|
↓ Main Menu ↓
» Home
» Forums
» Advertise
↓ UOPG Services ↓
» UO Sales & Service
» UO Gold
» UO Gametime
» Tokens and Gifts
» Character Gifts/Tokens/Codes
» Used Accounts
» Buy UO Houses
» UO Assist
↓ Navigation ↓
» News Archives
» NWNPowerGamers
» Stories
» UO Craft
» UOPG Email
↓ Community ↓
» Forum
» FAQ
» CPU Tech Help
» Essays
↓ Stats/Skills ↓
» Champion Spawn Guide
» Stats Guide
» Skill Guide
» Guaranteed Gain System
» 8x8 Essay
↓ Strategy ↓
» Character Guide
» Player vs Monster
» Player vs Player
» Special Moves
↓ Information ↓
» Armor Guide
» Bug Awareness
» Files
» Tricks
|
 |
March 2002 News:
|
^ top-I Stand Corrected.
[Nieves] March 31 - 11:02 PM EST | Well, I fucked up.
Remember my little tiff over the house thingie?
ICQ History:
Me: I don't know, perhaps we should talk about the deal itself
You: Hehe. Small house, east of Yew. About 2 minutes walk/run.
Me: So what are you looking for in exchange?
You: Regs and Ingots.
Me: how many of each?
You: Well, I bought that house for 250GP. Is that too much in ingots and regs?
Me: 250gp? Wow, you're quite the bargainer
You: Ack. I meant 250kGP :p
Me: hehe I'm sure I could hook you up with about 50 black pearl if you want.
Me: The good news is I do have a lot of ingots
You: Aight.
You: What's fair to you?
Me: I don't know...I hate to sound like a trammie and say "make an offer" but ... well, make an offer
would you accept gold to make up for the slack?
You: sure. that's cool.
You: I would rather have all ingots and regs but that's cool.
Me: I've got 5k ingots, what's that worth to you?
Me: plus a bunch of colored ones
You: 20x5000 (market rate on ingots was 20 last I checked)
Me: So how does 5k iron ingots and 6k of each reg sound?
You: hmmm....sounds good.
Me: Alright, give me a little bit to get it together
You: np.
You: I will show you where the house is first so you can see if you still want it.
Me: alright
I am officially a dumbass.
Gawd I need a fucking break.
Hasta. |
^ top-I Am Not One To Mess With
[Nieves] March 31 - 5:51 PM EST | But I am nothing compared to the Terror.
Check it.
Sick man, oh so very sick.
Hasta. |
^ top-Humans Are Greedy Sons of Bitches
[Nieves] March 31 - 12:01 PM EST | Months ago, I had houses across 4 shards. Seeing as how I didn't play on them as often, I went ahead and gave away a house on Siege and a Small Tower on Catskills. The Small Tower was a gift, but no biggie. The Small on Siege I paid for with my own gold. I gave the houses away for people that were needing places to chill in and for "UOPG Guild" type efforts on said shards.
Well I log on to Siege doing my "character refresh run" and I find I am no longer friended to the house and I find this on the sign:
So tell me True Believers, do I get pissed or leave it the fuck alone?
My first reaction was: what a bunch of fucking asshoes.
I have thought about EBAY but because EBAY is the Devil, I have avoided doing it. Anyway...
What-fucking-ever.
UPDATE: I was wrong. Read the April 1st, 12:02 AM Post.
Hasta. |
^ top-UOPG Publish
[Nieves] March 30 - 12:27 PM EST | That annoying load delay is gone.
Both the Games Lists at the bottom and the top 10 list at the right are gone.
Both of them can suck a lemon. They could've at least sent an email out to their subscribers that they went down.
Asshoes.
Hasta. |
^ top-From The Mouth Of Watts.
[Nieves] March 29 - 5:40 PM EST | Watts speaks.
A direct quote when he was talking about Factions: "If they don't want to be involved: Fuck them, they can go to trammel!"
Own.
Too bad he doesn't powergame anymore. Fag.
They also have a contest for a contest going. Check that out.
They promise to have cool prizes. No, they won't give away pictures of redrum whuppin Watts with a horse prod. Sorry.
Hasta. |
^ top-And On A UO Game Play Note
[Nieves] March 29 - 5:22 PM EST | Looters Inc. strikes!
We all need this laugh. I mean, after the harsh reality this morning, we need something to get away from all the hubbub and hoopla of the drama that is Ultima Online.
Hasta. |
^ top-The Response
[Nieves] March 29 - 11:24 AM EST | I sit here with my bowl of corn pops contemplating this past week when. lo and behold. I get a message that the "Impy's Article" is up. So off I go to read it. And sure enough, it's there. And boy, it's...um...well. Go read it.
No, go ahead. I will wait. Really. You aren't gone yet? Dammit. GO!
::taps his fingers on his deck::
Ok, good you are back. Now, the question was asked, what are my intentions with writing this here 'response'? Well, when I first got wind of the article, I wanted to work with the author and provide her with the information I have. Especially since I was told the article said I had posted inaccurate information in my original Impy's write ups. In fact, she even says it in today's article:
This article was reprinted in "UO Powergamer's" as well under the title "Impy's Money Bin" I am still confused as to why two reporters would chose to print information they knew to be inaccurate..
Now, she speaks of inaccuracies in my own report? Well, a few inaccuracies of her own came blaring at me like a semi-truck that lost its brakes.
A sidenote: if anyone wishes, they can go to the UOPG Archives and read up on my original articles. Just do a search for Impy. It's ok, go ahead and read it. I can wait.
....
........
..............
Cool. Welcome back.
Now, the question still remains, "what are my intentions? Why would I want to write a response anyway? Nothing negative was really said to or about Nieves at UOPowergamers in the Branwilde piece". Welp, as I was saying, I wanted to work with the author. Answer any questions she had and provide her with information so she would have a complete article. And to answer the accusation of my inaccurate information. And I mean, she is wanting to "set the record straight", right? Well, the conversation with said author, Bitchwilde, did not turn out as I thought it should've. I will let you be the judge:
When she sent me the autho for my Q she said: "I am not here to fool around, get to the point", then I basically asked, "what is your problem" and it started:
Sam 3/27/200 9:10 PM Fooling around? What's with you?
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:10 PM ok ignore
Sam 3/27/200 9:11 PM Anyway...you want to talk about the article
you got cooking?
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:11 PM no, not really. It is self explanitory.
Sam 3/27/200 9:11 PM Fine. When I burn you with the lie and the
inaccurate info, don't say I didn't try to
work with you.
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:12 PM you know what, i don't play that way. youi
can if you wish. but i simply will not be
intimidated. I'm just putting together
information as I understand it.
Sam 3/27/200 9:13 PM I was not trying to intimidate you in the
slightest. I was trying to work with you.
You were the one coming off with "Get tot he
point" and "no not really". If someone is
coming in with an attitude in this, it's not
me. The fact that I came to YOU to work with
YOU should tell you something...
