A Statement to Broadsword and the Classic experience
I want this post to be as organized as possible to state a claim that I truly believe would only benefit the future of Ultima Online. UO players not in these forums and not playing the official shards want a true classic experience. We need a new "Renaissance" but with a more classic experience.
Old-School Players: A Lost Legion Worth Recapturing
Ultima Online’s golden era forged a passionate community of players who fell in love with its unforgiving, open-ended sandbox. Many of us “veterans” drifted away over the years as the official game changed dramatically – “imagine you fell in love with chess in 199x, and now in 2023 the same game has been transformed into like… spades”, as one player vividly described the modern UO experience . That original community is still out there. They reminisce about the adrenaline of open-world PvP battles, the thrill of a successful bank theft, the camaraderie of banding together to hunt murderers. In fact these players are playing several other private shards. Thousands of players. These old-school players are a vast pool of potential returnees. UO once boasted hundreds of thousands of subscribers in its peak years; even reclaiming a fraction of those would inject new life into the game. The official shards, however, no longer offer the classic gameplay that drew us in. Consequently, many of us have sought that nostalgia elsewhere, on player-run “freeshards” that do provide that classic feel. It’s time for Broadsword to recognize this and bring us back home.
Ultima Online: New Legacy – Missing the Mark for Veterans
When Ultima Online: New Legacy (NL) was announced, many veterans dared to hope it would be the official classic-style server we’d begged for. Unfortunately, NL has not met veteran expectations. By the developers’ own admission, “there is no magic dial to turn back UO to a specific era… so in short, no, this is not a 1:1 recreation of a classic UO server” . Instead of the 1997-style ruleset we yearned for, NL delivered a heavily reimagined experience. It introduced a seasonal shard that wipes after a year, with characters forced to transfer off at season’s end . For many of us, that was a deal-breaker – “They had me until they said the shard would go poof after one year”, as one disappointed player put it . The knowledge that all progress and the world itself would be erased in a cataclysm each year killed much of the incentive to truly invest in that shard .
NL also shied away from fully embracing old mechanics. For example, it does allow open-world PvP, but only through an opt-in Vice vs Virtue system – essentially a consent-based framework, rather than the original Felucca free-for-all with its criminal flagging system. Many core facets of classic UO (like freely snooping or stealing from other players, or non-consensual PvP outside guard zones) were constrained or redesigned in NL’s “custom ruleset.” This isn’t what veterans asked for. We wanted a pure classic shard, with the authentic risk-vs-reward and sandbox freedom intact – not a modernized hybrid.
The community’s response reflects that disconnect. Instead of rejoicing, veteran players met NL with a shrug or frustration. “What incentive is there to even get invested?” one Atlantic shard player wrote, noting “the shard deletes once a year… nobody in-game seems excited by this” . Another cynically called NL “literally a newbie feeder shard”, useful perhaps only for training newcomers before dumping them onto normal servers . On Reddit, one veteran lamented, “This is disappointing – I would sign up right away for a classic reboot… it’s like free money for them if they would do it” . That sentiment – willingness to resubscribe and support UO financially for a true classic server – is echoed by many. The development team tried to target nostalgia with NL, but delivered something most vets never asked for. As a forum poster noted, “a classic server has been asked for so often that [the devs] spent 5 years making NL in an attempt to bring back that feeling… [but] every poster said, ‘no one asked for that’” . In short, New Legacy missed the mark. It didn’t rekindle the old magic for the players who loved UO’s classic era the most.
Players Flocking to Unofficial Classic Shards
Where have the old-school UO fans gone instead? Unfortunately for the official game, most new or returning players seeking a classic UO experience end up on popular third-party servers. These independent shards flourish precisely because they offer what the official shards do not: the pre-Trammel, open-PvP sandbox with only minor modern tweaks. Consider the largest free-shard, currently the most populated free shard – players describe its population as “feel[ing] like old retail. Thousands of active players” online. By contrast, an official server like Atlantic (the busiest production shard) has nowhere near that active population today, and those who remain on official servers tend to play a very PvE-centric, item-heavy style that feels foreign to a classic veteran . It’s telling that when a Reddit user asked about which UO shard to play for a lively experience, one reply was: “You aren’t going to find much PvP on official UO… the small amount of remaining players are mostly carebears. Play [this popular freeshard] if you want excitement and PvP.” . In other words, the funnel for new players interested in UO leads straight to these unofficial servers, not the official game, because that’s where the fun is for a classic-oriented player. At this point it cannot be denied as all new players are directed to private-shards instead of the official game.
