Help a lost oldtimer!

[goodgimp]

Ooookay, so see, the last time I played Ultima Online was back in 2000. At the time, I was close to a GM Tamer/Mage, but then I wandered off and have only now returned to Sosaria and.... wow, the game is not exactly the same as I left it!

In any case, I'm completely lost as far as what a tamer mage template should look like. Power Scrolls, stable slots, all kinds of stuff are completely new to me, so I really need some help in figuring out a template.

What I'm looking for is to be the best tamer possible. Is 120 the cap on skills these days, and if so does 110 taming + 10taming ring work the same? Or can you go, theoretically, 120 taming + 10 taming ring for 130 effective taming? I'm not saying you'd *want* to do that, just curious how it works.

I'm also interested in playing around with Spellweaving, so the skills I was *thinking* about would be:

Taming
Animal Lore
Veterinary
Magery
Evaluate Intelligence
Meditation
Spellweaving

Am I missing critical skills in there? Are there skills I'm taking that aren't worth the bang for the buck? What skills do I need to take higher, and what can I leave at 80-100 and be fine with?

Thanks for any help you guys can give in getting me reaquainted with this lovely game.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

That's pretty much what I am running on my tamer. I switch Resist and Spellweaving using a Soul Stone.

 

[Kazumi the Wild]

To answer a few other questions, there is no current difference in practice between 110 taming with +10 ring, and 120 natural taming. Taming can't go beyond 120, even with +taming items that would otherwise put you over it.

I personally have chivalry instead of spellweaving (good against curses and mortal strike, mostly).

Aside from thespellweaving, though, I too use basically the same skillset.



Oh, and welcome back to the game.

 

[goodgimp]

Thanks all!

Erm, soulstones? Oh noes... /starts searching Stratics frantically for yet another thing new to him.

 

[Lady Arwen]

What skills do I need to take higher, and what can I leave at 80-100 and be fine with?

Okay well, I think you could leave meditation and vet around 80-100. Taming you deffinatly want as high as possible. If you dont care about stable slots, I think 110 lore would be fine. And your prolly gunna want eval at 100, Magery id say at least 110. And spellweaving... I really cant say, seeing that I only have ever messed with spellweaving once and its only at 86 so I dont really know how much of a difference it would make having 100 spellweaving compared to 120.

 

[Tina Small]

Two comments about spellweaving, for whatever they're worth:

- Currently no jewelry or items exist in game to boost this skill.

- The developers have acknowledged that none of the spellweaving spells are difficult enough to get your skill up to the 120 level through normal usage. The only way you can reach 120 after a certain point (not sure what it is) is as 0.1 gains through the guaranteed gain system every day or two or three based on your overall skill cap. In other words, it could be a long haul to hit 120 spellweaving.

 

[bosskram]

you could leave the taming and animal lore at 110 then boost to 115 or 120 with jewls. as far as med 80 would mostlikely work everthing else just take to 100 as for your pet will be taking all the damage. My tamer runs 110 taming 115 lore 110 vet 100 peac and music and magery and spellweaving are both coming up on 100. the peac and music is nice if you get in a sticky spot you can mass peac and run away.the bonus to having spellweaving at 100 is if you and other spell weaver stand on a circle and all are within 20 points of eachother you can get an level 3 archan gem. That comes in real nice doing the peerless boss casting word of death and hitting for 600+ hp with one spell just something for thought..

 

[goodgimp]

Thanks again for all the informative replies.

So once again I'm realizing how much I need to catch up. I read the "Taming Guide" sticky, and while it's informative it's as confusing to me as it is helpful. Basically it brings up as many questions as it answers

For instance, I'm at 95% taming right now. It recommends bulls (which I know where to find), and a bunch of other creatures from various expansions and various regions that I don't know about. Also one thing it's missing is what is hostile and what is not.

I finally found the kitsunes in "kitsune woods", at least I think. The Baka Kitsunes or whatever they're called? Anyway I went out there to tame and found myself annihilated in short order by lightning bolts and all other manner of asskickery.

So, for a guy who is running around in terrible gear and wants to work on taming, what should I do? Just work on Bulls up to 100?

Any suggestions welcome!

