• Hail Guest!
    We're looking for Community Content Contribuitors to Stratics. If you would like to write articles, fan fiction, do guild or shard event recaps, it's simple. Find out how in this thread: Community Contributions
  • Greetings Guest, Having Login Issues? Check this thread!
  • Hail Guest!,
    Please take a moment to read this post reminding you all of the importance of Account Security.
  • Hail Guest!
    Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!

Starting from Scratch

Reinzeld

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Thinking about coming back, will be starting from scratch yet again. What should someone with absolutely no resources to fall back on do first? Start a mage, or maybe a melee char? Or would I be better off trying something that might make a little money first (fishing?)?
 

Olahorand

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think the very first would be to decide which shard to start.
Most are relatively empty nowadays, but what remained from community is often great and can be very helpful also with guiding and items to improve the start (i.e. an LRC armor set is very useful, since no reagents are required for magical casting).
If I start over fresh on a shard, my choices are either a lockpicker (starting initally at Vesper Bank) or a tamer. But somebody else may have other preferences. It's about you, and what gives you fun to play, not what others would do.
*Salute*
Olahorand
 

Tamais

Lore Keeper
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
:snoopy:Welcome back, I agree with Olahorand that choosing a shard is the best place to begin. Check out different shards to see how your lag is and to get a feel for the people. Ask if they have a player center and/or a new player guild. My shard, lake Austin, is seeing a lot of returning and transferring players. While there isn't a new player guild, there is a new player center. We are most active in the late afternoon and evening. We have a guild holding nightly hunts. There is also a city sponsored hunt each Friday and EM events on saturdays. Give a hollar in general chat and you will probably find people. Be sure to start in New Haven and do the skill quest. The accelerated skill gains makes it faster to hit level one. For earning money, there is a great thread in the resource section. The resource section is at the bottom of the general forums.
 

Reinzeld

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I will be on Lake Superior, it is the shard I have always played on. And I am looking to try to start the game as a new player on a clean account, without being given items/etc. from other players. I am more interested in seeing what the game looks like to a new player that starts and has to work his way up on his own.
Knowing what I do know about the game, I would probably start with a warrior of some type (not archer) and try to scrounge enough money and crap LRC pieces to put together a LRC suit, then switch to a mage and shoot for being able to kill arctic ogre lords (basically the "farthest" I have advanced in the game the last couple of times I have come back) for a little more gold. But, in past comebacks, this is when I hit the wall--I have a weak dexxer (usually around gm or slightly higher skills, no able to afford more than +5/+10 scrolls, and without any of the necessary top pieces of equipment to reach the next step) who isn't able to effective do what is supposed to be next (Swoops, the weird Tokuno guys people suggest killing) and a mage with decent skills (similar to dexxer) but an awful suit that gives no legit resistance and no supporting abilities, and the next item people suggest I go for costs many millions of dollars. I really want to figure out how a new player would take that next step, barring handouts from other players.
Olahorand, I enjoy playing the game in any capacity, but I get frustrated when I reach a point that I can't figure out of how move forward. I am the kind of weirdo that can get enjoyment from mining and chopping trees, as long as it isn't all I am doing. I used to love fishing, but I am not sure if it will be profitable enough to be worth running up the skill, since I remember it being abysmally slow. I have never played a lockpicker, and last had a successful tamer before Trammal existed. How would you start with those characters? Would you just grind through picking/taming, or would there be a way to make money while doing it?
For now, I am going to start with a dexxer again, and take a peek at the guide in the resource that Tamais suggested. Anyone that wants to throw in any extra advice or suggestions is definitely welcome.
 

