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UO Player's Corner FAQ, July 2010

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This replaces T'Amon's 2008 FAQ, as only he can edit his own post, and he's not around anymore).

This is UO Player Forum "Frequently Answered Questions"
In here is not only a revision list, but also a Table of Contents with descriptive notes.


Latest revision(s)
7 July 2010: General Updates for Stygian Abyss and other rules changes since T'Amon left us.


Table of Contents
10th Anniv. Artifacts, Dungeons - What dungeons are you likely to get a drop; what is the drop system?
Shrines, Mantras, Terms, Properties and RP - Includes discussion on the Ankh Pendant for bonuses
Professions, Carrying Capacity
-
Links to the new Prof. Forums, carrying capacity
Housing related - Lockdowns & secures, decorating and cannons
UO Cartographer, the replacement for UO Auto-Map
Paladin Spell Duration and Resisting Spells - How long does EoO, Consecrate, Divine Fury last, What does Resist do?
Death, Enemy of One, Enhanced Bandages - Advisory on resurrection, damage increase of EoO and benefits to enhanced bandages
Stat gains from skills
-
How can I maximize my stat gains?
In-game Manners - Can’t we all get along?
Moonstones, Monsters, Powerscrolls - Legacy items, how to find monster data, powerscroll topics
Ridable Creatures - What can be ridden, how much control needed and so forth
Moongates, public and player-cast - All about moongates and traveling via them
Rulesets and Facets - To PvP or not to PvP, that is the question
Shard List and Locations - Where am I playing today?
TIPS #1 - No cash needed, dyeable shields, weight reduction and free cloth!
Tips #2 - Random dungeon spawn, mining gems, old house deeds, cursed items

Link: Arms Lore, Crafting Quests, Heartwood (Crafters Forum) - How to gain in Arms Lore and crafts; what Heartwood quests are worth it
 

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The "Virtue Dungeon Artifacts" (introduced for 10th Anniversary, permanent addition)

With the 10th Anniversary celebration, special items (artifacts) were introduced based on a “drop system”. That system and the dungeons where you are likely to get them are outlined here.

The Dungeons – Anti-Virtue
Each of the dungeons you MAY get a drop are the opposite of one of the 8 virtues in UO. The list is here with some discussion about one of them as compared to the single-player UO gaming world.

Covetous----Opposes----Sacrifice
Despise-----Opposes----Compassion
Destard-----Opposes----Valor
Deceit------Opposes----Honesty
Hythloth----Opposes----Humility
Shame-------Opposes----Honor
Wrong-------Opposes----Justice
(Abyss)-------Opposes----Spirituality

Note: The Stygian Abyss, not being introduced until September 2009, is NOT part of the 10th Anniversary drop system. However, it DOES have its own unique set of item drops from its Renowned Creatures, Champion Spawns, Peerless fights, and the Slasher of the Veil.


From the Urban Dictionary, just for the heck of it:

hythloth: pride, leading to death by one's own deeds. Also one of the anti-virtues in the world of Ultima.

Now, that being stated ... there is debate on it STILL. From a prior UHall discussion on Hythloth as an antivirtue dungeon:

“The Hythloth/Abyss debate dates back to Ultima IX...

In that game, Origin explicitely identified Hythloth as the anti-Humility dungeon (or dungeon of Pride), and the Abyss as the anti-Spirituality dungeon. This is written even in the game manual!

In previous Ultimas no explicit connection was stated between these dungeons and the anti-Virtues. But from many clues it was likely that Hythloth was intended to be the anti-Spirituality dungeon:

- In Ultima IV, the white stone of Spirituality had been hidden in Hythloth until somebody took it to the top of the Serpent Spine mountains where the Avatar found it. There was no dungeon of Pride in Ultima IV: the Great Stygian Abyss was definitely not an anti-Virtue dungeon, and the place opposing the Virtue of Humility was the city of Magincia (as in UO...).

- In Ultima V, the power word to open the doors of Hythloth was IGNAVUS, a Latin word to describe the condition of those who are too scared or lazy to even choose between good and evil ... something akin to sloth, and definitely anti-Spiritual. The Abyss was destroyed and remained sealed until Ultima Underworld...

So if you follow the first Ultimas, Hythloth is anti-Spirituality and the Abyss is not an anti-Virtue dungeon. If you follow Ultima IX, Hythloth is anti-Humility and the Abyss is anti-Spirituality.

As a side note, we know that in Ultima IV the city of Magincia had been destroyed for its Pride by the daemons who guarded the Shrine of Humility on the Isle of the Avatar. This is probably the reason for the daemon spawn in Hythloth and on the temple outside in UO.”

T_Amon note: I like the Ultima 9 handling: Hythloth as anti-Humility.


How do these Artifacts drop?
The items will drop using the Treasures of Tokuno drop system (meaning the more you kill, the more likely it is that you will get one of these items as a drop.

from Publish note for Pub 47


How is the drop rate* for these items determined?
The event uses the Guaranteed Reward Point system, which was created for the Treasures of Tokuno event:
· This system keeps track of the monsters you kill in the event area and gives you an increasing chance to get a special loot drop as you kill more monsters.
· The loot will appear in your backpack.
· Monsters that have higher fame increase your chances faster. (Keep in mind that monsters in Felucca give 30% extra fame.)
· Higher luck will improve your chances for a loot drop.
· The overall loot drop chance for this event will be lower than ToT, as we are planning for it to run for quite a while - very possibly permanently.
· Your points DO NOT reset if you log out thus no marathon hunting sessions required!
Keep in mind that at no time is a drop guaranteed, it simply becomes more and more likely, so some people will get lucky and get them quickly, and some people will be unlucky and take longer.

from FoF September 28 2007

* The drop rate has NOT chanced in this context! The devs confirmed this on the Town Hall Meeting on July 26, 2008. I'm looking for an official link from uo.com, but until I have one you can read about it here. (Many thanks to those who logged the speech.)


Are there any other modifiers or restrictions?
· You will get less credit towards the new dungeon drops if you are hidden when the monster you are fighting dies.
· You will get no credit if you are more than 16 tiles away from the monster when it dies.
from Publish 47 Incremental Update


Does being in party affect the 10th Anniversary Event artifact drop rate?
Actually being in a party does not affect the drops or the points given out out all. However, if multiple people are fighting the same creature - whether or not they're in a party - that does affect the rate of points given out.
· To get points, everyone must make the top attackers list. (The top attackers list is simply the top 16 damagers.) So you can't party up then let someone else do all the work, and still get credit.
· Next, points are scaled based on where you are on the top attackers list. The overall highest damager will get the same amount of points he would when soloing , everyone else will get increasingly smaller amounts, down to about 1/7 of the usual if there are more than 12 attackers on the list.
So while fighting with two or three people could be much more efficient in terms of kills per hour, and therefore total points, having a full group may be less efficient for the people who tend to do less damage. On the other hand, if you want to take your crafter out to do some hunting, pair him up with a fighter and make sure he smacks each critter at least once, and he will get some credit for the kill.

from FoF October 5 2007


How long is the 10th Anniversary content going to last?
As for the artifact drops in the dungeons, we have no plans to remove them, but we'd like to add items to the system over time and perhaps limit certain items to certain dungeons or areas. So the content may grow or change, but overall it's here to stay.

from FoF October 12 2007
 

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The Shrines, Mantras, and relation to the 10th Anniverary Ankh Necklace

What are the mantras and where are these Shrines?
Each shrine for the virtues has a mantra that can be said. When wearing the Ankh necklace, you may be granted temporary upgrades in one area or another. Stat buff, regen buff, etc ...

Shrine ------ Mantra --- Coordinates
Chaos -------- <none> --- 66 33'N, 9 29'E <== not a Virtue Shrine!!
Compassion ----- mu ----- 65 49'N, 37 37'E
Honesty -------- ahm ---- 93 9'N, 156 57'W
Honor ---------- sum ---- 167 15'S, 28 15'E
Humility ------- lum ---- 177 49'N, 152 31'W
Justice -------- beh ---- 87 5'N, 1 37'W
Sacrifice ------ cah ---- 117 14'N, 142 48'E
Spirituality --- om ----- 76 1'S, 19 7'E
Valor ---------- ra ----- 157 20'N, 82 7'E

The mantra must be stated three (3) times all on one line – like this: om om om. For the sextant-impaired among us, consult this map, thanks to Timberwolf!!


The Ankh Pendant and bonuses. The ankh pendant will give a bonus to one or more of the 3 regeneration statistics that will last for 1 hour. The bonus can only be activated once per day. Each of the shrines will give a unique bonus combination to regeneration statistics based on the virtue for that particular shrine. A character need not wear the ankh once the bonus has been earned.

