[NEWS] FoF: Parrying and Potting

[Larisa]

FoF: Parrying and Potting
Jeremy Dalberg
08 Aug 2008 18:14:50




"Why am I not getting GGS gains on Parrying?"

This question came from a long-term UO player - me. I'd been fighting a lot of lower-level critters - Lizardmen, Earthies, etc - putting together my Virtue suit, and realized I hadn't gotten so much as a single GGS gain - not only on the lower-end critters, but on the Ogre Lords and Drakes I'd tackled as well. That seemed odd, so I dragged Leurocian through the code with me to figure out why.

Parrying is a difficulty-based skill, which means you have to be performing actions of a certain range of difficulty to have a chance to gain. There's an explanation of difficulty-based skills and skillgain here - Parrying, specifically, uses a focus of 100 instead of 50, but otherwise that description applies. The "difficulty" in this case is the monsters' percentage chance to hit you. (You can check out the hit chance formula here.)

All math aside, if you're not getting Parrying skill gains (GGS or otherwise,) you're either fighting monsters that are too hard - in which case you need to reduce their chance to hit, by raising your own DCI or by using HLA gear - or too easy - in which case you can remove DCI/HLA gear or use a weapon you're less proficient in. In my case I just dropped my sword and let the earthie take a swing, and I got a gain right away.

--

"Why is it now you have to release the chest to take an item out of a pouch?"

This was a fix for an exploit (that I won't describe, of course) having to do with getting way too many lockdowns. We're going to revisit this fix in the future to try to find a more elegant solution, but we needed to take care of the exploit.

--

"Why can I only get a level 4 Arcane Focus even with five or more people?"

This was an intended (if undocumented) change from the last publish. I talked to Draconi about it, and it is intended - the change was made to allow the design team some greater flexibility with Arcane Focus in the future. So at the moment it's a definite nerf, but there will be an upside a little further down the road.

--

"When is the ROT scaling on Siege going to be fixed?"

How does Publish 55 sound?

We're testing a new set of numbers internally now, and we're hoping to get it on a Test Center with a Siege backup so y'all can try it out and see how it feels. To give you a rough idea of the current plan (and start the debate boiling,) the time to get from 70-120 has been reduced by about a third, and the time to reach the stat cap has been reduced by about the same proportion.

--

"When is Spring Cleaning going to end?"

Consider this your two-week notice - we're currently shooting to turn Spring Cleaning off the third week of August. (It's tied to the publish, though, so if that gets delayed for any reason, you'll get more time to sweep those last few corners.)

When we turn it off, what will happen is the NPCs that currently accept items and hand out tickets will go away. The reward box that accepts tickets and gives prizes will stick around for a while longer to give everyone a chance to use up their points.

--

Now Hiring!

We're looking for someone to be our new Associate Game Designer. Here's the job description and requirements:

Main responsibilities: contribute significantly to game fiction, manage events, balance gameplay, and develop content using proprietary scripting tools.

Understanding and or knowledge of Ultima Online game mechanics, history, and community interaction a definite plus.
Experience as a Game Master, Counselor, Seer, or Event Moderator for Ultima Online a bonus.
2+ years experience playing Ultima Online
Position requires dependable and relevant inputs to current state of the game, as well as contributing to future development of the game experience
Gives inputs to other members of the team to enhance gameplay for the current subscriber base

Due to the demanding scripting system surrounding Ultima Online, the designer must have expansive knowledge of scripting languages and have the ability to produce samples of work using similar tools.
Level editing experience and module creation using open source gaming engines (Infinity, Unreal 2.5 or 3, Doom, Source, Aurora Toolset).
Background or exposure to game development processes in the industry
Essential to have experience working in small teams of 4-6 people.
3DS Max experience preferred
2+ years in the game industry and/or gaming school preferred
Can demonstrate understanding of game design concepts to include flow, decision making, engaging storyline, and integration of art and sound

If you're interested in (and qualified for) this position, please send your resume to jdalberg AT ea DOT com and I'll put it in the right hands right away! Also please note, the position is in Fairfax, VA.

