Welcome to Cove

Not many days go by that I don't miss the glory days of UO, and my time in the various RP guilds of Europa. Not really as prolific a player as some of the BoC legends, I still spent a good few years enjoying the amazing RP environment we had here.

While I'll never be tempted to come back to UO proper, given the state of the game and the still-high subscription fee, I've considered trying freeshards a few times. But what would be the point, without the RP community I loved?

I found this: http://www.uoroleplay.com/

Had a quick browse through their forums, and it seems like a very traditional-UO freeshard (no crazy mods or anything too different) that's entirely for RP. No running into taints, or neon coloured madness.

It seems someone from [Grd] is trying to set up the Guardsmen Militia there, and I'll be tempted to sample what's going on there.

My question is, is this a place that [BoC] could be revived? A classic UO experience without having to make a decision about just how much UO accounts cost to keep active?

I'd certainly hope so. Worth a shot, I guess!

I had a look at it a while back, and concluded that their actual activity and numbers are much lower than what they outwardly appear to be. Typical Freeshard stuff.

Well, the beauty of an RP community is that you work with what you have - I know BoC has survived on a handful of members a number of times. My hope would be that it'd be easier to retain that handful, and encourage more people to join us, on a shard that's not only free but RP focussed with gameplay features to support that.

I know it's a vain hope, but I'm going to give it a go at least :) Hopefully there'll be a BoC guild on the server within the week, even if I'm the only one in it!

I may no longer be in BoC (it's a dead guild, who can blame me?) but I would support the idea of becoming a multi-gaming guild for UO freeshards..

Sounds cool. I guess most of you dont remember me, and probably didn't even play with me back in the days. But this freeshard to sound promising. I can't keep myself from asking though, how is the activity on the normal UO servers? (Both rp and, whatever the "others" are doing")

Last I checked It was fairly dead BoC is basically gone which is a pity because I miss it, but it was bound to happen with lack of a unifying conflict for so long.

That's the only reason I'd go on a Freeshard now - the "real" UO has nothing to offer anymore, with such a sparse user population.

Yeah, BoC is dead a door-nail as is much of the rest of UO, the remaining players and guilds struggle to keep active.. It's a real shame.. I couldn't take the inactivity anymore (wasn't anything I could do..) So I left the guild, but I am still here in UO, I wouldn't want them to make it free 2 play or anything but I would like to see a much, much lower price, it is not worth $12.99 a month, more like $7.99 a month :)

I think a free-to-play model could work well for UO, if implemented properly. EA are probably happy to continue squeezing as much money out of the game as possible, however, rather than try a new kind of revenue generation.

I see no one really seems keen on the freeshard idea - nevermind!

Woah, Valiro!
Hey man :)

Freeshards are a tried and tested thing - there's plenty out there that usually capture your interest for a while. Some prove successful and - like anything - it'll require hard work to create a successful community on there.

It's not a horrible, horrible thing that BoC has drawn to close. Many of us have progressed on to other projects - both RL and virtual. Journeys have to end for others to begin.

Good luck with your freeshard endeavour, Arma :)

Hope you're all well.

Surya/Eason

I'm willing to give the freeshard a shot, let me know if your still playing on it Arma.

Whoa....

Eason AND Valiro..! :p

And Arma and Lineaus and Jassi...

I miss this place and all you guys too.

The glory days of the Baronship hold fond memories indeed.

Happy new year and good luck in all you do guys.

Cheers,


Dave.

Ahh, the good old days...

Raiden!!  ;D

Happy New year all of you. *hugs*

Holy crap!

Lots of uber veterans ;p

*Just kinda hides in the corner*

So what's up, is there some sort of BoC reunion i was unaware of?

I don't think there's a reunion as such... just a lot of veterans with forum checking habits that die hard. ;)

We're just watching you Sergio! The Arcanists have casted invisibility and the Scouts are hiding in the shadows and the Grenadiers.. Well, they'll just do whatever it is that Grenadiers do, but they're still watching you!

Happy early Birthday btw..

I'm the Original Grenascout I don't hide i stealth in and attack from a tree or something.

Sigh. I'm still around. Quite lonely though!

I really do miss having an active Cove, everyone should come back..

