Ten Years Later...well....Twelve

[Jonathan Baron]

Fact is I screwed up. Should have taken the gift, said thank you in the extreme, and if he saw me around not wearing it I could have said I only use it for special occasions. I already have a separate set of clothes for town that have nothing warrior or magician about them. I have the unattractive but effective suit I don't mind watching the wear numbers descend on.

And I should be shot for doing such a thing. Someone will love that suit, benefit from that suit, and should get that suit. This isn't walking up to some stranger to ask who's he fooling with his comb-over. Different brand of questionable honesty.

I never held with the saying of don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Give the horse to someone who'll get the most out of it.

Not saying I'm right. There is no right, or at least I can not discern it in those terms, in something like this. There's just choosing your dilemma.

I agree with your fundamental premise, Beer, that many feelings and beliefs have no business in the online world. I have, however, for many years objected to the notion of there being a real life and a virtual one. Each has its own conduct code, as do bars compared to churches, and weddings compared to funerals.

In UO we live. It's real because it every element of who we are, along with intimations of aspects of ourselves, deep and authentic, can manifest with greater impact when intense experiences that would cause mortal harm are presented to us nightly in a manner we'll survive. Conflict reveals character. Sometimes we're not happy with what it reveals <cough> but someone said the unexamined life is not worth living. This so-called virtual experience, unexpected and often unbidden, is both a fantasy life and an examined one.

I'm often puzzled, and I'm not referring to your comment, Beer (it simply hit a trigger ) when folks make an often vague reference to a real world. What reality populates it? Scientists discovering how life and the universe operates? Scholars in academic institutions striving, each in their own area of hard earned expertise, to contribute to the body of human knowledge? NEVER. How authentic, how genuine is the world they're seeing as real? There is common sense to be had there and necessary applications of working practicality. Yet it has relatives as ineluctable as in-laws. That family is always in the same room with he other. It's a world filled with spin, half truths, and the motto, "Perception is reality."

When I go up in my airplane the mountains, storms and laws of physics rule no matter whether I perceive them or not. No verbal cunning, no list of taking points, no connections with influential human beings has any influence whatsoever over such things. Up there, in the sky, now that is reality

What's real to each of us is what moves us. And, and I've said - perhaps too often - human beings cannot distinguish between emotions based on where they're felt.

That was some sh*t we got into there at Buccaneer's Den tonight, eh? Those unexpected dangerous beasts unknown to nature induced every particle of everything the body does when confronted by danger was firing alright. Well...I exaggerate. If confronted by one of those Soul Harvesters outside my door I would have felt more and, had I survived, would have needed a change of pants.

Have I beaten this point a bit too hard?

In an act of pure cowardice last night I logged in with my character on the Chessy shard. Didn't want to face seeing the guy who made me that suit in LA, and his many, many friends.

As I stood at the bank at Haven a goods exchange box popped up out of nowhere. Someone was offering me one of those rideable mini-dinos I love so much. Man, I hit that Accept button in less than a second, but before I could even see who my benefactor was, much less say thank you, he or she had Kal Ort Pored outta there.

Although I somehow managed to perform the rename/feed/stable beginning of the bonding ritual, my actual throat felt as if it were closing and real moisture filled my eyes.

Jonathan
-

 

[Saunders]

There's nothing odd bout having real feelings about in-game events. That is what makes it a compelling and engaging world, and you are a real person interacting with other real people, not just the only player in a single player game.

For a long time it was peole in my guild who made me want to return and return, and then some less pleasant interactions that made me stay out of the game for a long while (but never cancel accounts, because that would make my chars die, somehow).

Kindness is kindness, courtesy is courtesy, memories are memories, in Sosaria or meatspace.

And if a particular item displeases you, for whatsoever reason, it's part of what makes you an individual in whichever world you are operating at the time.

Anyway, that sensitivity of yours, which is upset about being rude to your benefactor, will probably mean that you are never truly rude. I'm sure they will be glad to see you back on LA.

 

[Jonathan Baron]

Sorry, Saunders, it was precisely because I would have felt just as badly had this been a face to face injury that triggered my rant.

Plus you have to understand the way this medium has been viewed over the years as the past time of deeply flawed human beings, incapable of genuine relationships. All the while many of those very critics get hooked on television series, not due to any high quality stories in the teleplays but because they've formed vicarious connections to the characters. That's the same mental mechanics of celebrity stalkers.

So who's the twisted one?

It's been a long war and it's not over.

But rather than tell tales about online games in general, back to UO.

A miraculous - for me - thing happened this evening. No, I'm not talking about that overwhelming conflagration that Beer, Basara, and others (and their dragons) got into camping at a treasure chest on Buccaneer as defending spawn from the depths of nightmares dreamt inside the deepest reaches of the earth emerged to thwart the pursuit of phat loot. That was a scrum at the edge of my comprehension. I think I learned enough to do better when next we pull a "Is THAT all ya got?!" endeavor of that kind.

Rather, my llama Arnie lived and he had no business surviving.

UO pet lore, among some, insists that frequent feedings make even unbonded creatures stick close to you. Who knows. Maybe it did once, as did the business of food affecting skill gain rates and such, though I think that went the way of The Power Hour.

Bottleneck in cave. Bandit mob pounces. Target cycling goes out and I have to double-click to select foes. Yup, my "I'm getting whacked" waving head gets in the way as I do this and I dismount. Instant death usually, especially against the Kevlar monkeys. But Arnie holds his ground; doesn't wander an inch. Bad guy in front goes down and I have that precious second to jump back aboard Arnie and we "Get out of there!"

Okay, so it meant something to me because....well...you know my history with digital buddies. Plus I feel worse when it's a llama 'cause they're so damned cute and make damned cute noises.

Having lost count of the days since a Guild buddy gave me a little white dragon and a medium sized one which I promptly performed the bonding ritual on, I figured it was getting there. So, I'd get them out, give 'em some raw Boura ribs, and put them back. Earlier tonight I did it. Nothing special.

Ah, but when the clock struck midnight I did it again and saw (bonded) next to their names as they emerged from the stable. BONDED!! At long last I have a BONDED pet....two....dragons....BONDED. I was stunned....didn't know what to do....sent them back into the stable to ponder things. Never rode a dragon, even a smallish one.

Okay, I finally got it together, gave Arnie a rest and took the larger of the two, Gar (reference to Terry Goodkind novels) out and climbed aboard. Saw a strange message just before I did when I held the cursor over Gar....one of those Exceptionally crafted ones you find on your gear. Hell, it ate, it went through the rituals of an animal....puzzled me briefly. Taming as crafting?

The test of the added armor capability, to my mind, was to see if I could, aboard Gar, go into a straight-up fight with a high plains Boura. Normally I grab a monster of an Ornate axe, jump aboard a llama, and make jousting passes at it. Long process full of sound and furry, lots of bandages and Bind Wounds Paladin spells.

This time, with sword and shield I went head to head aboard Gar. DAMN - this was working....oops....gotta run and heal and return, but no jousting. Each time one goes down I feed Gar some of the Boura ribs. Couldn't hurt.

