Does anyone remember tamed Ancient Wyrms?

[Fat Midnight]

Calling all vets:

Does anyone remember seeing tamed ancient Wyrms sometime around 99? I remember seeing one on Pacific(not sure on the shard) and it was deleted by a less than amused GM.

 

[Tazar]

aye... was an exploit.

 

[Fat Midnight]

aye... was an exploit.

Thank you. I have brought this up around current players and almost nobody believes it.

 

[Uvtha]

Yup we had one on LS. It was owned by an RPer, and was used to hunt reds. The GMS let the guy keep it. I believe what happened was that for one day, for some reason they were accidentally spawning tamable.

At the time VERY few people could tame dragons, or anything impressive, so not many got tamed. On LS, only the one I knew of. The guy kept it alive for a realllllllllly long time, this was back before the days of bonding, if a pet died it was dead, and it was used in fairly active pvp combat as well if I recall correctly. I don't remember what ever became of it. I think its name was Justice? Or maybe I am just imagining that part.

Humorously, greater dragons are quite a bit more powerful than ancient wyrms were. They are pretty close to being on par with AW's currently as well.

 

[T'Challa]

Yup we had one on LS. It was owned by an RPer, and was used to hunt reds. The GMS let the guy keep it. I believe what happened was that for one day, for some reason they were accidentally spawning tamable.

At the time VERY few people could tame dragons, or anything impressive, so not many got tamed. On LS, only the one I knew of. The guy kept it alive for a realllllllllly long time, this was back before the days of bonding, if a pet died it was dead, and it was used in fairly active pvp combat as well if I recall correctly. I don't remember what ever became of it. I think its name was Justice? Or maybe I am just imagining that part.

Humorously, greater dragons are quite a bit more powerful than ancient wyrms were. They are pretty close to being on par with AW's currently as well.

Justice was owned by an "alt" of GM Ironwill. Some of the major hijinks on LS in the early days were due to this rogue GM. Some even say he reached GM Darwin levels of corruption without actually stooping to EBay. Many of the one-hitters we saw on LS were created by him. GM Treefrog was a cohort of his. I never actually figured out if RD-Redkiller was aligned with them as well, but he sure saw his share of perks from being a GM as well (RD City)

UO was so corrupt back then, yet I still miss it...

*edit* I remember the day we placed a small forge just NE of RD Tower. You couldn't walk past it at the waterline, and there was a double teleport-only spot between us and RD tower. You should have seen their entire guild (60+ strong) freak out when we wandered into one of their meetings from the east, where they thought it was a completely choked off pass. Then the counselor/GM visits began...

 

[RaDian FlGith]

Heck, remember when ancient wyrms would follow you through gates? I can't recall how many times the Brit/Yew/Skara Crossroads was a war zone between PKs and anti-PKs, and someone would run down to Destard 3, open a gate, attract an ancient, and run through, leading it out for all kinds of havoc.

Of course, that's also back in the day when killing an ancient wyrm wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world either.

Then again, I also remember when dragons spawned in the various reptile colors, and weren't all red or brown too. (Though I think it might have been only the ancients that were hued.)

 

[rhysianwolf]

Actually what happened was that during the first day when Ancient Wyrms were released, they forgot to "turn off" the tame code. The fixed it a day or two after which was why a rare number made it out as tamed pets.

Unfortunately when they did the universal stable wipe, I believe that's when all the ancient wyrms were deleted.

 

[Lord Chaos]

UTB, United Tamers of Britannia had a tamed AW. Don't know what happened to it.

 

[ChReuter]

Justice was owned by an "alt" of GM Ironwill. Some of the major hijinks on LS in the early days were due to this rogue GM. Some even say he reached GM Darwin levels of corruption without actually stooping to EBay. Many of the one-hitters we saw on LS were created by him. GM Treefrog was a cohort of his. I never actually figured out if RD-Redkiller was aligned with them as well, but he sure saw his share of perks from being a GM as well (RD City)

UO was so corrupt back then, yet I still miss it...

