Some Questions

[Desperado_SE]

I'm in the process of working up a melee character, first one I've had in over 8 years, and need some information. My current template goals are:

• 110 Anatomy
• 110 Bushido
• 65 Chivalry
• 115 Fencing
• 100 Healing
• 110 Parry
• 110 tactics or Resist

So my questions start: Just what does tactics do? What about resist? And which would be better to have, or would both be best? Also, is that level of chivalry sufficient for just PvM? Currently all the skills will be real points, as I am still working on a suit, gathering pieces as I hunt and find decent items. Any suggestions or tweaks other than to take at least fencing to 120 (working on getting scrolls for it, anatomy and bushido)?

Also, is anyone else here that uses UOA having any trouble with the vendor sell function? I have a bag set to be the sell bag, but every time I go to sell the things in it, it won't sell on this character. I consistently get the items listed instead.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

I'm in the process of working up a melee character, first one I've had in over 8 years, and need some information. My current template goals are:

• 110 Anatomy
• 110 Bushido
• 65 Chivalry
• 115 Fencing
• 100 Healing
• 110 Parry
• 110 tactics or Resist

So my questions start: Just what does tactics do? What about resist? And which would be better to have, or would both be best? Also, is that level of chivalry sufficient for just PvM? Currently all the skills will be real points, as I am still working on a suit, gathering pieces as I hunt and find decent items. Any suggestions or tweaks other than to take at least fencing to 120 (working on getting scrolls for it, anatomy and bushido)?

Also, is anyone else here that uses UOA having any trouble with the vendor sell function? I have a bag set to be the sell bag, but every time I go to sell the things in it, it won't sell on this character. I consistently get the items listed instead.

Resist gives you the ability to shrug off the effects of certain low-level spells. Link is here and appears to be pretty current based on my experiences.

Tactics is a damage modifier that adds to the base damage as Damage% = integer((tactics/10)+50). Reference here. Could not find anything in FoF to refute this. Damage calculator (Fencing) is here.

UOA: Make sure that not only the bag is tagged, but the item you want to sell as part of the bag inventory is actually in the sell agent list of items to be sold. What you experience has happened to me when I forgot to add it to the sell list.

 

[Tina Small]

I'm not an expert on bushido, so hopefully someone else can help you with deciding whether or not to go with bushido or resisting spells. However, I would like to point out that as a result of the PvP rebalance changes made in Publish 46 last August, you will need a certain amount of tactics skill in order to be able to use weapon special moves. You need at least 70 each of the weapon skill and tactics to use the primary moves and at least 90 each to use the secondary moves. I believe no tactics skill is required for the wrestling special moves; shadowstrike also doesn't require it (but does require 80 stealthing skill); and infecting strike (because you must have poisoning skill).

If you want to read more about Publish 46, go here: http://update.uo.com/design_569.html . The changes made in that publish were done primarily to rebalance PvP but they also affected PvM.

With regard to your UOAssist question, there is also the possibility that you've sold too much of the item in question to that particular type of vendor in order to be able to use the vendor sell agent in UOA. For example, when I'm working on fletching, I can usually sell the bows I've made (50 at a time) to an armourer or blacksmith for a while using the vendor sell agent. However, after a certain point, they will stop accepting them "in bulk" and do exactly what you're reporting...making me sell them one at a time. I've found that bowyers, on the other hand, will continue buying my crafted bows using the vendor sell agent and never seem to hit a point where they won't buy them in bulk anymore. According to the Knowledgebase on the official UO site, it seems that the shopkeeper in this situation may have "run out of gold." (See Q&A here: http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=84.)

Also, the Knowledgebase lists as a "known issue" the situation where NPC jewelers do not always pay the right amount of gold when you try to sell them large amounts of gems. As a result, EA recommends you sell gems in smaller quantities just to make sure you get your gold. (This would also make the price drop, I believe, but I guess that doesn't matter.) More here on the Known Issues list: http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=8.

 

[Desperado_SE]

Thanks to both of you. T'Amon, I thought of that list thing, but when I try to add the gems (I'm training on earth eles, just can't see a point to standing in Luna for hours hitting a golem) the list comes up looking something like this: -???- and won't change over to an item type or name. Never have had this problem on my other characters, they've always been able to sell in bulk with or without the list being populated. Kind of lost at this point.

And Tina, thought of that as well last night when it started doing it, so held off on selling anything else until I logged in this morning...still doing it to me. As for the specials, are they that useful in PvM?

 

[Tina Small]

Meant to include the following and messed up editing my reply to add it.

This is the template I usually use for my pally dexxers. It works pretty well but with the low (or no) amount of focus, suits need to include some mana regen or lower mana cost items.

