New to Catskills

[Terra~Blight]

Hi guys, i'm rejoining the world of Britannia once again and just wanted to introduce myself. I have never played on Catskills, but i've always heard great things about this shard. I mostly played between 1998 and 2001 (Chesapeake, Great Lakes, Sonoma). I've had brief periods of game play between 2008 and 2014 (Atlantic, Chesapeake), no more than a couple months each time. I have played A LOT of the free servers in between, making me rather an expert of the 98-01 eras, but a complete neophyte of anything after.

I'd like to stick around more long term this time. I really haven't experienced much of the game after UO:Ren, besides some of the new mechanics. I'd like to experience all that the world has to offer, and I imagine it will take some time to do so (so I can't allow myself to skip away after a couple months). I would also love to join a community of players whose enthusiasm for Britannia has lasted 20 years. Its the people that make the game after all.

Other things about myself:
1) I'm probably split 70/30 in my interest in PvE/Roleplay on the server.
2) I tend to be very solitary. I think this contributes to why I don't stay sometimes. Given the choice between going to an event sometimes or being lazy and taming hinds, I tend to choose the lazy option. I'd like to change this a bit. (Taming hinds is boring anyway)
3) I'm a middle school teacher, and love the slower pace of the summer. I just finished summer school, so my play time can widely range. During the school year (late August and on), i'll be more confined to a 6-8pm EST time slot.
4) I have made a character who currently lives in New Haven. I'll soon branch out into other cities and the wilderness. If you happen to see a Ms. Terra Blight, feel free to talk to me in or out of character. I've been doing some UO lore research and developing Terra into the person I want to play. It will be a long work in progress though.

Anyway, i'll spend some time reading through all the sticky posts. If there are other Catskills resources you think I would find useful, I would gladly accept them. I hope to call this home

 

[Dramora]

Welcome to Cats!

We have a wonderful RP community. There have been many events recently...I believe a number of older players have come back, which has lead to a variety of things to do.

Your best bet will be to check the events sticky on top of the forum and go to some of them. Meet people. I totally understand solitary play, that's 99% of what I do as well, but to stick around, you need to make sure you find others to do things with. Trinsic tavern tends to be the hot spot lately, so certainly go there to find people during the evening. And ask in RP chat where the action is, someone will let you know, all the RP'ers at least "listen" to the chat, if not jump in with chatter.

If you need anything at all, please let us know...ICQ, RP chat. We are always willing to help players out, whether a returning player, or newcomer.

I'd be happy to chat with you via ICQ if you have one...82866172.

I tend to play my crafters mostly lately, but who knows....maybe my RP characters will re-surface one day.

 

[Jaden Rain]

Hello....so nice to see new interested people in Catskills.....I started on Catskills late 99 about 2001 I started playing Great Lakes with interest to RP,,,,never actually got around to that there and ended up bringing Jaden Rain to Catskills.....I have had periods of time have have taken breaks from the game but seem to always find my way back....I have played within many types of guilds...since my return almost 2 years ago I have tried the RP part of the game...I also do PVM kinda stuck in between one might say.....there are many kind folks here on Catskills that would be more then willing to help you with whatever you need and if You ever wanna tour of anything just let me know...my icq is 339303759 and I also have a discord server and facebook page ....Glad to see you here and hope to see you in game soon

 

[Deraj]

Hey. I'm one of the local RP plot-bullies. You better watch your back kiddo. Let me clue you in. We don't take too kindly to newcomers and squares. Step in the wrong part of Trinsic and me and the pals will serve you up a knuckle sandwich without sufficient lead-up dialogue, perma kill ya without your permission, dunk your head in a toilet then laugh all the way to the malt shop for some slurgs and burgers. So stay outta my way, nosebleed!

 

[Judas D'arc]

It's great to see a new face around here. If you need any help orienting yourself, feel free to PM me or ICQ me at #6082388.

