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Anyone hear a backer of Shroud of the Avatar?
If so, you wouldn't have missed release 3 (R3) of the pre-alpha of the game, which is the first iteration to include multiplayer over the weekend.
For all the talk about MMO's dying, it's certainly not happening here. SotA has somehow managed to capture the same sense of wonder and community that happened when we first started playing Ultima Online (UO).
Combat isn't in until R4 (another agonising month wait!), so I can't say how that might work, but it doesn't sound like they intend to go for the same sort of WoW setup every other MMO implements.
At the moment, all you can really do is explore, jump, emote, chat, craft, steal, buy and sell. That's only mechanically speaking, and that's only a side highlight of what everyone was getting into.
There is just something cool about being able to make fun of who you're playing, whether it's raising a toast to the devs with a mug of mead you've bought, finding ways to jump onto rooftops, talking about the ridiculous size of the great sword you're holding, or trying to hold up someone who's got some equipment better than yours (even though neither attacking nor trading are in the game).
I still remember the UO beta, must have been around '96-'97?. Such fond memories, even of repeatedly having my corpse looted ;)
I'm agonizing somewhat over not getting involved with SotA, as I've been an Ultima fan ever since picking up Ultima V on 3.5" floppy way back in the mists of time, but I'm also currently sworn off MMOs. I love that Richard Garriott has found a way to effectively sneak his franchise back through the back door in all but name, and I'm jealously watching screenshots of the game in the Ultima Dragons' facebook group :)