Old player considering comming back, couple questions

[morkani11]

I used to play back in the glory years of UO, about 3 or 4 years worth, i quit playing not too long after power scrolls came out, right about the time they raised the monthly fee.

anyways, i've done the MMORPG gambit since then, lineage 2, the matrix online, world of warcraft, but i always find these games lacking the experience i had with my first game, UO.

I always loved the PvP ruleset, and how there was a benefit for choosing to risk going to felucia, i liked the high i got venturing my way out there, (i never really played the pvp role that much) but i enjoyed the thrill of going there & the scared feeling i got when i saw a red comming up on me lol.

I was fascinated with all the different design's everyone come up with for their houses, & dabbled a bit myself with a 18x18 i worked VERY hard for. I enjoyed immensly finding malls to strategicly place my vendors & keeping my vendors stocked, even ran a mall myself for awhile.

No other game has come close to the experience i had with UO.

Anyways, back to my questions. a few years ago i DID attempt a comeback to UO & was sorely disappointed with the state of affairs, I came back & was able to get my tamer, mage, mule, lumberjack to a respectable skill & even maxed some skills out if i recall correctly, gold was VERY easy to come by, made a friend he had gold comming out his ears & gave me enough to buy & place an 18x18 plot (couldn't believe there was an empty 18x18 spot), it only took me about 2 months of playtime to achieve pretty much the same thing i accomplished with my old account.

1. Are there shards where the economy has been controled more (since we have a smaller player base than we did in the good ole days)?

2. Are there shards where the available plots have been scaled to match the player base?

3. Are all shards pretty much like a "ghost town"?, I remember bank sitting & shopping right there at the bank & you could almost never find a spot to sit without sitting on someone's lap. It seems like it will be kinda depressing to go bank sit with 4 other people now.

4. Any other advice for a player comming back will be greatly appreciated, i'm hoping to get myself started on the right shard for what i want before i start back, I think the problem i had last time i came back was I tried to join my old shard "lake superior".

thanks very much

Morkani (mage), Totani(tamer), Elroy(i forgot), Nightclaws(Mule)

 

[Bomb Bloke]

On pretty much all "standard" shards, amounts of gold less then a million are considered pocket change. Recently the weight of gold was reduced and champion spawns were made to spit out more of the stuff.

(The method to the madness is that this makes life difficult for gold sellers, who were previously offering the stuff at like $1/mill. Now it's easier for people to go out and get it themselves, they're less inclined to pay).

The amount of housing does not vary from shard to shard, with the exception of Siege and Mugen (which have no Trammel facet). These shards also have a more active economy, as there's a market for items that just wouldn't sell in other places.

 

[Bruin]

In answer to your questions:


1. Siege and Mugen are really the only shards where the gold economy is better controlled for two reasons; the smaller player base and the fact that on all other shards you can transfer characters between shards and take your gold with you. So arbitrage kicks in on the other shards, making the value of gold about equal.

2. Plots have not been scaled to player base. Because of the declining population though, people have been migrating to the more active servers. These active servers are difficult to find spots, the non-active servers much easier.

3. Some shards have 40 people at the bank (well luna bank, most other banks are ghost towns), some shards have 5.

4. Depends on what you want. Do you want a very active player base? Go to Atlantic. Want RP? Go to Europa. Want as close to the old rules as possible, go to Siege/Mugen. Want a place you can easily place a home, go to the dead shards.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Welcome back.

1. Are there shards where the economy has been controled more (since we have a smaller player base than we did in the good ole days)?

There's barely such a thing as a controlled economy IRL, let alone in UO.

Less populated shards have different economies, and Siege has no insurance so the economy there is DRASTICALLY different.

2. Are there shards where the available plots have been scaled to match the player base?

No. The map is the map, available plots are available plots.

3. Are all shards pretty much like a "ghost town"?, I remember bank sitting & shopping right there at the bank & you could almost never find a spot to sit without sitting on someone's lap. It seems like it will be kinda depressing to go bank sit with 4 other people now.

LS is not a ghost town. Keep in mind though that EVERY shard is not what it was, population-wise, at the time you left. UO, though still profitable and fun, is off of its peak, and we will never, ever regain it. We all need to face that and move on.

I really doubt Atlantic is any kind of ghost town.

If you're looking for bank sitting try Luna on most shards, instead of Brit. Though they are changing the designs of the Brit banks, so that might bring people back to Brit.

4. Any other advice for a player comming back will be greatly appreciated, i'm hoping to get myself started on the right shard for what i want before i start back, I think the problem i had last time i came back was I tried to join my old shard "lake superior".

Ask any questions you may have. Here, on your shard forum, and on UOFORUMS.com.

Check out UOGUIDE.com as well.

LS seems to commonly be considered one of the better shards for new or incoming players, actually. Post on our forum. In-game, look for characters named Taeara something (sorry Tae), Airmid, and others I can't recall at the moment. Find out the community hunt schedule. If you see Galen in-game he is likely to be helpful but be half-a-jerk about it. He can't help it, he's just gruff and unfriendly by nature, but he does try to help anyway.

