The UO Evolution Shard project in now about to be 12 years old! It is truly hard to believe!

We are the only free shard that has live content updates every Friday for over a decade!  The staff has been also been very dedicated to entertaining all of the players, and to keep this a top FREE shard for everyone to enjoy...

UO Evolution has grown to massive proportions.  We now have a patch that is over 1 gig, thousands of accounts and millions of items.  I really never expected that this shard would continue to grow this large and be enjoyed by so many players around the world.  

Lately we have run into many software/hardware issues, that require upgrades.  We also need to fix the shard freezing we had last week after a forced server upgrade by our host, which doubled our operating costs and created unexpected problems.  Kane has coded a temporary solution for some of the issues, but it does require a lot of work to completely resolve.  The internet keeps evolving and forcing us to get new equipment/software to protect the shard from hacks/viruses and also resolve the freezing

I have personally invested a lot of my personal time and money to keep this game alive for over a decade. I has been the great players and community that have kept me motivated with all of their support of this UO project.  

I have to make a big decision this week to make a substantial expenditure into the hosting, shard hardware, router, server, graphics card and a new, and powerful workstation.  My costs have also substantially increased due to inflation and the need to buy new hardware.  I am also moving to a new host, which is now very expensive to run a shard of this size.  I am now asking for additional support from the community to make all of these improvements.

These new upgrades will help keep our "old" custom shard, current and relevant into the future so we can continue to stay a top shard

If you are able to donate to YOUR shard, this month would be a great time to contribute.  We have been busy planning the future expansion and development and are now in need of additional funding to complete the work.  I will be making some one-of-a kind donation rewards for everyone that specifically supports this upgrade and expansion

The projected cost is going to be over $5,500 in upgrades and expenses! As you can see, we are committed to this project. I would like to see the community come together and financially support this expansion and help take the shard to the next level

We are going to improve the shard by doing the following:

1. Upgrade to the current version of .NET 4
2. Create a Shard Launcher (Shard Custom Patch, choice of clients, .net framework all-in-one easy software package)
3. Upgrade the website
4. Upgrade the wiki (working on this for over 1 year)
5. Move the RunUO software from Windows 2012rc to current build Windows 2022
6. Upgrade the graphics and add thousands of new images/items to the shard patch 
7. Working on customizing the ClassicUO Client to work with our shard (in testing)
8. Upgrade the server, test server and hardware, workstation
9. Purchase software licenses
10. New Hosting Company with customer service, prepay service, backups

The new equipment will allow us to keep adding new systems and features and any additional funds will go into new content, prepaid services and advertising

Again, thank you all for the continued support of this project!

Donate Here:
https://uoevo.com/wiki/Donations

Read our Donation Philosophy:
https://uoevo.com/wiki/Donation_Philosophy

Make a Monthly Subscription:
https://uoevo.com/wiki/Donations#Donation_Subscription

Donations help us improve the shard, content and hardware. It costs a lot to maintain a top staff, connection, and advertise if there is no financial support from the community.

Many players never donate and that's fine, this IS meant to be a free shard. You can still enjoy the shard and get all the items in-game with time and effort. This is by no means a typical pay-to-play shard, we do invest the donations back in to the shard to improve the gameplay.

Many generous players donate because they recognize the shard as an amazing place to enjoy, just like going to a movie or out to dinner. They find value in our time and what we do here on the shard for your entertainment.

Some players have a limited time to play so they choose the donation option as a way to skip the grind and get right into the action! I made this option for people like me, who have a job, but limited time to play and don't mind spending a few dollars to support the shard and to not "waste" their time training for a few months to have fun.

The non-donors should love this, more players, more action, stimulates the economy and more loot in game to plunder! The donors "pay" the costs and make the shard FREE to play for everyone!

Donations are also important to create the in-game economy. It makes a market between new players that have ED and Veteran players that don't. The veteran players have a lot of gold/items and the new players have ED and desire gold/items, it makes the world go around!

The monthly donation subscriptions really help me budget the shard expenses and plan for future expansions. You get double ED for any amount with this option as a thank you for supporting the shard.

Please give a big thanks to anyone you know that has donated and never give them grief. They are a huge part of the success of UO Evolution!

Thank you to the Evo community for all the past donations and for improving "your" shard. I appreciate all the support for this project and the game we all love!

Dante