PS: I could really use a combat pet in the meantime, I'm currently without one. Prior to my leaving I had a White Wyrm, but it didn't seem to survive the 8 year hiatus from the game What should I do for a pet in the 90's? Should I grab Taming rings and get myself a draggie?

 

[Goodoljoe]

My advice is stick to great harts until GM+,you can find a uber spawn north of ilshenar sacrifice gate by the wandering healer forest,its usually empty.Past that id directly go to ridgebacks unless you want to deal with the every day scripters in bull pens.You can find ridgebacks going ilshenar compassion gate,then runing a short walk south until you find a cave that leads to central ilshenar (theres a gypsy camp right before with bank).Then just find the ridges,they are all over some ponds.As far as 90+ skill pets,i strongly recomend a rune beetle + mare or bake combo,its mows through PvM like no tomorrow with proper care.For much bigger stuff youl eventually need a cu or a GD(like big paragons,peerless etcs),but get started first worry about that later,and you can always use + skill jewels

 

[Kazumi the Wild]

What server are you on?

Edit: Concerning bakes, they're pretty easy to tame... get a dragon (preferrably bonded... do you know how bonding works?) and have it attack a good one, then tell it to follow you several times.

The dragon won't attack the bake, and you won't anger the bake (since they aren't one of the angering tamables), and a few attempts later, you should have a tamed bake kitsune =]

 

[goodgimp]

Kazumi: I currently reside on the Atlantic server. I just xfered over from Napa for the higher population.

Let me make sure I understand your instructions on bakas.

1. Obtain dragon
2. Bond dragon (takes 1 week, correct?)
3. Command Kill: Dragon-> Baka
4. All Follow so Draggie does not hit/kill baka
5. Tame baka while it's aggroed on the draggie.


Goodoljoe: Few clarifications if you wouldn't mind. What's a cu? A paragon? Are ridgebacks hostile?

Where do I find rune beetles at, and what skill can I get one? Are nightmares tamable at GM taming, and if so can they still be found in Felucca Covetous?

EDIT: Er, sorry, I guess the word is bake not baka.

 

[Kazumi the Wild]

Awww, I'm on Napa. I could've helped ya out!

You've got the instructions down pat. The bonding has more to do with precaution than necessity - you could easily handle a couple bakes with a single dragon without losing it.

Otherwise, you've got the order down pretty well, though I'd say spam "all follow" at least a couple times, just to make sure your dragon hears you. ;P

I'd highly recommend checking out the statics Hunter's Guide, taking a look at, among other things, Greater Dragons, Bake Kitsunes, Rune Beetles, and Cu Sidhe.

As a basic Overview, Greater Dragons are infamous 5 slot pets that are effectively Dragons but better in every way, including resists that can get as high as 85/90/75 physical/fire/energy resist... and above 50s in the other resists as well! They also hit hard (100+ when fully trained), cast, have between 500 and 1000 hit points, and have insanely strong Fire Breath attacks.

Bake Kitsunes are 2 slot pets in Tokuno with potentially great resists (60/90/60/60/60), 300-350 hp, magery, a bleed attack, and a delightful giggle.

Rune Beetles are 3 slot pets in Tokuno with decent resists (especially against poison-based monsters, like Miasma and Dreadhorn),300-350 hp, potential Lethal poison, magery, a special attack that reduces all the target's resists by a substantial amount for everyone for a short amount of time (insanely useful when in a group fighting peerless, or with a bake kitsune to tank), and up to 170 dex, so quite fast.

Cu Sidhe are 4 slot pets found in Ilshenor (you'll need a quest to enter their spawning ground, and you have to be an elf to tame/ride without the item Pads of the Cu Sidhe), and are heavy-hitting meleers that deal 50% cold/energy with their melee (useful against high phys/fire targets) and can heal themselves. They have 500-600 hp.

 

[goodgimp]

How sad, I only left Napa last night! It would be great to run around with an expert tamer like yourself

You guys are all so incredibly helpful. I really appreciate all the information and assistance, I'm going to check out the Hunters guide you linked and see if I can get myself back on my feet!

 

[Kazumi the Wild]

While I like to think I'm a fun tamer to run around with, I'm not sure "expert" is an accurate description.

