Hi there all!


I currently find myself in a bit of a gaming rut. Nothing seems new anymore about WoW and EQ2. What once was bright and new, is now dull and lacking.

In all the history of my gaming career, no memories are quite so fond as my long nights leapfrogging ore from caves to my house, creating exceptional weapons and armor, and many many sleepless nights exploring Brittania.

I am currently thinking about coming back to UO after many years being away. I remember very little of the game itself, only that I was more addicted to it than any other game before or since.

So the question I am here to ask is this: Should I come back? Is the game still so much fun? Is it ossible to even come close to catching back up after the game has been out so long?

Thank you very much for any replies, in advance. From browsing this forum for a bit already I notice that the community here seems so much more welcoming and polite than the cesspools that are what the WoW forums have become.

Hi Smink -

You're definitely going to get biased replies here, as this community in general absolutely loves UO (if I may make such a broad generalization!)

I would say, come back and try it out. You get a 14 day free trial when you sign up with a new account, so why not? (Note - you do have to provide a credit card or game time code, but if you cancel before your 14 days are up, you won't be charged).

It's an exciting time to come back. The whole game is about to change - both with the new user interface with the soon to be released Kingdom Reborn client (free to upgrade!) to the new expansion coming out sometime later this year called Stygian Abyss. There's a lot going on right now.

You could opt to download the new KR client and beta test it now, but be aware that it's an unfinished product, and there are still some bugs being worked out of it. The dev's are pumping out patches almost weekly now, and KR gets better with every patch - but you might want to start out with 2D if you're not familiar with the crashy-ness of beta software.

I absolutely love UO. The game has never gotten stale for me, and communities like UOForums really bring the people in the game alive. Compared to other games, I love the rich worlds that UO has built, mainly because I have the freedom to make this game whatever I want it to be, as opposed to being forced into some structure of leveling or stuff like that.

I say, come back! Or at least take the 2 week test drive

Thank you very much for the reply!

It is good to know that people still play and love the game. I am downloading the trial now(after registerting with fileplanet about 6 times and it having errors each time hehe)

One of the big questions I have would be: My knowledge level is essentially nothing, are there still guilds out there that will take in a newb like myself and help us out? I am not looking to for handouts by any stretch. I do not want to log in for the first time in years to be invited to a guild and given a full set of nice gear. After feeling so powerful in WoW for so long, I am looking forward to the feeling of being weak and lost for a bit.

The skill system, though brilliant, is also somewhat complex in it's interactions, and is going to take some getting used to again and I will assuredly have a plethora of dumb questions to ask.

Is there an "endgame" to speak of? If so, how hard is it to start fresh and make it up to seeing it?

Is it still nearly impossible to find a location to place a house like it was when I quit? (I used to have a house right on a mountainside back when you could macro-mine. Access to agapite and valorite.)


Thank you again for the reply!

What Kitiara said,and welcome to the forums here and good luck in refinding your feet in the game.

Depending on which shard you play on Smink,I am sure you will find some one on here who will be more than glad to take you under there wing and help you find your feet.

If you are on Europa,I am more than happy to help you throughout your two week trial.


Here on UOFoprums,we are currently mid setting up a forum for 'New Players' to offer advise etc.
Please feel free to ask any questions you want to, even if to you they may sound 'silly questions'.

Most of us remember what it felt like to be new

No there is no end game so to speak.

There is no 'levelling' and then the boredom sets in.

There are active player towns and guilds on all Shards.

/tabby

Believe me, you're not the only one who has had trouble with the download You have my word that it'll be worth it though

There are definitely a ton of guilds that take in new players!

Do you know which shard you plan to play on? Usually you'll want to go with the one you get the best connection to. You can find that out when you first log into the game. On the shard selection screen, if you wait a few moments, it will pop up numbers that show your connection latency to each shard. The lower the number, the better. Most of the time, your best connection will be to the servers located geographically closest to you. I know there's a list somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. You can look here on stratics and at least find out which servers are in your time zone:
http://uo.stratics.com/content/misc/servip.shtml#4

Feel free to ask away here! There are forums for specific skills, as well as forums specifically for Kingdom Reborn. When in doubt, you can always post questions in the Ask a Question forum. There are lots of people with answers 'round these parts.

That's what makes UO a bit unique. There is no end game. It's a bit of a virtual world of sorts. I suppose the closest thing to an end game in UO would be to develop your character into the absolute highest skills possible in his/her chosen skills - but when you get to that point, that's when playing becomes the most fun, because you can do the most high level stuff! So it never really ends. And if you do get tired of one character, you get 5 or 6 character slots (depending what version of UO you get), so you can make a new character and try out different skills.

Most players have spent years tweaking their skill sets and adjusting their characters to get them just right. Just look for conversations on character templates. (like, tamer templates, archer templates, necro mage templates, etc). By reading those, you'll get a feel for how your stats and skills complement each other for each playstyle, and all of the different skill options and the pro's and con's of each combination of skills. Also, armor and magical items play a role in your skill choices, since jewelry can add to your skill points.

It's a lot to learn at first, but I have a lot of fun planning out new character templates and training them up and testing them out. The only thing I don't do is PvP - but the PvP community is alive and well if that's your thing! You can get by just fine with PvM or even non-combat skills like crafting and merchantry.

Depends which shard you choose. Some of the heavily populated shards are hard to find housing (Atlantic comes to mind). Some of the less populated shards are easy to find housing (Lake Austin and Origin come to mind). Both have pro's and con's. Lots of people = lots of people to play with. Fewer people = fewer people to play with. But, lots of people = lots of people to wait in line for monster spawns with, etc, whereas fewer people = more freedom in doing what you want, when you want. Just depends what your preference is.

np! Glad to help!

Thank you very much again to both of you!

I am installed and done registering. I am now just waiting on the patch downloads to complete while I read over all of the skills.


To tell you how long it has been since I last played.... I left about 6 months after my friend got me started by saying "Dude! You have to check out this new game that just came out!"

As soon as I get done patching, I will see what server has the best latency for me, currently living in Austin, Texas.

Welcome to the forums!
As for catching up, we have a brand spanking new FAQ section that you can browse. It is constantly being updated, along with a variety of skill guides. To get to the FAQ, go to the main UOFORUMS main page, scroll down to the "ASK A QUESTION" forum. Underneath, you will see the FAQ sub-forum link.
ALternatively, click on the far right link in my signature.

There is SO much new to tell you about, it could literally take up a book. Like Kit said, an exciting time for UO lies ahead.

Bear in mind, the KR client is still in beta, and has some kinks to work out.

HI neighbor! You are just a few miles away from me! At our location, the Lake Austin server is probably the best. If you do choose that one, look for people with the UO:F guild tag, from the (you guessed it) UOForums guild. Lots of nice helpful people in there.

Welcome to the forums, and back to UO!

You wont do better than the UOF guild Smink

what they dont know isnt worth knowing

welcome smink... let me tell you as much as i love playing uo there is nothing greater then the peole you meet i can talk to them for hours wehn we hunt or just chill a guild is a great way to go make alot of people , duel each other, hunt together , quest together but im biased but honest hope you enjoy when you try it out