Always thought that was a bit tight with the tower there. But it is cool. There's a lot of subjectivity in the "best" of anything. I'd think the most unique spot to fit a fort would likely be at the top of list. Personally, I've always liked Magincia Beach.
That is indeed a pretty awesome spot! I did a lot of running during the last two days while collecting easter eggs. And I saw some houses in great locations - but none stood out like the one above. Well, I could at least tell you my least favorite housing spot: That would be the swamp area north of Trinsic! I always hated that whole area! I never even bothered to check for IDOCs there so much I despised walking in there. Yeah! Magincia - it's like the Hamptons of Sosaria! It's my favorite beach too!
There's a small tower spot outside Vesper to the East that I always thought was pretty rad. On its own little peninsula and bizarrely has city guards within a few steps, even though the city is far away.
So was mine (OSI). A large tower! Man, I hated that place! All these swamp noises, toxic air, nasty lizardmen, loud neighbours... And whenever I made a step out of my house there was always a snake around to poison.
Admittedly I'm biased on this, but: It's an awesome spot, but you have to watch your step lest a misstep breaks your ankle in a pot hole left about in search of treasure.
blanche island barrier isle small half way up the road (currently a field stone) small tower near justice waterfall small tower spot next to the stone circle near the del passage (my first house here which I tore down because someone built a log cabin in my front yard... felt kinda like when a family of 12 gets seated next to you in an otherwise empty restaurant) i really like smaller scenic spots
Although I'm always dreaming of a large brick, I just can't bear to part with this little cabin in Moonglow
There's a castle spot outside Vesper which is not able to fit a single other house, even a 7x7, in its clearing. I always thought that was remarkable RNG luck in the original UO map. Depending on line-of-sight and house placement rules, there's a tower spot in front of the Hythloth entrance which can have it's own exterior courtyard in between some brush. Same with a 7x7 on south Moonglow island. Neither of those works here, but if the rules ever get changed (accidentally or on purpose)... In terms of under-utilized real estate... on this shard, you can place two towers to the north of Yew bank. Could even bridge them as well I think. But to place either one, you'd need to drop the center marble patio and either the log cabin on the left or the other marble patio on the right.
This is my pick. It was for sale several years back and I passed as I thought it was too pricey. I don't even think it was 3 mil lol. I still regret that non-action as I would still have it today as my forever home.
@bart simpson can't you bank from your trinsic tower? If so.... that. @LesClaypool your tower in Moonglow was one I have always been envious of My keep Cy traps event monsters fairly often. Also has prisoner spawns in front and behind it. Can snipe them from the ramparts. Always loved that feature.
I ran a poll about this on a prior shard where I first got nominations and then had people vote on the top 10. No Keeps or Castles were included. Results (number of votes): 61 - Justice Island 46 - Yew Bank 41 - Wind 40 - Blanche Island 17 - Hidden Valley 16 - Peninsula 2-story 12 - Waterfall 8 - Britain moongate 8 - Ice Shrine 4 - Magincia I think "peninsula" is a diamond-shaped peninsula in which no other house can fit and no other house is visible. Aside from perennial favorite Justice Island, there's a lot of shard-to-shard differences that I think reflects shard history, ownership history, what the cool kids own, etc.
I think the best house is @LesClaypool marble. You can bank there. You can moongate there. You can reward vendor from there. It's on the guard zone. It's the most populated area on the server.
I have to nominate my Trinsic tower and the Justice island tower. I can bank from inside my tower. I can teleport to town. I have my own personal bridge out front. I can fish from the wing. I can PK people on the Trinsic wall from my tower. I am super close to guard lines. I don't have any neighbors within at least 2 screens of me. The Justice island tower is also amazing. I put it as a close 2nd to my tower. It is on an island all by itself, how much better can you get!
The castle/fort spot closest to any gate in game, aka the yew spot. I finally owned this spot on the Chesapeake server, then sadly stopped playing lol.
The answer should be the same for every player: The first house they ever owned. Nothing beats nostalgy.
It's crazy to think at one point it had no moongate, no reward vendor and was in the least populated area of the shard. Seeing Ocllo grow over the last 5 years has been amazing!