I Really Miss The Good Old Days of Taming...

[uoBuoY]

Back when I didn't "know" a potential pet's exact stats!
Back when, if you tamed it, it was a keeper.
Pet training wasn't important either, especially before Bonding.
Tame it, use it, it dies, it's gone forever...move on.
Today taming is so much more difficult because we "know" our pet's most intimate secrets! This Cu has 77 Cold Resist while this Cu has 84 Cold Resist.

I really think I prefer the old days of not knowing the stat/skill/resist details, no pet bonding and unlimited pet usage (no pet slots). It was a freer, easier time. Not so formulaic and we had a very lively pet-for-sale market. Remember when Brit Bank had many tamers with many pets for sale? Good times! Nostalgia!

 

[Metalstorm]

I remember those days.

I sorta like the control slots because I also remember tamers taking over the dungeons with 4-5 dragons a piece.

I would however like to see the amount of slots doubled.
I think the devs came up with a good compromise as to how many slots a certain animal takes up but they gave us a very short stick with only 5 control slots.

I would like to see 10 but would settle for 8.

I concede that seeing a potential pet's stats has given us a certain arrogance that wasn't around way back when. We're becoming snobs, turning up our noses at less than steller critters and wasting no time in slaying them in the hopes that something better will spawn in it's place.

I am fairly new to taming.
I tried once back in 08. I got far enough to tame a dragon which made me mighty proud. I cared not about it's stats. It was a freaking dragon and it was mine! Well... until it went wild on me and bit me in half anyway

Those were fun days and I wish I had stuck with it.
Now 11 years later I'm trying again but it is a whole new ball game.
I still have that old school mentality but I'm slowwwly adapting.
None of my current pets are what anyone would consider 'keepers' but they're doing fine by me. Perhaps when I evolve further as a tamer I'll start farming for the 'keepers' as well.

 

[Zodiac19]

I started playing tamers in mid 2007. So I don't have the whole losing pets to death or not knowing their stats memory. But, I had a friend way, way, way back in the day pre-tram that was playing around with one. It was funny to see him run a red off with just a pack of regular puppy dogs. Now I don't care who you are that thar was some funny s--t.........

 

[Sir Morder]

I've been a tamer since '98. It was fun back then yes, but the major problem was AI. The game was so stupid to play as a tamer. And yet we have sooooo many people complaining how tamers this and tamers that now, they don't realize that for years and years tamers were on the low end of the totem pole. I remember taking out 2 ww to farm with ok. Here comes a red, he sees my ww's. He casts gate travel and targets my ww's. WW's walk into gate and bye bye ww's. I followed them through the portal only to find they got gated into the savage spawn area and died a miserable death. Not to mention i died shortly afterwards due to the red following me thru the gate. I say here here, tamers finally got some love in this game although it only took almost 10 years.

 

[RichDC]

I would like to see 10 but would settle for 8.

First of not a flame...but really??? 10 slots??? 2GD's???

Thats a recipe for disaster!!!

Mind you 10scorpions or frenzieds could be fun

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I agree I greatly prefer the way Taming was, the power of the pets etc, prior to AoS(? anyway, through the release of Trammel, Ileft 8 months after Trammel was released and returned 13 months ago).

I would add that the Line of Sight patch is a real bug vs tameing. Get into land areas that have elevation changes and you lose the tame cycle your on, cant start a tame cycle etc. Yet the MoB can see you and can attack you.

As far as I am concerned they only needed to augment the MoB smashing Boxes or enforce the Blocking more actively and could have left this Line Of Sight Bug out.

As to the Control Slots, at one time they may have been appropriate for some obscure reason. Now they are nothing more than a mechanism that will FORCE new pets to be more powerful to match up to more powerful foes. Good trick balancing that one guys as the more powerful that to tamed mob is the faster a tamer dies.

I am certainly a proponent for less information. The more information (and this applies to weapons and armor) that is given the less entertaining the game (any game not just UO) is.

