Frustrated Newbie theif here !!need advice!!

[Lostpharoah]

Ok as my first disclaimer states I am a newbish thief.
Other then the new balms and lotions ive had no luck in pvp thievery.
I have only had one successful pvp theft that did not cause me to become a corpse, and all i managed to steal was a set of 33 bandages.. !!

I find myself falling to Poison walls, Earthquake, and energy fields. I know of no counters to these.

champ spawn groups seem to have 1 person dedicated to spamming earthquake spells (with 100%+ LRC, there is no disadvantage to them).

poison fields in fell are a crock , seriously its totally unbalanced (unfair) that someone can carpet an entire champ spawn with these poison fields and the fields only doing damage to me and the NPC's .. other members of there group and the caster are not effected.

Whats the point of stealth if you cant get anywhere .

energy fields: besides closing off essential paths to champ spawn areas .. and people camping gate spawn points which is lame. There should be coincidences to the casters aswell. They and there group can carpet the place with them and move freely threw them but I have no chance.. these should block movements of everyone. theres no disadvantage or repercussion to the caster for casting these ..

Am I missing something is there ways that im unaware of to counter these effects . or are they as unbalanced as I see them ??

Please Please help with some advice .. I am a recent returnee to UO , but this frustration is wearing at my patients, I like this game but if I cant acheave anything there is just no point to continuing on with my sub.

fyi my stats are:
120 stealing
110 stealth
100 snooping
100 hiding
110 magery
67 ninjitsu

 

[Lostpharoah]

Anyone got any advice at all ?!?

 

[Nexus]

Are you on Siege or a Standard Production Shard?

On Either I'd advise taking a good look at that template but how to adjust it to help you counter some of these things depends on which ruleset your server is using.

120 stealing
110 stealth
100 snooping
100 hiding
110 magery
67 ninjitsu

That's not bad, but I can say right off your gonna need to boost that Ninjitsu. Anything less than enough to use/cast llama form consistently is just wasting skill points. Yes on Prodo you get great benefit off the Shadow Jump, but if your on foot using it then you need a way to get to mounted speed as fast as possible after a steal...Ethy's are not the answer! You'll live much more often once you can use llama form effectively. Your only showing 607 skill points used so you should have room for some boost in that area.

As far as the spawners.....if they are casting EQ constantly there's not much you can do except find other groups that don't, or if they are there check out other spawns and see if you can find group doing one elsewhere. As far as fields that is just part of the territory these days and you have to learn to get around and avoid them.

A lot of it just takes practice with time you'll get it under control

 

[FatMagic]

Lost I know what you mean. I'm frustrated with the same thing... just getting bored that those guys are my only marks currently. If I was running with someone else, it might not be so bad. But it's just so dicey.

And you're bolder than I! I still haven't found a good mark to steal from... no steals yet. Just snoops, and nothing else. Oh well. Maybe I'll get in a good one soon.

 

[Nexus]

Lost I know what you mean. I'm frustrated with the same thing... just getting bored that those guys are my only marks currently. If I was running with someone else, it might not be so bad. But it's just so dicey.

And you're bolder than I! I still haven't found a good mark to steal from... no steals yet. Just snoops, and nothing else. Oh well. Maybe I'll get in a good one soon.

Chessy (at least by your Siggy I'm thinking Chessy) can be a rough shard to find marks at...My advice from experience there is to try and catch spawners in the last 2 hours before server down and the first hour or so after server up. Usually you'll find a group of 3 or so in Despise doing Barracoon. 3 spawners = easy pickins.. You don't get a lot of folks raiding around those hours and with 3 only one can try and field the bridges which isn't really effective. Just get on the island and in a corner and wait.....when Coon dies shadow jump next to one of them while the coins (you can target the coins) are appearing and do a snoop, grab what you can get and make a break for it.

But to be honest Chessy's fel is a bit FUBAR at the moment, and it's gonna be a while till it clears up. With most of Fel divided between 2-3 large groups it's hard to get a good steal... the reason I was suggesting the times I did, is that's when your more likely to find a handful of trammies trying to sneak a spawn in.....

 

[Sweeney]

Thieves die.. a lot. It's part of the lifestyle. You can shadowjump across the Despise west bridge, hopefully past the fields. Failing 10 times just makes the 1 success so much better.

 

[Robthemilt]

Definitely avoid the East bridge unless your revealed and need quick cover. if they drop a field on you your in trouble. One day when its empty go practice shadow jumping from the ledge by the W bridge to the bridge, there are a couple spots that you'll be able to. Then practice getting from one end to the other without having to walk. Once you've got that down it'll be a lot easier to get on the island when their being exclusive. Just remember if you shadow jump when their standing near the bridge they'll be able to hear and see it. Just wait until the one fielding runs down the the E bridge.

Also around the server down and up Go searching the Lost lands thats where you'll find the trammies. Target Blue humans first especially if you can get them in Wraith or Lich form. they wont be able to chase you once you get ozzy form regularly. And dont be afraid of blues, The only thing they'll have on you is their passive detect. So as long as their human your good.