Compassion (mu): +2 Hit Point Regeneration
Honesty (ahm): +2 Mana Regen
Honor (summ): +1 Mana Regen, +1 Stamina Regen (50% chance to get one bumped up to +2)
Humility (lum): +3 Random Regen
Justice (beh): +1 Mana Regen, +1 Hit Point Regen (50% chance to get one bumped up to +2)
Sacrifice (cah): +1 Hit Point Regen, +1 Stamina Regen (50% chance to get one bumped up to +2)
Spirituality (om): +1 All Regen (25% chance (3 independent rolls) to get each bumped up to +2)
Valor (ra): +2 Stamina Regen


Basically...you put it on, go to the shrine of your choosing and say the magic words. It gives you regeneration increase for 1 hour.
 

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Characters, Pack Animals & Professions

I have “x” as my profession title and I really want “y” - how do I change it?
This is one of those things that old-schoolers had been asking for, but it took twelve years for it to get implemented.

Used to be, the profession title displayed on your paperdoll was your highest skill in "real" or unmodified skill, and couldn't be changed (but could be swapped between equal skills, by setting the desired title up, and locking the other skills)

Now, title changes are as simple as clicking on your character (or your character bar in the Enhanced client), bringing up the context menu, and selecting the Titles Menu. With it, you can choose the prefix and suffix for your character's paperdoll, and the titles and skill/guild displays for your character as it runs around in the world.

The design's not perfect, but it gives you a lot more freedom than before, allowing you to pick things like reputation titles you prefer, but that you have too much karma/fame for.



There was a Forum for <insert profession>. Where is it now?
With the rebuild of the UO forums, professional posts from the old forums were merged into the new ones. Below are links to the new Forums with a list of the professions/skills they now include. Please note that some skills are handled in more than 1 forum!!

Link: UO Bard
Discordance, Musicianship, Peacemaking, Provocation

Link: UO Beggar
Begging (to an extent, also a role-playing/storytelling forum, as most people who use the skill role-play it)

Link: UO Botany and Nutrition
Alchemy, Cooking, Gardening, Taste Identification. Includes Glassblowing (a crafting skill that got a serious boost with Stygian Abyss), because it is a specialization available to Grandmaster Alchemists.

Link: UO Craftsman
Arms Lore, Blacksmithing, Bowcraft/Fletching, Carpentry, Lumberjacking, Mining, Tailoring, Tinkering. Includes the Masonry/Stoneworking specialization for Grandmaster Carpenters (it too got a SA boosy)

Link: UO Fishing and Treasure Hunting
Cartography, Fishing, Item Identification, Lockpicking, Remove Trap.

Link: UO Scout
Camping, Detect Hidden, Forensic Evaluation, Tracking. For the first few months, was named "UO Detective"

Link: UO Spellcaster
Evaluate Intelligence, Inscription, Magery, Meditation, Necromancy, Resisting Spells, Spellweaving, Spirit Speak

Link: UO Tamer
Animal Lore, Animal Taming, Veterinary

Link: UO PVP Thief
Old UO forums for Murderer, PvP Thief, Assassin (playstyles more than skill). NOT for discussion of non-PvP Thievery.

Link: UO Thief
This is the forum for discussing the stealing of dungeon artifacts/rares, etc. that require the Stealing skill to be used on NPCs & inanimate objects. To an extent, also for the discussion of some of the quests/trapped room systems of Stygian Abyss that allow the solving of puzzles.

Link: UO Warrior
Anatomy, Archery, Bushido, Chivalry, Fencing, Focus, Healing, Mace Fighting, Ninjitsu, Parrying, Swordsmanship, Tactics, Wrestling/Disarming


How Much Can I carry?
=========

Character Carrying Capacity

A. Prior to Mondain's Legacy, a character's backpack could hold 400 stoneweight (whether the character can carry more or less is immaterial. Only 400 would fit into the pack). However, with the release of Mondain's Legacy, this was increased to 550 stoneweight.

B. The overall carry weight of characters (pack+equipment) has a "safety margin" where one can still recall, while overweight; it is also the point that you do not lose stamina when walking. This is 1% of their total carrying capacity from strength, rounded down (but carrying capacities that are exact multiples of 100 count as the lower category). Typically, a character with 390 carrying capacity (a 100 STR Elf or pre-Mondain's human character) has a safety margin of 3 stoneweight.

Strength Recall Safety Margin Test results from Test Center (using human test subject):
STR 28 (198 stone weight): Safety margin of 1 (could recall at 199, but not 200)
STR 29 (201 stone weight): Safety Margin of 2 (could recall at 203, but not 204)

STR 57 (299 stone weight): Safety Margin of 2 (could recall at 301, but not 302)
STR 58 (303 stone weight): Safety Margin of 3 (could recall at 306, but not 307)

STR 114 (499 stone weight): Safety Margin of 4 (could recall at 503, but not 504)
STR 115 (502 stone weight): Safety Margin of 5 (could recall at 507, but not 406)

STR 143 (600 stone weight): Safety Margin of 5 (could recall at 605, but not 606)
STR 144 (604 stone weight): Safety Margin of 6 (could recall at 610, but not 611)

Testing would then seem to indicate that the safety margin is
100 or less: None
101-200: 1 stone
201-300: 2 stone
301-400: 3 stone
401-500: 4 stone
501-600: 5 stone
601+: 6 stone (reachable only by STR raised by equipment/magic to the 140s)
C. As one has to add one's pack contents to the equipment worn, for total weight, you get the following examples.

1. A human with 125 STR has a carrying capacity of 550 for his pack, but only 537 capacity for his STR.
a. If his worn equipment weighs 77 stone, he can carry up to 465 (460 + the 5 stone safety margin for is total capacity) without being encumbered.
b. However, he can weigh as much as 627 (the worn equipment + 550, the backpack capacity).

2. The same character, with only 20 stones worn equipment (mostly clothes, little or no armor), would run out of pack space at 570 stone total weight. That means that they could hold 522 (517 plus the safety margin) stones in their backpack before being overweight, and a normal Strength potion, or a high-skilled mage's Strength or Bless spell, would probably allow them to reach their home or a bank without being encumbered.

3. Now, take that character from the last two examples, and give them an extra bit of Strength from magic or equipment; for this example, they now have an effective strength of 144.
a. With that addition, they now have a safety margin of 6, and a total capacity of 604 stone (610 with safety margin).
b. With the 77 stone suit, they could easily carry 533 stone weight of items, but could still go overweight.
c. BUT, using the 20 stone suit from example 2., they would actually hit their Backpack's maximum capacity at 570 stone. They will never be overweight, but they won't be able to fully utilize their strength for carrying purposes (unable to use 40 stone weight of personal capacity). However, this give them additional protection from curses like Weaken and Curse, that reduce one's strength, as they are likely to still be unencumbered even after cursing.


Pet/Pack animal carrying capacity (and the fire beetle's uses for a miner or smith)
a. Pack Llamas and Pack Horses hold 1600 stone weight. Each takes one control slot.

b. Giant (Blue) Beetles have the same carrying capacity as the animals above, BUT ... around 500 weight in the beetle, plus additional weight on the rider, a beetle starts having fatigue problems, making it difficult to fully utilize the beetle as both a cargo carrier and as a mount. The beetles (normal and fire) take 3 slots, so only one beetle can be out at a time.

c. Horde Minion: Though not a normal choice for a pack animal, by any means, some persons use the necromantic familiar as an emergency pack animal, especially if they don't want to tie up a stable slot. They have the weakness of not being able to be bonded (therefore requiring to be gated, or led to their destination on foot). Uses 1 follower slot when summoned. On the upside, if it dies, just summon a new one. They have a capacity of 400 stoneweight.

d. Fire Beetles: For miners, Fire beetles are like the old BASF commercials. They don't haul your ore - they make hauling it easier. It is a fine combatant (As long as you don't own one of the old bugged ones), it doesn't suffer from the fatigue bug (as it has no cargo capacity), and you can smelt on it in the field. In fact, you can, if you have a anvil that is not near a real forge, even craft and recycle with it substituting for the forge (example, the anvil behind the Britain Blacksmith Guildmasters' south of town, or in the Meer village, where the anvils are too far from the forges to be used).



How can I reduce the weight of items I’m carrying?

Mining:

Ore comes in 3 main sizes ...
Large - 12 stone and looks like this:

Medium - 7 stone and two forms:
and

Small - 2 stone:


Note: Dull Copper Ore Elementals (in dungeon Shame and elsewhere) carry 2 large Dull Cooper Ore. Earth Elementals carry 5 small iron ore. All other Ore Elementals (pulled up via Gargoyle Pickaxes) carry 25 large ore of whatever type ore they are named after.