Sam 3/27/200 9:14 PM Now, I will try this one more time: Do you
want to work together on this or not?
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:18 PM i am still in the process of verifying my
information with impy. your concern about
what i say and how i say it seems out of
pr0portion to me. I have just learned from
staff at impys that garber did work one
auction after the release of info..and they
are in the middle of an auction now and cannot
verify actual dismissal dates etc. Why would
i want to work with you after the articles you
have published about impys and me? because
after all, i am the one writing the story that
really contains nothing pertaining to
you...don't know where you got ahold of all
that rot.
Sam 3/27/200 9:22 PM I was going to help you verify that Barth did
indeed work an auction I have a screen shot.
And what do you mean Impys and you? You mean
my write up the other day? Please. If you
wanted to do a full report, you would've gone
to Nols and myself and talked to us about the
article. I gave Impy's the benefit of the
doubt and asked him before I posted my article
if he wanted to talk. "Impy's doesnt' do
interviews" is the reply I got. And I have
that logged as well.
Then after I posted my article he wants to
talk to me? Think about that for a second.
When I did do my article after the interview I
put the information up Mandrake gave me and
gave an unbiased opinion.
But since you are already of the mind I am
here to fuck you or have an attitude with you,
i wont' waste your time.
I will wait for your write up.
Then, if you wish, I will notify you when I
have done my follow up to yours. Or you can
just look for it.
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:26 PM I did a two hour interview with impy last week
kiddo...why would i go to you and Nols, you
clearly represent one perspective and have
done so. I am in the business of representing
the facts presented by impy and his staff to
me. I did interview impy. It would not
suprise me in the least that he would refuse
you an interview after the kinds of
insinuations Nols made and you printed.
Sam 3/27/200 9:28 PM Listen 'kiddo', I asked impy for an interview
BEFORE I posted my FIRST article. Does that
make it a tad clearer for you? I asked him to
talk to me about the Nols thing she did. He
refused. Are you paying attention yet? And
I do not represent one perspective. I am
simply trying to find the truth as you are.
But, you obviousely feel you have all the
facts. Run with it girlfriend. Run hard.
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:29 PM oh you are so tough lol just don't use the
word fuck for a change it will make you look
intelligent
Sam 3/27/200 9:30 PM Nice one. 10 points for Brunwilde.
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:30 PM If you are wanting to work with me, why are
you talking to me this way?
Yoiu represent a particular style of reporting
that Impy perhaps finds distastful
Sam 3/27/200 9:30 PM Do you or do you not want the truth?
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:31 PM go ahead and tell me your version of the
truth....that is all it is. Your version.
Sam 3/27/200 9:32 PM Contact me when you are off high horse and
have left the smug attitude behind and we can
talk about this.
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:33 PM i am listening, if can write in a neutral
manner
Branwilde/ 3/27/200 9:34 PM excuse if you can write in a neutral manner
without accusations.
Sam 3/27/200 9:36 PM No deary. You fucked up with me.
I came to you to talk straight and get shit
all clear and maybe 'help you' see some things
that are being conveniently left out (the
Barth dismissal being a glaring example). You
see, I like Markee alot. I talk to him
frequently. But you are just full of attitude
about me and you don't even fucking know me.
I enjoyed the time. I truly have.
Bubye.
The log is 100% as it happened. Oh, and note the date of this log. It will be important later.
Some could say, "but Nieves, you was mean to her in your 2nd message to her!?" Ah, but if you will note, she started with an attitude as it is. And since I have my mother's Latina, "mira, I no foking tink so" demeanor in me, the Latina Demon came out and said: "No juus no say dat chit tu me!?"
So, what are Nievesy Pooh's intentions? Well, Ms. Bitchwilde hurt Nievesy Pooh's Pheelins. So, Nievesy Pooh is going to take his broom stick from his closet, tell Bitchwilde to bend the fuck over, and feel this. And I hope she's ready because this is going to fucking hurt.
Smile and say cheese, Bitchwilde, because it begins.
First let us look at this statement:
"The day after the original charges of the infidelity of the character BvD also known as Garber to Impy's staff were made public in the "UO Powergamer's " article of February 9, 2001, Mr. Garber worked his last Impy's Faire Auction and was put on suspension as an Impy's Arctic Faire employee."
Hmmmmm. Now if I am correct that would mean the suspension would have been in affect as of February 10th, 2001? Wow, my original BVD article (where I busted him for being a UO Pimp) was posted February 9th, 2002. Here is the header to Noleens own article: Scrooge McDuck and his Giant Money Bin
Submitted Saturday, February 16, 2002 - 2:37:36 AM by Noleeens. Mistake #1
Wait it gets better! Maybe it was a simple typing mistake (we all make them). So, I'll grant that the suspension may have taken affect on February 10th 2002. Funny though since I attended the Impy's Artic Faire about 10 days later and what do my eyes see? You guessed it!
(pay attention to the date)
Mistake #2
You see,I was there: 
I am sure Impy's remembers that. I was kicked about 2 seconds after the image was taken. This isn't a picture that was sent there. I was actually in attendance.
Now see, I had previousely talked about Barth being employed at Impy's with Impy's reps.
Some quotes from my original articles.
First from my article posted February 20 - 8:47 PM EST:
Oh yeah...by the way, Barth Van Dorn worked for Impy's. Or does he still? Oh, let me correct that. The player that played Barth Van Dorn was a part of Impy's crew under a pseudonymn. We all know who BVDorn is right? Right. [...]
UPDATE: An Impy rep denied they make that much gold. They also denied BVDorn works for Impys. Ok, right. BVDorn doesn't work for Impy's. His other character, Garber Devinci, does. Don't you love semantics?
When I posted the article, the 'Garber Devinci' text was a link to the Impy website contact page. At that time Garber was still listed.
A quote from Bitchwilde's article: The big scoop here folks is that Impy's DID fire Garber before the Daily Herald and Powergamer articles were even published.
The big scoop really is, you are fucking WRONG. Oh wait, remember this?
Branwilde/Stheno(21:18 PM) :
[...]
I have just learned from staff at impys that garber did work one auction after the release of info..and they are in the middle of an auction now and cannot verify actual dismissal dates etc.
She stated to me that he did work after the dates mentioned to me personally on the 27th, yet doesn't note it in today's article? So she is in the business of representing the facts presented by impy and his staff to me, right? Did you note the date on the log above? And, if I am correct, today is the 29th of March. Some really responsible reporting there 'kiddo'.
Excuse me while I go wipe this broom stick off.
Ok, where was I?
Oh yeah. Shit, she even seems to contradict her own fucking self:
The day after the original charges of the infidelity of the character BvD also known as Garber to Impy's staff were made public in the "UO Powergamer's" article of February 9, 2001, Mr. Garber worked his last Impy's Faire Auction and was put on suspension as an Impy's Arctic Faire employee.
Later she says:
The big scoop here folks is that Impy's DID fire Garber before the Daily Herald and Powergamer articles were even published.
