C
ChReuter
Guest
Sorry to those who don't care for such long post. I never could understand why so many of you choose to reply to them with your disgust rather than just passing them up.
Note: I'm sure the grammar is way off, this happens when my vision goes fuzzy from being tired.
This is in regards to players who make claims such as the victories of others is only possible due to skill being removed as a necessary trait to succeed in game. I see it all the time, comments such as "Yeah, you only became good with *insert latest expansion here*" and "Who were you pre-aos"(Or UO:R).
First off, I admit that I've only returned to the game a short time ago after something like 8 years. I did play though throughout the whole time frame these people claim was so skill dependent(97 to 02?), and I'm also one of those who wishes we had a retro shard. With that said, I must admit. The game as it is now, is 100% more dependent on skill than it was 8 and 9 years ago. For example, hunting in dungeons (Even though I'm sure now, just like then, you have those PvP'ers who say that PvM doesn't take any skill whatsoever and is boring. Hell, that used to be me), 8 years ago I could go into any Fel dungeon and easily survive. The mobs I faced, I considered easy, and PvP'ing with them around was of no concern. (For those that don't remember, sometime after the Trinny invasion the dev team increased the spawn rate in Fel to an insane rate, pretty much killing the most popular hotspots of that era such as Deciet Lich room. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that the spawn in Fel deciet was 5x what it's Tram counterpart was). Now? today I died in Tram, Hyth, 5x! I know the old me would have been furious (Possibly on my way to Wal-Mart to buy a new keyboard!), now though I find myself oddly happy. This is because even though my deaths were helped due to a few annoying bugs in game (Such as how my char for some reason always loves to run up and kiss the nastiest of monsters at the worst possible moment when I'm not even clicking my mouse), it was for the most part caused by my extreme lack of skill in dealing with the increased spawn, AI, and although not today, new monsters.
Years ago, hunting even the highest fame mobs for the most part consisted of using blade spirits and/or Energy Vortex's. I know it's still used heavily today but the overall experience even with the overuse of the mentioned spells is far more skill based than it was in 2000. Then, one Balron would spawn and whoever had the next turn would step out of a safe room into the relative safety of the room in which the Balron occupied and BS it to death in a matter of minutes. Rinse and repeat. Today, it's nothing like that and for this I have to applaud the current and past dev teams who've been active since I quit.
Now my favorite sport of ages ago was PvP. Something I'm dying to dive into again, but can't as of now due to a lack of items and gold. (Oh and skill... Actual skills like 120 magery, not the other skill, although that could be argued too!) This need for items and gold, I'm sure is why there's this belief that UO requires no skill these days. I will go as far as saying from my observations, a player with real skill and no items is a train wreck waiting to happen, while a player with little skill and awesome items will have some success in the world of PvP. But this is how it should be I believe now as everyone should have some chance to play all aspects of the game if their willing to try. After UOR came out and the dex monkey went from something that was a mild annoyance at the bank to a real threat, I was very angry. I didn't understand why the dev team decided a char class that only had to have a decent connection, stick to his target, and land some random special moves should have any success in the field. For some it was really that simple, the age of the naked lumberjack with 25 aids on his body. (It must be said though, even though most wouldn't have admitted it at the time, that some of the dexers of that era did develop a play style which took about as much skill as a decent mage. It could be argued even that a good hybrid took even more skill to play effectively.). This is the era I see most referring to as the time when UO was skill based and so and so wouldn't have stood a chance in hell at being even half as successful as they are now. How players today have come to this conclusion, I just can't figure out. You do have those though that claim even earlier eras were the glory days of skill based PvP. (and yes for the most part that period between the introduction of meditation(T2A), and the release of UO:R was the most skill oriented period of the first 5 or 6 years that UO existed.) Does anyone remember though what PvP was really like then? Pre-T2A... I remember for the first 3 or 4 months the game was out we didn't even have spell delay, meaning all we did was "Machine gun fireball" players going in and coming out of covetous all day. After that we just turned those same players into pin cushions with our heavy x-bows. Than, meditation was introduced, eval int was made to have a use, and skill locks came into being. This only created an era when everyone outside of town who PvP'ed had the same template (Only variation was with the weapon skill. Although 75% probably used swords). The combos? Explode, flame, hally whack, weaken, lightening... Healing consisted of, well... heal, as one could heal through poison. Now I am simplifying it quite a bit, but it still wasn't as complicated as some claim. Hell, sometimes I think the 5 skill duels and healer mage templates of UOR took more skill than a damn hally mage. Basically, this all can be summarized into "UO never took as much skill as those today claim it did".
Now I come to today. Yes the game now requires you to have items. Ones which are not very easy to get for the new or newly returning player. Without items, a player has little chance of surviving even hunting simple mobs. There is something to be said for the days when we could just grab a bag of reagents, a trapped pouch, and a hally to be fully equipped to go out and kick some ass. The fact that one needs a multi million gold suit today does not prove though that the current state of the game requires less skill.