You can combine several of a larger size to a smaller by double-clicking the pile and targeting the smaller size pile. Large to small the max count of large ore stack is about 7 or 8 and returns 4 small for each one large. So, a stack of 7 large can produce 28 small ore.

Pack animal carry weight is 1600 stone. That's 133 large, 228 medium or 800 small ore. Given the number of ingots from each size, it makes having 800 small ore the more ingot gain in the long run.

Lumberjacking:
Now this one is really common sense ... cut the logs to boards! Previously, one had to lug along some carpentry tool, but now this is simply done by using an axe (like the one you harvested the logs with) on the logs. This can be done by Lumberjacks, Carpenters and Bowcrafters, but for any wood other than normal logs, you do need the skill level required to USE the wood in question in crafting, to make the boards from logs.

Again, your pack animal will be carrying a lot more of the boards than they will carry in logs.

Are there times I do not need gold on me?
Yes, some examples are here ...

Player Vendors:
Whenever you buy something from player vendors, the following happens:
Any gold on you will be used if sufficient to cover the cost.
Loose gold in the bankbox will be used if it is sufficient.
Checks are then used to cover any balance the loose gold cannot be used for.

Example: You have 2K gold on you and are buying an item for 500K. You have 2 1-million gold checks and 20K loose gold in the bank. Your bankbox is used … the 20K loose gold + 480K from a check will be deducted.

If you have insufficient funding you will be advised and the sale will not continue.

NPC Vendors/Shops
When purchasing anything from NPC shops around the alnd, if the value of the purchase is over 2000 gold then the same rules as above will be used. In otherwords if you do not have the loose gold on you, your bankbox gets used for the funds. However, NPC shops DO NOT draw money from checks the way that Vendors set up by other players do, so you MUST have the gold in loose form, NOT CHECKS, for this to happen.

And these folks will also advise you when there is insufficient funding available.


There’s a shield I can dye? I didn’t know that!
There are two types of "kite" shields ... Tear Kite and Metal Kite. The Metal Kite looks like this. Guess what? You can color it!

Get a standard dye tub and dyes from a tailor and go crazy. Some colors just won't really look right, but others do nicely.



I heard I can make cloth for free. How?
This is probably buried in one of the stickies, but it's worth repeating for the REALLY, REALLY new players. You can get some cash with little effort.

Requirements:
1. 1 dagger or other bladed instrument - skinning knife is good.
2. Access to a tailor shop or to a house (public or as a friend) with a spinning wheel and loom.
3. A pair of scissors for cutting things

No skill is needed for this process

Process:
Just go to a) the 2 or 3 pens in Yew; b) East side of the old Haven town; c) Delucia healers hut and out the NW gate area. These are the best areas, but any sheep is a valid source!

Find a sheep that looks "fat". Double-click the bladed item and target the live sheep. You should collect a pile of wool. Just keep repeating this until you are just about maxxed on your carry weight.

NOTE: Shear live sheep! A dead sheep will give wool but the yarn from it is less AND you cannot sell "bloodied" wool to a tailor NPC.

NOTE 2: If using the Yew pens in Trammel kill the sheep after shearing. They respawn quite rapidly ... within seconds. In Fel it has been suggested using a stealther to snag the wool and remember, increased resources in Fel!

Head to an area where:
A. you have access to a spinning wheel (at least) and a loom
B. a NPC tailor shop to sell these things

If you are going to sell the wool, then simply go to a tailor shop in a town and do so for 60-65 gold per wool bundle. <shrug>

If not selling the wool, then stand near a spinning wheel, double-click the wool and target the wheel. It should start spinning and in a couple seconds or so 3 balls of yarn will be added to your pack. Your weight drops 1 stone for each wool used this way. Keep doing the wool until they are all gone and you have balls of yarn.

Now head to the loom. Make sure all the yarn is in one stack it makes things easy. Every 5 yarn makes one bolt of cloth. Sooo, double-click the yarn and target the loom. Keep repeating this until you have less than 5 yarn left. You can place that in the bank for the next time you wish to do this process.

Now what?
You have a few options open to you now.

1. If you wish, sell the bolts of cloth to a tailor NPC. 95-105 gold each is a typical price. Orrrrrr ...

2. Double-click the scissors and target the stack of bolts. You now have cut cloth. This can be sold to a tailor, or you can accumulate a LOT of cloth for possible sale to players training up a tailor. Orrrrr ...

3. Create bandages by using the scissors on the cut cloth. Each bolt you produced will make 50 cloth thus 50 bandages. These can be used if you are training up healing.

Alternate item source:
There is a pen in the South part of Moonglow island where 5-6 cotton grow. These look like cottonballs on stems. Another small source of cotton are the mainland fields outside Skara Brae.

Double-click them and a bale of cotton is on the ground. Pick it up. Repeat for all the plants.

You can ...
Sell it outright at a tailor shop ... about the same price as for wool. Or you can go through the process of spinning these to spools of thread and using the loom to make cloth from the thread. After that the same options apply.

While this seems pretty mundane, note that in the old days of UO (when gold was scarce), some guilds built the first castles on new shards by dividing into teams, one group gathering wool while the other crafted cloth items to sell to the NPCs. They would swap out when the gatherers were full, and by tag-teaming the pens and the tailor shop, ended up with hundreds of thousands of gold in less than a day.

What CAN'T a Trial Account do?

To cut down on the abuse of trial accounts by scripters and other cheaters, the following things were not allowed to Trial accounts.
Trial Account Restrictions:


Players are not allowed to place a house while on a trial account
Players are not allowed to co-own or be traded a house while on a trial account
Trial accounts have travel restrictions –
  • Cannot visit Felucca dungeons or Felucca T2A (and since the accounts are only ML-enabled, nor can they go to Ter Mur)
Trial Accounts have the following resource restrictions -
  • Will only receive basic ores and logs (iron, plain logs) even if they'd otherwise qualify for better types
  • Will not receive sand or stone when mining
Trial Account Misc. restrictions -
  • Will not receive ML rewards for resource gathering (jewels, ingredients, and white pearls while fishing)
  • Will not receive rewards, monster kill points, or virtue points from champ spawns
  • Will not get scrolls while doing champ spawns
  • Will not gain Justice virtue points for killing murderers
  • Cannot use Valor or Justice virtues
  • Cannot Protect or be Protected by another player
  • Can not join factions or faction aligned guilds
  • If in a guild they will be removed from the guild, if their guild joins a faction
  • Cannot use Scrolls of Alacrity, Power Scrolls, Stat Scrolls, or Scrolls of Transcendence
  • Cannot use Commodity Deeds
  • Cannot do Community Collections
  • Cannot use Soulstones or fragment soulstones
  • Cannot use Pet summoning balls
  • Cannot use Bracelets of Binding
  • Cannot use the Bag of Sending
  • Cannot do any repeatable quests – even if they are normally repeatable
  • Cannot acquire BOD’s
 

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Servers, Shards & Facets

Servers/Shards:

The term "Shard" is used to represent a server in Ultima Online. Each Shard is actually a Server hosting the game for you. The shards are located in various locations around the world. It is best to choose a shard that is closest to where you live to make sure you have the best connection possible.

The available shards are:

North American East
Chesapeake
Atlantic
Catskills
Legends (was once the AOL-members-exclusive UO Shard)
Lake Superior
Great Lakes
Siege Perilous

North American Central (sic)
These were merged into the East server farm in 2002, but many people never understood this, despite there being absolutely no mention of a "Central" site since the time of Lord Blackthorn's Revenge, if not earlier. The shards that were part of the Central server complex are in italics, in the East server section above.

For many years, people also thought Lake Austin was one of these as well. The actual distinct "central" server location was closed down circa 2002 (LONG before Lake Austin opened), and was in the upper midwest (NOT Austin, TX, as many people assumed). This misunderstanding seems to come from the statement by a dev that the shard was being named for the lake that they could see out the windows of the EA Origin offices in Austin, and thought that the server was WITH the devs (or that the dev was looking AT the server "Lake Austin", not the actual LAKE).


North American West
Baja
Origin (the "guinea pig" shard - youngest, and gets publishes before everyone else - often to their detriment).
Pacific
Napa Valley
Sonoma
Lake Austin

Western Europe
Europa
Drachenfels

Japan
Hokuto
Yamato
Asuka
Wakoku
Izumo
Mizuho
Mugen

Korea
Arirang
Balhae
(there was once a third Korean shard, that was set up solely for pay-by-the-hour public gaming parlors. It was shut down several years ago)

Taiwan
Formosa

Australia
Oceania

As a new player you can log on to any of the shards except for Siege Perilous and Mugen. More details will be given on those later in the FAQ.

