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What else did imbuing kill?

  • Thread starter Bort of Atlantic
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B

Bort of Atlantic

Guest
I'm back to the game after a couple of years off, and as cool as imbuing is, it seems to have killed certain aspects of the game/items.

1. Runics: To be fair, some of the weak runics are useful to try to save some imbuing ingredients, but why use a valorite hammer when you can imbue exactly what you want?

2. Artifacts: There are some useful ones out there, but for the most part, artifacts are outclassed by imbued items. I think artifacts could use a major overhaul, even if it just means pumped stats to make them on-par with imbued items. There's a lot of content that's not being played, and increasing artifact intensities could give players more options on where to spend their time.

3. Monster loot: During different releases, it was enjoyable to sift through monster loot and try to enhance items afterwards. When item properties were introduced and it was found luck increased chances of high-intensity items, people were heavy into pvm to get the best gear possible, and enhancing mattered because you could either gain more resists on armor or you could boost luck on weapons/armor. Right now, it's next to impossible to loot an item that has better statistics than what you can imbue. Now, the reason for loot seems to be for imbuing only (loot imbuing ingredients and unravel everything else).

I may have missed other aspects of play that have been diminished due to imbuing. You can specialize your character and their gear for sure, so imbuing certainly isn't all bad, but I would hope tweaks could be made to previously fun parts of the game that are now obsolete.
 

phantus

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You pretty much have it outlined. Imbuing was not put in well. It should have been more limited. 3 or 4 properties maybe. It was put in the way it is now to sell an expansion. Now the developers have effectively painted themselves into a corner. Unlike levelling games UO cannot continually create more powerful monsters or items because of the limits of hit points for characters. Leaves little reason to PvM in many instances. Imbuing sped up the end game to PvP or decoration :spider:

The only thing that can do anything to the juggernaut that is imbuing is an AoS kind of change. UO no longer has that kind of budget or focus.
 

Picus at the office

Certifiable
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It killed my tamer. No need for a maxed out luck suit anymore as, like others have said, there is no need to farm for items. You could still get a higher end items but hardly worth it.

I'd add that it has been a negative for PvP IMO also. The reduction in varity and the ablity to make -20 mage weapons has not been positive though some would clearly disagree.
 

yars

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
one good thing is it killed the val hammer duper's, of course now they're prolly off duping event and server births :p
 
B

Bort of Atlantic

Guest
I hate to present solutions (developers are usually more keen on being presented with a problem/challenge than a solution), but I'd love to see 6-mod monster loot. Heck, you can create 6-mod wooden armor, so why not?
 

Picus at the office

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I hate to present solutions (developers are usually more keen on being presented with a problem/challenge than a solution), but I'd love to see 6-mod monster loot. Heck, you can create 6-mod wooden armor, so why not?
There is 6 mod loot that you can get from treasure hunting but I have never seen anything that adds up to more then 500 points or even 450.
 

icm420

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think faction armor also ruined artifacts, inquistor's resolution is a perfect example. It's a rare hard to get item but now you can get them in faction for a little bit of time (farming silver), and they are better then the original.

I honestly enjoyed "pre-imbue" better. You had to spend a lot of time crafting pieces becuase you could always improve your suit. It was nice to see people using monster loot items and I felt there was more reason to pvm. Now the only pvm is peerless and farming the ingredients for imbuing.

Also I feel that everyone pretty much looks the same now. Hats got better because of imbuing but everyone really wears the same armor now. I guess you could make that same argument when you didn't need mediation and everyone had a hat of the magi on, but really we are all wearing the same stuff just with a differnt crafters name on it. I love the conjurer's robe as far as mods go but I miss seeing people in tunics, or shrouds, or europa gold skirts, etc etc.

Oh well it was a nice way to level the playing field I suppose, now people can start the game and have a suit just as good as mine.
 

Mervyn

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Imbueing was overall great for the game, as it made the game less elitist,

Faction artifacts were good for the game.

Doom artifacts were never good for the game as they were available in trammel.

I use my crafters more now that you can imbue.
 

Klapauc

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Strange that i agree with Mervyn.
Imbuing did more good then bad. Are there really people that miss the times of bod grinding and paying millions for halfway decent equipment pieces?
Everyone has a fair chance to get good equipment now with reasonable effort.

