If there was no PS

[Splup]

If PS:s did not exist, so GrandMaster would be maximum skill level, what would your template be? All arties etc. would be like they are now, so use your imagination with skill points!

My mage: (No imagination used here )

GM magery
GM eval
GM medit
GM wrestle
GM parrying
GM resist
GM scribe

Very effective and solid.

I already wrote my archer, necro etc. here but deleted them. I don't want to write all different temps but let you tell your temps

 

[hawkeye_pike]

My template would be the same, with 40 points in Focus.

 

[Lord Kynd]

it would be nice if they removed PS's alltogether

 

[Sarphus]

I like PS and think it would be a negative move to remove them from the game.

PS are one of just a few rewards that have remained relevant for several years. The bar for what makes an item "good" is constantly raising (especially with duped runic hammers in play) but the skill cap is a constant.

People need to be able to play the game effectively without PS or with at least the 110 level of PS, but they also need something to strive for. I feel you can play UO competitively at the 110 level of PS so I don't have a problem with PS in the game.

Another good thing PS do for the game is they force people to make decisions, which creates more template diversity in the game. If all skills were balanced to where 120 was better than 80, it would work perfectly.

Some skills (chivalry, spellweaving) don't scale their power very effectively, which skews character power and destroys template diversity. The reason so many dexer templates have chiv, bushido and necro on them is that you can get so much of the power from chiv at a low skill level. Once that's fixed, people will have to make hard decisions with their characters. People shouldn't be able to massively buff their damage, always hit the target's lowest resist AND leech back damage from their target.

 

[Prince Caspian]

I agree with Sarphus. The Power Scrolls have been a good challenge factor added to the game.

Mostly because after all this time, they are still precious. If you can't earn one in Fel, you need to muster the resources to buy one off a vendor. It is indeed something you cannot get cloistered up and macroing. You have to engage the game to get it.

But I must confess I still wonder at times how my "Legendary" archer (120 archery, 120 tactics) can miss a 12 foot target (ie the skelly lich) at five paces FIVE times in a row. The title is LEGENDARY, not DRUNK AND MYOPIC.

 

[Lady_Calina]

Magery
Eval
Scribe
Med
Spirit Speak
Weaving
Necro

i'd put that last 20 points into something like focus.

 

[Gwendar-SP]

UO was much better before power scrolls and the spirling item inflation caused by AoS.

 

[Salty Pete]

But I must confess I still wonder at times how my "Legendary" archer (120 archery, 120 tactics) can miss a 12 foot target (ie the skelly lich) at five paces FIVE times in a row. The title is LEGENDARY, not DRUNK AND MYOPIC.

You have to take into consideration the agility and prowess of your target. Think of that giant liche moving like an agent from the Matrix and you get picture.

 

[Sarphus]

UO was much better before power scrolls and the spirling item inflation caused by AoS.

This topic is objective, but the real question is whether there is a clear and positive way to go from where we are with PS to where we were pre-AoS.

I don't think there is. Too much content in UO is balanced around players having up to 120 in skills for us to be able to go back at this point. What about all the pets that are only tameable post-GM? What about monsters that have WAY over 120 skill in several skills? What about +skill items (adding to skills where things are scaled around 0-100 has an even bigger impact than the already broken +skill mods we have today)

I could see validity in allowing players to have 7x 120 characters and re-balancing all skills around 120 being stronger than behing < 120, but I can't see validity in chopping skills off at 100 again and removing PS from the game.

I think the biggest problems with AoS content were that the release was pushed out before it was done and before it was balanced. It was the buggiest and least balanced release in UO history. I think a majority of the balance issues have since been addressed and I expect most of the remaining balance issues will be addressed with the next expansion.

Regardless, I don't think it's possible for this discussion to ever go beyond being hypothetical. We can't go back to the 7x 100 days anymore.

 

[Sarphus]

You have to take into consideration the agility and prowess of your target. Think of that giant liche moving like an agent from the Matrix and you get picture.

Then you take into account all the gaps between the bones! Shoot at the rib cage and you have maybe a 50/50 shot of hitting bone

Shoot a small arrow at a small ribcage and you have a much higher chance to hit bone. Shoot a small arrow at a gargantuan ribcage and you have a much higher chance to hit air.

Of course, the real reason you still miss the monster is that he's a high end monster and archery is balanced around the consept that weapons sometimes miss. Ironically, it's this same balance consept that causes imbalances between dexers and casters.

