Stranded

fter a heavy storm, Hawkeye Pike and his crew stranded on a small island in the southern Britannian Sea, somewhere in Felucca. Most of their items had been washed overboard and lost. A few worthless pieces of clothing, hats, some cheap weapons of town-vendor quality and a heap of bandages was all that was left. Equipped in such manner, they started their expedition on the island of Serpent's Hold, and headed towards the docks.

A narrow opening in the rocks gazed at them like a giant black eye. Fortunately, they were equipped with a few torches and lanterns, so they finally dared to descent into the dark hole. An exciting and challenging adventure began! The survivers of the shipwreck would have to face the dangers of Felucca in search of new wealth and better equipment.

The cave they had entered was also known as the Fire Dungeon. Darkness surrounded the small group of daredevils, as they proceeded through narrow tunnels and along dark rocks. The glow of their torches flickered on the slippery ground. Eerie sounds could be heard in the distance.

While balancing on a rope tautened across an abyss of lava, the glowing shape of a Fire Elemental could be seen in the distance. Quickly they proceeded and a fierce battle between the intruders and the creatures of fire erupted. The adventurers survived and gathered a few pieces of armor, reagents and magery scrolls to improve their equipment. Mages were finally able to add some useful spells to their empty spellbooks. Warriors found better weapons and some pieces of armor.
A few steps further down the cave, in a strange chamber, they suddenly were facing Lich Lords. These most dangerous monsters were very difficult to slay. The Lich Lords looted the bandages of their victims, and when they finally managed to slay one, a new Lich immediately appeared. The team finally decided to retreat and leave the Fire Dungeon through the Lost Lands exit.

The Lost Lands desert on the Felucca facet was disturbingly empty. No creatures could be found. After a long walk north, they reached the valley of the Ophidian Lair. There they spent a long time fighting the dangerous Ophidians and looting many useful items from them. The Ophidian Avengers proved to be most dangerous, and Ophidians also had the bad habit of looting bandages and other items from their victims. The group quickly lacked of means of healing, and after a long and challenging adventure they finally decided to retreat.

In the northern part of the Lost Lands mainland, on the tip of a long peninsula, they found (amongst a few Wyverns) the Lighthouse Passage, which lead them back to Britannia. After leaving the Yew prison isle through a number of secret doors and passages, they finally reached the mainland and the party disbanded. Starting an adventure without any special equipment had been a totally new and exciting experience! Items, that usually were considered worthless and tossed aside by veteran adventurers, suddenly became important and saved their lifes. Teamwork was vital, and down in the dungeons a source of light was suddenly necessary to find your way. Hawkeye Pike was reminded of his adventures in the Early Days.

10/2008

[ Back to the overview ]

This inconvenient adventure was not only a lot of fun. It opened our eyes for what really matters in Britannia. The whole pressure of focusing on items, finding better artifacts, spending millions on equipment and worrying about insurance, suddenly had become obsolete. A well equipped fighter would have slain all creatures on this journey within seconds. To such a warrior, the journey would not have been a challenge, but a bore. Maybe after reading this, people will feel encouraged to start out with nothing and try a similar adventure.
However, we also recognized a few flaws in the system. Some important changes would improve the experience for both young adventurers and veterans massively:

The places and dungeons lack of content. All you can do is slay monsters. There should be riddles, secrets, quests and historical landmarks all over the Britannian landscape and the dungeons, to make adventures more interesting and rewarding. There are few riddles already, but either they are not working, too simple and boring, or solving them isn't rewarding.
Hacking and slaying monsters is fun, but we also need more adventures!
Monster spawn is not intelligent. Monsters re-spawn always in the same place and the creatures act always in the same predictable way. If intruders stay too long in an area, monsters should retreat or call for reinforcements. Monsters should be able to change their attacking strategy.
Monsters re-spawn instantly after being killed and make it almost impossible to "clear out" an area and continue to explore a dungeon from top to bottom. After killing creatures in an area for some time, spawn should cease or move elsewhere.
Night sight destroys all lighting effects and thus kills part of the impression of the world. On the surface, nights should be as dark as dungeons are. Night sight should have the same brightness and lighting effects as nights are on the surface right now.
Some monster types loot bandages and reagents. This can kill an expedition, is very annoying and doesn't make sense. It is ok that some monsters loot gold or armor, but not basic items you need for recovering and trying again.
The world (surface and dungeons) should contain more dynamic quests, and send the adventurer(s) on a challenging journey. There should not be a static quest giver, but you should be able to get the quest in an unpredictable manner (a quest should be offered after slaying certain creatures, solving a riddle or picking a random treasure chest). Quests should not be that simple like "go there and bring that", but send you out to achieve a number of things, visit several places and solve a few riddles. The whole team should be rewarded for finishing the quest.
The surface of Britannia has many landmarks, but they are usually deserted and not interesting at all. Landmarks should have stories and riddles tied to them, so people can go out and venture again. Such secrets should be scattered all over Britannia.
Ultima Online needs more interesting low- and medium-level content for (new) players who can not or do not want to enter the doom-artifact-runic-item-treadmill.

