A timeline of Ultima Online events. Note that some dates are “fuzzy” - until we pin down exact days, we will leave them “fuzzy”. If you see any errors or can verify anything, please Contact Us. What you see is just a start. As of September 24, 2006, this is still very much a work in progress (and will probably always be).

Categorized:
>> Expansions and Releases
>> Scenarios and Storylines
>> By Major Publishes
>> By Client Patches
>> By Shard Launches

Full List Below

1996
1996 - Ultima Online’s Pre-Alpha Stage. Graphics look like a higher-resolution cross of Ultima VII and Ultima VIII.
May - Ultima Online: Shattered Legacy is shown at the 1996 E3 in Los Angeles, CA.
May 20 - Pre-Alpha ends. Lord Blackthorn and Lord British make a joint appearance, while players were killed by orcs. This would be a trend that would continue for many years - slaughtering players at large official gatherings (some as part of a storyline, others for no reason at all).
Fall/Winter - Beta begins. Upgraded graphics/client engines.

1997
Summer/Fall - Serious testing begins.
Fall - Two new skills, Bank Sitting and Ganking, introduced into the game by players.
August 8/9 (depending on timezone) - While giving a speech to an assembled group of UO testers, Lord British was PKed by Rainz. No, seriously, he was PKed. Estimates of the crowd in attendance range from a few dozen to 100+. As of 2006 - 300,000 plus people claimed to have been there. Screenshot of the foul deed.
Mid-August - Rainz was banned from the UO beta test (but not for PKing Lord British).
August 14 - Origin/EA clarifies events surrounding Rainz’s banning from the UO beta test as well as the PKing of Lord British. (Rainz apparently had a habbit of using a bug/exploit to PK large numbers of players, including going back to the pre-Alpha).
September 23 - “End of the World” as the beta test draws to a close.
September 24 - It’s Alive. IT’S ALIVE. (Some players receive UO early, login, play)
September 25/26 - Most Charter Edition players received their copies.
October 1 - First non-beta player is ganked by 15 PKers while walking between Britain and Trinsic.

1998
October 1 - Ultima Online: The Second Age (UO:T2A) launched.
October - The Lost Lands opened up with the launch of UO: T2A
December - 100,000 subscribers is reached - the first MMORPG to do so.

1999
January - Ultima Online expands coverage into Asia.
April 7 - Zachary Booth Simpson’s “The In-game Economics of Ultima Online” published.
May - Ultima Online expands into Europe.
Sep 24 - Ultima Online 2 (Ultima Worlds Online: Origin) Announced
Winter - 20th Shard launched.

2000
January - The Oceania Shard is launched, which signals UO’s 21st Shard, as well as more importantly, their expansion into Australia.
February - Trinsic Invasion begins.
February - 150,000 subscribers reached. Sometime at the end of 2005 or beginning of 2006, the number of subscribers falls below 150,000.
February - Lord British disappears from Sosaria.
April 3 - Ultima Online: Renaissance launched.
May - The world splits into two facets - Trammel and Felucca
May - UO hits 150,000 subscribers
Spring/Summer - The Great Trammel Land Rush
November - UO World Faire - Ultima Online’s first official major player gathering, held in Austin, Texas, where players meet and mingle with each other and UO development team.

2001
March 7 - Ultima Online: Third Dawn Launched. New “3D” client.
March - Ilshenar opened up - only “3D” players could access it.
March 21 - Ultima Online 2 (Ultima Worlds Online: Origin) Cancelled

2002
January - “Online Worlds FanFest” - UO’s second official player gathering. Held in Austin, Texas. Todd McFarlane was the guest speaker.
February 24 - Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge (UO:LBR) launched.
February - Ilshenar opened up to 2D players. Remnants of Ultima Online 2 incorporated into UO: LBR
May - Dawn sort of leads the players in a fight against Lord Blackthorn and Exodus.
July - The Infamous PUBLISH 16
September - UO hits 200,000 subscribers

2003
February 28 - Ultima Online: Age of Shadows.
March 19 - boards.uo.com no longer active, “official” forums moved to Stratics.
Spring - Custom housing introduced. Immediately players began to design the most awful structures ever to grace the surface of Sosaria, without even realizing it.
Spring - Malas opened up.
May - “Westside” of Pacific named as biggest scammer in a UO Stratics poll/survey.
June - Dawn gives a speech, Blackthorn and his cronies attack, large fight/melee ensued. Looters discouraged. Blackthorn Dies.
June/July - Dawn disappears and is never heard from again. Rumors are that she met somebody while banking at the West Brit Bank, eventually got in “the family way”, and quietly retired to a farm near Trinsic.
March or July - Consider UO’s “peak” or “prime” - around 250,000 subscribers.
August 22 - Ultima X: Odyssey announced
September - Lord British, he’s alive! He goes around speaking about the future of Britannia, which everybody promply forgets about, and goes back to bank sitting.
September - UO hits 250,000 subscribers

2004
June 30 - Ultima X: Odyssey cancelled.
September 25 - Ultima Online: 7th Anniversary released.
November 2 - Ultima Online: Samurai Empire launched.
Winter - Tokuno Islands opened up.
Winter - Guild system begins to be reworked.

2005
July 18 - Ultima Online: Gold released.
August 30 - Ultima Online: Mondain’s Legacy launched.
Fall - New race added: Elves
Fall - New dungeons, new Elven area (accessed through Yew) added.
Fall - Quest and Artwork systems begin to be reworked.
September 23 - Publish 36 (8th Age)
September 25 - Ultima Online: The Eighth Age (8th Anniversary of UO)

2006
January 30 - Spring Décor Collection items art added. (Client 5.0.1i)
January 30 - Mouse wheel scrolling for support for 2D client (Client 5.0.1i)
January 30 - Restored scaling of character models in 3D client to original size (Client 5.0.1i)
February 16 - Publish 39
February - Aaron “Darkscribe” Cohen officially becomes the UO Producer.
March 2 - New character gender and name change programs go into effect.
June - Estimated 135,000 subscribers (@ 70,000 are Japanese)
June - EA Announces PunkBuster will be integrated with UO
June 20 - EA agrees to acquire Mythic (Dark Age of Camelot)
June 30 - Publish 41
July 7 - 15 Trillion in gold pieces deleted, 180 accounts banned.
August - New expansion and client/engine overhaul announced - Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn - Within minutes, first threads pop up on Stratics from players complaining about how they hate the new client.
August 23 Pub 42 rolled out to a select shard (Origin).
September 1 Publish 42 - All shards
September 15 -Armageddon Cast, Timelord makes an Appearance
October - 13 - Sherry the Mouse shows up at Castle British
October - 18 - Publish 43 (Origin)
October/November - Ultima Online: 9th Anniversary

2007
Spring/Summer - Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn

Sources of Information
- UO.com
- Usenet
- Wikipedia
- Player email.
- UO.com/Sept2003nl.html
- UO Travelogues