The community consensus is that some of these private shards are outshining the official game in providing an engaging experience. A very popular free-shard in particular has earned praise for its passionate development team and active support: “It has a more caring, more professional, more experienced staff… They do not tolerate cheating and genuinely care about the game. Do not give your money to EA,” one veteran wrote, frustrated that the official game feels neglected . Another commenter bluntly stated, “It is by far the best version of the game out there. EA drove the official game into the ground, in my opinion.” . These remarks may sting, but they reflect a widespread sentiment: The official servers, with their neon items, broken economy, and fragmented player base, just don’t scratch the itch for those seeking “the UO we remembered”. That’s why we see posts like “I never played Ultima before… [started on] a big free-shard… it’s a lot of fun and very populated” – yes, even brand-new players are often skipping official shards entirely, discovering UO through fan-run servers. The veteran audience and even curious newcomers with a sandbox bent are out there playing Classic UO – just not under Broadsword’s banner.
This is a huge missed opportunity for the official team. Huge! Every player on a free shard is a player who could be playing (and paying for) official UO, if only it offered the experience they’re looking for. These folks want to support the game – one forum-goer implored that he’d much rather play an official classic server than a third-party one and would “much rather support the official game” given the chance . We’re not asking out of nostalgia alone; we genuinely believe a classic-style server could draw a significant crowd. Other MMORPGs have proven this demand is real.
Comments
Lessons from EverQuest, WoW, and Others: Classic Servers Work
Broadsword wouldn’t be sailing into uncharted waters here – multiple MMOs have successfully launched classic or progression servers to re-engage lapsed players. EverQuest, for example, has run Progression Servers for years. These are official servers that start at the early-expansion era and gradually unlock content. They have been wildly popular – so much so that EverQuest’s player population actually grew in recent years thanks to what one producer called “the cottage industry for Norrath nostalgia” that Daybreak created. In fact, EverQuest’s team noted it had more players in 2019 than in 2015 largely because of these nostalgia-fueled servers . That’s a 20+ year-old MMO boosting its bottom line by recapturing veterans. World of Warcraft offers an even more dramatic example: when Blizzard launched WoW Classic, millions of former players returned. One gaming forum member estimated “Classic Vanilla brought back at least 3 or 4 million players, which is insanity.” Indeed, WoW Classic’s 2019 launch saw over a million viewers on Twitch watching the nostalgia unfold in real time , and the subscriber count for WoW rocketed upward as long-departed players resubscribed en masse. Even Old School RuneScape – an official 2007-era version of RuneScape – exploded in popularity after its introduction, far surpassing the modern game’s player count and proving that gamers will flock to an old title if it offers a beloved experience preserved in time.
The takeaway is clear: classic servers can rejuvenate a game’s community and revenue. They tap into a potent mix of nostalgia and the desire for gameplay that modern iterations have left behind. Importantly, they also attract newplayers who missed the game the first time around but are curious about its legendary early days (often via word of mouth or streamer exposure). Ultima Online was the pioneer of MMORPGs – it has a storied reputation. And it still offers such a unique level of gameplay unlike most other MMO's, in it's classic form. Imagine the marketing potential of officially offering “Ultima Online Classic,” inviting players to step into a living 1990s sandbox world (with a few modern comforts). Many veterans would resubscribe in a heartbeat (we know this, because we see them say so in forums and reddit almost every day), and curious sandbox enthusiasts from other games would come check it out as well. As one fan summed it up: “To me the whole idea of a classic version… would be to re-capture everything for the sake of preservation. I’d rather not play third-party servers to get this experience… Most of the overall UO community would absolutely want it.” It’s time for Broadsword to follow the successful examples of Blizzard and Daybreak: leverage that nostalgia, and bring those wandering souls back to Sosaria.
