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A shard is a shard is a shard

A

Aggie97

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Hey all, very old player looking to maybe try UO again. It seems from the limited info I'm finding now that not all shards are created equally? Anyone willing to enlighten me on the differences?
 

Basara

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Some shards, especially east coast ones, have extremely crowded populations. Being on them is almost like being in a different game, compared to the lower population ones.

That said, there are two special ruleset shards.

1. Siege Perilous: Has a different skill gain system, does not have Trammel, all facets that are there have PvP ruleset, certain things cost 3 times as much, NPCs don't buy from players, recall and the equivalent spells don't work (Gate Travel does, though), Blessed items are extremely limited (but players can bless one item each), and insurance doesn't exist. Players limited to 1 character per account on the shard.

2. Mugen: As Siege Perilous, except has a Trammel Facet that is the PvP ruleset.

3. There is also the Test Center shards (TC). Test Centers are occasionally wiped, but you can set skills (to recreate to an extent) characters elsewhere, and do other experimentation there. They exist both to test new content for the game, and to let players test crazy ideas to see if they'll work, before spending the time and effort to try them on another shard.
 

Basara

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Most Shards: PvP is only possible in the Felucca facet.

Siege Perilous/Mugen: PvP possible everywhere.
 
B

Beer_Cayse

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Shards = servers; facets = rulesets essentially

Look in the Forum FAQ up top for the sub messages of "Rulesets and Facets" and "Shard List and Locations". The first explains a bit about the rulesets and the facet(s) it applies to; the second is simply the list of servers and a somewhat geographical location - perhaps for getting one near you.
 

Black Sun

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To add to Basara's already great explanation, Some shard's have a more active PvP scene than others, while others have a larger RP crowd. Small differences like that. Best advice would be to check out the shard forums for a few different shards that you think might interest you. Get a feel for the community before you make a final decision.
 
V

Vhyle

Guest
So, is it hard to get a new char started on Seige Perilous? I imagine doing a lot of combat training is hard, when you always get PK'd when you're out training.

What advice would you give to someone starting a char for the first time on SP? I don't plan on doing it quite yet, but that shard DOES sound like fun. I want to try it eventually.
 

Petra Fyde

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Adding to Basara's Siege information. You can not buy starting skills there, what ever skills you don't choose when making your character will have to be trained from 0.

It is possible to train without too many deaths, just be thoughtful about where and when you train.
 

IanJames

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There's also a guild callled "NEW" that helps newcomers to the shard get started with armor, resources and power scrolls. The entire shard donates to this guild in the hopes that they will help attract and keep players.

And we're not just any shard, if you like people who know how to act in public, we're for you:

Here's a screen shot of cloak distribution from last night, notice there's no one crowding the EM and no one shouting "GIMME GIMME GIMME MY CLOAK"

 

Black Sun

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What is that on the far right of your picture? It looks like a dinosaur. Is it a ostard?
 

Silverbird

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There are also other minor differences between shards ....
Sometimes events change the world. Wome ppl that work for such events (EM's) might have changed the surface and many events years ago were limited to one shard. At other times players could influence the outgoing of an story arc and on some shards there are differences in minor spawn's (orcs vs brigands for example).
An other difference is betwenen the asian shards and the rest. The asisan ones seem to have a much more active promotional team. Therefore some items are available there, that cant be got the same way on other shards.
A somewhat important difference are the different time zones. You have uo servers placed around the world (europe, asia, australia, us west/east coast and middle). Prime time on one region is sleeping time at another. So it might be hard to find other players, if your too far out of your own time zone. Not to mention, that you are usually having better connections to closer servers (ping).
 
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