First EC experience

[Sevin0oo0]

Because it was reasonably Positive (all issues reserved for the EC forum area), I thought I'd share my first experience from the 'other' side.
Installing went well with the actual downloading of the 2gb of content taking ~40-45mins. A very minor DirectX upgrade and I was good to go.
I'm running butt-nekked, so to speak, no Pinco's, no resizing, no nothing, Box Stock default, just for an honest chance to see what a new user sees and experiences. What a difference! I had some sluggishness, and when I finally closed out, I noticed the 2D client was still up, Duh.

After locating my runebooks, I picked a spot I know well, easy to manage, and I've always felt comfortable going there with any character, just outside Tomb of Kings. Recall complete, several thoughts raced thru my mind. Does EC change the location of my runes somehow? Where IS this place I'm at right now? Now where did I leave my map? Once thing was for certain, I'm pretty sure I'm unarmed with radiant scimitar and shield who knows where and there are unknown mobs all over me, like white on rice. They look unfamiliar, unlike anything I've seen in game before, bigger, in a lot, but unknown numbers, and probably tougher as well. I wonder if I am winning and how long I can stand here before dead and what items will be quickly looted by laughing gargoyles that will be standing over my corpse while I switch back to a more 'familiar' client. I do what I Always do, RUN!

I slowly stagger away, a few tiles at a time, trying to take in the new surrounding I'm in and deciding which direction to run, but at least I'm moving, it's not Fel, and I'm still alive, for now. At last I spot some mountainside cave entrance. It looks amazingly real, is it the actual entrance? Let's chance it and give it a go, at minimum, it'll be somewhere different, somewhere maybe to hide, and stay alive. I head towards the entrance wondering if I'll be able to get in. Yep, got right in, Antechamber - and safe. After my heart slowed back down, I think wow, my original rune was mark right outside the door, between the first pillar and the mountainside, What a difference. Braver and more confident, I find my arms and go back out, needless to say, their bodies, now forever still, will never bother me, nor anyone, again.

I have a look around in my new terrain. many things have changed, visually. I remembered the horror of seeing pictures others have provided and not being able to discern between level ground and a dangerous cliff. I had no problem telling cliff from mountain, this was Great as I zipped around taking in all the new sites, until it became one thing after another. First it was 'new' greater mongbats, then, lastly, it was Raptors, surely bad news, RUN! I make it safely back to Ter Mur, then home to breath quite a sigh of relief.

One thing became very clear, adrenaline flowed, and I had fun again. While I'll still be using 2D most of the time, for now, one thing is certain - I will be back in the EC. I want to see more! It's like a totally different game, very cool, very exciting. I'll be out and about, simply exploring and looking around, slaying those that stand in my path, and in my way, from playing my new UO game.


If you too have a positive experience to share (not issues), however small, please do, and thanks for reading.

 

[Surgeries]

I can tell you, as a previous CC user...Pincos UI will change the way you look at the EC. I absolutely love it.

About the only thing I really wish they could fix is that I seem to have to use only one location in a rune book to recall. In UOA I could recall to different locations all from one runebook; now I need a different rune book for each recall. It may be that there is a better way to do recall macros in the EC, but I haven't found t yet. OK...I also liked the way Dragons looked in the CC much better than the EC, but that's it...I think.

I hope you will try Pincos UI...I am fairly certain that once you get used to it, you may become a convert...I sure did!

 

[silent]

I was once a CC diehard since 1997. My first impressions of the EC was that it was ugly, not giving the functionality a chance. One day I decided to give it another go, and I've slowly transitioned to using the EC for almost everything now. The only complaint I have is vendor inventory management. Even though you can enable legacy containers the placement of items isn't quite the same as in the CC. As for the ugliness, the EC looks better on a 30" screen than the CC does IMO. I'd suggest trying out Pinco's UI with the EC as well since that improves the experience quite a bit.

