In the early days the different armors also use to protect against different types of weapons too (ie. bash damage, slash damage, arrow damage etc..)
It made wearing leather vs plate vs chain more important. I remember being able to beat the armor pieces off people with a stave til they were naked while they were stuck in place with no stamina. I really miss some of that old code! But I think that all went away when they dumbed everything down to the current resistance system. Of course a lot of the new players have no idea what they missed.
Lol, yeah. Slashing/Blunt/Piercing damage. Plate was great against Slashing/Piercing, but sucked against Blunt damage. Chain was average in all aspects. Leather was good against Blunt, but sucked against Slashing/Piercing. Bone Armor also had a very good balance, and the highest innate AR of any armor type, even above Plate, while requiring less STR and penalizing DEX less. It just couldn't be crafted back then, so no GM Exceptional Bone Armor.
Swordsman had a huge variety of weapons to choose from, from the fast and balanced Katana (Which could be DPed), to the ponderous, burst heavy Halberd. GM LJ Swordsman also did a huge amount of damage with Axes/Bardiches/Halberds after Renaisance or so. Axes/Bardiches/Halberds could deliver Concussion Blows that halved the opponents INT (Crippling Mages), after Renaissance. Swordsman were the most versatile warriors of UO.
Fencers had the quick and nimble weapons, ranging from the Kryss (Almost always DPed) to the nasty Long Spear. Long Spears were able to do a 3 second unbreakable Paralyzing Blow after Renaissance. Fencers were the finesse warrior of UO, and most often employed poisoned weapons.
Macers had from the quick and crippling Q-Staff, to the colossal burst of the Warhammer. The Q-Staff was fast and damaged the hell out of your opponents stamina, to where they couldn't even run. While the other Macing weps (Especially the Warhammer) would obliterate an opponents armor within seconds. Warhammers were able to do Crushing Blow after Renaissance, which surpassed the damage of even a Halberd being wielded by a GM LJ Swordsman. No Macing wep could be poisoned though (And none still can). Macers were the brutish juggernaught warriors of UO. Of all the Warrior types, other Warriors feared facing up against a Macer the most. Macers kept Blacksmiths in business, considering people were constantly having to have their armor replaced after a fight with a Macer.
Sadly, most of the uniqueness innate to Macers has been removed. Macers no longer destroy armor at an astounding rate, and they no longer do incredible amounts of stamina damage or burst damage, for the most part. They're also constantly getting shafted when it comes to Artifact Weapons being introduced. The only decent Macing wep introduced within the past 10 years, is the Diamond Mace.