 

[Aedon Durreah]

Welcome to Catskills. It was nice to see you tonight at the Govs meeting. If you need anything, my Q is 312213645

 

[Vershawn]

Hi guys, i'm rejoining the world of Britannia once again and just wanted to introduce myself. I have never played on Catskills, but i've always heard great things about this shard. I mostly played between 1998 and 2001 (Chesapeake, Great Lakes, Sonoma).

Who did ya play on Sonoma?
Been there since Dec 97 till I too myself came to Catskills

 

[Capidermus]

Hey. I'm one of the local RP plot-bullies. You better watch your back kiddo. Let me clue you in. We don't take too kindly to newcomers and squares. Step in the wrong part of Trinsic and me and the pals will serve you up a knuckle sandwich without sufficient lead-up dialogue, perma kill ya without your permission, dunk your head in a toilet then laugh all the way to the malt shop for some slurgs and burgers. So stay outta my way, nosebleed!

LOL

 

[Capidermus]

Glad to see another Catskillian. I've been on and off since '97 with Lake Superior being my first shard. You will find that Catskills is one of the "quiet" shards out there, yet it is very friendly (unless you meet up with Deraj) and laid back. I'm solitary for the most part, like you, so if you need a helping hand, you can reach out to me if need be. ICQ is one of the go-to messengers, but Discord is one players are using, as well. Good luck in the game, and be safe!

 

[Caine Family]

Welcome to Cats Terra. Very nice chatting with you last night. I hope to see you in game, so I can show you Cove!

Give a shout out on RP Chat when you are in game, I will come to Haven and find you.

Our ICQ number is: 719144884

Melody Caine
Covian Guard

 

[Noble Beast]

Welcome home. I am confident that you will like it here and stay. See you in Sosaria!

 

[Foxmire]

Hi guys, i'm rejoining the world of Britannia once again and just wanted to introduce myself. I have never played on Catskills, but i've always heard great things about this shard. I mostly played between 1998 and 2001 (Chesapeake, Great Lakes, Sonoma). I've had brief periods of game play between 2008 and 2014 (Atlantic, Chesapeake), no more than a couple months each time. I have played A LOT of the free servers in between, making me rather an expert of the 98-01 eras, but a complete neophyte of anything after.

I'd like to stick around more long term this time. I really haven't experienced much of the game after UO:Ren, besides some of the new mechanics. I'd like to experience all that the world has to offer, and I imagine it will take some time to do so (so I can't allow myself to skip away after a couple months). I would also love to join a community of players whose enthusiasm for Britannia has lasted 20 years. Its the people that make the game after all.

Other things about myself:
1) I'm probably split 70/30 in my interest in PvE/Roleplay on the server.
2) I tend to be very solitary. I think this contributes to why I don't stay sometimes. Given the choice between going to an event sometimes or being lazy and taming hinds, I tend to choose the lazy option. I'd like to change this a bit. (Taming hinds is boring anyway)
3) I'm a middle school teacher, and love the slower pace of the summer. I just finished summer school, so my play time can widely range. During the school year (late August and on), i'll be more confined to a 6-8pm EST time slot.
4) I have made a character who currently lives in New Haven. I'll soon branch out into other cities and the wilderness. If you happen to see a Ms. Terra Blight, feel free to talk to me in or out of character. I've been doing some UO lore research and developing Terra into the person I want to play. It will be a long work in progress though.

Anyway, i'll spend some time reading through all the sticky posts. If there are other Catskills resources you think I would find useful, I would gladly accept them. I hope to call this home

I am a returning vet though I did lose my old account

Hi guys, i'm rejoining the world of Britannia once again and just wanted to introduce myself. I have never played on Catskills, but i've always heard great things about this shard. I mostly played between 1998 and 2001 (Chesapeake, Great Lakes, Sonoma). I've had brief periods of game play between 2008 and 2014 (Atlantic, Chesapeake), no more than a couple months each time. I have played A LOT of the free servers in between, making me rather an expert of the 98-01 eras, but a complete neophyte of anything after.

