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April 2001 News:
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^ top-Who goes to these things anyways?
[Gator] April 30 - 1:50 PM EDT | I recently found the Player Luncheon Notes from the UO Forums. You can read the entire transcrpt here. I brought a few out to comment on and throw in my much needed two cents:
A way for scribes to make their own blank scrolls, perhaps the ability to make paper then make that into a scroll.
This is a great idea, and wood could be used as a resource. Now, not only can players make their own scrolls, it also provides another avenue for Lumberjacks to make some money. As if 20 gold per board wasn't already enough.
Players would like to see potion kegs with the maker's mark. Also mentioned was a revamping of some tasks that are rather "boring" to repeat over and over, sometimes hundreds of times.
Another good idea. Personally I could care less about Makers Mark on Kegs, but hey whatever. I like the fact of repititous tasks being eliminated. I.E. Double Click Mortar, Target keg with required Reagents in pack, Select USE ALL, and automatically the keg will be filled with potion. Or... Use Skill Inscription, Recall Spell, select USE ALL, target stack of blank scrolls, BAM 100 Recalls. They made cutting BandAids easy, you can make 100 Arrow Shafts if ya want, so how bout it?
The friends list for buildings needs to be larger, the players say. Perhaps a way to friend an entire guild, which would take up only the space of that guild in the list?
GREAT IDEA!!
Tinker trapped boxes, what is their usefulness?
Besides raising your healing to l33t levels, sadly I see this aspect of tinkering dying off. It's funny how things were made in the begining of UO for a purpose, and now suddenly they are dying off. I will leave that comment as is, you can use your imagination for what I mean. If that makes sense or whatever.. Anyways...
Players ask for the "Make Last" option to be added to more crafting menus. The players say also that the menus are not really as easy to use and maneuver through as they could be.
EXCELLENT!!
Smithing has a larger failuer rate then it should, the players say.
I agree somewhat. I think Plate Chests should be HARD. But I still think some twinking.. err I mean Tweaking should be done overall to the skill.
The players asked about veteran rewards. I said at the luncheon that we should have a test server up externally with the vet reward system on it. We got a little delayed in that, and it should be up early next week unless there are other unexpected delays.
In OSI time that means in the next 2 years roughly. Personnaly I cant wait to get my hands on my three year reward two years from now. But really, if this keeps going, will they offer a four year reward? I want my character to glow bright white, that way I can hang at the Trammel Moonglow Bank with all the other el33t 80/80 Tamers, with two White Wyrms, Ranger Armor, and Glacial Staves.
Players want the level of a treasure map more identifable on the map.
Excellent!!!
Guild stone alliances, players wish to have alliances put into UO.
Good Call!!
One player mentioned that pure warriors have a hard time versus mages. What he means is that the warrior doesnt have a smany options to deal with situations in a warrior/melee manner. For example, if the way out of a situation was to teleport up to a ledge to get away or to recall away, those are not melee solutions.
Umm can you say LumberHo or Fencer?
Players mentioned that colored ore and armor should mean more then what it does, and perhaps have special properties based upon the type of or/armor that it is
EXCELLENT. Iron Armor, Full Plate=30 AR. Valorite Armor, Full plate=80 AR. MUHAHAHA That would rock. Especially if you a lewter.
Playerw want to be able to choose their grandmaster title if they have multiple skills that are grandmaster.
I'm not big on titles, but this would be pretty neat, afterall I wouldn't want anyone to know that my GM Chef is a 6X Assasin. j/k.
Bunch of great Ideas presented there, surprisingly it wasn't entirely about rares and peekays. In fact rares and peekays werent mentioned once in Melantus' post. Here's my request. I wasn't there, but nevertheless it's my request.
I should be able to get more shafts from a board!! And the Bowyer skill is a Pain in the Ball Bag!! And fix how much wood and Iron weighs. Iron is like heavy and I can carry 3k ingots easily. So like make wood the same damnt. Only being able to carry 380 Boards sucks, when you can carry 3k ingots.
In other news, dont worry, my tamer essay is coming shortly, I know everyone is on Pins and Needles as to why I havent carried on with my essays over the weekend. Hey I am entitled to time off too, bastards.
Later |
^ top-Long Over due
[Ian] April 30 - 12:39 PM EDT | How much stupidity can one person take? How long before one is subjected to so much ignorance and desparing non sense making remarks before that person just gives up on humanity all together? Folks, I believe I'm testing those very limits. I don't know how much clearer I could have been on my rules and guidelines and in fact all through out the tournament. I know I left some things out and there were a few people with valid questions which I hope I answered clearly. But how many of you emailed me saying.. hey d00d i'm GoNNa own ur tournament." end of email. No name.. no skills.. nothing. Here's a hint. Over 20. Those are the type of people that will not be in my tournament. Furthermore, In preparing for this I thought it would be neat to go through uo.com and throw up a link to the tourney on the largest warring guilds message boards if they had one.. if they didn't I would email the gm of that guild. Well.. Let me share with you just how completely ignorant the average uo player is.
My email to him
To: Woodstock-TC@team-cow.de
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 10:17 PM
Subject: Huge PvP Tourney
> I played on Drach for a short while and remember you all as a decent pvp
> guild. Maybe some of you would like to test your meddle in my tournament.
> http://www.uopowergamers.com
>
> Click that link for more details.
>
> There is a large showing so far. Perhaps some of you might make it more
> interesting? Any questions you might have please respond to the email
found
> on that site.
>
> Regards
> Ian
> www.uopowergamers.com
Instead of just saying "no thanks" or "go to hell" here is what this walking example of a failed educational system replied with.
i have to laught of some things
1. i dont know uopowerdontknow.com. just another site. they come to you they
make you the rules and claim (of course) that this is the duel event of the
century. god i feel really blessed beeing in a decent pvp guild and i feel
blessed that i got the honor to be invited to that.
2. the duel rules: of course we as decent pvp guild werent asked, cause the
decent site used decent brains to make decent rules .. hm for themself. not
evne in trammel i would expect that.
3. even osi rules at the jhelom pits were good rules in comparation with
that.
powergamers? yes if you count configuring easy uo or whatever as part of it.
pvp? no
lol
Ok folks, is this not reason enough to keep your kids in school? Or to go that extra step and let them know that inhaling propane while simultaneously free basing crack is a bad thing. I'm not naive, I know not everyone can be the sharpest knife in the drawer but WTF? If you have an argument, or disagree with me, that's fine but like Jim Rome says.. have a take and don't suck. God what is it about this game (and others I've played) that attract the lowest dreg of society. I mean.. computers aren't the cheapest thing in the world to get a hold of. It takes a minimum I.Q. of 70 to operate the internet. How do these people live with themselves? Does someone know something I don't? Is it all a sick joke the world is playing on me? Maybe it's the age factor.. alot of kids have access to the net.. but then again I've met more mature, intelligent 17 years olds than most 24 year olds who are most likely still living with mommy and smoking pot all day. You all fucking scare me to the point where I'm almost about to give up on human kind. I was telling Watts that if I were that out of touch with reality I would WANT someone to put me out of my misery. I simply would not want to walk around with a veil of stupidity clouding my every neuron fire. Unfortunately I deleted all of my uopg email that I am not keeping for the tourney or I would have some more Nobel equivalent literature for you to read. As a treat to you all I will start saving it up, because I’m sure it won’t be long before I get my next. I only ask that you use a semi intelligible form of modern English so that I might understand at least 10% of the point you are trying to convey. That would be just swell thanks.
Why do people pretend they are "thugs" in UO? Why do people speak in Ebonics? Why do white kids use the word Nigga in a serious context? Why are their white trash racist red necks that feel the need to spew their racist beliefs in UO? Let me tell you why, they are confused, uneducated, lazy, ignorant, stupid little fuck wads that have no future, and have an anonymous outlet to vent out their anger at the world for being born ugly. Can you imagine them looking back on their life's greatest accomplishment and proudly saying how they gm'd magery? This is why I am scared. One day I will have a family. And my kids will no doubt be subjected to this. Can you say private school? Can you say AK-47 if you even think of getting within 5 feet of my daughter? We need to wake up. I'm not just being paranoid here. There are STUPID FUCKING SCARY ASS PEOPLE on the internet folks, and what’s worse is they don’t realize how stupid and ignorant they really are. You might be one right now agreeing with everything I say and as soon as you're done reading this you're going to log into whatever game/chat room/ message boards you frequent, and perpetuate the very things I'm talking about.
I’ll see some of you more intelligent people at my tournament. Until then, pick up a book, go to a museum, do anything besides staring blankly at your computer screen trying to be elite in a game that is completely inconsequential to your life’s productivity.
Because I care.
|
^ top-Corrections/Additions.
[Nieves] April 30 - 12:06 PM EDT | I corrected a link in the Tinkering skill page.
I added some monters (specifically Elder Gazor and Ice Fiend) to the monster section and corrected some errors. Don't ask me what, I can't remember right now. I just made the corrections, fired up my FTP program, hit the date key and moved everything over with a April 30th date in the date column.
