Last year, we expressed surprise that the OG MMORPG Ultima Online was getting roadmaps all official-like, but that trend – perhaps inspired by its new leadership? – has continued into 2026, and now we’re gonna call it a trend for this 28-year-old MMORPG rather than an outlier.
“On the immediate horizon is Publish 122, which is currently slated for Test Center next week,” the Broadsword team says. Yes, 122 is the real number; the patch includes new vet rewards (we spy a new ethy mount and storage options for fishers and refiners), new content lines, and craftable charged runes, but the biggest change is for IDOCs – that is, abandoned houses flagged “in danger of collapsing.” Longtime MMORPG veterans know that camping out at IDOCs has long been a popular pastime as players squabbled over the house spot – and, you know, all the loot that flopped to the grass when that house went poof.
But with the new system, we’re going to bypass the script kiddies and claim house spots in an orderly fashion in a formal lotto, my good sirs. It’s the end of an era, indeed.
“Winning a housing spot on the heels of a collapse is improved as a new raffle system will determine who the lucky winner of the plot is! We also have refactored the City Trade Minister to showcase all structures in danger of collapsing in a cleaner GUMP-based menu.”
The roadmap also announces the impending closure of the game’s official forums in favor of – you guessed it – Discord, though since a lot of the community discussion occurred on third-party forums (like Stratics) anyway, it’s not likely to be a devastating data loss as it has been for so many other MMORPGs.