Let us dig holes in the wilderness to discover an old skeleton with a secret message inside.
Let us cut down a bush to discover a lost pouch containing a riddle.
Let us examine trees to find an engraving on the trunk.
Let us dig up an old grave to find a trace of a lost treasure hunter.
Let us fish up an ancient casket from a pond somewhere in the jungle, containing mystical items.
Let us mine some rare ressuorce from the depth of a dungeon, that is needed for a quest.
Let us find a secret message of a castaway while digging in the sand of a beach.
Send us on journeys, quests and adventures, to discover the beauty and the secrets of Britannia.

Some Statistics

(Browse the Ultima Online Adventurer's Guide for detailed descriptions of the following locations)

Dungeons and Underground Monster Spawns (Trammel only)

Number	Location	Remarks
13	Britannia Dungeons	Wrong, Deceit, Covetous, Despise, Shame, Destard, Hythloth, Prism of Light, Solen Hive, Orc Cave, Sanctuary, Blighted Grove, Painted Caves
6	Lost Lands Dungeons	Ice Dungeon, Fire Dungeon, Delucia Passage, Khaldun/Felucca, Palace of Paroxysmus, Terathan Dungeon
14	Ilshenar Dungeons	Sorcerer Dungeon, Volcanic Lair, Rock Dungeon, Meer Catacombs, Exodus, Ankh Dungeon, Spider Dungeon, Spectre Dungeon, Blood Dungeon, Ratman Mine, Cyclops Dungeon, Wisp Dungeon, Serpentine Passage, Kirin Passage
3	Malas Dungeons	Doom, Bedlam, Minotaur City
3	Tokuno Dungeons	Fan Dancer Dojo, Yomotsu Mines, Citadel

Those are a total of 39 dungeons!!! Most of these places are deserted; nobody ever ventures there.
ALL of the dungeons are pure monster-bashing locations. Only few of them have minor riddles, but they are either too easy, not working, or not rewarding. Exception: Doom, but the rewards spawn at ridiculously low intervals.
Most of the dungeons are boring as hell, although they would have great potential. Best examples: Anti-Virtue Dungeons, Khaldun, Volcanic Lair, Rock Dungeon, Meer Catacombs, Exodus, Ratman Mine.
Treasure hunting in all of those places is boring and not rewarding.
The few quests available are very easy and boring (go there, bring me this, slay that).

Overground Monster Spawns

Number	Location	Remarks
10	Britannia Major Spawns	Yew Crypts, Yew Orc Fort, Desert of Compassion, Bog of Desolation, Cove Orc Fort, Brigand Camp, Hedge Maze, Fens of the Dead, Daemon Altar, several Haunted Ruins
13	Lost Lands Major Spawns	Kos Heb West, Kos Heb East, Wyvern Point, Oasis, Ophidian Lair, Wyvern Isle, Cyclops Valley, Terra Sanctum, Terathan Keep, Haunted Ruins, Hoppers Bog, Savage Fort, City of the Dead
22	Ilshenar Major Spawns	Cyclops Camp, Pass of Karnaugh, Ancient Wyrm's Lair, Montor, Gargoyle Camp, Bandit Town, Lava Villa, Citadel, Lord Blackthorn's Castle, Humility Graveyard, Meteor Crater, Ratman Villa, Earth Elemental Huts, Savage Village, Undead Fort, Lizardman Village, Burned Forest, Cyclops Pyramid, Brigand Tower, Reg Volom, Bet-Lem Reg, Enchanted Forest, Harpy Nest
11	Malas Major Spawns	5 Brigand Camps, 4 Orc Outposts, Grimswind Ruins, Forgotten Pyramid
16	Tokuno Major Spawns	Revenant Jima, Beetlescape, Winter Spur, Bushido Dojo, Yamandon Point, Field of Echoes, Kitsune Woods, Lightest Dark, Hiryu Forest, Tsuki Garden, Mt. Sho, Hotaka Plains, Mt. Hakonu, Lotus Lakes, Crane Marsh, The Waste

Those are a total of 72 spawn locations!!! Most of those are not visited by players at all.
ALL of those places are pure monster-bashing locations. Only few of them have minor riddles, but they are either too easy, not working, or not rewarding.
Most of those places have a great potential! They would be perfect places for quests, riddles, treasure and adventure. Best examples: Yew Crypts, Hedge Maze, Haunted Ruins, Terra Sanctum, Graveyards, etc.
Most of those places are not even known to the majority of players.

This shows how adding new dungeons and landmasses seem like a waste of time. UO has 10 times more dungeons and places of interest than the players would need. Improving those places, making them interesting, making them dynamic and challenging for both new and veteran players, should be a primary goal. UO doesn't need another boring monster-bashing location; it needs more quests, riddles, challenges and adventures instead.