--

What's To Come:

We're firmly stuck in that time-between-publishes that everyone loves so much. The current plan is for Publish 55 to hit TC next week, but this is a good weekend to work on any Spring Cleaning collection you've been putting off, gardeners may want to lay in extra supplies of fertile dirt (the new plant types are up to 15 now, not 10!) and the more martial among us should be certain to polish their weapons and perfect their spells - while there is a lull in the battle right now, the war is not yet over...

--

Town Hall News:

The Seattle Town Hall is much on our minds - will you be there? Check out the details here and please do RSVP.

--

Fansite News:

Whispering Rose Radio's events:

Some of the highlights this weekend on Whispering Rose Radio include ...

~~~~~~~~~

Friday - Aug. 8th - Join TorAnn, Dr. Lil and PantherBabe for UO Shard Chatter starting at 7pm PST, 10pm EST on WRR. Listen and participate with UO players chatting about this week's game topics. At the end of the show hear this weeks contributions to the "You know you have been playing UO too long when..." segment where hilarious endings are presented by UO listeners. Feel free to send yours in (ICQ numbers can be found on the www.wrrad.com website).

~~~~~~~~~

Sunday - Aug. 9th - The Pacific Auction House (located just East of the Luna Moongate) continues after 4 great years to bring you more fantastic deals. Get there early for best seating. Auction starts at 12pm PST, 3pm EST and is broadcasted live on WRRadio.

~~~~~~~~~

*Deal or No Deal ~ 'UO Style' returns next Saturday to Pacific at 3pm PST, 6pm EST with its 100th show. Watch for next weeks 'News' bulletin for full details on the fabulous celebration in store for all UO players .

