Returning Player in need of advice

[neocron79]

Greetings,

I have played UO off and on for a couple of years (started originally when T2A came out, then tried again when Third Dawn came out, then again when Age of Shadows came out, and most recently when Stygian Abyss came out) and am wanting to come back to see how things have changed. I am curious, however, what shards are considered "active". I perused the forums and read that Atlantic is (or was) the most populated shard, but it seems to me that Baja has a lot more activity in terms of player-run events and whatnot.

I want to start a new character so I can relearn the game, so trying out a new shard doesn't bother me. I just want to make sure I land on a shard that has a good population and a decent mix of player-run events and spur-of-the-moment activities.

Thank you for any advice you can give regarding this.

 

[Lady Storm]

The only advice i can give you is make a few beginner characters on possible shards and try them... it cant hurt to just be a observer for a few days per shard then you can settle down on one and know you made the right choice. WB.

 

[Selurnoraa]

Greetings,

I have played UO off and on for a couple of years (started originally when T2A came out, then tried again when Third Dawn came out, then again when Age of Shadows came out, and most recently when Stygian Abyss came out) and am wanting to come back to see how things have changed. I am curious, however, what shards are considered "active". I perused the forums and read that Atlantic is (or was) the most populated shard, but it seems to me that Baja has a lot more activity in terms of player-run events and whatnot.

I want to start a new character so I can relearn the game, so trying out a new shard doesn't bother me. I just want to make sure I land on a shard that has a good population and a decent mix of player-run events and spur-of-the-moment activities.

Thank you for any advice you can give regarding this.

I would avoid all of the west coast servers except for maybe Pacific.

Atlantic, Chesapeake and Great Lakes are your best options.

 

[neocron79]

I would avoid all of the west coast servers except for maybe Pacific.

Atlantic, Chesapeake and Great Lakes are your best options.

Really? Are the west coast servers all pretty much dead then or are they geared towards vet players? I've been poking around and Atlantic is a definite possibility, as is Chesapeake. The last shard I was on was Sonoma, but I found it was too sparsely populated (I literally went days without seeing anyone else and only had a couple of people to talk to that I met while poking around New Haven).

I've been reading a lot of good things about Chesapeake, especially in regards to the new-player friendly guilds like Dragon Watch and Protectors of Nidaros being particularly welcoming and friendly when it comes to new players. While I wouldn't classify myself as an uber-noob (I ran a semi-competent sampire back in 2009), I do need to relearn the ropes as it were. Are there any such guilds on Atlantic or Great Lakes?

Also, I am on PST (I live in Nevada). Another consideration is play hours. I have no problem playing on an east coast server... but the time difference is something I have to take into consideration.

Also, I like Lady Storms suggestion as well. At the end of the day, nothing wrong with making a toon on each of the shards that look promising and see which one fits the bill.

 

[Selurnoraa]

I feel if you pick any of the west coast shards your either just going to invest in a character transfer, or quit the game again no joke.

Letting timezone dictate where you play will be a bad choice.

 

[neocron79]

I feel if you pick any of the west coast shards your either just going to invest in a character transfer, or quit the game again no joke.

Letting timezone dictate where you play will be a bad choice.

I agree it would be a bad choice to let timezone dictate... which is why I'm not necessarily set on going with a west coast server. I was thinking Baja due to the number of player run events... but given the general consensus regarding west coast servers combined with my own personal experience on Sonoma, I am not keen on repeating the mistake.

When I said play time is a consideration, I was referring to the 3-hour time difference between PST and EST. I am an assistant manager for a retail store, so I pretty much don't get to play during the day and don't get home until around 10pm PST, which is 1am EST. I do get to play during the morning and early afternoon, since I regularly work a closing shift, but that means my normal play time is from around 10am PST to 2pm PST, which is 1pm EST to 5pm EST... working hours for most people.

It's not an easy decision, to be sure... but spending the time now to make a good decision will surely pay off in the long run in terms of enjoyment.

 

[Petra Fyde]

I suggest spending a little time on Baja board, from that you'll get at least some idea of how active the shard is.

 

[Joey Porter]

If you do decide on Atlantic I am a member of the L*V guild and we are very noob friendly. Look me up in New Have, LTL is my main toon.

 

[neocron79]

I suggest spending a little time on Baja board, from that you'll get at least some idea of how active the shard is.

I did poke my head into the assorted shard forums... and this is what I saw:

Chesapeake: 13 topics with replies in the last 7 days
Atlantic: 4 topics with replies in the last 7 days.
Great Lakes: 3 topics with replies in the last 7 days.
Baja: 2 topics with replies in the last 7 days.
Pacific: 1 topic with replies in the last 7 days.

Based on that alone (which of course would probably be unwise since I am sure there are a lot of shard players who don't post on a regular basis), I would say Chesapeake is the most active shard, despite the fact that Atlantic is considered to be the most populated.