Something you may wish to keep in mind is the Asian shards. Most players there do not speak English. You can easily find yourself in a world where nobody understands you.

If you were given UO by a friend or bought it to join a friend find out what shard they play on and start there. Having a friend in game does help.

It is now possible to transfer your character to a different shard. For example if you started your character on Atlantic and you want to move that character to Napa Valley, you have the possibility to do that now! However, it is usually much cheaper and easier to start a new character from scratch on a new shard, as you can play on any or all shards, and are not limited to only a few (like many other MMOs do).

A Character Transfer code currently cost $ 19.99. You can see the guideline provided by Electronic Arts over here. You can't transfer to/from Siege Perilous or Mugen, and you can't transfer between different shards in the transition periods of publishes where one of the two shards (Like Origin) has a different publish.


Moongates:

There are two types of moongates, static and player cast. The first we will cover is static.

Think of a moongate as a magic bus. You are in one town and want to get to another one. Step in the moongate and choose which other moongate you wish to go to from the list.

When you go into the moongate you will see the facets listed on the left side of the gump (menu). Once you choose a facet, possible destinations for that facet are on the right side. Each moongate on the right will get you close the city with the corresponding name. The Minoc Moongate will place you between Minoc and Vesper.

For Humans and Elves, you start the game on the Trammel facet (New Haven) unless you used the necromancer template. In that case you start on the Malas facet (Umbra). In Malas the moongates are inside of the cities Luna and Umbra. All other moongates are outside of cities. Gargoyles start in the Royal City of Ter Mur, and its gate is located just SE of the city proper.

The facets you can choose from are Trammel, Felucca, Ilshenar, Malas, Tokuno Islands and Ter Mur. If you do not see Felucca it is because you are still young. The Ter Mur Facet is only seen by those that have upgraded to the Stygian Abyss expansion (unupgraded accounts and trial accounts will not see it).

Felucca - This was the original land of UO. When Trammel was created Felucca was given a look of desolation and is the only facet where one player can attack another player without being in the same guild, a warring guild, or in a faction. We'll talk about those later.

It is also the only facet where one player can steal from another player. Also be aware that Felucca is the only land a player can access if they become a murderer. If you attack and kill 5 other players in Felucca you will become known as a murderer and your name will turn red. You will not be able to leave Felucca until you have played long enough without killing somebody for your murder counts to wear off.

Trammel - Trammel and Felucca are the same size and shape. The only difference in appearance is Felucca has a look of desolation where Trammel doesn't. In Trammel you cannot attack another player or steal from another player unless you are in the same guild or warring guild.

Ilshenar - Ilshenar is unique in that you can not place homes there and you cannot recall or use a mage cast gate into it. You have to use the static moongates to get there. You can not use a mage cast moongate to leave either. You either have to go back to the static moongate or use the recall spell (or Sacred Journey) to leave. This is the only facet where no player homes are allowed. There is however a nice over land (out of dungeons) spawn of monsters.

Malas - Malas is a unique facet in that it allows housing, but has only 2 towns - the Paladin town of Luna and the Necromancer town of Umbra. You will also find the dungeon known as Doom in Malas. Young players can not enter Doom. It is quite possibly the most dangerous dungeon of the game, depending on who you ask.

Tokuno Islands - There are three moongates for this area, but the middle one is the only safe one to use. That one is in the city of Zento. The others have nearby spawn that can be very overwhelming.

Ter Mur: The land of the Gargoyles

To summarize, you can openly attack other players only in Felucca. Ilshenar is the only facet where you can not place a house.

For future reference: Felucca is commonly called Fel, Trammel is commonly called Tram, Ilshenar is commonly called Ilsh, Malas has no real abbreviation, and Tokuno is commonly referred to as Tok.

There is one other difference for Felucca and Ilshenar that are not covered here. That would be Champion Spawns. We will discuss them later.

The second type is a cast moongate. The moongates already discussed are always there. They don't disappear after a few moments. Mages can cast their own moongates that other players can use. This is where it gets interesting.

NPC mages sell items known as Runes. Mages can then cast a Mark Spell on a rune they have purchased. The rune then contains the coordinates of where the mage was when he or she cast the Mark spell on it. The mage can then go anywhere but Ilshenar and cast the Gate Spell on that rune to open a moongate back to it.

If you have a rune marked this way by a mage you can use recall scrolls to transport yourself there, or Sacred Journey if you are a paladin. Gates opened by mages are typically Blue or Red. If they are Blue it leads to a spot somewhere in Tram, The Lost Lands of Tram, Tokuno, or Malas.

If the gate is Red it is somewhere in Fel. Keep that in mind before you walk into a gate somebody you don't know has opened. There are players that will open a moongate to their "Cheap Vendor Home in Fel" when it actually leads to their red friends who are waiting for an easy kill.

While we are discussing facets and moongates I would like to point out 1 other thing. Both Fel and Tram have an area known as "The Lost Lands." Because these lands are "lost" you will not find any wandering healers there if you die.

There are two differences between Fel's Lost Lands and Tram's Lost Lands. You can recall/sacred journey/mage cast gate in and out of the Lost Lands for Tram. You can not do that for the Lost Lands of Fel. You must use one of the "Discovered Entrances" to reach the Lost Lands of Fel.

I do not want to ruin the sense of exploration UO provides by walking you step by step to the lost lands. There is more than 1 way there. I will give you a brief description on finding one of them. The town of Vesper, like most towns, has a graveyard. Only one of the buildings in this graveyard has a basement. There is a tunnel from the basement to the Lost Lands. Go exploring to find it. Then find the others, that are mostly hidden in dungeons and other remote locations (finding the Yew connection to the Lost Lands is quite an adventure in and of itself). Another way in is via Moonglow, but you have to know the password in and out.

Last challenge for you. Each shard has at least one static moongate in a city that is not listed on the moongate gump when you walk into the moongates. It is a one way gate. You can only leave from this gate, the other gates will not take you to it. Go exploring and see if you can find it.


Shard & Facet Rule Differences:

There are two basic rulesets on production shards now: Felucca and Trammel. These names come from the names of the 2 moons of Sosaria in the original Ultima game series. Each shard will have "facets" that follow one of these rulesets.

Felucca (Fel) ruleset:
This is the original game as designed. Thieves, PKs, non-consentual PvP. When not in combat mode, the mouse cursor will be a silvery hue in this facet/ruleset. Trees are without greenery and bones litter the ground. A tweak in the uo.cfg file can remedy the greenery issue.

ADVANTAGE:
1. Double resources in this facet. Where you may chop 10 logs in Trammel ruleset, 20 here.
2. Fame/Karma gains are higher here than in the Trammel ruleset.
3. If you wish to be a PvP thief, this is where you can train snooping and such.
4. If you are an ardent PvP person, this is the place for you.
5. "Champ" spawns in dungeons where you could get a powerscroll allowing you to boost a skill to as high as 120 (Legendary).
6. Other specials are of a higher chance here (more powerful Scrolls of Transcendence, point values for the 10th Anniversary loot drops are higher, as they are fame-based)/

DISADVANTAGE:
1. Non-consentual PvP means that you might well be minding your own business and ANYONE may attack you at any time.
2. Do not come here with uninsured items that you cannot afford to lose!

Trammel (Tram) ruleset:
Non-consentual PvP is out - even snooping (thief training) is not allowed. Exception is guilds where you may spar guildmates, war with foe, etc. When not in combat mode the cursor is a golden hue. Trees have greenery and the ground has flowers and shrubs at places that Felucca has bones and tombstones.

ADVANTAGE:
1. Non-consentual PvP is forbidden except for guild warfare.
2. Appearances in general show most players are Trammel players for most or all of their gaming. Finding people may be easier here.
3. Refer to #1 ... resource gathering, skill work is less likely to be interrupted suddenly.

DISADVANTAGE:
1. Lower gains in resource counts than in Fel ruleset.
2. Lower Fame/Karma gains.
3. Can be boring for those that are used to being able to kill other players at will.

Some claim that "the UO experience is limited in the Trammel ruleset because part of the gaming design (PvP) is not allowed" should be listed as a disadvantage, but that is being deceitful. The "part of the gaming design" NEVER HAPPENED, because PvP became something other than what the creators intended, within seconds of the game's release.

Richard Garriott and the UO designers had PvP in the game because they thought only a few people would choose that play method, as the other players would discourage it by eliminating those rare PKs whenever they cropped up.

