Shard Activity

Hello everyone, I have downloaded the UOF Shard and then I heard word of this Shard and wanted to try checking it out. It seems very interesting and I have a couple questions to ask about it.

1) How active is this Shard and roughly how many people play on it?

2) How far up does this Shard offer in terms of expansions and the content of it?

3) How frequent are things updated and events kept up with on here?

Thanks and I look forward to hearing a reply so that I may try out this Shard.

Welcome!

1) as you may see by the forums and IRC, we have an active community. At most times, there are 75 to 100 people on IRC, and many times more in-game.

2) this shard mostly focuses on the Renaissance era of Ultima Online (2000-2001), though there are some features that post-date that (Bulk Order Deeds for crafters, pet bonding for tamers).

3) you can see the Patch Notes forum for information on how often the game is patched. Typically every 1 to 2 months. Events like Capture The Flag seem to be an every other night type of thing, while we also have large shard events for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Shard Anniversary, Halloween, and Christmas. Maybe a couple others I am forgetting.

1) http://www.uorenaissance.com/serverstatus

2) http://uorforum.com/threads/faq-frequently-asked-questions.1283/

3) http://uorforum.com/forums/patch-notes.14/

Alright thanks for the rather quick reply! I just am curious on how the population of this one compared to the UOF shard (not sure if you have really played on that one to really tell though)

Thanks Wodan!

Okay, depending on how things go, I suppose I can try out both.

Ah so all-in-all this will probably be the most populated and active Shard then?

No, I am not looking for all that crazy stuff and paying with real money to become better than everyone else.

I used to play Ultima Online as a kid back from about 1998-2000ish but then my dad grew tired of the changes I suppose and stopped playing. I saw the other free Shard (UO Forever) and really wanted to start playing again, but last I played on that one was like a few months ago because it just didn't seem as populated or as bustling in the world as I remembered it to be.

Michael...

I played on UOF starting with beta, and for awhile after (as did much of Bloodclan). I am not sure of the population numbers wise there any longer as I let my houses fall and quickly forgot about the server. This server's population is probably equal in numbers to that of UOF, however the population here in whole is a ton better in quality from what I have seen in my time here (my accounts are only around (40 days old). The staff here is accessible and listen to the players, they add new material to the game and strive to make the server a better place here. The player base in general are helpful and active as well. In short I feel (and many ex UOF players that I know) that this is a superior product. So, what are you waiting for? Juun ub su meeb kan kollekt latz hed!! HAR!!

Alright I'll download this one and give it a go to see how well I enjoy it.

Thanks everyone for the help! Much appreciated!

This is the absolute best free server around, however the owner has a hard time keeping players around.

There is no active PvP community, just us PK's. The admin focuses more on the PvM aspect of the game. This ultimately works out for me because there is continuously someone online to hunt (even in the middle of the night). In turn it keeps PvPers away due to lack of PvP content/incentive and unfixed bugs.

Ya I agree. Without content such as factions, regular Capture the flag events, dueling arenas, PvP rankings etc, there is never going to be an active PvP community. IMO there should be incentive such as platinum rewards tied to these so there is even incentive to PvP in the first place, otherwise PvPers will just keep leaving, and the only people left will be PvMers.

Damn this restrictive sandbox.

Genocide, what unfixed bugs does pvp have?

What incentives/content would you want or think would keep or attract more players?

... hahahahahahahahaahahahah

Talk about being discreet with your disses.

I honestly agree that the greatest detriment to shard population thus far has been the heavy lean towards PvM content. I love it all but I'm getting seriously bored of waiting for REGULAR CTF matches, 1v1s, 2v2s on a calendar so we all know exactly when the party is going on and we can plan for it accordingly.

When players can count on action in that way, they are much more likely to stick around and spend the time gearing up for them here, instead of playing those events somewhere else and wishing they had the good PvM content there.

When ACTUAL PVP events are regular, population will begin to soar beyond the couple hundred active PvMers we have now.

UOR and UOSA are better shards than UOF from my findings. UOR is better if you want a PVM-focused Renaissance game with modernization and customization. UOSA is better if you are looking for a very accurate emulation of the UO you might have grew up with.

UOF could have been great but the cash shop definitely ruins it. If I wanted pay-to-win functionality, I would go to the EA servers.

I one-hundred percent agree with Blaise! The only reason I played UOSA back in the day was because of their auto-mated events. When they went, I went.

I already really like this server for the awesome PVM, and I am content with hunting reds right now. BUT, adding the automated events would send this servers population through the roof.

Please bring them in soon

It's been proven time and time again. If you have automated events it almost always leads to outside action after said events. I was told a couple months back that scheduled pvp events would be up and running within the next week, and I've yet to see that come to light. Yes, there will be those who only log on for the events, but it's more action than none.

I understand the importance of economy and pvm, but pvp is what gives the physical manifestation of activity to a server, and draws a large number of players. When UOSA had scheduled events they were primed in server activity, and once they got rid of them it was a steady decline. We have to have something for the pvpers here aside from some random ass ctf's that you have to hope to be around to make one.

Where has it been proven "time and time again" ? And remember, causation is not correlation.

Granted, I haven't played many free shards but the ones I have with automated events, ring true to his statement. Do you have any information to the contrary?