If you want to play vanilla, then play on this Dreamcast server https://sylverant.net
I had a falling out with folks at Ephinea, because they kept saying Ephinea was vanilla, and I had no problem saying the truth about it.
Ephinea being vanilla is a very silly statement based on what I experienced there for a short time.
Just by having to play alongside Hardcore users made the Ephinea experience non-vanilla, because folks abandon you all the time just to save their reputation.
You wouldn't believe how many times I was abandoned in Ephinea, because Hardcore users can play with non-hardcore users, and they alt-backspace to save rep.
The toxic community there keeps saying it's vanilla when it isn't, and it's annoying. I don't even know why people are comparing the 2 servers Ultima & Ephinea.
To make Ultima vanilla means nerfing & throwing away all the gear we have now.
The only choice now is to make it harder, and more fun with better gear. Not with releases like Arrest Faust & Arctic Faust which are complete disappointments.
A harder Ultimate difficulty would probably help improve the server.