Near my weight limit I did a slow, triumphant trot past the refugees and went to my buddy, Mav's (Agamemnon) place to drop hides and fur into his drop box. His Agamemnon character is a crafter and he needs LOTs of hides.

Only bad part was that I could swear, as I returned Gar to the stable, that his armor rating went from something like 1400 to 1100 but I trust it either heals up or I was mistaken. I'm not about to take him to the blacksmith shop with a repair contract. They die and can be rezed, thus this has to have been something I read wrong.

Thus unlocked another dimension of UO for me. Dunno what it will be like when we go down and I've got to find a vet to bring Gar back, or the other three in the stable: Cherry, the small white one, Mike the lizard, or Stinson the llama. Those latter two have a ways to go.

Holy bat guano....in a short time I've gone from bewildered noob to a respectable but green warrior, and a DRAGON RIDER. Plus with all that obsessive fighting and looting, I've got a few stacks of gold in the bank.

You work so hard to get from one beginning to the next beginning.

And folks still look out for you, but for different and very gratifying reasons. Even though was did little in that mad battle for loot tonight, for example, folks either gave me some or insisted I open the treasure chest and take some.

As the fight ended, the transfer of stuff dialog came up. It was a hat - a Dread Pirate Hat. Hmmmmmm.....it was only after I switched out of my fighting clothes to my walk around town duds that I put the hat on. Man it looks cool! and it was when I saw the cost when I insured it I realized that THIS was a major give of a major prize. Oh how I'll treasure that hat...it felt like a rite of passage...far and away my favorite moments.

And I have a hunch I'll get my innings in tomorrow night during the next phat loot battle, jousting with monsters aboard Gar, swinging that Ornate axe that sings when you land a blow with it. Time to send Arnie to the barn to bond with him. Little guy deserves that at least. Took him home though and fed him a couple of carrots. I'm not quite ready to shared my keep with a DRAGON just ye.

A man is only as good as the company he keeps. It's an old saying but it has yet to be improved. I have wonderful company. Time to stop creeping around caves alone all the time to roll up the numbers. Yet it's not all just training for the Big Show. It's the hat

Jonathan

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Yup - Bucs Den was certainly interesting all right ...

For those wondering Basara (as the T-hunter Gamlin), Jonathan, myself and some others linked up and did a high-level T-chest (5 or 6??). The one with Ancient Wyrm, Balron, Poison and Blood Eles and Titans. My only real gripe about that area is all the vegetation ... I kept smashing my face into trees as I danced the deathjig. rolleyes: But IRL I was laughing like all getout.

Jonathan - was the Dread Pirate hat in the bag out of that chest? Good haul if so! Remember that Gamlin kept reminding us to snag the bag first! <chuckle>

As for my differentiation between real and online worlds, it goes back to my early MUCK/MUD sessions. When in a game, I consider myself as an actor on stage - performing a role I normally don't do - In Character (IC). Altho I didn't use what might be RP phrases last night, you might recall discussions were mainly about the very world around us and mechanics of things. I was IC.

Now, on the other side of that monitor, the very real human was laughing, gnashing his teeth and generally going "WTF??" at stuff going on. Overall quite a night and I learned tactics I can use in my hunts. I learned that an AW can nail my butt 2 screens away once he's targeted me. That was a serious "WTF?" moment ... simply wrong that I can be hit when not in line of sight. That's how I gained at least 1 deathrobe. Won't happen any more, I can tell ya.

Have fun ... stop by the house when you want. Ummm, keep following the road S 2-3 screens and on your right (character right - West) will be Hanses Hostel. It's an Inn.

ADDED: I ran into Tina Small on Europa last night ... she said to tell you "hi!" and hopes you're having fun.

 

[Jonathan Baron]

You forgot the Poison Elementals....not that they mattered or the Titans....you're right, the Ancient Wren has more ways to say, "I Keeel you! I keeeel you all!" than anything I'd heretofore imagined.

Don't how it works in Classic but in the triple D affair you get a stylish summary card of sorts, on the top of the screen, telling you the key info on whatever you've targeted. Has a wee cameo of the beast's face, the name of said beast, and its health bar running along the bottom.

Amidst whirling blue tornadoes with white caps summoned by Rage (the player Rage), blast after concussive blast, a continuous explosion in the smack dab center of the scrum, and the sound of Gamlin's blade chopping, chopping under the Paladin spell of Divine Fury....the beast's health bar DOES NOT MOVE.

From the distant periphery I'm riding toward this mess, glancing for a moment at dark looking word fragments above he battle.... In Manni....Indoimus Est...Patria Postesus...Probter Quo...whatever the F*CK goes with blow-it-to-atoms magic, this hell beast pops off a fireball at me, hitting me, and freezing me in place. It lasts a moment and I charge through this tangle of flailing, unimaginable conflagration, hoping to hear at least one blade whack from my sword before being rendered a cinder.

With the red in my health register almost indiscernible, I keep going in the direction from whence I came, except away, while pouring on the Paladin wound binding spells and fumbling with a bag of bandages ("your fingers slip!"). "No, Rock, charge in my direction!" Rage counsels me later. Yeah....okay. He's both death dealer and field medic who loose forth smiting and healing spells almost simultaneously.

And the miserable creature's health bar still hasn't moved.

Somehow....eventually....it flopped, twitching still, to the ground...dead at last. Even in death, its massive body twitched a few times more.

Roger that, Beer. Satan would have been proud of its spawn.

I have no notion of where the astonishing hat came from...in the treasure chest, in a bag in the treasure chest. I dunna know. I don't know who gave it to me. I simply saw one of those I-present-you-this boxes delivering me a hat and clicked Accept.

Honed, it would seem to a near art, was this division of loot, though I protested, probably enough times to annoy folks, because I felt I'd warranted nary a farthing of it.

Dude....that was EXCELLENT!

Jonathan
-

 

[Beer_Cayse]

When I'd played for a while on Pac ... about 1999 ... I was invited to join a guild there called KoP (Knights of Peace I think). One of the rituals was to take the potential members on a hunt in the Lost Lands Orc Fort. Can we say "initiation"?

Now before you yawn and go "ho hum", this was the UO period where skill and stat locks did not exist. Stats went up/down based skills you worked ... and no control. No enhanced bandies or arties or things. No runic/ASH-made armors or weapons ... and spawns were ferocious in dungeons and overland. Meditation and SS were fairly new skills. I had a mage I was working up as a tank - I thought.

Okay, so 3 melee types and a couple mages round up all of us newbs (myself and one other), lay out the idea of the hunt and rules ... just as last night. Then opened a gate to the Orc Fort area. Right. The fort has an entrance that is a large gated door followed by a 3-4 tile wide entry and another doorway.