Instead, tens of thousands of bloody griefers embraced the "kill everything and anyone" lifestyle on launch, making a mockery out of the intent of the game creators. They chose that way in such numbers that the presumed "players limiting PvP by playstyle" concept was stillborn (and they would later state, repeatedly, that they'd made a mistake), and within months, people were leaving the game in swarms. Only by adding Trammel to allow people to escape the griefer PKs, was the game saved, and game subscriptions start rising again. However, by that time, other games with no PvP whatsoever were in testing, and many never returned.

While much better than those early years, UO PVP is still FAR from what the game's creators originally envisioned. It's a fun, reasonably balanced (when not dealing with those using illegal mods), aspect of the game for thousands, but it really didn't become that until after 90% of the population had left for Trammel, allowing the PvP playstyle to turn from PK predation to actual Player versus Player combat.

Facets:
Felucca -Original game design landmass. There are some Fel-only dungeons as well. All cities/towns here are in the same spots and look the same except Occlo. In Trammel, that town is called New Haven and has a radically different layout.

Fel Champ Spawns:
Despise, Destard, Fire, Terathan Keep plus (in The Lost Lands) Marble, Damwin Thicket, City of the Dead, Tortoise, Oaks, Khaldun, Hoppers Bog, Ice East, Ice West, Desert, Oasis and Terra Sanctum. There are also Champ Spawns that have been added as art of Stygian Abyss - The Primeval Lich and the Abyssal Infernal. The two SA Champs have been incorporated into the Fel "dungeon spawn to dungeon spawn" teleportal system, allowing them to be entered in directly from the Felucca Facet, as well as through entrances from the Trammel-ruleset Stygian Abyss dungeon.
Champ Rewards:
Powerscrolls up to 120 skill from the Boss; unique loot & artifact drops from the Boss
Scrolls during the spawn (half are 105 skill Powerscrolls, the other half are 0.6 to 1.0 skill value Scrolls of Transendence)


Trammel - Introduced with UO Renaissence, it is a ruleset that disallows non-consentual PvP (as noted above). Landmass is identical to Fel, Except for New Haven, which had its terrain and population radically altered twice over the last 10 years by magical & volcanic upheaval. This facet is the starting facet for all non-gargoyle new characters (with the possible exception of some necromancers) with New Haven being the starting city. This facet has no champion spawns, and a more diversely populated set of dungeons (As many areas of the Fel dungeons have their natural spawn turned off, from the placement of the Champion spawns there years ago). Has several Peerless Boss fights, which are also found in Felucca.

Ilshenar - Third Dawn introduced this for only that client and later Blackthorns Revenge opened it up to the 2D client. Different monsters, a Gargoyle City and more. Trammel ruleset. Has 4 Champion Spawns (1 Oaks, 1 another Fey variant, the other two are randomly from the other 5 standard Fel types) that give Artifacts/replicas, deco loot and 0.1 to 0.5 Scrolls of Transcendence, but no Powerscrolls. Paragon creatures spawn here which drop minor artifacts, and are much tougher than normal versions of the creatures in question.

Malas - Age of Shadows introduced this landmass in 2003, along with Paladin and Necromancer templates, custom houses and the current item property system. Trammel ruleset. Has a traditional Trammel-ruleset Champion spawn (as in Ilshenar) in the basement of the Bedlam Dungeon/Peerless complex, as well as the variant spawn system in the center of the Labyrinth. Home of Doom, and the Doom Gauntlet (a series of boss monster fights that drop artifacts).

Champ Spawn:
Bedlam, champ is Ilhenir the Stained (a relative, perhaps, of the peerless boss) - no powerscroll drop, but can drop Scrolls of Transcendence.
Labyrinth, champ is Meraktus the Tormented - no scroll drop of any type.

Other:
Doom, where you must travel through many foe to perhaps receive an artifact.
Bedlam: The Monstrous Interred Grizzle Peerless.

Tokuno Islands - Samurai Empire introduced these along with Samurai and Ninja templates and skills. Trammel ruleset.

Champ Spawn:
Sleeping Dragon, champ is Serado the Awakened - no powerscroll drop, but does drop Scrolls of Transendence.

Other:
The Travesty Peerless Boss, in The Citadel dungeon. Lots of ninjas, led by a changeling ninja Peerless.

Shard exceptions:
As with most things there are exceptions. The shards of Siege Perilous and Mugen are full Fel rulesets in all facets. They also have a different skill gain system. These shards are NOT accessible to an account until/unless it no longer qualifies for [young] status on characters.
 

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The Common Mounts of UO

Thanks to Magdalene, R Traveler, Vincia Eaglehorn, Reymar and Lady Nico (Tamer Forum Mod) for the information, which survived the forum crash of 2008!!
====
What kind of mount can I ride and what skill is needed to have it?

Mounts of Britannia
1. Horses – may be tamed almost anywhere (minimum 29.1 taming skill required), purchased from stable masters in town; or from players; can be ridden by anyone – no minimum skill* required. Strangely, though Gargoyles cannot use mounts, Ter Mur is practically overrun with wild horses. Preferred food – fruit and vegetables. Occupy 1 control slot.

2. Rideable Llamas - may be tamed in T2A, Malas and the Tokuno Islands (minimum 29.1 taming skill required) or purchased from players; can be ridden by anyone – no minimum skill* required. Preferred food – fruit and vegetables. Occupy 1 control slot.

3. Forest and Desert Ostards - may be tamed in T2A or Ilshenar (minimum 29.1 taming skill required) or purchased from players; can be ridden by anyone – no minimum skill* required. Preferred food – fruit and vegetables. Occupy 1 control slot.

4. Frenzied Ostards - may be tamed in T2A (minimum 77.1 taming skill required) or purchased from players; can be ridden/transferred to players with minimum 72.1 skill*). Preferred food – meat, but some original ones that still exist eat fruits &amp; vegetables. Occupy 1 control slot.

5. Savage Ridgebacks – may be tamed in Cove Orc Fort, Delucia Orc Fort, Swamps south of Destard and in Central Ilshenar (minimum 83.1 taming skill required) or purchased from players; can be ridden by anyone – no skill* required. It can be transferred to anyone in the same manner as horses, Swamp Dragons and normal ostards. The Savage Ridgeback is not aggressive by nature. Preferred food – fruit and vegetables. Occupy 1 control slot.

6. Swamp Dragons – may be tamed in Ilshenar (minimum 93.9 taming required) or purchased from players; can be ridden by anyone – no skill* required. First seen in the attack on Yew, where Chaos Dragoons riding these Swamp Dragons invaded the town. Chaos Dragoons can make their mounts perform fire and stomp attacks. When the Dragoon is killed, the Swamp Dragon can be tamed.

When tamed, Swamp Dragons no longer perform the special attacks. Swamp Dragons die very fast at the hands of a warrior, but are extremely tough when being attacked by other monsters. They do very little damage in melee. These rideable creatures come in two different versions: armoured and non-armoured. Smiths can create a Dragon Barding, which can be used on a non-armoured tame Swamp Dragon to turn it into an armoured one. The armor dramatically increases the resists of the dragon (based on the metal used, as if 5 pieces of plate mail were added to the existing resists), as well as the armor reducing the amount of combat damage the rider takes from other creatures (but not other players). The armour comes in all ingot colours. Swamp Dragons can be found in the huge swamps like Hopper Bog (T2A) or Nox Tereg (Trinsic) not Ishenar only, without riders. They aren’t normally aggressive, but a failed taming will make them so. Preferred food – raw meat. Occupy 1 control slot.

7. Ki-rins and Unicorns – may be tamed in Ilshenar and in Malas (minimum 95.1 taming required) or bought from other players provided you have minimum 90.1 skill*. Only females can tame and ride Unicorns. Males can not tame or ride Unicorns, but can have them transferred. When wild, they will attack any creature with negative karma, including humans and tamed pets. When tamed, they will not attack humans or tamed creatures, but will attack anything else with negative karma. The Unicorn has a special ability to help its master when in trouble. If the rider becomes poisoned and their health drops below a certain point (40HP), the Unicorn will attempt to cast cure on them using its magery skill. Once it successfully cures the rider it cannot attempt to cure them for another hour. In addition to this the Unicorn is also completely immune to poison. Only males can tame and ride Ki-rins. Females can not tame or ride Ki-rins, but can have them transferred. They are good-aligned just like Unicorns and will attack anything and everything with negative karma when wild. If the owner of a Kirin gets hurt in battle, the Kirin shall at one point "call down the forces of nature on your opponent" thereby doing a substantial amount of damage to whatever is attacking you. Preferred food of both Unicorns and Ki-rins is fruit and vegetables (some animals tamed quite a long time ago eat raw meat though, as they were originally programmed as a modification of the Nightmare template). Occupy 2 control slots.