All I could do was sit there when I put those two together and think: "what the fuck...?"
Continuing right along....
Another quote from my follow up to the "Impy's The Money Pit", entitled "Impy Speaks" posted February 23 - 8:49 PM EST:
"Do you blame folks for being hesitant to work with you since BVD is part of your staff?"
Yes, they would. Without hard proof, how can they dump him? And since no one will talk to Impy's crew at length about what it is that happened with some hard proof, how could they dump him?
A note: From what I understand, in the private Impy's board, BVD received a verbal lashing. One they felt he deserved. So be it.
[...]
Also, the rep told me that the BVD person has NEVER broken the Impy Crew's trust. They are going to judge him based on the lack of "hard evidence" and the 'fact' he never broke Impy's trust.
Me personally? I wouldn't work with Impy's because of that staff member being on board. But that's me. If you have had a good relationship with Impy and their "BVD" staff member hasn't done you wrong, then you be your own judge on that.
But yet, Bitchwilde says: He was fired because he hid some of the truth from the Staff members regarding matters not even relating to how he handled accounts, gold, or women. He lied. He left out an important bit of information, and it was uncovered, and for this he was fired.
Ok, did something change since I wrote my previous articles and what Bitchwilde wrote today? Um...ok.
Now, Bitchwilde says in her article that she interviewed the Impy's staff for two hours and feels she has all the facts and I am sure they speak the truth. Well, I hinted at it in the 2nd of my Impy's articles ("Impy Speaks") that I found an inaccuracy and wouldn't list it. Well, here it is:
Mandrake 1/20/200 7:45 PM Not at all, bud. You get a copy of our
latest article?
Sam 1/20/200 7:45 PM Which one?
Mandrake 1/20/200 7:49 PM Was trying to do a file transfer, but can't.
Put me on your visible list.
Sam 1/20/200 7:50 PM going to have to email it sir
We went back and forth about my leaving pieces of the write up "out". That I was doing some "creative cutting and pasting". Um. Ok. You can read it in my article and on Impy's website. Do a comparison and tell me if there was some "creative cutting and pasting".
Anyway. Then he made the following statement:
Mandrake 1/20/200 8:26 PM yup yup
I wrote the article FOR you. It wasn't an ad.
It was an article submitted as if you'd
written it, to save you the time of having to
ask certain things. I took care of those
things for you already.
I got excited.
Sam 1/20/200 8:26 PM IOh well shit, you didn't tell me that article
was for ME.
I thought that was part of something you put
up on your site before.....
But then realized something:
Sam 1/20/200 8:27 PM hmm...sec.
Mandrake 1/20/200 8:27 PM you caught me in the middle prepping for an
auction...we've got over 60 people here...I
was trying to hurry...my bad
Sam 1/20/200 8:28 PM dude, you didn't write that article for ME
It was posted 3 days ago on impy's.net....
Sam 1/20/200 8:28 PM oh excuse me, a day ago.
Mandrake 1/20/200 8:29 PM It was written yesterday by me...for all the
fan-sites that carry player-run event news. It
got posted to our site by our news guy when he
saw it on the private BB.
Sam 1/20/200 8:29 PM :n ods : So you can't say it was posted for ME
directly.
That may sound like semantics, but I am just
pointing something important out.
At that point, I should've listened to the bell ringing in my head. Semantics or not, it reeked of bullshit.
She hinted that maybe it was a smear campaign by the girls hurt by BVD in the title of Bitchwilde's article and in her introduction: How is it that the infidelity of BvD/Garber combined with the ladies he used results in attacks on Impy's Artic Faire?.
I will agree that maybe, just maybe, some of these girls that were hurt had it in for Impy's. But all Impy had to do was distance himself from BVD/Garber, not defend him:
Mandrake Wrote:
Welp...what I've been told by anyone that would actually talk out of the front of their mouth vs. the side, is that he flirted with many and some fell in love with a damned cartoon character in a role-playing game. Let's not go there, ok? It'd really be ignorant for me to have to go play stupid games like Ari did. A huge ad to say your cartoon character was cheating on you with another cartoon character is rather pathetic. While it is just as pathetic on his part, it does not have a thing to do with my staff, nor the hundreds of customers who submit/attend Impy's. Get real.
Um...ok. And I am sure you can see the inconstancies in his supposedly current stance with Bitchwilde's article and previous statements. Hell, from the way it was written, that was their stance the whole time. Yah, right. Psst.
------
The only inaccuracy I can think of in the articles Noleens and I wrote had to do with Nols' math. It was originally wrong. And it was stated as such in BOTH our write ups. If that's the basis of their inaccurate reporting claim, then they need to get a fucking clue.
Also, as far as this issue of Impy's giving interviews or not, at first Impy's did indeed deny my request for an interview. "Impy's doesn't do interviews" was the general answer. Hell they denied Noleens request as well. I feel, in my mind and heart, that the only reason Impy finally relented to live interviews was because of the pressure they were feeling. They lost their advertising platforms. They were losing money (gold or cash, you decide). They wanted to get back in with the community and get some "credibility back". Well, you saw how I ended my original "Impy's Speaks" article. I made my conclusion and I left it for you guys to decide. Do business with them if they were good to you. If you have a problem with them, then move on. At this point, I say fuck them.
You know, I could sit here for the next hour continuing to break down the rest of her write up and provide even more information to totally refute Bitchwilde's piece. I could sit here and further destroy Impy's fucking reputation as a "reputable" business. But they already did that on their own. Sorry Mandrake/Impy/Whomeverthefuck you want to call yourself. You picked the wrong reporter to do today's piece.
And all you had to do was be upfront and honest. But you failed.
I seriousely have to question Bitchwilde's integrity. In fact, I will just say it. You fucking lied. You are wrong. And I wonder why she is on the staff at MD or the other website she writes for.
I would fire her fucking ass on the spot. She knew she had inaccurate information and she went forward and posted it anyway. Totally irresponsible journalism. And this is supposed to be a person that has been writing for years. Psst.
Go read all the articles and you be the final judge.
As far as anyone from Impy's camp emailing or ICQing me and wanting to talk about it further. Don't fucking bother. I will delete the emails and ignore the ICQs. In fact, don't even read my fucking website or come to my forums.
Nieves is done with you.
*nieves releases his grip on the broomstick*
Off you go Bitchwilde, Nieves is done with you too.
UPDATE: 2:58PM CST: MarkeeD seems to be down right now. If they don't come back in a day or if the article is gone if they do come back up, I will post my copy here.
Hasta. |
^ top-Mace Beatdowns
[Kamikaze] March 29 - 12:29 AM EST | Some of you may have noticed I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve always been the sort of type who expounds quality over quantity. Lately there has been quiet the hubbub one these boards concerning macing. Some think it sucks, some think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Well I must admit I’m a bit partial to the skill myself. My first Tank mage (Pre UOR) was a mace fiend – back when Q-staffs drained stm and broke armor. My most successful tourney fighter on Napa (I won 10 1v1’s with him and was undefeated in 2v2’s) was a Swords/Macer/Parrier (again this was Pre UOR). So in remembrance of two of my favorite characters I’m posting what I believe is the best macing template around: The Macer Parrier.
