7 days to bond a pet: how about some change?

[pgib]

So i made another tamer to get some stable space, transferred most of my pets' collection and started taming some pack. Well, 2 packs because there's no much space but i won't digress.

Here's the thing: i've got my fresh arachnid pack (2 wolf and 1 scorpion) and... i have to leave it in stables for 7 real time days before i can start training the pets. That's because a scorpion is so weak that the chances to loose it are pretty high, especially if you meet a good old lag-burst.

So what about:

a player crafted deed, some kind of quest, a tamer tool sold for real money, a tribal dance or vodoo rite or anything to get rid of that hyper-annoying stinky, old useless sadomaso requirement?

 

[CovenantX]

This is the reason i never finished/play my tamer hes been at 111. taming and 120 lore for the last few years i recently bonded 5 frienzied ozzys One of the five ozzys got PO'ed and unbonded, then it died to an Unbound EV in new shame. now my pack dmg is lower since im down to 4/5 ozzys and now i gotta wait 7 days to bond another one? Then i gotta train it up? lol no thanks...

besides taming is one of the most boring skills to train in UO, when you get it high enough to tame most desirable pets you have to wait a week to use it, Or you run the risk of losing a pet, and thats IF you remember to feed it before you stable it.

Some kind of special treat to feed/auto-bond your pet, possibly an item to add to the list for dungeon Re-vamp, obtained similar to the way the Whetstone is obtained. at any rate it would be nice to have some kind of thing to bond pets faster.

 

[Herman]

But nothing need to attack your scorpion and spider in order for it to train just put a trow away pet like a boura and tell it to stay and then have the scorpion to attack it

agree with the timer it s a bit long 3-4 days probably would be better

 

[Thrakkar]

How about every 60 points real skill reduces the timer by 1 day. SO if you have 120 Taming, Lore & Vet, bonding duration will be reduced to 1 day...

 

[CovenantX]

How about every 60 points real skill reduces the timer by 1 day. SO if you have 120 Taming, Lore & Vet, bonding duration will be reduced to 1 day...

Sounds like a winner =D

 

[Hunters' Moon]

Seven days in the stable to get a "blessed weapon" and that is too long to wait? A bit on the greedy side arn't we?

 

[pgib]

Well, we could do 0 waiting days and have to spend 100gp to insure it.

 

[Hunters' Moon]

Then the pet should wear out and die:break like armor and weapons do.

 

[pgib]

And pof-able indefinitely?

 

[CovenantX]

Then the pet should wear out and die:break like armor and weapons do.

Pets also hit for ALOT less damage then any weapon/spell in the game, And they do lose skill points when they die, and need to be retrained, ( really not much to retrain) but still.

 

[Hunters' Moon]

Then the pet should wear out and die:break like armor and weapons do.

Pets also hit for ALOT less damage then any weapon/spell in the game, And they do lose skill points when they die, and need to be retrained, ( really not much to retrain) but still.

But it takes mana to be effective in both melee and spells. It costs zero mana to spam "all kill".

 

[Hunters' Moon]

And pof-able indefinitely?

They should either be 'brittle' or 'can not be repaired'.


Edit: Or possibly add to the Shame(level 4) area loot drops a truly epic weapon that gives the wielder the following:

1000+ hp bonus
60+ resist in each element
400+ mana
Max hit spell
Blessed
Absence of Durability-it never wears out​

 

[Broner a G]

Hunters Moon's nonsensical ranting about pets not needing to be repaired aside, the one-week bonding timer is just silly and removing it would be a fine quality-of-life improvement with zero effect upon game balance.

And no, I do not have a tamer.

 

[Hunters' Moon]

Hunters Moon's nonsensical ranting about pets not needing to be repaired aside....

No one has ever seen me rant on here yet. You disagreeing with my views on the subject doesn't make my p.o.v. nonsensical.

And no, I do not have a tamer.

That means you probably do have a tamer.

 

[pgib]

So we have non-repairable non-pofable pets, maybe cursed and unlucky too, insta-bonded or insurable, with damage increase, various hit leech effect, maybe area damaging, slayer or superslayer properties, focused damage type, imbuable and enhanceable... sounds great to me.

