So far I've had a pretty bad experience. I picked the Atlantic shard, as it had the best connection for me. The tutorial at the beginning was rather nice, but it ended way too quickly. Now I am in some town without a clue of how to do anything. I've read some guides online, but they all seem to be tailored for the experienced player... I am so lost. I asked someone for help and this is what I got:

Me: "Hello! I'm new to UO "

Player: "lol you can type that's better than most of the people who play."

Me: "Oh, heh. Any tips for me? I have absolutely no idea where to hunt."

Player: "Well new players should give me lots of gold. lol!"

That was it. Wow. I continued to ask for assistance, but I was completely ignored. I heard this game had a good community.

So, what do I do now? I picked Samurai, and I tried to kill some things. A bear killed me. Is there any way to gauge the power of monsters before you attack them? Also, if you don't loot your corpse in 15mins it decays forever with all your stuff? Yikes, that seems really harsh.

Another thing, I was given a book with Bushido skills in it. Do I have to keep the book on me at all times to use the skills? Where do I earn more skills? WHAT'S GOING ON?! lol

Thanks for all your help, everyone

Sounds like you had a rough start with some immature people, I assure you that there are good people out there, and most of them are pretty nice

Hi (I'v been around for a while (like 9 years), first time poster) and I can say, it isn't easy starting out. The corpse decay system has always been like that, so you need to be careful not to die.

And now to answer your questions:

There really isn't a reliable way to telling how strong something is outside of experience and having extra knowledge. I recommend this site http://uo.stratics.com/hunters/index.shtml to check up on specific monsters. About killing stuff thats in your range, remember you are literally just starting out so a lot of stuff will be hard. I personally recommend going out into forests, or meadows (there are some great ones around, like one just East of Vesper) and killing weak animals, like rabbits, and deer while you raise your stats and skills.

About the corpse decay, once you start building up money, you can purchase item insurance on most non-stackable items (it costs 600g per item per death.) so you really won't lose your best items.

If you are looking for more skills go around and look for trainers, like warriors for the weapons, mages for magic etc. But Bushido only has 6 linked "skills" you can use, but it comes with inherent bonuses, and you DO need to keep the Book Of Bushido on you in order to use those skills.

You really need a clear plan of character development (basically, know what skills you will have and how high.) and there are hundreds of threads out there. Then, you just work those skills up, I have made and remade a lot of characters, so I can help with a bit of info on development.

Since you just stared with a template, that is a good place to start. I would then go out and work my combat skills by beating up weak animals (yes I mean it) and potentially work on skills like healing to make yourself last. Once you feel that animals are not a challenge anymore, you might want to take on monsters. I would go for the lower end ones, like Lizardmen, Ettins, etc. My favorite place to hunt once I got into 65+ range was the first levels of the dungeon despise. Once your skills combat skills get into the 90+ range, you are a lot more of a threat in dungeons. Remember, you won't know how strong something is until you fight it. (I remember when I took a 3 week old character up against an ancient wyrm...) Last,y if you feel that you can not kill the creature, its ok to run, or run and heal, the combat system is very open and quite forgiving on lower levels actually

However there are guides to powerlevel your character, but I wouldn't do that your first time around, take some time and enjoy the game.

Welcome to UO and UOForums. Enjoy your stay, it honestly only goes up from here.

Excellent response Xen! Welcome to UOF both of you!

I didn't like the Atlantic shard at all was WAY to populated and yes... there is WAY better people on UO... actually UO has the best community compared to all the other game communities... even my husband who has little experience in the UO gaming finds the community amazing when I was playing on my computer from the kindness that I had ran into

I am sorry your having so many problems =( maybe try out another shard? Usually smaller communities have nicer people just because they do not have room to really make everyone mad... word gets around faster of who is good compaired to the arses

I know if I ever go back to UO I am totally avoiding Atlantic shard... I am not saying ALL people there are bad because Ally is there and I like her alot! I am just saying in general I didn't like the people there and again too populated for my taste

I forget the names of the other "high populated" shards but I am sure others can fill you in on that =D

No matter where you go... even in other games there is always going to be someone who is a total arse... and the community is what makes up atleast 1/3 of the MMORPG

And oh yes welcome to UO:Forums!

-RMS Carpathia-

Welcome to UOForums KitKat & Xen.Sorry to hear of the bad time you have had so far.

The advice you have been given is very good.

I would stay close to a town ,where you can keep a bearing on your location,and can run to easily for rezz's etc.

Most ;safe' towns have a range of suitable creatures in nearby forests for you to build your skills on.

I would check back later to see who posts from your side of the globe.I am sure some one will offer there help to get you through your early days.

