EA's F2P strategy is about budget rather than quality. Making a low-budget product to milk through microtransactions means even a moderately successful title can turn a profit. Bringing Ultima back as a retail-level release with a proper budget would produce a more impressive end result but it might not sell enough to break even, as with their other recent RPG release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

As for the Avatar, the description says "restore virtue and become the Avatar!" which certainly sounds like you yourself become the Avatar. It's possible that the "real" Avatar gives quests or provides guidance or something, of course.

Any guesses on who the forest girl with the antlers might be? I'm not too familiar with Ultima IV but I know it didn't have elves.

You don't need the Origin client to play the game. An Origin account isn't really a big deal. As for the subtitle... well this is an MMORPG (Play4Free is the MMO model), it's NOT Ultima IV. For Ultima IV you have the free download. :D

EDIT::
Okay well, according to Paul Barnett, it is Ultima IV in a Batman/Spider-Man reboot fashion.

It's a Druid, more then likely there going to use the 8 "classes" of Ultima
Fighter, Mage, Paladin, Druid, Tinker, Bard, Shepard, Ranger

Says right on the website that there's only two classes. And that's my biggest problem with this game at the moment. Everything points to it being a really bad Diablo clone. Twinstick, linear as hell, no real RPG elements, and filled with the usual Bioware crap that slows the story down and out of gameplay. If they don't let you at least choose what shrines to do first, this game will be a complete design failure.

It's going into beta so the rest of the classes are not done yet, they have said they are going to be adding more classes as the beta goes on.

Ah, that makes sense. I was thinking it had to be some sort of helper character/race. Adding more classes over time makes sense although you'd think they could launch the beta with more than two.

Whatever happened to the Lark class? i was thumbing through my Ultima Trilogy book last night and noticed them...had forgotten about the Larks :)

i think they were in U2? or was it 3 with the party system?

Ultima 3 had the Lark after that Richard went with 8 classes that were tied to the 8 virtues, same too I always loved the idea of playing a killer Jester, especially when it would come to killing that annoying ass Chuckles. Chuckles..I hate him so much..

Actually it does.