What's the busiest shard after Atlantic?

[Phantasmagorian]

I went to one of my old home shards, Europa, and there is a gigantic "To Atlantic" spelled out with water tubs right outside Luna.. Almost no one there. Many popular house spots empty.. So I'm wondering, what the current shard ranking is by players after Atlantic? I may move chars to somewhere where there is still life..

 

[Anon McDougle]

Whatever shard you stay and play on.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

Whatever shard you stay and play on.

Yeah, not helpful.

 

[Cinderella]

I would say that would be Lake Superior.
There are lots of helpful people there.
Pawain can tell you lot more about the shard.
He is one that will call out in chat during events.
examples: krampus has spawned, shrine battles, etc

 

[skett]

If like like trolls you'll defiantly like LS



j/k

LS is a good shard very strong group community there

 

[Phantasmagorian]

Atlantic is my home now, but I have developed characters on Europa, for example, and I'm just looking to see if there is a second home for them. Population is very important to me. I like to solo a lot, but I don't play an MMORPG to be with 20 other people on the shard only.

 

[Onixia The Paladin]

I have found that any shard is a good shard if you are part of an active guild even on a dead shard. The bonus of being on a deader shard is there are great housing spots available.

 

[Anon McDougle]

Trashlantic is crowded yes let's write off 30 % of the players you see as spam bots hawking sales, another 20% shoppers who come and go. Yes houses are tough to find but is it honest players placing?? initial post was truthful quit leaving home shards and get active every shard still has plenty of players

 

[Phantasmagorian]

I love UO, but the community gets so defensive about things. It's just...unnecessary. All I am trying to do is get some idea of what the 2nd most populated shard is after Atlantic.

 

[Tjalle]

Years ago Great Lakes used to be mentioned in threads like this. I don´t play there so can´t say what the population is nowadays.

 

[Poo]

I always say GL is the 2nd busiest - or historically was.
you would probably do better to find a guild then go to where they are.
because it sounds like you are looking for people to play with.
unless you just wanna bank sit with more people standing around you.... which is kinda strange.

 

[Victim of Siege]

Years ago Great Lakes used to be mentioned in threads like this. I don´t play there so can´t say what the population is nowadays.

I always say GL is the 2nd busiest - or historically was.
you would probably do better to find a guild then go to where they are.
because it sounds like you are looking for people to play with.
unless you just wanna bank sit with more people standing around you.... which is kinda strange.

Great Lakes has a decent sized community still and there are usually enough people on to do things with, but I would imagine the time of day that @Phantasmagorian will be active is the determining factor in all of this.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

I'm fine with EU and US times. I play all sorts of hours. I am mostly interested in having the best population.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

I always say GL is the 2nd busiest - or historically was.
you would probably do better to find a guild then go to where they are.
because it sounds like you are looking for people to play with.
unless you just wanna bank sit with more people standing around you.... which is kinda strange.

Nah, it's about running into people. When I go to popular hunting spots or anywhere. Or if I wanna sell my loot, have vendors.. have an active economy.Come on people. There is more to an mmorpg especially like UO then hunt with guild or banksit.

 

[Merlin]

Tough to say which shard is 'second' most popular. Great Lakes, Catskills, Lake Superior, Origin - they all have various guilds and groups that are regularly active. You just need to know where to look to find them. In the age of Discord being a primary communication medium, you have less people bank sitting in Brit and Luna on those shards compared to Atlantic.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

I see. No clear answer I guess. Oh well, I don't have shard shields and it costs a lot to transfer. For now I'll buy a 7th char slot for Atlantic..

 

[Pawain]

I see. No clear answer I guess. Oh well, I don't have shard shields and it costs a lot to transfer. For now I'll buy a 7th char slot for Atlantic..

7th slot is for all shards.

Go to each shard, Do Vendor search with just exclude items in fel checked. You will see which have an economy.

 

[FishinFool]

Try out a couple with a new character and see what you see. I don't think anyone can give you a truly unbiased opinion. It's a pretty small time commitment.

 

[Acid Rain]

If u decide to move, hit me up. I’ll Xfer whatever u want boss. Got shields for every shard u can & stockpiles of unused tokens. Since can only Xfer once every 24, it’ll take alil time but we’ll git her done. U kno how I roll so no worries. Offer stands anytime whenever so take ur time deciding.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

If u decide to move, hit me up. I’ll Xfer whatever u want boss. Got shields for every shard u can & stockpiles of unused tokens. Since can only Xfer once every 24, it’ll take alil time but we’ll git her done. U kno how I roll so no worries. Offer stands anytime whenever so take ur time deciding.

Thanks, bro! I had no idea others could use those transfer shields.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

7th slot is for all shards.

Go to each shard, Do Vendor search with just exclude items in fel checked. You will see which have an economy.

I've been, since I have chars from old times on them. Drachenfels is dead as hell in my book. Europa was not great in 2016, now it's way too desolate. Checking really popular housing spots, checking vendor search, are some of the ways I check a shard's pulse.

I'm looking for shards that teem with life, not ones that have a handful of people playing. People are in serious denial about shards. On Atlantic I will go to popular hunting spots and run into people. On Europa I can barely find a soul at peak times. On Drachenfels? Don't be kidding. And yes, checking vendor search reflects that. Basic items like a kryss will have 20 of them server-wide on Drachenfels and many popular items 0.

 

[Keven2002]

Thanks, bro! I had no idea others could use those transfer shields.

You wouldn't be able to use anyone else's shard shields; I think he meant you would give him the stuff and he would transport.