Look for equipment and power scrolls being dropped at the bank in the town of New Haven.

-Galen's player

 

[morkani11]

Thank you very much for everyone's reply's, I have a couple follow-up's if that's cool.

I'm definately looking for a shard that's very active, hoping to find a brit bank that's active. also looking for a place where the houses are a valued commodity. I love running vendor's where potions/scrolls/other consumables sell well. I also would like to find a shard where you can find a "pick up group" for running champion spawns for power scrolls. I was disappointed with LS because i wasn't able to find anyone in any champ spawnsI've never played without a trammel faucet (i joined right after it was added i think) so i think most of my questions are in regards to this playstyle.
I've never done much in the way of "PvP" but the idea of going to siege or mugan is actually fairly intriguing to me. I always hated the "insurance".

does both siege AND mugan have no insurance?,

I probably won't be able to place a house on either of these 2 shards correct?, it will require me purchasing a home from someone else?

it sounds like consumables & even armour will sell pretty quickly on these 2 shards because of the pvp ruleset correct?

is pretty much everyone on these shards "red", or you get a pretty even mix.

any other tips on joining one of these two shards? thanks again

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Most of your questions concern Siege. Be aware that while there's no insurance there, there's also no Trammel. I'll let someone else answer beyond that.

As to champ spawns....My impression is that on pretty much every shard champ spawns are no longer the "random people show up, form an ad hoc group, and work them together" that they were. Since Age of Shadows (an expansion), champ spawns are done on most shards, most of the time, by guilds and/or alliances. There are conscious efforts to maintain control over a spawn area and make sure that only your guild/alliance gets the scrolls and champ spawn artifacts (the latter is a VERY recent addition).

If there is any shard that has the post-Publish 16 "system" of spontaneous groups of blues forming to work champ spawns, and generally not attacking one another or reporting on one another to reds, I am unaware of it. I guess 1 out of every 1,000 spawns are done by spontaneous groups; the other 999 are done by guilds and alliances.

The very recent introduction of champ spawn artifacts and scrolls of transcendence has made Ilshenar spawns active again. On LS at least, those are typically worked by spontaneous groups. There's a little community of people that works them.

There's also a "Community Champ Hunt" every....Friday I think? The community hunts also tackles Peerlesses and other things.

-Galen's player

Thank you very much for everyone's reply's, I have a couple follow-up's if that's cool.

I'm definately looking for a shard that's very active, hoping to find a brit bank that's active. also looking for a place where the houses are a valued commodity. I love running vendor's where potions/scrolls/other consumables sell well. I also would like to find a shard where you can find a "pick up group" for running champion spawns for power scrolls. I was disappointed with LS because i wasn't able to find anyone in any champ spawnsI've never played without a trammel faucet (i joined right after it was added i think) so i think most of my questions are in regards to this playstyle.
I've never done much in the way of "PvP" but the idea of going to siege or mugan is actually fairly intriguing to me. I always hated the "insurance".

does both siege AND mugan have no insurance?,

I probably won't be able to place a house on either of these 2 shards correct?, it will require me purchasing a home from someone else?

it sounds like consumables & even armour will sell pretty quickly on these 2 shards because of the pvp ruleset correct?

is pretty much everyone on these shards "red", or you get a pretty even mix.

any other tips on joining one of these two shards? thanks again

 

[Favith]

Hi all!

I'm in the same boat as Morkani. I've played every MMO out there but I'm just now coming home to the only REAL quality MMO still around--UO.

First of all, it's nice to see a helpful community still! I always loved the UO community.

Secondly, to add to Morkani's questions:

First of all, Is the test shard always up and available for play or does it disappear sometimes like it used to back in the day? I'm playing there right now just to a get a feel of where I'd like to take my first character once I pick a live server.

Secondly, what is the Retribution shard?

What are the pink scrolls I'm seeing on vendors with .1 of a skill selling for millions? Does that scroll actually give you .1 of said skill for free?

As far as T-Hunting goes--how is it today? I used to have a full GM Bard/Thunter (lost the account info ) and it was my favorite character. I loved to solo Thunt--is that still possible with a Bard (level 5 maps)? Are there harder maps than level 5 yet?

And finally, why is everyone I talk to telling me that GM fishing is more fun/valuable than Thunting now? Something about nets giving rares?

I'll have more questions later (but not back to work I must go!). Thanks in advance for anyone that answers!

 

[Krazanth]

Welcome Back Favith,
On Test Shard question, those go up and down usually around patches and are fun but certainly not stable. I think the "Retribution" is just another test shard for focus groups but I could be mistaken.

Pink Scrolls, the champ spawns now give those pink scrolls as drops while you work the spawn. JMO but they are alot more fun to get in the spawn than to buy . Tram give .1 to .5 and Fel gives up to 1 full skill point. All the drops are random skills so you will get alot more worthless ones than the type you might be desiring.

Thunting, there is a forum for that one that would be your best bet. I've always been a part of the group not the thunter so I'm not very qualified to answer about that.

