When Ultima Online came out
Ultima Online was released on 24 September 1997, according to the infobox on Wikipedia, which also notes that the sales section gives 25 September. It was published by Electronic Arts and developed by Origin Systems, and it grew into one of the longest-running MMORPGs. Its age matters for private servers: the game changed so much between 1997 and today that most freeshards pick one moment in its history and recreate it.
This article gives the expansion timeline, explains the Trammel and Felucca split that defines most debates, and shows which era a given shard on our Ultima Online private servers page is aiming for.
- Original release
- 24 September 1997
- Subscribers within six months
- 100,000
- Peak subscribers
- About 250,000
Wikipedia infobox
Per Wikipedia
July 2003, per Wikipedia
Expansion timeline in order
| Expansion | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Original game | 24 September 1997 | The base sandbox world |
| The Second Age (T2A) | 1 October 1998 | Added the Lost Lands, an in-game chat system and new creatures |
| Renaissance | 4 May 2000 | Introduced the Trammel and Felucca split |
| Third Dawn | 7 March 2001 | Listed between Renaissance and Lord Blackthorn's Revenge |
| Lord Blackthorn's Revenge | 24 February 2002 | Listed between Third Dawn and Age of Shadows |
| Age of Shadows | 11 February 2003 | Listed between Lord Blackthorn's Revenge and Samurai Empire |
| Samurai Empire | 2 November 2004 | Follows Age of Shadows |
| Mondain's Legacy | 30 August 2005 | Follows Samurai Empire |
| Stygian Abyss | 8 September 2009 | Shipped with the Enhanced Client |
| High Seas | 12 October 2010 | Follows Stygian Abyss by about a year |
| Time of Legends | 8 October 2015 | Most recent expansion in the source |
Trammel and Felucca: the split that defines eras
Renaissance, released in May 2000, doubled the world by adding a mirrored copy of the landscape. Wikipedia explains that one copy, Trammel, did not allow player killing and focused on monster fighting, while Felucca kept the player-versus-player roots and a darker look. The article does not state the developers' reasons, so we will not guess them.
The practical effect for freeshards is a clear dividing line. Pre-Renaissance shards have a single ruleset with open PvP everywhere, and many later shards keep a Felucca-only world on purpose. Others offer both facets, or remove open PvP altogether, which is what the PvE shards do.
Before and after the split
Second Age (1998 to 2000)
- One ruleset
- Open PvP across the world
- The Lost Lands and in-game chat were added in T2A
Renaissance and later
- Trammel: no player killing, focus on monsters
- Felucca: open PvP with a darker look
- Later expansions add systems like Spellweaving
Which shard recreates which era
| Era | Example shard | What its site says |
|---|---|---|
| Second Age | UO Second Age | "Second Age is the most accurate emulation of the UO: T2A era online today." It aims to reflect how the game looked in 1999 and runs without Trammel |
| Renaissance tribute | UO Forever | Launched 18 January 2013 and pays homage to the Renaissance era; says there is no Trammel; free, with donations for aesthetic items only |
| Modern official era | UOAlive | Describes itself as an era accurate server of the most modern official servers; all expansions are free; no open-world PvP |
| Custom ruleset | UO Outlands | Free-to-play shard launched in October 2018 with a Felucca ruleset and a skill cap of 700, or 720 with Skill Mastery |
Era-accurate shards are sorted on the era-accurate shards page, while heavily changed worlds are on the custom PvM shards page. If English is not your first language, the non-English shards page lists communities in other languages.
“Outlands is a free-to-play shard that launched in October 2018.”
Why freeshards exist: the subscriber story
Official Ultima Online has always been a subscription game: IGN noted in 1998 that players paid $9.95 a month, and Wikipedia says the standard box included one month of subscription time. Subscriptions rose quickly, then fell, and that decline is the usual explanation for the freeshard scene.
| When | Figure |
|---|---|
| 13 November 1997 | 65,000 units sold |
| About six months after launch | 100,000 paying subscribers |
| December 1998 | 100,000 subscribers, averaging 12,500 simultaneous players |
| February 2000 | 150,000 subscribers |
| October 2000 | 250,000 subscribers |
| July 2003 | Peak of about 250,000, followed by a steady decline |
| 2008 | Around 100,000 subscribers |
“As the number of subscribers has dwindled on the official pay servers”
The wiki goes on to say hobbyists created free servers emulating favoured eras, including the Renaissance and Second Age PvP eras. That is why the era questions above matter: a freeshard is a preserved moment as much as a game. Our post on private versus official servers compares the two models, and the status page shows which listed shards are online today.
Picking an era to play
Once you know the dates, the choice becomes a question of what kind of risk you want. The sources describe three broad options, and each shard states its own rules, so treat this as a starting filter rather than a verdict.
| If you want | Look at | Reason from the sources |
|---|---|---|
| Open PvP everywhere | Pre-Trammel shards such as UO Second Age | UO Second Age says players can attack, rob and loot each other, including corpses and houses |
| A Renaissance feel without Trammel | UO Forever | The About page lists Trammel among the things you will not find |
| No open-world PvP | UOAlive | The site says No Open-World PvP and that all expansions are free to play |
| A reworked world | Custom shards such as UO Outlands | Outlands uses a launcher and custom installation, and states its skill and stat caps |
- 1
Choose PvP or PvE first
This decides whether the Trammel split matters to you at all.
- 2
Match the era to the systems you want
Pick the expansion whose features you remember or want to learn.
- 3
Read the donation policy
UO Forever and Outlands both say donations unlock only cosmetic or aesthetic items. Check any shard you consider.
- 4
Download only from the shard's site
Use the launcher or package the shard provides.
Clients and what to install
Wikipedia notes that the Kingdom Reborn client of August 2007 was superseded by the Enhanced Client in 2009 and no longer works on official shards, while the Classic Client and Enhanced Client are the two official clients. Freeshards usually use their own launcher or a third-party client. ClassicUO describes itself as an open source implementation of the Classic Client and says you need to legally obtain a copy of the original client to run it.
- UO Second Age asks for an Ultima Online installation plus its own launcher.
- UOAlive bundles ClassicUO, a launcher and Razor Enhanced in its All In One download.
- Outlands uses an installer and a launcher that keeps files up to date.
Not sure how to choose? The how to choose a private server post gives a short checklist, and the glossary defines terms like T2A, UOR and ServUO. For broader context, see the history of private servers.