By the way, I finished part 2 of Hammer and Silk. Go read it and tell me what you think.
Hasta. |
^ top-And So They Stepped Forward
[Ian] April 30 - 9:27 AM EDT | The following people will be competing in the first annual Tournament of Legends. Let it be noted that only 2 may rise victorious. But regardless of the victor, everyone listed below wins simply based upon the fact that they not only talk about their game, they have the intestinal fortitude to back it up. They are all to be respected.
And the competitors are as follows in order of email recieved : Kryphon, Legion, Stabo, Cadul, Natalie, Tobias, Phazer, Tomoyaki-qop, Cobez, Manji, Jerry Springer, Splyt-qop, Ba Ba Booey, Knifey, Hated-qop, Pestilence, Lacroix-atl, LordSoth, Blaine, Draktyr, Gafgarion II, Chaos, Egrahcrus, Ice-nose, Kata, Dr. Ownage, Haze, Xanatos, Gator, Tobias, Mission, Tapion, Caledor, Maltreya, Deathguard Watch.
35 people is almost to many but I just did'nt want to turn away people who are deserving of a shot.. For those not listed that emailed me with the typical "d00d like sign me up fer ur t0urney n1g" are absent for a reason. This was an application. Not everyone made it, I tried to weed out what I thought to be the best and I think I accomplished that. The rest remains to be proven on the battlefield. If for any reason you cannot make the tournament please have the courtesy to do what one has done so far and notify me that he would be unable to attend.
The ones listed will be receiving my email on Wednesday for some specifics and then again on Friday for final information. Those that are more behind the scenes type of people and would like to help coordinate this event can email me and tell me why you would like to do so. Keep in mind in order to be a ToL staff member you will need to be able to speak clear English and able to use Roger wilco.
Again thanks for all that applied to the tournament and congratulations to those that are in. This is going to be a great time had by all.
|
^ top-Say it isn't So
[Gator] April 30 - 7:21 AM EDT | After I wrote the essays on Anatomy and Animal Lore, I was promptly emailed certain "tricks" to raise those skills more quickly than what I had posted. This skill gain "technique", works respectfully with Anatomy, Animal Lore, and Musicianship. I got three notes on this "technique".
1. I already knew about them, was just awaiting a confirmation from OSI on whether or not they were legal.
2. These "techniques" are ILLEGAL and deemed banable offenses. So use them at your will, but don't say that UOPG didn't warn you. In other words, I got the confirmation. For the longest time they were discussed here, there, and everywhere. At one time you could find them posted all over Stratics forums as well. Last time I checked, they were disappearing.
3. Don't email me asking what they are. We are NOT a bug site. You want bugs, go somewhere else. Don't go on the forums talking about them. A few days ago Nieves stated our board policy, it will be ENFORCED.
And finally. I want the folks that knew about that "technique" to kick back for a moment, and think. Was that truly a legit way to gain that skill? I mean come one, what a joke. But some of you are probably saying, "but Gator, the 8x8 is cheesy as well." Your right, hell I never said I agreed with the present skill gains. In fact I hate them. But I will leave that rant alone all together.
I am going to throw in another quick rant before I depart for the day. I am currently working on a new Miner/Smith. I was mining away in Cove the other night and was toting along 1404 Raw Iron Ore. Well as I was moving along, I hit a slight lag pocket, and DROPPED MY ORE ON AN NPC!! So what happens? The NPC says "Your pack is too cluttered much like the ground" POOF. My Ore Disappears!!! Muther $%$@#! $!# @#!$%!!! 700 Ingots....GONE. I called a Counselor. He looked around.. "One sec let me get a GM." Ok. I wait. And Wait. Finanly I notice the little message on my screen, "Sorry, could'nt find it, if an NPC ate it, there is nothing we can do. Fare thee well." Yeah fare THESE well. Has anyone been to Cove lately in Trammel? It's a God Blessed NPC convention. For heavens sake Nobles are mosh pitting on the docks!!! They are EVERYWHERE. Umm. OSI. Can you like, turn down the spawn? So be warned folks, when movin ye ore, watch out for the NPC Whores.
Later and uhh Fare Thee Well.. |
^ top-Simple Arithmetic
[Nieves] April 29 - 5:41 PM EDT | I have seen Fishing Nets go anywhere from 9k-20k on Great Lakes. Big gold price difference, but it's what I have seen. The best you can get out of a Fishing Net is either a Level 3 Message in a Bottle (MiB) or a Level 3 Treasure Map (TM). An MiB will sell anywhere from 5k-10k. A TM can demand 5k if not more.
A level 3 MiB will have 3k gold in it and maybe a good magic item or two (I am hearing reports the loot sucks). Last time I fished one up I got a level 2 chest (2k gold) with 2 Force Maces (regular Mace). Think anyone will buy those from me? Not likely. So, IF I bought the MiB, I would have been out 3k. Not a good investment I think. IF I bought the Net to get an MiB, I would've been out 7k. I would have lost money big time. So fuck buying Fishnets.
A level 3 Map will get you 3k Gold, plus the gold from the monsters. You get 7k easy on a chest after killing off the spawn and looting it and selling the gems and scrolls and the dummy weapons at different NPC vendors (which, when I am feeling scrappy, I do). Then, I MIGHT get a good item. Then I might get pure shit in the chest. So this time, if I paid 5k for this map, I would have made 2k. If I bought the Net and gotten the Map from the Net, I would've lost 2k. I don't know abot you, but I don't like losing money.
Now, lets add to that. The randomness of these MiBs and Maps are such that you could wind up with level 1s and lose even more gold.
And then there is the issue with Nets providing nothing at all. Which to me is total and utter bullshit. I did 5 Nets with a friend on Saturday. Know what we got? I got the level 2 MiB I mentioned above, and a TM I gave him for his time. As of this time, I don't know what he got for TM level or loot, but it was probably shit as well. 5 Nets and 2 Chests. How shitty is that? If I found the Net and fought for it, give me an MiB or a TM for each Net. I earned the damn thing. GM Fishing is a bitch to get thank you very much. Reward me for it. Yes, I would like some good loot from them, but at least give up the MiBs and nets.
I don't blame the people selling the MiBs/Nets for the prices they sell at. I blame the dumbasses buying them. It's your gold. Do what you want and lose money.
If you come up to me selling your Maps, Nets, and MiBs and you quote me a price higher than 1.5k, don't be mad when I walk away laughing at you. There is no way, at this time, to guarantee I will get anything from the Net, and the minimum you can guarantee I get from a MiB and TM is Level 1. 1500 gold when you sell off the junk.
I don't know about you, but I like breaking even if not getting ahead.
Update From Blackheath of Treasure Hunters Of Brittania (my partner on the Net Expedition):it was a level 2, milked the spawn out of it for maximum value. not a single item above ruin or guarding, sold it all. total gold 5,332. if hadnt forced spawn, would have been 4,308 (and how many of us force level 2's? i only did because, well i dunno, but im kinda glad i did, cause one of the orc mages after the forcing started had a map on him..wheee)
Still doesn't add up. He got another chance with a new map (bastard) but nothing good in that chest.
Special thanks to Blackheath for helping me in all this.
Hasta. |
^ top-Come and go...
[Lawyer] April 29 - 12:19 AM EDT | Paladin is no longer an updater for UOpowergamers... I wish him prosperity.
And I have added almost all of 2000's archives. The format is a lot different, so I made do with what I could. I refuse to change every post in that 150k text file. ;) |
^ top-Hell yes.
[Eric] April 28 - 3:55 PM EDT | Check this out....
The information I have so far is that Vet Rewards will be on an external test server early next week. I'm sorry it's been delayed longer then I originally said.
Melantus
Online Community Coordinator
Ultima Online
Melantus@uo.com
Maybe Vet Rewards will be coming soon? I doubt it, but this is one step further.
Cya later.
|
^ top-Complete Rules and Guidelines
[Ian] April 28 - 12:43 AM EDT | Well this is the information the tournament page was going to contain, but since a certain person who shall remain nameless (Lawyer) told me he would build a page and never got around to it, here it is.
Tournament of Legends Rules & Regulations
Mages:
-No weapon skills allowed. Period. Wrestling is allowable. Bandages are allowed
-No Potions or magical clothing or items.
-You must stay within the confined area designated by the ToL duel supervisor
Melee:
-No potions or magical clothing or items
-No magic weapons
-No poisoned weapons of any sort
-Magery is allowed
-You must stay within the confined area designated by ToL duel supervisor
Sportsmanship: You are expected to behave in an adult fashion.
Enforcement:
-People found to be to immature to be in my tournament will be kicked immediately.
-Anyone using magic weapons, potions, or breaking the rules of their particular class will be automatically disqualified.
Miscelaneous Info-
-All duels will be on foot. Duels will take place in a remote location and be monitored by either myself or a ToL Staff member.
-Running out of regs disqualifies you from your match. Bring enough so that this does not happen. We will meet at a central bank after each duel for restocking.