The Macer Parrier (Part I Template and Equipment):
Mission Statement: The macer parrier is about one thing outlasting. Outlasting your opponents stm, their shields, their armor, their potions, and that accursed energizer bunny. The longer the fight goes the happier you should be. Needless to say patience is your prime virtue. You are a walking tank, a warrior’s worst nightmare. You have but two weaknesses: poison and magic.
The Template:
GM Mace
GM Tactics
GM Anatomy
GM Healing
GM Magery
GM Parry
GM Resist
Suggested stats:
Str 85 Dex 90 Int 50
-These stats are balanced to avoid the cheap ass terror that is MB. The reason you need balanced stats is because the MB damage equation looks like this. (Avg mindblast dmg is something like {[Highest Stat - Lowest Stat]\2} with a max of approx 40 damage - whatever is lower)
MB only looks at differential between your BASE STATS. Potions and spells DO affect the differentials as they modify BASE STATS. Bless is a good spell to use because it increases each of your stats by he same amount so your original differential is maintained. Your Stats are boosted and the MB dmg you take IS NOT!
You also have enough int to cast GH’s or LH according to your need.
Suggested Equipment:
1 Suggested Armor Combo (see bellow)
1 GM War Axe (dmg: avg 20.6 max 32.4 min 10.8)
1 GM War Hammer (dmg: avg 25.3 max 43.2 min 9.6)
1 GM Q Staff (dmg: avg 21.7 max 33.6 min 9.6)
1 Reward Robe
1 Reward Cape (If you can stand wearing them)
5 GS potions
5 GA potions
10 GC/GH/TR
10 Trapped Pouches
50 Bandages
20 Fish Steaks
20 Of Each Reagent.
2-3 GM Metal Kite Shields (The best all purpose shield period) Proof
Suggested Armor Combo:
GM Ring Tunic
GM Ring Legs
GM Plate Helm
GM Plate Gorget
GM Plate Arms
GM Plate Gloves
-9 Dex loss 35 AR
This is because not all armor pieces are created equal, i.e. certain armor pieces impart better over all average protection.
These are the Post UOR values.
36% Chest
22% Legs
14% Arms/head
7% hands/neck
As can see, you want the areas hit most often to have the higher AC, specifically the legs and chest.
(Note all AC values are off stratics, so they may be out of date, and have been compiled under the assumption GM armor renders a bonus of 20% to AC)
AC(GM) % Dex loss
GM Ring Tunic: 26.4 * 0.36 -2
GM Ring Legs: 26.4 * 0.22 -1
GM Plate Helm: 48.0 * 0.14 -1
GM Plate Gorget: 48.0 * 0.07 -1
GM Plate Arms: 48.0 * 0.14 -2
GM Plate Gloves: 48.0 * 0.07 -2
Total Real Average AC: 35.472
Dex Loss: -9
Which means you'll be absorbing 15-30 pnts of dmg on average
This is the best overall protection you can get for under 10 dex loss.
You don’t want too much dex loss because most mace weapons swing slow enough as is.
Part Two with detailed tactics will be coming as soon as I finished my fucking essay on Protestantism and the Spirit of Capitalism!
Adieu.
|
^ top-Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm......
[LadyGrania] March 28 - 1:03 PM EST | Just read your story on the site... I know you feel you had to do that.
All of a sudden you feel like you have to pull your head outta the game?
It happens that way.
There is a woman here at work, who has a 12 year old daughter.. Twice this year her daughter's been hurt at school because other kids were doing things they shouldn't have been. Once she was hit in the eye with a brick and this time she was elbowed in the jaw.
This woman is trying to blame it on the school.. well #1 her daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and #2 logistics say you can't control that many people at once, no matter how hard you try.
Is it much different than UO? Is it much different from anything else?
Oh, how we work to protect that which we consider precious. Even if it's just pixels on a screen sometimes.
Through this STUPID game, I have made some great friendships; friendships that transcend UO and make their way into my "real" life. Those people do not just go away when I turn off the box. Those people live inside my heart.
You, Nieves, are one of them.
Love Ya! |
^ top-Drama
[Nieves] March 28 - 8:46 AM EST | You know, when I started playing Ultima Online, I started playing it because a friend told me it was cool and that I would love it.
And she was right. It is a cool game to play.
Then I got involved in the community that plays this game.
So many people to play with! So much drama to get involved in! WEE!
Jeesuz. It's fucking crazy.
As you already know, I posted an article about an as yet posted article that's supposed to set the record straight about some things. You think Nieves stopped digging to find out more about it? No. Why? Because, it's juicy stuff. It's stuff that makes you go "ooh, ahh, look at this shit!" It's stuff about people that have nothing better to do than to talk about each other and point the finger at anything that is perceived to be flaky or wrong.
And I helped them do it.
Why did I do this to myself? Why did I do this to UOPG? Is it in the true nature of UOPG to become a place for people to air their dirty laundry or resolve differences?
You see, I am not the best writer in our gaming world. I would have to defer that distinction to folks like Lum, Arcadian Del Sol, and Watts (sorry Jinx, Watts gave me a 50, you only gave me a 20; oh, and no refunds). But I write and I do my best at it. And I have to do it right. There are plenty of people out there that are chomping at the bit to just slam Nieves. Oh yes, they are. And I know it and accept it.
When you become a writer that is well known, what you say carries a lot of weight. This week I came to realize just how much power this "Nieves" persona I have created has with the written word. It's amazing to me. I sit there and think: "oh yeah, worship me". Then I stop and say: "wait, what the fuck!? I am just an average guy that happens to have gotten some webspace, a place to write, and an audience that will listen!"
I am no better than any of these "Drama Kings and Queens". I have been caught in some stupid shit. I am not perfect. Hell, I had egg on my face plenty of times. It doesn't feel good. But would it help if someone told the world about it? Well, maybe.
I am not as concerned with my mistakes because I know I make them. I recognize I have weaknesses. I am a stubborn, hard headed, rude, son of a bitch. Oh, and you can ask my mom. She will tell you: "wha? Ju no know who juus foking with?" So yes, she can be one. But I love her. She means well. Hmmm...sorry, I digressed.
Is it my place in our community to sit there and tell everyone: "hey, that's fucked up! LOOK! REALLY! LOOK!!!! THIS IS FUCKED UP! STAND UP! FIGHT! FIX IT! GOSH DAMMIT! FIX THE MOTHERFUCKING THING!" Or is it my place in the community to bring you Powergaming information with my personal commentary?
You see, I have this need to fix anything that's wrong that I am intimately involved with. Fuck the feelings of those involved. If it's going to affect me, I want to get it done right. The problem is, sometimes, it's none of my fucking business. But I justify it because, at one point or another, it will affect people I "care" about or interact with.