~~~~~~~~

Enjoy the weekend playing Ultima Online and tune in to hear the live broadcasts from WRR ~ see you all on the flip side.

~~~~~~~~~~


And a few events on Sonoma!

--

Friday, August 8th - Kick off the weekend with laughter and fun during the PAS monthly social with Twisted Rulez Mongbat Darts and the So U Think U'r Funny contest starting at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern on the 3rd floor of the PAS Auction & Vendor house in Luna. Click here for contest rules and details.

Friday, August 8th - After the monthly social, PAS rocks Sonoma with great deals during its monthly AUCTION starting at 7pm Pacific, 10pm Eastern on the first floor of the PAS Auction & Vendor house, Luna. Check here for more information.

Sunday, August 9th - Wedding bells are ringing for Lord Richard Cypher and Lady Wild Flower as they are united in the Caerlton Chapel of Love at 1pm Pacific, 4pm Eastern. Ceremony is open to the public and reception immediately follows on the roof of the PAS Auction & Vendor house in Luna. For invitation & details click here.


--

Have a good weekend, everyone!


- Jeremy


(And yes, Larisa JUST walked in the door...as usual..thanks alot Jeremy *grins*)

 

[Larisa]

Yeah...it's all Melina's fault...she's been complaining about cocoa trees forever *grins*

If you read close...."gardeners may want to lay in extra supplies of fertile dirt (the new plant types are up to 15 now, not 10!) "

Gardeners are finally gettin some love!

Happy Cocoa Tree dance

 

[Setnaffa]

Unless they recently changed the way you gain in Parrying, this information isn't correct. I've gone from 0 to Legendary Parrying in less than 3 hours fighting chickens and sheep as recently as April.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Two weeks left for Spring Cleaning??!!!

*starts gettin' busy*

I've got a lot of farmin' to do!


And btw......for those of you pancakeing about not having 5 questions, even though you always got 5 items, you've got nothing to pancake about today.

Go Siege with your RoT change!!!

 

[Hyssmaye]

I'm very excited about the new plants - but I do wonder why they are all 'stand alones', like the bonsai & ant quest plants, so that we can't cross pollinate them to produce other plant types? Is the 'stand alone' plant code easier to duplicate? Is there some issue with the cross-pollination code that means that adding new generations to the original set of plants is problematic?

But YAY new plants!! Thanks so much!! I've really been looking forward to this, and can hardly wait to see what the new types are!!

 

[GarthGrey]

Then I'll b*tch that you've got time to do a lot of farmin

 

[Pinco]

Good idea the coca trees, we need drugs in uo, alcool was not enough

 

[Deb]

Maybe the extra 5 plants are coming from cross pollinating....(Hopes)

 

[Revenant2]

I feel disheartened.

This thing pretends everything's okay and it's business as usual.

 

[burnttrees]

i have to admit

"Why am I not getting GGS gains on Parrying?"

This question came from a long-term UO player - me. I'd been fighting a lot of lower-level critters - Lizardmen, Earthies, etc - putting together my Virtue suit, and realized I hadn't gotten so much as a single GGS gain - not only on the lower-end critters, but on the Ogre Lords and Drakes I'd tackled as well. That seemed odd, so I dragged Leurocian through the code with me to figure out why.

Parrying is a difficulty-based skill, which means you have to be performing actions of a certain range of difficulty to have a chance to gain. There's an explanation of difficulty-based skills and skillgain here - Parrying, specifically, uses a focus of 100 instead of 50, but otherwise that description applies. The "difficulty" in this case is the monsters' percentage chance to hit you. (You can check out the hit chance formula here.)

All math aside, if you're not getting Parrying skill gains (GGS or otherwise,) you're either fighting monsters that are too hard - in which case you need to reduce their chance to hit, by raising your own DCI or by using HLA gear - or too easy - in which case you can remove DCI/HLA gear or use a weapon you're less proficient in. In my case I just dropped my sword and let the earthie take a swing, and I got a gain right away.

this finally explains why i sat at 79 parry for about a year (i didnt care about it for along time)

Setnaffa

Unless they recently changed the way you gain in Parrying, this information isn't correct. I've gone from 0 to Legendary Parrying in less than 3 hours fighting chickens and sheep as recently as April.

you are correct about the ways to gain in parry quickly i did it with females in a fighting town (sorry cant remember the name and am to lazy to log and get it) by disarming them and wearing no armor. (they do no damage if they are women) What allot of people don't know tho is to gain in parry this way or with cats chickens you need either a shield if your a paladin or a weapon you have no experience in for Bushido and 2 handed at that with Bushido (funny little facts)

 

