Veteran Rewards
Veteran Rewards
The Veteran Rewards program is UO's account-age-based reward system — every account that reaches each anniversary year (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15+) is awarded a Veteran Reward Token that can be redeemed for one of a per-year selection of items. The system was introduced in 2000 as the canonical "thank-you" for long-term subscribers and has been steadily expanded for over 25 years. Veteran Rewards include iconic high-status items: Ethereal Mounts, Soulstones, Crystal/Shadow housing tiles, Stat Scrolls (+5 total-cap), dye tubs, rare clothing items, decorative furniture, Cu Sidhe and Hiryu mounts, Soul Stones, and (at the highest tiers) special-edition character title scrolls.
How Veteran Rewards work
| Step | Detail |
|---|---|
| Account anniversary | Each account anniversary (the date of original account creation) the token is automatically generated |
| Token redemption | The token appears in a redemption gump available from the Veteran Rewards NPC (in any major Britannian city: Britain Bank, Trinsic Bank, etc.) |
| Selection | The gump shows a list of available items for the player's current Veteran tier — choose one item per token |
| Consumption | Selecting consumes the token and delivers the item to the player's pack |
| Per-year tier | Each anniversary opens a higher tier with all lower-tier items still available — players are not restricted to the current year's options |
| Backlog | If a player misses an anniversary, the token persists; they can redeem later |
The reward is per-account, not per-character: a 10-year account has 10 redemption tokens (one per anniversary year), and each token can pick from the cumulative tier-list up to the account's current age.
Tier system
The tiers are loosely organized by anniversary year:
| Year | Common tier theme | Typical items |
|---|---|---|
| 1-year | Cosmetic / decorative | Wall hanging, decorative weapon, basic statuette |
| 2-year | Mounts (low-tier) | Ethereal Horse, Llama, Ostard |
| 3-year | Mounts (mid) + decoration | + Ethereal Forest Ostard |
| 4-year | Stat Scrolls + utility | +5 Stat Scroll, magic dye tubs |
| 5-year | Tokuno mounts | Ethereal Kirin, Beetle |
| 6-year | Dye tubs + housing | Rare hue dye tubs, decoration packs |
| 7-year | Furniture + clothing | Decorative furniture, robes |
| 8-year | High-tier mounts | Ethereal Hiryu, Swamp Dragon |
| 9-year | Soulstones + clothing | Soulstone, special clothing |
| 10-year | Crystal/Shadow tiles | Crystal & Shadow building components for housing |
| 11-year | ML mounts | Ethereal Reptalon, Unicorn |
| 12-year | Mounts + housing | Additional housing options |
| 14-year+ | Newest additions | Ethereal Boura, Polar Bear |
| 15-year | Limited-anniversary | Special-edition character title scroll |
Highlight items
Ethereal Mounts
The single most prized Veteran reward category — see the dedicated Ethereal Mount article. The roster ranges from the basic Ethereal Horse (2-year) through Ethereal Hiryu (8-year) to Ethereal Reptalon (11-year) and beyond. Each is a translucent mount that retains full mount-mechanic combat capability with no Animal Taming requirement.
Stat Scrolls (Veteran +5)
A +5 total-stat-cap scroll, redeemable from 4-year-and-up tiers. Stacks with the Wondrous → Ultimate Stat Scrolls and the Scroll of Valiant Commendation for a maximum 260 total-stat cap.
Soulstones
A Soulstone lets a character store a single skill (up to 120) onto a stone, freeing the skill slot for re-allocation. Soulstones are account-bound — they persist across deletes but cannot transfer between accounts. The 9-year Veteran tier introduces the Soulstone; the 5-charge promo Soulstone Fragment is a related but separate (non-Veteran) item.
Crystal / Shadow housing tiles
The 10-year tier introduces special housing components — Crystal-walled and Shadow-stone variants of standard house tiles. These are highly prized by housing collectors and massively transform the visual character of a player house.
Dye tubs and clothing
Many years offer rare-hue dye tubs that allow players to recolor specific item types. The Crimson Dye Tub (5-year) and Verite Dye Tub (7-year) are particularly prized.
Redemption mechanics
The token cannot be traded — it is account-bound. The redeemed item, however, is fully tradeable in most cases (Ethereal Mounts, Soulstones, decorative items). Some items (like Stat Scrolls) are redeemed and consumed immediately on selection — they cannot be inventoried.
| Item type | Tradeable after redemption? |
|---|---|
| Ethereal Mount statuette | Yes — fully tradeable on player vendors |
| Stat Scroll (+5 total-cap) | No — consumed on use |
| Soulstone | Yes (until used) — once a skill is on it, it's account-bound |
| Dye tubs | Yes |
| Decorative furniture | Yes |
| Crystal/Shadow housing tiles | Yes |
Forgone-redemption discount
If an account holder has missed multiple anniversaries (didn't redeem), the backlog tokens accumulate. There is no penalty for redeeming a 5-year-old token — the player can redeem in the order they prefer. Some veteran players deliberately stockpile tokens to wait for new tier additions.
Cleanup Britannia and Veteran Rewards
The two reward systems are complementary:
| System | Source | Distinguishing feature |
|---|---|---|
| Veteran Rewards | Account age | Time-gated, per-account tokens, character-specific items |
| Cleanup Britannia | Item turn-ins | Effort-gated, per-character points, decorative-and-utility items |
Cleanup Britannia sometimes offers identical items that Veteran Rewards offer (Ethereal Mounts, Soulstone Fragments, Goza Mats) — but at substantial point costs. The Veteran path is time-cheaper for old accounts; the Cleanup path is time-cheaper for new accounts willing to grind.
Status and culture
A character's mounts, clothing, and housing tiles read as Veteran-tier signals to other players:
- Ethereal Hiryu = "8+ year account"
- Crystal/Shadow housing tile = "10+ year account"
- Multiple Ethereal Mounts in a stable = "10–14 year account"
- 15-year title scroll on the paperdoll = "Veteran 15"
The Veteran Rewards program is one of UO's strongest retention mechanics — players who stop subscribing for a few months often return specifically to redeem the next-year token before the anniversary lapses.
See also
- Ethereal_Mount — the most prized Veteran reward category
- Stat_Scrolls · Statistics — the +5 total-cap source
- Scroll_of_Valiant_Commendation · Exodus — sister +5 total-cap source
- Soulstones — the 9-year Veteran skill-storage stone
- Cleanup_Britannia — alternative source for some Veteran items
- Animal_Taming — bypassed entirely by Ethereal Mount usage