One of the biggest strengths uo has is the freedom in template building, imbuing helps a lot with that. If you dont care about the gimpest possible suit, you can even build decent chars that look the way you want it.
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Imbuing is good for pvp. That's really it. It basically makes the rest of the game pointless. The idea is absolutely a good one, one that players had been asking for (in fact the idea had basically already been outlined by players. I had seen very very similar concepts for magic crafting posted here on stratics by myself and others.) for years, but like was said, it should have been much more limited or at least more differentiated from monster loot.

That said, that doesn't mean that it can't be fixed, not that I expect it will be any time soon or at all. That wouldn't be the UO way. :p
 

Ender

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Imbueing was overall great for the game, as it made the game less elitist,

Faction artifacts were good for the game.

Doom artifacts were never good for the game as they were available in trammel.

I use my crafters more now that you can imbue.
Yes

No

Xfd

Yes


Really all imbuing did was get rid of a market for scripters/dupers and level the playing field quite a bit.
 

Merion

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
For PVP it was a great boon. Faction artifacts too. Now everybody on the battlefield has a near perfect suit, thus it boils down to player skill again.
 

Cetric

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Val hammers can still make weapons worth 50-300m. just an fyi..
 
A

Anon McDougle

Guest
COMMUNITY i sat in luna bank for (origin mind you ) for an hour asking for someone to imbue me a weapon but its a watse of peoples time i guess like getting a tamer to get you a swampy or blue beelte
 

enderz

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Monster loot tables need to be re-adjusted.

Remember when paragons were released in Ish? Drops were nice till they patched (nerfed) it a day later. So it can be done....

Tweak (nerf) imbuing ever so slightly, make it a niche service. Make it so it can possibly add that little bit extra to my item I got off a mob when I went hunting.

Fix luck. My 2k suit I hear is really no better then 1200 due to a bug. :(

I only lewt items when I need imbueing mats to work skill :thumbdown:


It's not just imbuing that led to this but more of dust oversettling on game mechanics like the aformentioned above. Time for the devs to bring out a dust broom an make it shiny again.
 

AxiamInc

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I definitely do agree with most of what you're saying.

Though monster loot can still be fun to sift through. Even if you don't exactly find the most incredible items on them, you can still find great items for unravelling or for weapons that can be used for specific purposes so you don't have to destroy your higher cost imbued weapons.

I would love to see a change to high end runic hammers.

Yes, you can make weapons with verite and valorite hammers that completely dwarf imbued items...but it is a freakin' crap shoot. Which I don't exactly mind all that much, but how about making it worth our while to play that game?

How about increasing verite hammers to a guaranteed 5 properties given making them the equal to current valorite hammers. Then increasing the valorite to 6 mods given? Val hammers are still extremely hard to come by, so make the time and effort needed to get one worth it again.

Might give people a reason to start burning them again?
 

Hell's Ironworks

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The way i figured imbuing before it was released was that you had to find a wep with a mod you want, for example a looted scepter with 40% hit lightning, then take that mod off the weapon ( destroying it ) and putting it on another. With a maximum of X amount of mods being able to put on a weapon.

What we got was a big red easy button...
 

Dermott of LS

UOEC Modder
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
...

Imbuing CHANGED things obviously, but I don't think it "killed" anything.

Runics are still useful, just in different ways. Lower end ones can snag a few properties to save imbuing ingredients, mid to upper levels make for a good source of needed relic fragments, and the highest ones can occasionally "break" caps on various mods depending on how they roll. Also for the BOD system imbuing has made Powder of Fort a HUGELY in demand item.

Artifacts are weird because in some cases, they are themed, in other cases they either "break" a cap or provide mods that you CANNOT imbue on an item. While it probably no longer makes sense to make a full artifact suit, it now makes a LOT more sense to use an artifact or two as a start point on a new suit then imbue the rest to fit around the artifacts to max out their effectiveness. You're really going to tell me that something that gives 20 in a stat, SSI on an armor piece, or FC/FCR on a non-jewelry piece is "worthless" now?

Monster loot now has several options on drop:
1. Leave it
2. Use it as a base to build a new item via enhance/imbue (Jewelry most effective here)
3. Save as free items to combine into "junk" BODs for more pulls for better deeds
4. Recycle into raw materials either for crafting (resmelting/cutting) or imbuing (unraveling)
5. Sell it (to NPCs or whomever wants it)

Yes, all of the above have changed in terms of how they function in the game, but they haven't been "killed".
 

Dermott of LS

UOEC Modder
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
...

Nah, not really.