What a True Classic Server Should Look Like
To truly recapture the old magic, an official classic shard needs to embrace the core mechanics that made UO unique – including the rough edges that modern design smoothed away. That means a single landmass, Felucca-only world— no split facets dividing the player base into safe vs. dangerous lands. Open-world PvP must be a given, with the original risk vs reward dynamics: anyone can be attacked outside town guards, and dying to another player means they can take your belongings. The thieving system should be fully functional: picking pockets, snooping in backpacks, stealing items off of players or chests, with the accompanying notoriety system (thieves going gray, murderous thieves going red, etc.). Murder counts and notoriety should likewise mirror the old days – players who choose the path of the murderer become infamous, attackable by anyone, and face consequences like being kill-on-sight in guard zones. No insurance, no item blessings – in classic UO, if you died, your stuff was lootable. That harsh risk made every encounter meaningful and gave PvP and PK interactions real stakes. It also fueled the player-driven economy (when items can be lost, crafting and trading thrive).
Crucially, this classic shard should only implement minimal Quality of Life (QoL) changes, ones that smooth out tedious aspects without altering gameplay balance or atmosphere. For example, UI improvements (higher resolution support, modern macro options, container grid loot, etc.) and fixing of long-known bugs would be welcome – things that don’t change the core mechanics, but make the game more playable in 2025. Minor conveniences like the Commodity Deed box for bulk resources (which was mentioned in some classic shard discussions ) could be acceptable, since they don’t break immersion or combat. But anything that would Trammel-ize the experience or remove the beloved “rough edges” is not what we’re after. The guiding philosophy should be: preserve the original mechanics and spirit, only trimming the truly aggravating bits that serve no purpose other than to annoy. (For instance, maybe allow a slightly higher housing secure item count or eliminate 1998-era server bugs – small tweaks that don’t affect PvP/PvE balance or the risk factor).
Felucca-Only, But Not a Grief Fest – Finding the Balance
The biggest concern whenever open PvP is mentioned is, of course, griefing and player attrition. We veterans fondly remember the wild west days of Felucca, but we also remember why Trammel was introduced – too many casual players quit after being repeatedly griefed or PKed. How can a Felucca-only shard thrive without repeating that history? The answer: by learning from past mistakes and community ideas. It is possible to have an open PvP world that isn’t a newbie slaughterhouse. Here are some proposals, many of them coming straight from veteran players who have pondered this very issue through the years:
Stronger Consequences for Player Killers: In classic UO, murderer characters (reds) already faced some penalties (couldn’t enter towns without guards attacking, long-term murder counts leading to stat loss on death in some rulesets). A classic shard could crank this up further. Community members have suggested ideas like disabling murderers’ access to certain conveniences – for example, reds could be barred from using public banks or NPC vendors (forcing them to rely on the black market or blue accomplices), truly living as outlaws . Others propose in-game bounty or justice systems: “If someone has killed a lot of people, make in-lore responses to it – e.g. a sheriff NPC spawns to hunt them when they attack someone”, one player wrote, advocating increased risk and reduced reward for PKs. The gold a PK loots could even automatically contribute to a bounty on their head, claimable by whoever brings them to justice. The goal is to let PKs exist (they are part of the ecosystem and fun) but ensure being a villain is a hard life, where constant fear of retribution and logistical hurdles curb rampant griefing. a free-shard somewhat had this with the murderer reputation system; an updated classic shard could amplify it.
“Young Player” Protection: Ultima Online historically introduced a Young player status for brand new accounts, giving them temporary protection from harm. On the official shards circa Renaissance, a [Young]character couldn’t be attacked by players and got a grace period to learn the game . We can adopt a similar (but improved) system. For instance, a new account could start with a limited-duration protection where they can’t initiate or be subjected to PvP for, say, their first 40 hours or until they exceed a skill threshold. During that time they could adventure, build up a basic kit, and get hooked on the game’s possibilities without the fear of being instantly ganked. To prevent abuse of such a system (e.g. veterans creating “Young” alts to farm in safety), certain limits are needed – and the community has ideas here too. One popular suggestion is to replace the Young status with a safe haven area: for example, a “Shelter Island” newbie zone where no PvP is allowed and players cannot advance beyond a certain skill point (or earn unlimited wealth) while there. Similar to New Haven / Ocllo. New players could stay in this protected area to practice and then “graduate” to the main world when ready. This prevents a permanent god-mode exploit (since progress is capped in the safe zone), but still gives genuine newcomers a refuge. The key is to give newcomers a fighting chance to fall in love with UO’s depth before they’re thrown to the wolves.
