Yesterday we celebrated the 23rd Anniversary of Ultima Online with a livestream event where we announced our next major project – Ultima Online: New Legacy!
In case you missed it you can watch a replay of the livestream and the announcement trailer on the Ultima Online YouTube channel! We have some great feature spotlights, dev hangouts, and livestreams planned for the channel so make sure you subscribe!
The response to UO: NL over the last 24 hours has been overwhelming to say the least! We have been inundated with questions about what UO: NL is all about. If you haven’t already, you can check out the FAQ where we answer some common questions about what UO: NL will offer. We’ve also picked some prominent additional questions to answer – check em out below! We know there will be more questions as we press on so rest assured we will be keeping you up to date as often as we can! Again we want to thank everyone for the support and look forward to embarking on this New Legacy together!
Q: What era will this shard be like?
Our focus is to rethink, rework, and redesign the core Ultima Online gameplay experience and bring it back to its classic roots as an RPG. It is difficult to specifically state what era the shard will focus on because we are not attempting to recreate a 1:1 copy of any specific time in the lifecycle of the game world. That being said, the periods including The Second Age and Renaissance showcased a lot the simplistic and intuitive beauty that we are going for. That also is not to say we will not be including features from other eras as well – but hopefully this provides a way to think about how we want the game world to feel.
Q: I do not want to play a game where another player can kill me or steal from me – is the new shard a place for me? Is it consensual PvP and can I play without being harassed? How does Trammel/Felucca fit into the game?
The traditional concept of “Trammel and Felucca” does not apply to a UO: NL shard. There is only one facet (The World) and within that facet we will support those who like to participate in PvP via an updated Vice vs. Virtue framework while those who would rather participate in PvM content can do so without fear of being killed. That is not to say there will not be areas that will be free from danger – our primary design goal, however, is to give players the choice of participating or not.
Q: Will there be item insurance?
Our design goals include providing features in place to prevent loss of items, but also additional features to offer the thrill of risk vs. reward found in old school Ultima Online. We look forward to this being the topic of a future “Feature Spotlight” where we can dive deeper into the details of how we plan to deliver on this goal. One thing we can say for sure is that none of these features will look or feel like how item insurance works on UO: Live.
Q: Are items obtained from the Legacy System account bound?
Yes, anything obtained via the Legacy System is bound to your account. We will be taking a deeper dive into the Legacy System in a future “Feature Spotlight”.
Q: Why would I want to jump in 3 or 6 months before the Shattering? What incentive do I have to not feel “left behind”?
One of the primary design goals is to keep the power difference between low and high end players as reasonably small as possible – this will allow character development to happen on scale in line with the lifecycle of the shard. Whether you start on day 1 or day 200, there will still be a chance to forge your New Legacy.
Q: Will UO: NL be another Siege/Mugen?
No, we are not modeling UO: NL after Siege or Mugen in any way.