Hey guys, I would like to attempt to Call To Arms all old Ultima Online players to check out a new Age of Shadows era freeshard that is being developed right now.
They have some truly amazing changes to the game, like the entirely revamped guild system, and really interesting new world economic systems in place.
I'm convinced this will be one of the greatest freeshards of all time.
Here's the promotion info from the forums.
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It's been 17 years since Ultima Online was released. For those who have played it before, I'm sure you remember the blood-pumping nostalgic thrill of the game. Much has changed since the glory days of UO, some for better, some for worse.
It is time to relive the thrill, the nostalgia, the blood-pumping
adrenaline rush that we remember so long ago.
Introducing,
CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT
First things first, What is Ultima Online?
Ultima Online (UO) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), released on September 24th, 1997, by Origin Systems (Now owned by EA). The game is played in a fantasy setting similar to the other Ultima games that preceded it.
Ultima Online was the game that opened the door for the creation of many new massively multiplayer games. It is online-only and played by thousands of users on various game servers, also known as shards. It remains today, as the longest living MMORPG to date with a still active playerbase.
Because it was released before the DMC Act (1998), technically minded users are able to create and host their own freeshards using various UO emulators, like RUNUO. Those people are able to create, modify, and remove content as they see fit, without repercussion. Because of this, Freeshards have been growing and evolving since that time.
UO Shadow Age's era, AoS, was release in February 2003, and with it, brought a number of changes that many veteran players did not approve of, but also a number of changes that evolved UO into its highest subscription count.
What is UO Shadow Age?
Ultima Online Shadow Age, is a brand new freeshard created by seasoned UO veterans, professional developers, and UO enthusiasts. With the introduction of some brand new features never seen before, UO Shadow Age will provide the most attractive features for every type of player. We will be taking and fortifying the features that have become staples of AoS, and we will be changing and/or removing the features that majority of players didn't like, like trammel.
Our vision is simple, we will provide you with the best freeshard experience, period.
Because we are a new freeshard, we are trying to build our community from the ground up. We have an extremely talented dev team working with us. Please, if you've ever played on a server that didn't end up the way you like, voice your opinion on the forums. Give some suggestions so we can hear you out. A lot of what you see when we are live will have a lot to do with suggestions that we see.
GENERAL
Shadow Age Staff
Professional, dedicated, and enthusiastic staff. 100% Trustworthy GMs. ALL staff members will be available to players for in-game help. Look forward to staff that's actually online.
The UO Shadow Age staff is comprised of 2 professional developers, 1 professional web developer, 1 graphic artist, 1 market research analyst, 2 GMs with coding knowledge, and 1 GM with extensive AoS mechanics knowledge regarded as one of the best AoS PvP'ers of all time.
Community
Since UO Shadow Age is new, it's time to build a brand new community together.
A community that doesn't plague itself, promotes growth, and loves the systems that we can build for it. Become part of that community and spread the word to others. It starts with you. We are built off our communities suggestions. When enough people want to see a certain system in game, we will do our best to bring that system out. In this community, the players have the power to shape the game with their own suggestions!
Basic Mechanics
* AoS (2003) Style Combat
* AoS Style Item System
* Felucca Only
* 225 Stat (250 With Stat Scroll) / 700 Skill Cap (720 with 4 Months Gametime Reward)
* Insurance included (Modified Costs For Higher End Armors)
* Order/Chaos and 4 Factions (CoM, TB, SL, Minax) with enhanced systems
Completely REVAMPED Guild System
Out with the old and in with the new. The old system was simply a way to chat with your guild members and turn green to each other. We have completely revamped the way the Guild system works. Now, guilds are able to choose whether 1%, 2%, or 3% of all gold looted off monsters from members will be deposited into the guild treasury. Guilds can use this treasury to purchase different guild levels that give access to different perks. Perks (or buffs) last 1 week, their intensity increases as guild levels increase. You will also be able to use the Guild Treasury currency if you are a Guildmaster to purchase Guild Aid Items. You can get bonus Treasury by completing guild Achievements.