That entire area between the outside door and the inner courtyard of that fort was literally covered with orcs ... standard ones, Orc Lords & Captains, and my bane at the time ... Orc Mages. Like Rage was with you last night I had a "protector" but he was NOT a mage ... he was swords. He cross-healed me as he could with the lead Mage casting Greater Heals whenever I came in range. Ummm, did I mention this was essentially Fel so you had no push-through ability, you needed to use refresh pots to regain stamina or wait until it regenned by itself.

I also turned gray by accidentally whacking one of my bodyguards (no one told me I could drag up the damn health bar!). Remember this is before Trammel ruleset, so that action alone could have gotten me killed by someone who wished to do so - I was a criminal. But we made it through to the point only 1 or 2 orcs remained and the spawn was easily managed. The split of cash from that dustup was about 600 gp as I recall ... and that was a kings ransom in those times. All regs collected went back to the mages.

Last nights run reminded me very much of the pandemonium of that first group hunt and the exhilaration I felt as foe after foe went down under my ministrations - or those of others. Skills and tactics I had forgotten came out and yet I learned more because we now have foe with better AI than the Orcs ... and they hit a LOT harder!

PS - oh yeah ... no party stuff like we used either! Stam loss for the armor we wore, depending on type (leather, ring, studded, etc)

 

[Basara]

Yup - Bucs Den was certainly interesting all right ...


Jonathan - was the Dread Pirate hat in the bag out of that chest? Good haul if so! Remember that Gamlin kept reminding us to snag the bag first! <chuckle>

Yeah, it was the special item in the chest we designated for him, but he kept overlooking it, so eventually I just grabbed it and handed it to him.

Those were all level 6 chests. Level 5s are a bit more sedate, with the Titans & elementals of the level 6s, but only Lich lords and regular Daemons, and no minor artifact.

Those were some maps that a person gave me, with the hope that if I got any Greater Heal wands out of them, that I'd sell them to him - so I was effectively doing a THB-style hunt for clients, where I only get to pick through the leftovers after you all were done.

That's one of the things that the multi-shard Treasure Hunters of Britannia guild was founded for - to do the digging and lockpicking for those that can't do it themselves, then step back and let the map owners do the looting. As I have more maps than I could ever solo, I typically will provide maps for anyone that will let me dig them and help me fight the spawn (or even just cross-heal). I would do that all the time with my alliance (we'd get 1 level 6 map for each of us, and I got the last chest to myself).

If you think that was chaotic, you should have seen the one time where we had FOUR of those Ancient Wyrms as the initial 4-creature spawn. Even with 2-3 greater dragons, the party was soon seeing grey all around.

 

[gortman]

Jonathan,

Sounds like you're still having a great time out there in the wilderness - awesome! I haven't been able to get in-game much at all lately - would have been fun to go with you guys to be part of a treasure hunting expedition.

Glad to see you've gotten a couple of swamp dragons. I am still training the one I was going to give you - the trained ones will last a little longer if you die and they are left to defend themselves.

In any case, good luck on your continued adventures and I hope I can hook up with you in-game sometime soon.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Yup - t'was fun for sure. My expedition into Destard last night was fun too. I died but at least got a good result on insurance bug testing and verified GDs can be hurt by a melee Pally.

 

[Jonathan Baron]

Sorry to have been away so long but that business I revealed earlier made me feel like I did during Parry skill training in that sheep pen in Yew.

I find myself at that stage where I have built a competent Paladin but have yet to learn how to make an ideal impact in group ops. Lake Austin is a small community, I built my character on solo efforts, and I find myself still acting as if I'm alone when I'm not. Hit, run, heal, return is not the best tactical S.O.P. in a group of mixed skills. Staying close to field medics whose job is to employ healing to keep you both alive and in the fight has not come easily to me. How could it? I spent my first weeks in situations where staying close to ANYTHING when wounded was not a winning notion.

After you've maxed your points and managed to acquire those scrolls that boost your base skills to 250 and allows others still to rise above 100, it, again, comes down to experience I don't have yet. Unlike learning in the field, optimizing a sword guy - dexer seems to be the term for that - comes down to elaborate math. Folks kept mentioning Bushido. I regarded this as Bullsh*t Oh because I only know it as a philosophy that many people think they understand but only one or two people I have even known truly live. Again, I was confusing the outside world with a game system aimed at making warriors a bit more interesting.

Or bewildering. When you see a Paladin skill profile, what they call templates, with zero healing points, zero focus points, very few Chivalry points, over 100 in Necromancy and Bushido, well....I just get lost. There's some vampire part to the Necromancy that substitutes for healing, Bushido is a large bag of various capabilities whose names have little to do with their usefulness, and so on. And I was just getting used to this business of one guy saying drop anatomy (did that in college) and max out focus, or dump focus and max anatomy.

So, in the wee hours of the morning I went back to that sheep pen in Yew to be surrounded by the sounds of many voices (albeit the bleating of sheep, which these experts are anything but) coming at my stripped away self with the ultimate goal of making me better. Went through half a dozen Bucklers and over two hundred bandages. Hey, the one thing everyone agrees on is that high points in Parry is a good thing.

These are gifts of knowledge though, as meaningful and useful as the armor, weapons, rings, bracelets I've been privileged to acquire though veteran largess. I even have a modest Keep on the road between Trinsic and Britain. More on that last bit later. The items are easy to comprehend and fun to employ. Complex knowledge from people who never left, however, is hard to convert into utility. Up 'till recently I measured the effectiveness of a weapon/armor/jewelry/skill profile combination by counting how many chops it took to bring down an Ogre Lord.

Nothing is as it seems. Take a sword for example. One fine gentleman from around these parts has me meet him in one of those upstairs rooms in the inner walls of Luna. He hands me a sword, imbued, blued, and tattooed with mysterious properties that the specs on the blade only hint at. The metal has that ancient look of swords found among grave goods of Saxon kings when steel was young.

It's one of those Slayer weapons - a concept I hadn't begun to understand. Good weapons swung competently or even brilliantly slay things. Simple. Nope. Some are imbued with properties that make them cut one type of creature's skin with more lethal results than another, straight numbers notwithstanding. This one was a Dragon Slayer. Name kinda grabs ya, doesn't it? Bad news for dragons but for arachnids.....not so much.

There exists in this game certain opposites, such as bug and fire breathing beast. There's math that goes with it that the sophisticated and wise craftsman comprehends and the likes of most of us take on faith. Ah how I wish I could have saved the text buffer of THAT conversation.

SIDENOTE: if ANY of you know a away to save the text buffer on the enhanced client, phuleeeze pass that along.

"So," I say in an attempt to summarize, "If I take this into a fight against a plain sort of Wren, I still won't live but the Wren will hurt more than if I used the shadow iron scimitar that's my standard weapon."

"Actually," he replied, "you may well survive."

Oh well, I thought, after we'd parted ways for the evening, I haven't died in awhile and I've yet to cause a single bonded animal of mine to perish either. So I hunted down a vanilla Wren near the battlefield where the Bane are fighting those other things.

It was dead in two strokes from that sword.