115-120 Weapon Skill
110-115 Resisting spells
110 Parrying
100 Tactics
100 Anatomy
90-100 Healing
80 Chiv
0-? Focus

I know there are other templates out there that may give your character more power, so hopefully you'll get some other replies in this thread that help you explore those alternatives. I kind of like the idea of a "pure" paladin character, however, so that's what I tend to do. I've tried bushido but the additional moves it has kind of taxed my imagination for setting up more macros to accommodate them along with the chiv spells. They also changed the rules for keeping the lesser hiryus happy and for quite a while I was afraid I'd lose the ones my samurais had. I've also been unsure how much I'd need to rely on potions, trapped boxes, and orange petals while using a samurai. One of these days, though, I'll give the bushido another try and dusty off my sammies. LOL

You'll definitely want to use a stat scroll on this character and look for stat bonus items so you can push your dex as high as you can. I usually also go elf with these characters, which means they can't carry as much but they get a mana bonus.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

... <quoted in part> ... With regard to your UOAssist question, there is also the possibility that you've sold too much of the item in question to that particular type of vendor in order to be able to use the vendor sell agent in UOA. For example, when I'm working on fletching, I can usually sell the bows I've made (50 at a time) to an armourer or blacksmith for a while using the vendor sell agent. However, after a certain point, they will stop accepting them "in bulk" and do exactly what you're reporting...making me sell them one at a time. I've found that bowyers, on the other hand, will continue buying my crafted bows using the vendor sell agent and never seem to hit a point where they won't buy them in bulk anymore. According to the Knowledgebase on the official UO site, it seems that the shopkeeper in this situation may have "run out of gold." (See Q&A here: http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=84.) ... <end part quote>

I have recently had NPCs tell me they lacked the funds to buy more. I too was working Bowcraft and selling in W. Brit, New haven and Skara. I ended up selling as much as I could one spot, then next batch I went to another town ... and so on. They never offered the buy-1-at-a-time unless I was stupid and forgot to add the item in Sell Agent. <shrug>

Maybe this was a fix that slipped through without notice?

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Thanks to both of you. T'Amon, I thought of that list thing, but when I try to add the gems (I'm training on earth eles, just can't see a point to standing in Luna for hours hitting a golem) the list comes up looking something like this: -???- and won't change over to an item type or name. Never have had this problem on my other characters, they've always been able to sell in bulk with or without the list being populated. Kind of lost at this point.

And Tina, thought of that as well last night when it started doing it, so held off on selling anything else until I logged in this morning...still doing it to me. As for the specials, are they that useful in PvM?

Ah-HA! The -???- thing is what's causing your problem. Do you force a resource count when you first log in (NUMLOCK key, then again when it finishes)? The question marks lead me to believe UOA can't register the item and not having UOA cycle a resource count MIGHT be the cause.

Also, I'd head to the Tugsoft site and drop a note to Tug outlining the issue. Perhaps he can shed light on it. As one character out of a "stable" of others (I assume), this is wierd.

<pokes Desperado_SE in the ribs and looks around somewhat shifty-eyed> Psssst! For a 10% commission on sales I'll make a toon on your shard and sell the stuff for ya! rolleyes:

 

[Tina Small]

Thanks to both of you. T'Amon, I thought of that list thing, but when I try to add the gems (I'm training on earth eles, just can't see a point to standing in Luna for hours hitting a golem) the list comes up looking something like this: -???- and won't change over to an item type or name. Never have had this problem on my other characters, they've always been able to sell in bulk with or without the list being populated. Kind of lost at this point.

And Tina, thought of that as well last night when it started doing it, so held off on selling anything else until I logged in this morning...still doing it to me. As for the specials, are they that useful in PvM?

Hmm, I'm not sure about the gem-selling, Desperado. I usually keep all mine to use with my crafters or as something I can sell off for some quick cash in an emergency. I guess I should rethink that last plan. LOL

As far as specials go, I guess you'd really need to look at the special moves to know whether you'd use them. (Nice list here on the official UO site: http://guide.uo.com/combat_8.html.)

I particularly like Mortal Strike and it looks like you can get that as a secondary special move with the short spears, which are a nice fast fencing weapon. I believe some people also like to use Bleed Attack. Whirlwind Attack's also pretty cool. And if you decide later on to put on poisoning instead of something else, you could use Infectious Strike.

 

[Desperado_SE]

Ah-HA! The -???- thing is what's causing your problem. Do you force a resource count when you first log in (NUMLOCK key, then again when it finishes)? The question marks lead me to believe UOA can't register the item and not having UOA cycle a resource count MIGHT be the cause.

I'm a dumbass...thought of that while waiting for the page here to load. Did a resource count, and it works perfectly now.

 

[Tina Small]

I have recently had NPCs tell me they lacked the funds to buy more. I too was working Bowcraft and selling in W. Brit, New haven and Skara. I ended up selling as much as I could one spot, then next batch I went to another town ... and so on. They never offered the buy-1-at-a-time unless I was stupid and forgot to add the item in Sell Agent. <shrug>

Maybe this was a fix that slipped through without notice?