Fully Immersive Achievement System
Other servers have achievement systems that just don't cut it. Nobody participates in them fully and the rewards are meager. UO Shadow Age will be creating the first immersive achievement experience. Greater rewards for accomplishing in game feats. Rewards that scale with difficulty and make players want to go out into the world and complete them. Some will even be linked with the revamped guild system to offer treasury reward bonuses and other guild rewards.
New Housing System For Prolonged Server Health
We will be revamping the current housing system. There's a problem in today's servers. Players quit, and only log in once every few weeks to refresh the house that they have. This doesn't help the server or the server's economy at all. We will be adding a tax associated with the value of the deed for the house, or the value of the house's customization cost. The tax will be a small fraction of the house's worth per week. We believe that players that quit or log in once a week to refresh their house, then log out shouldn't be able to keep their home without playing the game. If this system makes them log in and hit up a few dungeons, then we've done our job. For those who are on extended leave, or going on vacation, gold will be automatically withdrawn from your bank to pay for the tax. So keep your bank stocked and you will be fine!
IDOC will be changed from the current way it works. Players will have 2 weeks and 3 days without paying before their house decays. The system works like this: Players pay tax at the end of each week from the time they placed the house. If the tax isn't paid that week, they will have another full week to pay the overdue balance and the current new balance. If they still haven't paid for the house after the second week, the home goes into foreclosure. You will now have to pay all the remaining balances for the home within the next 3 days. If that is still not done by the end of the 2 weeks 3 days, the property becomes owned by "The Bank" and will be demolished between 1-3 days later randomly.
This system will help promote in game activity, remove old houses from the game who's owners don't play anymore, and be a active recurring gold sink that will CONSTANTLY be removing money from the game.
Again, the tax amount will be small compared to the houses worth, so don't worry!
Factions Buffed
We will be focusing on promoting more PvP systems through the faction system. During the beta stage, we will be asking players what they would like to see the most with factions and will attempt to make some of the suggestions reality in game. Suggest some cool systems!
We will be asking the community for feedback on a lot of the systems that we propose before we go live.
Newbie Friendly
There will be 2 anti-PK, less loot dungeons available in the game for newer players to enter.
One of these dungeons will even have a champ spawn available. This champ spawn will still give out powerscrolls, however they will not go past +10 scrolls. We will also give aid to any players who plan on creating a main [NEW] guild. The headquarters of this guild will be in Britain, and people will be able to donate any items they want and new players will be able to use these items to help them get started in the game faster.
Doom And Artifacts
Doom and Artifacts are in. Artifacts will be scaled down slightly to not give players an overwhelming edge against other players. There are still stealable artifacts and rares throughout the game. Doom will be activated and will be a non-PvP zone that all players (Blues and Murderers alike) can participate in.
++ MORE
Not every new addition will be listed here, just some highlights. Rest assured, the dev team here will be working diligently to keep new content coming.
THE GOLD RUSH
Perhaps the biggest reason to play the game at launch. There's nothing like the exhilarating feeling during the beginning stages of a large shard. This is the time where players let their inner-gamer out, spending countless hours devoting themselves to the shard to become the richest person, the largest guild, the fastest 7x gm, the highest level guild, the highest achievements completed, the first 120'd out character. This only happens once in a shards entirety!
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Important Links
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http://uoshadowage.com < - Main Website
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http://uoshadowage.com/forums < - Forums
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http://facebook.com/uoshadowage < - Facebook
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https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.stratics ... #ShadowAge < - IRC
UO Shadow Age Is Currently In Development! Be Sure To Register On The Forums!
. I think the graphics are a strong point for UO. Could use some updated animations, but at the same time I see what happened when they tried to do that (the "enhanced" client) and I want to barf. UO's graphics seem to be timeless for me and the gameplay is pretty perfected for what I want. Would I play a new UO styled MMO? Yes. By that I mean graphically as well and not just from a gameplay perspective, I like top down view quite a lot. In some ways it is "dated", but for me it's a classic that will never die that I feel engaged when I play even today, over 15 years later.
