Hello, my usual gamer name is Mars… However, that name was taken so on this shard I shall be known as Magnus. For some strange reason I felt the urge to write this. Perhaps, to help break the ice as most you share something in common with me. My love for Ultima Online. Does this make us friends? Your damn straight it does. Let me start with a flash back…
The year was 1997 and I was about 16 years old. I was born a gamer, at the rise of the gaming industry. I loved games and was very heavy into RPG’s like Final Fantasy and Zelda. I had a friend who introduced me to Ultima Online. I remember watching him play, and he let me make a character. I was amazed at all that you could do, and the freedom that you had. I was in awe at how you could put bags into bags and organize things in great detail. This is actually where I got my gamer name from, it took me hours to decide on it. I fell in love instantly and we played daily. That was until the dreaded day came… The day my friend… Got his account hacked! Oh man, he never wanted to play again. I lost a little steam but found good guilds and friends. I got bored after years though. Little to no new content. It the population on my shard declining. I quit. I never stopped loving it though. So, I came back. I again set up shop, but was quickly disappointed as to the same problem as before. Still, I hoped for something better.
Come back to more recently, about a month ago. I decided why not make my own server, and make my character super strong. Like a god. Since I would have no friends and no help, it would be the only way to do things. So, I started to look into how to set up a shard and what not. Talk about a pain. That’s when I decided to look into other shards with high populations to join. Free shards with different rule sets. I saw the name UO Evolution and read the details of the shard. I was instantly in love. Is this too good to be true? So, I decided to try it out. Why not? It’s free.
Immediately upon exploring the shard I ran into a very helpful player who got me set up with the NEW guild. I was let in by Piglet, and given a set of decent beginner armor. They had so much to help you with including books on where and how to train. I was very impressed. Then I saw a Dante in chat saying to go to Brit Bank for a Champ Spawn. Of course I didn’t go, but I wouldn’t hesitate when ready. Thing is, this gets done daily. It gets done by multiple administration and they are all so friendly and patient. My mind is blown. I have a new home, and my passion and faith in Ultima has been rekindled.
Let me give you a bit of background on me so when I give you my opinion, you can decide if you want to take it seriously or blow it off. I am a 35 year old male that lives in Texas. I am very friendly and competitive. I love to be the best there is, but I also love competition. I believe it pushes both parties to become stronger and better. I believe practice is the key to everything. Taking the time to practice and understand something will make you great at it. My idol has always been Bruce Lee. The first time I ever saw him, it was a video of an interview in which he said so many good philosophical things. The main quote was “You know what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because, I mean I don't want to sound like ask Confucius, sayyyyyy--(joking) but under the sky, under the heaven, man, there is but one family. It just so happens that people are different.” This is how I see the world, and I love people and wish there was no suffering or sadness in the world. I love to make people smile. However, don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I fight fire with hotter fire. I go for both eyes if you take one. One for payback, the other for punishment. No, I am not bipolar. I am just a very passionate person. Really, I am very patient and it takes a lot to make me angry. When angry though I handle things rationally until I have to use more extremes. Moving on, I did really good in school and took some college. In college I took courses on C++ programming, so I am totally in love with UOSteam. I plan to make some awesome macros. I do have lots of experience in MMORPGs and feel as though I have a good understanding of how things are supposed to operate. I have even made and lead decent size guilds and built their websites and managed forums. I am also a new father. My son is 7 months old and sucks up most of my gaming time. But, I try to make time to get my fix.
Now that you know a little more about me, let me give you my opinion on UOEvolution as a whole. The game play is great. It has some minor kinks in it, that I see getting worked out quickly as the staff here is very helpful and knowledgeable. They interact with the population a lot and keep us entertained and wanting to play more. I attended many games the administration has held so far, and each one is very fun. It seems to be the same people that always show up and that is very cool in my opinion. I want to be one of those, but I work shift work and now I will be missing in action for a few months. So, you all will be missed for a short time. My favorite game so far is the Hunger Games. Very fun as everyone starts with nothing, so it levels out the playing field and makes you rely purely on skills. I do have to wonder though, why is it only maybe 6% of the population attends these fun games?
The website is small, but it gets the point across. The wiki is out of date, and leaves out many details about the game. I always read people typing for others to read the wiki and forums, and I like to be self-dependent so I always look everywhere else before I ask someone something. It is so hard to find information though in many aspects. I have found that there is in some cases more information in game rather than on wiki or the forums. In such cases of quests, Domino’s Rune Library has detailed information about the quests and has help me a ton. So for all you new players, let me interrupt my opinion with tips I wish I had known:
· Domino’s Rune Library is the answer to all quests and travel.
· You can be afk to level up skills that don’t profit your character.
· Quest items are a rare spawn and take a long time to gather. Be persistent
· There are many quests that will give you high quality items. Mirror Shield! Kas!
· Participate with the community, it is super fun and you get rare rewards.
· Custom quests don’t need to be picked up, just get the quest items and then return them by dropping them on the quest giver for your award.
· Keys are awesome but don’t waste ED on them unless they are rare. Do quests.
· 1 ED is worth 100k
So update that wiki, and get more people to participate in the forums and the game will keep growing as it has been. I see a lot of new players and it is impressive.
With all this being said, I am in the NEW guild and will honor their wishes to keep it for the new players. I will be leaving soon and looking for a new guild. I can look at the forums under guilds, but I want a guild that is active and reads things like this. You know a lot about me now and if you want me, just tell me what your guild has to offer. Also I have a few questions I want to ask the players.
Out of the 500 or so players that are logged on, how many are actually out doing stuff?
How many active guilds are there that run champs and high content? How many members? (This excludes NEW)
Do any guilds have their own ventrillo or teamspeak? Or do they piggy back off the server teamspeak?
Thanks for reading, if you see me out there hit me up. I am looking for friends.
