The High Price of Living on the Atlantic Shard

When it comes to housing, the price of living on Atlantic is crazy high.  If all you want is a Villa or maybe you get lucky and find a Large Tower spot (Like I did) then the price is zero.

If you want a Keep or a Castle or two 18x18s side by side, then be prepared to fork over some serious Platinum.  Someone gave me a price of 12 Platinum for a Small Keep today and 5 Platinum for two 18x18 side by side.   It's all about Supply and Demand.  I get it.  

What are the advantages of Living on Atlantic?  Easy access to shopping which no other shard has right now.  You go to any other shard other than Atlantic and the things available for sale are nearly nothing.  The shopping is the biggest advantage of being on Atlantic.  You might say having a better chance of being in a guild on Atlantic is a positive.  Has anyone tried joining ANY guild in Ultima Online lately?  I've been trying for 15 years and without success.  

You go into pretty much any other game and joining a guild is BY FAR easier than Ultima Online.  I don't want to dwell too much on that though.  But, all of a sudden the "Atlantic Advantage" and the high price of housing is looking a lot less appealing.  

Then, I get on a Shard like Origin.  And, I walk around and there are 5 CASTLE spots JUST SITTING THERE.  Wow.  We just went from paying 12 Platinum (for a small keep) to paying maybe 50 million for the most expensive customized house in the game.  

There must be people out there willing to pay 12 Platinum or people wouldn't be selling homes for that price.  I'm sure there's people out there forking over real life money for the "Atlantic Advantage" too.

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Comments

  • AtomicBettyAtomicBetty Posts: 292
    what's the point of this post?
  • LarisaLarisa Posts: 1,215
    Stay on Origin! We need more people. I have seen many returning players to the shard and I love it! We just need more people willing to run vendors, I feel I'm the only one running a vendor house right now. There are a few others but I think they are just buying my stuff and selling it for more :(

    I try to keep my prices low for a small shard like Origin...people selling runebooks and runic atlas for over 10k is just redic! IMO anyway....but if we get more people doing it, we'll give Atlantic a run for it's money ;)

  • KazbarKazbar Posts: 8
    The one thing I like about Atlantic is running into to people all the time in the wilderness or random places, you don't get that often on the less populated shards. 
  • dvviddvvid Posts: 849
    I’m really confused how you could play this game for 15 years and not get into a guild. You ask around and you’ll end up in one pretty easy. 

    I’m not sure if you HAVE to buy a house from someone else. I always just put a plot down somewhere small then keep my eyes out for something bigger. I wish people didn’t even sell plots. A house drops or is moved then let the plot just be open for whoever wants to use it not sell it. That’s my opinion though. 
  • Arnold7Arnold7 Posts: 1,450
    Don’t quite understand why almost all the other shards have low populations all the time.  Can someone explain the history?  Does just not make sense.  All the shards are the same yet most of the players play on Atlantic.  Do not mean to say anything negative about the other shards.  With all the other available shards it’s obvious that the original design did not intend for one shard to dominate.  How did this happen?




  • GalluccioGalluccio Posts: 77
    edited March 2021
    what's the point of this post?
    The high pricing of homes on Atlantic.  Other take aways might be that Atlantic is a good place to shop.as compared to the other shards and It is very difficult to find a guild in Ultima Online. 

    Also, there are "Free" Keep and Castle spots available on Origin.... rather than paying 12 Platinum on Atlantic. 
  • BilboBilbo Posts: 2,834
    There was a while that the rares fest was held on Atl for a long time because no one on other shards wanted to do it so I would say a majority of the rares collector moved there and others followed.  I am on the west coast so I will gladly stay here and ping 10-14 all day.  I played Chessy (awesome shard and people) but lag turned me off so I brought everuthing home.  I have shard shirlds to every shard and my char on Atl has the majority of my gold so I get the shopping mall (Atl) and the quiet of the suburbs
  • GalluccioGalluccio Posts: 77
    edited March 2021
    dvvid said:
    I’m really confused how you could play this game for 15 years and not get into a guild. You ask around and you’ll end up in one pretty easy. 