Encourage Community Mentorship and Anti-PK Gameplay: In the old days, anti-PK guilds would rise to challenge the murderers, and veteran players often took newbies under their wing. An official classic server could foster this spirit actively. For example, game moderators or event managers could spotlight player guilds that volunteer to protect new players or patrol newbie areas. Small incentives (special titles, or cosmetic rewards) could be given to players who, say, consistently avenge murders or rescue players from PKs. This creates a culture where player-policing supplements game mechanics. On a classic shard, being the dreaded PK should be fun, but being the hero who slays PKs can be equally rewarding socially. If Broadsword commits to at least minimal support (e.g. recognizing community sheriffs or running EM events that rally players against notorious villains), it can mitigate the feeling of helplessness that drives new folks away. We can preserve open PvP while empowering players to police themselves in organic ways just as the original game was designed to do.
PvP Hotspots & Risk/Reward Tweaks: Another theory is to concentrate PvP in certain hotspots rather than having gankers randomly roaming every newbie dungeon 24/7. UO already has a system for this: the Champion Spawn and power scroll mechanics (on production shards, these high-reward PvE events occur only in Felucca, attracting both PvMers and PvPers for competition). A classic shard could employ similar ideas – e.g. place the most lucrative monsters or treasure in far-flung, obvious locations (think Fire Dungeon or a Necromancer fortress in the deepest woods), so that opportunistic PKs naturally gravitate there where they’ll clash with tougher adventurers. Meanwhile, areas near towns or newbie spots might offer lower rewards, less incentive for roving PKs. This doesn’t eliminate the danger anywhere (nor should it – danger could lurk anywhere in classic UO), but it creates focal points where experienced players expect heavy PvP, leaving other areas somewhat quieter. Essentially, let the high-end risk/reward systems entice the PvPers to fight over big prizes rather than spending all day griefing miners outside Britain. Casual players can learn to avoid known hot zones until they’re ready. This way, open PvP remains, but natural player behavior funnels the worst conflicts away from the truly vulnerable.
The UO community has discussed these kinds of solutions at length, and even current freeshards continuously tune their rules to balance PvP and retention. For instance, on a big free-shard (a Felucca-rules shard), players noted that uncontrolled PKing was “ruining exploration [and] progression” for new and mid-level players , and they petitioned the admins to “slow down the PKing” to sustain long-term growth. The lesson: we can keep UO dangerous without making it despairing. By implementing smart penalties and protections, a Felucca-only server can avoid the mass exodus of novices that occurred in ’98. In fact, the thrill of a single-risk world, when tempered by just enough safety nets, will be a selling point. Modern gamers are bored of consequence-free theme parks; a well-managed dangerous world is actually very attractive, as long as it has some guardrails and a strong community.
A Passionate Plea to Broadsword
So I write this as devoted Ultima Online fans who want to see the game thrive. We’re not simply chasing nostalgia for its own sake; we truly believe that refocusing on the classic experience will benefit the entire UO community and Broadsword’s bottom line. The current trajectory – where official servers carry on with a dwindling population and the real growth happens on unauthorized shards – helps no one in the long run. Broadsword has an opportunity to bring those players back under the official umbrella, to preserve UO’s legacy properly, and to generate excitement (and yes, subscriptions) by doing so. As one veteran said, “I’d rather support the official game…without it we wouldn’t have nearly three decades of UO”, and he argued that most of the community wants a true classic server . There is a profound love for Ultima Online that has persisted for nearly 25 years after Renaissance – let’s harness that.
Picture the marketing headline: “Ultima Online Classic: Return to Britannia”. The gaming press would eat it up (much as they did for WoW Classic). Lapsed players would come flooding back to see Britannia reborn in its old glory. Current players who prefer modern UO can continue on the prodo shards – but many would likely roll up a character on the classic shard too, just for a taste of the old days. New players, drawn by word-of-mouth, might choose the classic shard first because of the buzz and the chance to experience the legend of early UO. This isn’t just a pipe dream; we’ve seen it happen elsewhere. We know it can work – if done with authenticity and respect for what made UO great.