[Mythic]

Unless they recently changed the way you gain in Parrying, this information isn't correct. I've gone from 0 to Legendary Parrying in less than 3 hours fighting chickens and sheep as recently as April.

Im glad Im not the only one who thought that info was a little off as Ive done exactly the same thing, maybe its the fact we are not equiping shields and using weapons we are not skilled in, would give the sheep a better chance to hit, NOw that ive thought about it im sure thats it. dont know about 0 to 120 in 3 hours though more like 8 hours for me as recently as well april or so.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Bah, they missed a news release both last week AND this week.

 

[Lord Kynd]

FoF: Parrying and Potting
Jeremy Dalberg
08 Aug 2008 18:14:50




"Why am I not getting GGS gains on Parrying?"

i gain thru normal gameplay with no problem. people need to play more and stop trying to power work skills. and shouldn't it be gsg(Guarenteed Skill Gain) ?

--

"Why is it now you have to release the chest to take an item out of a pouch?"

to make life more difficult for players.

--

"Why can I only get a level 4 Arcane Focus even with five or more people?"


and why couldn't a level 7 be made for the future ? doesn't make since to take something like this away that has been a part of the game for so long already.. if it wasn't right the first time then it shoulda gotten fixed then, not now. i can see taking a level 1 away, taking focus away from people without enough skill even, but this is a crappy thing to do.

--

"When is the ROT scaling on Siege going to be fixed?"

blah to siege anyhow


--

"When is Spring Cleaning going to end?"

"The reward box that accepts tickets and gives prizes will stick around for a while longer to give everyone a chance to use up their points."

how long?
--

Now Hiring!

and how do you test these peoples integrity?

--

What's To Come:

sleep ?

--

Town Hall News:

The Seattle Town Hall is much on our minds - will you be there? Check out the details here and please do RSVP.


chi-town needs to hurry
--


Have a good weekend, everyone!

it's my birthday this weekend so i plan on it

 

[Omnius]

So when can we get a FoF that tells us something useful?

 

[Lord Kynd]

Unless they recently changed the way you gain in Parrying, this information isn't correct. I've gone from 0 to Legendary Parrying in less than 3 hours fighting chickens and sheep as recently as April.

thats because you are actually playing. skills seem to gain fastest while actually doing things other than trying to wack on a metal creature..

 

[Basara]

I fight a wide range of creatures, and was trying to gain parrying from 80 real to 85 real (have +15 from equipment).

The only gains I've gotten in the last 2 months have been from Barracoon at a couple of Ilshenar spawns, and ONE gain from an Ogre lord over a 6 hours (in 3 days) fighting OL in shame and AOL in Ice. granted, I DID get over 20 gains from the barracoons, but I shouldn't have to do CHAMP SPAWNS just to get gains against the boss....

Something's funky with the gains.

 

[canary]

On the plus side she answered 5 questions at last.. at the VERY least I appreciate that.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

erm.. Not to be rude but this FoF was pretty useless.

Parry is one of the easiest, least time consuming skills to train in-game. Anyone who says otherwise should be poonished for bringing this into FoF!!!

The rest of the FoF is below average usefullness at best. I'm glad they finally got 5 questions in though! *claps*

But I was hoping we could see more of

1) whats coming around the corner? (10th/11th ann plans? new vet rewards? new event content? Number of guilty banned accounts) etc..
2) whats next in the nerf list? (give those players a headstart at rebuffing their templates)
3) news on the current state of SA (although we know the truth)

 

[Lady Michelle]

If your working parry try doing this run back and forth over the monster you're killing That is how I was taught how to work parry up

 

[Cogniac]

...

Bah, they missed a news release both last week AND this week.

Oh, you, too?

 

[Joyous2K]

Parrying...

LEvel (get it?) parrying by getting sheep or ratmen to swing at you and you just heal or have friend heal. Wear a virtue suit or GM spined armor for phys resist and use a buckler and toggle out of attack and just let them wail away.
It's not illegal because you get such quick skill gains and you will be at your level in no time. Then you need to figure out what the skill does. I know. I know. You guys like to "really learn" the levels of the skills, but 9 sheep gets legend parry in maybe 3 hours!!!

