Only 7 of them were mine.

In an attempt to appeal to, and ease the transition of, players of Runescape, Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn has shifted its new player experience away from the themed quest system (usually involved some simple crafting, monster killing, skill practice, decision making, all pertinent to the character class) and towards a directed quest for individual skills of most of the 50 or so skills available to players.

This system was implemented with Publish 44, which, after about 8 hours of downtime, went live last night.

In the terms of story arc, the young-player town of Haven (In other words, Haven was newbie-ville.) had discovered a potent vein of blackrock, a magical yet very unstable mineral, that was promptly closed off from public inspection/prospecting. Despite this, traders who had been amassing the insanely valuable blackrock mined elsewhere, after a month (2 weeks rl, give or take), their stores interacted with this vein, causing a violent and catastrophic explosion, levelling a 35 year-old (in game: 1 rl year = 5 UO years) town. What remains are parts of buildings and new [relatively weak] undead tenants.

What's more, many of the landmarks outside of Haven, the little things that showed developer's care and interest in the wonder that could be inspired, were taken down to build a new settlement dubbed "New Haven."

It makes me sad, and my primary character (whom I patterned off my own rl persona back in 2002) is all but depressed.

I still encourage anyone to come play Ultima Online. Let me know, and I'll get you hooked up on the Napa Valley shard.

It's just that there's a lot less to show you now.

-KIE

a.k.a. The Illustrious Lord Cephas, Lord of Knights [V]

Grandmaster Armsman and Knight of Compassion, Valor & Sacrifice, Follower of Honor

...and former long-time patron of the Bountiful Harvest Inn of Haven.