    Yeah.  I love that question.  That is a great question.  During Age of Shadows I was able to join a guild within the first 30 minutes.  When I changed guilds, I was able to almost instantly join another guild.  At a certain point, I think people just stopped caring about trying to recruit people. I log into another game and in 3 days time maximum, I'll get invites to join guilds. 

    I haven't seen anything in this game which really encourages people to join groups as in other games. What does that mean?  Well... I'd really have to start giving examples. 
  • NorryNorry Posts: 536
    Maybe you have burned that many bridges by jumping guilds?
  • GwenGwen Posts: 210
    If smb selling house for several plats - this means: 1- people have those plats. why not 2- after the deal seller will have those * plats. Sell something to him! There are pets and items (deco and arties) with multi-million prices. You think keep will cost 20M here?
  • Garth_GreyGarth_Grey Posts: 1,459
    edited March 2021
    The truly sad thing is, small shards are pricing some items at Atl selling prices.
    You and Several Others like this.


    Please make the Grizzled Mare a 5 slot mount, it's incredibly rare and deserves it. Some of us have been waiting a long time for this simple addition.
  • XrisXris Posts: 130
    Galluccio said:
    dvvid said:
    I’m really confused how you could play this game for 15 years and not get into a guild. You ask around and you’ll end up in one pretty easy. 


    Yeah.  I love that question.  That is a great question.  During Age of Shadows I was able to join a guild within the first 30 minutes.  When I changed guilds, I was able to almost instantly join another guild.  At a certain point, I think people just stopped caring about trying to recruit people. I log into another game and in 3 days time maximum, I'll get invites to join guilds. 

    I haven't seen anything in this game which really encourages people to join groups as in other games. What does that mean?  Well... I'd really have to start giving examples. 

    Dont pull that thread. I've been suggesting a looking for group tool for a while now. You will get ripped here for suggesting you cant find groups easily in general chat. I play mostly solo, and love tools like other games have to quickly put together groups/raids. Dont ask for this here, people just flame it.
  • Garth_GreyGarth_Grey Posts: 1,459
    Again, you don't need a special tool to find a group, you need to create your own Chat Group when you log in, call it Looking for Group or whatever. I"m never one to force multi play on anyone as I"m prefectly fine being a solo player, but if you need that interaction, then interact and ask around, don't look for a special button.
    You and Several Others like this.


    Please make the Grizzled Mare a 5 slot mount, it's incredibly rare and deserves it. Some of us have been waiting a long time for this simple addition.
  • GwenGwen Posts: 210
    The truly sad thing is, small shards are pricing some items at Atl selling prices.
    Why not? Less competitors, less customers. 
    And is that is really expensive stuff- you can transfer yourself and sell it on Atl rather than selling on a small shard. 
    BTW most of stuff on  you can make or grind by yourself. Dont buy it if it is too expensive for you 
  • XrisXris Posts: 130
    Told ya :) his way works for him so forget everyone else. That special button generates millions of subs to other games because it is critical for players who dont play like you. I can log in WoW and be in a large raid in 5min, I know this is UO, but getting into the action quickly is important to me. Not sure why people are so against something new.
  • Garth_GreyGarth_Grey Posts: 1,459
    Xris said:
    Told ya :) his way works for him so forget everyone else. That special button generates millions of subs to other games because it is critical for players who dont play like you. I can log in WoW and be in a large raid in 5min, I know this is UO, but getting into the action quickly is important to me. Not sure why people are so against something new.
    I"m not against it, I'm just saying it's easy to find a group if you actually look/ask..If you only play during certain hours, then you're only going to be looking for people that play during those hours too, so they'll be online the same time frame you are (mostly). I've been in guilds, I asked, I looked, I talked , I joined. That's how it "should" work.
    You and Several Others like this.