Veldrane

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I will be on Lake Superior, it is the shard I have always played on. And I am looking to try to start the game as a new player on a clean account, without being given items/etc. from other players. I am more interested in seeing what the game looks like to a new player that starts and has to work his way up on his own.
Knowing what I do know about the game, I would probably start with a warrior of some type (not archer) and try to scrounge enough money and crap LRC pieces to put together a LRC suit, then switch to a mage and shoot for being able to kill arctic ogre lords (basically the "farthest" I have advanced in the game the last couple of times I have come back) for a little more gold. But, in past comebacks, this is when I hit the wall--I have a weak dexxer (usually around gm or slightly higher skills, no able to afford more than +5/+10 scrolls, and without any of the necessary top pieces of equipment to reach the next step) who isn't able to effective do what is supposed to be next (Swoops, the weird Tokuno guys people suggest killing) and a mage with decent skills (similar to dexxer) but an awful suit that gives no legit resistance and no supporting abilities, and the next item people suggest I go for costs many millions of dollars. I really want to figure out how a new player would take that next step, barring handouts from other players.
Olahorand, I enjoy playing the game in any capacity, but I get frustrated when I reach a point that I can't figure out of how move forward. I am the kind of weirdo that can get enjoyment from mining and chopping trees, as long as it isn't all I am doing. I used to love fishing, but I am not sure if it will be profitable enough to be worth running up the skill, since I remember it being abysmally slow. I have never played a lockpicker, and last had a successful tamer before Trammal existed. How would you start with those characters? Would you just grind through picking/taming, or would there be a way to make money while doing it?
For now, I am going to start with a dexxer again, and take a peek at the guide in the resource that Tamais suggested. Anyone that wants to throw in any extra advice or suggestions is definitely welcome.
Sounds like you've got the basis of a good plan - start with a melee then flip up to a mage when you can piece together an LRC. I would like to comment on Fishing though. It is slow, but once you get to the point where you're dragging up MiBs the effort is worth it - MiBs are paying out 10k to 40k gold per chest and with the up coming loot revamp, they should be a great sort of items to unravel.

You are absolutely going to have to create a crafter with imbuing at some point or you're going to get stuck. That was the major hurdle I encountered when I recently came back.
 

Lucky Luke

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Start with dexxer. No LRC or arrows needed. Make money while you train. Felucca despise awesome place to make good money by farming the spined leather off lizardmen. When I returned to UO few months ago I made over a million the first day just by being creative ;)

I really like the fishing idea ;) Do it in felucca for double the horned leather. On GM fisher I average about 12 serpents per hour and 6 MIBs. Can make you some good money but you need skill to kill (deep) sea serpents and maybe even a water elemental.

Alternate between 2 characters :p Dexxer for intenser farming. Fisher for laidback playing ;)
 

The Old Man

Journeyman
Premium
Stratics Veteran
...I made over a million the first day just by being creative ;)
It would help other new players if you clarified if you returned on a brand new character or an already skilled one. Also some hint as to what you did to make the million would I think be interesting ;)
 

Petra Fyde

Peerless Chatterbox
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Whichever character type you start with, start in New Haven with the accelerated gain quests. You can read about them here:
http://uo2.stratics.com/questing/new-player-quests

I have started several characters on strange shards, mostly to gather data for Stratics pages. I rarely call on anyone for help, being of an independent nature. The trick is in knowing you don't have to have an uber kit to have fun.
 

Yadd of Legends

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I like your spirit, starting from scratch, actually enjoying the game mechanics. I've done it several times. The thing to remember is that you have six or seven character slots and will probably soon end up using them all - building an army, not just a character. The last time I started on a shard from scratch I started as a mystic mage - picking up reagents off the ground until I made 10k for a 100 LRC suit. I have several characters on that shard now but found mystic mage to be the easiest and least expensive way to quickly build a pretty powerful character that could also survive well. The problem is going to be when you hit gm and have to get those power scrolls to exceed the cap. It's very hard to get those without help.
 

Reinzeld

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Well, I actually am using my old account, so I still have my old characters. But they are all half-finished (for the warriors), under-equipped (the mages), or not what I am interested in right now (the crafters). So I am using the last slot to try this experiment, and pretending the others don't exist. Started out in New Haven today, planning to follow the guide from the resources section suggested above.
 