Could always schedule a reunion at The Green Goblin I guess.
Alas, I keep having to explain to my girlfriend every month why £10 goes out to pay for UO despite me not playing.

She just doesn't understand.. ;p

Something about not missing stuff until its gone. Something about if we'd paid this much attention when it was still around. Something vaguely racist.

This concludes your annual dose of Keres.

Hello and Happy New Year to you all! Glad to see some of you are still alive.

Lol, Keres yes no one misses it until it's gone.

*put in your favorite covian voice*
Gotta have commitment and everyone needs to be on at the same time and it just didn't happen.

Penis

Indeed they were my Liege. ;)

*tackle-hugs Eason and Mercy* ;)

Where I'm from, we didn't have time for missing things. We were too busy mining and hunting walruses.

^ And cooking walrus stew.

 :) ;D ::) :P

I too....miss ya'll

Group hug everyone!! Gather around and embrace one another, don't be shy!! *give everyone a nice big bear hug* Especially Hoagie!

I've had a craving for UO ever since I stopped playing the damn thing. No other game has its toes where UO has its heel. I'm all for a free-shard adventure :P

Whaaaat? You all should supposed to be dead! I wonder what went wrong there. Guess what doesn't kill you, needs to try harder, nay?

But seriously... Since I made Ily put to dead and changed my nick, I never were able to log in with that account *evily glares at Kas for this obvious curse*

Miss you lots too... Were some great times I had. No other MMORPG managed to catch me as much as you lots did. Oh nostalgia... I curse you!

But as many pointed... UO is dead. The official servers, as much as the freeshards. GW2 is my game now, although I'm in a guild without any RP at all.

Oh well. Y'all know how to contact me via PM (don't contact me over ICQ, ffs, don't do that shyte! I log in once in the year there!)

Lots of love from the blue haired wytch <3

Heh... Who thought this. Just the nick changed. Not the login ID. Silly Ily.

I miss you peeps!

You know, we all miss each other. We should... Do something! You know.. One last time. Even if it's just a teamspeak conference

Miss you Ily!! And.. I have never used teamspeak before.. :(

S'almost the same shyte as Skype, except the fact that conferences don't start like this "OMG! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! FEECK! SPEAK LOUDER!"

Am I too late for the group hug?

So what are we doing and what free shard are we meeting? I am in.

We all gotta get naked for Hoagie first before we know anything..

Pfft Keres doesn't do Team speak, and I think you're talking to yourself Ily or something like that.

I just bought SC2 Wings of liberty the night before heart of the swarm came out and I miss my Protoss firends. Had blizzard put out the game with all the campaigns in one all the length they are acclaimed to be, it'd have been legendary the best game of the century and would have set new standards of course the new blizzard is only interested in money not being amazingly innovative. Talking about nostalgia brought it up SC1 I miss it haha.

MMORPG's I still wish UO wasn't what it's turned into like we all do but not sure why we keep saying it, I've gotten past that stage of "if only" If only Pennies were dollars I'd be able to buy a new car, it's not gonna happen real question is what's next anyone see any game in the future that seems like a good substitute? I'd love a free form world where I could build on it and run adventurously around blah blah blah. Not minecraft haha.

I get the urge for UO at the strangest of times....

Has anyone actually checked the free shard for activity?
I would play if someone found a place to go.

You're a bright star in a dark night as usual, Sergio...

Yeah I know I have the gift, but in all seriousness he'll literally say "I'm not getting on teamspeak it sucks" or something to the effect I've tried to get him on one before several times. But Yeah I haven't looked at a free shard in almost a decade.

I already installed Vent and Skype. I'm not installing a third one just because people are picky about their VoIP. >_>

Stick to the point people!

Who's in and where do we meet?

Ba-dum-tss

I'm in fer fark's sake!

I'm in too.

I'd like to join in if possible, but that would depend on how welcome I am and if it's in the middle of exams.

Ily, what GW2 server do you play on, if I may ask?

Also, Hoagie's birthday's coming around again soon, so I'm sure he'd be delighted for s'more naked pics, Jassi.

(...Nagging feeling that no one except Keres will remember who I am.)

Dear me...

I only did that in order to get promoted..

How can you even insist that ANYONE would forget you? You're 'Fred, the undying, unbeatable, shiny and ubberly awesome hero of Cove!

