Back after 3 years and kinda clueless...

[Leyla F]

Hello,

Last week my daughter and me decided to return to UO for a month and see what it's like now.
We all played (my husband, daughters and their bfs, family and friends) pre-Trammel when there was still a lot of role play around.
We left some time after Age of Shadows to get fully addicted to Everquest. Over time we have played many mmorpgs together but we all agree on the fact, none
brought back the magic we felt when we played UO.

So after not being in UO for 3 years we were totally surprised to find our characters and pets still available! Many things have changed though...

I went out with my main character, a bard tamer to my favorite spot in Wind, to get some gold and see how it all changed. I was in for a big surprise, a greater dragon said hello and killed me and my mare in one hit.

I tried again in that spot with the easier stuff like daemons, dragons, drakes... but ouch everything hurts badly. I get my ass whooped severly in UO.
A simple rat in Ilshenar blows half my health away with one arrow.

What happened? Is my armor totaly outdated? Are my skills worth nothing anymore? Or did all mobs in UO get a huge boost up?
I am on the Europa server, i am reading alot on stratics trying to catch up, but i feel like i am a noob again (a stupid noob actually rolleyes

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I understand were your at.

I have been back for about 4 months now and it is still a very foreign game to me.

I learned the hard way Ilshenar has had a change that implemented Paragons. They are normal MoB's but really beefed up. They look like a regular MoB but are Gold in color and have the tag (Paragon) in the identification.

You may want to Lore your pets and see were they are Stat/Skill wise as modern UO pets come in wimps and you need to train them up. (High end ones).

There are several better pets than when you left, Bake Kitsune come to mind. Tame Required is 81.x(?) but is arguably better than a Nightmare (at 95.x). Some pets can "Pack Instinct" for bonus's.

If you were accustomed to AR on items, then there has been a shift to Resist Percentages. The cap on the Resist percentage is 70% meaning you may receive up to 70% damage mitigation.

Mage Weapon -nn modifiers on Weapons means the weapon will use your magical skill level minus the nn value (look for -0 weapons). This works for a Mage based character as the weapon and your skill proficiency determins your ability to block/mitigate the attack.

 

[Azureal]

Ratman Archers are a massive PITA, hehehe, I agree. My mage fears them more than anything else.

Greater Dragons will be your ticket to riches and scorn. Riches becasue they can pretty much kill anything and scorn because most non-tamer players now believe that an already over-powered class is even better off. G-drags have better stats and skills than any other player, and as youve already been privvy to, can one hit most players and their mares.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

Welcome back to the lands of UO. May I ask the shard you call home today? Once that is know I am sure there will be a well travel path to your door to aid you in this hour of need. The leather armor you had back during the AoS will not do at all, so much has changed with the new runic kits out.

Yes the greater dragon will prove to be a help with major monsters, I have one that my t hunter uses, and it is able to take on the AW head to head, with me vetting like crazy.

Again welcome back, I hope the memories you had of the OLD days live up to the new changes you will see today.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Additionally Powders of Fortification increase the durability of your items. Each application increases the durability by 10.

You can buy Repair Deeds, Legendary is currently the top end, this repairs items.

The Powders of Fortification can be reapplied infinitely to keep your items durability ... were you want it. These Powders can be bought (range is 50K gold to 100k+ gold) or can be recieved as a quest item.

Items Modifiers of interest to you would be LRC (Lower Reagent Cost) . At 100 or greater you no longer need to have reagents and if you do then you do not use them.

Another would be Mana Regne, Health regen, Reduce mana cost etc.

Jewely can have stat, skill and resist values. Depending on were your characters are at development wise, you may want to look at augmenting your characters with Jewelry.

 

[Azureal]

In regards to the percentage of Lower Reagent Cost you have...

...at 100%, this will give you a 100% success rate of not needing reagents to cast a spell. Having a suit with less than than 100% simply lowers the chance (by the missing %) to cast with regs. So its wholly possible to cast spells with say a 70% LRC suit and not need regs.

I found this out recently when my main was doing a collection quest. Having unequipped my Boomstick (20% LRC) to use a fishing rod, I didnt re-equip it when I was finished fishing. Recalled around the place as usual until I suddenly got the message that I didnt have enough regs to cast that spell.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Another thing, item insurance.

By getting the menu off your character (Shift or Shift Click?) you can select Insurance. This allows you to insure items that are not cursed(?). This means when you die the items will be in your back pack when you are rez'd.

 

[Azureal]

Another thing, item insurance.

By getting the menu off your character (Shift or Shift Click?) you can select Insurance. This allows you to insure items that are not cursed(?). This means when you die the items will be in your back pack when you are rez'd.

Just a single left click will bring up the menu. Insurance is also handy if youre hunting for artifacts in Felucca. When one drops into your pack, insure it and if you get killed itll be with you when you res

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Another thing I encountered that I think is important. The way one gains skills.

There is no longer a Power Hour and the higher you are in some skills the harder it is to get a skill up.

Power hour apparently was replaced by the GGS (Guaranteed Gains System(?)).

You will want to understand this method. The short of it is, it guarantees you a 0.1 gain periodically. The period is scaled based on your total skills points, with the period being the shortest with the least amount of skill points and longer with a larger total skill points.

This may be particularly important on any new character as the GGS may work best if you raise the Hard to gain in skills before you raise any other skills. This would seemingly trigger the GGS more often than if you raised a lot of skills concurrently or the hard to gain in skills after you raised someother skills.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Sounds like a big UO family!

Welcome back.

Sounds like it may've been more than 3 years......

-Galen's player

 

[Nok]

Hi Leyla,

Welcome back to UO and the community. Things have changed a lot. Monsters are tougher. Items have changed. And older chars need adjusted for the changes... items, skills, and tactics.

Community sites like UO Stratics here and other sites are a big help in getting up to speed. Like UOGuide.com, it is an excellent resource. Ask around, players are more than happy to help returning players.

 

[Leyla F]

Thank you all for your info and advice. I am slowly picking up. My homeshard is Europa, i am a belgian, tho i live in San Francisco now, so it's rather empty when i travel and hunt

I learn alot the hard way
Today i ventured into Felucca because i lost my whole runebook library due to a beetle accident and wanted to mark some spots. I was chased by a red and oh dear they run twice as fast as me on my mare on a ethereal lama? I have a powerful speedy internet connection on a great machine so i was not lagging.
Is there armor to speed us up? Spells or potions?
She friendly rezzed me tho after killing, nice red

Thanks again all, feels good to be back!

 

[AEowynSP]

Welcome back.
I would like to invite you over to the Siege boards where we have a nice sticky thread that will summarise some of the game mechanics that are new to you and also introduce you to a unique shard that is the closest thing UO has to the pre tramm days.
We also have a guild called NEW (if you chose to give us a try) and many players on the shard will take the time to take you hunting/explain things/show you new lands and just try and make your return to UO in general and your experience on Siege specificly a good one. If you have Ventrillo better still since there is a Vent server for NEW so you can have all your questions answered without all the typing.
Oh also we have quite a few Euros running about and the GM of NEW is one.