8. Nightmares – may be tamed in Terathan Keep, in Ilshenar or in Malas (minimum 95.1 taming required) or bought from other players provided you have minimum 90.1 skill required to ride them. Evil black horses with a serious attitude, they are VERY hard to tame and are very aggressive, but can be incredible steeds once they are under control. At full strength their fireball does between 24- 26 points of damage. They are also capable of casting 7th circle magery, excluding summoning and area effect spells. Preferred food: raw meat. Occupy 2 control slots.

9. Fire Steeds – may be tamed in Fire Dungeon (minimum 106.0 taming required) or bought from other players provided you have minimum 101.0 skill*. Steeds have no magic skills but have a fire breath attack that will do about 20 points of damage. It also has daemon and equine pack instincts, that will make it do more damage if it is in the company of another creature with the same instincts. Preferred food: raw meat. Occupy 2 control slots.

10. Giant Beetles - The Giant Beetle is another one of the results of the failed Decay spell cast by the Meer. It can be found in the Solen Tunnels along with some of the other creatures changed by the spell. The Beetle is quite a strong and fast fighter, when it is hit with a ranged attack it will run towards its attacker with an incredible speed until it catches up and hits him. Once it has taken enough damage it will be beaten into subjugation, which will allow animal tamers to tame it (minimum taming skill 29.1), if it is above ground.

Once the Beetle has been tamed it can be used as a mount AND as a pack animal, which like a Pack Horse can carry 1600 stones. Because of its superior fighting skills and the pack ability it requires 3 control slots to own it. No taming skill is required to own or ride it. If the Beetles pack is much over 500 stones used of its capacity and you mount it, it will become overweight and you will not be able to move very fast without it running out of stamina, but will move full speed with a full pack, if riderless. (The Beetles pack can be accessed by using its context menu while you are not mounted).

11. Fire Beetles - works like portable forge, unlike Giant Beetles have no backpack. No taming required to own. Minimum 93.9 skill required to tame. 3 control slots. Best friend for miners. Eats meat (raw ribs).

12. Cu Sidhes ** - can be found in Twisted Weald (Ilshenar). Can be tamed by elves only. Non aggressive if you have positive karma but will become aggressive on a failed tame attempt. Requires 101.1 skill to tame. Humans need Pads of the Cu Sidhe to be able to ride it. It uses 4 slots, can heal his master and has a bleeding attack. Eats fruit and vegetables.

13. Reptalon - can by found in the Labyrinth (Malas). Uses 4 slots, 101.1 skill required, aggressive, has a paralyze and fire breath attack. Eats raw meat.

14. Hiryu ** - uses 4 slots, 98.7 skill needed, their attack lowers physical resistance or dismount. Can be found at Sleeping Dragon champion spawn, Hiryu Forest, Hotaka Plains (all are on the Tokuno Islands), aggressive, eats raw meat.

15. Lesser Hiryu ** - is the same but weaker and can also be found in Kitsune Woods ... players with bushido skill and no taming skill can ride the Lesser Hiryu too (may require 90 Bushido). Uses 3 slots.

* Animals that can be tamed with a skill of 29.1 or less will follow anyone’s orders. Harder to tame animals need an experienced master, at least the minimum skill needed to tame the animal less 5.0 is required to ride such mount. In other words, your modified control rating (taming x 0.8 + lore x 0.2) has to be within (minimum tame -5.0) Ridgebacks and Swamp Dragons are exception from that rule.

** Cu Sidhe, Hiryu and Lesser Hiryu that spawn as a direct result of a Champ Spawn are not tamable.


Rarer Mounts:

16. Black Horses: These come from using unintended methods to dismount Faction Guards. Are legal to tame and own, but can result in the banning of the person that instigates the dismounting, if caught in the act. Stats are otherwise like that of normal horses.

17. Dread Warhorses (often referred to as "DreadMares"): The mounts of Event NPCs from 2008, these are much tougher Nightmares, requiring significantly more Taming to own and control. Unlike the Black Horses, these were meant to be dismountable or survive the death of the rider, and were one of the "rewards" for tamers taking part on the event (provided they could stable their current pet and get back before someone else tamed it). They can do a "Trick" on command. Had to be pummeled into submission to be tamed, IIRC, but are transferable normally. These no longer spawn. Requires 3 control slots. Eats meat.

18. Bane Dragons: Introduced in the 2010 Bane Chosen / Ophidian event, these are tamable in hostile remote locations (such as the Stygian Abyss dungeon), and are comparable in many ways (including taming difficulty) to the Dread warhorses. They appear as black Swamp dragons, that cannot be armored. 3(?) control slots, and they only eat Blackrock stew (available from a quest at the event camps), making them costly to bond. They also eat the "tasty Treat" quest rewards from Ter Mur, and this can be used to bond them, but it is unknown if this was an oversight by the programmers, or intended.
 

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Stats & Skills

What stats can I gain if I use <insert skill here>?"
Shamelessly swiped from elsewhere, the answer is ...

Skill........................ Pri .. Sec
Alchemy ..................... Int .. Dex
Anatomy ..................... Int .. Str
Animal Lore ................. Int .. Str
Animal Taming ............... Str .. Int
Archery ..................... Dex .. Str
Arms Lore ................... Int .. Str
Begging ..................... Dex .. Int
Blacksmithing ............... Str .. Dex
Bowcraft/Fletching .......... Dex .. Str
Bushido ..................... Str .. Int
Camping ..................... Dex .. Int
Carpentry ................... Str .. Dex
Cartography ................. Int .. Dex
Chivalry .................... Str .. Int
Cooking ..................... Int .. Dex
Detect Hidden ............... Int .. Dex
Discordance ................. Int .. Dex
Evaluating Intelligence ..... Int .. Str
Fencing ..................... Dex .. Str
Fishing ..................... Dex .. Str
Focus ....................... Dex .. Int
Forensic Evaluation ......... Int .. Dex
Healing ..................... Int .. Dex
Herding ..................... Int .. Dex
Hiding ...................... Dex .. Int
Imbuing......................
Inscription ................. Int .. Dex
Item Identification ......... Int .. Dex
Lockpicking ................. Dex .. Int
Lumberjacking ............... Str .. Dex
Mace Fighting ............... Str .. Dex
Magery ...................... Int .. Str
Meditation .................. Int .. Str
Mining ...................... Str .. Dex
Musicianship ................ Dex .. Int
Necromancy .................. Int .. Str
Ninjitsu .................... Dex .. Int
Parrying .................... Dex .. Str
Peacemaking ................. Int .. Dex
Poisoning ................... Int .. Dex
Provocation ................. Int .. Dex
Remove Trap ................. Dex .. Int
Resisting Spells ............ Str .. Dex
Snooping .................... Dex .. Int
Spellweaving ................ Int .. Str
Spirit Speak ................ Int .. Str
Stealing .................... Dex .. Int
Stealth ..................... Dex .. Int
Swordsmanship ............... Str .. Dex
Tactics ..................... Str .. Dex
Tailoring ................... Dex .. Int
Taste Identification ........ Int .. Str
Throwing.....................
Tinkering ................... Dex .. Int
Tracking .................... Int .. Dex
Veterinary .................. Int .. Dex
Wrestling ................... Str .. Dex

In order to gain in the secondary stat, lock the primary and practice the skill all you want! Under normal circumstances (both skills unlocked, with room to gain), the Primary will be the one that gains 90% of the time.



What are power scrolls and what do they do?
They increase either your skill cap in a certain skill or your stat cap. More information is found here.


Well now that I know what a power scroll is, where do I find the champion spawns to get one?
There are two types of champion spawns. The ones in Ilshenar give no power scrolls, consider them training grounds. The ones in Felucca give the power scrolls. You can learn more here.


Skill Bonuses on Jewelry:

There are 5 different "Skill Groups" that are possibilities, when jewelry is created by the game (as loot or using a tinker recipe).

Each Group counts as a single, unique, property. As a result, one cannot have 2 skills from the same group on an item, unless it is an artifact or EM-created item (so, for example, it is impossible for a naturally spawning item to have both Magery & Music on it). Imbuing will not allow you to put multiple skills from the same group on a piece of jewelry.

Jewelry Skill groups break down as follows (top to bottom on loot jewelry - order of groups is opposite this for imbuing, so that Group 5 here is Group 1 in the Imbuing gump. etc.):

Loot Skill Group 1 (group 5 in Imbuing gump): Archery, Peacemaking, Healing, Resist Spells, Ninjitsu, Chivalry, Throwing
Loot Skill Group 2 (group 4 in Imbuing gump): Bushido, Veterinary, Anatomy, Eval Int, Necromancy, Stealing, Mysticism
Loot Skill Group 3: Disco, Parry, Stealth, Med, Focus, Animal Lore
Loot Skill Group 4 (group 2 in Imbuing gump): Provo, Taming, Tactics, Spirit Speak, Wrestling
Loot Skill Group 5 (group 1 in Imbuing gump): Magery, Musicianship, Swords, Fencing, Macing

Skills ALWAYS go onto LOOT Jewelry in the order of the groups, so a piece that has archery (group 1), stealth (group 3) and music (group 5) will always show them in that order. Imbued Jewelry will show the skills in the order that the group was applied to the item.