And well... Freeshards... If anyone actually has a good one, I'd play. And Keres! Get your lazy arse up and install TS3! Otherwise s'hammerin!

And fer fecks sake am I such an arse today?

@'Fred
Server is Abbadon's Mouth

Lol Fred we ALL remember you even Octi knows of the great fred. As for TS3 I see no reason for him to install it since he has vent, no one wants to be like me and have TS3, vent, skype, mumble, and raidcall. I'm not kidding I have them all and it pisses me off.

UO Roleplay was suggested originally. I've been on their forums and have seen posts from R.Pete.G (guessing Arma) & Valiro and a guy named Joe Fern who was posting for GrD. Not sure how many active players it has but there is not that much player housing outside of "The Narrows" which is a player run town that you start out in. They list 1468 total players. 30 at once seemed a big deal in the forums.

Cove-UO Roleplay:
(http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu240/XavierKage/UO0008.jpg)

Skill Cap: 1000
Stat Cap: 225
Character Slots: 6

• There is a 2 account limit on UO Roleplay
• House decay is 14 days.
• Boat Decay is 14 days.
• Role-playing character names are required. If you character does not have an appropriate name their name will be change.

• 4 houses per account limit. In the town of Narrowhaven there is a limit of 1 house per player except for GM approved exceptions.
• Custom houses are allowed, however…
A. They may not use lava, ice, or other weird tiles
B. If they are ugly they will be removed
C. They must look like a real building
No Trammel

Last year I played on UO Secondage for awhile. It is based on T2A and is Very active. There also is no Tram, no custom housing, no stat on armor or weapons. but it is very crowded and there is little or no housing aviable around Cove, checked today but forgot to grab a screenie, skill gain is slow, bunnies are a challenge.

Since inception, the goal, vision and rationale of even creating this accurate T2A era shard has been very simple but unique:

"We aim to replicate the T2A era as best we can and within technical limitations as a whole.
We do not intend to ever change any aspect of normal game play to particularly favor any play style or to protect or further expose any players to the in-game risk that was a large part of this era.
We will especially not pull aspects of other eras into this one, even with an overwhelming demand of players.
We believe that "proper" game play can only be achieved by taking the era as a whole and accept it for what it was. Tampering with the era in hope of achieving balance is not something that we will do, nor do we believe is achievable across all play styles. Diversity of players and play styles is a necessity of a healthy shard. Every type of play depends on another, and this is why UO is absolutely the greatest MMORPG ever crafted.

With that said, we do still continue to strive to become more correct and true to the era. Player feedback and research is a big part of this process. We don't claim to have everything perfect yet, but we do continue to actively work towards that goal.

We recommend client version 5.0.8.3, but all client versions above 5.0.0.0. are supported. If you do not have your UO installation CDs, you can download a modern client from the downloads section, here. We have a guide on the forum, here, to assist you with downloading, installing, and connecting to Second Age.
"


Thats the only two freeshards I have checked out.

Highest achieved online members 30: spread over UO lands isn't that much.

I'd rather play in a crowded shard where everything is balanced anyway! So no trammel is no issue

Neither uoroleplay or uosecondage have tram and I agree it is not a big deal, you quickly learn to only carry what you need, etc..

The numbers aren't impressive for uoroleplay, but it might be more attractive to Covians and other guilds knowing that the land is so open to reestablish cities/guilds.

I think SecondAge looks good. I've played there before for a bit and it's fairly populated.
As for houses, I'm sure we could find some location to put up a few houses. RP'ing somewhere out of Cove isn't a big deal to me.

If anybody wants to get in touch with me, my skype is "runarthors". I'd love to check out some free-shards.

Let me know if somethings going down with a reestablishment of cove somewhere or something of the sort I'd check it out but I think my gaming is gonna start to be severely limited.

Honestly, I feel that if we pick up a freeshard we should do something entirely new, not continue with this. As far as Trammel/Felucca rules; I will not play an all-Felucca shard if it isnt exclusively for RPers. Its all well and nice to say that you "learn to only carry what you need" and all that jazz, but nothing ruins my day like spending an hour herding a bunch of recruits into a line only to have some neon-haired idiot with no pants on run up and insta-gib half the guild.