Thank gosh SP ROT will be changed. Doesn't effect my play at all, but maybe 1/2 of the SP posts will stop now, but I DOUBT IT!

Arcane Focus??? Try to make it useful in less than 6 months... starting... NOW!!

Good FOF!! Go UO!! Yay!! Yay!! Champions!!

 

[Sarphus]

If your working parry try doing this run back and forth over the monster you're killing That is how I was taught how to work parry up

Or you could just unequip your weapon with 0 wrestling, so your chance to get hit is a lot higher (thus putting you in gain range)

Parry is definitley one of the easiest skills in the game to train.

 

[Lariat]

Unless they recently changed the way you gain in Parrying, this information isn't correct. I've gone from 0 to Legendary Parrying in less than 3 hours fighting chickens and sheep as recently as April.

Indeed.

 

[Basara]

Kratos - if that was actually WORKING properly, yeah, the question wouldn't have been needed.

But I can attest something is wrong with parry, even if Jeremy is wrong about the mechanics.

someone with 80 real, 95 modified, parry, fighting LOTs of creatures ranging from Ogres to Balrons in toughness, shouldn't go 2 months without a gain like I did (and then only start gettign gains from having a Barracoon beat me down twice in one night).

 

[kelmo]

"When is the ROT scaling on Siege going to be fixed?"

How does Publish 55 sound?

We're testing a new set of numbers internally now, and we're hoping to get it on a Test Center with a Siege backup so y'all can try it out and see how it feels. To give you a rough idea of the current plan (and start the debate boiling,) the time to get from 70-120 has been reduced by about a third, and the time to reach the stat cap has been reduced by about the same proportion.

*smiles* Thank you.

 

[Sarphus]

I dunno... I knew that you could gain parry really fast by not equipping a weapon, but I didn't know it was difficulty based.

I unequip the weapon to maximize the times I get hit. I didn't realize you flat out won't gain if you're not in the difficulty range. Something definitely seems messed up about that, though.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Oh, you, too?

Yep, news article posted on the KR forum here though as that's what it was related to. Nothing against WRR, but Illandril sent in the blurb before last week's FoF on the formal "opening" of the Modder's Exchange which we were hoping would maybe help find a few more modders as well as more suggestions and a place for people to find more mods and features.

Blah.

 

[phantus]

Unless they recently changed the way you gain in Parrying, this information isn't correct. I've gone from 0 to Legendary Parrying in less than 3 hours fighting chickens and sheep as recently as April.

Im glad Im not the only one who thought that info was a little off as Ive done exactly the same thing, maybe its the fact we are not equiping shields and using weapons we are not skilled in, would give the sheep a better chance to hit, NOw that ive thought about it im sure thats it. dont know about 0 to 120 in 3 hours though more like 8 hours for me as recently as well april or so.

Yea. I have no idea what code Leurocian was looking at(thank god he is still looking at our code) but it's not correct. A bunch of sheep get you to whatever you want in no time.

 

[Flora Green]

I'm very excited about the new plants - but I do wonder why they are all 'stand alones', like the bonsai & ant quest plants, so that we can't cross pollinate them to produce other plant types? Is the 'stand alone' plant code easier to duplicate? Is there some issue with the cross-pollination code that means that adding new generations to the original set of plants is problematic?

But YAY new plants!! Thanks so much!! I've really been looking forward to this, and can hardly wait to see what the new types are!!

I do not want to take away from any additional info Jeremy might have regarding parrying (I'm working mine, too), but I really hope we get clarification regarding the inability to cross-pollinate (or even SELF-pollinate) the new plants. Fifteen new plants is very cool for us gardeners, monster farming continually for seeds, of all things, is not.

*backs out of thread*

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Unless I'm somehow missing something big? Those of you who are saying that J.'s statements about Parry contradict the gain off sheep technique are wrong.

If I'm understanding her correctly, she has actually explained why that technique works.

The chance to Parry, and hence to gain in Parry, is basically keyed to the creature hitting you or having a certain chance to hit you.

So when you fight sheep without a weapon, they have excellent chances to hit you, and thus you gain in Parry.

