Hi all, new guy here. [A bit long]

[Snarlg]

Hi all, new guy here.

I have been playing The Second Age sever for a few days now and having a great time.

A quick history of my time with Ultima Online.

I started playing in 1998 a couple of months before T2A was released and played on the Europa Shard.
By the time T2A arrived I was just getting used to the game and enjoying the real sense of danger
you got whenever you ventured outside the guard zone.

There was a character on the Europa shard called Lord Ulysses who could be found at the Britain blacksmiths
almost everyday repairing and crafting armour, weapons and leather goods. There was always a big crowd
round him wanting his services. During my first week in the game he gave me set of GM armour a GM katana
and shield. From that day on I wanted to be a Blacksmith.

I toiled for weeks (no macros back then) and eventually became a Grandmaster Smith and Miner and spent a lot
of time at the Blacksmiths selling my wares and services.

Next came the release of UO:R and Trammel, this event went a long way to ruining the life of a blacksmith as
people started to make mule characters to satisfy their needs, Spam appeared at WBB along with the card sharks,
real estate agents and general loitering. Britain, Felucca gradually became more and more deserted as people
started trading in the safety of Trammel. A new career was needed.

I am not much good at PvP (probably amongst the oldest IRL UO players) so I chose Taming as those new Nightmares
were so cool. More toil ensued and eventually I reached a level where I could tame a Mare. Spawn blocking was
rife and it took about a week to find one but eventually I had my first Nightmare.

I discovered I preferred the thrill of taming Mares to actually fighting monsters, the run down through Terathan
Keep was enough to get you heart beating for hours. I then made a mistake and became a Nightmare and Dragon
trader, a decision I was soon to regret. Characters with barely enough skill to control then would take them to
Shame (the only dungeon they dared) and wreak havoc, no control meant pets were chasing other peoples kills,
going wild and killing people hundreds probably died to Mares and Dragons gone wild, it was a mess.

I started concentrating on my crafter and eventually GM'd carpentry, tailoring and tinkering. I had a nice shop
just outside Britain (Tramell) and a large tower in Felucca. The shop kept me busy and gave me a nice income.

I joined a nice guild and had plenty of good adventures, a drake tournament started up on a Saturday night and
the weekdays were spent trying to find and train the perfect drake to fight in the 1v1 knock-out tournament that
weekend. (I really miss that event, perhaps one could be organised here).

Third Dawn with it's new Ilshenar lands and Lord Blackthorn's Revenge came and went, then Age of Shadows came,
I hated it, all of it. I didn't like the new lands and the item based game play it seemed to bring. It just didn't
fit with the game I knew. The idea of customising houses was a nice idea but the monstrosities that came with it
wasn't. I played for a few months hoping I would get used to it but I didn't and quit Ultima in the summer of 2003.

About 18 months ago I started a new account and played exclusively on Seige Perilous, that was more to my liking
but Malas was still there, it was still too item based and I only played it casually.

Due to a family illness I had no time for Ultima and once again left the game.

I now have more time and was thinking of going back to Seige but while looking around for information I stumbled
upon the concept of free shards. Looking through the various top shard sites one caught my eye.

"ULTIMA ONLINE THE SECOND AGE" The way it was.

I was sold. I scoured my garage for my old T2A box and feverishly read the website for more information. I finally
got everything installed and setup about 2am and nervously created an account and logged in.....

There it was, the Ultima I knew and loved, I ran about like an idiot checking everything to see if it was the same.
It was, now what about the game play....

I've been playing almost a week now and I am not disappointed one bit, it's fantastic to be back in what I consider
to be the best time in the history of Ultima. The REAL sense of danger is back, the believable world is back, the PK's
and red's are back. I'm loving it (even the PK's).

I can only congratulate the team that that put this server together and are kind enough to provide it for us to play
on. The work and attention to detail is superb. Well done all.

Sorry to have rambled on a bit but this server has bought on a nostalgic moment for me, I hope to stay a long time
and look forward to becoming part of this community.

Now, off to try and sell my 5000 ingots so I can place a house.............

Snarlg

[BloodyBandage]

Awesome post. I respect the fact you had a gm smith on OSI...that damn skill took forever. Glad to have you here.

[Derrick]

Ditto, incredible post. Welcome (back) to Second Age!

[platy]

My brother played Europa and EVERYTIME i watched him play he would go to the WBB blacksmith by the Graveyard and get new weps/armor from Lord Ulysses.. He was the only blacksmith on the shard for a LONG time.. and I assume one of the richest players as well..
That was one of the coolest parts of Euro I ever saw: that and the AMAZING PK named Goddess who killed my bro's TWO 7x guildmasters at same time in Deceit..whom eventually becaume GM of 6I6 (PK part of it). Very cool to see someone else here who played during Ulysses time (although he might have played for quite a while)

[Divvet]

Ah nice to see someone who played Europa.
Im pretty sure i recognise your name, and im positive you helped me out on several occasions with your smithing skills.
Good to see you have joined us. You'll love it more and more each day.
Doubt you would remember me as i have changed my name so many times i cant remember my uo one. Think it was Lance.
But sir. good day to you, and hope to see you in game.
If you need a house for training in, message me and ill hook you up. Only just got it but glad to share this with a fellow Europan.

[keuse]

quite suprised you typed all of that out, but welcome aboard.

[Hoots]

Welcome! I really enjoyed reading your post. What is (are) your in game char names? Ill keep an eye out for you! If you're ever interested in some PvM or building a tamer with a friend (as i just started working a tamer) drop me a PM or IRC!

[BlackFoot]

remember to release all your tamed animals for other tamers as you do this!

[DrFaustus]

remember to release all your tamed animals for other tamers as you do this!

and carry loot whilst you tame so i can make a profit off killing you

[Divvet]

Welcome! I really enjoyed reading your post. What is (are) your in game char names? Ill keep an eye out for you! If you're ever interested in some PvM or building a tamer with a friend (as i just started working a tamer) drop me a PM or IRC!

Hoots i want to get my tamer up and running? any chance i can tag along?

[Mirage]

Pretty solid post. Good point you make about playing in a real world of dangers.