*edit* I remember the day we placed a small forge just NE of RD Tower. You couldn't walk past it at the waterline, and there was a double teleport-only spot between us and RD tower. You should have seen their entire guild (60+ strong) freak out when we wandered into one of their meetings from the east, where they thought it was a completely choked off pass. Then the counselor/GM visits began...

Wow, I haven't heard anyone speak of Ironwill and Darwin in years... Notorious NPC was Ironwills pk right?

 

[Flutter]

Last time I saw one in person was about 5-6 years ago.

 

[Uvtha]

Justice was owned by an "alt" of GM Ironwill. Some of the major hijinks on LS in the early days were due to this rogue GM. Some even say he reached GM Darwin levels of corruption without actually stooping to EBay. Many of the one-hitters we saw on LS were created by him. GM Treefrog was a cohort of his. I never actually figured out if RD-Redkiller was aligned with them as well, but he sure saw his share of perks from being a GM as well (RD City)

UO was so corrupt back then, yet I still miss it...

*edit* I remember the day we placed a small forge just NE of RD Tower. You couldn't walk past it at the waterline, and there was a double teleport-only spot between us and RD tower. You should have seen their entire guild (60+ strong) freak out when we wandered into one of their meetings from the east, where they thought it was a completely choked off pass. Then the counselor/GM visits began...

Geeze, I was out of the loop back then I guess. I remember some claims of shenanigans but I don't think I ever knew who or what.

 

[Lady Storm]

Was not exploit.. as I tamed him same as you would a regular dragon.
Had one named Joie loved him to death... and had 2 steeds too Gave them up to the gms who were sad to take them. Wyrms were nothing more then our G dragons are today. They did like to invis and pounce on REDS though. hehe
I wouldnt mind if they let us have them again... I do miss joie's funny antics.

 

[FisherNap]

UTB, United Tamers of Britannia had a tamed AW. Don't know what happened to it.

Aye, on the Atlantic shard, the mighty ancient wyrm 'ORDER' did live. It was tamed by Azaroth around 1998 when ancient wyrms were tamable for a short time, and was, to my knowledge, the last surviving tamed ancient wyrm. Its masters were mature and reasonable people who did not abuse its power, and though GM's knew of its existence, it was not deleted.

ORDER's last master decided to let it die in the stables during the time when pets needed to be refreshed or they would be deleted. GM's did not delete ORDER. This was before tamed ancient wyrms were officially made illegal to own. Must've been around 2002.


Wyatt of Catskills, retired

 

[Dan123The123Man]

I sure do enjoy these stories! I wish you guys would post screenshots from back in those days, especially of these Ancient wyrms or even silver steeds if u have any. I would love to see them!

 

[Winker]

How about the old silver steed. This was deemed to be over powered and took out the game. Would be nice to get it back, as it would no longer be over powered.

 

[Lord Essex]

How about the old silver steed. This was deemed to be over powered and took out the game. Would be nice to get it back, as it would no longer be over powered.

Talk about memories on this one.. ^^

 

[LadyNico]

Yes.

And here is Martin Lucas' AW, Order:- Ultima Online Atlantic Shard | Facebook

 

[Nexus]

Yes.

And here is Martin Lucas' AW, Order:- Ultima Online Atlantic Shard | Facebook

I've acutally seen those screenies before, one of the old UTB folks from Atlantic posted them on the UTB Chessy forums...

Think UTB on Atlantic has 1 member left, Chessy had 10 or so, Baja's branch has around 40...

How many other UTB's are floating around anyone know?

 

[TheMac]

Yes.

And here is Martin Lucas' AW, Order:- Ultima Online Atlantic Shard | Facebook

Great pictures! Would have loved to see what it could do!

 

[RawHeadRex]

"fuego" lol

 

[Spiffykeen]

I remember seeing Order once at wbb, it was awe-inspiring!

 

[Demonous]

Yes.

