Just for the fun of it, I just thought I'd show a pic of what I wear. I'll try and list prices of the items as well. While part of this is just for fun, I thought something like this might be useful for a newer player to see, so they can see what is available, and what the relative values of certain items are and how difficult they are to find.
Here is a detail of the unique pieces.
I'll list the approximate value of each item, and how hard they are to obtain.
<u>
Artifacts</u>
Aegis of Grace (any race): 100,000 - moderately easy to obtain
Crimson Cincture: 19,000,000 - moderately difficult to obtain
Library Talisman: 4,000,000 - moderately difficult to obtain
Pendant of the Magi: 300,000 - easy to obtain
Quiver of Infinity: 100,000 - easy to obtain
Robe of the Equinox: 20,000 - easy to obtain
Rune Beetle Carapace: 2,000,000 - moderately easy to obtain
Spell Woven Britches: 500,000 - moderately easy to obtain
Staff of Pyros: 100,000 - easy to obtain
Stitcher's Mittens: 2,000,000 - moderately easy to obtain
<u>
Unique Items</u>
Bracelet: 300,000 - difficult to obtain
Ring: 10,000,000 - extremely difficult to obtain
Horned Sleeves: 10,000,000 - difficult to obtain
Approximate Total Value: 48 mil
So for new players, only 5 out of the 13 items aren't easy to obtain. The most expensive item, the crimson cincture, is nice, but it isn't necessary, and without that in the picture, the whole suit becomes much more affordable. The point I am making is that you can put together a suit (your equipment) that works well, fairly easily, without spending a massive fortune.
The ring I was extremely lucky to find not long after I came back two years ago - I guess it was the UO gods welcome back gift. The bracelet I was lucky enough to find in Luna, without too much difficulty. The only piece that has really been a bug bear for me are the sleeves, which I have spent easily over 100 mil trying to make, but although it is difficult, you could find similar sleeves, that would be good, without doing what I have done.
The unique pieces are hard to find, but you can find pieces that will work almost as well, or just as well, or maybe even better, with a little bit of luck and astute shopping. The difficult part for new players is knowing what is available, and how the various mods work in different situations, with the various skills, and that is something that, regrettably, will likely only come with experience.
The greatest strength of this suit is the extra skill points (62), which really makes for a much stronger template overall. 5/2 casting, lots of mana, and a 120 weapon skill with 36 dci (defence chance increase), are also important. The weaknesses of this suit are low resists, especially energy, I have to use reagents (only 60 lrc - lower reagent cost), and mana regeneration is a problem in high end pvm situations.
The strength of the overall template is great flexibility. This template is good in both pvm (player vs. monster) and pvp (player vs. player situations). The weakness is that it there isn't any one thing it does astonishing well, it isn't specialized. I can farm pets, but not as well as other templates, I can pvp, but not as well as other templates, I can pvm, but again, not as well as other templates. Keeping my pets alive in high end situations where there are a lot of mobs (monster or beast), or area of effect attacks, or strong mobs that switch targets, can be a real challenge with this template.
One thing I haven't gotten into is powerscrolls. This character has eaten 5 120 powerscrolls (I use a bracelet to raise animal lore and veterinary to 120 for stable slots). 120 powerscrolls are expensive, and getting them other ways can be difficult. However, you can go a long way with 110 powerscrolls, and they aren't expensive or very hard to find.