J. is talking about the difficulty of gaining during normal gameplay. Because she's hunting Virtue Artifacts, she rarely encounters something of the appropriate "level" for her to gain.

She's alternating between things easy to kill in large numbers, and things that are hard to kill. And she probably has a character that isn't really gamed up yet. (Remember, she admits to being a "casual player.") Good for getting Virtue Artifacts; not good for gaining Parry.

If she were doing something else (say, going to Ilsh and fighting rat archers and rat archer paragons), she would be more likely to gain Parry through normal gameplay.

At the level her character seems to be at, if she wants to gain Parry and hunt Virtue Artifacts at the same time, the right approach is doing what she's doing.....Dumping her weapon at around the time the GGS timer is going off.

If I'm understanding her right.....It all makes perfect sense.

-Galen's player

 

[Bobar]

I feel disheartened.

This thing pretends everything's okay and it's business as usual.

You're surprised?. I posted this in another thread yesterday.

In the face of this concern EA's reaction appears to have been to play the Ostrich card, say nothing, and hope it will all go away.

 

[Eslake]

Sheep and Chickens are not a contradiction to the statement.

You are forgetting that The sheep gain skill while they hit you, so their "difficulty" climbs right along with your Parry skill.

The Unskilled weapon factor makes a big difference too, but you wouldn't want to stand there letting Ogre Lords pound you while you were holding a weapon you have 0 skill in.


It is one more instance where they prove that "Normal Game Play" is simply not adequate for gaining in most skills.

Taming - You are penalized for keeping your pets alive, since you aren't taming new ones to gain from.
Cartography - I think the figure was something like 63,000 treasure maps Ignoring any you do below your gains level.
Magery - The most effective combat spells are < 7th circle.
Stealing - ooOoOoO

The only skills that gain at a respectable rate through normal use are weapon skills.

 

[G.v.P]

I'm surprised you all are excited about the cocoa and stuff. I mean, we were told they will NOT produce seeds, only cocoa. That is so annoy. It means we have to constantly farm monsters for seeds. Regardless, chocolate is worthless, so I guess it's just about giving a niche some content to play with ;P but I don't know. (Sorry, I don't share the deco-love ;D)

 

[G.v.P]

And Eslake, how many mages you have, bro? The 8th circle has a ton of spells mages have to use often, including Resurrection, Energy Vortex, and Earth Eles. The 7th circle has a few fun ones too. I will admit EVs and EEs get disheartening, though. Everything dispels.

 

[christy1221]

I'm surprised you all are excited about the cocoa and stuff. I mean, we were told they will NOT produce seeds, only cocoa. That is so annoy. It means we have to constantly farm monsters for seeds. Regardless, chocolate is worthless, so I guess it's just about giving a niche some content to play with ;P but I don't know. (Sorry, I don't share the deco-love ;D)

The cocoa trees will produce seeds according to the fof on aug 1st but the other plants won't. But unless they are going to make the sugar and vanilla available some other way then we will still have to fight paragons for those ingredients. And that sucks.

 

[Connor_Graham]

FoF: Parrying and Potting
Jeremy Dalberg
08 Aug 2008 18:14:50




"Why am I not getting GGS gains on Parrying?"

i gain thru normal gameplay with no problem. people need to play more and stop trying to power work skills. and shouldn't it be gsg(Guarenteed Skill Gain) ?

No, it's GGS - Guaranteed Gain System

"Why is it now you have to release the chest to take an item out of a pouch?"

to make life more difficult for players to exploit game mechanics.

Fixed it for you.

"Why can I only get a level 4 Arcane Focus even with five or more people?"


and why couldn't a level 7 be made for the future ? doesn't make since to take something like this away that has been a part of the game for so long already.. if it wasn't right the first time then it shoulda gotten fixed then, not now. i can see taking a level 1 away, taking focus away from people without enough skill even, but this is a crappy thing to do.

Because then it would have been too powerful. Obviously it was meant to top out at what is now the current level, with something planned in the future for an additional buff.

"When is the ROT scaling on Siege going to be fixed?"

blah to siege anyhow

You're failing to understand that this change means we won't see the daily "Change RoT" threads from the same people anymore. That's a good thing.

"When is Spring Cleaning going to end?"

"The reward box that accepts tickets and gives prizes will stick around for a while longer to give everyone a chance to use up their points."

how long?