How To Enter
-Entry Deadline is Monday April 30th. Once you turn in a complete application, and it is approved you will recieve an email from me that simply says, "confirmed." After all the entries are in I will construct the tournament bracket. Upon completion of the bracket you will recieve a follow up email on Wednesday, May 2nd that will explain to you that now would be the time to back out if you have plans and will not be able to attend. Another email will be sent on Friday, May 4th that will give you the meeting location and basic overview of how everything is going to work.
-You need to be fully prepared by 8 pm Eastern time Saturday, May 5th and be at the assigned meeting location.
Prize- The winner will get his or her picture, along with a bio of his or her character and shard they come from, as well as what guild they represent put on this website's front page. The winner also has the pride of knowing that they won what is most likely the best collection of pvp talent assembled at an Ultima Online tournament..ever. And, as promised, the winner, if they are so inclined, may request a duel with myself, and show the world just how fast you can beat my ass. I will also include the picture of my ghost on the front page if I'm beaten. I've played UO for 3+ years. I've yet to lose a duel on test center. I'm fairly certain that streak is in serious jeopardy.
Dig deep inside your soul and ask thouself if thou art ready for my Tournament of Legends. If thou art ready, submit to me thy application HERE Good luck. |
^ top-You can PK in Trammel
[Nieves] April 27 - 5:14 PM EDT | No Bullshit. Under certain conditions.
If you are in a warring guild and you see a another member of a warring guild, but aren't warred against them, you can attack them. As a consequence you take a count and go grey. Whether that count happens before or after you kill that person I don't know.
This one ally of mine was telling me about it. I told her bullshit. She said I will prove it. We went to look for some people I am warring but she isn't. We found them at their player run town. She was able to cast magic arrow at on of them. She went grey and her guildmates could attack her back.
One thing, you do that in a town, you get Guardwhacked.
Just a note for all you people wanting to kill that asshoe hogging up your kills in Deceit and is in a warring guild. You CAN do something about it. You just have to be in a warring guild yourself.
I am checking to see if this is a bug or as intended.
Hasta.
|
^ top-2 days late, but still a good read.
[Nieves] April 27 - 3:28 PM EDT | Over at Lum's I found a review of Ultima Online. Don't ask me who, I am too lazy to hit the back button on my browser.
What struck a cord with me was when I read this: " Well, it's interesting. It's kind of a strange thing to imagine, but the big thing that really separates online games from other games, and what makes UO better now than online games four years ago, is the fact that we can keep adding to it. UO started out... it was deeper than other games at the time, but you had to have a certain ammount of depth to keep people coming back day after day, month after month. But over the past three and a half years we have continued to add to it. We have added new systems and new monsters and new lands to explore, and all kinds of new things to do. And I've heard a couple people say recently that some of these companies that are trying to put out new massively multiplayer role playing games. The biggest challenge they have, when facing a game like UO, the competition is that we've continued to grow this thing. It gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So four years ago, the games just didnt have the depth that they do now. "
Deep? Deep where? How the fuck is UO deep? The only thing keeping me in the game is the freedom to do what I want (to a point), the fact that I don't have to "level up", housing, the different character types (smiths, fisherman, tamers, thieves, etc.) and the people I play with (probably most important). Where are the real Quests? Not the bullshit Seer run stuff. You know, where the Purple guy or monster says all this weird shit and then you wind up in the middle of 20 liches you lag up, and the liches kill you, and you die 5 times trying to get your stuff and this GM hider already has all your stuff because he's not trying to save the day, he just wants to get your stuff (talk about a run on sentence)? And then the Seer decides he will spawn 1000 more Liches because like, everyone is killing them off too fast and it's cool to watch everyone die and not give anyone a fucking chance to survive that type of onslaught.
UOQuest = Seer Statement+Lag+1000 Spawned Monsters+Looters+A shit load of dead characters+Lag (did I mention that).
Give me some substance DAMMIT!
BRING BACK PRE....er...sorry.
Want to do something cool for UO? Make an underwater contenant (SP?)incased in a bubble where you have to fight these neat looking underwater men and women and you get these cool looking suits of Coral Armor and Coral Swords and shit. Oh wait, that's right! I can't play with any new content anymore, because UO3D doesn't FUCKING work on my computer.
Sometimes I hate this freaking game.
Hasta. |
^ top-Tourney Update
[Ian] April 27 - 12:33 PM EDT | Ok, Lawyer said he would have the tournament page up this morning. He lied. I'm sure he's diligently working on it in between his "personal moments". Until then Continue to email me if you wish to submit an application for the tourney. We already have a huge
sign up for this thing..last count was between 25-30. I want that to keep growing. So.. if you're not signed up yet here is my original post. Read it over and if you have any questions, refer them to the forum. When you are fully prepared, and know you have the time, submit your app.
ORIGINAL POST
Ok here you go. You wanted it? You got it. A PvP tournament to be hosted by yours truly is going to be taking place on Saturday May 5th at 8 pm Eastern time, on Test Center II or whichever shard is live at that time.
Tournament Breakdown: There will be 2 tournaments. Mage Tourney and Melee Tourney. This is a simple enough concept. If you use a weapon, you're in the melee. If you're in the mage you may not use a melee of any sort.
To be qualified for this tournament all applicants must turn in their character names and skills you will use to compete in the tournament to me by e-mail. Be accurate, any incomplete applications will be rejected. And if you show up to the tourney with a name other than the one you submitted you will not be allowed to compete. (Remember, this is on Test Center, I need the name you will create.)
All applications must be submitted before Monday the 30 of this month.
That monday I will pair out the brackets and seed all players. I will submit to you, your bracket via email by Wednesday May 3rd.
I will gate each contestant to their dueling area and will either observe each duel myself, or one of my guildmates will. Anyone found cheating, or breaking any of the rules laid out below, will automatically be kicked from the Tourney.
The winner of both the mage and melee tournaments will have a pic of themself and a brief bio of who they are written by me and put on UOPG's front page.
FYI: Judging by the talent that is sure to be in this tournament I do not presume that I would win this contest, in fact I highly doubt I would, so with that being said, in order to properly coordinate this, I am not going to compete. I will however duel the mage and mellee winners of the contest provided they wish to do so, and if am beaten will also post that picture. (This is your chance :) )
Tournament Rules-
Mages) No Melee of any sort (including bows). No potions of any sort. Bandages are fine.
Meleer's) GM weapons only. No potions of any sort.
Sportsmanship: This is self explanatory. If you cannot behave in an adult fashion, do not come to my tournament.
Enforcement: Anyone caught using magic weapons, potions, or breaking the rules of their particular class, will be disqualified.
Note-If you are on my icq, you are not special, if you wish to compete you need to email me like everyone else.
|
^ top-You all think I am bullshitting don't you?
[Nieves] April 27 - 8:42 AM EDT | When we say there is a no bug posting policy in our Forum, THAT MEANS NO BUG POSTING IN OUR FORUM!
How fucking difficult is that to understand? If you want to post something and aren't sure if it's a bug or not, email one of us and ask. Fuck, email me and I will ask Counselor Anonymous.
If you want bugs, go to Chopper and "subscribe" to his private board. That's what they do. We don't. We are an information site for the best way to power game without bullshit bugs or exploits.
I bring this up because of the bugs I keep seeing people trying to post. Of course, at first, I was nice. I would edit it and say, "please don't do that". Then I would delete the thread. Now I find a new one this morning. Fuck that shit.
Just DON'T post bugs in the UOPG Forum. Please. I don't like having people removed from the board. But if you can't play by the rules, you can't play.
::waits for the flames of "YOU ARE A FAGGOT NIEVES"::
UPDATE: I need to clarify something. If you want to tell us about a bug or exploit without discussing how to make it work, that's fine. IE- There is a bug where people can loot your house by logging off in it, logging back in, and using an external program to remove your items. Please lock everything in your banks or lock your doors. That kind of stuff is ok. Thank you for correcting me on it.
Hasta. |
^ top-Animal Lore Revisited
[Gator] April 27 - 8:17 AM EDT | Introduction
A must-have-skill if you’re a tamer. A high Lore added with a high taming, will determine how much controllability you have over tamed creatures. Lets take the cover off and get a more in depth look shall we? Overall Animal Lore has 3 functionalities, and all of them can make or break you as a tamer:
-Animal Lore contributes 30% to your ability to control a pet. The other 70% is represented by your taming skill.
-Animal Lore is to Veterinary, what Anatomy is to Healing. To be a successful Vet, you need a high Lore.
-Animal Lore can be used actively to tell you what kind of mood your Pet is in.
Let’s go over item 1 first. 30% of your overall ability to control a creature… Doesn’t sound like much does it? But look at it this way, and consider your buddy Fifi the Dragon is involved.
Taming: 100
Lore: 100
Controllability: 98%
Taming: 50
Lore: 60
Controllability: 30%
Taming: 100
Lore: 0
Controllability: 70%
Taming: 0
Lore: 100
Controllability: 2%
Take all that in? Great.
Item number 2 describes how Animal Lore is essential for Veterinary. Well I will save the entire spiel for my Veterinary essay. But if you want to be able to heal your pet well as he is getting pounded by ye olde Balron, you will want that Lore as high as possible. The same formula used for determining how much health is healed with healing applies to Vet and Lore as well.