This evening I faced a White Wren in an ice cave - a far more capable beast. Killed it too. Oh sure it took some doing, and I had to use some Paladin stuff, plus I had a magic wielding gal nearby to help keep me from dying of that voodoo that turns your red bar green, but it was that sword doing the chopping and that Wren didn't survive long.

My brain feels full of electrified steel wool.

Okay, moving along to something less mysterious, there's the matter of the UO house. All of us have seen the inside of many, with their soul forges, maps of the known world, a wooden horse, trees growing perfectly fine on rooftops made of stone, a Greco Roman white statue of a man staring skyward holding a spear, and the mandatory painting from a ship wreck. This is just the beginning. Thanks to liberal collision detection (meaning you can walk around in a room PACKED WITH STUFF as if it's not there) the well appointed UO house is usually a vast, random collection of loosely arranged items that would confuse the Collier Brothers.

Please don't get me wrong. It's all positively fascinating and is an enviable demonstration of many years of being an ardent part of the UO universe. Yes, but it won't happen to me.

One morning a Guild Elder shows up riding a HUGE yellow beetle. He says they're good at hauling stuff. He was right.

Let's see. My formerly bare Keep has....a map of the known word, a painting salvaged from a shipwreck, all sorts of trees growing atop the parapets, the Greco Roman guy with the spear, and other notable features and objects d'UO. Furthermore I spent endless, joyous, obsessed hours arranging it all after my most generous benefactor left. I couldn't stop....and I was in love.

From the sheep pen in Yew to my parrot named Aethelred to the sword that kills dragons with two blows to the graduate level courses in the physics of an alternate world, for the life of me I cannot see why any discerning soul would or could choose a more absorbing journey through the looking glass.

Jonathan
Eaglerock on Lake Austin
Luscombe on Chesapeake

 

[Nexus]

Wish I had caught this earlier, I know most the groups running around Chessy and could have easily got you in touch with folks more than willing to help you get re-inducted into the UO way of life. If you still are playing there part of the time and are interested just let me know I'll get you in touch with them.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Part of what I think Jonathan is going through is severe data infusion shock.

@Jonathan - has anyone really worked with you to understand the modifiers you see on the weapons and armor you have? This occurred to me as I read you post today ... and I didn't even think of it when we talked after the T-Hunt.

I mean ... do you know what things like Damage Increase (DI) do, or Hit Lower Attack (HLA), etc? Also with weapons and armors there are those made with Runics (runic hammers, runic sewing kits), Imbuing on top of that ... it's a LOT to absorb.

I actually made a decent Destard run the other day ... dropped Dragons in about 2 good hits - even got a Greater to 1/2 health before another GD popped onscreen. This time I saw the bugger coming and shot out of there before I became dinner once more.

Seriously, information overload for one so long from UO can be nasty and even now I'm not 100% sure on a lot of things and ask questions when I need to. With that new sword, it might be a good idea to post here all the mods it has and we can help you with the advantages/disadvantages (if any) - as well as anything else you need clarified.

 

[Basara]

I explained to him how SSI and the leeches work, at the same time I explained slayers (as I have him that imbued dragon slayer radiant Scimitar). the rest he probably needs help with.

 

[Jonathan Baron]

Aye, Basara under the alias of certain computer guy from Star Trek that night. And the fella, as I noted, gave me quite the fire hose of info along with that splendid weapon.

I think y'all understand why I'd want to save the text buffers of conversations. Yes, I know, it's all supposed to be info available online but I've been unable to find an article that goes down those specs you see on weapons, such as a list of damage types (cold, fire, poison and so forth) and terms like Use Best Skill and several specs Beer mentioned.

Actually, I still have my...dexer on Chesapeake. Joined a large guild there that does a lot of ops so that I could have more opportunities to play beyond the building my guy level and the rare adventure with other players. Yes, I'm dressed usually in a suit that makes me look a bit like a statue (someone gave me a suit of Virtue Armor, as he had several and said it's a good suit for training). Plus I have a good sword. Even got a horse to bond with me. A llama and lizard awaiting that magic week, as my return there was only a few days ago.

I've gotten a second account so that I can get a place to stay on Chessy. Was offered one, which is how I came to know the policy about one house per account. Was given a place and was staying there until the seven day wait limit on what new accounts can do passed. I was staying there actually until I logged on, got a message that the house had kicked me out, and imagine more horror when I found myself "awakening" just outside the Trog cave....yikes!

I feel strange because I do not know the ethics of such things in the UO world. I could really use some advice. Are Guild memberships like marriages, where you stick with one Guild exclusively, or is it common to belong to multiple guilds, each on a different shard? I seem to run afoul of custom....a lot in this life. My Lake Austin guild has been simply wonderful to me, as is obvious from what I've written here. No worse crime among friends that ingratitude.

Got my adorable little Vollem killed today. Was building her up, training her to take on higher level beasts each time. She was doing okay with Trogs until I hit the Guard Me button. Horrible mistake. She took on the whole posse of this tough monkeys, I cannot heal her unless I'm very close, and each Obsu Vulni more her red bar in the right direction in only slight increments per application. Bandages are ignored. I kept leaping in to those furballs she'd create but it was no use. I did not know, or have on my macroed pet command toolbar the order to stop.

I know, I know, I'm regarding this little guy as I would a living creature. I even wrote a lengthy description of Vollems in the Stratics creature profile, as there was little info on them. The arrived with the SA edition. Nobody had anything nice to say about those adorable little guys.

Now a wispy shadow of herself, I took her to the vet at New Haven. Took several times to the vet before I was told she could be brought back. When she was her health bar was near zero and I spent awhile nursing her back.

I was told in the rez dialog box that her resurrection was going to cost her two points of skill. I immediately began from the beginning. As I may have mentioned, each time out she was demonstrating more and more capabilities but sturdy she's not.

Can a rezed combat pet recover lost skill points?

I know....two wholly different subjects. Perhaps I became a bit too absorbed with Cherri Baby (she as named when given to me) training because my adventures with other players were infrequent and always by chance.

It's quite the dilemma....clearly. Lake Austin has in intimate feel, but Chessy has higher activity.

I'd like to simply take the advantages of both. If nothing is happening at LA I'd simply like to logon to Chessy. My LA guild has no web page or other means of posting notification of ops. They probably don't operate in such a manner anyway. I imagine it's simply a matter of long time friends knowing each other and operating spontaneously. Dunno.

It all comes down, as I said, to a question of UO ethics. I'd appreciate some guidance here. I know lots of folks have characters on many shards. Multiple guild memberships though?

Jonathan

 

[Basara]

Most guilds that aren't trade guilds (THB, UBB, FCB) are shard-specific. There's no need to worry about one shard's guild membership being an issue elsewhere, unless you get involved with a traveling PvP group that does Transfer Token "Tours" of other shards to find new competition.

Yes, pets can recover points up to their normal maximums (100, unless 90% of the skill when wild was over 100 to begin with, in which case the higher number applies, IIRC).

A Vollem is identical in stats, skills, breath weapons and spellcasting to the creature known as a Nightmare, only without the ability to ride it, and the Nightmare's stupidly high Taming Skill requirement to own. Even the loot one finds on a Vollem when it dies its first death is identical to that of a Nightmare.