People have been yelling and asking that the game be returned to such a state that players have more control over the item sets they use (thinking back to the days of custom built Dex suits) and that's basically what happened... or at least the most feasible version of what has happened under the current item system.

It's just different styles of play, really. Just takes a different level of thought, some may find it easier, some may find it more engaging (i.e. building a fresh suit, trying to craft the right pieces to match together to max out imbuing quality, etc.), others may not find it interesting in the least.

But really, aside from being more complex in the creation, it's not too much different than the way things were when people were running around in player-made dex suits.
 

yars

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
still need carpentry to make 6 mod woodland suits, still need tailoring/smith to enhance up, still need smith to enhance to get 100% elemental dmg, 500 weight weps. as for the one guy sitting at the bank waiting for someone to imbue, be self sufficient and make an imbuer.
 

red sky

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I beg to differ. Imbuing has allowed the playing field to be evened in most fields and has promoted more interaction across an array of playing styles. I could post my 868 weight pants that were crafted by a val hammer but would rather not. Runics and crafting still play a vital roll in suit building and the game in general. I'm rather happy that I don't have to spend a egregious amount to build 1 specific suit for a character and can actually build several suits for many characters and play several shards competitively.
 

NuSair

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'm back to the game after a couple of years off, and as cool as imbuing is, it seems to have killed certain aspects of the game/items.

1. Runics: To be fair, some of the weak runics are useful to try to save some imbuing ingredients, but why use a valorite hammer when you can imbue exactly what you want?
Because you can make something better than you can imbue and it will last forever.

2. Artifacts: There are some useful ones out there, but for the most part, artifacts are outclassed by imbued items. I think artifacts could use a major overhaul, even if it just means pumped stats to make them on-par with imbued items. There's a lot of content that's not being played, and increasing artifact intensities could give players more options on where to spend their time.
Depends on the item. There are still a good number of useful artifacts. Besides, what's the point of getting an artifact that will be good forever? Honestly, an artifact that started dropping 8 years ago SHOULD be outclassed by stuff today.

3. Monster loot: During different releases, it was enjoyable to sift through monster loot and try to enhance items afterwards. When item properties were introduced and it was found luck increased chances of high-intensity items, people were heavy into pvm to get the best gear possible, and enhancing mattered because you could either gain more resists on armor or you could boost luck on weapons/armor. Right now, it's next to impossible to loot an item that has better statistics than what you can imbue. Now, the reason for loot seems to be for imbuing only (loot imbuing ingredients and unravel everything else).
This is more of a point of view. I still go through monster loot, and I still use my luck suit when I hunt swoop/thrasher/peerless, ect. I get most of my elemental weapons from creatures. I get a fair number of relic fragments and I get pieces that I keep for suits.

I may have missed other aspects of play that have been diminished due to imbuing. You can specialize your character and their gear for sure, so imbuing certainly isn't all bad, but I would hope tweaks could be made to previously fun parts of the game that are now obsolete.
As a crafter and PVM'er... I love what imbueing has done for the game. I didn't use my crafters 1/10th as much as I do now. Previously, the only reason I would dust him off was to spend a day or 2 running through BODS and/or bust runics. Now, I probably spend over 1/2 my time online ON my crafters.

I currently have only 2 complains about the crafting system (well, ones that really bother me.

1. You can't make 160 Luck Luckblades/Adventurer Machetes
2. Metal Armor needs a boost.
 
B

Bort of Atlantic

Guest
Agreed. Not killed. But moved everything one step closer to "add to cart". Only a matter of time...
That was my thought when they added advanced character templates. Now you can craft whatever you want, which is fun for some, but I honestly enjoyed trying to squeeze the best mods onto my suits and liked finding better pieces than I was using.

I wonder if people would play on normal shards if they behaved the same as Test Center? That's what it feels we're moving towards...craft the "perfect suit" via imbuing, imbue the mods you want on your weapon of choice (rather than rely on monster loot or runics), switch around your skills via soul stones, etc.

Maybe I should play on Siege...
 

Uvtha

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Monster loot is not currently completely useless, but compared to pre imbuing days it pretty much is. I mean unless its peerless loot is 90% not worth the time it takes to look at it.

Runics are the same. Unless its a really high end hammer or kit they are just relic makers. Speaking of relics... saws still don't have 100% capacity ceiling for some stupid reason, making them especially useless.

Not only that but the content designers just don't know how to make an artifact anymore. Like 1 in ever 15 they make is even worth looking at. Most of them are "interesting" but no where near as functional as an imbued item.

