Let me set expectations right upfront: Ultima Online’s latest newsletter mentions New Legacy and even includes some pics from the game’s legacy system, but it doesn’t have much to say about the content itself. New Legacy, of course, is the heavily delayed (it was supposed to launch last year) classic-friendly-but-not-classic version of the game that Broadsword has now been working on for several years, at the cost of significant development on the original.
“The work has been long but we feel the wait will be worth it!” Broadsword says. “Our next phase of testing will begin soon[.]” To get in, players are going to have to actually log in to the test server and sign up inside the game, which has the effect of limiting testers, at least in this phase, to paid accounts.
“We’re introducing a raffle stone for those interested in testing Ultima Online: New Legacy. The sign-up stone will be placed in the Britannia Commons area of Test Center 1. To participate, testers will need to sign an NDA and have a clean account history.”
A follow-up new post on the official website this afternoon clarifies that the sign-ups opened at noon EDT today and are open only through August 16th at the same time. “Participants will be selected at random from the stone and will be contacted via e-mail in order to begin the on-boarding process,” the studio says. “Sign-ups are only open to veteran accounts free of any CS violations” – this verbiage makes it sound as if you can’t just start a new account, even paid, to throw your hat in the ring. Presumably, future test rounds will open things up a bit since New Legacy is meant to be for new players too, and surely they’ll want non-vets to try it out.
The newsletter also makes mention of the official account transfer system Broadsword still maintains, the upcoming 26th anniversary of the game, and multiple other fall and winter events.
