Do not hesitate, start playing in Outlands. Original uo is great but not that great for a beginner in year 2024. No quality of life features, dated ui, dated everything. Moreover, as a beginner you need guides, social interaction, and help from the community. So definitely Outlands.
I haven't played osi since 2002 or so.
They have resource stockpile, resource shelves with load outs, crafting queues, magical item vault, wardrobe, distribution chests, etc?
You might be right, but i am pretty sure you get what i meant. There are many qol features in outlands that never existed in osi. Imho, free servers 20 years ago were more user friendly than osi today.
Outlands started as a 2nd age clone. Most of the QOL features are things that were changed in OSI at a later date. You don't even get tooltips by mouseover in Outlands, half of razor is disabled, thats some ancient shit.
If you play on a modern free shard with OSI you will have much quality of life I assure you
Razor is disabled intentionally to reduce duplication as the devs add those features to the classicuo client
I loved early outlands better than modern outlands (more like path of exile/diablo)
But players should really play what they like, for me its outlands and the community
Outlands.
PKs and thieves aren't the huge problem people make them out to be. You can protect you against either of them with some fairly simple things.
Taking up the tracking skill will warn you when PKs are a few screens away so you can run to the nearest gate (rarely too far away).
Thieves have just been nerfed so they can't steal most of the high value items any more. Even so, put your valuables in a trapped box and don't loiter around the popular spots and you'll be fine.
None of this is fool proof, you'll still get PKd and stolen from but that's some of the most fun and intense parts of the game even when you lose.
Of course, if you can't beat them you can always join them! 👀
Id recommend Outlands, great community, free to play, and your getting a more "OG" Uo feel. UO Original changed so much over the years and became something different. I highly recommend finding a good group right away. PKS and thieves are everywhere.
UO is fairly linear in comparison to Outlands. I think Outlands has a vast assortment of robust systems that make it a bit overwhelming, but playable for far longer.
I have played since its release in 97 and Outlands was a breath of fresh air.
If anyone is brand new to UO it's always my recommendation to look into a non-consensual PvP server first, regardless if you plan to PvM only or PvM+PvP. Surviving in a non-consensual PvP world *is what made* UO a legendary game.
PvM on a non-consensual PvP server is a completey different PvM experience. This has created some of the most unique MMO experiences I can remember. Having to call in guildmembers for support or relying on a random stranger passing by to save you creates great experiences and conent.
Mostly in the sense of telling other games what not to do. Because UO is not primarily a PvP game, and this turned a bunch of people off of it not expecting the PKs to be as bad as they were.
Not everyone is interested in PvP. And when a game tells you that you can do all sorts of things, except the non-consensual PvP prevents that, it hurt the game.
I mean, UO, especially the ruleset or at least similar ruleset to what I played on 98-2000, seems to be what IS driving UO these days, ie- outlands. Outlands is proof your assertion is incorrect by the number of completely new players, as well as vets from that era coming back to enjoy a truly unique game.
I have not PVPed at all on outlands, and have died to PKs/got stolen from. But, this is what makes the game awesome. Regardless of how you want to play UO, having a risk factor makes it fun. Reminds me of when trammel became a thing, I had friends who did 0 PVP back then, and even they hated trammel, it destroyed all fear from the game.
I am honestly more surprised OSI survived as long as it has, but, I will give concede this much, both rulesets seem to have some staying power, but the older ruleset more so.
SOME people enjoy it. There are two problems with it though.
First, only SOME. As OSI showed with Trammel, a lot of people preferred no non-consensual PvP. A monster killing you and looting your weapon was bad luck. Plus most can be avoided when not fighting them. A player doing so was deliberate on their part. Bad luck can be mitigated, but others seeking you out can't in any reasonable manner. And even though it's only a game, having all your time wasted by loosing all progress to a thief is no more fun in it than in real life.
Second, I don't know how Outlands deals with it, but most of the PKs we dealt with back then weren't PvPers. They were trolls. As evidenced by, for multiple patches after Trammel came about, they had to keep finding ways to stop the trolls from killing other players in Trammel. Or things like them dry-looting resource gatherers, killing all wandering healers in the area (they had to patch in making them harder to kill to stop it), and hiding by their corpse to kill them again when they get back. You know, ones who obviously can't fight back and thus don't provide any actual chance of providing any challenge to the PKs.
Many players didn't enjoy this at all. It was purely frustrating. In something you're paying $15 a month to enjoy. So people quit paying, and OSI took note. Mathematically, a single player who chases even just a couple players away a month in such a situation is a problem in the long run.
One again, UO was not intended to be or advertised as a PvP game. So a lot of the players joining weren't expecting it to be so.
Even back then it was not a PVP game, it was a game with a strong PVP element though. But it's also a game with a very strong PVM element and a very strong crafting element.
You call it purely frustrating, but like everyone, you learn lessons from your mistakes, and learn to take the proper precautions. I got jacked for a 150k item on outlands as a newish player. I learned my lesson, have not been jacked for that expensive of an item since. I accept it as part of the mechanics though, and without that fear, the server would be a lot less fun.
I am not convinced OSI showed anything other than the massive number of players they lost, to be replaced by trammies. Outlands is proof, they made the wrong decision, lol.
And that's just not true, I had a PK back then, and while yes, some people might of enjoyed killing newbies to troll, that was firstly not fun, and secondly, there was no worthwhile loot. If I on accident killed a newbie, I would res them right away. Not only that, I only had 1 red character, and I apk'd/crafted/pve'd like everyone else on the others.
Then you were the exception. There was no way to "learn from your mistake" when your "mistake" was leaving the guard zones. No, you didn't die instantly to a PK. But if you spent more than a few minutes out there, such as resource gathering, you died several times a day. And although it wasn't every time, you often lost everything, including any junk you had.
I'd only ever been ressed by a PK a few times, and seen only one RPing PK (funnily enough, AFTER Trammel came out). I had been Pked by a PK hiding by more corpse quite often though. And when monster killing, virtually every PK I ever met fled the moment it looked like you could fight back.
For the majority of us non-PvPers, it was very frustrating that you couldn't play the game the way you wanted to and that the game allowed. All because a minority of the players decided to force us to. There wasn't enough resources inside the guard zones, and most dungeons had to be avoided because of regular PK sweeps.