It is also worthy to note that Hoagie and I have been working on a freeshard designed for small-scale, highly centralized RP, but that I stopped working on it a while back due to lack of interest on my part and on the part of those that I let in on the plan.

If people are still interested, I can elaborate on my ideas regarding such.

Some examples of buildings and points-of-interest in and around the village I built for the shard.

Small graveyard
(http://i.imgur.com/NAfwC.png)

Shipwreck being picked through by orcs.
(http://i.imgur.com/AVz1T.png)

Ruined building being slowly swallowed up by the swamp.
(http://i.imgur.com/VYrOs.png)

East gate, wall, and armory of the fortified village.
(http://i.imgur.com/QQOIW.png)

Village chapel.
(http://i.imgur.com/iG0dl.png)

Ruined homestead.
(http://i.imgur.com/PwK5m.png)

The same grievous error repeats itself over and over in the making of RP freeshards. It's the lack of centralization. My ideal vision of a freeshard would be one SINGLE city, with a limited area around it (forest, mines, mountains, small village etc). Alas, people tend to dream too big, conjuring up these massive maps with the naive conviction they might be able to fill it with hundreds or thousands of roleplayers. It's not going to work. You need to start small and centralized and only when the gates are overflowing and roleplayers have trouble moving without rubbing arses THEN might you begin to consider adding an expansion to the realm.

My point is: I have a burning desire to roleplay in UO again and am very interested in a freeshard adventure, but I will not participate in something obviously doomed from the start. I'm not directing this at Torrak's project fyi, as I've no conception of what that is about. Torrak could you share some more info on where you're currently at in this and what the idea behind it was? I think some of us would love to hear more about it.

The idea was for a Dark Ages style village. An isolated farming village that sprung up around a small, remote border post, but has since largely been cut off from the outside world by a global breakdown of authority and civilization. In real life, this took the form of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the repeated invasions of each successor state by assorted barbarian hordes. So far, though, we've been using the Yew Plague as the basic backdrop for the setting. In other words, it'd take place in the near future of Europa's setting, but in an alternate timeline in which the Yew Plague was never cured, the resultant undead hordes were never driven back, and everything just generally went all to pot.

We also programmed in a system for perma-death that worked on a points system. Every death accumulates a certain number of points based on the nature of that death - getting blown up by a mage accrues significantly more points than getting punched out in a bar fight. Points decay over time, but if you surpass a certain threshold then it automatically disables all of the possible means of resurrecting you and locks your points, keeping you dead forever. We feel that this system encourages people to show dangerous situations the respect they deserve, without making people feel like they can't even get into a minor scuffle without risking their character.

Beyond that, we've been working on custom monsters (for instance, zombies that're stonger and have the Pack Instinct trait), and a few other goodies.

So, the key points are;
- Dark, realistic setting in a post-collapse world, centered around a village that has little contact with the outside world. The roads are unsafe, the authorities don't make any effort to protect more than the key cities, and the order that the great powers of old once provided has all but disappeared.
- Game mechanics and GM oversight that ensure that everything has a real consequence, for better or worse. Someone foolish or brave enough to challenge a dragon should feel the pain - or the gain - that kind of thing calls for.
- Lack of IC authority. There are a handful of people whose opinions are still respected, but those who would traditionally enforce order and protect the village are long gone. The characters must work out how to run and protect their homes for themselves, and deal with the consequences of their decisions.
- A dangerous world. This isn't a fairy-tale world where delightful magical creatures dance in sunlit glades. This is a brutal, almost post-apocalyptic world where desperate men and creatures alike want what you have, and you'd damned well be ready when they come for it. Death lurks just beyond the treeline, and there's no longer a national army or militia to go sort it out for you.
- Highly centralized setting. Reflecting the isolated nature of a Dark Ages village, the area of play will be appropriately small. Many areas beyond it will be blocked off, and only selectively opened as the situation demands - a trip to a neighboring village to salvage equipment, for instance. This will keep the players concentrated into one area, and keep them interacting even if they do splinter into cliques and gangs.

We also coded out all magical properties, so that's nice.

Oh at the random times I miss UO. It's 4am in the morning here.....

If you all join a free shard lemme know I am willing to help.