On top of that we have skills and properties that further improves their effectiveness (like the tamer wearing hci/dci/ssi/hml/hll/battle focus/super slayer items all that boosts the pet).

I sign for that, at any mana cost rate.

 

[aarons6]

id love to be able to imbue armor for my dragon that gives me the resists i want.. maybe some stam inc, hp inc and mana inc..
i wouldnt care if it wore out or if you had to insure it if the dragon died..

 

[Petra Fyde]

I believe that the developers at the time felt that the ability to have a pet which was able to be ressurected and avoid the penalty of having to tame a new one if you failed to keep it alive, as you always had to before, should not be without some cost.

As far as I know this has not changed. If this thread continues down the route it is currently taking it will be locked.

 

[Hunters' Moon]

What I am saying in a round-about way is that each ability and template must have its drawbacks. Want to be an effective caster or fighter? You must balance out your stats/skills and plan well your suits and tactics. Tamers must put up with taming animal after animal after animal to get the desired skill for a greater dragon or a combo of their choice. It just seems we always have a line of people that want to remove the drawbacks of the tamer without giving up any of the benefits. This game must be one of balance.

 

[pgib]

The point is looking for alternatives to that cost. I mean, i do not understand the punitive design behind being a tamer but i can accept it. Well, i have to do it, there are really no other games currently available that have something even slightly comparable to UO taming.

Gold, consumables... anything.

Consider that it happened to me three, maybe four times, to meet a new player that happened to be a tamer - very unwise choice - and, well, having to say "ok, now that you have tamed your first greater dragon, after many deaths... put it in stable for seven days" feels very weird. And what is he supposed to do in those seven days? Playing another game?

So, let's make this a cost you can pay in-game. Any cost, just not real life time. 'Cause i have to spend it to train animal taming...

 

[pgib]

It just seems we always have a line of people that want to remove the drawbacks of the tamer without giving up any of the benefits. This game must be one of balance.

That's because there are no more benefits.

 

[LadyNico]

Eeeh! In my day...

*waves a gnarled walking stick menacingly* Be glad pets can be trained, and that we can bond with them. It sucked to have to stop whatever we were doing to go tame another pet before being able to resume whatever it was we were doing before our pet got perma-killed. Even being able to reliably stable our pets is something I still appreciate lol.

There's a whole bunch of stuff I can find to do, whether it's on my tamers or on other characters altogether, whilst a pet is counting down to bonding time.

Most of all, with the ancient code so easily frayed & frazzled, I worry that mucking about with the taming stuff can have disastrous results. Is immediate gratification a good enough reason to futz with it?

In the scheme of things, it's seven days. I guess I don't understand the rush.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Yes I have a Tamer.
Pets need constant repairing unless you like rezing them all the time.

As for blessing or insurance then all new items need to be in your bank box for 7 days before you can Imbue/Bless/Insure/Pof them. If you change any part of the item (Imbue/Pof/Trade/Sell) then back to the bank box they go for another 7 days. Oh and lets not forget that you need to train all these new items before they reach thier full use.

The 7 day timer is a pain in the butt IMHO.

 

[pgib]

Eeeh! In my day...

In the old days just two creatures in the whole world could challenge Pyrokhar, my regular dragon. Well, three with the lag monster . You can't make a comparison, we should have a Crimson Dragon to be labeled "Tamers" in the same sense.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

Most of all, with the ancient code so easily frayed & frazzled, I worry that mucking about with the taming stuff can have disastrous results. Is immediate gratification a good enough reason to futz with it?

my thoughts exactly, their skills could start to decay like virtues

 

[pgib]

Edit: Or possibly add to the Shame(level 4) area loot drops a truly epic weapon that gives the wielder the following:

1000+ hp bonus
60+ resist in each element
400+ mana
Max hit spell
Blessed
Absence of Durability-it never wears out​

Would be great but the same weapon will have a couple of side effects:

1. you can't heal anymore (but you will cure yourself, unless you really need it)
2. you can't run anymore and you can't walk through characters
3. your hci is zeroed as your dci.
4. you do just physical damage

Then you will find out that because of 1 you will last a whopping 35 seconds against most big mobs, you'll die because of 2 and in any case you'll be pretty much irrelevant because of 4.