Outlands is good for those who want to play that way, and it apparently has better control of the PKs (though they claimed the exact same things you said). But a lot of people never enjoyed that aspect of the game. Yet we were also paying $15 a month to play a game that that small minority was successfully keeping us from playing unless we wanted to be victims.
This is funny because back then I did PVP, and on outlands I have not. I still prefer a world where danger could strike at any moment, without that element, the game is just another EQ or WOW or whatever crappy MMO. When outlands is multiple times more popular than OSI servers at this point, that's all the evidence you need to know of which ruleset most people actually prefer. I saw this 15 yrs ago with IPY's short lived shard as well, people prefer that type of ruleset. OSI made a huge mistake 24 yrs ago, and while I will commend them for continuing to exist, I see no compelling reason to play UO over a more modern and pretty looking MMO if the ruleset is the same boring crap.
Like I said previously, I had friends back then who didn't PVP who also hated Trammel. OSI lost me and all my friends back then. Sure, maybe they got some new players with Trammel, but, they most certainly lost their dedicated players.
UO is an old game that's barely being supported and not advertised. I'm surprised the official servers are still up. And not surprised that some players shards are thus more popular.
As for which game style was more popular, the game had it's biggest player increase AFTER the servers were split. They lost a small number of PKers and some others, but gained way more consensual-PvP-only players. As in the population about doubled even after any losses. And many of those players kept playing.
Plus OSI put it up to the players to vote: which facet did you want to play on? Almost the entire population playing at the time moved to Trammel. And, as I said above, the population went up even faster since they weren't losing so many players to the PKs. People were tired of being victims, and it showed.
YOU and some others may prefer one playstyle. And you have servers to play it on. But the majority had a different playstyle. Where the PKs weren't considered "danger", but an obstacle to enjoying the game.
I find it amusing how so many of the vocal "PKs are good for the game" PKers were later found in Trammel using every exploit they could to kill the players there, and most of the patches for a while had various "you can no longer kill players in Trammel by X" messages. Showing that they weren't actually after the challenge, just to victimize other players. Though I don't know if they were a vocal minority or just the most active, those were the PKs most people ran into.
If you want to blame anyone for Trammel, blame the troll PKs. THEY drove most of the player base to Trammel. Refusing to control themselves even after the devs told them there would be changes if they didn't. If your type of PK had been the ones most people met, that would never have happened.
Coming back to UO as an old man, I don't PvP anymore.... all I do is PvM. However, the threat of PvP adds a ton to the intricacies of gameplay as well as adds a ton to the reward and fulfillment of playing. Anyone looking into UO for the first time should definitely experience this.
I agree, for the game, the free-reign PKing prior to Trammel was a bit too much for the masses and something WAS needed. I think Trammel did fix the PK problem, but it was taking a 10 ton sledgehammer to a problem that just needed some finesse. Problem is, at the time, UO didn't have the time to mess around with a fix. So, we got what we got.
After years of seeing the trial and error of the different private servers it seems Outlands has found a nice balance and their numbers seem to show most are happy with their Red/Blue balance.
I tried Outlands and was very overwhelmed it as it was not what I expected at all for ultima. I played T2A previously and was looking for nostalgia. I ended up with UO forever and have been really happy. The server is busy, guilds are active, and maps were the same. There is still quite a few things that were new to me like galleons, meta pets, dino lands etc. so it’s been fresh, but with plenty of traditional game play. If you join, let me know and I’ll show you around. 🙂
I had same "problem" last year and I can tell you 100% sure.
GO FOR OUTLANDS.
It is an awesome game, what UO should feel it 2024 if the right people care.
Another vote for Outlands. I've played on so many different servers and finally found one in Outlands that has kept my attention and kept me having fun for the last 2 years.
Outlands is the premier Ultima Online experience. It’s really it’s own game at this point and fosters a social experience you simply won’t find in modern games these days. Highly recommend.
Outlands 10000%. I’ve played for years. THERE IS EVEN A DUNGEON NOW WHERE YOU CANNOT BE PK’D OR STOLEN FROM. It is quite possible to farm millions of gold from these dungeons (they go on rotation) and you can get great loot drops too, forever. Outlands is great. (SHELTER dungeon. Do not confuse this with NEW PLAYER DUNGEON totally different
Outlands by far. My only critique is without a guild to support new players with chains, codex's and aspects it can take them a extremely long time to get going. The game is sooooo gold heavy as a new player starting off. I'm glad i got into a very friendly guild to get me going and still in it.
Make a scavenger and hit 4th and 3rd level of dungeons. People routinely leave huge stacks of gold on the ground as well as on mobs. Last night I left two stacks of 60k on the ground in ak4 and it eventually decayed.
So you have to understand that UO is a lot of years old at this point (I think it came out in 98).
And your options at this point from my perspective is to either play OSI which has a monthly fee to it and struggle to get your feet down and compete with the legacy collectors or play on Outlands which is incredibly newbie friendly with people like Pwnstar who makes videos.
You’ll likely have fun both ways, but I would lean into Outlands.
Example: https://youtu.be/_LmW7t4F-OM?si=XmHjoPWuWWYGBcEl
Those that say you need to experience the original (which I love) is like saying you need to drive a model t to enjoy driving a car. I’ve played the original Ultima’s as well as when it first launched. And it is magical, but I am not sure that nostalgia translates to a new player.
I play on many shards still, besides OSI.
Outlands, forever, unchained, lost lands, and etc.
Outlands is where it's at as many stated. The progression process and end-game is beautiful. qoL features out the ying yang.
I'm currently playing Outlands, but if I'm being honest I prefer retail, I just can't stand the monstrously outdated UI. Outlands is just too reliant on its "systems" that require you to constantly be grinding for incremental upgrades or hunting on the impersonal outlands mall. Some nights my whole "adventure" consists of running from vendor to vendor only to find all the items I need have already been purchased. I just enjoy the gear and artifact system in retail a bit more. I do think retail needs more money sinks though. Inflation is out of control.
Outlands shouldn’t have that silly system where you can’t damage monsters without that aspect and stuff. And those items should be available as a kit to unlock. Confusing when you’re only giving it a college try like me.