Minimum amount healed = Animal Lore/5 + Veterinary/5 + 3
Maximum amount healed = Animal Lore/5 + Veterinary/2 + 10
So at GM Lore/Vet you can expect to heal a maximum of 80 points and a minimum of 43 points. Which can be VERY handy.
Item 3 is VERY important as well. This item describes what kind of mood your pet is in. And that can very well save your ass. It sucks when your Dragon decides to run off on you while your fighting a blood elemental. Those levels of “moods” or “loyalty levels” are as follows:
"wonderfully happy" –This is where you want your pet to be.
"extremely happy"
"very happy"
"rather happy"
"happy"
"content"
"content, I suppose"
"unhappy"
"rather unhappy"
"extremely unhappy"
"confused" –This is NOT where you want your pet to be.
Now when you Lore your pet, and it comes up as “confused” don’t wig out. Just throw it a chunk of beef or whatever, and Lore it again. You will find that after feeding your pet will be at “wonderfully happy” again. Also you will find that after you newly tame a pet, the will be at “confused” as well. Once again not a problem, just feed them.
Macroing
There is really no true way to macro Animal Lore. UOAssist does have a skill agent. Just click on the Agents tab, highlight Animal Lore and ensure that you have a macro setup to use that skill. Then as you are walking around, hit the key and it will automatically Lore the nearest animal near you.
Skill Gain
Animal Lore is a target-based skill. Much like anatomy, if used actively it will require numerous targets to raise the skill. But, Animal lore raises passively much like Anatomy. This skill will rise while using Veterinary or Taming. There are no tricks associated with gaining in this skill, it just takes time. At the higher levels of Taming, you will find Animal Lore will raise much like taming will, slow but steady.
Conclusion
Hardest thing about this skill is one thing. Time. Be persistent and work at it and you will be attain GM. Gators easy skill scale of 1-10. 1=suckiest 10=cheesy I give this skill a 3. At lower levels this skill raises pretty efficiently, but as it gets higher it can slow down dramatically. .5 per power hour in the 90’s isn’t uncommon.
Later |
^ top-Just so we can avoid a recount...
[Nieves] April 26 - 4:04 PM EDT | OSI is in Texas, not Florida, so it makes for them to make an Election change to Factions.
Hasta. |
^ top-Anatomy Revisited
[Gator] April 26 - 2:12 PM EDT | Introduction
Anatomy... A must have for any warrior type character or for any character that chooses to use the healing skill. There are two benefits from having an adequate Anatomy skill.
-GM Anatomy will give you an extra 20% added to your damage when you are fighting an opponent.
-GM Anatomy coupled with GM Healing will allow you to heal a maximum of 80 points of damage with a single band-aid. The minimum being 43 points. The formula used to derive this information looks like this:
Minimum amount healed = Anatomy/5 + Healing/5 + 3
Maximum amount healed = Anatomy/5 + Healing/2 + 10
Plus for the high-speed-want-to-know-it-alls, you can use the Anatomy skill on an opponent to see how there stamina is doing. I don't know ANYONE that uses this, but hey if ya want, knock yourself out.
Anatomy rises passively while using a Melee or the Healing skill. Anatomy is target based, if you use the skill actively to gain it, which is pretty much worthless. But you can GM Anatomy off fighting Bunny Wabbits if you choose to do so. When it comes to gaining w/melee it doesn't matter what the target is.
Macroing
There is really no true way to macro Anatomy. I do recommend using a healing macro while working this skill. Once again, use UOA to assist you with this. It makes things a lot easier to just hit a button to heal yourself as opposed to clicking your stack of aids all the time.
Skill Gain
The key to GMing Anatomy is persistence. Now you can GM Anatomy by using the skill directly on numerous targets. In theory it is possible, but I do not know of anyone that does this anymore. Back before Power Hour it may have been viable, but not anymore. The best ways to GM this skill is through combat or luck.
Combat takes the longest but by far the most is the most reliable. Grab you a few weak weapons of your choice. Something like these:
Swordsmanship: Skinning Knife
Fencing: Dagger
Macing: Wand
Lumberjack: Hatchets
Archery: Suck it up and use one of the above.
Why weak weapons like those? Because the object is to hit a target as many times as you can as quickly as you can. You don't want to run around killing everything in sight, it will slow down your overall rate to GM. Grab a warrior in the Jhelom dueling pits, get your dexterity as high as you can and commence to beating. Boring? Yes. Mind Numbing? Yes. Worth it? You're damn skippy. Also remember to be healing yourself during this entire period as well. You will find some gains through healing. And hell, a gain is a gain.
The luck method can be the quickest route to GM any skill ever. But it can be a pain in the butt to accomplish. Grab your weak weapon of choice with a regular weapon and head to a high spawn area of lizardmen and alligators. These fellas will be well known friends by the time you are done. The key here is to use doorsteps of houses while you are fighting them. I have gotten this method to work for me 7 times. Of those 7 I have walked away as a GM of Anatomy 5 times. Use your regular weapon at first, and kill. Kill, kill, until you have to look some more. Eventually, you will start hitting a creature and will find yourself gaining Anatomy on every successful swing. BAM. You have just found you're lucky friend. Some unusual comments have been made about how these creatures get "lucky". Some folks believe that it's because they have "lived" a long time. Meaning that they are older spawn. I say hogwash, once I got this to work on a newly spawned lizardman. Immediately exterminate all the other creatures that are attacking you except for Mr. Lucky. Once they are all gone, equip one of the weak weapons mentioned above. And start hitting while watching your health bar closely. If he gets low, tab out so you don't kill him until he heals back up. If you are in Felucca you are in luck. Heal him yourself, but be warned that you will go gray, so make sure nobody is around that wants your stuff. This way can suck at times, but then again, when it does works it is very sweet. Once I went from 85-GM in about 15 minutes, how sweet that day was. This works on more than just Alligators and Lizardmen. I have had this work on a Spider and Orc Lord as well. A friend of mine GM'd off a mongbats. And some folks have even GM'd this way off of there guildmates. When you find that spot where you are gaining, REMEMBER IT!! Mark your coordinates through UOAM or a sextant, and if you don't GM that time, try the same spot again the next day. I have gotten gains out of the same spot, with the same character two days in a row. I didn't GM unfortunately, but I did get 93 Anatomy.
Conclusion
Hardest thing about this skill is one thing. Time. Be persistent and work at it and you will be GM in no time. Gators easy skill scale of 1-10. 1=suckiest 10=cheesy I give this skill a 5, mainly because the "luckies" are hard to find, and the regular method will take a few power hours.
Later
|
^ top-Archives up.
[Lawyer] April 25 - 8:27 PM EDT | | I have the March and April archives up. They are accessible by the "UOPG News Archives" button on your left, under the recent update panels. We are missing information due to newspro glitches and the hosting change, but we do have some information from a long while back. I will work on getting them up at a later time. |
^ top-Problems with UO....
[Eric] April 25 - 4:33 PM EDT | ...according to Redrum.
Redrum over at his "updating area" posted a rather long but interesting analysis of today's problems with UO. If you can't handle harsh criticism of UO, I don't suggest you read it. But, if you're like I am, and like to hear the shit that Redrum has to say, check it out. Here's a little clip:
See, whenever they add something, it just makes the game even more easy than before. A quick recap of events that made it easier: reputation system (not that I disagree with it, but it all adds up), T2A (unlimited magic weapons), fishing (see: T2A, only easier), treasure hunting, thief nerfing, housing (we all had to deal with getting our houses looted), power-hour, trammel. All of these just made the game way too easy from every possible stand-point. Supposedly the "new and improved" monster AI was supposed to replace the player conflict risk. Wrong.
He has a lot more to say than just that, along with what he thinks SHOULD happen with UO. As useless as it is, it's an interesting update. Check it out.
Cya later. |
^ top-New Shard Day
[Gator] April 25 - 1:36 PM EDT | Announcing New Shard at uo.com:
Origin is pleased to announce the public test opening of Mizuho, our newest Japanese shard, on April 26th (CDT). The shard will open for three days for testing purposes as we monitor the shard for any unforeseen problems. Once it has been determined that the shard is operating optimally, Mizuho will be wiped on April 29th, to be re-opened officially on April 30th. Mizuho is the 9th Southeast Asian Ultima Online shard and our 23rd shard worldwide.
The name Mizuho dates from ancient times, when Japan was called "Land of Mizuho". Mizuho stands for beautiful water, and Japan has been long famous for its rich rice harvest. The shard name was chosen from submissions to the official UO Japanese website and voted on by UO players via the website.
As per our localized shard policy, Mizuho will be available only to Japanese players for a short period of time. This will allow local players time to establish a solid foundation and community base on the shard. After this period, we will open Mizuho to the worldwide community of Ultima Online players, allowing the shard to develop the cross-culture diversity found on other UO shards.
Ok, so they get a new shard, GREAT. When does the good ole US of A get one?? I want a l33t Marble Table.