I'd like to stick around more long term this time. I really haven't experienced much of the game after UO:Ren, besides some of the new mechanics. I'd like to experience all that the world has to offer, and I imagine it will take some time to do so (so I can't allow myself to skip away after a couple months). I would also love to join a community of players whose enthusiasm for Britannia has lasted 20 years. Its the people that make the game after all.

Other things about myself:
1) I'm probably split 70/30 in my interest in PvE/Roleplay on the server.
2) I tend to be very solitary. I think this contributes to why I don't stay sometimes. Given the choice between going to an event sometimes or being lazy and taming hinds, I tend to choose the lazy option. I'd like to change this a bit. (Taming hinds is boring anyway)
3) I'm a middle school teacher, and love the slower pace of the summer. I just finished summer school, so my play time can widely range. During the school year (late August and on), i'll be more confined to a 6-8pm EST time slot.
4) I have made a character who currently lives in New Haven. I'll soon branch out into other cities and the wilderness. If you happen to see a Ms. Terra Blight, feel free to talk to me in or out of character. I've been doing some UO lore research and developing Terra into the person I want to play. It will be a long work in progress though.

Anyway, i'll spend some time reading through all the sticky posts. If there are other Catskills resources you think I would find useful, I would gladly accept them. I hope to call this home

 

[Jaden Rain]

Hello @Foxmire

 

[Foxmire]

I am a returning vet, though I lost my old acct, I was gone for several yrs but like someone said I tend to return to the game. I started on Catskill, tend to be more a loner rater than being always within a group. I do enjoy hunting with 1 or 2 friends and have done some RPing. I have interest in all skills which of course means In all professions as well. I would tend to go the Virtue path rather than straight PvP but about 85% of my time itsPvM my ICQ# 712833864

 

[Jaden Rain]

I am a returning vet, though I lost my old acct, I was gone for several yrs but like someone said I tend to return to the game. I started on Catskill, tend to be more a loner rater than being always within a group. I do enjoy hunting with 1 or 2 friends and have done some RPing. I have interest in all skills which of course means In all professions as well. I would tend to go the Virtue path rather than straight PvP but about 85% of my time itsPvM my ICQ# 712833864

I will be in game off n on most the day get hold me and Ill meet up with you sometime today

 

[Noble Beast]

I am a returning vet, though I lost my old acct, I was gone for several yrs but like someone said I tend to return to the game. I started on Catskill, tend to be more a loner rater than being always within a group. I do enjoy hunting with 1 or 2 friends and have done some RPing. I have interest in all skills which of course means In all professions as well. I would tend to go the Virtue path rather than straight PvP but about 85% of my time itsPvM my ICQ# 712833864

Welcome back home.

Even loners can join in on the fun; especially with all the Chat Channels making it easy to stay connected without too much of that taxing interaction. *winks with a laugh* See you (or not) in Sosaria, Foxmire. Terra is fitting nicely; Jaden, Terra, and myself had a great time at Jhelom's Soup Kitchen.

 

[Terra~Blight]

It has been about 3 weeks since I first landed here in Catskills. For those who may be interested in joining, i'm going to give it an objective review. I come from the point of view of someone who has mostly played UO:R and earlier, with some idea of basic changes since then (equipment, housing, skills, etc). I'd wait another week and call this a month's review, but I will be much busier in a week.

I'll divide this into two parts. One for the game, and one for Catskills specifically.

A. Ultima Online - The Game

1. There is so much more in the world than I once remembered. Even if you look things up, you may not even know what you should be looking for. I don't know how many times someone has brought up a place, quest, activity, etc... that I would not have known about unless I specifically looked for it. UO has become some sort of stew, where more ingredients are added all the time to make it more complex. It is just difficult to distinguish and find and savor all of those individual ingredients. It will certainly take a long time. A free month gone by, and you will only have skimmed the fat on the surface.

