While traveling around, I bumped into Ransom of BiC. I knew that she and her guild had just recently returned to UO and I decided to ask for an interview. She accepted and it was an enjoyable experience, I even made it out of the BiC compound alive.
I enjoyed this experience and decided that it might be fun to interview other active felucca guilds. If you are a GM of an active felucca guild and would like to be interviewed, please pm me or e-mail me at [email protected]. Without further adou, I give you Ransom of BiC.
Armand: What is your character name and what guild do you belong to?
Ransom: Ransom/Benevolent Insurgency of Chesapeake also known as Born in Chaos
Armand: What is your position in that guild?
Ransom: Guildmaster
Armand: I heard that you just came back to UO. How long were you gone and why did you leave?
Ransom: Word travels fast! BiC left UO officially back at the end of 2004. At the time, I'd been playing UO for roughly 5 years, and to be perfectly frank, I think most of us were bored. World of Warcraft launched and several of our guild members had beta tested the game and said some good things about it. After trying it for a couple of weeks, most of us decided that it was time to make a change. Strangely, most of us were just killing time until Darkfall launched, as we felt that it would be the closest thing to UO we could find, with the sort of graphics that we expected. Of course, it would be many more years until Darkfall released, but none of us knew that then.
I think the bottom line was that most of us were just disgusted with AoS and the changes it brought. While much of our guild tends to take the 'Adapt!!' standpoint, it seemed to us that everything just changed from being at least 'mostly' skill dependent, to being almost all gear dependent.
Armand: What are some of the major changes that have happened while you were gone?
Ransom: 5 years is a long, long time. I can't really even answer the question.
Armand: What are some of the biggest adjustments that you have had to make since coming back?
Ransom: Trying to remember how the heck to do everything is probably the biggest challenge. That and the fact that a lot has changed in 5 years. The specs we ran aren't the same as they are now. Trying to get our gear up to par has been a challenge for us as well. Additionally, when BiC left UO all those years ago, we had more members that I could possibly count. It was rare that we had less than 20 in our ventrilo channel, and not uncommon to have double that at any given time. Right now, we are running spawns with 4 or 5 of us at a time, some of which are under geared, some of us who are rusty, and a couple who have never before played UO. There's a large learning curve going on here, but we are starting to warm up now.
Armand: What was your favorite PvP template before you left?
Ransom: Oh my goodness. This is such a trick question!! If you asked every member of our guild this question, you'd get every single one of them answering differently. Our guild was always divided into a 'spawn team' and a 'protection' team. Our protection team was comprised solely of pvp'ers. At the time, it seems like most of the guys on that squad were nox mages and scribe mages. It seems we had a handful of dexxers but they were the minority.
Armand: What is your favorite PvP template since coming back?
Ransom: Personally, I'm looking forward to the bard changes. I *still* play a mage/bard, even though it's less effective in PvP. My men are telling me right now that the most interesting pvp spec is an archer. Back in the day, archers were almost always pvm'ers, but right now it seems that archers are pretty hot. However, this is one of those questions that is almost impossible to answer, because everyone has such different opinions. You could start a 3324324234 page flame war with this very question.
To me, the great thing about UO is that someone can take just the most ridiculous spec you can think of, and make it work effectively in a group environment. In BiC, we rarely are out running around alone. We tend to stay together as a group, and having a variety of different specs and templates keeps our group well rounded, with just enough tricks up our sleeve.
Armand: Worst UO memory to date?
Ransom: Age of Shadows. 'Nuff said.
Armand: Favorite UO memory to date?
Ransom: I can't pick one! Seeing Green Acres for the first time. The 13 hour Harrower fight between BiC/Champs. The night we blocked off the ENTIRE island spawn with 3 rings of boats---GM's came and removed them and we got fussed at, but oh lord how we cackled in vent. I could go on forever and ever, because the favorite memories is just too long.
Armand: Favorite non PvP char?
Ransom: Still my bard.
Armand: Do you prefer choke point fights, duels or all out field fighting?
Ransom: All out field fighting. Choke points are a ridiculous exercise in futility. Dueling is for your guild to practice combos. All out field fighting absolutely tests your opponents ability to stay together, heal together, move together and basically their cohesiveness as a team.
Armand: What is your favorite way to get your PvP fix? Yew Gate? Despise Spawn Battle? Battle at another spawn location? Ransom: I have some guild members who are, and have always been "Gate Trash" as we lovingly call them. For me and most of the other BiC'ers, we prefer spawns. I don't care if it's Despise or Bog, or Desert spawn-- we just LOVE to spawn, and love to battle over them. We most certainly are not the best pvp'ers out there, but we sure do love to do it.
I also just adore when other guilds come to visit us at the BiC Compound. I love, love, love to battle it out on our home turf.
Armand: If you could bring one thing back to PvP, what would it be?
Ransom: I'd dump all the damn arties, all the doom gear, all that nonsense and go back to GM created gear/weapons. I'd probably consider stat loss as well.
Armand: Is your in game persona different from your irl self or do you portray yourself the same in game and out?
Ransom: I'm pretty much the same in game and IRL. I probably swear a little more in real life. I guess you'd probably have to ask the other BiC'ers this question to get a real feel of me and how I lead my guys. Most of them have met me IRL many times, but I'm pretty confident they'd agree that I'm about the same.
Armand: How old were you when you started playing UO?
Ransom: 25 or so.
Armand: Why do you think UO is still around after 12 yrs?
Ransom: There's no other game like it. No other game allows you the freedom to pick templates the way UO does. No other games offers the free will that UO has. Rune books and the ability recall wherever you want is just win sauce. Customizable housing. The list goes on and on.
Armand: There's been some talk about players wanting power scrolls moved to Ilish and Tok spawns. Do you agree or disagree with this and why?
Ransom: DISAGREE!!! Once you stop having Risk vs. Reward, you begin to lose the 'magic' of what makes those items so special. If just anyone could go in there and spawn, then EVERYONE would be spawning all the time and EVERYONE would have a billion scrolls. What would be the use? You end up messing with the economy and all sorts of stuff. There is enough PVE/PVM content in UO to not mess with the one real Risk vs. Reward scenario in fel.
Armand: Which client do you prefer for PvP? Why?
Ransom: Classic. Enhanced is laggy and buggy.
Armand: One thing you would like to see change about UO?
Ransom: I'd like to get rid of all the 'stuff'. Just back on up to pre AoS and we'd be set.
Armand: What do you do in UO when you're not PvPing?
Ransom: LOL. I'm like a trammy at heart. I shop, decorate our house, stock our Supply House, fill out random interviews for Stratics...
Armand: Do you have a UO Hero? Who and Why?
Ransom: One of my BiC'ers 'Jebidya'. Back in the day this kid was virtually impossible to kill. He recently returned with us, and I tell you what, he's just as amazing as he always was. He's calm under pressure, not a smack talker, and just really, really good. He's still a bit rusty, but I can remember it would sometimes take 6+ people to take Jeb down back in the day.
Armand: Where was your original BiC Compound?
Ransom: We were 'north-ish' of Minoc back in the day. Since our return, we are located where the road ends at the swamp outside of Brit.
Armand: What are some of the best memories you have from the original BiC Compound?
Ransom: Oh my goodness. Battles that lasted hours in that compound. Sadly, 'encouraging' many of the locals to 'relocate' out of our compound so that we could put bic'ers in their homes. Running from the caves and dragging Champs into the compound to try to trap them between our homes. Designing our homes so that they were the ULTIMATE pvp houses...the list goes on and on.
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