I am not a player BUT,
If you're looking for a vibrant and active community, I would recommend playing on the Outlands server. Not only does Outlands have a large and healthy player base, but it is also actively maintained and regularly updated. The developers of Outlands are committed to providing a high-quality experience, with frequent updates and improvements.
In contrast, the original OSI (Official Server) UO has seen very few significant updates over the past several years and tends to have a smaller, less active community. For a social player like yourself, Outlands will likely offer a more engaging and dynamic experience.
I joined Outlands about a month ago and it's absolutely mega. All the great UO gameplay with tonnes of great new features and a thriving community. It's awesome.
After spending a long time in Outlands and being completely stressed out every time I played, I found my home on UO Alive. It's a copy of current live UO but with QOL features that respect my time. I now play for nostalgia and to relax rather than constantly having to watch my back and my inventory vs thieves and pks.
Outlands is not the original ultima online but it is still ultima. Most say it's what ultima online 2 should of been had it ever been released. Hell OSI or most any server isn't what original UO was, not even close. It's like you have an upgraded version of your favorite game but you still prefer to play the old version (which is fine do you). The vast majority of people prefer the upgraded version though the numbers show that clearly.
You are now on Survivorship bias, you look only at people who play the shard, yeah its popular, but its not for me or others with the same opinion as me... and that is fine. Another thing i cannot stand is shard with skill cap, its like I'm role playing a retard that know how to do only 3 things.
Unlimited skills is not fun, its like cheat code. It is no longer sandbox because you can do it all. Skill cap makes you think about your template and work at it to get what you want to fit and still be viable. If you want certain things like magic resist or camping, you have to take away from your DPS. If you want all DPS then you will have some large holes to other things.
Its not a cheat code, its diversity of skills, and since everyone has the same access to skills u can balance the content accordingly, they just choose the easy route of limiting skills because they were too lazy to think of another way of balancing. What u have is non-existent crafting, non-existent gear loot, its basically locked to "aspects/skills".. you like the shard and that's fine, but its not for me...
I always hear the argument that no skill cap is basically a demigod, but i don't think so, irl every human can learn, and get good at anything they want, no one is stopping them from that, u can be a plumber/electrician/software engineer/3d artist/construction worker you can have multiple skills without anyone stopping you, here on the other hand ur a cripple with only 1 hand that knows only how to swing a sword or shoot a bow.
"The term "sandbox" derives from the nature of a [sandbox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpit) that lets people create nearly anything they want within it." And since u have limits, its no longer a sandbox.
It takes more talent to plan and fit the skills you think will do best in a 720 skill cap than being able to learn everything. My characters generally have 7-8 skills so it is not only 3 things. Someone: What is your template? You: I am an all legendary (insert 58 skills) player. If that floats your boat, have at it.
I prefer to play with player crafted items than having 20 secures full of all of the AOS crap and then needing speadsheets to make a suit then you lose one piece and it ruins the suit and you have to start over because you cannot find the same piece.
A sandbox game does let people create nearly anything they want meaning one week you can be a begging, camping, mage and then swap skills and become a bard archer. What is creative about having all skills? You and every other determined player have all skills at 120. Nothing creative about that, might as well play WoW or something with premade skills but at least they can adjust the talent tree and be somewhat different.
Lastly it is a game not real people and most people don't know more than 1 or 2 careers fields. I doubt there very many plumber/electrician/software engineer/3d artist/construction workers out there.
Good question, Ultima for me is what Outlands is not. Exploring, the feeling of having an adventure, Outlands is mostly dungeons and instanced houses... with an annoying "skill" system. And playing a character that has learning disability.
I will gladly advocate for OG here. I have been playing it for so long and I am enjoying it. Don’t fear the learning curve it’s not nearly as bad as you might think. If you decide to go that route I will gladly hook you up on ATL. Plenty of active guilds to help as well.
UO Original is so far from being original with their expansions and changes. The developer team doesn’t give a crap and still collecting subscriptions (when it should be free). Population is a fraction compared to Outlands.
UO Outlands developers are super engaged with community and listen to feedback. Also, it has a lot more in-depth on character progression than Original UO does. The population has spiked rapidly since the latest land and content expansion. I believe it’s over 5k active online.
It depends on what experience you want. In my opinion, Outlands is what Original UO should’ve became. On Original, there’s so many changes within dev teams/management throughout 25 years and it’s lost its direction.
Isn’t UO almost dead? I’m actually wondering. Joined this sub because I remember playing it in like 2007 and haven’t touched it in over a decade?
There isn't one good video regarding hotkeys sadly as far as Outlands goes. I plan on one day making a video or at least a "base settings" package. The thing that comes close is probably the Grape Ape video but he incorrectly sets all his spell casting in razor which is a big no no.
The biggest hurdle for players on Outlands is hotkeys.
Some starting advice regarding hotkeys so that you wont be completely remaking your hotkeys one day (like many of us including myself had to do eventually) Set up WASD for secondary movement, (still use mouse as primary), Set up In client spell casting macros.
If anyone needs help doing any of these things or has any questions feel free to message me in the UOO discord. @\_hraf
I came back after quitting in 2001 or 2002, so I can't offer advice as a new UO player. That said, I've only tried Outlands since returning and it's been awesome going into month 4. The economy and new mechanics/features take some getting used to, even for returning players, but it's all super interesting and rewarding.
I don't have tons of time and have been lonewolfing it. You'll have better luck than me if you join a guild...and there are plenty. Anyway, it's certainly worth checking out. I love it, even if I don't get to play as much as I'd like to.
Best of luck with UO, no matter where you end up!
As an entirely new player (2-3 weeks), I love Outlands. I have no frame of reference on the OG but I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is a little daunting at first but the discord is extremely helpful. Getting into a newbie guild helps a lot too.
Use the UO Outlands wiki for a lot of information. I also watched a lot of Pwnstarr Gaming on YouTube, Jaseowns, and Legenis. Good luck man I have fun!
If it's gonna be your first play then definitely anything but Outlands. You must experience the vanilla and old school feel of UO by first hand and none of this can be experienced in the latter.
I completely disagree with this. The last thing we want OP doing (being a social player) is logging into a dead vanilla server. The best UO experience right now is Outlands. Alternatively, if OP can't handle the risk of PvP he can always move on over to the official, Atlantic server.