 

[Jonathan Baron]

The notion of looting the corpse of my own pet was....well...actually, Basara, it never crossed my mind.

If I had the ability to heal Cherri Baby from a distance, as magic users can with their combat pets, it would be an entirely different tale. It would also help if I actually knew and understood pet commands.

Tell her to kill, target what's to be killed, and FLASH she's on it. Then the moment she sees another, FLASH, she's on it, even if it means running down the dungeon cave after more of them. The command is Kill All. Often I don't mind this at all when we're in the open. Heck, with nary an instruction of any kind from me she kills off all those truly annoying Mongbats as we're casually walking to a hunting ground.

I need to use the knock it off (Stop) command much, much more. I'm embarrassed to say I was unaware of until AFTER she died. I thought, and had had success with, All Follow Me as the cut-it-out-right-now dictum. However the button I hit was for Guard Me....a far more serious command.

Another embarrassing incident also preceded my knowledge of Stop. I accidentally hit the Guard Me macro button in the Yew sheep pen. My normally sedate and peaceful lizard ride, Maury, had been standing dutifully by the fence. Suddenly Maury thought he was a T-Rex and went after those sheep like he wanted to kill them all.

Not possessing the tools of a T-Rex, neither he nor the sheep were injured before I managed to climb aboard him. In my haste to conclude that bizarre event I didn't pause to dress. If you're not familiar with this manner of increasing your Parry points, you take everything off that the game allows you take off, get a lot of sheep to attack you while all you're holding is a buckler.

Next thing I know I'm appearing at the front door of New Haven bank nearly naked aboard a green lizard because I'd put my Sacred Journey target over the wrong rune book.

Could have been worse. On one book in my bag the default location is the interior of an ice cave dungeon near spawning Ogre Lords.

Once again I demonstrate a bewildering incompetence allied with an angry cosmic force when it comes to animal management.

Thanks for the advice regarding multiple shard team identities. Not sure I'll go ahead with that but i needed to know.

Jonathan

 

[Beer_Cayse]

This page is a list of the modifiers, ranges, what they are found on, caps, what they essentially do. Should help you somewhat.

I have only belonged to one guild (other than my own 1-dog show) in my whole UO life ... KOP on Pacific years ago. I usually am not on when most of the activities are taking place. Thus I would be more detriment to a guild in that regard than an asset.

There is no rule that says you cannot belong to multiple guilds ... even on the same shard ... unless it's a guild requirement. THAT I would honor for sure.

Sounds like you're doing well with the Vollem. As you've now found out,, guarding in the Trog Cave can be nasty. Beware of Lurg and Grobu in Painted Caves when swatting Trogs - they are normally in the back cave but might come out. Lurg hits very hard.

 

[Jonathan Baron]

Wow.....that's nifty, Beer! That was awfully peculiar stuff. I'd see the damned things when I'd look at a weapon.

Hit fireball was particularly odd to me. Wondered if it were a batting average....except the baseballs are on fire. Then there was hitting the magic arrow. Something from those slapping the naugahyde martial arts films I guess.

Hit physical area - as opposed to what area...a monster in the spirit world? Some incorporeal component I'm unaware of? When I hear that swishing sound I'd assumed was a miss, is it possible I hit something else I was unaware of?

Hit lower attack - ouch!

Physical damage 100% - I should hope so. Cold, fire, poison, all these other damages, are they not physical?

Physical damage 10%. Found this on a blue Bone Harvester I looted. Yes, it delivers those other damages that attempt to freeze or burn a monster to death...and if that's not enough, the weapon poisons the *******.

Use best weapon skill - okay, if you insist. I'd planned to spaz, but okay.

Mage Weapon skill -27 . Meant to discourage magic users from picking up a sword I guess.

Durability 80%. Uh...I'll take the one with 100% please.

Self repair 1. One what?

Self repair 5. Ah, that's better. Don't know what the number means there either but at least it works harder to fix itself.

I won't go on. That page covered most of it....in convoluted language but it did.

Only thing I want the weapon to say is Kill Monsters - yes!

Nah, it's cool - very cool - that weapons can be created with great variety and creature specific lethality. Hit 'em where it hurts. Take their money and stuff....that's why we kill them, right? I did try to pull the old stick-up phrase, "Your money or your life!" Didn't work.

Jonathan

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Things like Hit Fireball, Hit Lightning, etc go off on average the % of times listed. If it's 25% then on average, 1 in 4 times that attack mode will trigger and add more damage on the foe. But the average is based on a large number of strikes.

For Hit Magic Arrow, see the Magery spell "Magic Arrow". Essentially MA should force the foes defenses of a certain type to drop/toggle off. haven't used it in years, so can't tell you if it's worth anything or not.
===
Hit ... Area, aka Hit Area Effect (HAE). Be wary of these as ANYTHING within range of you when it triggers is damaged accordingly. That includes your friends and mine - the Wandering Healer. When that happens you are quite literally attacked by all of the damaged entities. Take it from one who did that only once ... it ain't pretty.
===
Consider the resists as "elemental resists" - each having a property to the damage type. The resist number for the foe indicates its ability to shrug off that type of damage to an extent. You always want to use weapons that attack the lowest resist - or use Consecrate Weapon which magically does that for you for a short time.

When damage type is 100% Physical then that is the type of damage dealt, which does hurt something that has high Physical Resist, but not as badly as of you attacked that foe with their weak resist damage type. Example is a Dragon Slayer ... will probably deliver some high level (perhaps 100%) of Cold Damage ... and Cold Resist is the Dragons lowest resist.

Weapons with several damage types are not as effective as a 100% of one type, but can be effective if their highest damage is that which is the lowest resist of your foe.

Weapons with non-physical damage at 100% intensity will be colored - orange for fire, blue for cold, green for poison, purplish for energy. Weapons with several damage mods will take the color of that which is highest (or first in the list case of a tie).

Make sense in a warped way?
===
Use best weapon skill (UBWS) can be handy if you see this really slick weapon that is not in your weapons class but you'd love to have. Example: you've specialized in Macing but see that Ornate Axe you carry around (Swords). If the axe has UBWS, then you can use it and your Macing skill acts as if it is Swordsmanship. Does not apply to Archery, however.
===
Mage weapons ... I might get corrected on this, but I believe it allows a Mage to use that weapon and their Magery (decreased by the number) is the equivalent skill with which that weapon is wielded. A Mage at 120 Magery wielding a Sword with Mage Weapon -20 mod is the same as Swordsmanship 100 when it comes to the effectiveness.
===
Self Repair - unbelievable as this seems, the EA Knowledge Base actually had a decent answer:
"Self Repair When you have the item equipped, and you are in combat, there is a chance the item will repair itself when you are attacked.

The Self Repair property does not work while you're offline, nor does Self Repair work if the item is unequipped and you are not in combat.