Broadsword, we urge you: please strongly consider launching a classic-server model for UO. Follow the examples of EverQuest and WoW by offering an official way to experience the game as it was (with only careful, minimal updates). Embrace the original mechanics – the open-world PvP, the risk of loss, the player freedom to be a hero or a villain – because that is Ultima Online’s soul. At the same time, leverage the community’s ideas to make it sustainable: protect the newbies, punish the griefers just enough, and let the in-game community flourish to handle the rest. We truly believe that such a shard would not remain an empty museum piece; it would become a vibrant, populated world, likely the most active UO server in years. The success of classic projects in other MMOs and the booming free shard populations prove the demand is there waiting.
Ultima Online is a one-of-a-kind MMORPG, and its classic era gameplay remains unmatched in its intensity and freedom. We as a community are practically begging to give you our money to experience that officially again – “it’s like free money if they would do it”, as a frustrated player said about the classic shard idea . So please, recapture that audience of old-school players. We’re here, with swords and spellbooks at the ready, eager to return to a Britannia that feels like Britannia. Give us that world, and we will happily forge new legends in it – together, under the official UO banner.
Let’s bring our friends home. Let’s make Ultima Online’s next chapter one that celebrates its first chapters.
It’s not about chasing old feelings or living in the past. It’s about realizing the potential that still exists in UO and giving players old and new a reason to come back and support the official game.
If we want this thing to last another 25 years, we need to start by respecting what made it great in the first place.
Blizzard did it, Daybreak did it. That’s the purpose of a development team and company.
A true classic shard would retain players, not divide them. The fact that so many people still play on free shards proves the demand is there. If anything, giving those players a reason to return officially would strengthen UO and its future—not weaken it.
I completely agree with the playstyle you are describing, this is what a majority of gamers want, but this is not what UO currently serves.
I am forever trying to edge it back a little.
Many players left, live in a lie perpetuated by the remaining minority left on official, while you quite rightly say, the pvpers are outnumbering them by many thousands on unofficial shards.
Official is where the carebears won sadly.
I'm not saying there is not a place for carebears, but UO went overboard, and ditched a majority of their playerbase.
I remember one of the Devs saying at the meet and greet, if there was one thing they could do differently about the past, it would be the Fel/Trammel split - and centring so much of the reward in a risk free environment ever since then. I agree with this. The whole point of UO was lost, and it became a shell of itself.
Some of this is easy to say with hindsight, at the time, they could not tell how it would go, but they were genuinely only listening to 1 set of players. For those who say, but PvM is what players want, no, this is a delusion, for the minority on Official - Yes, for the majority playing UO, No.
To me, it was always obvious they were pandering to the wrong set of players.
I think the reason why there were so many players in the beginning is because in the beginning there were no emulators like there are now and if you wanted to experience it, you had to subscribe and be on the official servers.
Although there were emulators within a short time of the game's release, they were not OSI systems, until 2002 when they created something similar.
I also think that two of the reasons why some players don't play on official shards lie in these two strong points:
- Not paying money
- Automated play
Regarding the first point, those players don't use EJ accounts because of their limitations, not having houses, normal access bank, etc... but doing this in an open way, without subscription, could be a real chaos, many cloned accounts filling the shard with houses. So, it's fine as it is at the moment.
But even in a hypothetical case that in the future everything would be open access, the players of the second point would not come.
For one reason, they use programs that do everything automated, from resource exploitation to fully automated pvp/pvm gameplay, click a button and watch.
Therefore, no matter how you look at it, those players from the second point will never come back, because if they are detected they will be banned.
So, what happened, will never happen again.
Regarding felucca, if you have a craving for a single facet you can go for Siege Perilous and you will find players who crave that kind of game.
100% man. There’s still time to turn the ship. It doesn’t have to be something that’s injected into the live shards, but a separate shard to cater to those players that left after Tram and AoS. Bring in those players, let the post-Tram & AoS players realize the potential of old UO. Fix it in a way that serves both groups of people (as stated in my original post) and I think UO has a successful Classic experience.
Re-introduce content of a different style slowly if needed - more risk vs reward, start by re-vamping VvV. It's about where their effort is put, and the message they send out.
Right now, these current events are very popular, so cannot knock them for sure.
I'm also not a fan of new shards by the way - I'd even reduce shards/clients, for a more meaningful experience. If Classic client was improved, you could ditch Enhance client, I know that will cause outrage, but it would improve consistency. Of course you cannot do anything drastic like this, until there is a genuinely viable contender.