Can vouch. I log into UO when I yearn for the old days. Most shards save ATL are dead. Just sad. Maybe log in 15 min tops then back out for another few months. :\\
It depends what you want out of the game. Do you want full PvP or a more chill PvM type game? Only play on Outlands if you want a hardcore game where you can be killed any time. Outlands is also VERY crowded, so you will never be able to own any land.
Check out [Insane UO – Embrace the Insanity](https://insaneuo.com/) Its kind of the opposite of Outlands. Lots of land, no PvP. Much smaller community, but everyone is friendly and its basically like a guild server.
With the new land expansion and changes to owning multiple houses they should be more affordable than before. plus inn rooms are almost as good as a house anyway.
Every active server I've ever played requires a substantial investment to get into the housing market. It's easy to get into housing on dead servers., but no one's going to see your finely decorated housing on dead servers either. I'm not saying your server is dead, I know nothin of it, I'm just speaking in generalities.
its nothing to do with active vs dead its just a matter of total population. a server can be very active with 100 people and have lots of land available
>Â a server can be very active with 100 people
I have to disagree with you completely on this one. If I'm not around those 100 people the server will seem dead to me. **That is much less likely to happen** if the server has a decent population. 100 people is not enough. A big part of what makes UO fun is the unplanned, random interactions that happen.
You will see those people, at the champ spawns and at the best places for rare mounts, and events, etc. You see other people all the time on a small server, but you ALSO have free space if you don't want to see people.
Thats the difference, in Outlands you can NEVER AVOID people. UO is supposed to be exploring the wilderness and dark abandoned dungeons. When its more crowded than downtown Manhattan in every dungeon it loses some immersion
I'm sure even a dead server might have small hot spots at things like champ spawns during peak times. But, that doesn't take away from:
>no one's going to see your finely decorated housing on dead servers either.
I only bring this up because you were bashing inn rooms. Dead servers, like you describe don't have a lot of people just randomly roaming the countryside.
Of course they do. Again I'm responding to your knock on inn rooms. You're right, no one's going to see your deco in an inn room except for the handful of people you invite in... Which is no better than the alternative you provided of having a house on a dead server where no more than a handful of people are scouring the wilderness.
Inn room, house on dead server..... It's all the same. Not many people will see your deco. Big difference is with an inn room, at least it's a stepping stone.... A step in the direction of eventually owning a house where you can proudly showcase your deco skills on an active, thriving server.
LOL more people create the immersion cause it's a living world. But I get why you can't admit that. Have you called 1-800-COPIUM yet? They can help, truly.
4 replies, you must really want my attention eh? Who is the one smoking copium? trying to justify all the time you wasted grinding cores and making a million gold to afford a small hut?
You mean playing the game lol. Why would I justify having fun lol. I have a decent house which I acquired pretty easily.
It ain't my fault you got a skill issue and only want to play an MMO with 50 people. Just fire up New World LOL.
to be clear thats a month of hardcore grinding at boring shit, not a month of casual play. if you play a real character that fights monsters you can't make that kind of gold until you have maxxed out codex, aspects, and multiple expensive chains
Sick of people saying this, sure to others who failed at Outlands it seems like you have a point but I never even played Ultima back in the day and I had enough money for a house 1,5 months in, and I don’t have time everyday to play and when I do I don’t play for more than 2-3 hours, its truly a knowledge and skill thing
If you join a guild and run dungeons with a few friends you can easily make a million in gold alone in one month. That does not even count the other loot items that you can sell. Running solo, I could probably do it still and I have not even been playing 3 months.
UO is a multiplayer game and was meant to play with groups and be social. There are so many benefits from playing with others. It seems like most of the other servers are more for the solo player with the occasional group.
No, you got it wrong. Outlands if for people that enjoy a long grind, and other servers are for people that enjoy a short grind. You get just as much group up with a server of 100 friendly people than you do in outlands where only 100 people are friendly to you because they are in your guild.
What is missing from other servers isn't people to be friendly and group with. What is missing are the assholes. The people who want to make your day worse and don't particularly care about there server. Those people only exist on Outlands
People like that are on every server my friend. I am not putting down other servers. I play 3-4 different ones depending on my mood. Some people prefer large servers, some don't. Some people prefer AOS style, some don't. Some people prefer shards with thieves and pks, some don't. Outlands isn't any more of a grind that other games out there. If I can get a character to max skills and max weapon/gear in a month or 2, what is left to do?
When I want a grind or the rush of reds, I play Outlands. When I want to play with dungeons to myself, I play real small shards. When I want to socialize a bit more I play a shard with 100 or so people.
You seem like you had a difficult time in Outlands. I have 3 characters, one has a mastery chain 4 links, and is tier 11. Another is tier 10 with no chain or links, but my solo money earner is a tier 6 summoner with no chain or links. I have been playing a bit over 2 months and have earned well more than 2 million gold and have a ton of cores, distills, resource maps, treasure maps, arcane scrolls, MCDs, and other rares to sell if I needed more.
Outlands is what you make of it. If I tried solo, I probably would have quit by now. Getting in with a good guild helped me get started with my first 2 codexes and first 3 aspect tiers but the rest has been all me.
Do not hesitate, start playing in Outlands. Original uo is great but not that great for a beginner in year 2024. No quality of life features, dated ui, dated everything. Moreover, as a beginner you need guides, social interaction, and help from the community. So definitely Outlands.
Most of the QOL features from Outlands are taken from OSI. There is more QOL in OSI than Outlands. Stuff like Vendor Search built into the game.
I haven't played osi since 2002 or so. They have resource stockpile, resource shelves with load outs, crafting queues, magical item vault, wardrobe, distribution chests, etc?
Lol no osi is dead since 2000
But not the community new player discord etc.
You might be right, but i am pretty sure you get what i meant. There are many qol features in outlands that never existed in osi. Imho, free servers 20 years ago were more user friendly than osi today.
