Im thinking of buying Ultima Online, however before i do i would like to ask the people of this forum a few questions. Before i ask away i will state a few things about me that might help you in your answers. First thing is that im a casual player. Game time might only be 1 to 3 hours a night if that. The only MMOG's i have played are FFXI for a year and WoW for a year and a half.

1. As a brand new player will i be able to start a character and level him up without being overwhelmed by the players who have been playing for 5 or 10 years. What i mean is, considering everyone else has been playing the game for years will i just being ignored by them or pk'ed by them just becase im a newb? Is it still possible to start UO this late in its life and be successfull in it?

2. Roughly how much time does a person have to invest into a character to make him good. When i played FFXI, the level 50+ grind is what forced me to quit that game. As i am casual player i dont expect to be super uber dragon slayer but i would like to not die from the first flea bite that i recieve.

3. What is the economy like and how does it work. How will money be earned in UO? Is it easy to be financialy viable in this game? When i played i had no problems making money from crafting and dungeon running. I always had 1000+ gold in WoW. However when i played FFXI i could barely support my myself financialy. I certainly couldnt afford the +1 of any armour in that game.

4. How dificult is the crafting in this game? I hated crafting in FFXI as it was to difficult and time consuming for me to do. However in WoW i was a very successful alchemist.

5. Is housing affordable? Is it worthwhile? I dont want to own a mansion or anything like that but maybe a little cottage out in the boondocks. Will housing take me year to save up for?

6. I read that you can own and sail ships. What influence apon the game does ships have? Will i have to have one? Will only certain places be accessible to a ship? Are there different types of ships?

7. Are busy servers better then empty ones? Will i need a busy server to find people to group with for dungeons and stuff? Or is a empty serer better so i can get a housing plot? Any recomendations for a server?

8. Can i solo? Or am i forced to group? The way WoW was set up was perfect for my playstyle for grouping and solo content.

9. Im not looking for a extremely hard game to play however i dont want it to be to easy either. How does UO rate? How comparable in difficulty is UO to the MMOG's i have played already.

10. How is death handled? Is there a penalty?
I would like to thank anyone who chooses to respond to this post. Any answers would be greatly apreciated.

UO is a great game for a casual gamer imo, i played UO from 98-2003 then brain farted and went to play lineage II for 2 years....the grinding made it more like work than fun and if you missed a week you were behind everyone....but i am back to UO for the last 6 months or so and loving it they have added so much content...i will try to answer your questions best i can

1 you might be overwhelmed but more by people trying to help you, you really should have no problem finding help when you need it and places to hunt/train without interfernce, Felluca is the only place non consentual pvp is allowed so you shouldnt have to worry about pks, as a young play you can't even go there for 40 game hours(ways around that though if you need the pk excitment) yes you can start and still make it to the top of the food chain in UO nps

2 time spent on leveling a char depends on what char you create a warrior type char are usually easier to level/equip when you are a beginer should take you a few weeks to get to uber dragon slayer ;p , but if you want to be a bard or tamer it will take you a lot of time training but worth it imo....good thing about UO is you can actually have fun while playing, it isn't such a grind grind grind game

3 economy is a little tricky....as for making gold killing monsters is the easy way for a beginer but then once you accquire items thru game play or off other people you can set up a vendor or become a mercant(banksitter/spamer) affording the top armor in the game will take a while but you can have great armor in no time

4 crafting is fairly easy just monotinuos and takes some time to gather resouces, crafting can be profitable but i wouldn't start a crafter as my first char....

5 housing on most shards is very affordable and if you saved hard you could afford to place a small house in as little as a week of casual play...housing is one of the greatest features in UO imo

6 ships are good for fishing and can sail to most lands that way although there are alot fast means of travel...ships really dont affect the game much but there are differnt types but sadly they look pretty simulair

7 yes but i am not sure on which is which maybe someone else can help on this

8 i hated lineageII because i was forced to group, UO is great because you can solo almost everythng in the game,gear/items/time permited but still do things in groups

9 UO is a very very in depth game imo but it is still simple enough to pick up, play and have a blast for a causual gamer

10 no death penalty but you will be a ghost and have to find a healer to rez you then go back to gather your belongings

hopefully this helps some, i answered a little more in depth the first time but then when i went to preview the post it booted me....grrr

Download the 14 day trial would be the best bet.

1. As a brand new player will i be able to start a character and level him up without being overwhelmed by the players who have been playing for 5 or 10 years. What i mean is, considering everyone else has been playing the game for years will i just being ignored by them or pk'ed by them just becase im a newb? Is it still possible to start UO this late in its life and be successfull in it?

There are many shards that offer PVM as well as PVP. I started playing UO almost 3 years ago and UO, start date has nothing to do with enjoyable gameplay. If you ask for help in game, most are kind enough to help out a new player. As in real life though, you will find some that will ignore. Many of us here in UO Forums play on multiple shards and would be happy to help out. Let us know what shard you are going into and more than likely someone here is already established on that shard.

2. Roughly how much time does a person have to invest into a character to make him good. When i played FFXI, the level 50+ grind is what forced me to quit that game. As i am casual player i dont expect to be super uber dragon slayer but i would like to not die from the first flea bite that i recieve.