Theres a lot of solutions that one could put into place. Special item types like "masterwork" or something that have a 600 imbuing cap. Or "mysterious" items that come with one of the non imbuable properties, but nothing else. Special colored items would be another simple thing you could have drop on monsters. Just plain items with 500 intensity cap that just look cool. Random collectables, or deco that have a chance to spawn on anything. Items to remove properties from items... stuff like that. There's a 100 different things you could do.

You could keep the playing field even, and give people more choices, and make non boss monster hunting worthwhile again.
 

HD2300

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Imbuing was a really bad game design decision, much like randomized resources.

I would say UO has lost significantly more players because of imbuing and randomized resources than gained.

It should have been, to any item you can add one mod, max 6 mods.
 

Tanivar

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Imbuing gave players who can't play thier entire day farming for artifacts, hundreds of millions in gold, or doing hundreds of BODs a day for Runics a way to be able to compete in UO.

Imbuing gave new, returning, and players who have school, work, and family obligations a way to get good gear to use without having to quit work, school, or ignore thier families to have the near 24/7 game life required.

Imbuing gave us jewelry with skills on them to get another effective 106 skill points so we can once again have that extra maxed skill the release of 120 powerscrolls and the adjustment of the skills took from us.
 

Daelomin

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You pretty much have it outlined. Imbuing was not put in well. It should have been more limited. 3 or 4 properties maybe.
Yes. 3 - 4 properties would make it very useful still but not killing the other "systems". Poorly implemented...
 

Anakena

Seasoned Veteran
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You pretty much have it outlined. Imbuing was not put in well. It should have been more limited. 3 or 4 properties maybe. It was put in the way it is now to sell an expansion. Now the developers have effectively painted themselves into a corner. Unlike levelling games UO cannot continually create more powerful monsters or items because of the limits of hit points for characters. Leaves little reason to PvM in many instances. Imbuing sped up the end game to PvP or decoration :spider:

The only thing that can do anything to the juggernaut that is imbuing is an AoS kind of change. UO no longer has that kind of budget or focus.
This is not caused by Imbuing, but by the normal evolution of an old item game with insurance.

Before AoS, the most powerful items were faction weapons (blessed for 3 weeks) crafted with a valorite runic hammer. One could also use ruin to vanquishing weapons looted from spawn but with the risk of losing them. They eventually reached a state where they would break when repaired (if I remember well). There was a constant need to hunt for replacing the items or making money.

With the introduction of insurance and PoF, the best items are never lost. There is no need to replace them unless of course a better item is crafted or introduced in the game. So the perception of what is a good item changed over the years (right after AoS, the Ornate Crown of the Harrower was a terrific item while now it is a crappy one).

Once you have a (close to) perfect outfit, there is no need to hunt anymore. The constant need to hunt has vanished.

The only way to put some fuel into the game is to add new items, new monsters, new skills (Expansions). It is an endless race between items and expansions. The Stygian abyss (and imbuing) is just the last of these events.

On the other hand Imbuing isn't so bad. If imbued items would lose durability a little bit faster and if you could loot some reagents a bit easier and (why not) in some old dungeons, we could reach a point where a constant need to hunt is reintroduced. People would no longer hunt for the items, but for the ressources to craft and replace them.
 

aoLOLita

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
To paraphrase that immortal quote:

"God may have created Man, but it was Colonel Colt who made all men equal..."

Imbuing reduced much of the elitism in game, and also hurt the dupers/cheaters alot! It takes a dedicated training period - and some expense - to make 120 Imbuer. Then the casual player can either buy ingredients or farm them. Imbuing is my second best UO innovation, the first being Soulstones.
 
P

pgib

Guest
I don't have a warrior but i think any idea that makes unused item usable is good.

And being good means that we will never see it in game. But hey, we got chicken fights.
 
K

Kayne

Guest
On the other hand Imbuing isn't so bad. If imbued items would lose durability a little bit faster and if you could loot some reagents a bit easier and (why not) in some old dungeons, we could reach a point where a constant need to hunt is reintroduced. People would no longer hunt for the items, but for the ressources to craft and replace them.
QFT

Not everyone wants to spend all their time in the Abyss hunting the same old monsters. Make old dungeons useful for something other than early training of skills. The ingredients for imbuing are about the hardest part for players who are fairly new to the game.

Making crafters needed and valued will bring some variety. Think back to the days of running to the brit smith shop to find a player willing to craft a suit or do repairs for you.
Lets bring back community feeling. When your boiler breaks you go speak to the local engineer - make being a crafter a playstyle not a boring requirement of the game.
 