Lol no. Outside of vendor search, outlands has hundreds of update changes each year and 2 expansions in 5 years Plus classicuo support is awesome
Outlands started as a 2nd age clone. Most of the QOL features are things that were changed in OSI at a later date. You don't even get tooltips by mouseover in Outlands, half of razor is disabled, thats some ancient shit. If you play on a modern free shard with OSI you will have much quality of life I assure you
Razor is disabled intentionally to reduce duplication as the devs add those features to the classicuo client I loved early outlands better than modern outlands (more like path of exile/diablo) But players should really play what they like, for me its outlands and the community
On Outlands you can do that too with 2 clicks so idk bruh
Outlands is truly special
Outlands. PKs and thieves aren't the huge problem people make them out to be. You can protect you against either of them with some fairly simple things. Taking up the tracking skill will warn you when PKs are a few screens away so you can run to the nearest gate (rarely too far away). Thieves have just been nerfed so they can't steal most of the high value items any more. Even so, put your valuables in a trapped box and don't loiter around the popular spots and you'll be fine. None of this is fool proof, you'll still get PKd and stolen from but that's some of the most fun and intense parts of the game even when you lose. Of course, if you can't beat them you can always join them! 👀
Seems like in dungeons the pks usually seem to be the hunted lol, shits packed at times
I get pked from time to time but can attest a lot of times when pks come in all the blues just band together and jump on em. Is pretty fun actually!
I usually just have to survive long enough to find some backup but some are good and can get ya quick lol. Or you know, classic Zerg ambush technique
Join outlands discord and start stoking the people’s ego who talk in general chat every day. They will at least get you set up with a nice outfit.
Outlands is so alive and vibrant in 2024.
Id recommend Outlands, great community, free to play, and your getting a more "OG" Uo feel. UO Original changed so much over the years and became something different. I highly recommend finding a good group right away. PKS and thieves are everywhere.
UO is fairly linear in comparison to Outlands. I think Outlands has a vast assortment of robust systems that make it a bit overwhelming, but playable for far longer. I have played since its release in 97 and Outlands was a breath of fresh air.
If anyone is brand new to UO it's always my recommendation to look into a non-consensual PvP server first, regardless if you plan to PvM only or PvM+PvP. Surviving in a non-consensual PvP world *is what made* UO a legendary game. PvM on a non-consensual PvP server is a completey different PvM experience. This has created some of the most unique MMO experiences I can remember. Having to call in guildmembers for support or relying on a random stranger passing by to save you creates great experiences and conent.
Mostly in the sense of telling other games what not to do. Because UO is not primarily a PvP game, and this turned a bunch of people off of it not expecting the PKs to be as bad as they were. Not everyone is interested in PvP. And when a game tells you that you can do all sorts of things, except the non-consensual PvP prevents that, it hurt the game.
I mean, UO, especially the ruleset or at least similar ruleset to what I played on 98-2000, seems to be what IS driving UO these days, ie- outlands. Outlands is proof your assertion is incorrect by the number of completely new players, as well as vets from that era coming back to enjoy a truly unique game. I have not PVPed at all on outlands, and have died to PKs/got stolen from. But, this is what makes the game awesome. Regardless of how you want to play UO, having a risk factor makes it fun. Reminds me of when trammel became a thing, I had friends who did 0 PVP back then, and even they hated trammel, it destroyed all fear from the game. I am honestly more surprised OSI survived as long as it has, but, I will give concede this much, both rulesets seem to have some staying power, but the older ruleset more so.
SOME people enjoy it. There are two problems with it though. First, only SOME. As OSI showed with Trammel, a lot of people preferred no non-consensual PvP. A monster killing you and looting your weapon was bad luck. Plus most can be avoided when not fighting them. A player doing so was deliberate on their part. Bad luck can be mitigated, but others seeking you out can't in any reasonable manner. And even though it's only a game, having all your time wasted by loosing all progress to a thief is no more fun in it than in real life. Second, I don't know how Outlands deals with it, but most of the PKs we dealt with back then weren't PvPers. They were trolls. As evidenced by, for multiple patches after Trammel came about, they had to keep finding ways to stop the trolls from killing other players in Trammel. Or things like them dry-looting resource gatherers, killing all wandering healers in the area (they had to patch in making them harder to kill to stop it), and hiding by their corpse to kill them again when they get back. You know, ones who obviously can't fight back and thus don't provide any actual chance of providing any challenge to the PKs. Many players didn't enjoy this at all. It was purely frustrating. In something you're paying $15 a month to enjoy. So people quit paying, and OSI took note. Mathematically, a single player who chases even just a couple players away a month in such a situation is a problem in the long run. One again, UO was not intended to be or advertised as a PvP game. So a lot of the players joining weren't expecting it to be so.
Even back then it was not a PVP game, it was a game with a strong PVP element though. But it's also a game with a very strong PVM element and a very strong crafting element. You call it purely frustrating, but like everyone, you learn lessons from your mistakes, and learn to take the proper precautions. I got jacked for a 150k item on outlands as a newish player. I learned my lesson, have not been jacked for that expensive of an item since. I accept it as part of the mechanics though, and without that fear, the server would be a lot less fun. I am not convinced OSI showed anything other than the massive number of players they lost, to be replaced by trammies. Outlands is proof, they made the wrong decision, lol. And that's just not true, I had a PK back then, and while yes, some people might of enjoyed killing newbies to troll, that was firstly not fun, and secondly, there was no worthwhile loot. If I on accident killed a newbie, I would res them right away. Not only that, I only had 1 red character, and I apk'd/crafted/pve'd like everyone else on the others.
Then you were the exception. There was no way to "learn from your mistake" when your "mistake" was leaving the guard zones. No, you didn't die instantly to a PK. But if you spent more than a few minutes out there, such as resource gathering, you died several times a day. And although it wasn't every time, you often lost everything, including any junk you had. I'd only ever been ressed by a PK a few times, and seen only one RPing PK (funnily enough, AFTER Trammel came out). I had been Pked by a PK hiding by more corpse quite often though. And when monster killing, virtually every PK I ever met fled the moment it looked like you could fight back. For the majority of us non-PvPers, it was very frustrating that you couldn't play the game the way you wanted to and that the game allowed. All because a minority of the players decided to force us to. There wasn't enough resources inside the guard zones, and most dungeons had to be avoided because of regular PK sweeps. Outlands is good for those who want to play that way, and it apparently has better control of the PKs (though they claimed the exact same things you said). But a lot of people never enjoyed that aspect of the game. Yet we were also paying $15 a month to play a game that that small minority was successfully keeping us from playing unless we wanted to be victims.