 

[Salty Pete]

Powerscrolls have done nothing positive for the overall game. Character balance has been completely destroyed, min/maxxers have been given the power to dominate the economy and the gap between new players, casual players and power gamers has become an insurmountable divide that is killing the population of the game at a steady pace. Any positives for the small hard core achiever group are not worth the overall negative effects the addition of super powers and items have had on the game at large.

The game before the addition of super powers had a better kind of balance between hard core achiever and casual/new player. You could play effectively with a skill like cartography, fishing, begging or forensic eval on your main character and still be able to participate in the high end content. You could also participate well below max skill. It was not uncommon back then to see folks with adept bard, adept mage or adept warrior displayed titles.

New characters could start the game and get right into the action soon after learning the UI and aquiring their first mid range skills. A character with a sword, spear or spell book could play.... The way the game is right now.... A new player has NO chance to even participate in the mid level content.

The tl;dr - Powerscrolls are not good for the game.

 

[Sarphus]

Powerscrolls have done nothing positive for the overall game. Character balance has been completely destroyed, min/maxxers have been given the power to dominate the economy and the gap between new players, casual players and power gamers has become an insurmountable divide that is killing the population of the game at a steady pace. Any positives for the small hard core achiever group are not worth the overall negative effects the addition of super powers and items have had on the game at large.

The game before the addition of super powers had a better kind of balance between hard core achiever and casual/new player. You could play effectively with a skill like cartography, fishing, begging or forensic eval on your main character and still be able to participate in the high end content. You could also participate well below max skill. It was not uncommon back then to see folks with adept bard, adept mage or adept warrior displayed titles.

New characters could start the game and get right into the action soon after learning the UI and aquiring their first mid range skills. A character with a sword, spear or spell book could play.... The way the game is right now.... A new player has NO chance to even participate in the mid level content.

The tl;dr - Powerscrolls are not good for the game.

I like the min/max part of the game. I get most of my enjoyment in UO from figuring out how to optimize characters and strategies. I would certainly qualify as one of the "superpowers" you describe, but I don't really think I'm hurting anyone. I spend a lot more time devising better ways to do things than actually doing them

but anyway... removing diversity from the game would directly harm my personal gameplay.

 

[Lynk]

I think Power Scrolls only further reduced the use of creative and hybrid templates. If they were removed I could go back to a hybrid character.

Magery 92
Med 78
Eval 100
Resist 100
Archery 100
Tactics 90
healing 80
anatomy 80

 

[woj1s]

Powerscrolls have done nothing positive for the overall game. Character balance has been completely destroyed, min/maxxers have been given the power to dominate the economy and the gap between new players, casual players and power gamers has become an insurmountable divide that is killing the population of the game at a steady pace. Any positives for the small hard core achiever group are not worth the overall negative effects the addition of super powers and items have had on the game at large.

The game before the addition of super powers had a better kind of balance between hard core achiever and casual/new player. You could play effectively with a skill like cartography, fishing, begging or forensic eval on your main character and still be able to participate in the high end content. You could also participate well below max skill. It was not uncommon back then to see folks with adept bard, adept mage or adept warrior displayed titles.

New characters could start the game and get right into the action soon after learning the UI and aquiring their first mid range skills. A character with a sword, spear or spell book could play.... The way the game is right now.... A new player has NO chance to even participate in the mid level content.

The tl;dr - Powerscrolls are not good for the game.

You hit the nail on the head Pete! I played UO religiously for 5 years through college (6 years ago). I stopped playing around AOS. The powerscrolls, skill bonus weapons really ruined it for me.

Im recently back after 6 long years and im playing my old characters which were really wicked back in the day (7x gm's) and they are almost worthless now. I have to completely spend all my time, earning money so that I can buy powerscrolls just to be relevant or somewhat competitive.

You have to remember....I'm RESTARTING after all these years with characters who are ALREADY 7x gm. To get there was a lot of work. Think of new players coming in with characters starting from scratch.

 

[Maplestone]

I'd likely have all the same characters, just with extra points of focus or meditation, except my bushido warrior who would add chivilry and my craftsman who would likely add fletchery (or embuing come SA).

I like the experience of character development - I like that it's a long road (I only have one character, my craftsman, who I consider "complete" skill-wise, but he's still short one recipe, so I guess even he's still not fully finished).

 

[sapphirediablo11]

sadly i would skill the be same build as i am, since one of my characters is pre skill cap. but otherwise i would go with

archery 100
Anatomy 100
Tactics 100
Healing 100
Stealthing 100
Hiding 100
resist 100

Turely i a original muhahaha