You may notice from time to time that Self Repair is not working, for example, on a shield. Shields soak up the most abuse in combat. To extend the example, let's say the shield has a Self Repair value of 5. At this value, the damage the shield takes will take longer to lower the durability, but it probably will not fully repair itself, since the damage done to it is greater then the chance it has of self-repairing.

In contrast, a Self Repair value of 10 is the closest value where an item completely self repairs itself; this is used on items like 7th Anniversary gifts so that they take no damage with use.

A value of 5 on most armor, as in our example above, would keep it in top shape, but please keep in mind that shields and weapons take more damage in combat than armor and will eventually lose all durability."
= = =
So, the higher the Self Repair, the longer it takes to lose durability.

Go to this page and take a look at all the different essays and "white papers" on various aspects of UO. I would point you to the left-hand menu, Category: Combat Related, subcategory "Slayer Weapons". That'll give you some idea of the many types of "slayer" weapons and what foe they can affect.

Under Category "Monsters" is the Hunters Guide with all sorts of data on most of the foe in the game - stats, resists, chance of soloing, etc.

 

[Basara]

Physical damage is probably better called Kinetic Damage. It's the damage the old AR system was good against.

The other four types are of other type of energies. What blocks well against a thump to the head may not give much protection against cold, or fire, or make you a veritable lightning rod (energy).

If a property says "Hit...", it means that it only triggers when you hit, and then only at the listed percentage chance will it occur.

So a "Hit Fireball 44%" means that 44% of the times you hit with the weapon, the target of your attack will get hit by a fireball of a default damage level (since most sword swingers don't have evaluate intelligence).

"Hit Physical area 25%" means that a quarter of your hits will inflict a set amount of concussion damage, based on the damage of your initial attack, to all within its range (several steps), unless your line of sight is blocked (like the target being on the other side of a wall that stops the attack).

UBWS allows a macer to pick up a sword or other non-bashing weapon that has the property, and use it with his full weapons traning for mace weapons.

Mage Weapon lowers the mage's skill, true, but allows the mage to swing the weapon as if that lowered Magery skill was the weapon skill for the weapon (though you can't use special attacks). The most desired Mage Weapons have -0, which means a legendary Mage can swing that staff or sword as if they had 120 in the combat skill. Of course, without Spell channeling, a Mage weapon will pop right out of their hand when they cast, and they have to reequip. Another use for a mage weapon is training mage skill - the mage can use it in combat, to gain skill in magery (the way a warrior gains from using their weapon), or if it's a spell channeling mage weapon, they can equip it as a handicap, so their casting skill is lowered (allowing them to gain skill more easily and more quickly).

A mage with skill-boosting jewelry can compensate for the penalty as well. My mage Mylene goes with friends to hunt the mad spirit Melisande, and what I do is equip a spell-channeling mage weapon bow, with mana leech, and jewelry to bring my magery skill back to 120 after the bow's penalty. I'll cast earth elementals to attack her, and stand back firing arrows for more damage (saving mana for recasting the elementals and healing party members).

 

[Jonathan Baron]

The fact, Basara, that your explanation was phrased with such clarity shows that this cake of ours has so many layers, each of such a different flavor, that it's the boutique confection of the online world

In short these weapons are methadone for warriors creating mage characters.

It's tough. On Chesapeake, on an altogether different account, I've been trying to make sense of how to put together a Mage/Tamer. I put obsessive hours into this because, as my squaddies....er....Guildmates in Lake Austin know, I suffer from such impatience that folks assumed I was a kid at first. Whatever it is, be it blazing bullets large and afire or the staccato THWACKS of a well found warrior and weapon combo, I want to get past the, "Marines....we're LEAVING!" phase to the fighting part that requires more....more the tactical withdrawal

Chesapeake...well....let me put it this way. The initials of Lake Austin are, of course, LA. Chesapeake is Chessy...nice, sweet name conjuring images of the Saturday night dance in a small town in Arkansas where the band can play but the singer can't sing, and the gals are both lovely and could stand to lose a few pounds. Nope, it's the other way around.

Chesapeake is LA in EVERY sense of the American city that bears those initials. Luna Bank is the red carpet of a gala event that never ends. Nobody is BANKING at Chesapeake's Luna Bank. They're, as the old Madonna song says, striking the pose and nobody is riding a horse.

Just outside at the stables an endless cacophony of piercing sounds of animals in distress - training? - in their Siegfried and Roy show, except this Siegfried and Roy are sadists, and the show runs continually 24 hours a day.

I talk with a lot of people there and most of them are okay folks....or the ones who respond to my sort of conversation intros are. In typical UO fashion the good people are helpful, the others are never rude...they just ignore you. True, there's Radio Fel - or radio Felusia - where teenage PKs taunt each other all night long by conjugating the Saxon verb for coitus and asserting opponents alternate lifestyles.

Everyone I meet has stuff....lots and lots of stuff. Many get it, and get bored with it. And this is where my story begins.

I'll skip the details but suddenly I'm wearing an outfit built, I'm told, especially for the Mage/Tamer. Twisting a Bush Sr. line, the suit has over 1000 points of Luck. Then the shield adds another 40, the jewelry....well...it all comes out to 1227. Just how lucky can a guy be? Even the robe covering the suit is very, very lucky though it, along with the lucky wizard hat, makes me look like a San Francisco drag queen.

And everything packs so many skill points - even the spell book adds a gob of Magery points when you hold it - I go from taming bunny rabbits to polar bears with just a costume change and my spell casting goes from the sound of drink made at a soda fountain to an angry expression of Zeus's rage.

The only thing worse than the long, laborious effort to acquire the skills of a new profession is suddenly having them with no idea how to use them. Who am I kidding? It is precisely those long hours spent building a character that makes it meaningful. It's a HUGE part of the game and a chief source of satisfaction.

So I tame of Hart. Cool. I tame a llama - not the rideable kind but one of the ubiquitous, hanging out, variety. Cool. I tame a horse. Wonderful! It took many tries to get the polar to love me - a polar bear inexplicably wandering around the woods near New Haven - but, crap, I tamed a bigass polar bear! After accepting me as their master, as the message says, I issue a few commands to see if it's true and then let them wander off. Fine with me. It's not as if I were in Moonglow where I could help restock the zoo.

Now the magic. I'd been casually picking up reagents by the side of the road, moongates, or just cutting across the woods. Have you noticed that, where you find one, often the whole list of types of them appear somewhere nearby? Sulfurous Ash and spider webs are the real giveaway. Garlic too. Nightshade blends but once your eyes are attuned you see it all easily. The pearls are tougher of course.

Ah, but now I'm Lucky Man! Killing weavers in old Haven brings me a container load of reagents in short order....too many to carry...have to make frequent trips to the bank.

Old Haven, I thought, was a good place to practice spells too. Sure, throw fireballs and magic arrows at skells and zombies. Then, for the first time, I mange to get an energy vortex to appear - WOW! I'm watching this little blue twister move around chewing up things. It chews up the zombies. It chews up the skells. It chews up...oh crap, it's chewing up a wandering healer!! So much for my karma.