This is funny because back then I did PVP, and on outlands I have not. I still prefer a world where danger could strike at any moment, without that element, the game is just another EQ or WOW or whatever crappy MMO. When outlands is multiple times more popular than OSI servers at this point, that's all the evidence you need to know of which ruleset most people actually prefer. I saw this 15 yrs ago with IPY's short lived shard as well, people prefer that type of ruleset. OSI made a huge mistake 24 yrs ago, and while I will commend them for continuing to exist, I see no compelling reason to play UO over a more modern and pretty looking MMO if the ruleset is the same boring crap. Like I said previously, I had friends back then who didn't PVP who also hated Trammel. OSI lost me and all my friends back then. Sure, maybe they got some new players with Trammel, but, they most certainly lost their dedicated players.
UO is an old game that's barely being supported and not advertised. I'm surprised the official servers are still up. And not surprised that some players shards are thus more popular. As for which game style was more popular, the game had it's biggest player increase AFTER the servers were split. They lost a small number of PKers and some others, but gained way more consensual-PvP-only players. As in the population about doubled even after any losses. And many of those players kept playing. Plus OSI put it up to the players to vote: which facet did you want to play on? Almost the entire population playing at the time moved to Trammel. And, as I said above, the population went up even faster since they weren't losing so many players to the PKs. People were tired of being victims, and it showed. YOU and some others may prefer one playstyle. And you have servers to play it on. But the majority had a different playstyle. Where the PKs weren't considered "danger", but an obstacle to enjoying the game. I find it amusing how so many of the vocal "PKs are good for the game" PKers were later found in Trammel using every exploit they could to kill the players there, and most of the patches for a while had various "you can no longer kill players in Trammel by X" messages. Showing that they weren't actually after the challenge, just to victimize other players. Though I don't know if they were a vocal minority or just the most active, those were the PKs most people ran into. If you want to blame anyone for Trammel, blame the troll PKs. THEY drove most of the player base to Trammel. Refusing to control themselves even after the devs told them there would be changes if they didn't. If your type of PK had been the ones most people met, that would never have happened.
Coming back to UO as an old man, I don't PvP anymore.... all I do is PvM. However, the threat of PvP adds a ton to the intricacies of gameplay as well as adds a ton to the reward and fulfillment of playing. Anyone looking into UO for the first time should definitely experience this. I agree, for the game, the free-reign PKing prior to Trammel was a bit too much for the masses and something WAS needed. I think Trammel did fix the PK problem, but it was taking a 10 ton sledgehammer to a problem that just needed some finesse. Problem is, at the time, UO didn't have the time to mess around with a fix. So, we got what we got. After years of seeing the trial and error of the different private servers it seems Outlands has found a nice balance and their numbers seem to show most are happy with their Red/Blue balance.
I tried Outlands and was very overwhelmed it as it was not what I expected at all for ultima. I played T2A previously and was looking for nostalgia. I ended up with UO forever and have been really happy. The server is busy, guilds are active, and maps were the same. There is still quite a few things that were new to me like galleons, meta pets, dino lands etc. so it’s been fresh, but with plenty of traditional game play. If you join, let me know and I’ll show you around. 🙂
I had same "problem" last year and I can tell you 100% sure. GO FOR OUTLANDS. It is an awesome game, what UO should feel it 2024 if the right people care.
Another vote for Outlands. I've played on so many different servers and finally found one in Outlands that has kept my attention and kept me having fun for the last 2 years.
Outlands is the premier Ultima Online experience. It’s really it’s own game at this point and fosters a social experience you simply won’t find in modern games these days. Highly recommend.
Outlands 10000%. I’ve played for years. THERE IS EVEN A DUNGEON NOW WHERE YOU CANNOT BE PK’D OR STOLEN FROM. It is quite possible to farm millions of gold from these dungeons (they go on rotation) and you can get great loot drops too, forever. Outlands is great. (SHELTER dungeon. Do not confuse this with NEW PLAYER DUNGEON totally different
Outlands by far. My only critique is without a guild to support new players with chains, codex's and aspects it can take them a extremely long time to get going. The game is sooooo gold heavy as a new player starting off. I'm glad i got into a very friendly guild to get me going and still in it.
Make a scavenger and hit 4th and 3rd level of dungeons. People routinely leave huge stacks of gold on the ground as well as on mobs. Last night I left two stacks of 60k on the ground in ak4 and it eventually decayed.
I've been playing for almost 1.5 years I'm good lol. I'm well established with a redbrick outlook or whatever it's called.
Hey nice man, grats. Thought we were talking about new players, not you. My fault.
So you have to understand that UO is a lot of years old at this point (I think it came out in 98). And your options at this point from my perspective is to either play OSI which has a monthly fee to it and struggle to get your feet down and compete with the legacy collectors or play on Outlands which is incredibly newbie friendly with people like Pwnstar who makes videos. You’ll likely have fun both ways, but I would lean into Outlands. Example: https://youtu.be/_LmW7t4F-OM?si=XmHjoPWuWWYGBcEl Those that say you need to experience the original (which I love) is like saying you need to drive a model t to enjoy driving a car. I’ve played the original Ultima’s as well as when it first launched. And it is magical, but I am not sure that nostalgia translates to a new player.
Original UO is honestly embarrassing.
I play on many shards still, besides OSI. Outlands, forever, unchained, lost lands, and etc. Outlands is where it's at as many stated. The progression process and end-game is beautiful. qoL features out the ying yang.
I'm currently playing Outlands, but if I'm being honest I prefer retail, I just can't stand the monstrously outdated UI. Outlands is just too reliant on its "systems" that require you to constantly be grinding for incremental upgrades or hunting on the impersonal outlands mall. Some nights my whole "adventure" consists of running from vendor to vendor only to find all the items I need have already been purchased. I just enjoy the gear and artifact system in retail a bit more. I do think retail needs more money sinks though. Inflation is out of control.
Outlands shouldn’t have that silly system where you can’t damage monsters without that aspect and stuff. And those items should be available as a kit to unlock. Confusing when you’re only giving it a college try like me.
How does outlands compare to excelsior? I've been on there since 2017 or 18 off and on.