A

Anon McDougle

Guest
still need carpentry to make 6 mod woodland suits, still need tailoring/smith to enhance up, still need smith to enhance to get 100% elemental dmg, 500 weight weps. as for the one guy sitting at the bank waiting for someone to imbue, be self sufficient and make an imbuer.
Thats just it, i dont want to be self suffiant i want to have to ask others for things its what all the people say they miss about the "good Ol days" the long nights around the forge in brit etc
 

phantus

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
On the other hand Imbuing isn't so bad. If imbued items would lose durability a little bit faster and if you could loot some reagents a bit easier and (why not) in some old dungeons, we could reach a point where a constant need to hunt is reintroduced. People would no longer hunt for the items, but for the ressources to craft and replace them.
I understand your argument but I simply don't agree with it. Playing the game to replace the same item I lose to durability is just asinine. Durability with insurance is moot. Your idea requires the removal of insurance to be effective and that ship not only sailed but was sunk and is now a reef.

Any other game you replace your gear with an upgrade. Not the same gear. Before imubing there was still a place for this. Whether it was an artifact or it was a piece of enhance or runic made item that gave that last 2% of dci or whatever. Now there is no upgrading. Everyone can make max suits all day with little effort. Losing those suits only to replace them with the same max stats does nothing to make the game fun or exciting. Imbuing only improved the PvP end game and took a big dump on the rest of the game.
 

Shiznit Bo'Bourbon

Visitor
Stratics Veteran
Back in the day you walked up to a smith and said "Three GM heavy archer suits please!" and they banged them out on the spot. You put one on, threw two in the bank, and you were "geared up" for anything you wanted to do.

Monster loot? Occasionally you found a power or vanquishing weapon. Those were the "artifacts" of their day. You found a lot of weapons of ruin and junk like that too, weaker than crafted stuff, and those were the equivalent of the crappy artifacts nobody wants. You farmed all this stuff off of regular monsters and not bosses, but then again stuff like balrons and wyrms WERE the "bosses" of that era.

It's not really that different.

The current era is better than any era since before AOS. Once again I can just get hold of a crafter and have a suit made, instead of spending weeks buying mismatched pieces off of eight different vendors. Once again I can wear a plate suit if I don't plan on using meditation.

Once again I can actually see players at the bank wearing something besides identical runic leather suits. A lot of them are wearing robes, but people have always worn robes. Way back in the day it was to hide what you were wearing from potential enemies, after AOS it was to hide your silly looking mismatched armor, and now it's to get the stats on the robe.

It's not really that different.
 
B

Bort of Atlantic

Guest
I understand your argument but I simply don't agree with it. Playing the game to replace the same item I lose to durability is just asinine. Durability with insurance is moot. Your idea requires the removal of insurance to be effective and that ship not only sailed but was sunk and is now a reef.

Any other game you replace your gear with an upgrade. Not the same gear. Before imubing there was still a place for this. Whether it was an artifact or it was a piece of enhance or runic made item that gave that last 2% of dci or whatever. Now there is no upgrading. Everyone can make max suits all day with little effort. Losing those suits only to replace them with the same max stats does nothing to make the game fun or exciting. Imbuing only improved the PvP end game and took a big dump on the rest of the game.
I appreciate all of the replies and probably need to adjust my viewpoint on the current game state. It sounds like PvP was boosted, and I haven't delved into it in ages, so I may have to get back into it.

I agree with the previous post; other nameless MMO games keep increasing how powerful new items are with each expansion, but it looks like now you must either make new god-like UO artifacts or you make new items that are already obsolete as characters can make better.
 

LordGenesis

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
While I can see the POV of the people saying imbuing killed the game, I also see how it has brought back the age of the crafter.


Personally I dont see imbued items as a "must have" to compete with others but it did allow casual players a chance to gear up without having to spend every waking hour hunting artifacts.


Imbued items are nice, but they arent exactly overpowering.

Ive seen alot of runic made items over the last few years that have really impressed me as far as wow factor.

I myself own a few really nice runic made items that i use. One in particular stands out to me.

Its a scimitar (dont remember the name twinkling i think) and it has the following:

Stam Leech 50%
Lower Defense 44%
Mana Leech 52%
Life Leech 60%
HCI 14%
DCI 6%
DI 40%

Its runic made so it will last me forever, i use it for everything its made my non necro bushido swordsman into a sampire for all intents and purposes.

