Excelsior

Although no shard is perfect, this one is about as balanced as you can get. It needs some more tweaking but you will find few better than Excelsior. As a "Long term Player", perhaps "THE Long term Player," I think the main reason why I have been here so long is broken down to 20% shard, 30% player friendship and 50% me keeping the game interesting and challenging. That means I constantly set long term goals to achieve and work on getting there. I also purposely avoid trying to become "Uber." I learned my lesson years ago from my old shard, once you're Uber, it is the beginning of the end. If you see me in game, I only use items that can be acquired in the game. I have no relayers, no weapons turned into clothing, nothing of that sort, just a few GOC items which I acquired through purchase from players. When I go out hunting, I know that I can be slain by a small group of Orcs if I am not careful but you will catch me often soloing a Balron with 2 Daemons and a Blood Elemental trying to join in. Talk about challenging! (oh ya, no pets helping either) If you get yourself to having the max dex and over 300 strength with a 4x58% weapon, and 3 to 4 relayers, sure you can find plenty of challenges but you also have eliminated probably 90% of what this shard offers and you are now stuck with a small area to play in, and afer a while, I imagine it starts to get boring. So, the next progression is either becoming staff or bank sitting. If the 10% doesn't become boring to you, then more power to you becasue you are still enjoying the game.

So, if you want my advice, don't try to become the "uber" player and see what you can accomplish with non ed purchased items. You will then find this shard extremely challenging for many years to come. If you feel you must dominate everything, then ignore this post and go out and squish the Umbris Grunts like the little ants that they are.

I always wondered what seperated people like us Cygnus... I started when there was 16-23 people... And even then 20+ was ALOT to think about then... I log in every once in a while to "refresh my account" ... Becuz I was one of the people who donated, AND achieved the ED items thru staff events, auctions, other individuals... I still love the shard, but I am a bit sad at the "overcrowding" part, I am fully furnished to take on any living beast that does not do 2000+ in damage...

But unfortunately I do have a busy schedule that doesnt allow me to partake anymore in UO, but atleast id like to know after 3 years I still have interest, an interest to keep my account running from time to time

Moral to the story is. Untill all the "bugs" are fixed, and more areas are spread out to other regions, it'll remain as it is now... Or back then (if its still the same story) ...