This wasn't my idea. I'm posting this on behalf of a friend. I think he didn't want to attract the kind of attention threads like this always attract, so he asked me to do it for him. I'm also tired of reading the same arguments over and over again. This is a simple idea, and I think it is a good one.
Ok, well as I said, a modest boost to Compassion is ok. This however isn't modest. You're talking about a fundamental feature of the bonded pet relationship. A two part deal - you get a pet which can be rezzed and stay with you forever, in return for a skill penalty if you let it die. You're effectively taking out one half of that deal.
While we're throwing around accusations of odd thinking, you are consistently the ONLY tamer that I know of that objects to my views on these issues EVERY single time this kind of discussion arrives. And you are backed by a full hallelujah chorus of elitist pvp'rs who would like to see tamers out of pvp altogether, and preferably out of the game entirely when you do so.
My suggestion to remove skill loss for pets has always been a response to those who have wanted to remove auto stabling. And I'll just repeat what I have said many many times before, there is no other template in the game that is forced to spend up to an hour, and even more at times, retraining to regain full efficacy after a death.
I'll say it again, taming is not like other skills. And nobody is forcing you to fuss over your pets' skills. You made that choice. You took on the extra work. You see it as a bad thing to have to train your pets. Why blame others for what is going on between your own ears? These things are bothering you because you allow them to. You have a choice to flip the switch the other way.
I'm a pretty proficient pvp tamer. You ask anyone who has ever pvp'd with me, or against me, when I am playing my tamer, and if they are being honest they will tell you I am effective, and I know what I am doing. I don't go retrain my pets every time they face skill loss because I like seeing nice round numbers on my pet lore gump. I do it because it makes a difference. Pet training is the single most important factor in the power and effectiveness of a pet. Even the pvp'rs who refuse to admit that I know what I am doing will tell you I have some of the nastiest pvp pets in the game, and the fact that I am ocd about their training is one of the biggest reasons why.
So yes, I do think there is a strong bias against tamers from certain segments of the UO "culture", and I also think that the skill loss for pets is punitive, and has nothing to do with trying to encourage tamers to be more careful with their pets.
This issue seems to hinge on your thinking if I'm honest. You are getting into conspiracy theory territory with your line of reasoning. You're living in the same UO as the rest of the taming community, yet you are the only person I know who perceives this issue in such terms. I don't think it's the game that needs changing. We're talking about content which arrived nearly 10 years ago... If tamers were that bothered by it, we'd have seen a mass uprising a long time ago.
You can solve this problem for yourself 100% just with a change of mindset. Or stay frustrated by it and keep pinning it on other players, the devs and some shaky comparisons between taming and other completely different professions. But I can't see the devs changing the game just to suit you and your friend. Even 10-20 tamers wouldn't be enough to change something so fundamental to pet bonding.
I'm not quite sure where you got the idea that I think you are being dishonest. I think you are stubborn, as am I, and you clearly don't seem to be aware of what the traditional view of tamers is in UO's pvp culture, especially of pvp tamers that don't follow the proscribed and approved pvp template choices. Either you don't pvp much as a tamer, or you simply don't pay attention to in game chat, or for that matter to many of the posts on these forums about tamers by the "in crowd" of UO pvp'rs.
I could easily fill a book with quotes from my journal, and from posts on these forums that support my so called "conspiracy theory". Quotes from those clearly bigoted against tamers in pvp, and tamers in general. Quotes from those people calling for the removal of tamers from pvp, and some even from the game altogether. Everything from childish insults, to outright lies and attempts at character assassination, with no basis in any kind of reality whatsoever, in game or out of it.
I'm not making this stuff up, and anyone who has spent any significant time pvp'ing as a tamer in this game knows that what I am saying is true, except for you, apparently. If anyone is accusing anyone of being either dishonest, or deluded here, it appears that you are the one accusing me... Don't force me to start digging around in these forums, or in my journals, for quotes, because I can back up absolutely everything I have said here, and elsewhere on this topic...