Yes, early UO had no alternatives you had to sub. But that doesn’t explain why so many people stayed for years, or why they’re still flocking to unofficial shards today. It wasn’t just about access it was about the design. Those servers are thriving because they offer a version of UO that the official game abandoned.
As for the two reasons you mentioned, free access and automation, those are symptoms, not the cause. People didn’t leave OSI just because they didn’t want to pay. They left because the game drifted so far from what made it great that it stopped being worth paying for. And the automation angle? Sure, some abuse it, but a ton of players just want a world that feels alive, dangerous, and meaningful again, something modern UO struggles to achieve.
If Broadsword ever decided to meet those players where they are, they’d be shocked how fast the old players would come back. But until then, we’ll just keep watching thousands of players hang out on shards that feel more like UO than UO itself. Taking away from the potential of the official game.
Then if it finds success, maybe start introducing those changes to the live servers. it the idea is to have a separate shard (similar to WoW and EQ) for the classic experience.
Im not wanting to move the clock back, but to help move it forward for another 25 years.
This just dilutes things more, and creates more work, spreads the workload meaning nothing can have the attention it deserves.
My entire motto in life, is keep it simple.
If I have 10 bank accounts, I will reduce that to 2.
It clears your headspace, and your energy, to do a more focussed job.
For me, it is about the Vision. The Big Picture.
Once they decide that is their vision, their strategy, then they work towards it, with their future decisions.
They can only work with what they have.
I think they have said enough times they cannot easily go back that far - 1. I accept this, 2. I actually think no-one would really want to go back that far.
So I'd like the modern game, with a more realistic gaming attitude re risk vs reward, it would change the way new content is delivered, until it flows through the game.
Again - we appreciate the lengthy well prompted post but in order to digest this and see how we can build it into our long terms plans you're going to need to give us a little more meat & potatoes as it were
Agreed that simple is better. Which is the perfect reason why modern UO feels so detached from the original game. Of course the developers say it’s not possible with what they have now, but the idea is to have a team hired in to help achieve something like this. Take it seriously and truly put work in. It’s not impossible, because passionate people online have created it hundreds of times through the decades.
Yes, there are some very successful shards doing this.
I know of one, that has pulled away a huge number of my pvp friends.
But even with them - the feeling is, this is temporary, they are letting their hair down, having a blast, until it gets old, or dies for one reason or another, then they will come back to official if and when the time is right. They are not completely lost, although the war on 3rd parties did leave a toxic taste in the mouth for many.
So one important point is, UO official does have the longevity, and the committed team.
A lot of players on free-shards, are still watching official, and will come back if they see a change in the right direction.
I wouldn't expect anything less of course.
The question you ask, is a hard one, to answer in a couple of minutes, and I cannot answer for Macro, but I can answer in general.
What exactly is it?
1. Refresh the PvP system - for me, this could be as simple as refresh VvV, I would be happy with that, some players hate VvV, want factions back, some people just hate VvV, some just see it as unfinished, some think a refresh in terms of rewards and for me - traps and turrets could help make it more fun again.
2. Modernise the Classic client - I believe you are on this, after many years.
3. I know you say this is hard, but UO has so many old, obsolete systems, players actually like the old systems, but find the content out of date, many of them could just have loot refreshes that bring them in line with todays game.
This could be as simple as - loot re-distribution - to allow players to farm current items around the world-map, to re-use all the current content. Raptors Claw from Raptors is amazing, the grind is fun, if you can equip your players just by going to different areas and grinding, it brings back pvm in that sense, currently this does not feel possible in the sense the loot is all so outdated. I know you address this with the new event styles, and that is going very well, but in between them.
Crafting - BODS add more rewards to them.
Treasure Hunting - refresh them a little.
There is enough out there now, if we all sat down, with a targeted brainstorm on each area, we could add in a lot of logical new stuff.
4. Bring back more content into Felucca, re-introduce more of a risk vs reward feeling. Champion spawns are still going. They are a success. Just bring more content back into Felucca.
5. Throw in some Felucca Easter Eggs
Why should we care what people who haven't tried and don't play New Legacy think about it? Why do you think its worth coming here and telling us, the people who pay to play Ultima Online, that people who don't pay for it want us to know that what we're getting isn't actually all that good?