And here is Martin Lucas' AW, Order:- Ultima Online Atlantic Shard | Facebook

i dont ever remember ancient wyrms looking like that, the only graphic i remember is the current one, not a regular dragon shadow colored, then again i didnt go hunting for them years ago nor did i play when they first came out

 

[LadyNico]

@ Nexus *cough* Not all old tamers, (UTB or otherwise) necessarily wish to be found or to have the contents of their stables scrutinised *cough*

@ Demonous: Yes! AW's were beautiful shadow black versions of the Hildebrandt dragon. Look closely at the screenshots and you will see how beautiful the old Balrons were, too - Just shadow black demon graphics that packed a wallop worthy of respect.

 

[Viquire]

@ Nexus *cough* Not all old tamers, (UTB or otherwise) necessarily wish to be found or to have the contents of their stables scrutinised *cough*

@ Demonous: Yes! AW's were beautiful shadow black versions of the Hildebrandt dragon. Look closely at the screenshots and you will see how beautiful the old Balrons were, too - Just shadow black demon graphics that packed a wallop worthy of respect.

We called the Balron's "Shadow Mongbats" in our guild on GL. Thanks for posting the memories all.

 

[G.v.P]

@ Nexus *cough* Not all old tamers, (UTB or otherwise) necessarily wish to be found or to have the contents of their stables scrutinised *cough*

@ Demonous: Yes! AW's were beautiful shadow black versions of the Hildebrandt dragon. Look closely at the screenshots and you will see how beautiful the old Balrons were, too - Just shadow black demon graphics that packed a wallop worthy of respect.

the thing I miss most about the old days is the way liches used to sound...the lich sound nerf was one of the bigger disappointments of my uo life.

lol i miss how pets use to get annoyed by everything that passed by or aggro'd...I miss how pets used to fetch. sigh.

 

[olduofan]

the thing I miss most about the old days is the way liches used to sound...the lich sound nerf was one of the bigger disappointments of my uo life.

lol i miss how pets use to get annoyed by everything that passed by or aggro'd...I miss how pets used to fetch. sigh.

your right the seem to have taken out all the little things that made uo u-neek and special. what about the npc that would follow you around if they liked you ha. hell I even miss the moonstone and having to wait for the phases to travel where you wanted to go. I some times read my uo users guide form 1998 and miss the good ole days

Thats 1 of the reasons I dont like EC no books and the containers are just a few. they did put back the boat captainstorys thogh maybe some day they will put back other things as well.

 

[Anira Cuilwen]

the thing I miss most about the old days is the way liches used to sound...the lich sound nerf was one of the bigger disappointments of my uo life.

lol i miss how pets use to get annoyed by everything that passed by or aggro'd...I miss how pets used to fetch. sigh.

your right the seem to have taken out all the little things that made uo u-neek and special. what about the npc that would follow you around if they liked you ha. hell I even miss the moonstone and having to wait for the phases to travel where you wanted to go. I some times read my uo users guide form 1998 and miss the good ole days

Thats 1 of the reasons I dont like EC no books and the containers are just a few. they did put back the boat captainstorys thogh maybe some day they will put back other things as well.

You should try pinco's ui - it brings a lot of the things back you miss. At least the graphical things books and well legacy containers are supported for long now anyways

 

[olduofan]

thanks I would but until they change the dragon art and dungeon music and that ugly light blue hue in the dungeons I will not be using the ec I will admit I like the grass and a lot of the features as of now tho all those white/pinkish creatures like dragons is a huge turn off to me. sounds lame Im sure but I have the right not to like it as you have the right to love it. live and let live I say ha

 

[MalagAste]

I miss fetching and I miss dropping. I remember when you used to be able to tell your packy to DROP... and it would drop everything it had onto the ground.

I last saw a tame AW about 8 years ago I think.

I think it would be cool to be able to tame them now.... and shadow wyrms, and of course Black Widow spiders and Dread Spiders. I see nothing wrong with owning any of those... though as a pet I think the Shadow would need toned down a bit.

I'd like to see the WW get a boost. Poor WW's are now almost a thing of the past. Perhaps some stronger AW's can be found in Illshenar one day. I'd like that.

 

[jaashua]

Heck, remember when ancient wyrms would follow you through gates? I can't recall how many times the Brit/Yew/Skara Crossroads was a war zone between PKs and anti-PKs, and someone would run down to Destard 3, open a gate, attract an ancient, and run through, leading it out for all kinds of havoc.

