UO Goes Live!
As the beta ended, the final game started. Now, you could use your beta installed version
in the final if you wanted but it didnt work 100%. You really needed to install from scratch.
When the final began, they actually had different servers to pick. Syndicate members
were in game among the very first people so we had to chose a Server. Atlantic shard
was picked and we have stuck with it ever since. However, those first few days were hellish.
A server limit was set on how many people could get in and you often couldnt get connected. When
you did you were lagged up solid and often lost connection. In short, it stuck and the
most common thing said was that the game should have stayed in beta long. None the less,
OSI pushed onward and rapidly spit out patches (that continue to this day) to make the game better
and to add features and to stabilize it.
You will notice, if you purchased an early copy of the UO Hint/Tip guide that is included
a section on player guilds. In that section they listed some of the more well known
guilds of the day. Although they got The Syndicates mission statement incorrect and didnt
understand our structure (incorrectly thinking that our squads were in
fact separate guilds) but still, it
was an honor to be one of the few guilds listed there and recognized, from day 1, as a
premier guild in the UO world. Here is a scan of our incorrect section but still we are
the only guild listed still in existance.
At this time there was no such thing as guildstones and houses hadnt even been implemented. So
most members named their chars XYZ LLTS in order to tell we were in the same guild. Syndicate
blue and grey had been picked as our colors (over the second most popular choice of Brown
and Green). Other things missing then: There was no circle trans. No one had high magery so gating
was nearly unheard of. NPCs sold 10 of each reagent about once an hour. There were
no bank boxes to store stuff. If you died, you lost it all. There were no monsters
around except in very isolated spots. And items on the ground did not decay. They stayed until retrieved.
About 2 weeks into the final, for a period of 2-3 hours in the middle of one afternoon,
a massive bug hit the game. Any time you used any skill, it rose several points and so did
your stats. In 40min of play my char went from a newbie to GM in sword, tactics, magery
and item ID. My stats all shot up to 100. So did everyone elses on the shard. OSI took the servers
down then and worked on a fix. Rumors ran wild that they were going to have to wipe the
shard. But they didnt. So for those lucky few on then, your chars were godlike compared
to everyone else. And with no penalties for pkilling, fights errupted all over the place.
Around now, OSI started experimenting with some things. Items on the ground decayed now which
was good. You could use wands without being equipped (which made heal wands
very very valuable). And when you killed monsters like a liche, they often carried a statue
on them that decayed onto the floor blocking your path.
One of the most interesting, and short lived things they did, was to make monsters hunt. Panthers
would group up and kill deer for example. What ended up happening was that birds could kill
the most seasoned players. Bunny rabbits could lay you low in no time. And packs
of panthers would eat players left and right. This change didnt add long but would be
a nice addition today. monsters working together in packs and hunting areas of the world.
About this time OSI introduced houses. Not houses as you know them today. Just a few types
like tents and small houses (of 3 styles). There was no banning. No lockdowns. No secures. And
if you lost your key, you were screwed because anyone could get into it now. The Syndicate
pooled together and earned 10K very fast and placed a small house NE of Minoc out on the
Pennisula on the first day you could get houses. It still stands today and is probably
the oldest house in the game.
Living to the north of the house was Big Taco and Namalez. Both were "victims" of the bug on the
early days of the game and had massively stacked chars compared to everyone else. We
would have regular, large fights at the forge with them. They were more than a match
for any new chars starting, but The Syndicate had its own team of super chars who were
logged in when the bug hit the shard. Fights were frequent and bloody and in the end
Namalez asked for peace and disappeared.
A second Syndicate base was placed a short time later. Another small house over by Cove.
This one no longer stands. It was placed there in order to be closer to PoDW and The F*ckheads
who were the leading pkiller guilds in the game at the time. There was alot of fighting
around that house and many raids into the PoC/PoDW tower that was to the north. The end
result there was that the FHeads moved over near Trinsic and eventually quit the shard,
PoC fell apart and PoDW disappeared and later too fell apart.
None of these bases, however, was what we were looking for. We wanted something special.
Something no other guild had. And something no one else could duplicate. We found it. After
a few weeks of searching 3 members reported back on the same day with a siting!! An island
has been found!! Its off the coast of trinsic! Its flat! Its barren! And 2 really cool OSI houses
are there!! SUPER!! Let us go see!!