So while I see runics as something rare and treasured, I dont think its impossible to get really awesome gear from them. Its an investment... take the time to get those items. If you dont have the time then imbuing will give you decent gear to use.

Runic made items last forever... they can be POFed over and over again, while imbued items are set in their life cycle. Thus requiring the services of crafters to replace such items at the time of need.

It really has boosted the crafting communities usefulness back to the way it was in the old days when everyone searched for the GM smiths to craft their armors and weapons.

I use my crafter alot now selling GM made armor that can be imbued for further enhancement... or crafting low end runic weapons for people to have imbued with the props they want.

Its really a point of view thing for some, one hand you have the people who worked hard to get gear to be competitive, on the other you have people who dont have time to get the gear so they turn to the crafters and imbuers to be able to compete and play the game.

I see it as a win win for everyone.
 
Z

Zyon Rockler

Guest
I don't think imbuing ruined anything. I just think it kind of set the mark to create a better system that is more organized and easier to balance because you can mathmatically do everything so that it's balanced.

There is alot of work that needs to be done to make imbuing the best thing that ever happened to UO. The first thing that is high on my priority is, Doom Artifacts and Minor Artifacts.

They could add billions of things to the game by allowing every item to be unique and they could use the imbuing system to accomplish it.

For example the Doom Artifacts could all be taken out and scrapped. Then, replace them with new ones very similar to the ones that we have but allow for the properties to be random.

An example: The Dryad Bow has random skill +10, so they have a list of skills and you have a chance to get a skill that is on that list, when you receive the bow.

It has self repair 5. They should make all the properties random, so it would be 0 to 5. Then it has swing speed 50, make that 0 to 50. Next is damage 35, make that 35 to 50.

Then it has poison resist 15. Make it so it's a random resist. The last thing it does is physical damage 100%, make this random.

So, the new Artifact System would be based on imbuing, up to 600 intensity. So, after it calculates what properties will go on the bow, it will then automatically add or attempt to add any random property that would be allowed for that item when imbued. Just like an imbuer gets a list but it would not exceed 600 and might fail.

If the artifact already exceeds 600 intensity then it does not try to imbue anything.

This would make most of the arties unique and create a better demand for more sought after particulars that might benefit more in PvP or PvM.

For example: The Dryad Bow has no slayer type but right before the bow ends up in your pack there could be yet another roll. If slayer equals yes, it checks Super Slayer. If no, it randomly checks Water Elemental Slayer. If yes, it drops in your pack with Water Elemental Slayer and the bow is finished and is unique.

The Slayer types on Artifacts would rarely happen, a rare bonus but could happen for all wep types. If it already has a Slayer Type, it would just cancel out.

Then the same could be done for Minor Arties. So, you could take, for example, any of the minor arties we have now and adjust the intensity for a Minor Artifact.

So, you would take the artifact rarity number and that number would equal the intensity of the item. So a level 12, I believe is the highest would have a 650, then 11 could be 625, a 10 rarity could be 600 and somewhere around 9 would be a Minor Arty that would drop down maybe to an artifact rarity number 1.

So, you just go lower for each rating and allow for it to be random. So, rarely it would max out and could self imbue to that intensity making it unique.

With normal loot drops, allow for the caps to change, like faster cast 1 is a cap. If you allow it to go up to faster cast 3, you make the loot more desireable.

So, again, you take the imbue intensity of 500 on spawned monster loot.

This would be the max that you could get. So, if you're hunting a Boss, then the possibility of 500 intensity loot pieces would be there but because the caps are removed the piece might be imbalanced to an extreme. You could force so many properties to spread out the intensities but you could still see possibly lower regeant 40 or faster cast recovery 5.

So, again, you would have alot of mix-matched pieces. So, you increase the caps but not to much to allow for actually better combinations that would rarely drop at 500 intensity. So, basically you could not imbue faster cast 2 or you could not imbue 40 lower regeant cost but you could find it on loot.

Then things like harpies might have 100 intensity.

Then you could adjust luck to contol intensity, create ways to lower resis or reverse properties.

Adjust runics to give a higher intensity, like the last 3 hammers could give 500, 525 and 550 intensity but this would be just a chance of getting that, it would not happen every time.

Allow the runic to work better with ML production.

If they keep everything around 500 intensity, excluding rare arties, they can balance things like hit point caps and hit points on spawns.

