Understanding basic pet selection...

[startle]

Hi all,

Well, my journey to become a good tamer is coming along splendidly (sort of), thx mostly from the reading and advice I've gotten here. But, it seems the more I learn - the more questions I have...

For instance: When starting to tame something I haven't tamed before, I always look at the Hunter's Guide here for information on min/avg/max Stats, Combat ratings, and Resists - so that I know a "good" prospect from a junky one. And I use the Pet Calc to get a basic idea of where one falls.

Now, since Resists do NOT change EVER (as well as HP's), but Combat skills do - shouldn't my PRIMARY concern whenever loring a PRE-tame ALWAYS focus mostly on the RESISTS (since they can't be worked-up) ?
Now, having said that - I do understand that a very "weak" critter isn't much good even with GREAT resists, since it dies too quickly. But aside from that, aren't the RESISTS the primary concern if HP's are so-so?

 

[Farsight]

It really depends on what you're looking for.

Hit points don't change either on high end creatures, so that's also pretty vital.

A rune beetle with 151 stamina is exactly as good (in theory) as one with 179 stamina, and 180 stamina beetles are few and far between, so you can almost ignore stats on the beetles.

Likewise with strength on a cu sidhe. The difference in damage dealt from a minimum strength cu and a maximum strength cu is almost nothing, so you don't have to look at strength at all.

The creatures where skills are important are the ones where skills can get to over 100 after taming (greater dragon, greater hiryu are the best examples. Or magery/EI/poison on a rune beetle).

So most tamers have a list of points to look at pre-taming. Mine is this:
1. Physical, fire and energy resists. Most monsters deal physical damage, cast flame strikes and energy bolts, so if these aren't near the max, I move on.
2. Cold and poison resists. Depending on what I plan on using with the creature... these can be a bit lower.
3. Hit points. They need to be high, but my tolerance for HP is lower than many other tamers. A 750 hit point dragon, for example, can still be used to solo the Monstrous Interred Grizzle... so if I'm not PvPing with it (which I never do), why work for more unless I want perfection?
4. Skills over 100. A 125 wrestling dragon with all of the above is pretty near unstoppable in PvM... A rune beetle with 120 poison and high EI is also pretty effective when used well.
5. Stats over 125. A rune beetle needs more than 150 dex. A rune beetle with more than 160 dex can get over the 180 point (thus faster swing speed) by blessing it.

But you are right, resists are my top priority anyway.

 

[Ncdiablo]

I too have just returned back to UO and while 9 years ago I considered myself a great tamer, I now am relearning the game.

The things I consider for the most part are similar to Farsight.

If the creature has at max pre tame skills that are 110 or below then that doesn't matter a bit (i am talking wrestling, magery and so forth). As it means the cap for the creature is 100% which can be trained up and so that means nothing for choice. However if pretame skills are higher such as with Rune Beetles and GD's then those stats are highly important.
Wrestling is a god send for a tank. Poisoning is a key damage capability for a Rune Beetle.

As Farsight stated with stats I won't double coverage because he is absolutely correct. The range is the key. Greater Range then yes important. Low Range difference then it usually doesn't mean much.

Resists just to emphasize all are super important based on what you want to do with a pet.

Fighting Poison based baddies of course you still want good physical but yes poison resist helps. So yes you might want to have situational based pets of the same type for different reasons. Unless of course you stumble on the max out uber model of the pet.

HP's are the damage sponge so maxing those are great but if their other skills and resists make up for the HP's then the pet can be great even without max hps.


Good luck and happy hunting.

RadioActive of Chessy

 

[Llewen]

It depends on what you want your pets for. I disagree though with Farsight, I think dex above 125 is super important and the higher the better. Stamina determines how fast your pet will move, and it's "swing speed" (and rune beetle dex only goes as high as 170), and of course stamina is dependent on dexterity.

However, if you are taming a pet that you plan to use in pvm, the the single most important consideration is resists, followed by hit points. However, if you are planning on pvp'ing with a pet, then resists are less important, what matters then are the stats that affect damage output, such as strength, hit points on critters with breath weapons, and dexterity over 125 is the single most important consideration in my opinion.

And for pets that can have skills over 100 after taming, such as greater dragons and rune beetles, skills are also extremely important. For rune beetles you want both poisoning and evaluate intelligence to be as high as possible, and for a greater dragon all of the skills that can be over 100 after taming are extremely important.

 

[Farsight]

Just for clarity's sake, Llewen is absolutely correct. (and has probably forgotten more about taming than I know for that matter )

 

[Llewen]

Just for clarity's sake, Llewen is absolutely correct. (and has probably forgotten more about taming than I know for that matter )

*grumbles* I think that means I'm old...

 

[Farsight]

I was going to say "experienced" ...
To-may-to, to-mah-to

 

[Wenchkin]

Don't worry..it's when the other tamers start offering to park your walking frame and offer you a seat...then you worry....

I think the main points have been covered here. I tend to look at resists first out of habit. It really does depend what pet you're looking at though when it comes to overall priorities. One of the more advanced aspects of taming is finding your own pet priorities and understanding how the animal lore figures will effect the pet in battle. But what I will say is don't obsess about perfection too much on the first run. A first pet is good for messing around spawns and learning what it can handle - without the panic if it dies. You can always go back later and get a better pet.

