Item insurance

Item insurance is a game mechanic introduced with the Age of Shadows expansion, when the game became more item-based, and losing an item was tantamount to losing a skill under the old system. If an item is insured, should a player die for any reason, upon resurrection the item will be in the character's backpack. Uninsured items will always remain on the player's corpse and may be looted by monsters or other players.

Some items are not insurable, such as those that are Cursed, but also usually items that stack (reagents, fish steaks, etc.). Additionally, items that are Blessed are always returned to a player after they die and resurrect and thus do not need to be insured.

Insuring items

To insure an item for the first time, a character must use the Insure Item option, which is located by clicking on themselves and using the context menu. The targeting cursor will then appear asking what item to insure. When chosen, the insurance gold will instantly be deducted from the character's bankbox. Items which are actively being protected with this mechanism are given the Insured item property.

Each time the character is resurrected, the item must be re-insured unless the "auto-renew" option has been selected, which is recommended and is disabled by default. The auto-renew option can also be accessed via the character's context menu. If the auto-renew option is active, then the cost of re-insuring the item(s) is automatically deducted from the character's bankbox upon death to re-insure the item once more(which can quickly add up to a lot of gold if a player is dying repeatedly in a short span of time).

Generally, most players always insure items they do not wish to lose. Newer players sometimes receive assistance from other players in the form of gold to help pay inevitable insurance costs, rather than losing items and having to re-equip from scratch.

Insurance costs

Beginning with Publish 64 in February 2010, insuring an item costs between 10 to 800 gold pieces, depending on the item:

Community Collection items - 600 gold each.
Faction armor/weapons - 800 gold each.
Insurable armor set pieces - 600 gold each.
All other magical items - 10-800 gold each, depending on their worth in the Imbuing system.
All other non-magical items - 10-800 gold each, depending on their worth to NPC vendors.

Earning gold from insurance

Players receive 100% of the insurance gold for a player they kill who had insured their items. However, if the kill is part of the Factions system, then they only receive 50% of the gold.

Given that insuring a complete suit of armor, a few weapons, and other items can easily cost several thousand gold pieces, killing another player can yield quite a bit of money, especially for those skilled in PvP combat. In this manner, it becomes possible for a character to make a living from PvP alone.

History

Prior to Publish 64, all insurable items, regardless of their value, cost a uniform 600 gold each to insure. Additionally, all PvP kills yielded only 50% of the insurance gold to their assailants.

Publishes

Publish 108 (24 Mar 2020): Reduced item insurance lag
Publish 86 (25 Sep 2014): Item Insurance will now scale up based on item intensity.
Item insurance costs will no longer be reset when switching subservers.
Publish 64 (10 Feb 2010): All items have been evaluated based on their true value and these values will now be used to determine insurance costs.
New insurance costs will be between 10gp and 800gp.
Magical items cost will be based on their worth in the Imbuing system. Please note: Item property weighted values subject to change.
* All community collection items will remain 600gp.
* All faction armor/weapons will be 800gp.
* Insurable armor set pieces will remain 600gp.
Players will now be receiving 100% of the insurance value for player kills and faction players will receive 50% of the insurance value insurance value for player kills.
Non-magical item cost is based on a percentage of the items vendor price.
Publish 29 (20 Jan 2005): Players can now uninsure items that were blessed after already being insured
Ultima Online: Age of Shadows (11 Feb 2003): Added.

Item properties
Stat Modifier	Dexterity Bonus • Hit Point Increase • Intelligence Bonus • Mana Increase • Stamina Increase • Strength Bonus
Regeneration	Hit Point Regeneration • Mana Regeneration • Stamina Regeneration
Hit Effect	Assassin Honed • Battle Lust • Blood Drinker • Bone Breaker • Hit Cold Area • Hit Curse • Hit Dispel • Hit Energy Area • Hit Fatigue • Hit Fire Area • Hit Fireball • Hit Harm • Hit Life Leech • Hit Lightning • Hit Lower Attack • Hit Lower Defense • Hit Mana Drain • Hit Mana Leech • Hit Physical Area • Hit Poison Area • Hit Stamina Leech • Searing Weapon • Splintering Weapon
Damage Type	Chaos Damage • Cold Damage • Direct Damage • Energy Damage • Fire Damage • Physical Damage • Poison Damage
Damage Dealing	Damage Eater • Rage Focus • Reactive Paralyze • Reflect Physical Damage • Soul Charge
Magic	Casting Focus • Faster Casting • Faster Cast Recovery • Lower Mana Cost • Lower Reagent Cost • Mage Armor • Mage Weapon • Resonance • Spell Channeling • Spell Damage Increase • Spell Focusing • Spell Consumption
Weapon	Damage Increase • Hit Chance Increase • Swing Speed Increase • Use Best Weapon Skill • Weapon Speed
Archery	Balanced • Damage Modifier • Lower Ammo Cost • Range • Velocity • Weight Reduction
Death & Theft	Blessed • Cursed • No-Drop/No-Trade • Insured • Owned By
Other	Artifact Rarity • Defense Chance Increase • Durability • Elves Only • Enhance Potions • Gargoyles Only • Lifespan • Lower Requirements • Luck • Mana Burst • Mana Phase • Night Sight • Self Repair • Shard Bound • Skill Bonus • Strength Requirement • Uses Remaining • Weight
Negative	Antique • Brittle • Cursed • Prized • Massive • Unwieldy • Unlucky
Historic	Ephemeral • Force • Might • Mystic • Newbified • Power • Ruin • Vanquishing