Feeling crappy, I head to the stables to see if the rideable llama a guy gave me, before all this began, has bonded with me yet. As you get close to the time you pull 'em out, feed them, see if the bonding message comes up, and put them back.

The NPC stable lady tells me I can't take ANY of my animals out of the stable. What?! Did my bank balance drop below 30 gold coins? She says something about my having too many followers or somesuch. Slots taken...whatever. Does she think I'm the leader of a cult? At least I don't have a house or a Keep in Chessy. Don't have to worry about the FBI and ATF showing up to burn me out.

Oh crap! She must mean all those animals I tamed and let wander off....how the HELL am I going to track them all down to issue them their release? I can't even take the pets I have in the stables and release them. I...am....so....screwed.

As I said, I don't have a place in Chessy. So, I stay (log off) at the Inn in Haven. I head back there to log and regroup. I open the door and the tavern is PACKED with EVERY LARGE ANIMAL I'VE EVER TAMED. Sweet Jesus..how...uh....how the heck did they know where I was staying and why did they all show up to track me down. Unlike some cult leaders I didn't get any of them pregnant. What's the deal?

Thus I lead the procession....the Hart, the horse, the llama, the freaking polar bear, all merrily All Follow Me out the tavern door and off to animal country where I release them, receiving a grumble from each. It was worse later with something called a Frenzied Ostard - I am not sure it's name - which, upon being released, viciously attacked me.

Having read our Basara's post beforehand I wanted to find me one of those Mage weapons and rethink the whole damned thing. Just take off the suit, the jewels, the silly hat and robe, and pass them along to the next hapless guy, saying with an evil grin, "It's a luck suit, my friend." Damn! Sounds like an episode from The Twilight Zone.

If you're on Chesapeake, though, and you want to do it right, there's a rune library next to the Luna stables on the other side of the wall. They have a set of tamer runebooks. Each volume has a list of destinations where, in order of difficulty, specified animals are plentiful.

Unless you turn off your headset or speakers, you'll be browsing to the incessant sound of animal torture but that's the sound you'll be making if take the route I did, however innocently I took it.

Jonathan

 

[uoBuoY]

...I'll skip the details but suddenly I'm wearing an outfit built, I'm told, especially for the Mage/Tamer...Jonathan

This likely means the suit also has 100% LRC...Lower Reagent Cost. The first thing a Mage suit has is LRC. In other words you need zero regs.

My favorite char is a Tamer/Bard (Soulstone in Magery when needed). A Tamer with Disco is awesome.

Get yourself a bunch of those Frenzieds and take them hunting. They have "pack instinct"...each additional Frenzied increases the whole packs damage output by 25%. At 5 Frenzieds you have 100% additional damage...the highest 5 slot DPS in the game (more than a GD!). However they're kind of hard to keep alive but a lot of fun!

 

[Jonathan Baron]

My problem, UoBouY, is that slots and LRC are new terms for me and I don't truly understand them.

To a guy who's played nothing but choppers I still "get it" but I don't. For a Paladin, reagent cost is simply cash. We click the Ankh, tithe gold, and fire off spells. In my case LRC was when Beer gave me a bunch of recall scrolls he had handy when he had me over to his place (thanks again, buddy ).

The luck suit seems to come at it the other way: lower cost for acquisition of reagents. I don't know if it's true really, and the stats I read on Stratics really don't back up my notion, but it seems as if every thing I kill now has at least one ten pack, and often more, of one reagent or another on its corpse. In just a few minutes of killing Haven zombies and weavers I had more reagents on hand than the Mage shop in New Haven.

I should really check what the normal burn rate is for spells and compare it to what I'm seeing. There are many more vendors spread out on Chessy and I find lots selling so-called Mage armor boasting high luck on a suit with 400. As I said, this one delivers over 1200. It was a gift from a guy I'd been asking questions of for just a few minutes.

Others since have told me that a true Mage/Tamer suit is literally tailored toward reducing burn rate and luck is an odd way to come at it.

Problem with reagent-based characters is that you can't insure the fuel. I'd read about these Ostard meat eaters and how effective they are in packs. So I went back - this time to a spot the tamer runebook said was rich with Frenzied Ostards and, this time, they killed me....deep in the desert of the Lost Lands.

Took awhile to get to the nearest down but I would have been close to helpless without fully charged runebooks handy. Beamed back to the rune library, beamed back to the spot, grabbed my uninsurables fast (took two tries as the damned spot is crawling with dangerous things for a Mage who does not understand his weapons thus I had to beam back to the library in a hurry and try again).

Did it out of sheer obstanance. But I digress...

It would seem to me, and this perhaps is the sword guy taking, that the ideal Mage/Tamer suit would favor 70s in all the resist categories over cost of reagents or luck. Yet the warrior suits boast 70s and the Mage suits favor reagent cost. I don't get it. The cost of reagents in on par or cheaper than the gold per spell cost of those of the Paladin, and they don't weigh much.

What powers do Bards have the prempt normal weapons? And how can disco have power to do anything but serve as a nausea spell?

This slots business is mysterious and I was frustrating getting a straightforward explanation for it in my web searches. It's not just tied to animals but also to certain Mage spells. I read a guy on the tamer forum explain that it was tied to a player's skill points in taming, lore, and veterinary expertise. Interesting but it fails to explain what a slot means.

In short how can a guy keep a squad of FIVE attackers reminiscent of Jurassic Park? Are slots related to stable space? If so, how can a fella keep more than just the pet they ride when they have a five slot creature such as a Greater Dragon?

Was killing Trogs last night on Chessy with the Paladin character I have there. Was testing out a strange sword called Righeous Anger that I'd not seen in Lake Austin. That character also wears Virtue Armor, thus the sword's name fit. Also hoisting a Dupre shield, it looks like the movie version of a knight, but I digress....

A gal is already in the trog cave, also testing out a new sword. I soon see I'd not be butting in if I joined the fray. A mob of these tough angry monkeys are all over her, her health bar is not looking too healthy, so in I go and never have I heard such vigorous and rapid chopping sounds as when we were attacking the mob from two directions.

Then a Lurg and some black walking bear-like thing show up and we flee to safety.

"brb" she said and, moments later, she beams in with her Mage/Tamer character, a Greater Dragon, and a Nightmare. After that it was simply plow-the-road.

So, how can she keep a Greater Dragon *and* a warrior horse? Is this slot system the reason why I often see the Mage supporting the combat beasts with healing from the rear always seem to be on foot?

One thing for certain, a pack of crazed Ostards gives fresh meaning to that All preceding most pet commands.

When I get the hang of this I will write a proper article on the fundamental terms employed when folks discuss this subject. Although no longer quite a newbie, its terms are counter-intuitive at best, and bewildering at worst.

Ultimately, for me, it comes down to this. Even if these Sampire warriors and disco tamers are effective and clever means of mixing game systems, is this all more an adaptation to lower player numbers than something that makes an online game an online game?