Hmmm...people I care about? Who are these people I care about? Do I really know them? There are 4 people in this whole earth that know where I physically live that play Ultima Online. When I turn the computer off, what happens to those people? Are they even there anymore? Are they even real? Sometimes I wonder. Sometimes I wonder if any of this shit we create is even real or worth it.
Oh yes boys and girls, we do create it. There are only two things Nieves has to do in his life: Stay Puerto Rican and die. Everything else is a choice.
I choose to get upset when OSI does something weird or stupid or funky.
I choose to get upset when someone decides to lie to or about me.
I choose to get caught up in the drama.
I choose to allow any of the bullshit that's happened happen to me. Well, for the most part anyway, right?
I can turn this fucking electronic appliance off and say: "oh fuck that shit".
But it keeps you in. Like a line of cocaine, once you start, you can't stop. You want more. You want to just keep hearing about the juicy stuff. You want to talk about it and share it. In time, you become no better than the people you are trying to "expose".
The article that's going to "hit" sometime in the near future I am sure is going to piss people off. Anything that "exposes truth" usually does. And in the process of finding out what I found out, I ran into some egotistical bitches that I just wanted to bend them over and put a broomstick in their ass. "CAN YOU FEEL THAT BITCH!? CAN YOU!!!!!!????" But, in the end, I allowed them to get to me. I took the path that would put me in the face of all of that bullshit.
So what do I do now? What do you think I should do?
It's hard really. Because my nature keeps me coming back. I want to fix shit. I can't help it. Thank you mom for giving me that trait. Dammit. I don't know what the answer is. The solution could be a very easy one. But is that a cop out? The problem is, I have my own issues and situations that I need to fix. I have my own things in house that needs fixing first. So, priorities are fucked. Maybe?
I think, that when all is said and done, in the end, none of this pixelized drama is worth it. But if I want to be involved, I need to find the balance and play my game and maintain a good and proper website as well as take care of my own personal shit and be right with that. And I need to remember that I can just give someone the finger, walk the fuck away and just play my fucking game.
Hasta. |
^ top-Game Developers Conference 2002
[Nieves] March 27 - 10:45 AM EST | Read about it.
I will give my impressions as time permits.
Hasta. |
^ top-Homes For The Homeless
[Nieves] March 27 - 10:13 AM EST | “Homes for the Homeless" is a new idea to Great Lakes. The charity will, simply, buy cheap homes, and distribute them to those less fortunate. There will be several guild members searching around Great Lakes for those people and one will be selected and given the keys to their own brand new, furnished house.
OCW is trying to give something back to the community for all the help they have recieved since they were created in beta testing. We are shooting for at least 2 houses to be givin away by the end of the year. The charity will be funded through donations and through charity auctions hosted by OCW, where people can donate items to be sold off with the proceeds going to the charity. For more information about the charity or to donate, you can contact me the following ways: e-mail or by UIN 115461516.
Now that rocks.
Some of us play the game to play the game. Not because of drama queen bullshit, make real life dollars, or for the fun of it.
Wow, what a concept.
Hasta. |
^ top-Another 4 year reward update, well sort of....
[Nissa] March 27 - 10:06 AM EST | If you every visit the UO Boards, you know that there are always a ton of posts asking about 4 year awards. In the Development Board Cynthe gives us an update:
Actually, there's not much to tell at the moment - 4th year Vet Rewards are still coming, but haven't been 100% nailed down yet. Sannio's been working with the Dev Team to get a full list together, but until that list is complete, there's not much else to say at the moment. There will be more info soon!
Cynthe
Community Manager
ORIGIN Systems
Now doesn't that clear it up for you all!! Some folks posted about the lack of information, how long and what are the rewards and Cynthe went on to say:
That's part of the info I don't have. Sannio's doc will explain all! :)
Unfortunately, we're limited by the dev team's rigid schedules just like y'all are... when the dev team has to meet a coding or designing deadline, our docs sometimes have to take a lower priority. It's unfortunate, but the team really does try to get us stuff quickly. It's just hard to really explain how full their schedules are, especially when you consider that shard crashers, third party programs, exploits, etc are always popping up, and those require that we drop everything at a moment's notice to fix. Things like that, as well as regular bug fixes and other things, can push out schedules far beyond where they were originally planned.
The most important thing to keep your sanity in this business (and as a player) is to be flexible, and to understand that in a live game, the top priority of one week could be completely dropped the next for a fire that absolutely has to be put out. And if a larger and more crucial deadline looms soon after, then other things can be shelved indefinitely to allow us to meet those deadlines. It happens, unfortunately - we don't have the luxury of putting off major shard crashing and service-affecting issues to complete things that were previously scheduled. (Not to imply that 4th year Vet Rewards are being shelved - they're not!)
I think maybe a good comments from the team topic for some point in the future might be a description of the process used to determine schedules... that might help to explain why some of the things happen the way they do. Note that that's not a promise, since again, I or one of my team would have to work it into the dev team's schedule to get enough info to write it... :)
__________________
Cynthe
Community Manager
ORIGIN Systems
|
^ top-An interesting little housing tidbit....
[Nissa] March 27 - 10:02 AM EST | The following was posted to the Development Board:
I just want to say that I've read the threads on housing and while I can't publish any information at the moment I wanted to re-iterate what I said on the boards a couple of weeks ago:
Changes to house ownership and housing decay are coming. They have not been finalized so we are taking an active look at these threads. We are noticing the concerns, many of which we share, which is why we are developing a plan on dealing with the situation. I also want to state that the changes won’t be by most measures sweeping. Although I’m sure some will likely say we are doing to little and some say we are doing too much.
Please be patient and stay tuned!
Prophet
Well, as an old time UO player with multiple houses, I hope my grandfathered account stays in tack. With BODs and treasure maps for GM Cartography, I need more storage!!
Later in the thread Prophet posts:
The changes we are looking into doing would go into effect in the next major publish (sometimes called publish 16)
This is the first anyone has heard about this, wonder what they have in store for us. I do hope more information follows soon.
No one at OSI is talking about this. Basically we are being told that we will be able to test everything once the test center is live. But alas, no date on that one either.
|
^ top-Going To Get Nieves Are You?
[Nieves] March 26 - 9:27 AM EST | I caught wind last night that there is going to be some glaring something about us on Markee Dragon either today or before week's end. Apparently, Impy's has joined forced with one of the models-of-integrity-and- champion-of-truth-in-journalism MD staffers to investigate several of us. Your name was on the list, I believe.
I know that you were one of the ones named as someone who wrote absolute lies about Impy, saying he declined an interview when he didn't. From what I was told, they have uncovered some "star witness" who will provide evidence that we are all a bunch of pathetic losers/liars, etc., including a damaging bit about not only you and I, but [...], Noleeens, Ariyana, Nick Seafort, etc. Basically anyone who has ever said or done anything that kept Impy's name either out of the news or in the news in unfavorable light.