Seems like a solid plan, at least as solid as a free-shard concept can get. I'm all for putting time and effort into this if you're considering it. Might even be willing to put money into it. Add me on skype Runarthors.

Do you have Facebook or Steam or anything? I'm almost never on Skype.  :-X

Good stuff!

I like the idea about permanent death!

I'm still interested in project Keres-Grayner!  ;) It's great to see everyone enthusiastic and kickin' around on this thread.

I'm still interested too, especially having seen those screenshots. I'd love to chill in that armory area.

I played on a couple of perma death persistant world RP Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 servers and found it enhanced the quality of RP.  People were forced to RP their characters more realistically since there was a real risk of death.  Full pvp wasnt a problem since random attacks were too risky for the attacker.

Well, I'm glad to see we're all more or less of a like mind. So, I suppose the next step is to explain what we need from you folks if we want to go through with this;

1. I need help building the setting. I could do it all myself, but it'd take forever, and be highly prone to becoming an off-and-on project like it currently is. I need people who can work with InsideUO and RunUO, and work with me to plan out and construct the village and its surrounding area.
2. I need input on what the participating players want included. Specific buildings, the overall feel of the village - new and intact, broken-down and weathered, etc. - andso on.
3. I need patience. This isn't something that'll be ready to run immediately, and since its likely to be our tomb I intend to take my time building it.

I haven't used any Inside or RunUO but I could check them out and probably learn. Provided it's easy enough I could definitely help build the village. Only thing is that it'd be on and off for me too.
I could also offer input on aesthetics of course.

I didn't lose interest I just kinda have been busy with real life trying to secure myself a track to a proper career/job and what not, only reason i didn't bug you was I knew you were doing the same thing with classes haha. I'd offer to help build crap but I'm a horrible designer my houses and buildings always end up bland and average at best, if you need traps and dangerous things on the other hand I'd be in on that.

Ut-oh, freeshards.. the eternal dream.. ;)

Sarcasm aside though, it does sound like a pretty well developed project. I wouldn't mind having a scout about at some point.

Eagerly awaiting a reply from Keres to see what may be made of this rare forum activity.

Righto. I'll have to get back to you lot at the end of the week. Last week of this term at school, so I'm swamped with work.

I dont know if you all remember me, this is Drake of Swaggers inn (Kirins shady business to any who remember ;P) or you Covians remember me mostl ikely as Garnett Volorain, BoC Guardsman. Ive been thinking about you all lately and ive missed this scene so much. Its been far too long, I am overjoyed to see some of you have fealt the same way, if you have space for another, I'm in. I'll help in any way I can. I MISSED YOU GUYS AND GALS!

Means to get in contact with me, as I often forget to check these forums.

skype: Runarthors
steam: runarthors
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/runarthors
e-mail: rthor@nineworldsbooks.com

Feel free to add me on any of these networks.

Hey torrak what's your info?

When you get a chance Torrak add me on FB, Clayton Colclasure (Rest of you Covians feel free to do the same ;) ) I have a buddy who is a programmer and really good withscript and hes jobless, you tell him what you want done and he will work away at it, I told him id employ him because I want this to happen so badly  :D SO when you get a chance bud hit me up.

 Drake

Steam: TorrakKeres
Email: TorrakKeres@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/casey.wade.127

I've almost always got Steam running, and I check my email regularly.

Have to say I've been following this for a while from the shadows I'd definitely come back if something is sorted anyhow how is everyone many still playing UO on a whole ?

Ive been good, seems as if everyone got back together at once ey? I personally haven't touched UO since I had to part from Europa back in the day. Seems as if a wonderful thing is in the works though and hopefully we can all RP together again :)

Keres tried to add you on steam said your friend list is full.

wut.

There're, like, four people on there.

I just made a character on the shard and I am really enjoying the beginning town, I was pretty much in awe, I don't know what the rest of the shard is like, but I am digging it so far.. My character is gonna be a viking cause when he's good enough I am gonna kill every NPC and player that I can in sight and pillage everything I can..

Aaaaaaaand thats a miss.

I should also mention that the server is NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC at this time, as we're still doing a great deal of coding and building. So, on the off chance that you're actually on the right server, please stop being there.

