Provo time to 90

[Tuan]

Has anyone taken provo to 90 recently? Gains seem so slow, slower than disco, even though I'm provoking the same things (I provoke things to attack me, in particular - yes this is possible, simply play in Fel).

 

[DreadLord Lestat]

Prov is slow but I think you would have better luck proving creatures onto other creatures. I think Prov takes both creatures into the equation.

 

[Tuan]

I think so to... and I think that I am a creature, with lots of skills.

Per http://uo.stratics.com/content/skills/bardingdifficulty.php

My barding difficulty should be:
225 (141 *1.6)
+165
+65
+720
= (1175 - 700) * .275
= 130 + 700
= 830
So, my barding difficulty should be ~83, though this is open to some interpretation... does it take into account modified stats, or base. Modded skills, or base. Granted though, that wouldn't matter much, since it is over 700 anyway. Either way, I believe that my bard difficulty is somewhere between 80 and 85.

I think that the end resulting difficulty for provo is the average of the two difficulties. So since I am provoing things with a diff of upper 80s onto something in the low 80s, and my skill is mid 80s, I *should* be right in the sweet spot.

In the mid 80s I am gaining skill at a rate of roughly .1 per 100 attempts or so - maybe a bit less. I seem to get ~.5 per broken instrument. The problem is that friggen delay. I can use a weaponskill once every 1.25s. Provo takes 8, so I'm getting a gain every 10+ minutes.

 

[DreadLord Lestat]

But the question remains, do players have a true barding difficulty so that when you are proving creatures onto yourself, you are maximizing your gains? If you do have a barding difficulty, is your difficulty on par with what you need to prov for maximum gains? There are a lot of "shoulds" in your theory. I still think that you would be better of proving 2 creatures of the proper level to maximize gains.

@Kyronix Do players in Fel count the same as creatures when figuring in barding difficulty for gains?

 

[Tuan]

Would be interesting to know, though at this point, it's basically too late, as I'm already at 87.3 and will switch to spamming the mastery at 90.

I did find 2 SoA for sale. Got 3 gains while in 1 and 2 in the other. my bonuses were [email protected] and [email protected]. Not the worst possible outcome, but next to it.

 

[Tabin]

Just started provo at 50 and wow its sooooo slow. I gained .1 after about 15 polar bear battles. I'd expect at 50 skill point, it would go faster. Can I just provoke the same polar bears over and over again? I'd have to find a way to separate the two from killing each other, which seems do-able.

 

[Tuan]

Yes you can provoke over and over. Best way to do this: find some city graveyard with some skeleton or wraith level creature handy in it, and provoke it onto yourself several hundred times, using jewelry as needed to keep you in the gaining sweetspot. As needed move to harder monsters. You can get to 90 in a few hours this way.

 

[Tabin]

hmm trying this and it says "you have no chance of provoking those creatures." Im at 50 provoke, target skeleton, and target myself. I think my barding difficulty is too high? Maybe I'll have to do this in trammel with a pet or something.

Update: ok bought a swamp dragon and started provoking that on a skeleton over and over. Seems to be gaining faster. Thanks a bunch for the tip! Definitely like the minimal setup required to do it.

What did you provoke from 60+?

 

[DreadLord Lestat]

Even though this is for Disco, the mobs and levels are fairly close regardless of which bard skill you are training. poo's disco primer

You can also use the bard calculator UO Stratics - Bard Difficulty Try and keep you success chance about 50%

Make sure to not go over 100 music until you have maxed out any other bard skills you may want and make sure to use NPC instruments when just skill gaining.

 

[Corwyn]

I've recently been working on my very first bard, and I can attest to the fact that gains are very slow. Just keep plugging away. It gets to be more fun once you reach 65.0 and can go into Shame for provoking mud pies and earth elies.

 

[Tuan]

hmm trying this and it says "you have no chance of provoking those creatures." Im at 50 provoke, target skeleton, and target myself. I think my barding difficulty is too high? Maybe I'll have to do this in trammel with a pet or something.

Update: ok bought a swamp dragon and started provoking that on a skeleton over and over. Seems to be gaining faster. Thanks a bunch for the tip! Definitely like the minimal setup required to do it.

What did you provoke from 60+?

I imbued myself jewelry and provoked the gold elementals in blackthorns onto myself, killing them and looting the ingots. Note that you can only provoke creatures onto yourself in Fel - but since I rarely go to tram ruleset, this wasn't a problem for me.

 

[Tabin]

Thanks guys. I experimented with different things and eventually realized I can just provoke two tamed creatures to each other. No boat. No fence. No monster. No island tricks. No need to hunt or kill things either. I'm surprised this method isn't posted in the sticky actually.

It is now REALLY easy. Far easier than discord. In half a day, I went from 50 to 80.