 

[Tanivar]

Would be great but the same weapon will have a couple of side effects:

1. you can't heal anymore (but you will cure yourself, unless you really need it)
2. you can't run anymore and you can't walk through characters
3. your hci is zeroed as your dci.
4. you do just physical damage

Then you will find out that because of 1 you will last a whopping 35 seconds against most big mobs, you'll die because of 2 and in any case you'll be pretty much irrelevant because of 4.

4 needs to be corrected. <laughs>

What about all the spell casting monsters? My Tamer has nearly a dozen of them in the stables. Your forgetting little significant details in your pursuit of the Holy Grail of Instant Gratification.

It's one week. Not eternity plus a million years. rolleyes:

 

[Wenchkin]

It's just a week long period when you have to be a bit careful where you take your pets. If I've ever been impatient about it, and too worried to take the unbonded pet out, I just tamed a fresh pet and used it instead. In fact, if you're normally careful that you don't let pets die when they are bonded, there's no difference at all.

Alternatively just use another character/pet in that time. Or start bonding when you're going to have limited game time or something else to do.

If we make it about a quest or some items/gold, given how much gold players tend to have these days... that's no penalty or commitment at all. It'll just be a minor inconvenience of getting the items/gold, throwing them at the NPC and tada, instant bonding. In a few months time it would be "can't we just bond instantly with pets?"

Mind you, I wouldn't mind so much if the devs said "ok, you can have this change to bonding, but you'll need real taming, lore and vet to make a pet bond and to maintain that bond." Obviously allowing for chars without taming skills to bond with pets anyone can own, but it would be enough of a commitment to allow a shorter bonding time. But quests, gold and item based deals aren't enough on their own IMHO.

Wenchy

 

[weins201]

Simply - No

:loser:

 

[pgib]

Your forgetting little significant details in your pursuit of the Holy Grail of Instant Gratification.

Oh thank you so much kind sir! Now i see the light!

Not only i dared to ask for gratification, but instantaneous too! Silly me, what was i thinking? To be playing a game! How stupid!

For God's sake, how can we have fun if not through days of endless grinding and griefing and pain and suffering!

But what a joyful day is this one: my new cactus-chair has finally arrived! Now using it i can truly enjoy the pleasures of UO! And i'll promise, i'll sit on it very slowly, i don't want to risk to be instantaneously gratificated by its spines!

 

[hen]

7 DAY TIMER IS FINE.

 

[Broner a G]

I believe that the developers at the time felt that the ability to have a pet which was able to be ressurected and avoid the penalty of having to tame a new one if you failed to keep it alive, as you always had to before, should not be without some cost.

The problem with that cost, and what makes it a demonstrably poor design decision, is that the cost is one paid in convenience, not in combat utility. Whether you're fighting against a tamer or alongside one, the period of time it took them to bond their pets has no effect upon the outcome of the battle. So what's the difference?

It's as if you had to sing the Oscar Meyer Wiener song out loud in front of your computer before you could cast spells that day. It's not creating a thoughtful tradeoff, it's not nerfing you in a way that helps others to compete with you, so there's no real point.

I mean, it's pretty telling that none of the objections to the idea of removing the timer take the form of "Keep it, otherwise my gameplay would be worse because _____!"

Consider that it happened to me three, maybe four times, to meet a new player that happened to be a tamer - very unwise choice - and, well, having to say "ok, now that you have tamed your first greater dragon, after many deaths... put it in stable for seven days" feels very weird. And what is he supposed to do in those seven days? Playing another game?

I've had to say this to a zillion newbies and returning players on Atlantic (a lot of vets have been gone so long they forget basic game systems) except it's usually about that fancy new swampy/beetle/whatever that they've just bought or been given. "Congratulations, you can use that in a week!"

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

oh yes and plz can i have 15 animal slots so i can use 3 greater drags at once to hunt, thank you devs..

pls leave taming alone, dont nerv, just let everything be at it is..

Discover all the other skills and classes in this game while you wait for your bonding timer, why dont you? dont tell me you pay 15 bucks a months only for farming with your drag???

if so, i understand your wish...