They could also readjust the loots while they are at it, like to find a claw or an eye to turn in, instead of gold. Alot like The Abyss but more of a Hunter's Lodge, where if I find an eye, I could go sell it right away for 10k, not like the repetitive Library Zombie Quests.
 

Sprago

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I'm back to the game after a couple of years off, and as cool as imbuing is, it seems to have killed certain aspects of the game/items.

1. Runics: To be fair, some of the weak runics are useful to try to save some imbuing ingredients, but why use a valorite hammer when you can imbue exactly what you want?
Because you can make something better than you can imbue and it will last forever.

2. Artifacts: There are some useful ones out there, but for the most part, artifacts are outclassed by imbued items. I think artifacts could use a major overhaul, even if it just means pumped stats to make them on-par with imbued items. There's a lot of content that's not being played, and increasing artifact intensities could give players more options on where to spend their time.
Depends on the item. There are still a good number of useful artifacts. Besides, what's the point of getting an artifact that will be good forever? Honestly, an artifact that started dropping 8 years ago SHOULD be outclassed by stuff today.

3. Monster loot: During different releases, it was enjoyable to sift through monster loot and try to enhance items afterwards. When item properties were introduced and it was found luck increased chances of high-intensity items, people were heavy into pvm to get the best gear possible, and enhancing mattered because you could either gain more resists on armor or you could boost luck on weapons/armor. Right now, it's next to impossible to loot an item that has better statistics than what you can imbue. Now, the reason for loot seems to be for imbuing only (loot imbuing ingredients and unravel everything else).
This is more of a point of view. I still go through monster loot, and I still use my luck suit when I hunt swoop/thrasher/peerless, ect. I get most of my elemental weapons from creatures. I get a fair number of relic fragments and I get pieces that I keep for suits.

I may have missed other aspects of play that have been diminished due to imbuing. You can specialize your character and their gear for sure, so imbuing certainly isn't all bad, but I would hope tweaks could be made to previously fun parts of the game that are now obsolete.
As a crafter and PVM'er... I love what imbueing has done for the game. I didn't use my crafters 1/10th as much as I do now. Previously, the only reason I would dust him off was to spend a day or 2 running through BODS and/or bust runics. Now, I probably spend over 1/2 my time online ON my crafters..
i like this persons aswers they are exactly what i was planning on posting. So instead ill just quote this person again.
great post NuSair
 

Basara

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the things I primarily loot from monsters are Jewelry - it never hurts to be able to start with a 1 or 2 property bracelet or ring, that saves you from having to spend 5 relic frags and 10 hard-to-get secondary ingredients.

Otherwise, count me in with NuSair.

The only neglect my crafters have been getting has been from the fact that I've been trying to train Provo and Disco up on my Tamer/Bard since SA was released, and refuse to do it by any other means than SoTs and normal game play (and as my characters combined rarely have as much as 5 million gold spread over 3 accounts, I don't buy SoTs much), and I had to take a few months to get my fisher to 120 (which included actually EARNING the scrolls).
 

Dermott of LS

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...

For me, monster looting depends on what I'm targeting. For example, lately and including tonight, I'm in Hyth in the small room that spawns a number of gargoyles and 2 daemons when "full", I am looting metal weapons and helmets to combine into junk BODs (I don't have any armor or shield BODs to fill so I'm skipping those items as well as AOS weapons), gold, and gems. Note that this also includes the occasional anti-virtue dungeon artifact drop which I hope mainly to get the weapons that unravel to relics.

Other times, when I need a stockpile of residue and essence for imbuing I'll hit ToK, the area outside the path to Niprolem (or however it's spelled) and focus on gold, jewelry (to unravel), and untranslated tomes when they drop (I also grab serpent venom by habit).

Of course there are also runs down into the Abyss or around Ter Mur which are mainly for imbuing ingredients and when needed the ants outside Wind for zoogi fungus.

"Magic item looting" for me lost a LOT of luster when AOS released and the removal of the need to identify the items you obtained... there was something fun about that step and having them say "a magic broadsword" kind of gave the items a little more weight. It sucks when you get a "magic item" now that has 1% in a resist compared to one bought from an NPC... you can't even tell the difference in that case! Also the whole quantity over quality the current system seems to have has turned "magic item lot" for me into "resource looting" instead.

Imbuing actually HELPS the realm of "resource looting" since it gives you more options you can use a given item of loot as I listed above.
 

