UO Blog - Britannian Towns Deserted - Nov 15th, 2008

Let me pull out some memories of the first 3 or 4 years in UO (1998-2001):

• During the first years of UO, before Ilshenar, Tokuno and Malas were invented, you would meet a lot of people in EVERY town of Britannia.
• Britain is the capital of Britannia. It was the most famous city, and it always was full of people. It was the town where you would find every kind of shop and vendor. I never saw less than 20 people hanging out at the First Bank of Britain. Thieves in death robes frequented the area, looking for easy prey.
• Trinsic was very popular, too; it was a town with a warm character, and it was chosen by many players as the starting city. The surroundings offered good hunting grounds to train your skill for both the fighter and the tailor. (Trinsic was the town where I started playing UO!)
• A popular meeting place for adventurers of any kind was Vesper. Expeditions to the (at that time) famous Covetous Dungeon or the inland of Britannia set out from here. The Crossroads of Britannia (a place where highwaymen often used to ambush carless travelers) or even the Desert of Compassion were popular destinations.
• Moonglow, the city of mages! Reagents were vital for any spellcaster (lower reagent cost suits did not exist) and alchemist back then. The numerous mage and herb shops were reason enough for many bulk buyers and mages to declare Moonglow as their home town. The forest south of Moonglow was also a place where scoundrels and murderers were hanging out, hoping for an unexperienced mage heading from the moongate to the safe town as an easy target.
• Miners and blacksmiths were at home in Minoc. The Minoc mines were very close to the guard zone and thus very popular for the digging and prospecting folk. Murderers always sneaked around the caves, giving the miners a hard time. Minoc was also home to a small player army that was trying to defend the Minoc mines from murderers.
• The bank of Yew (Empath Abbey) was mostly a meeting place for adventurers, and the many different role playing guilds that were at home in the deep woods all around Yew. Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Orc Clans, Celts and many other guilds had their home base in the vicinity of Yew. The Yew Crypts and the Orc Fort were popular targets for adventurers.
• Only few people today know about the hidden city of Wind. Back in the Early Days, you would always meet a handful of mages there, hunting and training undisturbed in the Wind Park. The underground caves leading from the entrance to the guard protected town were sometimes visited by evil folk ambushing the unsuspecting traveler.
• Occlo (today New Haven) was the town of newbies and newbie helpers. The island has always been the place many players started to train their skills.
• Buccaneer's Den was home to murderers, thieves and the evil scum of Britannia. Here they would meet and battle each other without the interference of Lord British's Guards. Buc's Den didn't even have a bank during the first two years.
• Magincia, the city of pride, was frequented by lots of people, as well as Jhelom.
• You'd even meet people in Skara Brae, Nujel'm and Serpent's Hold, even though those cities had no moongates and could only be reached by traveling spell or boat. Never forget that back then, recalling and especially gate travel spells were not as common as they are today.
• Cove was less popular, as it didn't have a bank. Some travellers went there, nevertheless. Mostly to explore the little village, resting before continuing to follow the road from Vesper to Yew, or to fight some orc at the Cove Orc Fort.
• When The Second Age (Lost Lands) came out, Delucia was the home of tailors, tamers and lumberjacks. The surroundings of Delucia were full of ressources of any kind, and the animal spawn was mostly undisturbed. This was important, as during the first years of Ultima Online, there was a strong competition amongst crafters, and ressources were always rare. In the beginning, Delucia was an insider's tip amongst the crafting folk. I became a grandmaster tailor in the outskirts of Delucia.
• Papua was a meeting place of adventurers hunting for Terathans and Ophidians, or exploring the secrets of the northern desert.

Today, you only meet people in Luna and in New Haven, and sometimes in Britain. The rest of the towns are totally deserted. And no, it's not like all those people only go to Luna today. In the Early Days, EVERY town was as crowded as Luna is today. The reasons for Britannia being deserted are quite obvious (to my opinion):

• Today, there are much less subscribers of UO.
• The existing subscribers are much less active, or have multiple accounts (in order to have multiple houses), and they only can play one account at a time.
• People spend less time in game socializing, hanging out in a town, chatting, exchanging experiences. They mostly concentrate on the essentials (making gold, acquiring artifacts, restocking vendors, raising skills).
• People don't travel on foot anymore, and rather recall to the points of interest.
• It has become less important to meet other players. Especially crafters used to hang out in towns offering crafting or repair services to other players. Today, everyone can do anything by himself (thanks to 7 available character slots).
• The existing players spend less time in game (maybe because the average age of an UO player has increased significantly?).

Are the glorious days of UO over for good? Maybe not, if some issues are solved. Food for thought!

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