 

[pgib]

I know, i know, it was a crazy idea. I mean, today we start taking away some of the boredom and tomorrow who knows what disaster could happen? Maybe more players? Heaven forbid!

 

[Gospel]

I know, i know, it was a crazy idea. I mean, today we start taking away some of the boredom and tomorrow who knows what disaster could happen? Maybe more players? Heaven forbid!

Sarcastic comments instead of intelligent debate rarely get your point across. Then again that's assuming you had one other than "waiting is too hard."

 

[pgib]

How can this be a debate? I ask "what time is it" they answer me "it rains". Look at the thread.

Then we need weapons that doesn't break, i can always play some other kind of char, be grateful because in the stone age it was worse, it has to be this way because the developers said so... i mean, you couldn't believe it if they weren't written down but i've got these answers.

Getting my point through? I forgot myself what the point was.

 

[LadyNico]

Not getting at you or having a pop, pgib. My concerns about fragile, ancient coding, and even my stone age flashbacks aside, I did say I just didn't understand the rush.

If "waiting is just too hard" isn't your point, perhaps I might understand better if you elaborated. I'll try if you will. Can't say fairer than that, eh?

 

[tiggertessa2007]

i think pet bonding deeds for clean up points would be a great idea

 

[Fridgster]

I've played a tamer for nearly my entire time in UO. Something I have learned is that taming is a skill of patience. From the skill training (before tokens) to actually taming your pet. Then of course the time it takes to learn how to effectively use you pets. Taming more than any other skill is a skill of patience. So no, I don't believe there should be shortening of the bonding time. To be honest, with all the time already invested whats another 7 days LOL. Would I scream and yell and stomp my feet if they did shorten it? Probably not, however I can think of other things the Devs can invest their time into other than that. Just my opinion though.

BTW if the above seems at all incoherent please bear with me, just pulled a 14 hour day delivery fridges in Boston hehehehe

 

[Cerwin Vega]

I think 7 days is fine, seems like everyones getting too impatient these days. First I see a post about buying skills and now buying pet bonding... how about stop looking for the easy road. Wanna know how to 120 taming? 1 daily skill gain a day for a year, might take forever but such a powerful skill should.

 

[Metalstorm]

I have no problem with the 7 day thing.

But I do things differently than most. I'll start training a pet right away. If it survives the training it gets to bond with me. If it dies I go searching for a new one.

During training this gives me a taste of the old days back before bonding when you had to really stay on your toes or lose your pet. Forever.

After training I let it bond and enjoy the wonderful advantage that bonding gives me and my pet when we go hunt.

 

[Pfloyd]

I have no problem with the 7 day thing.

But I do things differently than most. I'll start training a pet right away. If it survives the training it gets to bond with me. If it dies I go searching for a new one.

During training this gives me a taste of the old days back before bonding when you had to really stay on your toes or lose your pet. Forever.

After training I let it bond and enjoy the wonderful advantage that bonding gives me and my pet when we go hunt.

QFT

Really where would a tamer take a GD out in any risk of having it die? If you are taking any of these pets out someplace that you aren't right behind them with a stack of bandages in your pack you shouldn't be a tamer.

Sorry but if i see a GD in someones posession that can't wait for the npc vet to res it, needs to get vet on their "build" because they aren't ready to own a Greater Dragon. It should lose 1 level of loyalty PERMANENTLY if they aren't ressed by the owner and automatically gain a level each time it does get ressed by the owner. We are talking A Greater Dragon here!

To me 7 days is perfectly fine for someone who has already spent more than that training the skill up. I see it not being fine for people that didn't.

 

[aarons6]

I think 7 days is fine, seems like everyones getting too impatient these days. First I see a post about buying skills and now buying pet bonding... how about stop looking for the easy road. Wanna know how to 120 taming? 1 daily skill gain a day for a year, might take forever but such a powerful skill should.

i think you should gain taming and lore skill every time you say follow me or kill..
after all it is checked..

 

[LadyNico]

i think pet bonding deeds for clean up points would be a great idea

I think everyone present at an idoc should receive instanced loot...

...but then I'm not sure what that has to do with the length of time it takes to bond a pet.