Alot of updates on the board today folks, make sure you scroll
D
O
W
N
Also to all the emails I have gotten the past two days, folks I am getting to them as quickly as I can. And you will get a response, and some of them have been so good I will post an update about them
Later |
^ top-1st Annual Tournament of Legends
[Ian] April 25 - 12:36 PM EDT | Ok here you go. You wanted it? You got it. A PvP tournament to be hosted by yours truly is going to be taking place on Saturday May 5th at 8 pm Eastern time, on Test Center II or whichever shard is live at that time.
Tournament Breakdown: There will be 2 tournaments. Mage Tourney and Melee Tourney. This is a simple enough concept. If you use a weapon, you're in the melee. If you're in the mage you may not use a melee of any sort.
To be qualified for this tournament all applicants must turn in their character names and skills you will use to compete in the tournament to me by e-mail. Be accurate-any incomplete applications will be rejected. And if you show up to the tourney with a name other than the one you submitted you will not be allowed to compete. (Remember, this is on Test Center, I need the name you will create.)
All applications must be submitted before Monday the 30 of this month. That Monday I will pair out the brackets and seed all players. I will submit to you, your bracket via email by Wednesday May 3rd.
I will gate each contestant to their dueling area and will either observe each duel myself, or one of my guild mates will. Anyone found cheating, or breaking any of the rules laid out below, will automatically be kicked from the Tourney.
The winner of both the mage and melee tournaments will have a pic of them self and a brief bio of who they are written by me and put on UOPG's front page.
FYI: Judging by the talent that is sure to be in this tournament I do not presume that I would win this contest, in fact I highly doubt I would, so with that being said, in order to properly coordinate this, I am not going to compete. I will however duel the mage and melee winners of the contest provided they wish to do so, and if am beaten will also post that picture. (This is your chance :) )
Tournament Rules-
Mages) No Melee of any sort (including bows). No potions of any sort. Bandages are fine.
Melee) GM weapons only. No potions of any sort.
Sportsmanship: This is self-explanatory. If you cannot behave in an adult fashion, do not come to my tournament.
Enforcement: Anyone caught using magic weapons, potions, or breaking the rules of their particular class, will be disqualified.
Note-If you are on my icq, you are not special, if you wish to compete you need to email me like everyone else.
Above all I want this to be fun. There is a lot of talk amongst pvpers about who is the best and so on and so forth, well this is your chance to prove it and have a great time in the process. Hopefully I can get all of the updaters of this site as well as a few others out and we can all have a fun evening of pvp and good natured competition.
The email to submit you’re application is
ian@uopowergamers.com I look forward to you all being there.
Let the appropriate smack talking commense.
|
^ top-Anyone got any Flu Medicine?
[Nieves] April 25 - 11:10 AM EDT | I could really use some right now.
I added two essays to the Essay Section. About time, eh?
Also, Lawyer is working on getting the Archives working and displayed with the current UOPG Template. That way you won't have to email me anymore about the update that came out 2 weeks ago.
Hasta. |
^ top-Alchemy Revisited
[Gator] April 25 - 9:10 AM EDT | I am going to try to turn out an update on every skill over the next few weeks on every skill that is useful in UO. These updates will consist of my own thoughts and information from our skills section. Now if someone out there knows a better way, then by all means email me. And we will incorporate that change into our essays. I am going to try to do one skill per day, but we will see how that goes.
Introduction
Alchemy is a great skill to have for the PvMer, PvPer, or obvious Merchant. Some folks choose not to carry potions on a PvMer. I say screw that, potions are especially good against some of the more difficult monsters that inhabit the lands of UO. Greater Cures and Greater Heals I always carry into dungeons because they can be incredibly useful. Using potions in PvP can give your warrior the upper hand via Greater Strengths and Greater Agilities. And a merchant can make a fair amount of money selling potions or the coveted potion kegs. I sold these on two vendors for a good amount of time. But be prepared to spend some time buying regs, because your potions will sell. Eventually I stopped selling potions and just stuck to selling kegs and made a fair amount of gold doing that.
Overview
Alchemy is a really easy skill to GM especially due to the advent of power hour. I have heard of folks GMing it within a week. And with a nice amount of regs I consider it truly viable. I recommend using Alchemy on a mule character. There is no need to have this skill on a Mage or Warrior type character. At one time, Alchemy was a famous skill among Fisherman. But when they made it to where fisherman had to kill to get the SOS and Maps it was less popular. Alchemy is EXTREMELY important if you choose to GM Poisoning eventually.
Macroing
First things first, unattended macroing is frowned upon by OSI and could lead to the loss of you're account, so don't do it. If you choose to Attend Macro your Alchemy skill (which I HIGHLY recommend) then do what you can to get UOAssist. This handy little utility will not only help you with Alchemy, it is wonderful with many different uses in UO as well.
There are two different ways to macro Alchemy. Both can be a little bit of a pain. If you choose to fill bottles, Macroing can be fairly easy. The problem lies in taking all of them bottles and filling up kegs. I believe Kegs should be a necessity if you are going to work this skill. Storing 1 keg is far easier on lockdowns or bank space than 100 bottles. In case you didn't know a keg holds 100 bottles of potion.
A good way to macro this is to "charge" your mortars. All mortars remember what the last potion they made was. So if you make a GA. Next time just double click that mortar, and retarget the mortar again vice the regs. It will automatically make the last potion type that was made with that mortar.
The other way to macro is to use your mortar and then target a keg. But if you fail then you will not get a target cursor. How I combat this is by using the hiding skill within the macro. This way if you fail at making the potion, the hiding skill will interrupt the Alchemy portion of the macro so you will not miss any attempts. I know it sounds confusing, but when done properly the macro looks like this:
Use Item (Charged Mortar #1)
Target (Charged Mortar #1)
Target (Keg)
Use Skill (Hiding)
Or if you wish to fill your pack with a large amount of empty bottles use this version that uses 4 mortars. Depending on your lag, you may have to adjust this somewhat. Using 4 mortars setup 4 UOA Macros:
Macro #1 (Mortar #1)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #1)
Target (Charged Mortar #1)
Macro #2 (Mortar #2)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #2)
Target (Charged Mortar #2)
Macro #3 (Mortar #3)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #3)
Target (Charged Mortar #3)
Macro #4 (Mortar #4)
Use Item (Charged Mortar #4)
Target (Charged Mortar #4)
It may take a little bit to get the feel, but once you get it, you can churn out some bottles. I use those four macros with my F1-F4 keys. Then I just fire them off with my left hand in that order, by the time you hit #4, #1 should be done. Then just hit them again. Make sure that you have a stack of about 100 empty bottles in your pack. and enough regs to satisfy the requirements for that many potions, including failures.
Skill Gain
Below you will find what to make at what level. I.e. At 50 Skill make Explosion potions, they cost 5 SA per potion made.
Skill Level: 50
What to make: Explosion
Reagents Needed: 5 Sulphurous Ash
Skill Level: 64
What to make: Greater Strength
Reagents Needed: 5 Mandrake Root
Skill Level: 72
What to make: Greater Poison
Reagents Needed: 4 Nightshade
Skill Level: 80
What to make: Greater Heal
Reagents Needed: 7 Ginseng
Skill Level: 90
What to make: Greater Cure
Reagents Needed: 5 Garlic
Skill Level: 94
What to make: Deadly Poison
Reagents Needed: 8 Nightshade
As you are making these potions you can choose what you wish to do with all of them. Explosions are pretty much a waste unless they are Greater, so get rid of them. GS, GH, and GC you can keep to use for your own characters or you can sell them. GP I would keep a hold of for Poisoning, you WILL need them for that skill.
Miscellaneous Information
A Greater Heal potion is just that. If you make it at 90 skill or 100 skill there is NO difference in the potion strength. This skill is not like Smithing or Tailoring. Where GM equipment is better than regular.
Another important note is that this skill is a Craftsman skill, i.e. It's not movement based. So work it in your house or at the bank, but there is no need to 8x8 it or anything crazy like that. I have heard too many arguments over 8x8ing this skill. Trust me, get nice and cozy in your house or at the bank, and work the skill. You will do just fine.
Conclusion
Well that's it. A skill that isn't very hard to work. All it takes is regs; I would say 200k worth and about 5 Power Hours. Last time I GM'd this skill was late last year so I may be a little bit off. But on Gators skill scale of 1-10. 1=suckiest 10=cheesy I give this skill an 8. Mainly because dealing with all of them bottles are a pain at times.
Next Skill: Anatomy
Later |
^ top-Neverwinter Nights update.
[Nieves] April 24 - 6:52 PM EDT | It's coming along..or so they say. All I can say is I am excited.
A quote from their latest update:Every day, I'm amazed all over again by the sheer number of criteria that have to be taken into account to run a single round of combat. Combat requires weapons, for example, and creating one within the toolset can involve as many as 60 different effects - everything from bonuses to hit and damage, to different forms of damage immunities, to level draining and electrical damage. In short, we're committed to making Neverwinter Nights one of the most in-depth Dungeons & Dragons experiences possible on your home computer.