Oh, how fucking hilarious. Let me give people a clue. Assume Nieves knows everything. Because, eventually, he does. And if you don't believe that, I could give you a list of references with stories.
Now, as far as this "Impy's" campaign of smearing little ol' Nievesy Pooh (sorry Watts), I welcome every single one of the readers to go back to the archives, do a search for "Impy", and read the two articles I posted about Impy's over a month ago. And for those Impy's Inquisitioners that wish to say you deny ever turning down interviews, don't make me go looking through my ICQ logs and other saved journals and emberrass you. If you want that, let me know. I will surely oblige. And as far as that Markee Reporter is concerned, I have yet to hear anything from any "reporter" to get my side of the story. (-checks email- Nope, nothing yet.) A courtesy I extended to Impy's. How fucking quaint. Truth in reporting, eh?
You see, after I got my interview with the Impy's crew over the phone, and then posted my article, I was pretty much done with it and haven't said anything positive or negative about them. In fact, I haven't talked about them since that time. Now those pendejos are going to *get* me? Oh fucking please! Get a life. If people aren't advertising the Impy's auctions, maybe Impy needs to look within. Maybe there are valid reasons people won't advertise.
And to put it into perspective for little ol' Impy: One of the things Impy said was, "I am not playing ball with these people anymore."
I said, "He's right about that. The rest of us have all turned in our uniforms, left the field and the fat lady sang. It's just him now, standing out there, hitting a ball against the wall." *snicker*
I have no beef with Markee Dragon or their Fansite. I had a very good relationship with them over the course of the year I was on their network. They took good care of Nieves and UOPG. Hell, they bent over backwards for me. Many people told me lots of shit about MD and Co. before I moved and while I was on the MD Network, but I judged them on the way they treated me and UOPG. I hope they don't plan on souring that experience with blatant bullshit.
I will add this quote:
Don't you feel like one of those stars who gets trash-talked in the tabloids? WOOHOO!!! Now I know what Madonna must feel like!! I think it's an absolute hoot! I have been laughing about it ever since I heard. Considering their recent Stratics smearing campaign, it ought to be pretty funny. They seem to have quite a taste in their mouths for us lately. No such thing as "bad" press, right?
A friend told me in regards to this whole "episode": a battle of wits with the unequipped is about as thrilling and hollow a victory as beating a dyslexic in a Spelling Bee.
Don't fuck with Nieves or UOPG.
::goes back to chasing Purty Pink and Purple Polkadotted butterflies::
Hasta. |
^ top-Nieves On The Daily Herald.
[Nieves] March 24 - 10:44 PM EST | Like you give a damn about it right?
Noleeens: Any thoughts on the GL community as it stands today? You love it, you hate it, you think should change?
Nieves: I loved it, hated it, felt indifferent, and now love it again.
Nieves: What I think should change is this:
Nieves: quit the fucking crying. Get your head out of the game if the in game shit makes you cry like a baby away from the monitor. It's a GAME. Play it.
Nieves: And all this manipulative bullshit has got to stop. If someone is playing mindgames with us as a community, we should step up, give the person/people playing the games the finger, and walk away and not play with them anymore.
Read the rest.
My version isn't censored. ::winks::
Hasta. |
^ top-Its coming. . .
[FrozenFire] March 24 - 4:49 PM EST | *background plays the evil empire score from Star Wars*
Its official on the uo.com boards: The dreaded publish 16 is almost ready to hit the test center. So whatever you planned for your powerhours you should do *now*. Especially all of those who wanted GM resist should get ahold of some scrolls and friends and work those demons. . . .or not.
The rumors that publish 16 will be the death is PowerGaming are quite exaggerated. Some skills just wont be as *easy*. We have all grown soft and complacent in the secure knowledge that we can create a new 7GM in a few weeks (shorter if we really work at it), and these changes will actually be for the better. Mores the pity that 7GM became the norm so quickly. And now there is no turning back is there? Before UO:R people debated whether 7GM was even possible; and now I have several friends with 35GM accounts. But better late that ever, or so they say.
Powergaming will survive after publish 16 and once it hits the servers look here for the best ways to PowerGame post publish 16. But in the meantime, use the time to your advantage. . . |
^ top-Well said..
[Kaara] March 24 - 2:35 PM EST | I found this today on the Catskills Stratics board, Thanks to Darvo Sett for bringing the post forward.
I was reading on the UO boards today when I read a post by Dark_Vengeance that was so powerful I was shaken. I, after some deliberation, finally brought it here because- although troubling it is valid, and brought back to me memories of a game that I loved more than any game either before or since. Oh, I get moments here and there when I remember the way things used to be- like a few months ago when a (young) player told me a wisp had actually spoken to him... I, surprised, asked "what did he say?" to which he replied "he told me I was bad with my weapon then he killed me"... I laughed for hours and remembered being him- but the changes as they happened were so many and so subtle that the fact that I was losing my game didn't really dawn on me. Please heed this warning, read further at your own peril.
I have been playing this game since beta, and over the past year or so, I became genuinely disenchanted with both Ultima Online, and its Development Team. So for almost a full year, I have been trying to put my finger on specifically what I miss about the "old days".
Recently, I realized it in a single moment of clarity.
In the early days of UO, players had to rely upon each other to accomplish most tasks. Skill gain was so slow that not everyone COULD have a GM smith...although everyone certainly wanted one. Not everyone COULD become a GM scribe, or tailor.....and very few could get multiple "mule" characters to high enough skill levels to completely supply their characters. Given the rate of skill gain, even after 5 years, you STILL wouldn't have been likely to see people with accounts that have a single "mule" and 4 adventurers.
Don't worry, this isn't about the rapid skill gain brought on by impatient players and a poorly-conceived powerhour system.
In the old days, you had scores of Dread Lords stalking the countryside, looking to slay anyone in their path. Even leaving town was dangerous.....and dungeons were a central point of conflict. You found friendship fast on either side of the war....because you needed friends to survive.
Don't worry, isn't about statloss or Trammel. It's not about the changes brought on by players who continued to complain about PKs, even after statloss eliminated 95% of all red characters. And it's certainly not about the rushed, inane "solution" to alleviate the housing shortage, and create a geographical PvP switch.
It's about being NEEDED.
Let me say it again.
It's about being NEEDED.
In my early days of UO, I had grand dreams for my original character on Chesapeake. He is a swordsman, named for my favorite character from my tabletop roleplaying days. This is a man that strives to embody all of the traits of goodness in his heart. He killed without enjoyment, slaying undead to release them from torment, slaying Orcs at Cove to protect the town, and slaying PKs to defend those who couldn't defend themselves. He is a quiet, sad man....one that detests what he must do, but dutifully complies because the people NEED him. Without him, who will slay the ogres invading Vesper? Who will chase off the madmen murdering gleefully at the entrance to Covetous? Who will answer the clarion call of someone shouting "HELP ME!" in earnest?
Those days are long since past.
