Which shard is the absolute most active in the US? I have been on Europa, and it seems quite dead these days... I heard good things about Atlantic.... anyone know for a fact which shard is highly populated?

Only way to tell which shard is the most active (I believe) is to look at which one is at the top of the shard list, when you login
I believe it's sorted by population, so try loading it at prime time.

I also feel that EA needs to consolidate shards... lets face it here, UO is no where near as active as it was back in 1998-2003. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I had that feeling but I thought maybe because there is a lot more land than before...but still...

When I tried UO again a while ago, Atlantic was always the most populated.

Atlantic is the most populated by a wide margin. People are always moving to Atlantic because it has so much activity.

I completely intentionally moved AWAY from a highly populated shard (Atlantic) to a less populated one (Lake Austin). I'd be very strongly against a shard consolidation, personally.

Or moving away from it because it has so much activity

I like Atlantic...even though I am soloist by nature. Never been in a guild, or clan (even though I have had numerous invites 'even for CAL in DoD, DoD:S, and CS:S'). It does make me feel warm and fuzzy to get a "TY" from someone I res'd in a dungeon. I like the active shards most, perhaps becuase I am a solo player. All my friends in RL are rough-neck welders, fishermen, bouncers that don't own computers. Anyway...too much absinthe tonight...I like the populated servers becuase of the economy, and if not for the PVP; you might as well just play Baldur's Gate and Oblivion over and over with different characters. Been playing UO on/off since '98. I remember the good old days when PvP could happen anywhere/anytime and "murderers" were everywhere and had bounties on thier heads.

Hi odysseus,

Personally I believe the problems with consolidation would not justify any hoped for benefits. Players have been talking about consolidation for years, but just like UO's eminent failure and other issues... ten years later it still hasn't happened, nor should it.

With the ability for a player to create a player on any shard they want, and the availability of transfer tokens so a player can move a veteran character to another shard... following and players wherever the largest population is, isn't really a problem for those that want to do it.

Consolidating shards though would raise a multitude of issues. Who's shard would get rolled into another? What about guilds, housing, player resentment, player towns, shard history, and so on. Consolidation of shard would be a monumental task and likely there are as many players who would resent the change than those that would welcome it.

Just my own opinion, I believe EA would not do it... nor should they.