I can easily see that the game is more skill based today. With the introduction of skills like Chiv and Necromancy, and weapon specific special moves, the game has become vastly more complicated. My keyboard has more hotkeys today than I ever had prior to quitting, and even with all these macros, my screen is still filled with icons for which I just didn't have the room to fit into a semi organized setup on my keyboard. I'll sit back and watch players and groups of players go at it and it's clear to me that a much wider array of spells, skills, and moves are being used today. You add this onto the much more sophisticated group PvP scene, you then have a picture that's hard to deny. UO requires more skill now than at any point in it's history. Back in the day we didn't deal with all this, we just loaded up a few things and went to fisticuffs with each other. Group PvP consisted of explode, ebolt, poison. The only real skill being in the cross healing. Before guildwars, it really was just groups preying on PvM'ers for the most part.
Really I guess I'm just sick of seeing these jerks claiming that no one has any skill. That we're playing a game that a 4 year old could succeed in. In most cases, just an excuse to cover ones ass for failing miserably in adapting to new game environments. To all of those jokers, get over it. (Or yourselves). What I do find funny though is so many of these people are players I don't even remember from the supposed time they speak of, and a lot of the ones I do remember really weren't that good themselves.
To the Development team. Thank you, you have created a game that requires one to think and react quicker than at any time in the past. For taking an old game and keeping it updated to the point where one never can ever truly master it, I applaud you. Keep up the good work.
Lastly I would like to say that even though I wrote this extremely long rant, I still long to go back and play UO how it was played 10 or more years ago. While the game today does require more hands-on skill than it ever did, the game back than was filled with hardships. Where it takes more time today to become really good, it took more time than to get ahead. There was a sense of community and with the smaller loot tables and the fact that we'd only suffered a few large dupe bugs, the economy was even somewhat intact. PK's roamed freely and players were forced to band together, guilds still had mandatory colors their players had to wear and they had silly, strict, and very fantastical rules in which they had to play by. The message boards and Mirc chats were always full of post and replies, and players were releasing pretty funny and original comics satirizing the game experience. It was a different world then, before localization and the removal of all our old crafting gumps. Does anyone else miss that old grey text that only can be seen today in very rare occurrences?(Such as if you try to recall dragging something) If I had the chance to even just relive a part of that experience, I would happily do so. I know we can never have it all back, it was a new genre and those days will never happen again. I would be content though with just the look being back on my screen as no matter what anyone else might say, that alone would bring back some of that magic for me, even if it is fleeting...
To everyone who read this and isn't thinking of a way to flame or troll.
Thank you. Have a nice night, I know it's bedtime when I start making these type post. =D
Note: I'm sure the grammar is way off, this happens when my vision goes fuzzy from being tired.
This is in regards to players who make claims such as the victories of others is only possible due to skill being removed as a necessary trait to succeed in game. I see it all the time, comments such as "Yeah, you only became good with *insert latest expansion here*" and "Who were you pre-aos"(Or UO:R).
First off, I admit that I've only returned to the game a short time ago after something like 8 years. I did play though throughout the whole time frame these people claim was so skill dependent(97 to 02?), and I'm also one of those who wishes we had a retro shard. With that said, I must admit. The game as it is now, is 100% more dependent on skill than it was 8 and 9 years ago. For example, hunting in dungeons (Even though I'm sure now, just like then, you have those PvP'ers who say that PvM doesn't take any skill whatsoever and is boring. Hell, that used to be me), 8 years ago I could go into any Fel dungeon and easily survive. The mobs I faced, I considered easy, and PvP'ing with them around was of no concern. (For those that don't remember, sometime after the Trinny invasion the dev team increased the spawn rate in Fel to an insane rate, pretty much killing the most popular hotspots of that era such as Deciet Lich room. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that the spawn in Fel deciet was 5x what it's Tram counterpart was). Now? today I died in Tram, Hyth, 5x! I know the old me would have been furious (Possibly on my way to Wal-Mart to buy a new keyboard!), now though I find myself oddly happy. This is because even though my deaths were helped due to a few annoying bugs in game (Such as how my char for some reason always loves to run up and kiss the nastiest of monsters at the worst possible moment when I'm not even clicking my mouse), it was for the most part caused by my extreme lack of skill in dealing with the increased spawn, AI, and although not today, new monsters.
Years ago, hunting even the highest fame mobs for the most part consisted of using blade spirits and/or Energy Vortex's. I know it's still used heavily today but the overall experience even with the overuse of the mentioned spells is far more skill based than it was in 2000. Then, one Balron would spawn and whoever had the next turn would step out of a safe room into the relative safety of the room in which the Balron occupied and BS it to death in a matter of minutes. Rinse and repeat. Today, it's nothing like that and for this I have to applaud the current and past dev teams who've been active since I quit.