One method I've used since my newbie days is this:- go to a spawn and tame the first average pet I see and use it to turn over the spawn. Lore individuals as the pet fights them, but if I notice the tamed one suddenly taking much more damage than usual, and the wild one is barely scratched - I look carefully at the lore window and see why. Then sometimes it's an obvious keeper, or at least worth stabling as a possible.

Wenchy

 

[startle]

@ Farsight, Llewen, Ncdiablo, Wenchy

Thank you guys so much for your valued and appreciated input. I'm having a lot of fun taming and training pets now... it's made UO enjoyable again, thanks in great part to the kind advice I've received here. I think that without the ability to ask questions of you vets, I'd certainly have quit long ago.

So thx for helping me stay interested in UO.

 

[Llewen]

You are most welcome.

I pvp with my tamer, and over the years I've gotten a lot of the typical pvp *&^#! talk about being a tamer, you know, "All kill, no skill", etc. etc. What a lot of players don't get is that playing a tamer is challenging, and plain old fun. The tamer "profession" is one of the very best things about UO, and one of those things that sets UO apart from every other MMO in existence.

Farming for pets is fun, learning all the ins and outs of training them is fun, and controlling them and seeing what they can do, is also fun. Not only do I enjoy playing a tamer, I also enjoy playing against other tamers in pvp. The tamer haters out there simply don't understand, and they don't know what they are missing.

 

[startle]

...The tamer "profession" is one of the very best things about UO, and one of those things that sets UO apart from every other MMO in existence.

Farming for pets is fun, learning all the ins and outs of training them is fun, and controlling them and seeing what they can do, is also fun.

Llewen, I agree completely. For me, the most enjoyable part of UO is working toward a "goal", watching for that beautiful "skill gain" message on the bottom of the screen (wishing you could see that for pets... hehe). And there are really only 2 professions that force you to stay "engaged" out in the wilds of Sosaria in order to gain in skill - and those are Bard and Tamer. Unfortunatly, IMO, Barding has been both "fixed and broken" at the same time, by the addition of the Bard "Masteries". By that I mean that Bards were finally given some "love" by making them more valuable in a "team" environment, which is a good thing. But at the same time, the "Masteries" have removed the many months and months of "in game involvement" by allowing Provo and Disco to go from 90 to 120 by sitting in the safety of your home. Any skill that allows you to gain without necessitating involvement in the greater Sosarian "world" is a skill that you just can't have the same degree of "pride" in, like what Barding was and like what Taming (thankfully) still is.

My 10 year old grandson has a WII (thats not a miss-spell, a WII not a WW, hehe) and of course (as most any 10 year old would) loves the fast-paced sillyness that the platform offers. But, he also LOVES to play his Mage (that I gave to him) with my chars in UO. At this point, it's hard to get him to want to spend much time "learning" the game and that's partly my fault for "giving" him assess to a legendary Mage. But in UO, as in RL, you can only REALLY appreciate the true value of something IF you have had to WORK for it - and that's something that I want him to experience above all else.

Recently, we encountered a Tamer with a GD that was "owning" a spawn, and he was just hyped! All these questions about GD's and Taming, etc.

So here's what I did: I bought an advanced char Tamer (for the account that he has access to). As I'm sure you know, this starts him out with 85 in his Taming skills and enough Magery to get around. (He'll soon learn to appreciate his "gift" of that legendary Mage I presented him with)

I told him that I would have my Blacksmith/Tailor/Tinkerer/Imbuer make him anything he needed for armor, and I gave him a runebook to all the usual taming spots. I also exposed him to Stratics and explained that pretty much anything he needed to know is here for him. (He lives 1500 miles away, so I'm not there every day doing stuff for him).

But his bottom line is that HE has to take that tamer to GM and beyond ON HIS OWN ! This is really the only way for him to appreciate what Sosaria is all about, and the only way for him to REALLY understand what he's done when he finally does GM that Tamer.

And, I'm really looking forward to hearing about his "adventures" in that endeavor...

 

[Ncdiablo]

Startle,

I am always glad to help anyone I can in the game. Just wish you and your son were on Chesapeak so we could hunt together. Hunt for 4 star and 5 star pets and just in general have Tamer Fun.

UO was the first game I got wrapped up into. Eventually due to constant and massive irritations with house debacles and not being able to log on and try to get a house during the release of Trammel / Felucca I left the game. Went on and enjoyed Beastmaster with FFXI until they botched it and forced us to no longer be solo players and required us instead to be in parties.

It's been a long time but this place always held my heart and while the others may have the graphics, this place has a ton of those things that other games never could touch.

Happy Taming.

RadioActive of Chessy

 

[startle]

Startle,

I am always glad to help anyone I can in the game. Just wish you and your son were on Chesapeak so we could hunt together.

It's my Grandson, but thx, I wish we could to.

It's been a long time but this place always held my heart and while the others may have the graphics, this place has a ton of those things that other games never could touch.

I agree... UO is "special" for many, many reasons.... Which is why so many people quit to play "other" games and then come back home again.