New World isn’t the only MMO with a big launch today: 27-year-old MMORPG Ultima Online also picked October 15th, 2024, for the rollout of its long-delayed New Legacy server.
As regular readers will know, Broadsword announced New Legacy back in 2020 as an alternative ruleset server. It’s not exactly a “classic” server; in fact, it’s more like a sandpark reimagining of the original sandbox MMORPG, with a heavier reliance on linear questing for experience, all meant to give veteran players a new spin on play and potential new players an entry point if the intricate UO sandbox seems like way too much to handle.
“Ultima Online: New Legacy is a new server that launches with the original map of Britannia using a customized ruleset focused on a core RPG experience,” the studio says. “We have completely rethought, reworked, and redesigned several core gameplay experiences with the goal of rekindling the classic feel of Ultima Online – focused on keeping true to the roots of Ultima as an RPG! At the core of this experience is your new Britannian Legacy. Throughout gameplay you will be living your avatar’s quests throughout Britannia with each adventure. Where will you go? What battles will you fight? Will you rejoice in victory or taste bitter defeat? What friends will you make? What enemies will you best? The choice will be yours as you forge your new Britannian Legacy – a legacy that will be told for generations to come!”
The team does note that it’s expecting a lot of people swarming the servers, so be prepared for a queue.
The updated FAQ now includes a lot of the details UO vets have been asking about; for example, Broadsword has now reconfirmed that what’s launching today is really just the first season of play, and it’ll face “the shattering” in the summer of 2025 with a server conclusion next October. “At the conclusion of this series of events, the shard will close in preparation for the next season,” the team says. So basically, you have a year to enjoy the server, at which point subscription players will receive a free transfer token to move their character to a production server – assuming you have the character slots. (F2P players won’t be able to transfer; they’ll have to sub first.)
Another thing worth mentioning since housing is such a big deal in UO: Subscribers will be allowed to have one 7×7 home (bigger buildings for guilds only), with maintenance paid through questing, all on a 28-day decay cycle – that’s much faster than live. On the other hand, having a house on New Legacy won’t conflict with housing on other servers (usually, it’s one house per account period).
In related UO news, the devs have also officially sanctioned the ClassicUO web client – it’s wild to see official UO running in a browser after all these years, but here we are. “The release of New Legacy will also include the launch of the ClassicUO Web Client sanctioned for use on official shards,” Broadsword says, and yes there’s a whole FAQ for that too. But while you can use the ClassicUO client, you also don’t have to; the team says it has “no plans to discontinue support” for the classic and enhanced clients. In other words, play wherever you’re happiest. Happy New Legacying!