Of course, that's also back in the day when killing an ancient wyrm wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world either.

Then again, I also remember when dragons spawned in the various reptile colors, and weren't all red or brown too. (Though I think it might have been only the ancients that were hued.)

I remember a lich wandering into the wooded area west of the crossroads back in 97. This was back when people hadn't figured the game out completely and tons of people were in the woods hunting animals for leather and whatnot. It freaking laid waste to everybody. Seriously, we were running from it like it was Godzilla. Eventually it was defeated when some guy hired an NPC paladin to fight it.

 

[LadyNico]

"Patrol," anyone?

After the once majestic bellows & snorts, do NOT get me started on the lame honk dragons & white wyrms now make.

One of my joys was teaching my critters to teleport, and my dragon or ww winging beside me as I ran around.

All gone now.

 

[MalagAste]

"Patrol," anyone?

After the once majestic bellows & snorts, do NOT get me started on the lame honk dragons & white wyrms now make.

One of my joys was teaching my critters to teleport, and my dragon or ww winging beside me as I ran around.

All gone now.

Oh I agree.... It was one of the joys of my time in UO watching my Dragon flying as we went.... I could watch him for hours and never tire of it. *sighs*..... I miss that sooo much. I miss him teleporting... I miss so many things like that.

Now I can't even tell if a dragon is brown or red... the EC sucketh at it.

 

[LordDrago]

Last time I saw one in person was about 5-6 years ago.

Tamed AW or GM

 

[Viquire]

"Patrol," anyone?

Wow, that and guild officers being "on station" and ready to respond with a res and extraction if need be. Yep, there is something you just don't see much anymore.

Patrol was more fun when you could parade the guild colors. Now we are all the same brand of mismatch under a small variety of wrappings.

 

[AdamD]

I remember one on Baja, had no idea what it was at the time. (Blue/greyish dragon), some guy ran past west brit bank with it in tow.

It was only when I saw the normal spawning ancient wyrm, did I realise what he had, heh

 

[LadyNico]

"Patrol," anyone?

Wow, that and guild officers being "on station" and ready to respond with a res and extraction if need be. Yep, there is something you just don't see much anymore.

Patrol was more fun when you could parade the guild colors. Now we are all the same brand of mismatch under a small variety of wrappings.

This. Dang, I feel old.

What the whippersnappers are unable to fully appreciate is that we tamers had no pet bonding. If, no when, a pet died, it was gone forever. Go tame another one.

Consider how often we lost connection (I was on AO-Hell dial-up at the time!) or how often the shards just went down unannounced. Given how few there were tamed, the fact that any Ancient Wyrms (or silver steeds or dark steeds) survived for any length of time is amazing good fortune.

 

[Gamma Zulu]

Calling all vets:

Does anyone remember seeing tamed ancient Wyrms sometime around 99? I remember seeing one on Pacific(not sure on the shard) and it was deleted by a less than amused GM.

-------

I remember them well from '99 to 2000 time period. There were a couple on the GL shard at one time, and the envy of all. Thing is back in those days it was hard to hold on to a pet that long. There was only Fellucca, no pet bonding, lots ways to lose your pets. I don't think many survived more than a year or so.

Cheers,

Gamma Zulu
Mage (retired 6 years, coming back?)

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

I remembered that they existed.

Never saw one.

It was unclear to me if they were always illegal or declared illegal later on.

Unintended things are always touchy in this game. Some things are unintended but they just leave them legal. Some things are unintended and result in an auto-ban.

The story of the red-hunting tamed AW is amusing, though I didn't remember that (I was on LS for a long time too). Indeed, a corrupt GM working against reds is an amusing thought to me considering that, for a very long time, the conventional wisdom on the UO.com boards was that the GMs simply would not help you unless you were red. For years and years, veritably the only positive stories of GMs I heard came from reds, right down to the only times I've ever heard of rez-killing being a support issue being when it was reds being rez-killed.

-Galen's player

 

[Petra Fyde]

sorry Galen, the post that resurrected this dead thread has been removed. No fault to you for posting it, but I think we'll put it back to sleep.