To my view, the Veteran program in Ultima Online is a step by step thing with players moving every year one step at a time onto the next year goodies and so on from one year to the other.
And when I say that the program is in my view very well thought out, it is because I see that with every step come rewards that are nice to have but the game can be played even without them.
Of course, some rewards might be liked by some players and some others by other players as liking a given reward may vary but personally, I see many of the low/mid years having very very nice Veteran rewards.
To my view, it is not like all Veteran rewards but the Shard Shields are junk that noone may want to get.
For example, personally I like a whole lot from Year 1 the Black, Furniture and Special Dye Tubs, any of the 14 Monster Statues offered for that year which make sounds when walked near, the Red Soulstone, the Commodity Deed Box, the Crystal and Corrupted Crystal Portals, the Greater Bracelet of Binding and the Ethereal Horse. That's a LOT of very nice rewards for just the first Year, IMHO !!
From Year 2 I like a lot the Leather Dye Tub, the Flaming Head Deed, and the Banner Deed which make very nice decorations. Year 3 I like the Cow, Llama and Zombie statues which make noice when walked nearby, the ethereal llama is my favourite ethereal mount and the Potted Cactus is also quite nice.
From Year 4 I find very usefull the Runebook Dye Tub and the Hanging Skeleton is a cool deco item, the Seed Box is a wonderfully usefull item to save up space and the Mongbat, Ophidian and Reaper statues also can be very nice to have to make sounds when one walks near them.
The Year 5 has in the list also cool and usefull items that I like such as the Metallic and Metallic Leather Dye Tubs, the Ankh and the Bloody Pentagram as well as the Fire Elemental, Gazer and Wolf statues which make noise.
And I could continue with the Years past the 5th (the Character Statue Maker, the Cannon, the Weapon Engraving Tool, Davies' Locker Table, the Ankh of Sacrifice, Mining Cart, Skull/Rose/Dolphin Rugs come to my mind among several others....) but it would just make the post longer.
I am only trying to say that as a player's account active age increases, Ultima Online's Veteran Program has very nice rewards to offer at every step. Some Years may have more like Year 1 that have lots, some years less, but the thing I like a lot is that moreless all Years have something nice to offer that may be wanted by players as their account's active age increases.
And most importantly, every Year not just the Reward for the oldest year is added, but also something nice and usefull is often added for years below. The Davies' Locker Table which was added as an 8th year Veteran Reward is just the latest example. That is, to my opinion, Ultima Online's Veteran Reward program is very well thought out, very well assorted across all years and most importantly, is well maintained as the years increase with new additions not only for the oldest year but often also for years below that, so as to make moreless all years an interesting journey in terms of rewards that one can get one step after the other, as a player's active account age increases one year after the other.
