When and how did metal become obsolete?

[Briken]

Compared to studded armor, metal armor is pointless. With no dex penalty and all armor resistance is the same besides med able. Whats the advantage to the game for only have 1 type of armor that is better than everything else?

 

[Marisa Kirisame]

Different properties obtained by enhancing metal and studded leather would make metal armor better for certain needs, for example.

 

[Smoot]

metal is very useful. it greatly reduces stamina loss from damage taken, alowing you to have less of a stamina buffering your max swing speed point. I used to allow 30 - 40 stam points as the needed buffer before the metal changes, with 3-5 pieces of metal only around 10stam buffer is needed. Some have even taken stamina leech off weapons completely, something that would have been impossible if not using metal. Plus it gives the 1lmc bonus.

Basically, studded is for warriors or archers with low mana leech weapons or who dont take much damage
Metal is for taking huge amounts of damage. in my opinion the most effective warrior suits are mostly metal, with around 45-50 lmc and high mana leech weapons (70-100 leech)

 

[DJAd]

With metal you get more "stamina protection". I use studded myself for the ability to have 55LMC.

 

[Uvtha]

Compared to studded armor, metal armor is pointless. With no dex penalty and all armor resistance is the same besides med able. Whats the advantage to the game for only have 1 type of armor that is better than everything else?

As well as having much better stam protection, agapite is really handy for covering the fire resist lost with vamp form, and valorite has the highest bonus resists of any material. Metal is MUCH more viable that it was before the armor redo. Many of the suits I see on high end pvmers are metal.

I do think though, that both leather and metal should get bonuses like wood.

 

[BeaIank]

The only dexxer I have that wear studded instead of metal is my archer, because she attacks from afar. The stam protection is much too good to pass. Most of the time I run without stam leech on my weapons thanks to that.
Also, reforging interesting mods such as 5 HCI on metal is easier since shadow, copper and bronze hammers are much easier to come by than spinned or horned kits.

 

[MalagAste]

I think metal and leather should be revamped a bit to add some of the bonus's that wood gets. The bonus's to enhancing or using metal and leather have always been somewhat lame.

 

[King Greg]

Lets hear it for the resists on Gold!

Everytime I go to enhance something with spined I get angry.

 

[Smoot]

I think metal and leather should be revamped a bit to add some of the bonus's that wood gets. The bonus's to enhancing or using metal and leather have always been somewhat lame.

i disagree. wood was always far superior before the patch. now, with wood adding extra stats but no lmc or stam reduction, i think its pretty evened out. Given, you dont need metal for normal spawn, but i would dread going back to doing the hardest content in UO, like blackthorns dungeon captains, primeval lich abyss champ spawn, or styngian dragon in anything but a suit with 3-5 pieces of metal (6 is a waste, it really caps out at 5)

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

No armor has a dex penalty. Has not since Age of Shadows. Apart I guess from the odd artifact that has a penalty on that basis.

Meddable armor is meddable, but has no LMC cap bonus and does not block damage to Stamina. It is worth noting that the amount of Stamina you can gain back by Refresh Potions and Divine Fury has been nerfed somewhat.

Non-meddable armor made by tailors (studded, bone) has a great LMC cap bonus and blocks an OK amount of damage to Stamina.

Non-meddable armor made by blacksmiths (metal armor) has an OK LMC bonus and blocks a great amount of damage to Stamina.

Non-meddable armor can benefit from a particular crafting technique I think called refinement which is little used but much liked by those who use it.

I know nothing about wood armor.

People like studded because they like having the LMC cap bonus and figure it's worth sacrificing a little Stamina blockage to have the extra LMC.

In other words: They use it because it works great for how they play, not because it has some inordinate advantage.

-Galen's player

 

[NuSair]

And all this because they made special moves cost mana (bad choice) instead of being on a timer (better choice).

I really haven't found the difference in stamina loss to be that big between studded leather and metal. IMO- they need to get rid of refinements and have the various armor levels affect max resist / dci (with full plate being the highest possible resist and low DCI, make cloth armor available to humans/elves and have that be the lowest level of resist/highest DCI). That is how I would have done it (actually I did, but that's another story).

The LMC is pretty significant.

Wood armor didn't get stamina resist or LMC added. But, I still run my favorite fencing sampire in his wood armor emhanced w/ heartwood, and really only notice the difference when I get hit by things like Rikktor.

 

[Marisa Kirisame]

Timer is bad, all cooldowns suck.

 

[NuSair]

Design and balance wise, it is better than having mana fuel special moves.

 

[Smoot]

Design and balance wise, it is better than having mana fuel special moves.

its not in the current design of the game. mana is a main sought after stat on gear. the main focus of pvm is loot / gear, and removing the need for that would break the current loot system / incentive to pvm. im not saying a design change could have been made far in the past, but currently it couldnt be done. One of the reasons why people play UO is theres no gear-rush. armor stays relevant for at least 3 years on average and a change to mana dependent special moves at this point would mean altering how the mana stat increase and mana regen mods on any gear already out there work, on past and future gear.

 

[Uvtha]

Also, reforging interesting mods such as 5 HCI on metal is easier since shadow, copper and bronze hammers are much easier to come by than spinned or horned kits.

Oh yeah, didn't even think about that. If I weren't on siege I would probably use metal, but since my suits are a bit more

its not in the current design of the game. mana is a main sought after stat on gear. the main focus of pvm is loot / gear, and removing the need for that would break the current loot system / incentive to pvm. im not saying a design change could have been made far in the past, but currently it couldnt be done. One of the reasons why people play UO is theres no gear-rush. armor stays relevant for at least 3 years on average and a change to mana dependent special moves at this point would mean altering how the mana stat increase and mana regen mods on any gear already out there work, on past and future gear.

Warriors don't really care that much about mana honstly, certainly not regens. Imbued levels of +mana are plenty. Of course any weapon must have mana leech.