Arms Lore, why so difficult?

[Nestorius]

I got myself in a UO rut for the last few months (years?) since Arms Lore was made useful again.

Basically, I feel I need to upgrade my armor by burning the few runics I've accumulated, but it would be a waste unless my mule crafter has a 100 Arms Lore.

Therefore all my characters are at a stop until arms lore is gm'd and new equipment is made.

But goddamn, I can not stand this raising Arms Lore. 93.3 after over a year. I've been logging in to get a GGS for months (years?) now, I get unmotivated even logging in. I can't stand pressing a button or macro over and over again for hours. Its so hellish, I just stop caring.

Is this a whine? Or are the mechanics broken? What the heck is with Arms Lore, how difficult is it supposed to be to raise? Why do you need to lore an item 30 times or more to get a gain? I'm sick of this...

Some tips on how you yourselves overcame this sucky aspect of the game would be appreciated. I'm the kind of guy who actually enjoyed gm'ing lockpicking, by the way.

 

[Heimi]

Seeing how Arms Lore is target based - make a macro for Last Skill/Last Target, assign it to spacebar and just hold it down while you're at the PC. You could do other things simultaneously, but just keep an eye on the screen.

 

[Black Sun]

here's what I did to help alleviate the tedium.
Make up a macro in UOA that lore's an item (you only need 1 now. I used the same axe from 0 to GM) in your pack, pause a few seconds (is arms lore 10 seconds between uses? I can't remember.), then lore that item again. Keep doing this until the macro is as long as you can get it. Then you can play it once, and it will lore that axe (or whatever you picked) 30 or so times before you have to replay the macro. I usually put in a bit of text at the end to signal me when the macro has finished. Then just sit down with a book and keep an eye on your screen for that text to tell you when that macro finished. Just replay as often as your attention spawn will allow, and you should be there in no time.

 

[Harlequin]

here's what I did to help alleviate the tedium.
Make up a macro in UOA that lore's an item (you only need 1 now. I used the same axe from 0 to GM) in your pack, pause a few seconds (is arms lore 10 seconds between uses? I can't remember.), then lore that item again. Keep doing this until the macro is as long as you can get it. Then you can play it once, and it will lore that axe (or whatever you picked) 30 or so times before you have to replay the macro. I usually put in a bit of text at the end to signal me when the macro has finished. Then just sit down with a book and keep an eye on your screen for that text to tell you when that macro finished. Just replay as often as your attention spawn will allow, and you should be there in no time.

Arms lore is a 2 sec skill

 

[Black Sun]

Arms lore is a 2 sec skill

Even better!

Is there a chart for how long each skill makes you wait for? All my macro's are set for 11 seconds just to be on the safe side.

 

[Lady Michelle]

You can also gain in making pieces I Gmed my arms lore by filling tailor bod deeds. I started with cloth ones, All leather types, and All studded leather types til I GMed arms lore.

 

[Basara]

you can make more arms lore checks per minute making things, than by loring an item over and over.

Consider that the Tailor Hat BODs of normal quality can be filled by a person with no tailor skill (it's easier if human, but still possible for elves). For actual tailors & blacksmiths, remember that the following items can give Arms Lore gains
Blacksmith: Weapons, Helmets, Chainmail, Ringmail, Platemail (in other words, everything but shields and barding deeds)
Tailor: Hats, and all armor types.
Tinker: All weapons, including crafting tools that can be used as weapons (sledgehammers, smith's hammers, pickaxes, and, strangely, the hammer tool for carpentry, which HAS weapon stats, but is not equipable)
Carpentry: weapons, wood armor (but not the shield)
Fletching: Bows & Crossbows of all types.

Basically, if it can have an exceptional DI from crafting, or additional resists from being crafting exceptional, it can give Lore gains when you make it.

Also, if you have soulstones, have your FLETCHER train arms lore for ALL of the crafters on your account.
All of the fletching quests that make bows/crossbows will give arms lore gains - typically 1-5 per 2k wood (about what 1 person + 1 packy can hold) in the 90s range. These are the same quests that give the fletching runics, so you kill 2 birds with 1 stone (3 if you don't have all the rare recipes yet).
Just set up KR client to Make number = 10 and mark as quest item, make only bows (reclicking the NPC each time to you get the "A simple bow" quest - easier than rejecting quests), and grind away the wood.

 

[Kojak]

(he's actually sitting there pushing the button over and over for hours - lol)

 

[Warpig Inc]

Kill two birds with one stone by doing the fletcher quest or the tailor Flowered Garland quest in the elf city. Make skill gains while having a chance at a runic or recipes.

 

[Basara]

Kill two birds with one stone by doing the fletcher quest or the tailor Flowered Garland quest in the elf city. Make skill gains while having a chance at a runic or recipes.

Yep, and as I've pointed out before, that's one check per item made (is that 1 item per second or as fast as 1 per half-second, using a UOA macro or KR Make Number?), which also works out to TWICE (or more) as fast as simply loring an item over and over with its 2-second wait time.