    Please make the Grizzled Mare a 5 slot mount, it's incredibly rare and deserves it. Some of us have been waiting a long time for this simple addition.
  • XrisXris Posts: 130
    Xris said:
    Told ya :) his way works for him so forget everyone else. That special button generates millions of subs to other games because it is critical for players who dont play like you. I can log in WoW and be in a large raid in 5min, I know this is UO, but getting into the action quickly is important to me. Not sure why people are so against something new.
    I"m not against it, I'm just saying it's easy to find a group if you actually look/ask..If you only play during certain hours, then you're only going to be looking for people that play during those hours too, so they'll be online the same time frame you are (mostly). I've been in guilds, I asked, I looked, I talked , I joined. That's how it "should" work.

    Tbh I dont play a steady time that's the big issue. Sometimes I log in for 30min at 2pm, sometimes i play for 2 hours at 6am. No rhyme or reason, this is why I wanted the tool. I do ask in chat, but it's time consuming, and falls apart a lot.
  • keven2002keven2002 Posts: 2,317
    @Xris - Problem with that is you likely won't find a group at 6am regardless if there was a tool or not. 

    I think the main issue most have have with this (as with majority of things) is that people realize we have a very finite amount of Dev resources and many people do not want energy spent on something that can technically be done (perhaps not as quick as hitting a button to join a group).

    The other thing for this specific request is that many veteran players (like myself) are able to play most content they want and do not need to rely on a group. In the event that I do want to partner up with someone, the people I'm grouping with need to know what they are doing. The biggest problem I see with the "easy button" is that you are going to be putting some Leroy Jenkins type people in groups they have no place being in and thus is actually making things more of a hassle than Vets want. 

    It's not quite as simple as "create an easy button so people can quickly group". 
  • TheoTheo Posts: 208
    Thought I'd respond to a few things here.....

    Atlantic is now the center of UO. It was always one if not the most populated US shard.  As people quit and houses fell, people needed others to play with.  Since ATL had the bigger population people bought tokens, moved toons and migrated to ATL.  This has caused the degradation of players on every US shard.  Some second tier ones (GL, Pac, Lake Sup) still have a bit of a player base.  The lagging ones like Legends, LA, others are near dead - like korean shards anymore.  

    When all those people moved - they took their items and gold too.   When more money chases items the prices rise.  Tired of expensive ATL prices people with shard shields would go on 'shopping trips' to other shards without as much money chasing good and buy up cheap scrolls, pinks and other items to bring back to ATL to either sell or use.  This caused a vendor prices to rise on those smaller shards even with a small playerbase because effectively they were an offshore supplier to ATL.   People from these shards also do the reverse (I do this from GL) take goods with shields to ATL - sell for high prices - bring gold back to home shard and live like a king.  I took some junk to ATL and made a plat in like 5 days.  

    In regards to how the housing market works for large houses in ATL - given the high values - there are a number of brokers involved.  They attend the idocs and run a two account game to place. One account stands there casting recall. It won't show the words till the plot is ready to place.  When the words first pop up the second account will script place the plot.   They will then sell the big house for top $$.   When they get 5plat for a prime 18x18 or 25p for a castle - they then sell the gold for $85/p.  Who buys it? People buying the houses that have no hope to gather 25p.  Maybe they have 10 but then they buy the rest.    So in essense these houses are trading hands with plats but outside the game the money moves in real dollars.   Its a job an income for the big house placers.    Why does someone pay 25p or $2k real money for a house? Because they feel they can always sell it for that or more with housing being scarce.  Its just like a stock market.   I've been one to favor an auction for open plots run by UO.  Yes, a house broker could pay 20plat for it and outbid the average guy - but when they sell it for 25p - they are only making 5p instead of 25p.  And that 20p is deleted and REMOVED from UO.  if this were to be in place even for a moderate amount of time house prices would fall as gold was sucked from the economy and eventually housing would be reasonable vs the time to acquire the gold because the gold sellers (house placers) wouldnt' have the the gold to sell anymore as it was deleted.   Literally this is the devs best way to create a gold sink for 6 months or a year that would correct the UO economy by starting with the ATL inflation.  

