Started playing early '98 as soon as I could get my hands on the game from across the ocean; had been drooling over the concept of the game for months from articles in game magazines but it was nigh impossible to get here (I remember after weeks of calling retailers I eventually stumbled across it in a weird store that mostly sold business software (Corel draw, word perfect, accounting software etc.)).
Anyway I played on Atlantic from '98 to '02, with the occasional breaks, and fell in love with both the PvP aspect (I rolled with SSJ and S!S), the RP scene (Part of the Yew council and I had a couple of Seers in my ICQ list) and I was a counselor on Napa Valley until they sacked the lot (account stayed free though
). Eventually I started to lose interest because of the direction the game was heading and I had the opportunity to join a prestigious counter-strike clan (the other game I played religiously back then).
I briefly came back to the Europa server when I Finnish friend I had met in UO came over for a week and bought me the AoS box, but being appalled by the changes to items, new skills and insurance that didn't last too long... stayed a bit for the RP, but when there were talks of laying off the IGMs it put the final nail in the coffin for me. I mean I love how the freedom allows for excellent player-driven stories, but those IGM/Seer run story lines that sometimes lasted for months ,with a lasting impact on the world, were magical (I believe you can still visit Claudia Raym's lair near Wrong on Atlantic; after weeks of consoling, caretaking and winning over her trust I was one of the few Yew council members allowed in there, where she finally opened up and accepted our help to puzzle together her past, which turned out to have a pretty big demon (the end-boss of the story arc – which I missed because of time zones
) – and that was 19 (!) years ago).
Occassionally I get the nostalgia urges and look up my old friend UO; I've seen free shards in the past but they never held my attention beyond reading a bit of the wiki... until I stumbled upon Outlands! The custom map just oozes passion and detail and it offers something unique that other freeshards lack: rekindling that sense of exploration and wonder we felt when fist stepping in Britannia. I'm also digging the confidence you have in this project by taking your time with development and even putting out a cloth map, which hopefully means that this gorgeous map and server won't fade away in obscurity after a short while.
Sorry for being so verbose, but I don't often get to talk about UO, but when I do I turn into that grampa telling old war stories and reading up on this server has me excited in a way I didn't think games could do anymore!