As for populations; I think you might need to level set your expectations a bit. When it comes to population, ATL is the top of the list for sure and then it's a far drop for second place (I play ATL so I'm not 100% sure what the next best shard would be). This isn't to sound all doom & gloom but I don't think the game is nearly as populated as it was back in 2016 so Europa might as it is now might still have a good group of people to play with; you just might not see them around as often. To a point, the same could probably be said about ATL too compared to how it was back in 2016 as well.

I wouldn't necessarily judge shard population on VS because I think a lot of stuff gets sent over to ATL. I also wouldn't judge it based purely off of the hunting hotspots because even on ATL when I've gone to hit Miasma or some other popular places; they are empty. I think a better indicator of population would be the ToT type events (limited time). That's likely when you see everyone coming to hit the hotspots. For me personally, over the last year or so, these limited time events are really the only time you are really going to see me because I'm pretty bored of the common things (you might be considering the popular hunting spots) like Miamsa / Doom / UW / Shadowguard / Champ Spawns / etc.

What you might want to do is hook up with a guild on ATL (like LLTS / TWT / KOOL / etc) that has a pretty good number of people and they probably like a "sub-guild" that also play on another shard together as well. That might be your best bet at doing stuff on a shard different from ATL with others.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

You wouldn't be able to use anyone else's shard shields; I think he meant you would give him the stuff and he would transport.

As for populations; I think you might need to level set your expectations a bit. When it comes to population, ATL is the top of the list for sure and then it's a far drop for second place (I play ATL so I'm not 100% sure what the next best shard would be). This isn't to sound all doom & gloom but I don't think the game is nearly as populated as it was back in 2016 so Europa might as it is now might still have a good group of people to play with; you just might not see them around as often. To a point, the same could probably be said about ATL too compared to how it was back in 2016 as well.

I appreciate the advice, but many here seem to have a very different approach to MMORPGs than I have. When I play an MMORPG, I really like the "massive" part of it. Some people seem to be content playing it as a type of multiplayer RPG. I like serendipity. Running into people. Some of my happiest and coolest moments happen that way. I also don't have all day to play like I used to. When I log on, I'd like there to be life. Atlantic resembles the old UO feel for me, Brit Bank, Luna Bank, hunt spots,..I meet vendor owners, I meet my own clients.. I even ran into a bunch of PKs in Felucca Deceit. The chance of all that is dramatically lower on other shards.

Anyway, I don't care much to continue this discussion here, as people are way too defensive and it's just silly. I'm happy on Atlantic, I just wanted to see if other characters I built out would have a chance of being elsewhere where there is a significant-enough population. Guess not. I'll transfer one from Europa and see about tranferring some items I guess.

 

[Acid Rain]

You wouldn't be able to use anyone else's shard shields; I think he meant you would give him the stuff and he would transport.

Bingo... thanks for clarification Kev. I forget not everyone knows how they work, my bad.

I’ve Xfer’d other folks stuff for yrs. Everything from 1 of 10 event rares worth plats to boxes of flowers/seeds for someone starting up their garden. Phantas knows me. All I ask is stuffs be in containers with a book saying location, name of char that gets it & tell no one else so no chance for imposters. Been doing this for years & all items have gotten to their respective owners, no exceptions.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

Bingo... thanks for clarification Kev. I forget not everyone knows how they work, my bad.

I’ve Xfer’d other folks stuff for yrs. Everything from 1 of 10 event rares worth plats to boxes of flowers/seeds for someone starting up their garden. Phantas knows me. All I ask is stuffs be in containers with a book saying location, name of char that gets it & tell no one else so no chance for imposters. Been doing this for years & all items have gotten to their respective owners, no exceptions.

Awesome, thank you.

 

[Keven2002]

@Phantasmagorian

I'm not sure if this would be helpful or not. I had to log into EC yesterday to use the backpack grid view and this was how the shard list looked. I have no idea what type of actual numbers High/Med/Low refer to but this should give ya an idea pf what we are working with. Yesterday was the new event release on Origin (and Baja) so that's likely why it's medium. Every other shard was Low with exception of ATL which was the only high pop shard.

I don't want to sound negative but I do truly think that the "massive" part of UO is likely in the rearview and having it be like you remember will not be the case (all the time). It's not all bad, I think you will find pockets of players and run into people during "prime time" but that would involve logging in around specific hours. You seem similar to me where my game play is a bit sporadic at times so playing at primetime isn't usually possible.

Anyways best of luck! We welcome ya with open arms on ATL.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

@Phantasmagorian

I'm not sure if this would be helpful or not. I had to log into EC yesterday to use the backpack grid view and this was how the shard list looked. I have no idea what type of actual numbers High/Med/Low refer to but this should give ya an idea pf what we are working with. Yesterday was the new event release on Origin (and Baja) so that's likely why it's medium. Every other shard was Low with exception of ATL which was the only high pop shard.

I don't want to sound negative but I do truly think that the "massive" part of UO is likely in the rearview and having it be like you remember will not be the case (all the time). It's not all bad, I think you will find pockets of players and run into people during "prime time" but that would involve logging in around specific hours. You seem similar to me where my game play is a bit sporadic at times so playing at primetime isn't usually possible.

Anyways best of luck! We welcome ya with open arms on ATL.

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I'm happy on Atlantic and there the population is quite great. I run into people in various random places all the time. Cyclops Valley, Demon Temple, Painted Caves, Shame, etc. )) On the other shards ...fat chance most of the time. And these serendipitous moments are MMO part for me in the MMORPG. UO is not NeverWinter Nights for me.

 

[Omnicron]

Legends Is home for me. But it can be deslolate for sure. I just have never made the jump to ATL.

However, I do agree, that running into people in the "wilds" does make for a good time. Its why I love the MMO genre. I almost never play a game that is strictly a single player game. THey bore me.