It plainly said "Consider this your two-week notice".

Now Hiring!

and how do you test these peoples integrity?

That's something a good HR person is able to determine from both the resume and the face to face meeting prior to a job offer being made.

What's To Come:

sleep ?

They probably need some.

Town Hall News:

The Seattle Town Hall is much on our minds - will you be there? Check out the details here and please do RSVP.


chi-town needs to hurry

Should be interesting if you're going to be there...

Have a good weekend, everyone!

it's my birthday this weekend so i plan on it

Happy Birthday!

 

[Connor_Graham]

The cocoa trees will produce seeds according to the fof on aug 1st but the other plants won't. But unless they are going to make the sugar and vanilla available some other way then we will still have to fight paragons for those ingredients. And that sucks.

If that's the case then you should find a ready supply on my vendor.

 

[Shelleybean]

Unless they recently changed the way you gain in Parrying, this information isn't correct. I've gone from 0 to Legendary Parrying in less than 3 hours fighting chickens and sheep as recently as April.

This has been my experience as well. In fact, it's the only way I can gain parry. When I hunt monsters at the appropriate difficulty level, I don't gain at all.

 

[Flora Green]

Yeah...it's all Melina's fault...she's been complaining about cocoa trees forever *grins*

If you read close...."gardeners may want to lay in extra supplies of fertile dirt (the new plant types are up to 15 now, not 10!) "

Gardeners are finally gettin some love!

Happy Cocoa Tree dance

Hah! You are funny. That's probably the most complaining I've ever done in 8 years of playing. Now if we could just get some to grow I would be content.

 

[Flora Green]

I'm surprised you all are excited about the cocoa and stuff. I mean, we were told they will NOT produce seeds, only cocoa. That is so annoy. It means we have to constantly farm monsters for seeds. Regardless, chocolate is worthless, so I guess it's just about giving a niche some content to play with ;P but I don't know. (Sorry, I don't share the deco-love ;D)

Excited about the new seeds, NOT method of gathering. Initially gathering as we've always had to do off of bog things is okay, constant monster fighting is just silly. Which is why I asked above if Jeremy would let us know why this inconvenience is happening. At the very least they could individually name each seed so we could better organize when growing. Since there is no cross-pollinating, each seed should say (example) a plain fan plant or a red foxglove.

 

[athos_uo]

FoF: Parrying and Potting
Jeremy Dalberg
08 Aug 2008 18:14:50


"Why am I not getting GGS gains on Parrying?"

This question came from a long-term UO player - me. I'd been fighting a lot of lower-level critters - Lizardmen, Earthies, etc - putting together my Virtue suit, and realized I hadn't gotten so much as a single GGS gain - not only on the lower-end critters, but on the Ogre Lords and Drakes I'd tackled as well. That seemed odd, so I dragged Leurocian through the code with me to figure out why.

Parrying is a difficulty-based skill, which means you have to be performing actions of a certain range of difficulty to have a chance to gain. There's an explanation of difficulty-based skills and skillgain here - Parrying, specifically, uses a focus of 100 instead of 50, but otherwise that description applies. The "difficulty" in this case is the monsters' percentage chance to hit you. (You can check out the hit chance formula here.)

All math aside, if you're not getting Parrying skill gains (GGS or otherwise,) you're either fighting monsters that are too hard - in which case you need to reduce their chance to hit, by raising your own DCI or by using HLA gear - or too easy - in which case you can remove DCI/HLA gear or use a weapon you're less proficient in. In my case I just dropped my sword and let the earthie take a swing, and I got a gain right away.

The explanation of Parrying is very interesting. I'm a kind of satisfied because my question why PC can not gain in Parrying playing normally is answered here.

But another question has risen in me. The most skills in UO are designed as they would be gained most easily when PCs did the most appropriate acts as their skills. But Parrying is not so. If you have Parrying 117, then you have also as much weapon skill as well usually. Say that you have legendary weapon skill and Parrying of 117. The focus of Parrying is 100, so the difficulty of the action(= your enemy's hit chance in this case) should be at least 67%. Then after the math, your enemy's weapon skill should be ( at least ) 167.6. Normal creatures can not have this high weapon skill, so it is very rarely that you can gain skill in Parry with normal fight.