Good Luck

Look for a guild that accepts new players. That will be the best way to make quick friends. Guildmates are always looking to help train their members and give them some resources to get started.
Even better is to find someone that is training healing or peace and follow them around. You will be able to get some great experience that way.
Stay away from Luna Bank at all costs. For one, you will not be able to afford anything that is being sold and you will be pretty much ignored or mocked by the professional bank sitters there. Once you have some dough and some skill, go there, buy stuff and talk junk to the scripters............*thinks to self, sounds like I have some deep rooted issues to deal with*
Research some of the threads on healing & parry. There are some great ones in the skills forums. Jhelom rox for healing, parry, low level swords and tactics gains.
The people at UO FORUMS are super helpful and know something about everything....maybe they just know everything about something, not really sure, but anywho.
Keep your chin up. You will die lots! Stay out of Felucca for a while.
Take your first experience and treat people in the exact opposite manner when you are in a position to help. A little compassion goes a long way in this game. People remember those who help them out in times of need. But they never forget the ones that don't.

P.S.
I would suggest you make a bard.........

Not usre where you stand now but if your looking for a guild i am in a very active guild and i would be happy to personally guild you to our team and as for alantic being to populated well im not sure mr carpathia is correct on that i can still hunt alone if i choose on any given day but why when i have friends to accompy me so anyway drop me a line if your interested and in no time you will be killing balrons and laughing at bears

Haven't read the entire thread but the town you start in "New Haven" have lots of skill trainers and just outside town to the east there is a little town of undead where you should be pretty safe while gaining skills. There are tons of friendly players on Europa, me for example XD

There! Kitkat take Kingtony's offer to join he's guild. With their mentorship I think you'll love this game.
Plus I believe there are many here that might have considered changing shards just to play with KT
Don't hesitate to ask all the question you have either, lots of knowledgeable folks here and we all know what a steep learning curve it was starting out.
Hope your experiences get better!

Celsius

KT it be Mrs Carpathia hehe

Atlantic? I'm moving some chars out of there. But anyway, you still in New Haven?

Get ICQ ASAP www.icq.com and message me. 105851819 ("Mick").

Lol, yes,joining a guild is definately the way to go, though its not everyones choice.

Just before reading this thread I had been posting a reply to some one on Europa.When I came here and read 'I believe there are many here that might have considered changing shards just to play with KT ' I thought to myself,where did KT come into this?

I had to read through the thread again twice before it dawned on me KT = Kingtony,lol.

KT [Knights Templar ] was the first guild I joined when I began playing

Got me confused for a while there

No matter how much time you have put into a server, don't up and leave because your disappointed. Only switch shards if you are totally and completely sure you want to. The game of Ultima Online is a busy place and a lot of times players no matter how nice they are, are in such a hurry with their daily lives they pay you no attention.

Then there are the sad forty year olds still living in their parents basement, playing Ultima day and night and laughing when they have greifed or pk'd some new players. Remember the attitudes of some of a shards players are not a representation of the entire shards community.

I would suggest you stay on your current shard. heavily populated shards are excellent with commerce and guildplay. With enough players you find a good variety of stuff. First off you will need to find a guild. Usually a good guild will friend you to the guildhouse and allow you access to certain training equipment not to mention a roof over your head that is friendlier than the god awful INN. This will allow you to log in and out and change characters at your will. You will also be able to buy items from guildmates at somtimes discounted prices. Most guilds will have a blacksmith for you as well as give you certain items to them are junk but to a new player could save your life.

Second you will need to save some gold. Our world like the real word has an economy with falling and rising prices almost daily. It is always good to keep a good supply of gold in your bank. What costs a lot today could become almost worthless tomorrow. Remember to always keep on the lookout for good deals. hanging around banks in large cities could just warrant you a sweet deal. Somtimes a person trying to sell somthing will even give you a killer deal because they want rid of whatever they are peddling. But most of all about saving gold is that you will need large ammounts of it in the future. Your house will cost millions of gold. You might get lucky and a guild mate will give you a house or sell one to you cheap! But on heavily populated servers this is a bit rare unless the house is tiny and in a bad spot...but you never know!

Third, you will be aggrivated! you will be pissed! you will want to slam your head on your desk so much it leaves your brain dripping from your ears. But you must take a deep breath and calm down. You must repeat these words to yourself...

It is only a game
It is only a game
It is only a game

I mention this because like the real world you will run into hardships. The great thing about Ultima Online is if you become to angry, solving your problems is only a mouse click away. Somtimes people need a break from the game. When I get overly aggrivated I close the game down and do somthing else.

Like many players have said already Ultima Online has the greatest community. This is because the game is so diverse and so complicated it makes its players ban together to help each other, or turns them against each other. Depending on which road you take could be worlds of excitement and adventure. You will meet people that are nicer than anyone you will ever know. You will also meet people more evil than a b-movie villin.

Community is what keeps us together. From the Role Players of Europe and Cheasapeke, to the Materialistic Wealth Accumuaters of Atlantic, Pacific, and Great Lakes...all the way to the clashing of Good and Evil of the Siege Perilous and Mungen servers and the tight knit friends of Sonoma, Baja and Lake Austin.

Welcome to the multiverse of worlds that makes up our precious

ULTIMA ONLINE