to pay for a month before you can place a house, after that trial lapses.

As far as what shard that also depends on what you enjoy. Myself I'm primarily a Chesapeake player and also play a bit on Siege, if you come to Chessy I can get you in touch with some good folks. Atlantic is the largest shard in North America still, if your in Europe then Europa is probably your best choice if you want to avoid some of the ping time issues. It really depends on your tastes and how much interaction you want with others. One good thing on that though is you can buy Character Transfer tokens from EA now to move a single character from one shard to another with a good amount of stuff. If you don't like one shard you can transfer an established character to another....

 

[Salty Pete]

A lot depends on where you start playing.... Some shards have space for large houses still. Others only small houses. Sonoma has space for large houses still for instance.

Skill points still work the same. Older accounts get more skill points to use (720 max). You can get more stat points through power scrolls.

For money making skills.... Low risk, high risk, no risk? Any type of character can make money honestly. High end combat is dominated by warriors and tamers. Mages are still the best jack of all trades characters... Easy to build and play as well. There are a ton of easy quests and escorts in the new player town that any character type can earn easy money on.

 

[zeale]

Thank you guys for the info. I still have my old account information, so if I decide to play past the trial I'll probably reactivate that old account to get a little bit of my former gametime being useful to me again.

As far as the low/high/no risk money making ... probably high risk would be the most fun. I did enjoy mining back in the day, but if the player economy for things like ingots is gone, then I should probably farm stuff to sell to vendors, it sounds like.

I think I'll probably (eventually) end up on siege perilous since I do enjoy PVP, but I'll start out on a normal server for awhile to get to know people in a less hostile environment, and re-learn the ropes.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Hey everyone,

HAIL!

I've got some really fond memories of my time spent in Ultima Online, which was about a year and a half back in 2000-2001, and I'm about to hop on the 14-day trial to see if the magic is still there for me. Anyways, I was hoping to get some info, and this is the board I used to spend all my time on way back in the day, so I figured I'd come here first

Alot has changed since 01. Depending on how you see things this could be good or bad.

I remember that the skill system allowed you 700 points to spread amongst all the skills. is this still how it works? I also noticed that there's elves now .. how's that work? Are all the main cities on the old britannia continent still the happening place, or have expansions moved players onto new zones? The only expansion I was around for was The Second Age (I even still have the prima strategy guide for it) I remember that mining used to be a pretty good way to make some money back then .. and since I'll be starting penniless, I'd like to primarily pick some money-making skills to get myself started back up.

The skill cap is now up to 720 for veterans with 4 years of gametime. Individual skills are now capped at 120 depending on the skill. Since you left a few skills have been added...such as necro and chivalry (age of shadows expansion) bushido and ninjitsu (Samurai Empire expansion) ...and spellweaving (Mondains Legacy Expansion). Easiest way to make money now (legit like on a peniless char) is by scavenging in places such as Doom. (looting corses once the body goes to publicly available loot)

With all the expansions, the main hangouts to find people are Luna (most shards) and West Britain Bank (Atlantic). You are correct in that people have been displaced due to expansions. (pupulation loss too tbh)

I used to own a house .. back then, the spots were so limited that houses sold for millions .. is this still the case, or are there new zones to build in now? How long would it take me to get enough cash to buy myself a tiny house again?

Most shards have spots freely available to place. With a day of looting the right stuff you could easily afford it. (the right stuff consists of jewels/weps with proper mods...4-5 mods 80%+...feel free to peruse stratics to catch up on whats changed. Ask your fellow player in game for more info. )

I know that was a lot of questions, but I'm excited about hopping back in, and the trial client should be done downloading soon. Thanks for any information you have to share!

Thx for giving UO another shot.

PS: what shard should I roll on?

Well...I am biased seeing that I play there...but Atlantic is a good place to go if you are looking for population on the east coast. I dont know on the west.


Edit: dang you nexus! I am not that fast typing sir!

 

[Maplestone]

The skill system still works the same way, yes. There are a few more skills, so it may require some research to find what's best for you.

Elves are ... well, for better or worse ... elves. More mana, less carrying capacity, a few other little quirks here and there.

There are five facets, of which the old continents are two ( one with PvP rules, one with no PvP - if you don't know about Fel vs Tram, wait five minutes and read one of the flamewars that breaks out ). On most shards, there are only a few places where you can find groups of players - the emptiness of most cities will likely be a little shocking at first. New Haven (where new characters start) can be a good place to meet people, Luna (on the Malas facet) is the main "shopping mall" and most active place on most shards, although the reception can also be a bit cold.

Getting started, hunting is actually the most efficent way to gather a little gold (equipment mods will likely be very different than you remember, gather armor with high physical resist and you can start hunting most things). Starting craftsmen have very little role in the player economy any more.

Most shards have lots of small and medium house openings available - but you can't place a house until the character is 15 days old. Gathering the gold for it is not hard - the hard part will be just getting over the learning curve of all the new numbers and stats on items and just finding a suitable place to hunt.

