Hey

[smaratelj]

Hey guys. Well, I have never played UO (tried once). I was wondering, would it be dumb to start well, 15 years after it was made? I live in Europe, so which shard should I pick (if I start)? Will there be anyone (maybe a guild) that will help me progress?

I played TONS of games. But when I look at UO, I get nostalgic (even though I have NEVER played it except for that 30 minute run once). I can just feel that people had tons of fun in the past and no MMO currently has my juices flowing.

Can I achieve anything by playing an hour per day? And how much would it cost?

I probably have tons of questions but I can't concentrate now. Going to bed.

Cheers!

 

[Taylor]

Hi, smaratelj. The most active European shard is called "Europa." There are some great guilds there who would doubtless be happy to help you find your footing. UO's learning curve is somewhat steep; a guild will reduce this curve dramatically. Try posting in the UO Europa forum to find some guild guidance.

UO's population is primarily working adults, so I think that you will find the game fairly friendly to casual players. Also, aside from buying the game and paying the subscription, there is really no need for microtransactions. Hence, the cost should remain low.

 

[smaratelj]

Cheers! I'll definitely post there.

Also, is it possible to play and enjoy the game with purely 1 character? Or is it necessary to have like 1 miner, 1 for hunting etc.? I like sticking to one, especially if he can use all the skills.

Is uoguide.com a good website for UO info?

Also, which client should I use?

 

[Lady Laurel]

Welcome to UO!!! I really hope you enjoy the game

Also, is it possible to play and enjoy the game with purely 1 character? Or is it necessary to have like 1 miner, 1 for hunting etc.? I like sticking to one, especially if he can use all the skills.

My suggestion is to play what is fun for you. If you do this, then you could probably play and enjoy just 1 character. It depends on what you like doing, also. If you want to be a crafter, then you do not need to have a resource gatherer, but it will be very expensive to try to buy all of your resources, but it can be done. Other than that, you could have just one if you wanted.

Is uoguide.com a good website for UO info?

I have used it on occasion, but I get most of my information from stratics. Maybe someone else could answer this for you.

Also, which client should I use?

To me, this is a personal choice. You will have to see which you enjoy better. I hate the way the EC looks, but for functionality, I love it, so that is what I use now. It took me a VERY long time to get used to it though. I personally now use the EC with Pinco's UI. (More information on it here http://vboards.stratics.com/uo-enhanced-client-discussion/249270-pincos-ui.html)

I really hope you find a client and a character that you get enjoyment from playing. Good luck to you!!!

 

[Taylor]

In add to Lady Laurel's excellent response, I'll say that UOGuide.com is a great source of UO information, as is UOStratics (UO Stratics *New*). Obviously, I'm partial to Stratics, but I have used UOGuide frequently over the past several years. Both of these sources try to be comprehensive, so you can't go wrong either way.

 

[smaratelj]

Thanks for the replies! I am still waiting to hear from someone in Europa forum.
If for some reason I don't want to play on Europa, can I play on American servers?

And, can I actually use all possible skills on 1 character? I'll probably do some more research before I actually start my trial (hopefully today) and then later buying the game. Like, can only a bard use those musicianship skills etc? In that case, I really have no idea what to be.

And, can I only buy UO from Origin store? It'd be nice to find it somewhere with a price in $ so it's cheaper (but I don't really mind), and I'm not quite sure what to buy from Origin. There's game time, Stygian Abyss upgrade and such, but I didn't notice something to put me off the trial. Or whatever.

Cheers!

Oh, and what's the status on the population? Is there a really low amount of people playing or? (specifically on Europa)

 

[Taylor]

Yes, you can certainly play North American servers. Atlantic is the most populated. Keep in mind, though, that timezone will affect when other players are online.

A single character can use any skill, but there is limit to how many skill points. For a new account, I think that this limit is 700 skill points. This means you can have 100 points in 7 skills, 116 in 6 skills, etc. Hence, you can't become an expert in every single skill on a single character.

Yes, you may buy UO from the Origin store.

Game publishers very rarely publish server populations. However, my time on Europa gave me the sense that there are several hundreds of players. The same is true for Atlantic.

 

[smaratelj]

Thanks again! I hope I won't be such a pain in the ass once I learn what I want.

Do you have a recommendation on what character to pick and a "build" of some sort, so I can have fun with other players and fun exploring the world.

Cheers!

 

[Taylor]

Thanks again! I hope I won't be such a pain in the ass once I learn what I want.

Do you have a recommendation on what character to pick and a "build" of some sort, so I can have fun with other players and fun exploring the world.

Cheers!

Of course! What type of character do you prefer to play? Many builds in UO can be pretty self-sufficient. Do you like mages, bards, melee, archers, tamers, etc.? We can figure out a combination that fits your style.

 

[smaratelj]

Thanks man.

That's a tough question, out of those I'd definitely eliminate archers and tamers. I don't know a thing about bards, so I'd rule them out too (even though I LOVE music). Mages and warriors are on the same level to me. I'd love to be a barbarian that would eat a dragon for breakfast as much as I'd like to burn that dragon and freeze his bowels. It'd be superb if you could give me a few lines on how a mage/warrior would operate, and if they are fun (even self sufficient). Cheers!

 

[Taylor]

So, a straight melee character is probably the easiest character in the game to learn and play. However, they can have trouble soloing the highest-level creatures, because they take direct damage. There is a variant of a melee character called a "sampire" that is slightly more complicated, but with a high-end suit of armor, a sampire can actually solo the top bosses.

A mage is more complicated to play, due to the various spells, but once they reach a certain level, they are really quite independent. Their damage output is probably lower than a melee character, but they stay mostly out of melee range, so they also take less damage. However, if you're up for a slightly more complicated mage, a necromancer/mage/spellweaver combo is one of the highest damaging templates in the game.

Either is a good choice in the end.

 

[smaratelj]

I think I'll be a mage, like I used to in some other games. Now I don't know much about these templates (like which skills to pick), so I'm hoping to get some guidance here (or just select mage on character creation). It doesn't have to be solo-friendly, after all I hope to play this with a warm group of people! Cheers!

EDIT: It'd be cool to see you or anyone else in game if you play on Europa!

 

[Gone_Fishing_469]

I sure hope not. I just started playing 4 months ago. Its a little hard getting started. Unless you can find someone who is willing to help you out, your pretty much limited to what you can do for a while.

 

[Nenime]

I sure hope not. I just started playing 4 months ago. Its a little hard getting started. Unless you can find someone who is willing to help you out, your pretty much limited to what you can do for a while.

This may be a backdraw of a sandbox game. If you have high expectations and/or a clear conception of what you want to achieve with your character (like "powergaming") then it might be difficult to get there fast if you're new to the game. Especially with experiences from other levelbased MMORGs with pre-built characters.

But why hurry? The great thing about UO is that you can customize and tweak your character as you go. My advice would be that you do a little testing with the all the different skills and this way your template will come up by itself.