 

[Metalstorm]

Two GDs could indeed present a problem to other players. I reckon a simple solution to that would be to up the GD slots requirement to 6 or 7.

It'll never happen though I suspect. Too much pain in the arse for the devs. At least for the time being but I would so love to run my Frenzies and Pred Hellcats at the same time.

Truthfully, it's fine how it is. I have no solid complaints about how it is. I just want more

I havn't even finished my tamer yet nor gone against the things you all have yet and I already want more

I'm hooked.

 

[uoBuoY]

I am certainly a proponent for less information. The more information (and this applies to weapons and armor) that is given the less entertaining the game (any game not just UO) is.

Extremely well put.
As I said above, in the past, we tamed it and played it. I really think we had more fun and less drudge. We didn't kill 1,000 Kits to get a "Good One".

And, I'd really like to get back all the time I put-in setting up armor/jewel/etc. suits for tamers, mages, fighters, etc. That is, in fact, even more mind-numbing than finding a keeper pet!

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Extremely well put.
As I said above, in the past, we tamed it and played it. I really think we had more fun and less drudge. We didn't kill 1,000 Kits to get a "Good One".

And, I'd really like to get back all the time I put-in setting up armor/jewel/etc. suits for tamers, mages, fighters, etc. That is, in fact, even more mind-numbing than finding a keeper pet!

Amen to that.

When I was waiting in line in Ice Dungeon on the ledge, I certainly hoped for a Pure White Wyrm when it came my turn but I tamed what came up and was happy.

I lose a Dragon, I went to Despise (Earlier) then Destard (Later) and tamed one, same for Nightmares.

The pet training was of the On the Job nature.

And yeah Weapons and Armour is a nightmare now compared to then. Yes I went to the Vendor I kept at my house to categorize the stuff I made and the stuff I looted (NPC and PC), but that was the extent of that effort.

The more information the more the game tends to be a Spreadsheet game. As in the Nightmare thread, I said I looked at the mobs attack and resists and bring the pet that best matches up to the mobs weakness and best mitigates the mobs strengths. That is what I mean by a Spreadsheet game, regardless of it actually being Excel or ones own brain cells, it boils down to the same thing, a simple formula you plug the known values into and get the answer.

 

[uoBuoY]

There's another thing I liked about the "ignorant" old days of Taming...

You had to learn for yourself whether a Wyrm, Dragon or Mare was the best choice for a particular foe. Information that you "learn" is much more satisfying and long-lived than stats tables you consult.

 

[Wenchkin]

Not trying to be smart or cheeky, but you can always do what I do and just not look The figures only become an obsession if you let them. Mind you, I've never really felt the need to be competitive. Heck, my UO pets mirror the critters I have in RL. Some have the best pedigrees, but most are rogues with that special twinkle in the eye... I'm naturally attracted to mischief.

I've got some pets that I worked the spawn for, but I find it makes hunting tedious if I sit obsessively loring everything I kill. I've had periods when I lored a lot, watching my pets train up and carefully looking over everything I spawned. CBA with that for long periods now. I find the game much more enjoyable if I let it stay as a game, if that makes sense.

The one thing I really grumble about is stats on equipment. I used to have characters that looked the way I wanted, now they can if I have one suit on, but the next can be hideous And don't even get me started on insurance... So glad I escaped dialup internet and perma-skint status hehehe. Nothing like 28k for an expensive night in Doom lol.

One thing I do miss is really daft. I miss being able to take all my pets out the stable and have them standing around me. I used to take silly screenies of my pets all together, but now I've got so many new ones it makes me grumbly that I can't do a mass team pic. I got over the control slot thing, don't miss the silly power of 20 WWs (never used more than 2) but I kinda miss having the pair of WWs I had out with my mare. Purely for RP reasons though, I just always hunted with those 3. Heaven knows how we all survived until bonding!