You can read the whole article here.
Hasta. |
^ top-And Now... The Rest of the Story...
[Gator] April 24 - 2:39 PM EDT | The quote I made earlier from Evocare, that was soooo easy to understand::smirks:: Well it has been re-evaluated and commented on by Evocare in the UO forums:
Hello, my apologies for being kinda wordy in the comments. Having been a UO player before joining the dev team, I really can understand the desire to read detailed information about what we're planning for the future of UO. Unfortunately, giving out the details is exactly what we can't do, since doing so basically eliminates our design flexibility by commiting us to something that we can't always guarantee will happen. =[
In addition, I was hoping to avoid writing an essay that was totally uninteresting for the players to read, so I opted to talk a little about an overall design approach. The downside is that it can be hard to write something brief (but good) about an overall design approach without giving out detailed information about how we intend to apply that approach. So, the result is what you read, for better or for worse...
Ok Evocare you clarified it somewhat better. But let me warn you that you now have set yourself up for complete udder aggravation by all the boardites at UO.com message forums. Oh yes ask Melantus or Calandryll. If they ever let out a smidgen of a hint of what was “coming up on the horizon”, they were hounded relentlessly as if they were knocked down over China. Go ahead and ask them. But thanks for that clarification. Was beginning to wonder if I was on crack or not…
And good call on not committing the dev team to something they may not be able to design within the game. After three and a half years of working on this game they finally got that part right at least. Let’s see can I recount the ways? Vet Rewards, Necromancy, Vet Rewards, Housing Patch, Vet Rewards, Alchemy changes, Vet rewards… It goes on and on and on…
Later
|
^ top-Rational Thought 101
[Paladin_VT] April 24 - 12:47 PM EDT | Let's put this little thing about guns to bed early, before anyone gets hurt.
Imagine yourself sitting at a wooden table with a loaded revolver sitting on the table. The revolver sits upon the table, with the muzzle pointed in your direction. Now, ask yourself this question, "Is that handgun a danger to me?"
What's the answer? The answer is, of course, no.
Now, imagine yourself at that same table, in the same chair, but this time the gun is not on the table. The gun is in the hand of someone else, and it's pointed at your heart. Ask yourself the same question, "Is that handgun a danger to me?"
The answer is, of course, no.
"What do you mean no," you cry?
I mean no, and here's why: One of the three foundations of reality is the Law of Identity; that is, A is A, and cannot be anything else. You may call something differently than I do, but it's basic identity is not changed by that label. The gun in the above instance does not change its identity, it is an immobile, inanimate object that poses no danger to anyone, and posesses no consciousness.
The danger comes from the outside entity that uses the handgun. You are not in danger from the gun, but rather are in danger from the person holding the gun. If that person were not there, you would not be in danger. If the gun were not there, you still may be, after all, firearms are not the only way to harm other people.
In any event, it is a mistake to blame an adult, even a parent, for the volitional acts of a child. If a five-year old shoots someone accidentally, then, yes, it is the fault of the person who left a loaded firearm within reach of one who cannot make a rational decision on whether or how to use it.
If a fifteen year old does so, then he or she recognizes it's use, and must make a volitional choice on how or whether to use it. This is the law of causality, corollary to the Law of Identity. This means that actions(causes) have consequences(effects) that are predictable, and knowable.
The short version is that there is evil in the world, and it has nothing to do with an ephemeral God or fairy-tale devil. It is alive and well within men and women who choose to ignore identity and causality and believe that they can enforce their own ignorance on a merciless universe. In the words of Francis Bacon, "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed."
As Gator implied, it is a sin against morality not to accept the guilt for what you have done, but it is an even greater sin against morality to accept guilt for what you have not done. It's not the parents' fault people, because the parents didn't pull the trigger.
It's the kid's fault. |
^ top-Umm Yeah What He Said
[Gator] April 24 - 7:22 AM EDT | Isn't funny when you try to do a write-up on something, get all finished then you see another one that is wrote better than what you wrote yours... Well it happened to me. Go read about what Jinx and Watts had to say on Parenting in the 00's. Jinx hit's on the Lawsuit and Watts has his own spin on parenting in which he is 100% correct. It's a great article that REALLY nails it down. Of course you don't have to. But I love reading articles that make fun of Spock, so go check em. And by the way, I never saw those two posts until this morning. It just so happens that Jinx, Watts, and I are on the same wavelength. It comes with time, from being the l33t news updater/powergamers that we are...
In gaming news, Trammel Twinks suck. (Feels another Tram/Fel rant coming on) But I wont get into it... ::grumbles:: All I can say is, where are the consequences?
Evocare, a Designer for UO had something to say recently. All I can say is what? Speak in dude speak so the rest of us normal folks can understand.
One of my primary goals here at Origin is to take a holistic approach the design of game systems. In order to deliver the best possible play experience, it's crucial that we have a keen understanding of how each game system relates to other game systems. The idea is to create and maintain a web of essentially symbiotic game system relationships so that the combination of systems becomes dramatically more interesting and compelling than the sum of the value of each individually. Beyond creating an interesting and deep game world, one of the greatest benefits of this approach is the ability to deliver the aforementioned experience with a minimum of complexity and clutter when compared to a game of equal depth that is comprised of largely unrelated game systems.
So... Does that mean we are getting back precasting... byiotch??
Later |
^ top-Raising Kids Right Starts In The Home....
[Gator] April 23 - 2:46 PM EDT | Well it was coming down the pipeline. The thing is I get very upset at families that want to point the finger at this and that when little Johnny gets into trouble...
Mom and Dad both work full time jobs, while little Johnny began his career at age 3 going to Preschool. His first day at school in kindergarten he was given his very own house key. Because Dad was usually on his flight home from the office in the city and Mom is still at work as well when Johnny got home from school. They told him to grab something out of the fridge and turn on the TV for entertainment. And that 4 hours later when they got home, dinner would be ready. "Keep the door locked, and say no to strangers" they said as he boarded the bus. Once he hit 12 they bought him is very own Home PC, after all the Nintendo wasn't doing it for him anymore. And with his $50 per week allowance he could get the very best in gaming entertainment. His folks were still hard workers, doing what they could for the family and their retirement accounts, so usually Johnny would hit the store by himself to pick out the games and CDs he liked. His parents were never there to tell him no, and why should they have been. After all he was showing great signs of maturity. At age 15 Johnny discovered the Internet, and all that it had to offer. Now he could learn everything about anything, all from his desk in his bedroom. One day Johnny found the gun his Dad used at the pistol range on the weekends. Johnny admired it most definitely. He saw it used in numerous movies, TV shows and games. And now he held that very power in his hands. Very carefully he put it back where he found it. Then things got tough for Johnny at school. Some of the "cool kids" were giving him a hard time. Pushing him around, and calling him a nerd and a geek. I mean who were they to call Johnny that. Over time it began to eat at Johnny. He told his parents about it. But they told him that they were just "playing" and he should do the same. So Little Johnny did play... with the gun his Dad owned... one day on the school ground... killing 5 and wounding 6. And then Little Johnny finished the game that had begun 13 years before...
Folks it's easy. TV didn't make your kid fuck up. Games didn't make your kid fuck up. Movies didn't make your kid fuck up. YOU fucked up. If parents would take a more active roll in what there kids do, problems like this would never occur. Will my kid watch movies and play video games? Sure if that's what they want to do. But I can guarantee you this. It will be only the ones I feel he should watch or play. I will stay in tune with what he does and what he sees. Can I filter out everything? Nope. But I sure as hell can try. Society on a whole has failed because parents have failed. It's as simple as that. But yet everyone wants to take the liberalistic point of few and point the blame on someone else.
Be RESPONSIBLE for your actions. Take the blame for once.
And let me add as not to confuse. The families of the slain are doing that lawsuit. Not the families of the shooters. But just reading about it, made me think about how "some" parents can be so shitty nowadays. My thoughts and prayers will always be with those families of the people that were killed. And they have every right to sue. Does the entertainment industry need better regulations? Yes. But we also need better parenting. And better parenting can very well out do any regulation that could ever possibly exsist.
Ok I am ranting, and that was two from me today... But damn we live in a sick fucking world...
Go talk amongst yourselves, heres a topic: Parenting.
Later |
^ top-GuildMaster 101
[Gator] April 23 - 9:30 AM EDT | So want to run your own guild? Well I am going to give you a handy dandy guide on guild running basics. Now first off let me be quite open with you on my own guild running experiences. I failed. Not by choice but by time. In fact lets head straight into point number one.
Time
Running a guild takes just that. Have you finished up your own characters? Because unless you can play 4-6 hours a day, forget about it. You will find most of your time in game will be spent working on and with your guild. Of course all of this depends on how successful you want your guild to be. If you want your guild to consist of a group of folks that team up every Friday night at 10pm to do a dungeon run. Then your time devotion will not be as much. But still you can expect members to call on YOU from time to time to help them out. It’s just the way it works. One way you can help yourself out is to setup a Council or a few appointed officers below you to help run things. This way you don’t have to be “the man” 24/7.
