Interested in joining. My god, it has been... so long.

[SabbathViper]

Hello all,

I've recently begun playing UO with a friend of mine on Atlantic. I am only using a Trial account, however I am trying to decide if I want to play on the official servers, or stick with what I know and once loved - shards. I understand Second Age is the place to be when it comes to shards. My primary concerns would be:

Population - I am not sure what the average population on the official servers is, but people are running around and doing things in most places. I know SA has a large population for a shard, but I am sure a lot of them are bots. How many people are running around, bank sitting, socializing, etc?

Era - I have been away from UO so long that I barely remember what was and wasn't around when I played. It was in the early days. I used to play a Thief primarily. I just hope Trammel isn't around, as I think that ruined the game.

Boredom - What do people do on this shard? Is it there a lot of community interaction, or mostly just people AFK macro'ing their skills and whatnot and those who aren't AFK farming nonstop?

Skillgain - Some shards have very fast and very slow skill gains. I wouldn't mind something like the original OSI shards, was middle ground. How is it here?

Anyways, as long as the population is high I'd probably prefer to play here, have access to Razor or whatever the mainstay macro program is and get a character fired up and ready... try to convert my friend away from Atlantic and bring my g/f on here too.

Also, how is the Thievery here?

[nightfishing]

Population: I have been pleasantly surprised and content at population. Nothing is going to be like Atlantic in 1997-1999, but for a free shard, and even for production servers, UOSA has a good population.

Era: UOSA is Era-Accurate, so things you may have become used to on OSI shards may or may not be the same here. There is no Trammel!

Boredom: I have yet to be bored here in the 6 or so months I have been actively playing. This is a shard mainly populated with veterans yet there is a good amount of people new to the game or returning after very long hiatuses.

Skillgain: Again, it's era-accurate so it is slow compared to some other free shards and whatever scheme EA shards have in place. The caveat here is that Razor makes skills incredibly convenient to macro (as long as you aren't trying to gather resources AFK!) and that takes a lot of the grind out of making a new character.

Once again, the population is not only healthy, it seems to have been growing in the last 2 weeks.

I have not once regretted setting up shop here.

If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to PM me here in the forums or post here and you will find out that the majority of forum users are quite helpful.

[Jupiter]

I think you'll find a pretty healthy blend of PvP, shenanigans, and farming. Depending on the time of season it might be unbalanced towards any of these. There are also bursts of RP. No worries about Trammel, it can't be found here. I've searched and not found it.

There are perhaps four types of thieves on this shard:
1. Typical no class bank thieves
2. RP/moderately entertaining bank thieves
3. Field thieves
4. House looters

PvP happens a lot around the Brit Graveyard and out in the dungeons but usually occurs in cycles (bands of roaming bored PvP'ers hunt interesting skirmishes much like gold farmers cycle through looking for interesting Spawn.)

Here are some places to start:

1. If you really want some help getting on your feet check out NEW guild. They have a lot of new people training all the time and going out. I've found it's usually really easy to gain skill when you are around many others doing the same thing.

2. If you think you'll get a handle on things pretty quick you can check out the guild recruitment section of the forums

3. If you want to go solo, a bard is one of the quickest ways to get starter cash

4. If you like RP a little or a lot, then stop by Paws located right near the shrine of Spirituality. Also for RP mixed with PvP seek out the Kingdom of Ascalon, or if you happen to see a Guardian of the Dead (GOD) you may engage them, but watch out - recruitment to the undead can be a bit uncomfortable for some...

- Jupiter the Grey