 

[Aurelius]

Even with several tamers, and a regular need to move pets around between them to arrange 'novelty' fights at our regular pet league battles, I can't honestly say the one week timer is a huge problem.

Now anything in-game you can do, such as some sort of mini-quest or mission that gives a useful but not overpowering 'reward' is always a good idea, so something that you can do that lets you bond a pet faster but has some reasonable level of cost or risk (maybe raising the skills on a pet by a certain amount makes it bond faster, so you can train but at a slight risk?) is always welcome. But it's not really on my list of priorities for things in UO.

 

[BajaElladan]

I discussed this issue with my Cousin as he is a most Legendary Tamer and my companions are merely swamp dragons, giant beetles, and horses. Dar explained to me the time necessary for a companion to "bond" with its "master." Imposing one's Will on another animal or creature is no small matter. And while Dar was quite accustomed to the "status quo" of 7 days in a stable, He did suggest an alternative:

perhaps time actually spent in Sosaria training and feeding and caring for the companion could provide an accelerated path to Bonding while dumping it into a stable and never seeing it for a real week would reasonably take the longer time to bond.

Perhaps Tamers ought also to be Polled on the matter.
Some say "Balance" must be the controlling concern of Devs. I would much rather our FUN was the controlling concern of Devs.

I don't PAY to play in search of balance, I do so for fun, and social enjoyment in a MMORPG. I'm not sure Dev's ever understood that, but I'm still hoping they may come to realize it.

So i made another tamer to get some stable space, transferred most of my pets' collection and started taming some pack. Well, 2 packs because there's no much space but i won't digress.

Here's the thing: i've got my fresh arachnid pack (2 wolf and 1 scorpion) and... i have to leave it in stables for 7 real time days before i can start training the pets. That's because a scorpion is so weak that the chances to loose it are pretty high, especially if you meet a good old lag-burst.

So what about:

a player crafted deed, some kind of quest, a tamer tool sold for real money, a tribal dance or vodoo rite or anything to get rid of that hyper-annoying stinky, old useless sadomaso requirement?

 

[LordDrago]

Wanna know how to 120 taming? 1 daily skill gain a day for a year, might take forever but such a powerful skill should.

Have you been stalking me? My tamer is improving in this method. I would be much further along if I hadn't lost 12 skill pts or so in an unfortunate soulstone incident.

Taming is, arguably, the most frustarting skill to gain in UO.

While I can understand the OPs frustration in regards to the 7 day bonding, I personally do not have an issue with it (although to be honest, I really only play UP on my days off (although I do log in more often just to check up and get my daily taming gain before heading to work.

 

[Warpig Inc]

As on the few longest running pure pack tamer. Anyone that does not think of a one slot tame as nothing more then a grenade or speed bump to secure your escape. Is a fool. Go tame a fresh frenzy. A day in a week smoking lizardmen for spine leather with one fresh frenzy will not kill you. Use day one of seven should your skill as a tamer not keep a frenzy alive vs lizardmen.


Customized pets. One damn good reason there should be elemental aligned tames. The dragons would be the best pick. Bet they can find what color the dragon should spawn in on the Status bar. Covering what elemental damage and resist favoritism like a Frost Dragon or Dirt Wyrm should have.



The 7 days are find. If need be throw the T-hunters a bone. Make 1 in 10 those pet treats a pet bonder. A glacial blue drumstick you can shove down a fresh tames gullet for an instant bond. The impatient happy and some gold in the T-hunter's pocket. Win Win.

 

[Wenchkin]

Even if a pet is bonded before you start training, if it dies while training, its skills are set back. So it really makes little difference if they're bonded - your challenge is to keep that pet alive at all costs until it gains enough strength.

If you're bonding pack critters, you can still train them. Just use passive critters like gaman or even darkwatch hatchlings if they're needing the easy stuff. If in doubt take a stronger pet like a mare or kitsune and get the spawn to attack it, tell it to stop/follow so it doesn't kill the spawn and send your weaker unbonded pack critters in that way.

For a poisoning pet I'd be tempted to get a unicorn, tame it and set it to stop follow then get the poisoning pack critter to attack it. If you lag the only thing that dies is the unicorn you're not keeping, and you can easily just tame another. Unis have pretty low starting skills if I remember right, so they should be within range.

