at a loss

[peanutbutter]

ok. i knew thieves were treated like the ugly kid of UO by the devs, but... dang...

i hit 120 stealing and had a friend make stacks of stuff raning from 1 to 10 stones in their pack, 2 of each weight.

then i proceeded to steal them randomly.

i repeated the process 3 times

i succeeded every time, but they also "noticed" me every time, save 3. so, out of about 60 tries, i got detected or noticed 57 times.

that's lame. and disheartening. mostly lame, though.


am i doing something wrong?

 

[5% Luck]

I think the main idea is to get the heart thumping gettaway by running hiding or smoke bombing. A free steal is kind of boring.

GL even though theres little to steal its still alot of fun geting away!

 

[Traveller]

i succeeded every time, but they also "noticed" me every time, save 3. so, out of about 60 tries, i got detected or noticed 57 times.

am i doing something wrong?

Possibly something:
1) The larger the stack/stuff you steal, the easier is to be detected.
2) As I told you in another thread there is the POSSIBILITY that dex affects the likelyhood of unnoticed steal. You might want to check it. EDIT: just noticed rico's reply in the other thread. Wel, if you find time to get additional data (time passes, after all) I suppose nobody will hold you a grudge.
3) From whom have you been detected exactly? You can be detected by anybody up to 8 tiles from you, included NPCs. If even one of them sees you, it counts as a noticed steal. So, if you try to steal in a crowded zone, compounded probabilities work against you.

 

[Nonel]

Damn NPC's are the primary concern. They manage to call guards before you even make or fail the steal.

 

[peanutbutter]

wow.

i mean, i don't want CONSTANT free steals, of course, but the quick/sly freebie would be cool every once in a while.

i mean, how are you supposed to really get away in a crowded place... like, say, a champ spawn? chance of outrunning their entire guild=slim to nil... chance f stealthing out with all the mages and auto-detectors around=nil... chance of surviving getting revealed and targeted by 3 mages and 5 archers=slim to nil...

i mean, i guess i just need to camp their guild house and try to grab a scroll from their "less experienced" members on the way in to divi them up.

ah well, nobody said it would be easy, but it's funny to be called "legendary" and get noticed as easily as a 3-year-old trying to sneak a cookie.

 

[Nonel]

Camping the guild houses actually does work. I've nabbed some nice scrolls as they were banking them, too.

As far as at the spawn itself...I usually just run like hell. Most guilds just use para fields, which are next to useless against a decent thief. Even e-fields you can often find a way around without magery. You'd be surprised at the complete lack of knowledge people have about how stealth and stealing works nowadays. Use that to your advantage.

 

[Traveller]

i mean, how are you supposed to really get away in a crowded place... like, say, a champ spawn? chance of outrunning their entire guild=slim to nil... chance f stealthing out with all the mages and auto-detectors around=nil... chance of surviving getting revealed and targeted by 3 mages and 5 archers=slim to nil...

Well, the answer to this is twofold:

- first, the technical aspect. You are DEFINITELY worrying too much about being noticed after the steal. If you manage to get the scroll you want on last target, you have done 80% of the work. If you are organized, getting away is MUCH easier than closing in and snooping packs for scrolls.

- second, the social aspect. As been remarked by nonel, many people today are clueless about stealth, and at spawns those are the only people you have a decent chance. Note that this is a serious indication on how nerfed thieves are. People doing spawns, even "good" guilds, did not use to be SO clueless two years ago. Conversely, if you find a spawn worked by a guild of decent pvpers with one or more reds, just forget about it and move on, It's a waste of time unless you get VERY lucky. Of course you might want to try it for the challenge, but that's not as gratifying as it used to be. Stealing from red pvpers has always been very hard, but before SE when you managed to get scrolls from pvpers it was because of your ability. Now the main ingredient of success is the good will of a RNG...

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

At 120 stealing, I get probably too many unnoticed steals. I get 5-6 stone items all the time. Hell, when set up properly, I get 10 stone items (pet balls usually) unnoticed 7-10 times.

I can't complain...too much...la

 

[peanutbutter]

At 120 stealing, I get probably too many unnoticed steals. I get 5-6 stone items all the time. Hell, when set up properly, I get 10 stone items (pet balls usually) unnoticed 7-10 times.

I can't complain...too much...la

what do you mean "set it up".

i mean, i would make sure my target is relatively alone, move carefully up to them, steal as fast as i can.

what else is there to do?

maybe i was just unlucky that day... i'll try the experiment again soon.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

I give stealing tips here all the time. Stealing training...nope, there are little secrets to safe stealing that I have learned through the years. I don't give those up...those need to be learned through game play.

Sorry...la

 

[peanutbutter]

heh.

well, i'm glad that an experienced fletcher gave me tips on how to make better bows (even though it would make me his competition) or i would've given up on fletching.

i'm glad a mage trained me how to duel or i would've given up on dueling (though, unlike thieving, this can be learned in part through observation).


etc
etc


maybe it's not that thieves are disadvantaged at all.
maybe it's that vet thieves don't share their "secrets" so people quit playing thieves.
then, since nobody is playing them, the devs don't care to worry about them.


i dunno. maybe.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Nah, I'm sure there are vet thieves who share thier secrets. just not this one, lol. Remember, the more thieves that quit, means more loot for me. When I stop playing my tthief on Siege for some time, it seems when I come back, people will have forgotten to protect their things as well as they did when i was active.

Here's a couple of tips...NPCs can be moved by players, and the postion a mark is facing when stolen from does make a difference.

Keep that in mind when practicing...la

 

[peanutbutter]

thank you. the position thing will make a difference AND add another very enjoyable dimension to my play.

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

practice practice practice...talk with other thieves in game. Most will help. Find a thief guild, and talk with them.

Nothing beats the way of learning to play a thief than just going out and stealing from other players. It will teach you the macros you need to set up, how to evade single players and groups of players. When you steal something, unless it's an item you really want or thinkyou can sell, hang around and taunt the mark. Give them a chance to get the item back. It's been said many times here in the past, but the most fun you will have as a thief, will be involved in getting chased by a player who wants an item back...la

 

[The Green Thief]

practice practice practice...talk with other thieves in game. Most will help. Find a thief guild, and talk with them.

Nothing beats the way of learning to play a thief than just going out and stealing from other players. It will teach you the macros you need to set up, how to evade single players and groups of players. When you steal something, unless it's an item you really want or thinkyou can sell, hang around and taunt the mark. Give them a chance to get the item back. It's been said many times here in the past, but the most fun you will have as a thief, will be involved in getting chased by a player who wants an item back...la

Man, that's the realest **** I've ever heard.