Silverbird

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Everytime when I started new on a shard, I ended up with a mage/scribe/fisher. When you start with 49 inscription, you get really fast to 50 and get an undead slayer spellbook with 'enough' spells to start with from the New Haven quest. I usually take the slowest way and go to mage shop, where I buy reagents for inscription and sell the finished scrolls to the npcs. I dont train on scrolls, where my chance to succeed is lower than 50%. That way, I am guaranteed to make profit with buying reags and selling scrolls. At 50 Inscription for example, I start with 4'th circle. (Either there is a 4'th circle spell in that gifted spellbook or you can buy them from a npc. Picking up lightning would be optimal, course it needs only 2 reagents.) While you wait for your needed resources to respawn, you start training eval by using the eval skill on nearby npcs. I prefer to start with a human with some str, no extra dex and little int for this char. Having only little mana makes starting harder on a scribe, but I usually need the carrying capacity very soon. (Gold, reags and scrolls start up to weight something very fast.) With letting meditation and focus rise in the first place, you get to a decent mana reg easy.
Up to around 60 skill, you should train around haven. That way you can include picking some escort quests, while your mana/int is to low to efectively train inscription. First 'big' goal is to get enough gold to buy a full spellbook. (You need the scrolls to be in a/your spellbook, before you can scribe them.) After that you should try to get the gold for a low cost lrc suit. (With imbuing, you can craft those really cheap. If you ask nicely in chat for a lowly suit with 100%lrc made out of except leather peaces, you often even will have the problem of others accepting gold for that one. *g* ) In addition to a full spellbook, i usually try to find a cheap empty one with magery and fast cast recovery bonus. +12 magery and +2 fcr would be optimal. That way you can further start to look for jewelry with more + magery and a second set with 1 fast cast and 2 fast cast recovery on each piece (ring + bracelet). I am usually not very motivated for magery training, but starting with 49 magery and magery bonus on each of spellbook, ring and bracelet allows me very early/fast to mark my own runebooks and with training inscription first, I can craft them on my own at some point.
One of the things to play around with starting a mage this way, is the use of different spellbooks. To get the bonus on your spellbook, you have to equip it. To be able to cast a certain spell (or to inscribe it) you need to carry a full spellbook with you. So switching out/equiping empty spellbooks works fine. You can find empty slayer spellbooks, which give a significant damage boost against certain monster types, for really low costs on many shards.
At one point, I personally start to pick up training fishing. But thats a personal reference. The above tips actually work for every mage/scribe character. If you want to go for a necro mage for example, you should start with 49 necromancy, becourse you get a full necro spellbook gifted from the new haven starter quest for necromancy. (The 'starter-quest' actually only tells you to get a/the responding skill to 50. So it helps you, if you can get a spellbook gifted as fast as possible.)

There are really many ways of getting started. The usual problem for a really new player is to get the first steps. Collecting enough gold/money in the first place to build a small/medium house should be the first bigger goal. (Usually I would recommend a small sandstone with a patio. That is a smaller classic house with a nice 'place-toplay-around-with'/gold ratio.) To get your first million is not that difficult nowadays. With a small house, you can start having a vendor and sell to other players. (The new vendor search really helps with that. You dont need any longer a vendor at one of your shards hot spots.) If you start with a crafter, you could aim for some bod rewards (smith + miner) or heartwood rewards (woodcrafter + lumberjack). As a melee/dexxer you might end up training on Troglodytes at one point. Those can rarely drop spellweaving scrolls. Some of those can be sold usually for a good price. Farming leather would be another way. With halfway/decently trained chars you could try and aim for solen quests (bag of sendings and powder to recharge them). Low level champion spawns are good for money too. If your lucky enough to get a decent skill scroll, you are already set up for a house. Depending on your latest expansion, the mini champions in the abyss are good for first money too. (Farming essences from the lower spawns or even challenge the easier mini bosses on mediocre trained chars.) Since you are starting now, it also might be a good idea, to fill all you char slots with dummy chars on busy/halfway busy servers. At september there is uo's next birthday upcoming. Each character older than 30 days gets a present then and usually there is a rare collectable included. So you could hit a beginners jackpot with some luck. (And there are more/other/new gifts waiting for your created chars at x-mas.) With high seas fishing for uncommon crabs could net you really good gold, if you dare to sell those. On top of that, there is a new big publish upcoming. With all the changes in there, it is even for a veteran player difficult to tell, where to find new/more challenges or opportunitys to earn some gold.

There are enough challenges out in uo for about every playstyle. It doesnt necessarily need to be for a highly skilled/equipped char. For myself I am having as much fun on picking medium monsters on a lowly equipped char, than i probably would have with a high end char on really difficult monsters. Theres no real need for me to go for what others might state as 'high-end' or late-game, where you need to use expensive equip. Actually I am playing on a shard, where I can find others, if I want to give the big games a shot together.
 
Top