Luckily, though, there are a ton of helpful people on this board on Atlantic - if you ask for in-game help around here, you're bound to get it.

 

[uoBuoY]

Here's a calculator for what to tame at what skill: http://www.tamingarchive.com/main/whattotame.php?skill=98.2
Use this guide to find non-aggressive training partners.

Here's a listing of almost all of UO's critters, their locations, habits, stats, etc.: http://uo.stratics.com/hunters/index.shtml
It has links to maps of where the critter is located and who else is the neighborhood.

Similar to using a Drag to tame a Kit...
In the Kitsune Wood you can Tame 3 Gaman and have them attack a Kit. That will give you about 1-1.5 mins of Taming free Taming time.

At 95 Taming you should stick to Bulls (I think it's North Jhelom that has a small corral with 3 constantly spawning Bulls) or White Wolves (tons on Ice (Dagger) Island).

The one problem with Spellweaving is finding enough people with the right skill level to get a decent Focus.

The Barding skill, Peace, is very useful for Taming and Discord is very useful for killing critters and for training your pets. These can be stored on Soul Stones. If you didn't find it, here's something about Soul Stones: http://www.uoguide.com/Soulstone

Finally I suggest that you find a Taming guild. They will most certainly show you the ropes and help you Tame a few pets.

 

[¥§hàdòw¥]

Two comments about spellweaving, for whatever they're worth:

- Currently no jewelry or items exist in game to boost this skill.

- The developers have acknowledged that none of the spellweaving spells are difficult enough to get your skill up to the 120 level through normal usage. The only way you can reach 120 after a certain point (not sure what it is) is as 0.1 gains through the guaranteed gain system every day or two or three based on your overall skill cap. In other words, it could be a long haul to hit 120 spellweaving.

Do you think that being discorded could help with raising spellweaving? I know it helps with other skills.

 

[Frey Wavestrider]

One other point on a Cu, it will also heal you if you need it. That can be useful. Bakes are excellent and you can use them for a variety of purposes. With help healing them I take them to do the crimson dragons, which they seem to love eating. I go and do Kirin's and turn them in for the Zoo points for gains. Or do the ridgebacks. The location I use has a single kirin that spawns once you move the old kirin out of the area. Ridgebacks are good since the savages kill them for you and lets them respawn. Only need to worry about paragons as you cannot tame them. (Paragons are suped up versions of the monster and only occur in Ish.) I do not have a tamer on Atlantic or I would help you there, I like the smaller shards so I am on Origin.

 

[RichDC]

Do you think that being discorded could help with raising spellweaving? I know it helps with other skills.

Who cares lol there is no need to take SW to 120 save 100% WOD success.

 

[goodgimp]

Question on "Optimal" stats for a creature, based on the creature power calculator. Is the stats listed for a "Keeper" that prior to taming, or after it's freshly tamed?

I was able to bag a total of three bake kitsunes yesterday (hurray!) by swarming them with poor gamans. Examining the stats, none of them meet a "Keeper" as per the calculator, at least not in the majority of categories. So I'm not sure if I'm reading it wrong (i.e. it should be the values listed before taming rather than after I tame them, if it changes at all) or if it's just hard to find such a "keeper".

Thanks again for all the info, all!

 

[Frey Wavestrider]

Question on "Optimal" stats for a creature, based on the creature power calculator. Is the stats listed for a "Keeper" that prior to taming, or after it's freshly tamed?

I was able to bag a total of three bake kitsunes yesterday (hurray!) by swarming them with poor gamans. Examining the stats, none of them meet a "Keeper" as per the calculator, at least not in the majority of categories. So I'm not sure if I'm reading it wrong (i.e. it should be the values listed before taming rather than after I tame them, if it changes at all) or if it's just hard to find such a "keeper".

Thanks again for all the info, all!

I am not sure, all my pets were not listed as keepers after I original got them but with training they moved up the scale. It is also how you use and work with your pet. I have tamed cu's for people that rated higher than the one I use but he seems to have a higher success rate against monsters than the others. My bakes are very successful and the highest ranking for them was 3.5 originally. My advice is look what you are going to use the pet for. If the stats work for that and for you keep it. If you are a Pvp'er it may be different, you may want/need it to start at 4 stars or higher.