I know I ran into it one Saturday maybe a month ago when I was in Luna for several hours trying to finish fletching on a crafter I was doing on a shard that was new to me. I was bound and determined I was going to GET IT DONE that day or else. (Was also buying up scrolls for my scribe, so that helped a bit with the monotony of making bow after bow after bow.) I don't know why I started out selling to the blacksmith or armourer first and not the bowyer. I guess it had just been a while since I worked fletching and the last time I did it was in old Haven at the bank and the blacksmith was a lot closer than the bowyer was. LOL

I'll be doing fletching on a crafter on yet another shard sometime in the near future, so I'll try it again with the blacksmiths/armourers before switching to the bowyers and see if I run into the same issue with the smithy NPCs refusing to buy bows in bulk after a while. I'll try the provisioner too, because I suspect it will do the same thing. I guess there's also the possibility the bowyers may do it too, but maybe it takes longer to run them out of gold because they probably only buy bows.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

I'm a dumbass...thought of that while waiting for the page here to load. Did a resource count, and it works perfectly now.

Okies ... BTW, Crystal Elementals and Gargoyles also drop gems (at least. They're magic-casters, Crystals doing necro as well ... like Spellbinders in New Haven.

 

[Tina Small]

The solen infiltrators also drop them, though not quite in the same quantities as dragons and crystal eles. You can also get them from picking dungeon and paragon chests and I assume they also come in treasure map chests.

 

[Solikos]

It looks like you are considering a PvM template? If so, I've heard that spell resist is not vital for survival, even in the high end game... It no longer reduces the damage on spells as it did ages ago when you and I played. Now it simply 'weakens' and shortens the timers on negative spells cast on you (curses, etc). You will also have good chances to resist poison based spells.

For a flexible but stable PvM build I'd suggest the following:

120 Weapon of Choice
120 Tactics
100 Anatomy
100 Healing
100 Parry
100 Bushido
60 Chivalry
700 Total

If your account is older, then you can drop additional points into whatever you consider most important, probably Bushido (from what I've heard).

Chivalry is Gods Gift (heh) to warriors/paladins... You get recall, heal, cure, res, and some awesome damage enhance spells which will only cost you 10 gold per spell. No need to carry regs around, or worry about your armor, other than for mana regen (which is fairly important for warriors now). However, in my opinion, you don't need more than 65 Chivalry... Why? Because your Chivalry skill level has nothing to do with the strength of the spells. Strength of Chivalry spells is based solely on your Karma. Your skill level only determines the "fizzle" rate (at 65 you will succeed nearly 100% of the time on the most common skills). Regardless of your warrior type (archer, fencer, swords, maces) I highly recommend some points in Chivalry.

120 Weapon + Tactics (+ 100 Anatomy) = High damage output. The 120 in your weapon of choice is critical, not only for your damage, but your chance to hit other targets, and the difficulty your enemies will have to hit you. Tactics is required for some other good fighting abilities which will use mana.

Healing and Anatomy are obvious for a warrior template, and at those levels you will be able to cure poison (60 skill in each) and res follow players (80 skill in each) without trouble. You will also never fail to heal yourself. As stated above, Anatomy will also increase your damage output, but not to the extent of Tactics.

Parry works in hand with Bushido; you do not want to use a shield with this template, instead you will want to use 2 handed weapons. This is because the combination of Bushido + Parry means you have less chance to block with shields, but greater chances to block with your weapon (especially 2 handed weapons). So pack a big sword or stick in and let lose your fury. If you check on this website there is a Parry calculator, put in your expected skill levels and you can see how Bushido influences things.

Bushido itself is somewhat of a mystery to me. I suppose more than anything it brings up your overall hit rate and damage output, as well as provides a few "stances" to help you out in combat. I've got Bushido to about 65 on my archer, but honestly I don't notice it much. For a melee character, however, it will help much more for the Parry Stances which seem pretty beneficial.

For a weapon skill you may consider Swords unless you have an attraction to another weapon skill. Personally I don't like swords because they are so common and too 'typical' for my taste. However, they seem to be the easiest to obtain at high end, and 2 handed weapons swords are rumored to be the best damage per second in game (though I believe it depends on your str/dex... Short Spears look pretty mean as well!).

If you want to throw something else into this build (Spell Resist?), I would personally drop Bushido. If you do drop Bushido, make sure to carry a shield around or your parry skill would do much less for you.

Welcome Back & Happy Hunting.

~ Solikos

 

[Warsong of LS]

I'm a dumbass...thought of that while waiting for the page here to load. Did a resource count, and it works perfectly now.

I count resources everytime I log in, just get in the habit, cause I am usually stocking my character up anyways.