There is no reason why bonding a pet should limit a tamer's fun though. And if we change, it's not going to be much fun repeating the same quest for a whole stable full of pets either. At least if you're transferring pets with the current system you can choose the strongest one and hunt with it while the others bond at the same time. It's less work to bond pets with the current system.

I think tamers need to make a real proper commitment to the bonding "deal" when it results in a pet which can last for many years. Real skill would be something I'd support, but quests and such aren't really fun after you've done them a few times, and they can easily be skipped through and rendered pointless. So if our aim is for fun, I don't think quests are the best route. Anything which is repetitive isn't welcome - it's why we all cringe at the thought of training taming from 0 to 120 again

But I'm not sure this thread is about fun, it comes across more as a lack of patience waiting for 7 days. Basically 'let me do anything if it means I can bond with a pet straight away.' Instant pet bonding should only be available to tamers who have the necessary real skill and I'd still hope there was more to it than tame and insta-bond. Spending time with a pet would work well in that context, but I suspect it would go down like a lead balloon if the time aspect is the root problem.

Wenchy

 

[Jade of Sonoma]

- -you can choose the strongest one and hunt with it while the others bond at the same time. It's less work to bond pets with the current system.

I think tamers need to make a real proper commitment to the bonding "deal" when it results in a pet which can last for many years. --

Anything which is repetitive isn't welcome - it's why we all cringe at the thought of training taming from 0 to 120 again

But I'm not sure this thread is about fun, it comes across more as a lack of patience waiting for 7 days.

Wenchy

Absoulutely! You caught it all and worded that perfectly, Wenchkin! Any real tamer would agree with you on all points!

I've been a tamer since the beginning of the game in 1997 and have a number of fully trained tamers holding exclusive pets in their alotted stable spots. For me there has never been an issue with BONDING taking 7 days. That was an improvement over all that took place before with taming and slot allowances and dragons .. plus non-tamers being able to own dangerous critters like Nightmares.

Did you know that dragons were once very friendly and that tamers could have dozens of them at one time? We used to get together and parade through cities with hundreds of Dragons which we gave away free to spectators who could have them even though they had no taming skills. Such fun! .. but .. changes ...

Along came the Nightmares and Frenzied Ostards, and no one was able to take them out of the Lost Lands .. but mine fell through a hole in the map (bug) while on board a ship in an Ilshenar River, into Brit Oceans - - some of which were owned by my characters who had no taming skills. I had to keep those pets in stables until the owners gained all the new neccessary Taming skills. Now that took more patience than waiting only 7 days to bonding!!! .. ooh the stories over the ages, hey? - - but changes...

Changes that made it necessary for tamers to have extreme patience and which gives many choices of which pets to tame and use while keeping the best new ones in the stables for 7 days to bond.
Once you have a first favorite pet fully tamed and bonded, you can start on another to bond, and then bring that one out to fully train, while another is in the stable bonding .. and on and on it goes .. until:

Tamers seem to love favorite pets to the extent they have to open new accounts so they can have backups with more than one tamer and more stable slots! - - (and two computers to transfer extra pets to a tamer on another accountand a second job to pay for it all)

Some tamers are certifiably-bonded with life-long pets!

- - maybe our pets should be given a pet-age reward like increase in stats??

 

[tiggertessa2007]

I think everyone present at an idoc should receive instanced loot...

...but then I'm not sure what that has to do with the length of time it takes to bond a pet.

i say that cause theres no work at all in bonding a pet, you set it and forget it "giggles" i dunno some people that play uo actually do work "believe it or not i do actually think about others sometimes" but they dont always get a weekend off every week or what ever, they might tame something then not be able to take it out and enjoy it the next week cause they have to work.....im half asleep typing this so i hope u can understand the point im getting at. i just cant really seeing it hurting any aspect of the game.....as for idocs it would be awesome if it just randomly split the loot between all players present, would save me the headache of actually having to be at my computer when the house fell, cause depending on the time they actually turn idoc...if i only have one to loot i get 6 hrs sleep if i have more that i have to wait up later to see when they turn....ugg that can lead to 2 hrs of sleep some nights...