This is not normal as a skill of UO, because other normal skills of UO would be gained when the most normal action was selected.

Why is this so? Is this really so designed? In which framework is this designed?

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

This FoF was of great use.

I never understood why having sheep beat on you made you gain Parry, now I at least have some idea.

We have a rough idea of when the Spring Cleaning will end.

We know that skill gain on the SP shard is intended to be fixed in the next Publish.

We have a definitive answer on that releasing items inside a pouch thing.

We know that the Arcane Focus thing was an intended nerf.

The only rational reason this FoF appears to be useless is that it didn't mention the #1 topic on the board: The Bannings. (Also that it didn't mention the event, the #2 topic....But that's a separate issue. Note how no one has yet mentioned the event, that I've noticed, in this thread.)

While I don't know if I agree with their not mentioning it, I do understand that decision. In their minds it isn't a "topic" for "discussion" per se anymore, rather it's now a series of individual account actions to deal with on a case-by-case basis. And unless you're one of the involved parties, you'll never know the details.

Do I agree with this method of handling it? I really don't know, honestly.

But I can understand the logic.

Now, of course, there are those of you out there who are in "we hate everything they do" mode, and you don't need a reason to dislike the FoF, you'll just dislike it. If you need to, you'll find a reason.

-Galen's player

 

[canary]

It's OK Galen, just like there are those who hate everything Mythic does, there are ALSO some who will say they LOOOOOOVE everything they do... like, well, yourself. So please dispense the accusations of whining, especially when you need a mirror.


Me? I run both ways. As I said, I just appreciate Jeremy actually just answered 5 questions.

 

[Infiniti]

Yeah...it's all Melina's fault...she's been complaining about cocoa trees forever *grins*

If you read close...."gardeners may want to lay in extra supplies of fertile dirt (the new plant types are up to 15 now, not 10!) "

Gardeners are finally gettin some love!

Happy Cocoa Tree dance

This weekend and until the publish I will be out gettting dirt. Can't wait to see the 15 new plants!

 

[Connor_Graham]

What's the benefit of Fertile Dirt? I remember reading about it a long time ago, but since I've never grown a plant in UO, can't remember what it was. I'm planning on starting to grow orange petal producing plants soon, and if the benefit is worth it, I'll go beat on some earth eles for a while.

 

[Infiniti]

With the fertile dirt you have a chance of growth advancement. I use it for special plants but not my orange petal producing ones.

 

[Connor_Graham]

What's growth advancement?

 

[Infiniti]

Plants grow once each day. With the fertilized dirt it can gain two gains in a day.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Plants grow once each day. With the fertilized dirt it can gain two gains in a day.

Ah ok. That sounds worthwhile to me. Faster is always better.

 

[Tina Small]

You can also get fertile dirt from ant lions. (They also drop ore of various types, bone pieces that can be cut into bones, and occasionally one of the skeletons of an unknown bard, rogue, or mage. The skeletons of unknown mages include a fair amount of regs.)

Connor, I have a good collection of all the plants that yield crops on Pacific, each holding up to 8 seeds. PM or ICQ me if you want them and I'll make arrangements to meet you. I also had just finished cross-pollinating to get most of the plain, blue, red, and yellow/bright yellow plants, if you want those as well. One of the plants I had recently cross-pollinated mutated so it was giving up seeds for white water plants. I think it had made 3 seeds so far, out of 8. I also have about 30 deco rare colored plants and about another 20 of the rare colored plants that were still in the growing stage. Sorry I'm not going to be sticking around to do the plant vendors as we had discussed a while back. But if you want another activity to keep you busy, I can give you a bit of a headstart on it.

I've got tons and tons of seeds and deco plants of all colors and types on Baja and GL too that I guess I'll just be dumping at banks or something, as well as a good number of seeds for the crop-yielding plants on Legends.

*Sigh* I guess I'll turn the PMs back on and if anyone reading this wants any of this stuff, just send me a PM and let me know. I won't be playing much at all this weekend, so it may be sometime next week before I actually get the stuff rounded up and meet you with it. Would be nice to walk away from UO knowing all that stuff got into the hands of folks that enjoy messing with plants.