I cannot answer this question as far as a fighter goes since I play a tamer most of the time. Creating and building skills on a tamer is a long and tedious task but well worth the effort. Other skills, however, I will leave for others to answer.

3. What is the economy like and how does it work. How will money be earned in UO? Is it easy to be financialy viable in this game? When i played i had no problems making money from crafting and dungeon running. I always had 1000+ gold in WoW. However when i played FFXI i could barely support my myself financialy. I certainly couldnt afford the +1 of any armour in that game.

You can earn money various ways. Selling loot acquired from kills to other players or to the NPC's, renting a vendor spot (some vendor houses don't charge rent). Surely someone can help you get fairly decent armor if you just ask. My time in UO has afforded me to earn and spend millions.

4. How dificult is the crafting in this game? I hated crafting in FFXI as it was to difficult and time consuming for me to do. However in WoW i was a very successful alchemist.

I will let someone more familiar with crafting answer this question.

5. Is housing affordable? Is it worthwhile? I dont want to own a mansion or anything like that but maybe a little cottage out in the boondocks. Will housing take me year to save up for?

Housing is very affordable, however, depending on which shard you choose, land may be scarce. Your house IS your castle as you will need someplace to store your items since a bank box only holds 125 items. Each house size has a certain number of storage slots for items (i.e. the larger the house, more storage).

6. I read that you can own and sail ships. What influence apon the game does ships have? Will i have to have one? Will only certain places be accessible to a ship? Are there different types of ships?

Most areas have been visited by players and runes for many locations float around the game. You do not have to get a ship or sail across the seas if you choose not to. There are 3 different types of ships that I am aware of.

7. Are busy servers better then empty ones? Will i need a busy server to find people to group with for dungeons and stuff? Or is a empty serer better so i can get a housing plot? Any recomendations for a server?

I have only played on 2 servers...Pacific and Lake Austin. There are many of us from UO Forums that have made Lake Austin our home as it's not over populated, there are vast opportunites for claiming land for a house plot and the overall population seems to be quite nice and welcoming.

8. Can i solo? Or am i forced to group? The way WoW was set up was perfect for my playstyle for grouping and solo content.

You can solo or go in a party! The choice is yours. There are some areas such as Peerless, that you'd be better off in a group.

9. Im not looking for a extremely hard game to play however i dont want it to be to easy either. How does UO rate? How comparable in difficulty is UO to the MMOG's i have played already.

I cannot answer this questions as UO is the only MMORPG I've ever played. We are currently awaiting the new client Kingdom Reborn to be released later this year which is said to offer a better learning environment for new players along with better graphics.

10. How is death handled? Is there a penalty?

The only penalty I've found in dying is that I lose fame. When you die, you need to find someone (player or wandering healer) to ressurrect you so you can get back to your body and claim your items. If you do not get back to your body in time (I think it's 3 or 5 minutes) you're body along with your items will decay and go away into eternity.

Welcome to UO Forums and hopefully to UO soon hairy goatboy .

Seems like the posters above answered your questions very well. So let us know which shard you start on and we will be glad to try and help you out.

Vepl

Welcome to the forums!

Your questions can't really be answered any better than what's already posted, so the next step is getting in game.

The UI (currently) is a little awkward at first, but easy to get used to (much like any game you play for more than 10 minutes).

I am a less than casual gamer (if I could get 1-3 hours a night I'd say I was an above average gamer), but still had enough time to hang with others after a month of playing. It really depends on how quickly you learn the systems.

A lot of other info on the game can be found at uo.stratics.com or uostuff.com. Although some of the data at stratics is outdated, so it's always good to double check here!

i second this

I would try the demo out, however i wont give my credit card number out on the internet anymore then i have to. Unfortunetly the demo requires a credit card number to play.

With any demo, that is the practice. If you wish, post the link you are using here and we can verify it for you.

No matter what you do, when you sign up you will be asked to give your credit card number. There are alternative payment methods however.

As for your question to the complexity of the game. At 1-3 hours a day, you would take about 5 years to master everything there is to know. Some here have been playing for 9 years and are just now discovering different facets.

If you ever played FFVII, I would rate this MMO on the same scale. It sets the mark that all other want to beat, but they can't seem to beat ALL of the content. Just parts (like graphics).

After you download the trial and get a feel for what you would like to play. Depending on your connection. You can drop an extra 20 bucks for an advance character token (especially if you like taming). And it gives you a good boost.

You can play uo and watch tv. Gaining skill, in many cases is just a repetitive motion and if you have 2x monitors, a movie and training a skill is a very good tactic. Unlike the newer MMORPG's, ultima online isnt an experience grind. It is however a skill grind and you will find yourself casting magery spell after magery spell to get gains.

Pick a shard with lots of players. These days, everyone is condensing to fewer shards. You dont want to choose a shard that is small (unless thats your thing). Bigger shards you will find friends easier as well as items.

Good luck and if you have any questions icq me: 10295407 aim: evil splendor

http://uo.stratics.com - life saver.