Players now are getting everything they ever wanted. Skill gains that allow maxxed characters in days, and each new scenario or patch seems to contain some new item or change that makes someone MORE powerful. As player powers increase, interaction decreases proportionately.
The Virtue system literally defies the spirit of Ultima 4.....using the names of selfless attributes to describe tasks that players are encouraged to pursue out of self-interest and lust for greater powers, without any appreciable drawbacks. The Unbridled Ambition system is more like it.
Trammel's very existence has driven down player interaction. No longer do you see people running from monsters screaming "Help!" and responding with gratitude for assisting, instead they say "heal" and "mine".
The network of "mules" on various accounts has made NPCs all but useless.....and other players? Bah. If you need something you can't make, you've got thousands of player vendors across each shard. It doesn't really matter if you actually got to know your customer....after all, you got your gold, right?
Ebay runs as rampant as ever, primarily because it reduces "account churn". Sold accounts are reactivated, and stay open longer....and Veteran Rewards actually rewards the players who buy accounts on Ebay, over those that buy the game from a store shelf. Meanwhile, resource sellers have made every conceivable item available...for a price. 5 million gold is less than a day's pay.....1 million gold costs less than some customers weekly allowances.
You have masses of people complaining about only getting a 60% chance to provoke two dragons onto each other!! Yet others are complaining about only being able to use a single dragon as a puppet in battle. And with Golems, its debatable as to whether anyone needs to fight for themselves anymore.....let alone to fight for anyone or anything else.
You have appealed to greed, fear, ignorance, cruelty, and impatience. You've appealed to those that want instant gratification. You've appealed to those whose sole aim is to find joy at the misery of others...all behind a cloak of "innocence". You've appealed to those whose only desire is for ever-growing power and wealth....and to lord it over others. You've appealed to those who don't WANT to learn how to protect themselves....and removed the need for anyone else to protect them. The basest elements of human nature.....some of the most primal and instinctual, and morally deplorable attributes of mankind.
You've stripped the world of any true evil that is left, and turned us all into either legendary heroes, or virtually impotent villains....with no reason for one to oppose the other. None save greed, cruelty, impatience, fear, and ignorance. How are we to fight those evils, those that exist within us all? Make no mistake about it, they are the only evils left in UO.
UO has lost its need for heroes. It has lost the need for people who do things for others without thought of reward.....for others have no need. It has lost the need for people to help those less fortunate than themselves.....for there are few that aren't fortunate already. It has lost the need for people who will steadfastly fight for a cause to believe in.....unless, of course your beliefs revolve around the colors blue, red, green, orange, grey, or black. It has lost the need for those who will protect the weak....for none are weak any longer. It has lost the need for those who will vanquish the wicked.....for the truly wicked are invulnerable to the law-abiding.
Give me a heroic deed to accomplish, and I will be there. Give me a real cause to rally behind, and I will shout its merits to all who can hear me. Give me a reason....no, a PASSION for anything within the world that COMPELS me to log in at every opportunity, and I will. Give me SOMETHING to make me feel like Britannia (and its people) NEED ME, and I will be there to do all I can.
We are heroes that have been denied the ability to do heroic deeds. We are villains that have been stripped of every capacity to be villainous. We are merchants with wares that are available in surplus.
We are 200,000 people with no "supported" means of showing our worth to this world beyond rares, and bank balances, and daemon bone armor, and above-Grandmaster skill titles, and Virtue levels, and fame & karma, and pure mares, and Champion titles, and easily-manipulated "showscores", bounties, or murder counts.
When will UO stop addressing those with ego or self-esteem issues, and start addressing those whose primary interest in a massively multiplayer persistent world was to have a personal and positive impact upon it?
When will UO start living up to its name as an Ultima, and stop being a contest of maximizing skills, and collecting items that don't truly exist?
UO is no longer a "fantasy" game in the sense that it once was. It used to be a fantasy about living in a world rife with sorcery and dragons and evil.....and fighting against that darkness. Now its just a fantasy of being wealthy, famous, and powerful.
The worst torture a hero can endure is life in a world without evil, and devoid of those that need to be protected from it.
Bring the noise.
Cheers...............
While he does not seem to be a big "powergaming" fan I too mist up remembering the days when anyone over 70 parry kicked ass and those with 90 weapon and tactics seemed god-like...
How many of you would trade your 7x mules for that excitement again?
|
^ top-Just something OT that caught my eye.
[Epyon] March 23 - 6:32 AM EST | We always hear about our soldiers doing this and that, here is a tribute to those they leave behind while they are doing their duty. Send this to your wife Gator ;)
The Difference Over the years, I've talked a lot about military spouses...how special they are and the price they pay for freedom too. The funny thing about it, is most military spouses don't consider themselves different from other spouses. They do what they have to do, bound together not by blood or merely friendship, but with a shared spirit whose origin is in the very > essence of what love truly is. Is there truly a difference? I think there is. You have to decide for yourself.
Other spouses get married and look forward to building equity in a home and putting down family roots. Military spouses get married and know they'll live in base housing or rent, and their roots must be short so they can be transplanted frequently.
Other spouses decorate a home with flair and personality that will last a lifetime. Military spouses decorate a home with flare tempered with the knowledge that no two base houses have the same size windows or same size rooms. Curtains have to be flexible and multiple sets are a plus. Furniture must fit like puzzle pieces.
Other spouses have living rooms that are immaculate and seldom used. Military spouses have immaculate living room/dining room combos. The coffee table got a scratch or two moving from Germany, but it still looks pretty good.
Other spouses say good-bye to their spouse for a business trip and know they won't see them for a week. They are lonely, but can survive. Military spouses say good-bye to their deploying spouse and know they won't see them for months, or for a remote, a year. They are lonely, but will survive.
Other spouses, when a washer hose blows off, call Maytag and then write a check out for getting the hose reconnected. Military spouses will cut the water off and fix it themselves.
Other spouses get used to saying "hello" to friends they see all the time. Military spouses get used to saying "good-bye" to friends made the last two years.
Other spouses worry about whether their child will be class president next year. Military spouses worry about whether their child will be accepted in yet another new school next year and whether that school will be the worst in the city...again.
Other spouses can count on spouse participation in special events...birthdays, anniversaries, concerts, football games, graduation, and even the birth of a child. Military spouses only count on each other; because they realize that the Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive. It has to be that way.
Other spouses put up yellow ribbons when the troops are imperiled across the globe and take them down when the troops come home. Military spouses wear yellow ribbons around their hearts and they never go away.
Other spouses worry about being late for mom's Thanksgiving dinner. Military spouses worry about getting back from Japan in time for dad's funeral.
And other spouses are touched by the television program showing an elderly lady putting a card down in front of a long, black wall that has names on it. The card simply says "Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. You would have been sixty today." A military spouse is the lady with the card. And the wall is the Vietnam Memorial. I would never say military spouses are better or worse than other spouses are. But I will say there is a difference. And I will say that our country asks more of military spouses than is asked of other spouses. And will say, without hesitation, that military spouses pay just as high a price for freedom as do their active duty husbands or wives. Perhaps the price they pay is even higher. Dying in service to our country isn't near as hard as loving someone who has died in service to our country, and having to live without them.