Would it not be more interesting to approach taming as a team sport where one or more warriors handle the retinue of a noble beast while the tamer goes in to tame?

And from a roleplaying standpoint, doesn't it feel better to rely on teamwork in combat rather than solo tank characters?

This may simply be an idealist's point of view though.

Jonathan

 

[Jonathan Baron]

Quick question for once.

uoBouY: when you say use soulstone for Magery what do you mean? Do you pour your Mage skill points into one of those things and then begin training as a Bard?

Can you take those skill points out of the soulstone and put them into another character later? Does it have to be your character who gets them?

Sorry....three questions

Jonathan

 

[uoBuoY]

Quick question for once.

uoBouY: when you say use soulstone for Magery what do you mean? Do you pour your Mage skill points into one of those things and then begin training as a Bard?

Can you take those skill points out of the soulstone and put them into another character later? Does it have to be your character who gets them?

Sorry....three questions

Jonathan

2 kinds of SoulStones: A SoulStone (infinite uses) and A SoulStone Fragment (5 uses only). If you buy one, it must be inn token form.

You rightly described the use of SSs.

The SS is bound to the account that 2-clicks the token. All the chars on that account can use the SS.

 

[uoBuoY]

Jonathan,

LRC (Lower Reagent Cost) simply uses fewer regs at the time of casting. This page lists link to all those abbreviations you see on armor, weps, jewelry (in the red section).

Stable Slots: the higher your Taming skills (including jewelry and Talismans), the more pets you can stable.

Control Slots: every UO char has 5 pet control slots and each pet takes up 1-5 slots. If you see a tamer walking with a dragon, odds are its a Greater Dragon (all 5 slots). Your lady riding the Mare (2 slots) had a normal Dragon (3 slots). The 2 Dragons use identical graphics. The Animal Lore skill permits you to see a critters description and specs...very important when searching for keeper pets.

Forgot to add...Disco is invaluable when training your pets. The lower a pet's skills are, the faster they train.

"Would it not be more interesting to approach taming as a team sport". For tougher tames this is the case today. Very experienced and well outfitted tamers can solo everything but very often I see a team of 2-3 chars working together to tame a GD or a Cu.

2 Bard Skills compliment a Tamer:

Discordance (Disco!)...at 120 skill the target's skills and resists are reduced by as much as 28%. Obviously this makes hunting a lot easier, quicker or you can take on tougher stuff. Also aids in taming things that bite. When they do bite, they don't hurt as much!

Targeted Peacemaking causes the target to lose agro for a time. Area Peace affects all the critters in the area. Helpful in taming and in controlling mobs.

Just be aware that Taming and Disco are 2 of the most difficult skills to train up unless you're a rabid power-gamer. Very tedious, boring and take forever. Also a very fun, effective template!

 

[Jonathan Baron]

Holy crap, UoBouy! Wonderful information!!

I got into this taming business almost by accident. A guy wanted to sell off his Dread Mare and I was getting interested in pets due to my experience with the Vollem a Guildmate gave me.

As I noted in previous posts, I was make a high level tamer prematurely but I took off the jewelry and have worked obsessively to become an honest to god one.

Greater Dragons are the "it" beast du jour. I don't like them, I don't like their looks, I don't like the sounds they make....not my idea. But it made for some interesting deals.

I get the slot system now. It's not what you stable, it's what you take out on a mission. After putting in a few 18 hour days on taming I'm actually getting into and making genuine progress though I find myself dying a lot because this is my first Mage.

My suit was full of luck, as I said. Only way this benefited me was by making reagents cheap. Every binder I killed in Haven was loaded with reagents....1227 points of luck. No Mage shop stocks reagents for sale in substantial quantity.

Now it's a matter of swapping that stuff out for faster casting, lower reagent cost, mana and mana recovery boosts. You know that, of course.

Today, on my own, with my own earned efforts, I tamed a Ki Rin - a horse with such flashy looks it should be named Bling

Learned a lot beforehand by taming five Frenzied Ostards to use as a wolf pack. Each turned on me at first. But I was patient. This after taming sheep, bulls, ridgebacks (the trip to get to their spawning ground on Compassion is more dangerous for a Mage who really doesn't know how to fight yet than any other part of the endeavor).

Oddly, the Ki Rin carries nearly the same difficulty level as a Nightmare. Hard to believe. The one I tamed seemed to warm to be before I even ran my taming macro. Something about the tamer's karma figures in. All four of my characters have high karma....not sure why. Something about my play style I guess. Dunno.

I was told that the Unicorn that was hanging out in the same area would have gone after me before I even hunted the Ki Rin had my karma been bad. It as right there in the open. The Ki Rin took some work to find, as only one spawns there at a time.

As Saul Alinsky - founder of the Socialist Workers Party a long time ago - said, "The best things happen for the wrong reasons." Smart guy, Saul. A true political realist among zealots. Can't say I'm a Socialist but I admire intelligent advocacy, but I digress.

Building characters you're used to building is safe, and probably the first thing you should do in any game. Been building wielders of swinging steel for a long, long time....well....except for EQ where healer skills were easy to acquire and was a great way to meet people and make friends.

The Mage/Tamer, however...OMG, you have to think in a wholly different way. And, I must say, this experience has been the most satisfying and absorbing one I've ever had in an online game since Air Warrior.

For the likes of a person like me, nothing will ever top Air Warrior. It was often such a sheer lose-yourself-in-the-moment pure thrill. After some missions I could not type because my hands were shaking so badly I'd have to stuff them in my armpits. Games like that aren't for the mass market. I ran the design and development of that game for six years. I'm proud of it but I never for a nanosecond believed that a game that required genuine skills rare in man could ever be big. Time Magazine made a big deal out of it in '94 but only because it contained so many firsts.

The Mage/Tamer is the closest I've come since to that sort of absorption in every second. Approaching a hostile creature, often dying in the attempt, yet knowing you'll one day succeed if you persist and develop true skill beyond game bestowed powers....that's powerful juice.

Yet, in any profession in this game it's not like religion: you don't get there by devotion alone. You can build a character of substantial power within the game world. You can be handed the same. Yet it all comes down to what you do, not what you have, not what your skill sheet says or the templates you follow.

On a small shard such as Lake Austin you'll seldom find the big squad level joint ops (multiple professions) exercise. Thus taming, though a solo activity, is a meditation that works as a surprising substitute.

Hey....the servers are back up after being down since this afternoon for a major database upgrade.

Time to get killed by that Nightmare...one...more...time

Jonathan

 

[uoBuoY]

...No Mage shop stocks reagents for sale in substantial quantity...

What we do is mark runes to all or most of the mage shops. By the time you've bought out all the shops, they will restock with twice the amount you originally bought. After 6 circuits each reg you bought will be at 999 (the limit). I think this works with all commodities that stack.

Whenever I do this, I tell my friends when I'm finished and they are always very grateful!

 

[Saunders]

I used to buy reagents from the faction sellers, while standing on the roof of Moonglow bank in Felucca. Sadly there are only bottle sellers there now.