There's someone on one of the discords who has said, and I'm quoting directly here: "NL sucks.. i tried it once when it was new, logged in, saw the rainbow gate of transgenderism and decided its not the place for me."
Should we listen to this person and remove scary colors from the game, so we can draw them back to UO?
"The community consensus is that some of these private shards are outshining the official game in providing an engaging experience."
Which community? Because these people aren't our community. They're at best stuck in the past with a version of the game in their head from twenty years ago which naturally evolved or at worst disingenuous about retail UO because they're trying to draw people in to their monetized shards built off of stolen IP.
I don't care what the RC Cola UO players think about this game. I don't care if they say that they'd come back if the devs "would just do this." I don't care because I don't believe them.
Thanks for taking the time to respond, Kyronix. I want to be clear upfront: when I talk about the veteran community feeling overlooked, I’m not trying to knock the current player base, I'm one of those players. I love that there are still guilds, player-run events, and folks keeping Britannia going. I'm not claiming that there isn't. My post is simple, to help find a way to bring in even more players. The players that are out there that don't play current UO. Because I want to see this game continue on full strength. I don't think that should really be looked down upon or just pushed aside.
But I think we both know that the crowd who fell in love with UO during its early days, before Trammel, before AoS, a lot of them aren’t on the official servers anymore. They’re on freeshards, or they’ve drifted off completely. That’s the group I’m talking about—the ones who would love to come back if there was something that really spoke to that original experience.
We’re asking for a real classic shard—something that brings back the feel, systems, and community-driven chaos of UO from around 1997 to 2000. Not Siege. Not New Legacy. Not a blend of modern and old systems. More like what EQ and WoW did with their classic versions—faithful to the original, with just enough updates to keep it playable today.
Siege gets mentioned a lot, and yeah—it’s the closest thing we’ve got. But it’s not quite there. A few reasons:
It still has the Trammel-era map design. We want a single-world experience like old-school Felucca where PvP, housing, and thieving all coexist.
There’s too much post-AoS baggage. Power creep, artifact bloat, blessings… it all dilutes the danger and simplicity that made classic UO great. Siege feels like modern UO with restrictions, not a clean return to the core systems.
It gets no spotlight. Siege isn’t marketed. It’s off in a corner, not treated like the main stage for classic-style gameplay.
I kind of went over some of the features, but if you want meat and potatoes then here are some ideas that could be further developed.
Felucca-only world. No split rulesets or mirrored maps.
No insurance or blessings. Loot should matter. Dying should mean something.
Thieves, reds, and bounty systems fully working. Let players be villains—but make it a real lifestyle, not a casual toggle.
Classic PvP/criminal flagging. Not opt-in systems. Let risk live in the open (in reference to NL).
Keep gear simple. No power-bloated loot. GM and slayers, that’s enough.
Skill cap stays classic. No stat scroll grind. Templates were meaningful because of limits.
Only light QoL tweaks. Things like better UI or modern resolution, not mechanical changes.
We’re not asking for some weird hybrid. Just the game that felt dangerous, alive, and unscripted. Something that brings back the heart of what made UO special.
Honestly, NL had some good intentions. But the shard wipes, the opt-in PvP, and the major system changes kind of pulled it away from what many of us hoped it would be.
If you built a real classic shard, modern backend, original feel, I’d be the first to promote it. So would a ton of others. Reddit, Discord, old guild chats we’ve all said we’d come back in a second if it felt like the real thing again. The problem with only listening to these forums is that there are a whole community of players out there where their voices aren't heard.
Thanks again for hearing us out. We’re pushing for this because we care. UO has stuck with us for decades, and we just want the chance to come home to the version of the game that started it all.
I appreciate the thoughtful response, but I want to clear a few things up.
First off, I’m not some outsider throwing stones. I’m a paying subscriber to the official game and have been for a long time. I’ve supported UO financially, consistently, because I want it to succeed. Nothing I’ve said is “skewed” by bitterness or grey shard loyalty. It’s based on my own experience playing the official game right now and a genuine desire to see it thrive again. if you don’t believe me, come visit my house in Moonglow i had placed since 2020.
