UO Domination Continues
As 2002 dawned, The Syndicate was still reigning surpreme in Ultima Online. New things had been done and new changes implemented in the game. To begin with, The Syndicate set a new record. Its guildstone crossed 400 veteran chars and continued to rise. Only 3 other guilds had ever crossed 300 and none more than 340. By focusing on quality people and providing an outstandin team focused environment, The Syndicate succeeded where literally 500,000 other guilds had already failed by this point in their guild career. Of course, OSI wouldnt officially recognize this achievement because they wont acknowledge their guilds for fear of kiddies crying on their boards. None the less, a great achievement to be sure especially when we focus on quality and not quantity. Size was merely a byproduct of quality since our turnover is so low.

OSI continued to add new scenario code to the game. Lord British is gone. Richard Garriot, a you read before, left OSI almost 2 years ago taking the name with him. Nystul manages the realm but Lord Blackthron doesnt like that. He partners with Exodus and is brewing trouble. He has brought forth an army of Juka. They are fierce warriors from another time. He has also raised an army of golems and taken on a mechanical body. The Syndicate participated heavily in these scenarios playing a key part in defeating each wave of evil.

OSI worked on a new expansion to further this plot. Lord Blackthorns revenge is what it was called. It revamped the 2D client since the 3D client never caught on well. 30+ new monsters and 30+ new items. New skills, new quests and the 3D lands opened up to 2D players. The graphics looked much nicer and they added something players wanted since the alpha days: Rideable Dragons! You could get a swamp dragon or even a giant beetle or a skeletal dragon.

And to add something else new to the game, OSI began implementing virtues. By doing certain acts in game (much like in Ultima 4 but more complex and meaningful now) you could earn virtue points and with them certain rewards. Sacrifice was the first virtue and with it you could "redeem" certain evil monsters and if you did that enough you gained the ability to self resurrect a certain number of times a week and it autolooted all items on your corpse for you.

UO was still going strong and the Syndicate continued to dominate. Long Live The Syndicate