Today on the Peerage of Siege Perilous, I present an interview wracked by the perils of what we know only as "RL". Nearly launched once before back in April, we have revisited our efforts, and I give you now, an interview with Garth Grey...
What was your first experience with Ultima Online?
My ex girlfriend brought home the Charter Edition of UO in January of 98 I think, I was test driving VW/Audi's at the time, and I would rush through my night shift so I could get home and do the Naked Minoc Miner runs back and forth, I was hooked because of the whole Online aspect, before UO the only game I had ever played on a computer was Zork. UO also created the Ex girlfriend.
What brought you to Siege? How long have you played here, and how frequently do you play now?
I created Garth on Siege in 2009 I think. Before that all I had done was read the stratics shard threads. I found the "auctioning" of items to be interesting, everyone was very passionate about the buying and selling of items. With the move from Memphis to Tampa came a career change. The new job has weird hours which sort of gives me more game time. In the past 2 months I've been able to average about 4 hrs/night. My change combined with my wife's upcoming 12hr shifts might mean even a little more game time, which I'm not used to, but looking forward to, especially if High Seas 2.0 doesn't disappoint.
In the last month, what did you spend the majority of your game time doing?
It was April when you approached me for this interview, and I was aware then that the best job I ever had was coming to an end in May, that's why I said I was probably done and leaving, I had no idea what the future would hold with regards to UO and my playtime. We sold our house in Memphis and packed up and came back to Tampa where I remained unemployed for almost 3 months. It was a scary time for me as I knew I wouldn't be able to find a tech job here like the one I had in TN, so I sat at home sulking while slowly draining the severance I had received. I decided to make a career change and signed up for an online Home Inspector course, I was completing a 120 hr course during the day and playing UO at night to recover. I started hitting the High Seas even harder and even logged in some Endless Journey accounts and turned them into ship crew members. My computer handles several EC accounts at once pretty well so it's been fun, although alt/tabbing is difficult at times. Right now I'm up to 132 orc ships (that's not counting all of those that I've sold on Siege since High Seas came out) and I'm pretty sure that's a UO record, although I don't want to ask because it would kill me to find out all of this hard work had already been done by someone else, but I'm pretty confident no one comes close to what I have.
Do you think you accidentally flooded the market with orc ships?
I know I did, but I'm hoping some EJ players return and will liven up the market again.
Did you spend as much time at sea before High Seas was released?
I did an occasional mib , and rarely did any fishing at all.
To date, what has been your best day on Siege?
Probably the day I 120'd taming on Valar at the Trinsic stag/bull area. Took a screenshot of the final gain and I think I posted it on Statics/Siege.
Can you regale us with a tale of pirating adventures?
The best times I've had so far have been harassing afk/scripting fisher people.. I had a nice video I had recorded of one famous fisher person, but my old computer crashed and I wasn't able to save pics or video. I talked to them for quite a while but they never answered me, so I scuttled the ship. I didn't loot anything because I sort of like(d) this person at the time. They've since grown out of favor for obvious reasons. Early on when High Seas came out I would cast Incognito and write High Seas traffic tickets in player books, explaining why their ship got scuttled. That was when I was keeping it a secret that it was me doing the scuttling, and before I started selling Orc ships.. good times...with EJ I think I'll have a little more fun.
Which players do you interact with the most?
Lately, anyone that's in Gen Chat during the times I log in. I used to be a member of the Vice Alliance, but I wasn't on enough to frequent activities with those guys/gals and Max I guess had finally had enough and removed me, no hard feelings of course, Max is a good guy and runs a tight group and just wants participation and I get that.
I've spent many a night with You and Cal, I always enjoy those.
Are you in a guild, and if so, how many other players are in it? What guilds were you in before this one?
I'm in the guild High Seas. The only members are Garth, Valar, and Ghost Captain. I was in Arrr with Parium and others, and had a short stint with SPHS which I also enjoyed.
If you could pick one player who is no longer on the shard that you could return, who would it be and why?