Oooh and taming mares in Fel tera keep...Could be the most frustrating or the best place at times, but I had a *lot* of fun in there.

Wenchy

 

[uoBuoY]

Wenchy,

I hear what you're saying but for me that's like telling a young child (me!) not to touch or shake his xmas presents 3 days before xmas! If it's readily available information, I feel compelled to make the best of it and use it.

I do the New York Times crossword every day. If they printed the answers on the next page, that would totally ruin it for me! I wouldn't be able to control my self! When things got tough, I'd peek!

I too have some pets I just can't part with. I have a beloved 7.5 year old White Wyrm, the first one I tamed. Eventually I discovered that his stats truly suck but back in the day he was the King of the Hill! And he was tamed with GM taming (before Power Hour!) and many death robes!

 

[Wenchkin]

Haha! Yeah, it does call for self discipline, I know what you're saying

Wenchy

 

[GreywolfUK]

I do miss the old days of taming, but I do not miss the abuse of the power tamers had, that some of us was doing, the 10+ WW hunting in a dungeon the lag it caused etc, personally I never hunted with more than my dragon/mare or ww/mare, except on a very few occasions , when dexers or bard would give me abuse, even though I was always willing to share the spawn.

Would I like to see that kind of power return, the answer would have to be NO, but I would like to see maybe control slots raised to 6 for GM+ in taming, lore and vet, so it allows us to ride a non combat pet or ethereal mount with a GD, the reason I say 6 control slots is because it would not allow the likes of a GD/bake, GD/mare or GD/dread, or even 2xGD's, 3xBakes etc

 

[RichDC]

Would I like to see that kind of power return, the answer would have to be NO, but I would like to see maybe control slots raised to 6 for GM+ in taming, lore and vet, so it allows us to ride a non combat pet or ethereal mount with a GD, the reason I say 6 control slots is because it would not allow the likes of a GD/bake, GD/mare or GD/dread, or even 2xGD's, 3xBakes etc

Ummm....sorry, your information is mis-informed. Bakes take 2slots so you could have 3 bakes. Also you could have a dread mare and a beetle...or 2 beetles, Im sorry no, control slots have to stay the way they are currently.

 

[Lady Arwen]

First of not a flame...but really??? 10 slots??? 2GD's???

Thats a recipe for disaster!!!

Mind you 10scorpions or frenzieds could be fun

Yea I agree.. I think 10 slots would be a bit much. I have a pack of 5 frenzies and they do insane amounts of damage. I would be kinda scared to see how much damage 10 of them would do!

 

[Storm]

I would like to see more in the way of pack instincts like say giving nightmare pack instincts along with horses and things like that I have always wanted to ride a horse and have ttwo mares out and my trusty horse lord bow

 

[Honest Dan]

Oooh and taming mares in Fel tera keep...Could be the most frustrating or the best place at times, but I had a *lot* of fun in there.

Wenchy

Ah, that was one of the best place ever for me. Me and a friend monopolized that spot, taming mares after mares. Selling them like hot cakes for 60-90k each! Because of that place and with lots of mares, I was able to afford my 1st tower, a cool 2 million.

'The Terra Death Run' was what we used to call it. Running from one end of the dungeon all the way back to the end where the mare spawns, avoiding all mobs as much as possible. Luring the mare and quickly teleporting to a safe place behind some rocks. No clear-path-crap taming during those days =). Fun fun fun!

 

[Wenchkin]

Yeah, I kinda feel sorry for tamers who didn't get to have the fun recalling in there that we did. I know folks don't all like PvP and that, but there was a real sense of adventure down there in ye old simple days I used to love running from PKs, down the tunnels in with the ophids and watching ophids and teras trash talk each other and attack. Must be my warped sense of humour, but I always found it hillarious.

It's a really bad location to die at though...me being a T2A addict I had the trail memorised, but the whole of T2A is like a maze till you learn where all the dead ends are

Wenchy