Ultima Online Adds Free-To-Play "Endless Journey" Option Today

Over 20 years -- or 7,498 days -- since its initial launch on Sept. 24, 1997, Ultima Online is now free-to-play. The legendary MMORPG announced its plans to introduce a F2P option last September, and today's patch has added the "Endless Journey" as a way for players to try the game out without paying for a subscription.

Having never played the game, I'll admit to not knowing exactly what all the restrictions on the update page mean, but it seems like a fairly standard fare for a F2P game that has a sub option: no housing, no mail (gotta prevent those gold spammers), no guild creation, limited harvesting, and so forth. Free players do get access to all expansion content up to Mondain's Legacy, with Stygian's Abyss going live at a later time.

Speaking of slight delays, if you're a veteran Ultima Online player planning to return to take advantage of F2P, you might have to wait a little longer. As Broadsword said in the announcement of the update, it might take up to 24 hours for all older accounts to be transitioned over.

Let us know what your plans are for the new F2P Ultima Online! Are you a returning player? A new player who never got into the game and are going to check it out now? Or is going F2P not enough to get you into a 20-year-old MMO?