So some may remember UWO being owned by NetMarble. It's now being done by OGPlanet. Not much has changed, honestly...
New to the game?Get a ship, pilot around 13th-18th century world, like the whole world. Americas, england, africa, china, etc... Partake of Merchant or Maritime career paths... or Adventure, but it's not very good. Trade is pretty simple - If you take it from one city to another city which doesn't sell that item, it's probably profitable. Additionally, specialty goods in one area sell for a fortune if taken to a different area, the further the better. Combat is simplistic in controls, double click to turn your boat and space bar to fire cannons, but is complicated in setup and math, different weapons, different armor levels, speed vs armor priority, boarding combat, ramming speed, sail-shredding or grapeshot...
It is, unfortunately, a rather slow game. It's a perfect game to get on teamspeak and chat while sailing, because the bulk of the game is just sailing straight away until you reach a corner and have to turn. Combat is interesting, but a tad lack-luster, and trading is as simple as going from one city to another. Skills takes AGES to raise up, as well. Crafting skills take days and days, and tons of money... but money is pretty easy to come by if you know how to sell things to other players.
Party system exists, and following works, so one player can do most of the 'work' in sailing a group. Combat can support a good number of players as well, haven't seen an upper limit. PVP piracy exists, and is said to be very scary, though I haven't attacked or been attacked.
Returning to the game?Your account probably got reset, I know mine did. But I'm getting settled into the game and getting skills and jobs set up. I've realized how to make money off the market, so I've got some funds, and I'm working towards becoming a shipwright, which means cheap ships at detailed specs, and end-game superiority.
Thinking about playing?Contact me, Steam under same name or forum message or whatever. I've got some funding and skills, can get people set up and hopefully we can become the best of pirates! It'll be some time to raise your skills, but funding is mostly secure and grouping can be done. There's a significant amount of tutorial to play through, but none of it matters and you can ignore all dialogue forever to breeze through it.
ALSO! There's microtransactions for certain convenience items and some high-ranking items, as well as the regular "+20% experience boost for a week" type, as well as the "open the mystery box and maybe get a nice item or not" but no real pay-to-win easily visible, especially since so much relies on skills (time playing) and high-ranking crafting.
http://uwo.ogplanet.com/en/main.oghttp://store.steampowered.com/app/317110/COMPANY (aka GUILD) is up in London, under the name "TwelveBays". There's no penalty to joining, there's a 50 player limit but the server culls players who've been inactive for too long, and boots them from the company (account is still intact, but company membership is lost).
I've become a shipwright. My current level is
5 and you can go to
www.uwotool.com to plug in your adventure/merchant/military levels, then my "SB Lv" and see what's possible. This will show you your possible ships and what I can currently do with them. As a shipwright, I can
1: Make ships for cheaper,
2: Make ships with greater/lesser cargo hold,
3: Make ships made of different materials for great durability or speed,
4: Refit ships to change their crew size and cannon amounts, which can provide for more or less goods storage, and
5: Attach additional materials to a ship to give them permanent upgrades.