Popps,
That is pretty much a horrible tamer spec. I’m not sure why you think you “have to have” 120 in all taming, lore, and vet.
Spec points are valuable, scarce resource. You must be wise about making decisions in investments with them just like you must be wise about determining what stats are best on your weapon, spellbook, or your armor suit.
Instead of just slapping everything at 120, use them to gain required abilities based on your playstyle and preferences.
First question: why would you want 120 Animal taming AND animal lore?
Do you regularily use Fire Steeds or a Dread Warhorse? If no, your taming and lore does not need to be that high for animal control purposes.
110 Taming and Lore gives 99% control on a greater dragon and is recommended by many tamers.
HOWEVER, My personal favorite is 115 taming and 105 lore. It uses the same exact amount of spec points to give 99% control on a GD. But it’s better than 110/110, because you can make an item swap macro and swap in a Birds of Britannia talisman and end up with 120 Taming and 110 Lore. 120/110 Gives you better taming ability and an extra stable slot over the usual recommended “110/110” combo. It’s a more intelligent use of your points, IMO.
Macros are easy as pie in the Enhanced Client, and I’m pretty sure UO assist can have this functionality in classic.
Now if you’re one of those tamers who wants the prestige of the “Legendary Animal Tamer” title, that’s cool – I understand – but your Lore can be dropped lower than 120.
Animal control chance is a combination of Taming and Lore, so with 120 Taming according to the stratics calc, you only require 103 Lore to have 99% Greater Dragon control. Congratulations, you saved yourself 17 spec pts over someone who specced 120/120.
As far as Vet, it really depends on how much emphasis you place on vetting and how often you’ll do it. I’ve found Vet to be severely limited and really don’t like it much except for the res. Magery heals are far better for 95% of healing circumstances and can be done from range and do not require bandages which can be looted or you can run out of them.
I only use vet for two reasons. First as an additional heal if my pet is taking a TON of damage. I double click the bandage on the pet, and then drop a magery heal. Both the bandage and the spell "land" on the pet at roughly the same time, healing up to a whopping 100hp or so (estimated).
I would never have a tamer without at least 80 effective Vet for the res. Some tamers like it for the extra stable slots. Again, you have to consider your play style and what you want out of it.
You have potential to save a cubic assload of spec points on Vet if you want to. If you really wanted to be sneaky, spec 80 in vet. Now imbue a ring and bracelet with +15 Vet each.
Remember that Birds of Britannia 1-press macro we were talking about above? Well, use that same macro to swap in your vet rings. Whenever you res your pet or stable your pet you can have 110 Vet, which gives you some stable slots, yet at the same time does NOT waste spec pts.
Now, according to a recent post by Lord God, the check for skill in music and disco is only done at the time of disco attempt. Again, with creative use of items and 1-press keyboard macros you could get some jewels made with +15 Disco/Music and spec 90 Disco/Music but have 120 effective. This alone saves you 60 skill pts.
So here’s where we were:
120 Vet, Lore, Taming, Disco, Music =
600 Spec pts (lots of waste!)
Here’s what I’ve discussed:
120 Taming (115 Trained, 5 BOB Tally)
110 Lore (105 Trained, 5 BOB Tally)
110 Vet (80 trained, 30 from jewelry)
120 Music (90 trained, 30 from jewelry)
120 Disco (90 trained, 30 from jewelry)
---
Total spec pts spent:
480
Spec pts saved:
120!!!
You shaved 120 skill pts off your spec which are now available for magery, med, etc just by being smart about where you place points and using 1-keypress macros for things like stabling, ressing, and disco.
In conclusion, here are the focus points for this post:
- Spec for gained abilities, playstyle or preference – NOT just to get “120”
- Be aware of game mechanics and use them to your advantage
- Use item swapping macros to save skill pts wherever you can