Fishing, One of my favorite past times. The reference that you caught was regarding the white nets. One out of many of the MIBs now contains an Ancient SOS. These will fish up a white chest which will contain a white net. Tossing the white net(best done in a group) will spawn a large group of sea monsters and the Leviathan. The Leviathan may give the fisher a unique arty (Seahorse or Anchor) and will always contain a minor arty.

Hope this helps and a sincere welcome back to you and others, good to have you here.

 

[Favith]

Krazanth--Thanks for the answers!

A couple of other questions (for the community at-large):

In the early years when I played you pretty much had to be a Provo bard or a Tamer to do any kind of viable soloing. I understand that the Necro/Mage combo does well now, but are any melee builds able to take on rewarding solo PVM activities?

Do you still need at least 40ish magery to be able to insta-travel or are there other options?

Does having Poisoning on your character still increase the damage done by poison-based spells in magery (and I guess now necro too)?

Does Inscription/Alchemy on a character increase the power of the scrolls/potions (I believe I read that this was the case, but I don't know how old the information was)?

Is skill gain any faster now or do you still have to 8x8 boat-grind most things until you're blue in the face?

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

Necro/Mages are very good for PvP and doing Champs. Sampires or Wammies are a good melee PvM template, however they require alot of high end items to work well. Samurai/Paladins are very good for PvM as well, and don't require as much in equipment as Sampire/Wammy.

If you have Recall scrolls in your Runebook, you have 100% success chance to Recall. Paladins have Sacred Journey (Basically Recall), and Necromancers have 100% success chance at Recall when in Wraith Form, still takes regs though if you don't have LRC.

Poisoning still benefits the Magery "Poison" spell. Poisoning + Magery skill must equal 200.0 to do Deadly Poison with Poison or Poison Field spell. Evil Omen + Poison (Cast by a Nox Mage) not only makes the Poison spell practically unresistable, it also boosts it to Lethal Poison. Nox Mages are great for group PvP, especially at Champ fights. They can break a siege on the Despise Bridge or in Terathan Keep.

GM Inscription increases the damage of your offensive Magery spells by +10%, and improve your Reactive Armor/Magic Reflect/Protect spell.
GM Alchemy increases your Explosion Potion damage, as well as increasing your limit for Enhance Potions property.

They got rid of the 8x8 method. Now skills are a lot easier to gain.

 

[Bruin]

solo pvm:

Tamers
Sampires (Necro Samurai's) - tough as it requires the right gear.
ABC - archer/bushido/chivalry (could even replace archery with melee)

These three templates dominate pvm, with the easiest to get up and running on being ABC, requires the least amount of gear (sampire the most) or boring training (the tamer).

Bards also do ok, but not great, they do better as a compliment to something else, like a disco tamer. Bards used to dominate in field spawns, like going to destard and owning dragons. Problem is that this game has now gotten the 'boss' mentality where everyone goes up to kill a main boss character and that's the only monster around so you can't provoke anything, and they're usually too tough to peace. Disco is nice, but only in as a group, ie you disco the boss and your friends kill it.

 

[morkani11]

i remember i used to love taking my WW to (i forgot the name of the dungeon) but there was 2x blood elementals & my tamer had provo as well. I think i recall provoing the 2 bloods on each other, & while i was waiting for one or the other to respawn, my ww or nightmare would stay on it. this worked very well and good drops if i recall correctly.

this still a viable option?

 

[Krazanth]

Blood Eles are still good hunting but the Greater Dragon is the pet of choice for most now. I still keep a good WW and Regular Dragon but mostly for nostalgias' sake. If you need help taming a Greater Dragon just flag any tamers you happen across. Most like the challenge and get bored of trying to farm a good one solo. I'm on Chessy but work has been messing with my game time lately.

 

[Kylas]

I used to play back in the glory years of UO, about 3 or 4 years worth, i quit playing not too long after power scrolls came out, right about the time they raised the monthly fee.

I'm pretty sure the glory years where a few more further back.

Dig

 

[Bomb Bloke]

The Leviathan may give the fisher a unique arty (Seahorse or Anchor) and will always contain a minor arty.

Actually, you're far more likely to get no artifact at all off a given Leviathan. The person who summons it has at least a 25% chance of getting one though, which wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't so tedious getting those fabled nets.

Many of the artifacts available via Leviathans are also available from Paragons and Treasure Maps.

http://www.uoguide.com/Artifacts_(Traditional_Minor)

The real allure of fishing, as I see it, is the White Pearls you get on occasion. Grab enough of these, and you can start making Pendants of the Magi (which are one of the few artifacts I consider worth having). The other rare ingredient, the Eye of the Travesty, is relatively easy to collect.

http://www.uoguide.com/Pendant_of_the_Magi

If you like group hunting but don't like PvP, then Power Scroll hunting is not really for you... The two kinda go hand in hand. Consider going after the champion spawn artifacts (which can be earned in Trammel-ruleset facets) or peerless.

http://www.uoguide.com/Champion_Spawn_Artifacts
http://www.uoguide.com/Peerless