I love the Addition of the SoT's because their great worthwhile training. Stealth ahead of where your target is going to go, and when he comes by you snoop him. Target YOUR item when hes withering by and go pick it up when your ready. Try not to move when they're near by though. No reason to risk getting revealed. Even if they walk into you, it just gives you another second to snoop them, if they try to reveal you'll be able to Ozzy up and go.

Your going to die. Plain and simple, its part of our lifestyle. Just remember when you fail an important steal, and work harder to get it next time.

 

[Arch Magus]

1. Wear high Physical and Poison resist armors. Taking significantly less damage from EQ's and Nox fields seems to keep you from getting revealed as much.

2. You need a defensive skill! I recommend Fencing simply because of the special move Shadowstrike. This can get you out of a LOT of trouble at spawns.

3. Old Invisibility charged items can be a lifesaver.

4. Use the Teleport spell to it's full potential.

5. Never move in too close until the boss is almost ready to fall. If a group of spawners never knows you are there, they will be much less interested in spamming fields and eq's trying to flush someone out who they aren't even sure is there.

6. Stay away from elves. Most people in Felucca like to stay human from what i've noticed, but when there are elves around you get passively revealed A LOT. Stay at least 3-4 tiles away from them when attempting to stealth about.

7. Shadowjump. This can be very useful, but the graphic can give you away. Use this move from behind tall rocks and terrain that can obstruct your view from others. Best used when your marks are busy killing something. When you shadowjump next to someone, it has 0% chance to reveal you. When the gold falls at a champ is a good time to use it, but that's a little too late for my style.

8. Suit up with HP regen as high as you can get. Then you'll just laugh when they spam 30-40 damage eq's.

Cheers.

 

[Robthemilt]

Magus you tempt me to put magery back on my thief. Really love that stuff huh?

 

[Arch Magus]

Yeah bro. Magery all the way. Don't really need it past GM.

I've got a 70% LRC suit with Ornament, Keonean's Chainmail and Voice of the Fallen king.

Tons of Stamina and HP regen. Enough Intelligence to get lots of shadowjumps and other spells in.

I just love it love it love it. :bowdown:

 

[kaio]

Cheer up buddy. its really not that hard. but to be successful with any template you need to practise alot.
You need to know the strength and weaknesses of your'e thief. Personally i prefer a gear-indepedent char. So therefor i most of the time run around only wearing cloth. Stealing and getting away from people at yew mg, might sound crappy, but hey its a great way to start, and when u get the hang of it. You should try stealing somewhere else, despice, t2a spawns, etc etc.
I have already stolen alot of stuff, and my template is no way near finished.

Learn to use pots,petestals, ninja shapes (llama form,dog form etc). ninja stars,smoke bombs etc etc. And you will be just fine, but a defenceive skill like fencing/wrestling etc etc, is a must have.

 

[Robthemilt]

I think the reason i didnt really use the magery when i had it was because im almost always in ozzy form. i really only come out of ozzy to make the steal. and my steal macro puts me right back in it. But it sounds really good for someone who uses it. or if i were to use an ethy rather than ozzy, but im not old enough for that yet.

I just run from dexxers and got good at hiding right when i've broken their line of sight, and it doesn't help you against mages anyway. I avoid Archers like the plague though.
On Atl it feels to me like without 120 weapskill and max DCI their gonna hit you anyway.

 

[Nexus]

Here the template I'm building on Atlantic...I've has a little success with it so far a the gate, I'm not hitting spawns until it's done....

Stealing 116.6
Stealth 108.0
Fencing 100.0
Snooping 100.0
Hiding 97.6
Ninjitsu 85.2
Poisoning 80.0
Magery 72.5



I'm not finished and it's a funky template though.....Those skill points are modified skills...here's how it's going to look when finished in real skill and where I get the mods from....

Stealing 75.0 (+20 From Dancer Legs +10 from Burglar's Bandana +15 Ring)
Stealth 75.0 (+20 From Dancer Legs +10 from Burglar's Bandana +3 Ring)
Fencing 100.0 (real Skill Scrolled to 120 have a Dread's Revenge)
Snooping 90.0 ( +10 from Burglar's Bandana)
Hiding 100.0
Ninjitsu 90.0 (+15 Bracelet)
Poisoning 80.0 (real Skill 80% chance for Leathal Poisoning a target with infectious strike)
Magery 100.0 (Carry a +12 Spell Book but 100% on Low end spells)

When complete it will look like this
120
108
100
100
100
105
80
100


Suit wise I'm running 62/64/70/70/75 resists with 8MR on an Elf toon, I get 20 extra mana so I can drop more into dex for extra Stamina if I have to run and get hit a few times...

Have some HP Regen also and a bit of LRC and LMC. I carry a few regs and an Arcane Cloak with me. Also have an Alchemist bauble with me so if I run out of regs between it and what's on my armor I can find a quiet spot and recall most the time with in 2-3 times if I run out of regs or what not. The Dread's Revenge is mainly for the +20 if I find a bot that's running High parry macroing something....other than that I have a Nice Dagger. Oh on a dagger try to find one with like Hit Lighting or Harm Avoid Magic Arrow or Fireball. Having Hit Lower Defence on it never hurts either.