But... I wanted to. Build faster, Keres and quit riding walruses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2grX76MTQ34 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2grX76MTQ34)

Thought ya might wanna see this Keres..

The shard is more or less done, and we're ready to open it to play. I don't want to post up the server details publicly, however, so please contact me if you're interested in playing.

Right now, character creation is being handled thusly;
- Make your character with the desired appearance.
- Tell the GM handling your case a bit about the background and role of your character.
- We'll reset your skills to 0 and then manually set those relevant to your character to appropriate levels.
- The DM will then roll 1d100x5 to determine your starting gold, which is important because gold doesn't drop as loot on creatures it doesn't make sense for on this shard.

You can contact myself, Hoagie, or Hrothgar to get yourself added. We reserve the right to turn away players and/or characters at our discretion.

I'm easiest to contact on Steam, Facebook, or through PM on these boards. I'm TorrakKeres on Steam.

Id just like to add, ive been playing on this server for only 2 days now, and I regret not joining sooner because im having a HOOT. So take some initiative if you miss UO or feel lonely on Europa. Get your ass to Blackwell:)

I want in on this.

@Kurt

I've sent an email to the address associated with your account. :)

Blackwell is excellent. Should've done this years ago :)

Indeed, yes.

So how do I get a piece of this sounds awesome haven't taken UO in years now

The olden age of Cove is gone.. it seems? Young people grow up and lead a life void of game play? What happens to todays youth? Or is it UO that is out of date?

Given that some reason I felt the urge to check these forums today and we all seem to be having a love-in I thought I'd say hi.

Hi.

Miss ya'll.

Alex

yo alex, how are things?

/tony

Sinist!!!

Yes... Raidy's still alive.

Hope you guys are well.

Heh, look at all these big heroes, how goes!?

Just trying to suck up as much UO goodness prior to IPY3 launching, although Lord knows when that will actually be.

Good times though !

Hi guys,

You may not remember me, as I only played in BoC for a few months something like 5 or 6 years ago...

Anyway,I was being also nostalgic thinkin of some good old UO RP from Europa and came on forum to see how things are... Long story short, id love to get on a free RP shard with ya guys!

Are you guys active on UOroleplay? Or are you still working on that private server (if so please pm me with details)?



Cedric McCormick

Hallo, Cedric!

The free shard was amazing while it lasted, but is sadly inactive now. Glad you've got fond memories of Europa, and I'll keep you (and this thread in general) in mind if it ever takes off again. :)

Well now, as we are approaching Elder Scrolls Onlines launch, and I know a few of you are gonna start playing it, I tought id put something here if you wanna have some fun together, roleplay or just casually have fun. Im @Olsborg81 in the game, so add me if you dare:P

I'm usually not interested in Kickstarter projects and most UO free shards end up flopping after a while. ...But this game called Shards has me watching with interest. I thought maybe some people on this thread might like it, too. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1468280928/shards-online-a-customizable-sandbox-mmorpg (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1468280928/shards-online-a-customizable-sandbox-mmorpg)

In the same vein as Leander's post, if anyone is interested this is where I live now...

http://www.uosecondage.com/ (http://www.uosecondage.com/)

I started with Hoagie and Kyte in January after the launch of IPY3 fell through. I think that particular shard has since launched under the banner of An Corp, but I'm perfectly content on UOSA. The population was around the 400-600 mark when I started and has now dropped to the 180-210 region, but activity is beginning to pick up. S'more than enough people to absorb your adventures, murders, thefts or conversations though. Unfortunately s'not a whole lot of roleplaying, or really any for that matter. Nevertheless s'a great server with solid leadership. S'been going since 2007 so it does have a very entrenched core of players, and I dare say the heyday is over if stories of former activity (events, sponsored towns and roleplay guilds, etc) are anything to go by.

Having said all that, s'era accurate Second Age UO which is very appealing to many (myself included). If anyone fancies it feel free to give me a shout over e-mail (superstar_kas@hotmail.com) and I'll do what I can to help. Be nice to see some friendly faces. ;)

For anyone interested, Project Brains (http://forum.midnight-watch.com) is back up and running!

It's in the early phases of re-opening, and activity is slowly ticking up, so it's a great time to jump in.

I'll be there when I get back from my holiday this sunday!

Adventure time!