Max Skill Points on Jewelry:
Theoretically 75, for a loot item
Because of the weighting issues, the max for an Imbued Jewelry piece would be 53. Most people, unless they are starting with an item that already has 1 or 2 14-15 point skills on it, will go 4x13, which uses no special materials. With special materials, most people still probably won't go for more than 3x15, with 1 or 2 other properties totalling up to 112% weight.


What does Resisting Spells really do?
This excerpt outlines WHAT is resisted to some extent. Please see this page for full details.

RESISTING SPELLS
While the name of this skill may suggest that it helps with resisting all spells, this is not the case. This skill helps you lessen the severity of spells that lower your stats or ones that last for a specific duration of time. It does not prevent direct-damage spells, like Energy Bolt or Flamestrike. The spells that can be resisted are listed below:
Magery Spells: Clumsy, Mana Drain, Paralyze Field, Weaken, Curse, Mana Vampire, Poison, Feeblemind, Paralyze, Poison Field

Necromancer Spells: Blood Oath, Mind Rot, Corpse Skin, Pain Spike

Spellweaving Spells: Thunderstorm, Essence of Wind
There are 3 Main things that affect your characters resistances.
1) Armor, Jewelry with Resist properties, Weapons and Shields with resist properties
2) Magic Resistance Skill
3) Protection, Reactive Armor and Magic Reflection Spells

Armor, Jewelry, Weapons and Shields
Armor naturally has a set of resistance values that are accumulative until a total value of 70 is reached. Any resistances that add up to more than 70 across the armor pieces simply don’t count.

A lot of Jewelry pieces have a few resistance values among their properties these values add directly to any armor you are wearing.

Every Shield has 1 or 2 resist Properties and enhanced shields can have up to 5 resists depending on the material it was enhanced with.

Some weapons also can have a resist property but enhancing weapons won’t affect this property.

Resisting Spells skill
This gives you some basic resistances, even when you are not wearing any armor at all. The formula to calculate your basic resistances is (Resist skill/40)/3 * 2 rounded down to the nearest whole number. At 100 skill points, this gives you 40 points in all five resistances, at 120 skill points this gives you 44 points in all five resistances.

These resistances are not cumulative with armor resistances. If you wear an armor that has 30 in all resistances, and you have 40 points in all resistances because of your Resisting Spells skill, then your final resistances will be 40 (and not 70).

Spells
Spells are usually the culprit when it comes to unusual resist values appearing as you cannot easily tell if a spell is active or not.

Protection Reduces your Magic Resistance Skill by 35 points and deducts 15 points from your Physical Resist

Reactive Armor Adds 15 points to the Armors Physical Resist and deducts 5 points off each elemental resist of the armor itself. It has absolutely no effect on your skill based resist.

Inscription affects this spell - an additional +1 Physical per 20 points of Inscription.

Magic Reflection Deducts 25 Points off the Armors Physical resist and Adds 10 points to each elemental resist. Again this spell only affects the value of the Armor itself and has no effect on skill based resist.

Inscription affects this spell - Physical reduction is 1 less per 20 points of Inscription

All 3 spells give the same 2 sounds when being cast a rising pitch sound when the spell activates and a dropping pitch when the spell deactivates.

Compare, effects of inscription with both RA and MR cast
0 inscription, Elf: +15-25 Physical, -5+10 others (net: -10 Physical, +5 all others)
0 inscription, human w/JOAT (and elf with 20 skill): +16-24 Physical (net -8), +5 others.
100 inscription: +20-20 Physical (net change 0), +5 to all other resists.
 

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Various stuff

"There’s some confusion about enemy of one’s actual damage increase - is it 50% or 100% more damage?"

Source: Five On Friday, 01/11/2008

I checked with Draconi on this, and he said:

"It’s 50% more than your normal damage to your chosen enemy. So if you’re hitting for 80, multiply by 1.5 to get 120. Everything else though hits you for 100% more damage: double the trouble."
Testing shows the following (results altered in light of recent changes to slayers):

Weapon only: 39-50 damage: Initial value i.e. 100%
Weapon + (super)slayer: 78-102 damage: 200% of initial (100% base + 100% from the superslayer)
Weapon + EoO: 61-75 damage: 150% of initial (100% times 150% from EoO)
Weapon + (super)slayer + EoO: 116-144 damage: 300% of initial (100% + 100% = 200%; EoO then multiplies the 200% by 150% to arrive at the 300% Damage cap)

Note that the recent change to slayers, to where non-super slayers now do +200% damage instead of +100%, means that all using Enemy of One in conjunction with a non-super slayer does is subject you to unneeded doubled damage from others, while giving you no bonus whatsoever. So, you no longer need to cast EoO with a Dragon slayer, but might still want to with a Reptile slayer.

"Enhanced Bandages - do they help if you're already at your skill cap?"
Yes and no.

These give a +10 skill boost for purposes determining the end result of their use (Healing or Veterinary). But...

1. The Healing amount is calculated based on the total skill level, regardless of your skill cap. So, even at 120 Healing (not counting the Banage bonus), using the bandages will heal more than normal bandages (as the amount healed would be calculated as if 130 Healing skill). This is the "yes" part of the answer.

But...

2. This bonus will NOT raise your success chance beyond your current skill cap. So, if you are 105 skill, and have only used a 110 power scroll of Healing, your success chance will be as if 110 skill, not 115. If at 100 skill, and not having used a powerscroll at all, your success chance doesn't change. This is the "no" part of the answer.

3. In the "Maybe" gray area, is the following...

If you're not even CLOSE to your skill cap for the skill in question, the enhanced bandages CAN bump you up over the minimum skill requirements for curing poison (60) and resurrecting (81), if you're close enough. You'll have a pretty low success chance, and you probably won't be able to gain skill from those attempts, but you can at least TRY with a chance of success. So, a person with 73 healing (normally, no chance at all of resurrecting someone with a bandage) has the same chance (about 30%) to resurrect someone as a person with 83 skill.


Why can't I lock down or secure items in my house when friends and co-owners can? It just started to occur.
Got a pet ... like a horse or something? Try locking it down. If you get a message related to honoring then you've apparently honored something (perhaps even in your house!). Locate a "quick" kill (cow, sheep, bull), honor it and kill it. You should now be able to lock/secure items once more.


Where can I find help on decorating and stuff?
Glad you asked that! If you go to the UO Homes and Castles Forum you'll find some really talented folks and all sorts of tips and techniques.


I have the cannon, but it’s out of charges. How do I recharge it?
The cannon runs on explosion kegs. When empty, have a full explosion keg in your backpack and double-click the cannon. It will present you with a gump telling you how much it will be refilled and to confirm your action. If you press ok, the cannon will be recharged and the keg will disappear from your backpack. A lesser explosion keg gives 5 charges, normal explosion keg gives 10 charges, and a greater explosion keg gives 15 charges.

Note: The keg is destroyed upon recharging

What are these things called “moonstone” that I see sometimes? Are they valuable?
Sometimes on vendors or in the contents of a collapsed house you will find a "moonstone". It will be named "Felucca moonstone" or "Trammel moonstone".

These used to spawn on monsters as part of the loot before the release of Age of Shadows. The purpose was to be able to travel between facets via a gate at the precise spot you activated it barring obstructions on the other side.

So, when in Trammel and wanting to get to Fel in the same area, you would place it on the ground, double-click it and await the gate appearance. Enter the gate and you would then be transported to the same area you left ... but in Fel. Trammel moonstones worked the same way to get you from Fel to Tram.

These are purely decorative, but some have sold at auctions for a few K gold ... to collectors.


Where does ____________ monster spawn and what loot does it have?
Check the Hunter's Guide. Pick your foe from either of the columns on the page then go forth and conquer!!

For a Paragon foe, you want to go here.


Where can I find the different quests in-game (outside of New Haven) and how do I do them?

You can wander around clicking every NPC you meet or read the guides on Stratics or other web sites. Typically, most quests that originate from Mondain's Legacy or later will have a "quest giver" under the name of the NPC. Many of these also give multiple quests, so you may have to click through to get the one you want.

There are also several "Classic" quests involving the Solen, Elwood the Collector, The Doom quest for the Gold Skulls, and the various Naturalist NPCs that predate ML, and use a different reporting system (not the quest tab, but a link in your context menu from clicking your character).


