Nine full expansion packs for the MMORPG Ultima Online have been released. The first, Ultima Online: The Second Age, arrived in 1998. The most recent expansion pack is Ultima Online: Time of Legends (2015).
Expansion packs
The Second Age
Ultima Online: The Second Age was the first expansion for the Ultima Online MMORPG. The expansion added several features to the game, including a new region called the Lost Lands, new creatures, and support for player-built cities.
Renaissance
Ultima Online: Renaissance is the second expansion to the popular Ultima Online (UO) MMORPG. Released on May 4, 2000, it added content, fixed bugs, and made gameplay changes in response to common player complaints.
Prior to its release, the expansion was said to double the amount of room in the game, but that it would not use a duplicate of the map, rather it would be adding new content. It was later found in the previews that Renaissance simply added a mirror world under different rules. The current map became Felucca and Trammel was created, the first one with "player vs. player killing" allowed, and the second with only consensual combat.
Ultima Online: Renaissance holds a 73% rating on GameRankings. Renaissance received nominations for the "Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World" and "Online Gameplay" awards during the AIAS' 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.
Third Dawn
Ultima Online: Third Dawn, released in 2001, introduced 3D models to the Ultima Online MMORPG franchise. While the game still maintained its scaled, overhead view, the character animation was much smoother. With the introduction of the Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn client (a more sophisticated 3D Ultima Online client), the Third Dawn client is obsolete, and no longer usable on official shards.
Even the original Ultima Online client uses a height map for terrain and three dimensions for item and character location within the world, but the newer "3D Client" introduced with Third Dawn included 3D models for all creatures. It still, however, maintains use of 2D artwork for objects. While it has an option to zoom in, it does not allow for any rotation due to the 2D artwork still incorporated, and the way the map is constructed. Some of the 2D artwork (especially walls and trees) were improved noticeably.
Ultima Online: Third Dawn received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a 66% rating on GameRankings and a 69% rating on Metacritic.
GameSpot rated the game a 6.9 of 10 saying "Despite Third Dawn, Ultima Online still isn't easy to get into; it's an acquired taste, which many acquired back when there was nothing else available or similar."
Lord Blackthorn's Revenge
Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge (2002) was the first of the two "darker" Ultima Online MMORPG expansions (the second being Ultima Online: Age of Shadows). The game featured creatures designed by Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn in comics). The story tells about the return of Lord Blackthorn, the corrupt noble who usurped the throne of Lord British in Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny. Included in the game box was a comic drawn by McFarlane.
The game was announced to be in development on October 31, 2001.
Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge holds a 66% rating on GameRankings. GameSpot rated the game 6.7 of 10. GameZone rated the game 8.1 of 10 saying "Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge has added some very strong elements to this world, making it more enjoyable and not just the hack-and-slash game it could have easily become".
Age of Shadows
Ultima Online: Age of Shadows is the fifth expansion pack for the popular MMORPG Ultima Online. It was released on February 11, 2003 and was the last title by developer Origin Systems.
Age of Shadows introduced a new landmass to the game called Malas. Malas was designed to appear as a broken continent, with various islands and pieces of land separated from each other and connected only with bridges. The pieces of land were surrounded by stars, suggesting that Malas floats somewhere in space above the rest of the Ultima Online worlds.
The main purpose of Malas was to provide more land for player housing. Players had complained that limited open land was causing an unreasonable amount of price inflation in the community, and restricting younger players from owning houses until they had played for many months. The greatly increased land that Malas provided helped to lower the cost of housing, and gave more players the opportunity to own a home.