Ultima Online is receiving an upgrade to the classic client in order to make it officially sanctioned, it has been announced.
The developer behind the base game, Origin Systems, announced the news of the client changes on their blog. The upgrade comes in the form of an update to the Ultima Online Classic Client ‘Shard’, which is the name given to the separate servers for the game.
It’s also being made under the assumption that the classic client, which is currently a third-party client not officially sanctioned by Origin Systems themselves, will be made officially available for use on all shards.
"We also want to make sure that the official Ultima Online Classic Client meets the expectations of our players from a performance standpoint," the developers state on the blog. The aim of the upgrade is to improve performance for the shard, specifically to “support higher frame rates” and allow for a “larger play window”.
Further information on the upgrade will be released in the lead-up to the full release of the newest shard for the title, Ultima Online: New Legacy, a completely separate server that reworks gameplay mechanics, changes the ruleset of the original game, and will also use the original Ultima Online map, Britannia. It was first announced in 2020, with a final beta starting earlier this week in order to stress test.