Random Monster spawn … how?
In Level 1 of Deceit dungeon (undead) take the first doorway to the west (character left) after you enter. There is a brazier here in the middle of the room. It'll spam a warning message ... Take care of any immediate foe (skeletons, zombies, mummy sometimes)

WARNING: the next step may be something your character should NOT do!
Double-click the brazier. A random monster will be spawned! It will be something from a Mongbat to a Dragon or Daemon. Think twice before activating this feature!

This brazier does have a spawn timer on it from last activation, so you may get a "fizzle and pop" message with no spawn. Also, be aware that someone before you may have spawned a Dragon or something they couldn't handle. You could walk in on a peeved foe!

Monsters I have gotten ... Lizardman, Mongbat, Slime, Daemon, Lich, Fire Steed, Dragon, Drake, Orc, Orc Captain, Skeleton, Zombie, Giant Scorpion, Giant Spider, Ogre, Troll, Earth Elemental.

Others have reported Nightmares and White Wyrm as well.

14 Feb 2008 - NOTE ON DRAGONS!! As of a publish today, a Greater Dragon may appear. These are buffed with some as high as 2000 HP before taming. If one of these appear from the brazier you are in deep trouble. They teleport the more you damage them, also cast necro spells. You have been warned.

I mention this as a general tip because a gal that has played 6+ years did not know of this little fun thing to do, so I figured I'd mention it here as a fun thing to try doing.


What release of UO is required to mine gems? Anything special I should know?

The ability to mine the large crafting gems starts at 95 in Mining. However, you can also mine up blackrock (normal, or Crystalline, in Ter Mur - only the latter currently has a use) at the same level! Theoretically, Elves have an increased ability to mine up gems, but testing is inconclusive (mainly due to the screwy nature of the Random Number Generator the game uses). These Gems also now come from other sources as well (quests in Ter Mur, Renowned Bosses, Gargoyle-pickaxe-spawned elementals, and some events).

NORMAL gems only became minable with Stygian Abyss. It requires 100 mining, and reading a book to enable the ability - a book for sale in the Ter Mur Royal City. Only SA-enabled accounts can read the book.


I have old house deeds and need to customize. What should I do with them?
Thanks to Barry_Gibb for this one … STOP!!!! Do not bank them, but allow them to go into the moving crate if needed. Banking them will turn them into the house placement tool!


What does it mean when something is "cursed"?
Some items in-game have the word "Cursed" on them. This is a special designation and the following rules apply:
1. Cannot be blessed or insured.
2. Upon death, the item remains on your corpse. If you want it back, go get it.
3. It can be stolen from you.
4. Like blessed and insured items, they are immune to the equipment-destroying powers of Verite and Valorite elementals.
 

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Etiquette

Original post by The Pict.
====
Much like any large community, UO has nice and not-so-nice folks, and everything in between. By and large, most you run into will be, at the very least, decent people though for sure there are always the odd ones who, high on the anonymity and power of an online game display the social interaction skills of your average rock. For the most part, however, people will be more than willing to help out new players if a few basic social rules are followed.

CAPS LOCK KEY
This is one of the easiest to fix and also one that others can find quite irking for no obvious reason. It is often seen as the online equivalent to yelling or shouting. Your reception will be much better if you turn it off. If you have a visual impairment and need the larger text, it's worth explaining this if anyone comments on it. If you prefer not to disclose this, just be aware of the reaction others may have if they don't know it's a necessity for you.

Be polite
For many this is obvious, but when addressing a stranger, particularly when in need of help, use "please" and "thank you". Even if your request is a very small one, "Could you show me where the stable is, please?" is far more likely to be granted, possibly with even more help forthcoming, than "HEY YOU! SHOW ME THE STABLE!" Think of the city banks as like standing by a busy ATM in a large city. You really need a pen. Do you yell out "I need a pen, give me one!" to the crowd? Perhaps a better option would be picking a friendly looking person, turning to them and asking, "Excuse me, do you have a pen I could have?" Sure, the kind thing would be for someone to give you a pen regardless of how you asked, but no one HAS to give you one and you are far more likely to get one with the latter.

In the UO world, asking nicely for something small may turn into getting a new set of armor, a good weapon, and maybe some new friends in addition.

Remember that everyone has been new at some point, even if it was a long time ago. Everyone started with not much, and the further back they started the less they started with. Because of this, asking for advice on how to get things will likely get you further than just asking for handouts. I will happily tell a new player some ways to make gold at their skill level, heck, I'll even make you a runebook to the spots and show you around, but I tend to think I'm doing them a disservice by just giving out gold and never showing them how to get it themselves. Feel free to ask other players how they got started or got the items you see on them; most are proud of their accomplishments in-game and will gladly tell you how you can do it also.

Language
The same rules of language apply to UO as apply to life. People use different words talking to friends then they do talking to strangers in the grocery store. Before you cuss a stranger out (especially the ones who didn't give you the pen you just yelled for), think to yourself if you'd say it to a stranger in real life. (At this point someone always says, "I swear at strangers all the time!" and if this is the case, well, expect about the same reaction in-game as in real life.) This applies to general comments as well. If the line in the grocery store is really long and slow, what language do you use to express this to the crowd? Some bystanders may not be impressed hearing that you think it is "@*%^@ <expletive> lame [insert something offensive about its mother's virtue here]," even if you weren't directing it at anyone in particular.

Killing stuff
There is an etiquette to coming into an area with monsters that has another person or people in it. Essentially if what you are about to do will a) get the other guy killed or b) impede his already established monster killing then you need to consider what would most polite and beneficial to you both.

There are a few things to consider when entering an area where others are hunting.
Is this something tons of people are already pummeling?
If so, join the fray. No worries. Some current examples of this are the Doom Gauntlet and the Mondain's Legacy dungeons with their named monster spawns.

Is it a place with a decent number of monsters and a couple people killing separate things independently?
A graveyard is a great example of this, others include the earth elementals in Shame, lizardmen in Despise, or the drakes and dragons in Destard. It's very possible for multiple folks to hunt here at the same time without ever infringing on anyone else. If you want to fight WITH someone, ask them first if they would like help before helpfully whacking at the monster, they may have reasons for wanting to kill it solo even if it appears difficult for them. It's great to keep an eye out for others who might get into trouble, need a heal, bandage, help with an extra monster they didn't plan on, they might return the favor, but by and large this is still solo territory.

If what you're about to do will easily wipe out the whole graveyard in one fell swoop, like dropping a bunch of blade spirits, you will be impeding other adventurers and it's obviously too easy for you, go someplace harder or find an empty graveyard where you can do this without infringing on others.

Is this something with one person killing one monster solo?
If so, this is where it gets hazy. Many demon spawns are like this, other areas include ice fiends, ogre lords, the serpentine dragon, balrons, and blood elementals. These are high end monsters who drop a lot of gold and loot, and folks tend to stand around killing them for hours at a time with high returns on their effort.

There are some who would jump right in killing, assuming that whoever kills fastest and hits hardest has right of way. This is often seen as the rudest option.

I've been known to comment after someone does this, "Good evening to you too, no, I wouldn't mind sharing this spot at all, thank you for asking!" only to have them look at me blankly and say they had no idea they were being rude at all; they assumed it was a) a really hard monster and I'd be glad of the help, b) they assumed I would share the spawn and it was clearly their turn, but didn't feel a need to talk to me at all, or c) they hit harder and faster and want the spot and I can stuff it. Two of these are decently intentioned and some bad feelings can be avoided by talking before jumping in.

I for one have a "never help/rez/or interact with at all again if I can help it" policy on these types. And yes, I will notice your guild name as well and quite possibly extend this policy to all of your guildmates if you're particularly rude.

One other option when you come into a spot like this and see someone there is to leave, since if this is a solo-able monster you probably wanted it to yourself anyway, and that's not going to happen unless you are especially obnoxious (see above, along with repercussions). Check out some rune libraries for other possible hunting locations, tons go totally unused these days. Heck, ask the person who is there if they can recommend other spots where this monster spawns that you could go to.

Another option is to ask if the other person minds if you take turns. Both people kill a bit slower than they would if they were the only ones there, but it's a nice compromise. If asked nicely I'll almost never say no, and when I ask I find that I'm rarely turned down.

These same monster rules apply to anything that might involve one person and one object in a public place in the game, shearing sheep for wool, gathering hides, lockpicking chests, gathering quest items, mining, or chopping trees.

In the long run you will get far more help, more friends, and a better reputation with politeness. It may be a large world, but it's not so large that rudeness is entirely unnoticed or kindness and friendliness forgotten.
 
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