Commitment
Taking up the responsibility of a guild takes serious commitment. Now depending on how many members you have this level may grow or decrease. If it’s just you and 5 buddies, your level of commitment may not be as much if say you had 30 members. The more members you have the more responsibilities and attention you will need to deliver. Mainly this is all because you are the GM and the guild expects you to be the most involved. And if you want to be successful, then why not be involved?
Guild Type
This is very important. If you want your guild to be PvP then you don’t want a bunch of role-playing PvMer's in your guild. That’s just the facts of successful guild running. You can find a good mix. But if you have 20 PvPer's and 10 PvMer's can make it a little hard when you want to do successful PvP wars and another part of the guild wants to go on a mission to exterminate all mongbats from Sosaria. So do your best to avoid this. However there is a way where you can mix the two. I know of one guild that Role-plays PvP. There are actually several. And this is fine. So there is somewhat of a happy medium, but make sure that all of your members are onboard with the same medium. Because if there not, problems can arise.
Disciplinary Actions
This is just the way it is. You must learn to be decisive and firm. If not, you will be run over. I am not saying to go on a power trip. But after all if you are a GM, you are the fearless leader. So lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way. If someone is messing up your guild or guild image, you must do something with that member. If not, your guild will surely fail. You must think of your guild as a well-oiled machine. The better oiled it is, the happier your members will be. AND the happier you will be.
Resources
I have yet to find a way to be successful at this. I now say let folks take care of themselves, or have members of the guild hook each other up with necessities. But there is NO way to establish a working system. That’s just the way it is. If there is a guild out there that has gotten this to work right. Has gotten everyone to give fairly. Then please email me cause I want to hear about how you did it. The only sure way I could see to make this work would be for the GM to devote A LOT of time, and raise the wrath when needed. I think a guild treasury is a good idea. This fund can lead to an official…
Guild HQ
Or whatever you want to call it. But do to the housing rules, be ready to get another account, or sacrifice your own house for this cause. This place can be used for all members to access chests and things. Or can be used as a training area. But most importantly, a place for your guild to meet and hang out together is what a Guild HQ is all about. But remember this, especially if you are a PvP guild in Fel. Don’t fuck with the neighbors. Unless you are just crazy like that. Myself totally banned fighting around the house because I didn’t want to log in with my mule and get pounded by my neighbors. I have been in factions and lived next to other factions. I didn’t screw with them, and they didn’t screw with me. But of course this is all just personal preference. If you want to be the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s by all means do so.
Guild Charter
As in any organization there has to be just that, Organization. Easy way of doing this is to set up a guild charter for all your members to live by. These will just be rules and regulations for your guild. Set these up to where they are fair and the members can live by them. If your Guild is composed of l33t n3\/\/bI3 kIll3Rs then don’t expect them to abide by the laws of Lord British because it isn’t happening. Make a charter and live by it.
Other
There are other things you can do to enhance your guild and create some good avenues your members you can use to participate. mIRC Chat is wonderful. Set up a room for all your members to meet and BS while they are playing. Roger Wilco is a real time chat over microphone deal that works splendidly in any combat situation. Your group PvP experience can be deeply enhanced with this nifty little utility. And it’s a free download as well. A Free Guild Web Site is a plus as well. All sorts of things can be done from there, plus it can assist you in future recruitment abilities. Yahoo will give you a free site, just get ready to deal with the annoying banners that pop-up. There are numerous free servers out there. And finally a Guild Forum is a good idea as well. Another freebie as well, here all your members can read important info about guild events or just BS about the weather or what happened Friday night in Bucs Den.
Conclusion
Hopefully all these tips can help you out somewhat. These are some of the things I took up when I led a guild and they may help you as well. What killed me was time and commitment. I haven’t gave up on that guild, just took a small break. But I totally misjudged what type of undertaking I assumed when I jumped into the race. And this can hurt a lot of your members, especially the new ones.
Later
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^ top-It's amazing what a Trammelite will say...
[Nieves] April 22 - 9:46 AM EDT | I was talking to my girlfriend about some notos I ran into in Khaldun last night. I won't get into what happened as it's emberrassing to my guild to say the least. I will say this though: "everyone gets punked once in a while".
My Gf and I were talking about counts and how it works. She asked: "they still give murder counts in Felucca? WHY!?" I stopped and looked at her. I then asked her, "you don't think they should give counts or have stat loss?" "No. I thought that was the point of Trammel/Felucca split". Her thinking is you are safe in the towns and safe in Trammel from PKs. Why should you still take counts or go Red? Hmmm....and this is from someone that will never step foot in Felucca again.
I think you should still take counts. It's part of the cost of being a murderer. But should you have stat loss? Maybe not permanently. Why not make stat loss like factions except instead of 20 minutes, make it 8 hours? It's just an idea.
Adam Ant has a solution that he had written up well over a year ago. Go read his Angel Island Proposal. Tell him what you think and if you support it, sign his petition.
Hasta. |
^ top-Fallen Age Beta!
[Vasilias] April 21 - 8:40 PM EDT | OK OK OK...I know I am the NWN updater, but hey! I got the Fallen Age beta and figured I would drop a line to give my views of the game. Now first off I was lucky to get it...the mailman tossed it into another person's mailbox. Fortuitously, the neighbor kid brought it by and handed it over. Aiighty...now on to this update.
First off....in order to play this puppy you will need a 440 Celeron processor minimum, 64 RAM, 16 meg graphics card and 300 megs free on the hd(a lot smaller than the full install of UO surprisingly), and the all important internet connection.
Now, of course, to start things up you will need to activate the game. As with UO it does have a registration code. Then you set up your account. As of now there are only 3 character slots, so you can only create 3 characters. And you have but 3 classes to choose from...the warrior, the mage, and a cleric.
Once you create a character you log on in. The graphics in this game are smooth. Very detailed. The overall interface of the game is bulky and cumbersome. And given the fact that no manual came with the beta edition made finding things out interesting. Most of the players I met ingame we just like those in UO....mostly jerks and not very helpful. Then there were a few exceptions of course as with everything else.
As I said earlier the interface is cumbersome. The chat overlay is mildly reminiscent of EQ. It's is windows based in a sense. Very awkward to get used to if you are a hardline UO player. Your inventory overlays are transperant, but to me they seemed to get in the way more oft than not.
This is a level based game. Skills do not arbitrarily raise as with UO. You must spend experience gained through combat and "juno", as they call their gold, in order to raise levels. Once again a manual here woulda been helpful in understanding that right away instead of running around wondering wtf do I do. Once you get experience built up and have a lil "juno" you purchase training according to your level of expertise from the trainer of your class located with in the "town". There is a bank and a warehouse in town, but do not even attempt to use it. You can't until you have attained a level where you can create your colony. I will post more on that as soon as I can actually attain that. You have to reach level 30 in order to do that.
The cool part about the colony is that it is a guarantee within this game. There is really no fighting for territory to place a house as as soon as you reach level 30 you have a plot of land already. And from which you build your colony. I will hafta attain this level in order to report on it.
They do have quests. I didn't get around to exploring that area yet, but rest assured I will. I believe everyone on UOPG here have a beta slot and will look into this as well.
PvP? They have it. They also have a nice lil bit called a deathmatch. More or less this is a duel. There is no flagging...simply a challenge issued and challenge accepted. I personally like that. As of now, there is no PvP for anyone until they reach level 20 first. So basically, you have your trammal for the first 20 levels, after which you graduate to Felucca, figuratively speaking.
Now here is something I found I liked quite a bit. There was absolutely no lag or latency of any kind. No ping monkeys as far as I could see. Everyone pretty much moved along at the same rate of movement. This made the game very very playable and enjoyable. I would rate this game on a scale 1 to 10 as a 8. It is a very playable game, and although I am stuck in a UO state of mind, the interfaces within the structure work well with it. You just hafta get used to it.
Will bring you more as I learn and gain experience within the game. But overall, for those with an open mind, you will enjoy the atmosphere of this game. It is different.
Haster la Taters! With Catsup!
Vas |
^ top-Because people don't have anything FUCKING better to do..
[Nieves] April 21 - 6:09 PM EDT | they go and fuck one of my friends.
Well as some of you may know, myself and Warlord (the guy who helped redesign UOPG), and others have been working on a new site for months. It has been linked here on UOPG a few times, and if you went there, I am sure that you saw that it was pretty graphic intensive. We had a good feedback set up, a ranking system for the updaters, messageboards up the whazoo.
It was going to be a general gaming site covering all kinds of games, from all genres, not just online games. It was going to have my commentary and that of others you know from UOPG. Ian, Epyon, ProQuo all expressed interest in updating there when they had something to say about other games than UO. You will notice that I am speaking of it in a past tense. I will get to that here in a second.
I had set up interviews to premiere www.gameterror.net with several very cool people. Savant from Fallen Age, the lead producer from BioWare, and the lead producer from Blizzard. I had sent a general inquiry to several computer and online companies about the possibility of contests, for everything from computer parts to games, which were received very favorably providing we could show an adequate hpm (hits per month). Based on what I felt the direction the site was to go in, I didnt really feel that was a problem. Even those people working on the site with me had no idea I had these things set up. It was to be a suprise, not only to the readers, but to the staff as well. This was because we just wanted to talk about what we are passionate about, and that is games. I had a larger vision for it, and was working on realizing that for the benefit of everyone involved.
