Veteran newbie wants to participate in the Stranger fun. . .

[StaggerLeigh]

I have been playing on and off since '97, my account is 80 months, and I recently came back in February after not really playing much. I have found I am not good at playing any of my characters I previously could hold my own on. I am still really a newbie and it is sad!

I want to be able to go after the strangers and participate in other events without dieing 20 times a minute. I have several characters with high stats, which one should I put time and gold in to to be able to play at some of the better spawn?

I have a swordswoman with 110 swords and tactics, 100 anat and heal that I get wiped out on by seems like everything. I am trying to add chiv to this one and currently it is at a piddly 50.

I have an archer in training with 98 archery, but jewels to get it to 100; 80 healing, 100 anat. She is my fisherman, so I never tried to max her stats, I basically gain archery on every first sea serpent of the day. I have added chiv to her because that seems like the thing to do. It is in the 40s only, though. It seems archers are a good bet now, do I try to complete her?

Also I have a tamer who has around 102 taming (110 max, plenty of jewelry to get there) 115 lore and 100 vet, 100 magery and the 70s in resist. Not sure about her eval, but think it is in the 90s somewhere. She has a greater, but they are worthless against the Strangers, and not that fun IMHO. (I still like to go out with two mares!) Should I get a dread warhorse somehow? I feel like this is the character I am best at PvM on, but believe me, that is still not great.

Which character should I put more effort into? I have limited play time, so I would like to choose one and master it. I have crafter characters that can provide tailoring, blacksmithy, inscription and potions if that will help. I really am clueless.

Thanks for reading this whole thing. Sometimes I wonder why I even play UO when I suck so much at it, but I still have fun.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Check the "Stranger" threads in UHall ... these are not doable as a solo player according to what I have seen. I think one report was 3 folks took near an hour and 1500 bandages, gheals and more to down the guy.

One thing ... tamers apparently will lose control of dragons they take in there. Dexxers, mages, tamers not using dragons seem to have a shot. I would assume archers provided there are others around to heal, etc.

 

[StaggerLeigh]

Haha, I don't want to attempt him solo, that would be the fastest death ever I think.

I just don't want to be that person who comes down to help and then stands around waiting to be rezzed every two minutes. That's pretty much what happened to me in the recent Moonglow fracas, and after one or two deaths it gets old for everyone.

Check the "Stranger" threads in UHall ... these are not doable as a solo player according to what I have seen. I think one report was 3 folks took near an hour and 1500 bandages, gheals and more to down the guy.

 

[Tina Small]

Personally, I would recommend you work on your archer. A possible template for you to use would be the following for a pally archer:

115-120 Archery
110-115 Resisting Spells
110 Tactics
110 Anatomy
100-110 Healing
80 Chivalry
70-80 Focus

Depending on which shard you're on, you should be able to buy non-arti armor at a fairly reasonable price and end up with a fairly decent suit. If you're going to be doing just PvM, physical, fire, and poison resists seem to be most important, energy and cold not quite as important. Also try to get pieces with some of the regeneration mods (hit points, mana, stamina) and night sight if your character's human. On your jewelry, get resists if you need them, hit chance increase and damage increase. A Primer on Arms is nice to have, if you can afford it.

On your bows, look for the fastest weapons you can find, along with damage increase. The leeches are nice too. Mana and life leeches were nerfed big-time about two years ago, stamina leech wasn't affected. As a result, you may not notice much from the mana and life leech mods unless the percentages are pretty high. If you can afford it, a Horselord bow is awesome, even though it is kind of slow (reptile slayer/elemental slayer). Also see if you can get a bandage summoning talisman, and work on the Honor and Sacrifice virtues.

As you get comfortable with a straight pally archer template, you'll probably want to look into switching from Resisting Spells to Bushido. The pally archer template's pretty easy to do, however, and you should be able to train up your character pretty quickly and have fun with your archer. I posted a week or two ago some of the places I like to train up dexxers and archers.

Good luck to you and welcome back.

 

[StaggerLeigh]

Thanks for the help! I got on my archer and sought out some OK armor and am training up. I was able to participate in the Luna stranger this evening, and though I didn't get any good loot, I got some good gains. I also gathered enough courage to try my luck on some dragons and have been holding my own in combat. I know dragons aren't exactly super hard, but I am learning how to handle myself against bigger prey.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Thanks for the help! I got on my archer and sought out some OK armor and am training up. I was able to participate in the Luna stranger this evening, and though I didn't get any good loot, I got some good gains. I also gathered enough courage to try my luck on some dragons and have been holding my own in combat. I know dragons aren't exactly super hard, but I am learning how to handle myself against bigger prey.

Tackling Dragions or Greater Dragons? The Greaters can do some damage on ya.

 

[Hunter Moon]

It sounds like your tamer is pretty high already. I would try to get a dread now so you can start bonding it and hopefully have it done before the end of the strangers. I take mine and stand back and heal it with magery and pull it out when needed for more intense healing then send it right back in and I haven't died yet. I've only done two so far though so we will see if that holds

Archers are also a good bet, but you do have more work for him it sounds like so maybe get the tamer bonding while you work your archer up so you can try out both chars and see which you prefer for this event. I have heard people saying they think the stranger is a dragon and others saying he is a humanoid. Depending on if either is true a good reptile or repond bow would help in your damage dealing.

Goodluck and remember, the loot is for all to grab and not dependent on the damage you do so just stay back as he dies until the chest blows and then loot away...

Hunter Moon [HOT] Atlantic

 

[Seismic]

Dumb question: how often do the strangers respawn and around what time on Atlantic, generally??