Another newbie post

[uggok]

I am a long-time MMO player who hasn’t ever played UO but has always been interested in it. And in being a tamer in particular. I finally downloaded the free trial and have been having a fun time shearing and taming sheep so I think I’m going to stay at least a while. I’ve waded through a lot of this site, but I have a couple questions I hope someone can answer.

1. I know it’s a ways away, but is it possible to realistically place/buy houses these days? I know that it used to be very hard. I’d like to eventually work my way up to one of those swanky marble patio houses. Is there a big difference in space availability on different shards? I started on Catskills, because I think it has a big taming community and was low-latency (I’m US east coast), but it wouldn’t be too hard to start over.

2. How long do I have to play to get a 720 skill cap instead of 700? Can I pay OSI for a “720 skillcap” token or something (along the lines of the advanced character token)? Is there any other way around this? 20 points seems like a pretty big deal in this game.

3. Am I correct that skill-increasing jewelry does not count against your total skill point cap?

4. I’m working on an AT/vet/lore/magery/music/peace/discord template (I’m something like 45/35/50/30/50/50 now – almost done!). I’m a PvE player at heart. To put it bluntly, I mostly want to (1) collect interesting pets and (2) kill baddies with them. This template should be fine for that, no?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Guest]

1. Houses can be realistically placed/bought as long as you aren't talking about Luna. I reckon there are many places you can put a small house in all shards, and maybe some medium or large house. Obviously, a more populous shard such as Atlantic will have less space available for housing while a less populous shard such as Origin will have plenty of space.

I remember taking a while to figure out which space is clear and flat enough to place a decent size house when I was new to the game, but I just kept trying. Scout the area, and you'll find a few.

2. Every year, up to four years, you earn 5.0 more skill points to your total skill cap total. So that means after playing one year, you can have a 705.0 skill total, two years you have 710.0, 3 years you have 715.0, and finally four years you get 720. All you have to do is hang around for 4 years. It's not too bad! Some people here were around for 10 years, and they apparently still love the game!

3. You can have any skill items you want, and it will not count to your skill total. IMO, there are other properties better than skill items. If I can get a +15 mage ring or a faster casting + faster recovery ring, I'd choose the latter. It'd be pretty awesome to have a ring with all those properties though, but the chances of that are slim.

4. Yes, a bard/tamer template should do fine. It's just a matter whether you can utilize that particular template well. I have a feeling you will. I know I'm happy with a discord/peace/tamer template.

Welcome to UO!

 

[imported_Hinotori]

What shard have you decided on? I know where some decent sized house spots are on Chessy. Not to far from town either and nothing more agressive than mongbats spawn.

 

[imported_Yalp]

Welcome to UO! Hope you have fun and enjoy this game. To add some thoughts...


1) I agree.. every shard should have space to place a house.. getting enough gold to afford a Castle is another matter.

2) The above discussion on Skill caps is helpful. I'd add there are skill scrolls, in 10, 15, and 20 which add those amounts as a cap to individual skills. Say you want higher magery.. get your hands on a 10, 15 or 20 scroll of magery.. eat it.. and vola!

3) You will notice 3 modes on your skill gump, Cap, Natural and by not selecting either, it is the natural skill + any skill increase jewls or tali's or weapons or mage books.. or whatever.

4) I'd just add.. that if you want to cast offensive weapons against monsters in game (i.e. pvm) you will need evaluating intelligence. That determines how powerful that fireball is.. or any other spell being used against a monster.

Have fun and if you come by BAJA shard.. you'll have some real fun!

LORD Yalp of Zento, CTDM

 

[uggok]

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm very bummed to learn that there's no way to get 720 in natural skills without having a 4+ year account. I'm a pretty obsessive character builder, and that will drive me nuts. I think I will see if I can get an old account (and either erase everything or play on a server with no characters, so I can start fresh and actually enjoy the newbie experience) just so I know I can eventually get those additional points. I'd feel better if EA would just let me buy a token or something from them to do it, but c'est la vie.

That whining aside, it sounds like I am in pretty good shape with my character. Happy taming.

 

[Llewen]

<blockquote><hr>

I’d like to eventually work my way up to one of those swanky marble patio houses.

[/ QUOTE ]
This made me smile, in a good way. The game has changed a lot since you last played. Housing is much much easier to come by. There are tons of open spaces on even the busiest shards to place small houses. The only spaces that are even slightly hard to come by are the largest (custom 18 X 18, or towers, keeps and castles).

Spaces for towers, keeps and castles are still pretty hard to come by, and will cost you a pretty penny (many millions for a keep or castle, not sure about towers). The largest custom housing plots, 18 X 18, aren't too hard to come by, and you can easily buy a house like that, in a decent location, on any shard, for under ten million.

I realize that ten million sounds like a lot of gold when you are starting out, but you will see before too long that it won't take you too long to make that much. Definitely you will be able to afford a very nice house within a year, although a keep or castle will be something that most will never be able to afford, or have the good fortune to be able to place.

As for shards... Stay in Catskills!!!

Seriously though, there are dufusses on every shard, and there are good people on every shard as well, so I expect you will have fun no matter what shard you choose.