2. The economy at first makes a large portion of the game seem inaccessible. You are bound to need to buy things, but they will be far beyond your reach. If you want anything of luxury, it will begin to seem like a project that will takes months or more to purchase an item. I have learned that it is a seller's market. You have to get past picking gold off corpses in the dungeons, and find things that the wealthy will buy. I remember finding a +0.9 animal taming transcendence scroll, and a friend told me I should save it for when my skill gets high level. However, you could sell this for a tremendous amount of gold (at least to a new player. I kept it, and others btw). Plan to buy little, and sell much. I'm still not very good at this, but I at least found some things that people will buy.

3. You get a feeling that you will need some amount of min/max planning for your characters if you plan to join others where they hunt. Most players are at the very end of end game, doing the highest level content. It feels like it will take a very long time before you will ever be more than a bystander. This likely depends on your template and everything. Of course, this makes sense. It IS end game content after all. It just seems unfortunate that most other content is only occupied by new players (few of which you will ever run into randomly). This makes you sometimes feel at a rush to try to join everyone, spending a lot of time just working skills, spending a lot of time trying to earn meager gold in hopes you will be useful sometime. I have learned to just enjoy the things I am doing at my pace, even though it will cause me to play alone most of the time. Perhaps in the months to come, I will find myself better skilled and equipped and may join others more often.

4. The roleplay and game master storylines seem alive and well. I have greatly enjoyed every official and player event I have gone to. These things are something I never experience in other games, and it is one of the major draws for me. On free servers I played on, I occasionally put on all sorts of events for the community, and gave away nearly all wealth I accumulated. I have so little knowledge and resources, that it is best that I am a participant. One day, if I stick around long enough, that may change.

5. The world building with communities and homes is second to none. I have the resources and land in the world to place nearly any home I wish ( I think ). But why do so? The world is covered in communities and homes of all sorts that are designed and decorated masterfully. Of course, everyone has their heart set on having their own home and having storage is useful (I bum a storage box off a friend). Otherwise, take some time and look around. I could, in no way, match the design and splendor that some of these homes offer. I have often gone to these homes and used their public facilities, even logged out there, pretending as if it were my own. I'm probably just weird.


B. Catskills Community

1. The community is very generous. I have had two friends in particular who have given me everything I could ask for. I often feel guilty over how generous others are for a stranger, but I know the community wants to invest in new players. The game needs as many people as possible. I always offer to pay for things, but I find that most will give without accepting payment. This is of course for basics. You probably aren't going to receive a free castle. I find that the only way I shall be allowed to pay some things back is to help the next newcomer that steps into the world. Pay it forward.

2. Communication seems good at times, but also very fractured. There seems to be a great divide between those who use ICQ and those who use discord. I'm betting that the vast vast majority use ICQ, but it is a dated chat program that I have only seen used for those playing UO. If you try to sign up for a new account, you have to put your personal phone number in. If you don't care, you'd still have to run both. I use discord for ALL other games, so it is not an option to not use it. Guilds also keep their chats private, which I don't blame. However, it is difficult to communicate with a guild as a whole as an ally or an interested initiate to join them. The good side is this forum. I regularly check to see if there are any new events and things happening. I would be playing alone 99% of the time if it weren't for these events (and the company of a couple friends).

3. The roleplay is outstanding. If you don't have a good experience right away, keep coming back. If you feel shy about joining in, then feel free to attend events and just read. Often, I will just read all the conversations happening in the room and get a feel for everyone's character. Sometimes, i've even had people try to talk to me and I didn't realize it until later, because I was so engrossed in other things in the room. There aren't a lot of official roleplay events, but there is at least a couple people in the Trinsic tavern nightly. I run by between 8-10pm and I see people there. Sometimes i'll join in, sometimes I just run by to see who is around. So if nothing else, give that a try.


Anyway, that is just my 3 week opinion of some things in UO and Catskills. I have enjoyed being here and plan to continue playing. I'll be getting very busy soon in a week, but I hope to make appearances when possible.