Second, I’m fully aware that r/UltimaOnline includes a mix of perspectives—yes, including former players and those on free shards. But that doesn’t invalidate their feedback. If thousands of players used to pay and want to love UO again but feel there’s no place for them in the current version, maybe that’s not just nostalgia. Maybe it’s an opportunity we’re ignoring.
You mentioned New Legacy—and I get it, people shouldn’t dismiss it without trying it. But let’s not pretend the dev team has done a good job communicating or building trust with the community over the years. The skepticism didn’t come from nowhere. And one ignorant quote about “rainbow gates” doesn’t represent the broader playerbase that left. That’s a strawman.
You ask “which community?” when I mention other shards outshining official UO. The truth is: former subscribers. People who were once part of this very community but left because the game changed beyond recognition. Whether you like it or not, they are part of UO’s legacy. Ignoring their voice doesn’t make them irrelevant—it just ensures they stay gone.
I don’t bring this up to stir division. I bring it up because UO still has something magical, and I believe if the official team tapped into that history more thoughtfully—if they actually delivered something closer to what so many players loved—we wouldn’t have to be debating this at all. They’d already be back.
But let me zero in on this part of your previous post because I think it reflects well our two differing viewpoints.
You're speaking of legacy and how their voices still carry weight. Ultima Online is a business, not a democracy. You're advocating for former customers who have moved on and my argument is that they forfeited their voice on the direction of the game when they left and especially when they left for a grey shard which harms the current product. I would love for former players to return to the game but I would prefer our team not prioritize the perspective of people who have actively harmed this business.
Edit:
Also, I forgot to address this:
You've posted on this topic before, about six months ago. The response then was similar to the response you have received now. It should be very apparent to a veteran player such as yourself that the retail UO community (to say nothing of the former UO community) is not a monolith. No one loves or prioritizes the same thing about UO as anyone else and saying if the dev team, in essence, just did this "they'd already be back" is reductive.
Also, regardless of whether this is something that Broadsword could or would pursue, I want to push back on this idea that anyone who's interested in this is living in the past. That so many players enjoy pre-Trammel rulesets to this day (including many first time players) is proof that it's more than just us boomers chasing memories. Yes, nostalgia is a part of it, but who cares? That's a natural human emotional response, and there's big bucks in nostalgia anyway. Thousands of people genuinely love early UO, just like people who prefer Classic WoW to retail. I don't care about open PvP, but I would definitely play any version of UO with pre-AoS gameplay mechanics and itemization.
Appreciate the thoughtful reply, seriously. I’m not here to argue just for the sake of arguing. I’m here because I care about UO’s future just as much as you do, even if we see different paths forward.
You’re right that UO is a business, not a democracy. But I’d argue that any business that wants to survive needs to understand its full market not just its current customer base, but the lapsed and the curious. When I bring up former players, I’m not suggesting they should override the current community; I’m saying their departure holds valuable insight into what changed, what was lost, and what might be recaptured.
And yeah, some of them play on freeshards. But let’s be honest, many didn’t go there out of spite. They went because they couldn’t find what they loved on the official servers anymore. That’s not betrayal, it’s unmet demand. If another restaurant is serving the recipe you used to love, you go there. Doesn’t mean you’re rooting against the original place, you just miss the flavor.
I don’t think supporting official UO and recognizing the popularity of freeshards have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, listening to those players could be the bridge that brings some of them back. Not all of them, sure—but some. And some is better than none, especially when UO’s long-term survival depends on new (or returning) blood.
As for the “they’d already be back” line…I hear you. That might’ve come off too simplified. I know the UO community is diverse, and no one solution fits all. But when you see thread after thread, comment after comment, year after year from people saying, “If they just brought back [X], I’d resub today,” you have to wonder: what would it take to actually test that? Blizzard, Daybreak, Jagex—they all did, and it worked. Maybe UO is different. Or maybe it isn’t.
We don’t have to agree. But I don’t think it’s unfair—or harmful—to push for a version of UO that tries to win back part of its legacy playerbase. Because if we don’t even try… we’ll never know what could’ve been.
as for your claim that I’ve already said this six months ago: The development team has changed slightly.
Right now we have 3 developers Kyronix, Bleak, and Parallax. Between these 3 they are developing the classic client, enhanced client, production servers, Siege Prelious servers, and the new legacy servers.
Again this is not even my cent. Just found it around my neighbor's car.