Now my favorite sport of ages ago was PvP. Something I'm dying to dive into again, but can't as of now due to a lack of items and gold. (Oh and skill... Actual skills like 120 magery, not the other skill, although that could be argued too!) This need for items and gold, I'm sure is why there's this belief that UO requires no skill these days. I will go as far as saying from my observations, a player with real skill and no items is a train wreck waiting to happen, while a player with little skill and awesome items will have some success in the world of PvP. But this is how it should be I believe now as everyone should have some chance to play all aspects of the game if their willing to try. After UOR came out and the dex monkey went from something that was a mild annoyance at the bank to a real threat, I was very angry. I didn't understand why the dev team decided a char class that only had to have a decent connection, stick to his target, and land some random special moves should have any success in the field. For some it was really that simple, the age of the naked lumberjack with 25 aids on his body. (It must be said though, even though most wouldn't have admitted it at the time, that some of the dexers of that era did develop a play style which took about as much skill as a decent mage. It could be argued even that a good hybrid took even more skill to play effectively.). This is the era I see most referring to as the time when UO was skill based and so and so wouldn't have stood a chance in hell at being even half as successful as they are now. How players today have come to this conclusion, I just can't figure out. You do have those though that claim even earlier eras were the glory days of skill based PvP. (and yes for the most part that period between the introduction of meditation(T2A), and the release of UO:R was the most skill oriented period of the first 5 or 6 years that UO existed.) Does anyone remember though what PvP was really like then? Pre-T2A... I remember for the first 3 or 4 months the game was out we didn't even have spell delay, meaning all we did was "Machine gun fireball" players going in and coming out of covetous all day. After that we just turned those same players into pin cushions with our heavy x-bows. Than, meditation was introduced, eval int was made to have a use, and skill locks came into being. This only created an era when everyone outside of town who PvP'ed had the same template (Only variation was with the weapon skill. Although 75% probably used swords). The combos? Explode, flame, hally whack, weaken, lightening... Healing consisted of, well... heal, as one could heal through poison. Now I am simplifying it quite a bit, but it still wasn't as complicated as some claim. Hell, sometimes I think the 5 skill duels and healer mage templates of UOR took more skill than a damn hally mage. Basically, this all can be summarized into "UO never took as much skill as those today claim it did".
Now I come to today. Yes the game now requires you to have items. Ones which are not very easy to get for the new or newly returning player. Without items, a player has little chance of surviving even hunting simple mobs. There is something to be said for the days when we could just grab a bag of reagents, a trapped pouch, and a hally to be fully equipped to go out and kick some ass. The fact that one needs a multi million gold suit today does not prove though that the current state of the game requires less skill.
I can easily see that the game is more skill based today. With the introduction of skills like Chiv and Necromancy, and weapon specific special moves, the game has become vastly more complicated. My keyboard has more hotkeys today than I ever had prior to quitting, and even with all these macros, my screen is still filled with icons for which I just didn't have the room to fit into a semi organized setup on my keyboard. I'll sit back and watch players and groups of players go at it and it's clear to me that a much wider array of spells, skills, and moves are being used today. You add this onto the much more sophisticated group PvP scene, you then have a picture that's hard to deny. UO requires more skill now than at any point in it's history. Back in the day we didn't deal with all this, we just loaded up a few things and went to fisticuffs with each other. Group PvP consisted of explode, ebolt, poison. The only real skill being in the cross healing. Before guildwars, it really was just groups preying on PvM'ers for the most part.
Really I guess I'm just sick of seeing these jerks claiming that no one has any skill. That we're playing a game that a 4 year old could succeed in. In most cases, just an excuse to cover ones ass for failing miserably in adapting to new game environments. To all of those jokers, get over it. (Or yourselves). What I do find funny though is so many of these people are players I don't even remember from the supposed time they speak of, and a lot of the ones I do remember really weren't that good themselves.
To the Development team. Thank you, you have created a game that requires one to think and react quicker than at any time in the past. For taking an old game and keeping it updated to the point where one never can ever truly master it, I applaud you. Keep up the good work.
Lastly I would like to say that even though I wrote this extremely long rant, I still long to go back and play UO how it was played 10 or more years ago. While the game today does require more hands-on skill than it ever did, the game back than was filled with hardships. Where it takes more time today to become really good, it took more time than to get ahead. There was a sense of community and with the smaller loot tables and the fact that we'd only suffered a few large dupe bugs, the economy was even somewhat intact. PK's roamed freely and players were forced to band together, guilds still had mandatory colors their players had to wear and they had silly, strict, and very fantastical rules in which they had to play by. The message boards and Mirc chats were always full of post and replies, and players were releasing pretty funny and original comics satirizing the game experience. It was a different world then, before localization and the removal of all our old crafting gumps. Does anyone else miss that old grey text that only can be seen today in very rare occurrences?(Such as if you try to recall dragging something) If I had the chance to even just relive a part of that experience, I would happily do so. I know we can never have it all back, it was a new genre and those days will never happen again. I would be content though with just the look being back on my screen as no matter what anyone else might say, that alone would bring back some of that magic for me, even if it is fleeting...
To everyone who read this and isn't thinking of a way to flame or troll.
Thank you. Have a nice night, I know it's bedtime when I start making these type post. =D
If you had broadband (which, remember, back in 97-00 was somewhat a rarity!) you automatically won - more or less.