GalenKnighthawke

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1. Runics can make items that will never wear out, are the only reliable way of making good things (I'm thinking particularly of armor) to use as blanks for Imbuing, and are the only reliable way of producing relic fragments in any great quantity.

I have seen little, if any, evidence that Imbuing has killed runics.


2. Many Artifacts were dead long, long before Imbuing came along. (I am the last person I am aware of to regularly use the Blade of Insanity; I hadn't seen the Staff of the Magi in regular use since the Swords of Prosperity came out, irregular use yes, regular use no.) Many Artifacts are still useful. (I see the Heart of the Lion in-use, I see the SSI helm in use, I see several of the glasses in-use, I still see the occasional Ancient Samurai Helm.) Overall the ratio is about the same, especially when one considers the many useful newer Artifacts. (Example: Helm of Vengeance, Ring of the Soulbinder.)

I have seen little, if any, evidence that Imbuing has killed Artifacts any more than improved understanding of runic and similar crafting mechanisms did long, long before Imbuing.


3. Monster loot can be a great way of obtaining relic fragments (and crafting them through runics isn't available to everyone) and very good items can still be found through monster loot. To the same degree as runic crafting? No. But when was this ever the case since runic crafting was available?

Anyone remember how people complained that the ability to make runic weapons had killed treasure hunting by raising the bar? Anything other than a vanq. weapon was a hard sell? I do.

I have seen little, if any, evidence that Imbuing has killed Monster Loot.

*shrugs*

-Galen's player
 

G.v.P

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The only thing I can think of to make PvM fun is achievements. The majority of people who play MMOs are somewhat compulsive, no offense, just a fact. And achievements are a great way to have a goal. How they would implement achievements? I don't know. Maybe a simple gump you could open w/ a new macro from the Open command, with back and forth arrows to check out the progress of multiple achievements. It would be like a quest system with either an on or off, so, say you kill Medusa, then "Slay Medusa" would be turned on and would report COMPLETE. A more advanced system might tally the total achievements out of all of the ones available. And of course, the achievements could have fun names, like "Bad Hair Day" (Kill Medusa)...okay, that's just corny, but still :D...works for other games.
 

Freelsy

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Imbuing killed my play style. Thus the ultimate reason behind closing my 5 accounts. I was into pvp for 3-4 years then, the last 2 years I settled down into pvm farming.

I began farming Lady Mels with my friend. We would do maybe 5 a day. But it was ALWAYS a blast. Once every other day we would snag at least one item that was pretty cool and would sell for a pretty penny (not having to quit my job/family to mindlessly farm as one poster put it.) The event usually took 8-13 mins per Lady mel and we tried to get in as many runs as possible before our Luck statue would run out. Once it did, we would call it quits so we were not wasting our time without full luck bonus.

Imbuing was a blast at first. I was able to make the perfect sampire weapons, the same ones I sold for 20mill, in a matter of minutes. However, shortly after the release the fact remained that I now had the perfect jewels, suits and weapons. None of which included what I had used before (expect for the luck pieces you cannot craft.) Thus killing my love for monster farming by having no real goal anymore. It was a combination of the thrill of looting and bragging about what I pulled. Wielding an awesome weapon at the bank and having people compliment you on it. Was a good feeling. Then selling it for massive amounts of gold ;)

Here are a few pics of the items my friend and I pulled before imbuing was put into place. Some were great, some just had nice stats. each weapon, before imbuing was established, were very hard to find.






Long live Ultima Online. The greatest MMORPG created.
 

Basara

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Freelsy - several of those STILL can't be made with imbuing due to item weights, and don't have wasted stats, only good one. Someone who passes on them thinking that they'll get better from Imbuing would be like passing on a guaranteed $10,000 to chase down a lottery ticket from the drawing the night before, blowing around the store parking lot.
 

frostbolt

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imbuing saved the game for less established players. When imbuing came out i was suddenly able to do more than farm swoop and tsuki wolves for gold, to buy a single artifact out of the 3-5 that i may have needed to make my character viable.

Imbuing created a market less established players could understand and progress in the game in the form of imbuing ingredients. And the ability to create suits good enough to compete and play in end game content.

The only people it might have hurt are the previously established people with a deep understanding of valuable runics produced items and tons of gold to throw around to make more gold.
 
Z

Zomeguy

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- Is there advantage in imbuing monster loot that already has properties instead of clean items, besides the saving of ingredients?

- Is there any loot from dungeon chests or t-maps that you can not create with imbuing? Which of those items do you rather keep than unravel?


Thanks all.
 
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