All of the players that I've interacted with are still here, I will admit I've missed Garfield . It's rumored that he's logged in lately, but I don't buy that it was actually him.
If you could permanently REMOVE one anything (activity / item / player / encounter / mechanic) from the shard, what would it be and why?
I would remove the ability to gate for free onto a ship with 0 magery, even though I've used it a few times, and enjoyed it, I still don't like it
If you could permanently ADD one anything (activity / item / player / encounter / mechanic) from the shard, what would it be and why?
I would like to see the Dawns Music Box get it's "blessed" tag back. I'm one of those weird ones that actually likes to play the music while I play. Turning Music on only gives you a short taste when you enter a town, or into combat mode, not enough for me.
What totally unrealistic dream ideas do you have for seafaring vessels?
I would like to see them get a "traveling speed" option, where no skills can be used at all, just fast travel. I did a test and I can walk along the shore in wolf form, faster than a ship can sail at full speed. That's just dumb. I would also like to see NPC crew hirelings, that will fire cannons.
Who is your nemesis, and why is it Malloc?
I don't think I have one, I used to butt heads with Tyrath but we never met in game I don't think. I'm actually one of the few that actually likes Malloc though He's not my favorite Gil, but he's close.
You are widely criticized as being the grumpiest player on Siege, how do you respond to these allegations?
They're absolutely true. My wife bought me Gary Chapmans book, Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion....I haven't read it yet.
(perhaps a useful read for some of our other "peers")
You are dropped into an IDOC brawl and have time to grab one item. What item would you wish to grab above anything else?
I want that Singing Ball that Doive was brought in from Prodo to loot the day the West Umbra house with allllllll the stuff in it fell.
What do you use your Siege bless on the most?
For the past few months I haven't been Siege blessing anything. I've usually got pretty decent suits on when I'm out pirating and anyone is open to come on out and take a look. Just bring some ammo with you because you're going to need it.
There you have it folks, an interview from an honest man who reminds us that while honesty isn't always nice, it is what it is. Leave your valuables in the bank and join us next time for more Peerage of Siege Perilous!
What was your first experience with Ultima Online?
My ex girlfriend brought home the Charter Edition of UO in January of 98 I think, I was test driving VW/Audi's at the time, and I would rush through my night shift so I could get home and do the Naked Minoc Miner runs back and forth, I was hooked because of the whole Online aspect, before UO the only game I had ever played on a computer was Zork. UO also created the Ex girlfriend.
What brought you to Siege? How long have you played here, and how frequently do you play now?
I created Garth on Siege in 2009 I think. Before that all I had done was read the stratics shard threads. I found the "auctioning" of items to be interesting, everyone was very passionate about the buying and selling of items. With the move from Memphis to Tampa came a career change. The new job has weird hours which sort of gives me more game time. In the past 2 months I've been able to average about 4 hrs/night. My change combined with my wife's upcoming 12hr shifts might mean even a little more game time, which I'm not used to, but looking forward to, especially if High Seas 2.0 doesn't disappoint.
In the last month, what did you spend the majority of your game time doing?
It was April when you approached me for this interview, and I was aware then that the best job I ever had was coming to an end in May, that's why I said I was probably done and leaving, I had no idea what the future would hold with regards to UO and my playtime. We sold our house in Memphis and packed up and came back to Tampa where I remained unemployed for almost 3 months. It was a scary time for me as I knew I wouldn't be able to find a tech job here like the one I had in TN, so I sat at home sulking while slowly draining the severance I had received. I decided to make a career change and signed up for an online Home Inspector course, I was completing a 120 hr course during the day and playing UO at night to recover. I started hitting the High Seas even harder and even logged in some Endless Journey accounts and turned them into ship crew members. My computer handles several EC accounts at once pretty well so it's been fun, although alt/tabbing is difficult at times. Right now I'm up to 132 orc ships (that's not counting all of those that I've sold on Siege since High Seas came out) and I'm pretty sure that's a UO record, although I don't want to ask because it would kill me to find out all of this hard work had already been done by someone else, but I'm pretty confident no one comes close to what I have.
