Ok, so I finally got back online last night and spent some time wandering around Great Lakes.  It's pretty dead there, but what struck me was the prices of things.  I have about a million gold there and found that wouldn't buy me a rubber ducky!  My goodness how the inflation has gone rampant!
Heck, even 100m doesn't really help in UO anymore.  I do feel sorry for the noob that just discovers UO.