 

[Coldren]

On the EC, I will say, it's pretty much all I use now. The UI (and I run box stock as well, no Pinco) makes things SOOOOO much easier and manageable, and I used UOAssist. I don't have a vendor, so I can't speak to the differences with that, but it's a minor concern for me.

As for the appearance? I still think it's the weak spot of the client.. Well, that and the crashes.. I just do not like the way it looks. Thank the dev that thought to put the option in for the classic paper doll. The EC one looks like my character has been riding a horse too much. It may be the same assets of the CC just upsized, but due to the upsize or the renderer, it just doesn't look half as crisp or clear the way the CC is at any zoom setting. And it may be due to my color deficiency, but the coloring just doesn't look the same either. I could nit-pick at specific assets, like Charger of the Fallen, but that would be pretty pointless.

Hopefully the art update if Grimm ever gets to unleash it will improve that aspect.

 

[Tina Small]

Because it was reasonably Positive (all issues reserved for the EC forum area), I thought I'd share my first experience from the 'other' side.

Wait till you try out the undress/dress macros in the EC. They are absolutely at or near the top of the list of things I like about the EC.

I will have to give it another go one of these days and see if I can figure out how to keep the screen from going pitch black within half a second of logging in.

 

[MalagAste]

There are sooo very many things I love about the EC. But then I run Pinco's as well. The ability to Lore a pet or Mob and have ALL the information on ONE screen right there handy is by far my favorite. And since Pinco integrated UOCrafts' Pet Calculator into it I love it even more. NO more writing down all the stats and plugging them in... it's all right there every time. Yes this pet is good... worth taming No that Pet sucks kill it... Changing weapons at the blink of an eye.... want to use the Undead Tali with a certain weapon... Ok put them both into a macro and boom changed just like that.... what that weapon uses bolts not arrows?? Well how about you swap out your weapon bow and tali in one click??? Talk about sweet. Don't know what that item is for??? Well mouse over it and Pinco's will tell you.

Pinco's UI also handles Object handles in a whole new light.... can't find your corpse through all that stuff???? Well there is a setting just for corpses... Looking for Lost items... there is a setting for that too...

T-Maps are no problem.... the Maps and Pinco's UI pretty much match up if you have the right zoom and the right tilt.

And want to dye something to match what you already have but some insensitive troll reset your dye tub????? No Problem Pinco's can get the hue just right for you. Want the drapes to match the chairs???? No Problem with Pinco's.



There are VERY few things I use the 2d client for these days. One would be Design.... Sadly because of the way stairs do NOT vanish when you take walls down in the EC you can't make broken stairs in the EC. Also with this same problem comes actually placing the goza mats for the broken stairs since with the way stairs act in the EC they also are not subject to the circle of transparency either... VERY annoying if you lose something on the dark side of the stairs... And the only other thing would be to see things the way 2d players do. And finally doing roof tiles in the EC can't do it for some reason there are no helpful hint tags on them in Pinco's.... when I hover my mouse over them they don't say SW corner or anything like that .... and they do in 2d. Perhaps Pinco will fix that oversight soon... and I won't need 2d for doing roofing either. I think after that if they ever fix the stair issue I'll be totally done using 2d for good.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Whatever else you do or don't do, you absolutely MUST set the zoom level to 1:1 ratio for your screen size.

http://community.stratics.com/index...er-picture-quality-post-26-march-2010.187692/

Then, go into options and change the input option for the mouse wheel. Change it to something other than Zoom-In & Zoom-Out. I've always had my mousewheel, since UOAssist days, to Target Self and Last Target.

Once you've done this it will look much much better.

EZ



DEVS, Why in the heck hasn't this been set as the default zoom in the Enhanced Client yet?

 

[Meatbread]

The EC is way too badly optimized and finicky for me. It chugs on my computer, which easily exceeds the specifications for the software.

Plus a bunch of stuff in my house is badly out of place in the EC. If I fix it so that it looks right in the EC, the 99% of everyone who visits using the CC will want to know why my house suddenly looks ********.