Do you think you accidentally flooded the market with orc ships?
I know I did, but I'm hoping some EJ players return and will liven up the market again.
Did you spend as much time at sea before High Seas was released?
I did an occasional mib , and rarely did any fishing at all.
To date, what has been your best day on Siege?
Probably the day I 120'd taming on Valar at the Trinsic stag/bull area. Took a screenshot of the final gain and I think I posted it on Statics/Siege.
Can you regale us with a tale of pirating adventures?
The best times I've had so far have been harassing afk/scripting fisher people.. I had a nice video I had recorded of one famous fisher person, but my old computer crashed and I wasn't able to save pics or video. I talked to them for quite a while but they never answered me, so I scuttled the ship. I didn't loot anything because I sort of like(d) this person at the time. They've since grown out of favor for obvious reasons. Early on when High Seas came out I would cast Incognito and write High Seas traffic tickets in player books, explaining why their ship got scuttled. That was when I was keeping it a secret that it was me doing the scuttling, and before I started selling Orc ships.. good times...with EJ I think I'll have a little more fun.
Which players do you interact with the most?
Lately, anyone that's in Gen Chat during the times I log in. I used to be a member of the Vice Alliance, but I wasn't on enough to frequent activities with those guys/gals and Max I guess had finally had enough and removed me, no hard feelings of course, Max is a good guy and runs a tight group and just wants participation and I get that.
I've spent many a night with You and Cal, I always enjoy those.Are you in a guild, and if so, how many other players are in it? What guilds were you in before this one?
I'm in the guild High Seas. The only members are Garth, Valar, and Ghost Captain. I was in Arrr with Parium and others, and had a short stint with SPHS which I also enjoyed.
If you could pick one player who is no longer on the shard that you could return, who would it be and why?
All of the players that I've interacted with are still here, I will admit I've missed Garfield . It's rumored that he's logged in lately, but I don't buy that it was actually him.
If you could permanently REMOVE one anything (activity / item / player / encounter / mechanic) from the shard, what would it be and why?
I would remove the ability to gate for free onto a ship with 0 magery, even though I've used it a few times, and enjoyed it, I still don't like it
If you could permanently ADD one anything (activity / item / player / encounter / mechanic) from the shard, what would it be and why?
I would like to see the Dawns Music Box get it's "blessed" tag back. I'm one of those weird ones that actually likes to play the music while I play. Turning Music on only gives you a short taste when you enter a town, or into combat mode, not enough for me.
What totally unrealistic dream ideas do you have for seafaring vessels?
I would like to see them get a "traveling speed" option, where no skills can be used at all, just fast travel. I did a test and I can walk along the shore in wolf form, faster than a ship can sail at full speed. That's just dumb. I would also like to see NPC crew hirelings, that will fire cannons.
Who is your nemesis, and why is it Malloc?
I don't think I have one, I used to butt heads with Tyrath but we never met in game I don't think. I'm actually one of the few that actually likes Malloc though
He's not my favorite Gil, but he's close.You are widely criticized as being the grumpiest player on Siege, how do you respond to these allegations?
They're absolutely true. My wife bought me Gary Chapmans book, Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion....I haven't read it yet.
(perhaps a useful read for some of our other "peers")
You are dropped into an IDOC brawl and have time to grab one item. What item would you wish to grab above anything else?
I want that Singing Ball that Doive was brought in from Prodo to loot the day the West Umbra house with allllllll the stuff in it fell.
What do you use your Siege bless on the most?
For the past few months I haven't been Siege blessing anything. I've usually got pretty decent suits on when I'm out pirating and anyone is open to come on out and take a look. Just bring some ammo with you because you're going to need it.
There you have it folks, an interview from an honest man who reminds us that while honesty isn't always nice, it is what it is. Leave your valuables in the bank and join us next time for more Peerage of Siege Perilous!
