If I ever go back it'll be the crafting, I absolutely loved it.

People who play on free shards that are set before the game was ruined... that's who. And mostly because they realize it is the BEST MMORPG ever.

Most likely. Some shards actually improved the whole sandbox concept that made UO great.
Nice review btw.

Thank you very much!

I don't, but still think about getting back into it sometimes. I've never had so much fun than when I first got this game back in 1998.

I think the crafting in Ultima Online has probably been the best crafting system in any game to date.  The stuff you can create and how to create them is just mind blowing. 
 
I play UO off and on, at times.  It really depends.  As of lately I've just accepted that nostalgia is the only reason why I go back anymore.  

I played on German Freeshards for a while; Himmelsstadt and Alathair. Also as a GM for a while.
 
They're all slowly dying, sadly. I had some damn good times with this game. Also got to know a lot of awesome people!

Bumping this thread from forever ago to say I just started on a free shard that is pretty well run. If any other GB people have any desire to play UO again you should check out uorevealed, and hit me up for help.

Classic UO:R ruleset (precast, insta hits, no t2a)

Most of what I remeber from UO has to do with its player housing system. Sure, I had a nice apartment in Anarchy Online but my custom built house deep in the woods of Ultima Online had rustic charm and unique architectural features.

Edit; wait, this thread is 7 years old. I'm not paying attention.

I know this is like thread necromancy at this point but I did want to say that I loved UO back in the day I played tons in college. They did ruin it which is unfortunate. I also have to say the only other game I liked crafting in besides UO was Vanguard from (at the time) Sony Online. That game had the most in-depth and crazy crafting system I ever used and it was highly rewarding. When you were the first person to make a particular item on a server shard your name was announced over world chat and if I remember correctly from that point forward the item, when made by others, said "First made by so and so" in the item description. Was totally awesome.

Unfortunately that game died a horrible death due to the insane griefing. It was open PVP and there was absolutely no where safe in the world..even in your own house. So new players were eaten alive for their mats and that was the end of the game pretty much. Wasn't a huge success to start with and then the player base never grew.

I still play UO. And on the official servers no less! I originally played between 1998-2003, then took a LONG break before starting back up last year. I'm in the process of relearning all the systems that have changed over the years, many of which are clunky and unnecessarily complex, but overall I continue to enjoy the game. I completely get that most people would laugh UO off as irrelevant in 2021, and they are justified in doing so, but there is still a charm that I haven't found in any other game. There is a good chance that I'm out on this limb all alone in the Giant Bomb community, but if anyone else is playing, feel free to send me a message.