Returning to UOF

[AzureWinter]

Hey there. It's been a few years since I've played, and up until last year I was only logging in to refresh my house. But one day I came on, and it was no longer there, I was a little upset, but unable to really do much I just left it well enough alone.

I want to come back now. What's the game like these days? Is there enough people playing that there is a good social climate still?
If I go to try and make back some of the gold and items I lost, will I have to be cautious and make sure I have an escape in case of PK's? (Active PKers makes any MMO more fun)

I am without a house now - once I get some gold ahead, will I be able to find a plot?
My first plot I found myself and loved the location! But that ones gone with something else there now. Same with my second location where I logged in to find I was standing in an open plot.

I'd like just playing a fresh character, but both my accounts are full. Partly why I left in the first place was some RL commitments but also I never could get a good grasp on using Razor efficiently.

 

[AreYouKidden]

Where to start, welcome back! I've only been here two months, so for me it's a pretty fresh experience but has been a good one. There is lots of activity, I see people in towns, dungeons, PK's, friends, everything I was missing from an MMO - the social experience. It's thriving here, and I think growing every day still, so it's pretty great. PK's are around, but they made some changes to monster aggro, that has less of them in dungeons, hoping they tweak that a little still.

I was able to plot 2 of my 3 houses, there are lots of 9x9 or less locations available around if you know where to look, I currently know of two I'm saving for people. Recently they cleaned up some data bases, and changed some house refresh rules - or are planning to, so I suspect there will be more spots opening up soon. But all in all, housing market isnt' outrageous, lots of decent priced lots can be purchased daily, with only the really big lots, or prime locations being outrageously priced, which is the way it should be.

If I could make a suggestion, switch to UO Steam, and google some UO Steam scripts, you'll find it's way more flexible than Razor!

 

[AzureWinter]

Thanks! That's all good to hear.
What kind of change to monster aggro? Are they still in dungeons though - I don't have a problem with it. I've had many a good rush from dodging them in a dungeon and escaping with my loot.

Two of your three houses? It's one house per account though, at least when I last played we were allowed two accounts, one house each.
My first house was in a prime spot, I had fun picking it out. That one decayed... too early it seemed, since I remembered refreshing it less than a week before I checked back in on it and it was gone. My second house wasn't in the greatest of spots I think, since because of terrain it was downsized.
I liked the first, which was a sandstone house.
I'd need to make the money again, as I was pretty broke across all my characters. Mage training was expensive, as well as trying to get that second house after the first fell.
Is there much for open spots? When I put my first house down there was nothing around it, empty space except for one house that was through some mountains. I watched a bunch of houses popup around it over the time I was active.

I thought UO Steam either didn't work, or wasn't allowed to be used?
I just couldn't get the nuances of razor and trying to understand how it all worked. I looted manually and did pretty much everything else manually too and as much as I wanted to I didn't fight back against PK's because I knew they were familiar with razor and so had the upperhand when it came to casting spells and throwing potions.

 

[Young Star]

Welcome back. You can do 3 accts now. There is still the ever present risk of PKs but I dont think it is excessive.

 

[AreYouKidden]

UO Steam is definitely allowed, as is Sallos, although Sallos is a little harder to set up from what I've read. i find UO Steam pretty easy to use - all the clients interact directly with the server, so they don't allow features that the server doesn't allow, like auto loot, so we all loot manually! Just make sure UO Steam is checked in the main options screen to negotiate options with the server.

Housing is available, but it's generally smaller lots, with the odd bigger lot, you have to do some looking, but it's out there. I got lucky and placed right beside Vesper, which is nice to have some foot traffic. I'm sure if you look around you'll find something, good luck!

 

[AzureWinter]

Three accounts now whoa. More slots for characters is great.
I remember the one event years ago, with the Grinch during Christmas. You had to loot corpses, and it was tough I don't think I got anything from it. They were looted immediately so I always wondered how people could do it. Hotkeys?

I just want to get the same sandstone house I had, in a nice spot. That's all I really want. I can build a big, fancy custom house later - it was never my goal but it would be fun to do.

What do I need to do setup UO Steam, and optimize everything?