Good luck

edit: wow, I need to type faster

 

[Nexus]

Thank you guys for the info. I still have my old account information, so if I decide to play past the trial I'll probably reactivate that old account to get a little bit of my former gametime being useful to me again.

As far as the low/high/no risk money making ... probably high risk would be the most fun. I did enjoy mining back in the day, but if the player economy for things like ingots is gone, then I should probably farm stuff to sell to vendors, it sounds like.

I think I'll probably (eventually) end up on siege perilous since I do enjoy PVP, but I'll start out on a normal server for awhile to get to know people in a less hostile environment, and re-learn the ropes.

There's still a market for it but, the market has shifted. Most people buy in quantities of 5000 to 60,000 for iron ingots while the other ores go in quantities of 1000 to 5000 usually. For a new miner that's not a small feat to acquire. They did a change to resource gathering where veins of colored ore and wood (yes there's multiple types of wood now) don't always re-spawn in the same spot so you can't find a place to get Valorite and hit it over and over and over again eventually it will shift to something else. You might hit it 3-4 times in a row or just once you can never tell.

For higher risk I'd say go collect hides Lizard Men in Despise once you can though. They drop spined leather (3 types of leather now too) which will sell for more. To make this faster find someone who will give you or get the gold to buy a Butcher's War Cleaver as soon as possible. If you carve a corpse that gives hides with one of these it automatically cuts the hides to leather and puts them in your pack if there is room.

 

[Nexus]

The skill system still works the same way, yes. There are a few more skills, so it may require some research to find what's best for you.

Elves are ... well, for better or worse ... elves. More mana, less carrying capacity, a few other little quirks here and there.

Don't forget JOAT for Humans though...

Humans check at 20 skill points in all skills they have less than 20 points in. Meaning say you have 0 skill in Magery. If you try to cast a spell or use a scroll you'll check as if you had 20 points instead of 0.

Also Elves are supposed to be better at gathering non-standard resources..They'd get more colored ore than plain in a vein. Also Elves don't need Night Sight potions or items. It's always daytime for them! Even in Dungeons.

 

[Setnaffa]

You might want to check out the Stratics UO Players Corner. That forum has alot of answers to questions about playing UO.

 

[Nexus]

Edit: dang you nexus! I am not that fast typing sir!

Sorry Uncle Sam sent me to typing school many many moons ago....

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

Sorry Uncle Sam sent me to typing school many many moons ago....

Heh...its fine. Some of us arent *gifted* in that way.

 

[Nexus]

Heh...its fine. Some of us arent *gifted* in that way.

It's cool when I was in the Marine Corp. I used to have to maintain all the inventory records for the explosives on the base I was stationed at and process all the bills of lading from shipments too the base and all the requisitions of all the squadrons for ordnance.

Spent a week at a local college for typing, though I didn't really need to go I learned my alphabet on a typewriter.....

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Ohhhh! Thanks for the "plug"! <doffs cap>

Zeale - please do come on over to Players Corner! Lot's of stuff in the FAQ and plenty of folks to help there as well as here. Welcome back to the insanity! I played '98 - '03, then returned '04.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Hey everyone,

I've got some really fond memories of my time spent in Ultima Online, which was about a year and a half back in 2000-2001, and I'm about to hop on the 14-day trial to see if the magic is still there for me. Anyways, I was hoping to get some info, and this is the board I used to spend all my time on way back in the day, so I figured I'd come here first

I remember that the skill system allowed you 700 points to spread amongst all the skills. is this still how it works? I also noticed that there's elves now .. how's that work? Are all the main cities on the old britannia continent still the happening place, or have expansions moved players onto new zones? The only expansion I was around for was The Second Age (I even still have the prima strategy guide for it) I remember that mining used to be a pretty good way to make some money back then .. and since I'll be starting penniless, I'd like to primarily pick some money-making skills to get myself started back up.

I used to own a house .. back then, the spots were so limited that houses sold for millions .. is this still the case, or are there new zones to build in now? How long would it take me to get enough cash to buy myself a tiny house again?

I know that was a lot of questions, but I'm excited about hopping back in, and the trial client should be done downloading soon. Thanks for any information you have to share!

PS: what shard should I roll on?

The game has changed a lot since 2001. I also recently returned after 7 years. To make a long story short:

To me, the game is still worth playing, if you don't focus on items too much. Enjoy the game and the community, do not enter the search-for-the-uber-item treadmill, and just have fun. Housing spots are no problem on most shards. Population (subjectively) seems to have shrunk, but this changes in long waves. You should try to re-activate your old account. You'll find your old characters and the contents of your bank box, and you'll have a certain veteran bonus, as explained in the previous answers.

If you have a skilled fighter, you can earn the gold for a tiny house within a few days. If you have company taking care of you while you re-learn the game, it'll even be faster.

On my shard, Catskills, the place to hang out is New Haven (mostly RP guilds) or Luna (mostly item-addicted doods).

Have fun!
Hawkeye Pike