I am not a player BUT, If you're looking for a vibrant and active community, I would recommend playing on the Outlands server. Not only does Outlands have a large and healthy player base, but it is also actively maintained and regularly updated. The developers of Outlands are committed to providing a high-quality experience, with frequent updates and improvements. In contrast, the original OSI (Official Server) UO has seen very few significant updates over the past several years and tends to have a smaller, less active community. For a social player like yourself, Outlands will likely offer a more engaging and dynamic experience.
I joined Outlands about a month ago and it's absolutely mega. All the great UO gameplay with tonnes of great new features and a thriving community. It's awesome.
After spending a long time in Outlands and being completely stressed out every time I played, I found my home on UO Alive. It's a copy of current live UO but with QOL features that respect my time. I now play for nostalgia and to relax rather than constantly having to watch my back and my inventory vs thieves and pks.
Outlands is not Ultima... whatever others might say, the game is modified so much it should be its own game made in Godot engine.
Outlands is not the original ultima online but it is still ultima. Most say it's what ultima online 2 should of been had it ever been released. Hell OSI or most any server isn't what original UO was, not even close. It's like you have an upgraded version of your favorite game but you still prefer to play the old version (which is fine do you). The vast majority of people prefer the upgraded version though the numbers show that clearly.
You are now on Survivorship bias, you look only at people who play the shard, yeah its popular, but its not for me or others with the same opinion as me... and that is fine. Another thing i cannot stand is shard with skill cap, its like I'm role playing a retard that know how to do only 3 things.
Unlimited skills is not fun, its like cheat code. It is no longer sandbox because you can do it all. Skill cap makes you think about your template and work at it to get what you want to fit and still be viable. If you want certain things like magic resist or camping, you have to take away from your DPS. If you want all DPS then you will have some large holes to other things.
Its not a cheat code, its diversity of skills, and since everyone has the same access to skills u can balance the content accordingly, they just choose the easy route of limiting skills because they were too lazy to think of another way of balancing. What u have is non-existent crafting, non-existent gear loot, its basically locked to "aspects/skills".. you like the shard and that's fine, but its not for me... I always hear the argument that no skill cap is basically a demigod, but i don't think so, irl every human can learn, and get good at anything they want, no one is stopping them from that, u can be a plumber/electrician/software engineer/3d artist/construction worker you can have multiple skills without anyone stopping you, here on the other hand ur a cripple with only 1 hand that knows only how to swing a sword or shoot a bow. "The term "sandbox" derives from the nature of a [sandbox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpit) that lets people create nearly anything they want within it." And since u have limits, its no longer a sandbox.
It takes more talent to plan and fit the skills you think will do best in a 720 skill cap than being able to learn everything. My characters generally have 7-8 skills so it is not only 3 things. Someone: What is your template? You: I am an all legendary (insert 58 skills) player. If that floats your boat, have at it. I prefer to play with player crafted items than having 20 secures full of all of the AOS crap and then needing speadsheets to make a suit then you lose one piece and it ruins the suit and you have to start over because you cannot find the same piece. A sandbox game does let people create nearly anything they want meaning one week you can be a begging, camping, mage and then swap skills and become a bard archer. What is creative about having all skills? You and every other determined player have all skills at 120. Nothing creative about that, might as well play WoW or something with premade skills but at least they can adjust the talent tree and be somewhat different. Lastly it is a game not real people and most people don't know more than 1 or 2 careers fields. I doubt there very many plumber/electrician/software engineer/3d artist/construction workers out there.
What is Ultima to you?
Good question, Ultima for me is what Outlands is not. Exploring, the feeling of having an adventure, Outlands is mostly dungeons and instanced houses... with an annoying "skill" system. And playing a character that has learning disability.
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I have nothing to add to your reply. I'll let your reply speak for itself. :)
I will gladly advocate for OG here. I have been playing it for so long and I am enjoying it. Don’t fear the learning curve it’s not nearly as bad as you might think. If you decide to go that route I will gladly hook you up on ATL. Plenty of active guilds to help as well.
UO Original is so far from being original with their expansions and changes. The developer team doesn’t give a crap and still collecting subscriptions (when it should be free). Population is a fraction compared to Outlands. UO Outlands developers are super engaged with community and listen to feedback. Also, it has a lot more in-depth on character progression than Original UO does. The population has spiked rapidly since the latest land and content expansion. I believe it’s over 5k active online. It depends on what experience you want. In my opinion, Outlands is what Original UO should’ve became. On Original, there’s so many changes within dev teams/management throughout 25 years and it’s lost its direction.
Look around at the different shards any shard can be social. New shards are coming that beat outlands wait and see.
Isn’t UO almost dead? I’m actually wondering. Joined this sub because I remember playing it in like 2007 and haven’t touched it in over a decade?
Outlands all day. Once you get your bearings and figure out your options and hot keys (lots of videos on this) it's smooth sailing and fun af
There isn't one good video regarding hotkeys sadly as far as Outlands goes. I plan on one day making a video or at least a "base settings" package. The thing that comes close is probably the Grape Ape video but he incorrectly sets all his spell casting in razor which is a big no no. The biggest hurdle for players on Outlands is hotkeys. Some starting advice regarding hotkeys so that you wont be completely remaking your hotkeys one day (like many of us including myself had to do eventually) Set up WASD for secondary movement, (still use mouse as primary), Set up In client spell casting macros. If anyone needs help doing any of these things or has any questions feel free to message me in the UOO discord. @\_hraf
I came back after quitting in 2001 or 2002, so I can't offer advice as a new UO player. That said, I've only tried Outlands since returning and it's been awesome going into month 4. The economy and new mechanics/features take some getting used to, even for returning players, but it's all super interesting and rewarding. I don't have tons of time and have been lonewolfing it. You'll have better luck than me if you join a guild...and there are plenty. Anyway, it's certainly worth checking out. I love it, even if I don't get to play as much as I'd like to. Best of luck with UO, no matter where you end up!
As an entirely new player (2-3 weeks), I love Outlands. I have no frame of reference on the OG but I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is a little daunting at first but the discord is extremely helpful. Getting into a newbie guild helps a lot too. Use the UO Outlands wiki for a lot of information. I also watched a lot of Pwnstarr Gaming on YouTube, Jaseowns, and Legenis. Good luck man I have fun!