    Otherwise tho people are free to transfer out. I love being on a shard that isn't ATL. I still go and sell things on ATl but I prefer playing with a tighter group of players where content isn't over crowded and housing is plentiful.  I've placed two keeps in the past year in Tram and didn't have to pay a broker for them. Thats a win in my book.  
  • XrisXris Posts: 130
    keven2002 said:
    @ Xris - Problem with that is you likely won't find a group at 6am regardless if there was a tool or not. 

    I think the main issue most have have with this (as with majority of things) is that people realize we have a very finite amount of Dev resources and many people do not want energy spent on something that can technically be done (perhaps not as quick as hitting a button to join a group).

    The other thing for this specific request is that many veteran players (like myself) are able to play most content they want and do not need to rely on a group. In the event that I do want to partner up with someone, the people I'm grouping with need to know what they are doing. The biggest problem I see with the "easy button" is that you are going to be putting some Leroy Jenkins type people in groups they have no place being in and thus is actually making things more of a hassle than Vets want. 

    It's not quite as simple as "create an easy button so people can quickly group". 
    Most games evaluate your gear/skills to enter a que, so undergeared wont get in. They also have a voting system to drop annoying players. I suppose you are right though, there aren't a lot of players looking for a group off peak hours. I just know this tool is probably one of the most popular mmo features and it keeps me logging in WoW.
  • BilboBilbo Posts: 2,834
    The truly sad thing is, small shards are pricing some items at Atl selling prices.
    That is to stop all the people from Atl from stripping the other shards.  Use gen chat and if your char is known to be a reg on the shard I am sure people will try to hook you up.
  • PawainPawain Posts: 10,269
    Ya someones gonna hook me up with a 120 Tactics or Resist.  For 50M?

    Ill take em!

    Returners and NOOBs need Atlantic size bank accounts to get Banes and scrolls. 
    Focus on what you can do, not what you can't.
  • GwenGwen Posts: 210
    Theo , I really dont understand what you want. Plot QTY is limited on shards. Even if admins will canalize money from game what will it change? 
    About placing a house- it is known issue: I placed a house - I am good and clever. Somebody else placed it- he is a cheater and a scripter. 
    Inflation is mostly because people CAN afford that expensive houses. And once you play for a while you can find ways to make lots of gold. Not grinding gold  from mobs but looting some stuff in high demand. Materials, arties, pets. All are priced accordingly. 
    At the beginning, when you have several K it is crazy to see al those prices for scrolls or arties. But learnong it and looting one clean ring with SSI 10 and selling it will make you way more gold that you can farm from mobs. 
    You want a good plot for ree- go to low- populated and settle even in Luna. Want to play on ATL and to have keep there- pay highest price to current owner or learn how to gel a keep plot faster than others. Those you call "scripters" did that. I dont want and now quite happy with my small max lock house. . You want that huge plot but too lazy to learn. 
  • GwenGwen Posts: 210
    Pawain said:
    Ya someones gonna hook me up with a 120 Tactics or Resist.  For 50M?

    Ill take em!

    Returners and NOOBs need Atlantic size bank accounts to get Banes and scrolls. 
    I want a public market on all shards. Where you (having house on ATL) will be able to place 1-2 commission vendors. Some shards you cannot even rent a place for a vendor. 
  • TheoTheo Posts: 208
    edited March 2021
    Gwen said:
    @ Theo , I really dont understand what you want. Plot QTY is limited on shards. Even if admins will canalize money from game what will it change? 
    About placing a house- it is known issue: I placed a house - I am good and clever. Somebody else placed it- he is a cheater and a scripter. 
    Inflation is mostly because people CAN afford that expensive houses. And once you play for a while you can find ways to make lots of gold. Not grinding gold  from mobs but looting some stuff in high demand. Materials, arties, pets. All are priced accordingly. 
    At the beginning, when you have several K it is crazy to see al those prices for scrolls or arties. But learnong it and looting one clean ring with SSI 10 and selling it will make you way more gold that you can farm from mobs. 
    You want a good plot for ree- go to low- populated and settle even in Luna. Want to play on ATL and to have keep there- pay highest price to current owner or learn how to gel a keep plot faster than others. Those you call "scripters" did that. I dont want and now quite happy with my small max lock house. . You want that huge plot but too lazy to learn. 
    If you take the bloated amount of gold out of the system and you take the ability for script placers to make $2k to $3k USD from a house - they will go away and housing prices will fall as you reduce the money supply and the outside game profit potential.  Yes you can GET gold but only so fast.  Your whole idea of 'acquiring high priced items' they are only high priced because of too much gold chasing them around.  