But there again, if one looks at player-run events... the picture painted is different

Player run events from July 1st - July 13th

Baja: 8 events
Great Lakes: 2 events
Atlantic: 1 event
Chesapeake: 1 event
Pacific: 0 events

I suppose the devil is in the details... and here I am going all scientific about the whole thing. **lol**. Sorry about that. I guess that's the assistant manager in me coming out.

 

[Serafi]

..........but that means my normal play time is from around 10am PST to 2pm PST, which is 1pm EST to 5pm EST... working hours for most people.

Not in other parts of the world...Then you are bang in the middle of European Prime time. Forget the US servers and join us on Europa. There are a fair share of US folks playing here already.

 

[Kravick]

I think your best bet is to create a character and go straight to Luna. The number of people sitting at the bank is usually a good indicator of how active a shard is. That being said, Atlantic always has a ton of people at Luna even late at night. The guild I'm in is very active even up to server maintenance (5am EST). However, be mindful of when shards do their maintenance since no matter what shard it usually takes a few hours after maintenance to fill back up again.

 

[FrejaSP]

You could also try something new and make a char on Siege but it all depent of what you want from the game. Siege is not for all as we are a shard without Trammel ruleset and Item Insurance.
This may sounds bad and it may be for some.
If you want to try, I can offer you a guild to start in, a bed and a locked secure in Young Travelers Inn.
If others would like a vacation on Siege our door is open if it is your first time or you never made it a month before.
Ask for us in gen chat or find the Inn in New Magincia
If your account is very young, you may have a problem with find Siege on the shard list

 

[SunWolf]

Enhanced client on the shard selection screen has a population low medium and high. The shards change on thier different primetime time zones.
The more busier the shard, the hard it will be to place a large house if that is your play style.
I think there is solid people on every shard that are active, you just need to meet and find them.

 

[neocron79]

Enhanced client on the shard selection screen has a population low medium and high. The shards change on thier different primetime time zones.
The more busier the shard, the hard it will be to place a large house if that is your play style.
I think there is solid people on every shard that are active, you just need to meet and find them.

Yea I saw that... every shard that I am looking at is listed as "Low" population except for Atlantic, which is always at "Medium" (I've been keeping an eye on it). Am currently checking out Cheasapeke... there's a couple of people hanging out in Luna, but New Haven is a ghost town. I think I've seen 3 people there during the last couple of play sessions (and not all at the same time, it's been 1 during 1 session, then 1 during another session, and 1 on yet another session).

I don't expect New Haven to be much of a hangout... not like it was back in 2009 at any rate. Back in 2009, people hanged out in New Haven and there were runes all over the place advertising assorted stuff. I'll ultimately end up checking out the other 4 shards I listed as well, playing on each of them for a couple of days before I make up my mind.

So keep an eye out for Neocron (or some variation of that, since that is the name I tend to go by).

As for making a toon on Siege... I am not much of a PvPer and is one of the reasons why I stopped playing UO the first time back when T2A came out. In fact, I have a funny story about that. It was entirely my own fault... UO was my first MMO, but I had lots of fantasy game experience (including all of the Ultima games). I made a toon in Trinsic and started wandering around the countryside. I ran across a toon that had a white dragon following him... so like a total noob, I rush in to save the toon. Needless to say... death was instantaneous and all I saw was the toon say "all kill". Later I learned that was a tamer and I had attacked the toon's pet.

This story is completely unrelated to why I don't like the pre-tram ruleset.. just a funny experience since it was literally my FIRST experience in an MMO. I'm not much of a big PvPer simply because I lack the patience for it. That and I really don't like eyeballing the corners of the screen watching for someone to come on the screen and quickly prep an offensive spell or a quick-exit spell in case the person decides to get up close and personal (I enjoy playing crafters and I remember having to abandon many an ore-haul either by choice or because I was outmatched in the pre-tram era).

 

[Frarc]

Just for the record, smaller shards don't mean less fun. On Drachenfels we have 2 player run towns (Drachental and Council of Yew). New Magincia is nicely build with different Establishments from the knuckleheads. (Auction house,shops,magincia teleportation hub,arena). We have of course the EM events but also several recurring player events. a monthly in game auction from the knuckleheads. We have the Gauntlet. ( Doom Hunt on requests) We got Battling the Behemoths (a fight against the biggest bosses in UO. Medusa,Slasher Peerless....) We got a returning fishing competition.White net toss. We now have a new event called Tour of champions ( a weekly event to fight between all champion spawns) . And much more. and a lot is made possible with the Drachenfels alliance (with about 67 guilds) .
I even have a guild to take in new and returning players to see how it is in the alliance. They free to leave or join another guild when they see fit.
This makes it easy to help each other or plan thins with the people around. But do know we don't leave out people from other guilds or guild less, i always announce big events on Stratics and other boards and alert people on big things to come in general chat.

So, smaller shards don't mean less fun. There a lot of good people on all shards, you just need to find them at the right time of day when you play.

 

[Nexus]

Go with what makes you happy, if you prefer play run events and RP then Baja will be fine. You like PvP and things like that look at one of the more populated shards.