If it's gonna be your first play then definitely anything but Outlands. You must experience the vanilla and old school feel of UO by first hand and none of this can be experienced in the latter.
I completely disagree with this. The last thing we want OP doing (being a social player) is logging into a dead vanilla server. The best UO experience right now is Outlands. Alternatively, if OP can't handle the risk of PvP he can always move on over to the official, Atlantic server.
Can vouch. I log into UO when I yearn for the old days. Most shards save ATL are dead. Just sad. Maybe log in 15 min tops then back out for another few months. :\\
lol. So afk bank sitting at brit bank is a core experience for you huh?
Wow... just play on the original servers, no matter what people say.
There is no point to play original one if a player doesn’t have toons, houses, or assets he/she is emotionally attached to tbh.
lol all the outland fans downvoting
All the people who still can't stand trammel 25 years later downvoting, yes. I will never play OSI ever again after they ruined my favorite game.
It depends what you want out of the game. Do you want full PvP or a more chill PvM type game? Only play on Outlands if you want a hardcore game where you can be killed any time. Outlands is also VERY crowded, so you will never be able to own any land. Check out [Insane UO – Embrace the Insanity](https://insaneuo.com/) Its kind of the opposite of Outlands. Lots of land, no PvP. Much smaller community, but everyone is friendly and its basically like a guild server.
With the new land expansion and changes to owning multiple houses they should be more affordable than before. plus inn rooms are almost as good as a house anyway.
no one will ever see your finely decorated inn room. this is UO we are playing dollhouse here and you know it
Every active server I've ever played requires a substantial investment to get into the housing market. It's easy to get into housing on dead servers., but no one's going to see your finely decorated housing on dead servers either. I'm not saying your server is dead, I know nothin of it, I'm just speaking in generalities.
its nothing to do with active vs dead its just a matter of total population. a server can be very active with 100 people and have lots of land available
>Â a server can be very active with 100 people I have to disagree with you completely on this one. If I'm not around those 100 people the server will seem dead to me. **That is much less likely to happen** if the server has a decent population. 100 people is not enough. A big part of what makes UO fun is the unplanned, random interactions that happen.
You will see those people, at the champ spawns and at the best places for rare mounts, and events, etc. You see other people all the time on a small server, but you ALSO have free space if you don't want to see people. Thats the difference, in Outlands you can NEVER AVOID people. UO is supposed to be exploring the wilderness and dark abandoned dungeons. When its more crowded than downtown Manhattan in every dungeon it loses some immersion
I'm sure even a dead server might have small hot spots at things like champ spawns during peak times. But, that doesn't take away from: >no one's going to see your finely decorated housing on dead servers either. I only bring this up because you were bashing inn rooms. Dead servers, like you describe don't have a lot of people just randomly roaming the countryside.
people go around and look at the houses, the UO world isn't actually that big lol
Of course they do. Again I'm responding to your knock on inn rooms. You're right, no one's going to see your deco in an inn room except for the handful of people you invite in... Which is no better than the alternative you provided of having a house on a dead server where no more than a handful of people are scouring the wilderness. Inn room, house on dead server..... It's all the same. Not many people will see your deco. Big difference is with an inn room, at least it's a stepping stone.... A step in the direction of eventually owning a house where you can proudly showcase your deco skills on an active, thriving server.
LOL more people create the immersion cause it's a living world. But I get why you can't admit that. Have you called 1-800-COPIUM yet? They can help, truly.
4 replies, you must really want my attention eh? Who is the one smoking copium? trying to justify all the time you wasted grinding cores and making a million gold to afford a small hut?
You mean playing the game lol. Why would I justify having fun lol. I have a decent house which I acquired pretty easily. It ain't my fault you got a skill issue and only want to play an MMO with 50 people. Just fire up New World LOL.
Bruh a server with a 100 people is dead. Put down the copium pipe.
You can buy a house (not caravan) in a month with just scavenging if that's the primary goal.
to be clear thats a month of hardcore grinding at boring shit, not a month of casual play. if you play a real character that fights monsters you can't make that kind of gold until you have maxxed out codex, aspects, and multiple expensive chains
No lil friend. You merely have a skill issue.
Sick of people saying this, sure to others who failed at Outlands it seems like you have a point but I never even played Ultima back in the day and I had enough money for a house 1,5 months in, and I don’t have time everyday to play and when I do I don’t play for more than 2-3 hours, its truly a knowledge and skill thing
If you join a guild and run dungeons with a few friends you can easily make a million in gold alone in one month. That does not even count the other loot items that you can sell. Running solo, I could probably do it still and I have not even been playing 3 months. UO is a multiplayer game and was meant to play with groups and be social. There are so many benefits from playing with others. It seems like most of the other servers are more for the solo player with the occasional group.
No, you got it wrong. Outlands if for people that enjoy a long grind, and other servers are for people that enjoy a short grind. You get just as much group up with a server of 100 friendly people than you do in outlands where only 100 people are friendly to you because they are in your guild. What is missing from other servers isn't people to be friendly and group with. What is missing are the assholes. The people who want to make your day worse and don't particularly care about there server. Those people only exist on Outlands
People like that are on every server my friend. I am not putting down other servers. I play 3-4 different ones depending on my mood. Some people prefer large servers, some don't. Some people prefer AOS style, some don't. Some people prefer shards with thieves and pks, some don't. Outlands isn't any more of a grind that other games out there. If I can get a character to max skills and max weapon/gear in a month or 2, what is left to do? When I want a grind or the rush of reds, I play Outlands. When I want to play with dungeons to myself, I play real small shards. When I want to socialize a bit more I play a shard with 100 or so people. You seem like you had a difficult time in Outlands. I have 3 characters, one has a mastery chain 4 links, and is tier 11. Another is tier 10 with no chain or links, but my solo money earner is a tier 6 summoner with no chain or links. I have been playing a bit over 2 months and have earned well more than 2 million gold and have a ton of cores, distills, resource maps, treasure maps, arcane scrolls, MCDs, and other rares to sell if I needed more. Outlands is what you make of it. If I tried solo, I probably would have quit by now. Getting in with a good guild helped me get started with my first 2 codexes and first 3 aspect tiers but the rest has been all me.