    This is a basic economics lesson and if you don't understand macro economics and money supply and M1 and M2 then I can't help you.  Please read up and try to understand.  I offered a solution to the housing/scripting solution and gold inflation problem that specifically hurts normal players on atlantic while making a select few extremely rich in real life money outside the game. 

    I really don't want any house on atantic. I play other shards just for that reason and I will never pay anyone for my housing.  I have two keeps I placed myself.  UO took the gold - I've never bought gold from anyone nor paid a house broker for any house. 


  • GwenGwen Posts: 210
    edited March 2021
    @Theo , you are wrong. If there are people who can spend 1.5-3K $ for a house on Atl - it is their problem. But they are not crowding . Yes there are rumors about it. Based on somebody trying to sell house at such price. Same about RMT traders. Also there are lots of veterans. Check houses on Atl. Their deco costs many plats. Only deco, Add pets and artifacts (like cameo sets etc) and you will see how much gold they can pay for a house if they need one. Who will spend those thousands of real money? Noobs and only lazy ones. Who dont want to grind money, kill mobs or even craft stuff to earn gold. Yes , for somebody just started playing those multi-million prices are scary. Playing for a while- you can find way to climb. Grind mobs or sell something to rich guys. I was doing peerless keys and bought a house from those "scripters"on ATL. I was doing things I find funny. They do - what they do good. If i will ever want a keep- I will go to Formosa or other low-pop shard. Now I dont want. If you are so good in economic understanding - go to US treasury , or World Bank, whatever and tell them : you should remove USD from turnover because houses on ATL are too expensive,.
  • dvviddvvid Posts: 849
    When houses fall, the plot should just be used by someone who actually needs the plot.  The whole real estate market in the game seems to be entirely about greed.  I don't see how it is good for the game as a whole.  Just my opinion, though.
  • BizarroBizarro Posts: 4
    If you are willing to look around in Fel there are plenty of places to still place a starter house on Atlantic.
  • keven2002keven2002 Posts: 2,317
    Bizarro said:
    If you are willing to look around in Fel there are plenty of places to still place a starter house on Atlantic.
    This.

    Some people think that they are entitled to place an 18x18 or castle after only playing 6 months on ATL and if they can't then they should be able to buy one for dirt cheap (all while disregarding supply/demand). 

    UO can be an extremely goal based game. If your goal is to have some high end plot of land then either start going to every single IDOC and trying to place (if you do place sell it to upgrade if needed) and/or make enough gold to buy it. I personally do not want UO watered down and the bar lowered because some people don't want to put in the time/effort to reach their goal.
  • GwenGwen Posts: 210
    dvvid said:
    When houses fall, the plot should just be used by someone who actually needs the plot.  The whole real estate market in the game seems to be entirely about greed.  I don't see how it is good for the game as a whole.  Just my opinion, though.
    By that "someone in need" you mean yourself, not any other player? 
    Whole real estate in game and in real word have same rules: it will be sold to top-bidder.
    Look at the ATL - tons of houses smaller than 18*18. They all need bigger one, not just you or me. 
    Lets avoid gold. How many 120 tactics scrolls or Cameos, or Bane dragons you think 18*18 should cost?
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