Since I am an HTML retard, I was doing the backend things. Writing content and trying to set up cool things for the readers of the site to enjoy, and make sure we kept people coming back. I write on websites for myself, but I take a certain amount of satisfaction in the fact that alot of people enjoy what I have to say. I also enjoy those people who say they hate me. It means that I am writing things that spark emotion, something that makes people think, whether they agree or not. That was what GameTerror was about. A place for everyone to speak their mind no matter what they had to say, and hopefully come away thinking that they were a part of something, even if it was only a messageboard flame war. I want people to write for the reasons I do, to get things off their chest, make a statement rightly or wrongly, and spark emotion in others.
But last night, GameTerror hit a snag I don't know if we can ever recover from. I am so fucking pissed off right now, it is going to take all I can do to get through this day without doing physical harm to someone. Last night, someone decided to hack our server. In doing so they completely wiped out www.gameterror.net. Completely. Gone from the server.
We of course have backup files and what not, but that is not the point at this moment. The point is someone took it upon themselves to smash the expectations of others for no more than their own sick, simple amusement. In talking with Warlord, who has worked his ass off on the site for months to make it not only work the way we want, but to be incredibly pleasing to the eye, we are not sure we even want to try to rebuild it. It just doesn't seem worth it right now.... And I am only feeling about one tenth the depression that Warlord has going on right now.
So, this is a message to say that for the moment GameTerror is gone. This is a message to say, something that could have been very cool for everyone involved is gone. And most importantly, this is a message to say, never underestimate the juvenile cruelty of people and their desire to destory hard work for their own twisted pleasure. This is a message for me to say FUCK YOU AND I HOPE YOU ROT IN THE DEEPEST HELL EVER DEVISED AFTER BEING SUMMARILY TOTURED AND GUTTED LIKE A FISH for whoever hacked our server.
To all those who wrote myself and War about the site, I say thanks from our hearts. Truly we say thank you for the appreciation. It could have been great.
Watts
You know, it's a fucking shame. I saw what Game Terror was going to be. Hell, I fucking saw it from concept to it's "near complete" state. Warlord had a good, solid design, and all of Watt's ideas were extremely tight.
You see, Watts is a friend. And I feel for the guy. That was his baby. His "dream". If I find the motherfucker that did this to him, I personally will send him to Watts (minus his fingernails and a nail in his penis).
UPDATE: From Warlord- Gameterror is not gone, its not defeated, it *WILL* be back. Currently we've suffered an enoromous setback. What goes around does come around and the day the son-of-a-bitch is paid back is a day that will come to pass like any other... But I am at peace with the knowlege its coming and it will hurt these people more then I could ( unless I was able to spend a minute with them in a dark alley with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch ) ...
In the end Gameterror will rise out of the ashes and our hell will be unleashed in all its heavenly glory upon the planet..
------------------
"Build it, they will come.. And they may destroy you..."
Hasta. |
^ top-By special request...
[Nieves] April 20 - 10:05 PM EDT | Although a year late, I started writing about Hammer again. I got many many requests to start writing about him again. I said I would, and I have kept my word to you, the readers. The first of four parts are in the stories page.
Read it. Then please email me with any comments, good, bad, or indifferent. But realize, if you just say "it sucks", I will probably delete it and move on. If you say it's "COOL MAN, YOU RULE"! I will probably email you back and say "thanks". Tell me how it sucked. Tell me why it was cool. And tell me how it could be better.
I am not a professional writer by any means. I just write what comes to my mind.
Check it out. Then tell me about it.
Hasta. |
^ top-Happy 4:20... have some links.
[Lawyer] April 20 - 2:07 PM EDT | We have added UO Chat and the UO Gamer's Network to our links section.
So you all enjoy some new sites and stay out of trouble. ;) |
^ top-Just for you Blachawk
[Nieves] April 20 - 10:36 AM EDT | Sometimes, you need something to make the day go better. Sometimes, you need something to just make you laugh and forget everything else.
I hope this helps your day go better.
Thanks to Ogur of UOSomething for bringing it to us.
::goes back to doing the hussle::
Hasta. |
^ top-Don't Be Scared
[Paladin_VT] April 20 - 6:44 AM EDT | Reading the little snippets below, I noticed the comment, about arguments for certain stats, "and all of them are very valid and im not going to sit here and tell you a specific stat setting." This is a perfect example of a logical fallacy, that is shared by almost everyone. I'm just using this example because it's available, and easy for the lazy to see, just scroll down.
To quote Ayn Rand, "There are two sides to every issue. One is right and the other is wrong but the middle is always evil." What she's saying here is that there is no good compromise. We've all been sold, ab initio, that compromise is good, right, and healthy. That is wrong, immoral, and irrational.
When the necessity for a decision becomes apparent, any decision, you must choos a path to follow. In the simplest terms, one can choose rightly, wrongly, or choose not to make a selection. Not making a selection is what compromise is. If you know, through the rational, intelligent processes of observation and deduction, that you are right, then choose accordingly. If your data is wrong, you may be proven wrong later, but don't change your mind because "they" said so. Don't give in for the sake of getting along, or getting something (the wrong thing, because it doesn't jive with the available evidence in this case) done. If you do, then you are morally bankrupt because you have abdicated the responsibility of choice.
Don't be afraid to make a decision, and stick by your guns. Like a major league umpire once said, "Just becaue they're yelling at you, doesn't mean you're wrong." |
^ top-Tapion's PvP Tutorial
[Lawyer] April 19 - 5:34 PM EDT | Tapion sent us a damned good PvP tutorial today. Unfortunately its somewhat large, so I am going to give you some teasers and put the guide up for download. This guide is very detailed, it tells you about macros, spells, double casting (legal), and stats. Its definately worth a read!
Here are some random excerpts from the guide:
Note: This tutorial will not teach you how to GM skills, use potions, or raise anything but your PvP skill. This includes every trick and tip I use. This guide holds NOTHING back, no secrets are kept.. this is all of it.
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Now for stats; there are hundreds of arguments to the perfect stats and all of them are very valid and im not going to sit here and tell you a specific stat setting. Just make sure that after you buff you have at least 100 int or your mana regeneration will be too slow to be effective. Also its a good idea to have at least 100 strength after buff as well. 100str 100int and 25dex is a great stat setting but do not expect to use it and survive unless you are a very experienced player, because Mindblast will do a lot of damage. On the other hand its obviously the best template against a warrior so feel free to use it when you feel that you have become experienced enough.
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Your settings are a very very very important part of PvP. Just remember my quote "Milliseconds matter." You want to make macros for every spell you use so that you can cast them quickly when you need them. Offensive spells that you commonly use (3rd circle and up, e.i.: Poison, Para, Explosion, Ebolt, Flamestrike, Mindblast) should be placed on the F keys (I will explain in a moment).
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Lets go back for a second and assume (because I do not want to leave anything out) he casted Cure very fast and you think that his greater heal will be casted before you kill him. If you unequip your spell book you can cancel the spell your casting immediately and cast another one which you can use to disturb his Greater Heal and Poison him again.
----------
Now heres where the problems come, when your fighting someone with stats designed to avoid Mindblast damage (Im going to teach you how to bring them to their knees). The first thing they are going to do in a battle is probably bless at the least they will cast cunning so they can gain mana at a decent rate. The first spell you want to cast is feeblemind to screw their mana regain rate...hell do it again if they Blessed or casted cunning so their int is as low as possible making their mana regain slow if they cast cunning again feeble them again rememeber that your gaining mana fast and spending less mana, they are gaining mana slow and spending more mana.
You can download Tapion's Advanced Mage PvP Tutorial here.
Comments?
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^ top-The Reassurance.
[Eric] April 19 - 4:19 PM EDT | This was posted over at UO Stratics today:
This is an extremely exciting time to be a part of UO. Throughout the lifetime of the game, parts of the community have been very vocal about problems with bugs and stability. Historically, the dev and QA teams have been in a kind of Catch-22 situation: given a finite amount of time, they had to balance adding new features to the game with fixing bugs. Some bugs had to be left in, not because no one WANTED to fix them, but because the necessary resources had to be dedicated to adding and testing promised new features.
That's not the case anymore.
The upside to all the chaos of late is that many people and procedures from UO2 are now a part of the UO team. This is a big win for UO. There are more people working on UO now than at any other time since its launch. Additionally, with only one product, our focus as a company is very narrow. We can afford to pay attention to details that previously we would not have had the bandwidth to address.
From a QA perspective, we've never had the kinds of engineering resources devoted to UO that we do now. Where QA used to just mean "testing" (and black-box testing, at that, for those of you who know anything about software development), we are now fully responsible for improving the quality of UO from stem to stern. We are starting, slowly but surely, to get involved with development earlier in the lifecy |
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