God bless our military spouses for all they freely give. And God bless America.
By Colonel Steven Arrington
17th Training Wing vice commander
Goodfellow AFB |
^ top-Blade 2
[Nieves] March 23 - 2:20 AM EST | Uber Vampires.
Awesome fight scenes.
Lots of blood and gore.
Betrayel.
Suplexes.
Go see it.
Hasta. |
^ top-What should I GM before GGS hits?
[Nieves] March 22 - 12:20 PM EST | The answer is simple really. EVERY FREAKING SKILL YOU CAN.
Why? The skill gain system we play under now is familiar to us. We know it's nuances and we know what to do to gain the skill points we want.
We won't know exactly how GGS will affect Powergaming or game play. I am assuming, along with everyone else, that it will slow character progression WAY down. Some are saying that it will just be like the old days and you will just have to work it a little longer to GM your skills. And if you aren't gaining as well, you will get your "push" to gain your skill. Hell, I am thinking it could kill the Powergaming process for us UO players. But before screaming "the sky is falling", I am just going GM all the skills I can right now and let GGS comes when it comes.
Don't worry about "should I do this now or later?".
Once a skill is GMed, it's GMed. You don't have to do it again. After GGS you won't be sitting there crying: 'why the fuck didn't I do that before?'
Hasta. |
^ top-Bard FAQ
[Nieves] March 22 - 8:39 AM EST | In reply to:
Barding questions....(Can the Dev Team Answers these questions as a FAQ or something? I see these questions pop up quite a bit lately. Thanks!
In reply to:
1. I want to provoke a blood elemental and a daemon to fight each other. If I have a daemon dismissal instrument does that mean I have to target the daemon first in a provoke? In other words, if I have a blood drinking and a daemon dismissal is there going to be a specific sequence that I will need to do?
The instrument modifiers are applied per creature as a modifier that reduces the difficulty of using bard skills against the creature. When using provocation, the difficulties of the two creatures are averaged. You can only use one instrument in a provocation attempt. Here are some examples involving an instrument of Daemon Dismissal:
Provoking two daemons to fight: Each daemon becomes easier to provoke by 10 points of skill, meaning the overall chance of success increases by 20%.
Provoking a daemon to fight something that is not a daemon and not an elemental: The daemon becomes easier by 10 points of skill, but you get no difficulty modifiers for the other creature. The net effect is that the overall chance of success increases by 10%.
Provoking a daemon to fight an elemental: The difficulty of the daemon is reduced by 10.0 points of skill and the difficulty of the elemental is increased by 10.0 points of skill. It is a wash, and attempting this provoke is done at standard difficulty.
All provocation attempts treat the first and second targets identically. It doesn't make a difference which creature is targeted first. Think of it as provoking two creatures to fight each other, rather than provoking one creature to attack another.
In reply to:
2. Will dragons auto-dispel and EV or a BS even if continually peaced, or will they only attempt to dispel if they shake off the effects of the peacemaking?
Magic-using creatures will attempt to dispel any summoned creature, elemental, spirit, or vortex that targets or does damage to them. This is a defensive action that will not be suppressed by the use of targeted peacemaking.
In reply to:
3. As question #2 except will other spellcasting creatures (such as orc mages, daemons, blood elementals, etc.) attempt to dispel an EV or a BS even if continually peaced, or will they only attempt to dispel if they shake off the effects of the peacemaking?
Same as above.
In reply to:
4. Double-clicking on an instrument will set that instrument as the default instrument for bard skills. When wanting to switch to another instrument (such as from a blood drinking instrument to a daemon dismissal instrument), will double clicking on the instrument decrease the number of available uses for the instrument?
Playing an instrument by double-clicking it exercises the character's Musicianship skill and flags the instrument as the character's Last Instrument. This action does not incur a skill delay, nor does it cause wear and tear on the instrument.
In reply to:
5. Will having 120 musicianship (from a musicianship scroll of power) give any benefit, or is this something that was left over from a previous bard revision?
Musicianship will be removed from the list of skills able to be raised above 100. It is a non-difficulty-based skill and there are currently no plans to change it to difficulty-based. A non-difficulty-based skill cannot normally be raised above 100.0 skill.
In reply to:
6. When taming a creature and 'angering the beast' (such as a dragon, white wyrm, etc.), will it attack the tamer even if continually peaced, or will it only attack the tamer if it shakes off the effects of the peacemaking?
If a creature becomes angered while being tamed, the peacemake effect has the standard chance to stop the creature from becoming aggressive toward the tamer.
In reply to:
7. If someone casts invisibility on a bard while he has a bard song in effect (e.g., provocation, discordance, peacemaking), will the bard's song cease to function since the bard must remain visible?
The timeout for all bard effects terminating for lack of line-of-sight, being out of range, the bard being dead, or the bard being invisible will be a minimum of five seconds. This means that the bard can become invisible, break line-of-sight, or dash out of range for up to five seconds without breaking his ongoing bard effects.
If someone casts invisibility on the bard, the bard need only become visible again (by moving or performing any number of actions that reveal a hidden character) within five seconds to preserve any existing effects. Leaving the choice up to the bard leaves team play options open while reducing "grief play" potential.
In reply to:
8. If a bard provokes two creatures to attack each other (such as two trolls), will the bard be able to provoke a third creature (such as an ogre) to attack one of the other two trolls already under provocation?
Yes. Furthermore, recent tweaks to the updated bard ruleset remove the "uniqueness" restriction from Provocation, meaning a creature can be provoked by or provoked onto by multiple bards. In other words, this particular game dynamic now remains unchanged.
In reply to:
9. Will the number of uses left in a musical instrument be a cryptic description when single clicking on the instrument, or will the exact number of uses be displayed when single clicking on the instrument?
Communicating precise numbers is called for in this circumstance, to avoid any potential for scamming in the trading of these new magic items.
In reply to:
10. If a aura enchanted creature damages a bard while the creature is under a continual peacemaking effect, will the creature immediately attack the bard since it damaged the bard, or will it only attack the bard if it shakes off the effects of peacemaking?
The radius damage effect is passive. Targeted peacemake will not turn this effect off, so even if the creature does not target anyone it is still possible to become damaged by walking too near the creature. Causing a character damage in this way will not cause the creature to attempt to aggressively target the character.
In reply to:
If anyone else has any other questions, feel free to post them in this thread. Please keep any posts in this thread constructive so hopefully the Dev Team will answer our questions.
Thanks!
- Nadya Modavia.
Other rule notes: The chance for an established Peacemake effect to suppress subsequent attacks will be a minimum of 50%, with the chance scaling upward to 100% depending on the creature's bard difficulty and the bard's skill. This means the difficulty of establishing a peacemake will remain unchanged, but once in effect its ongoing aggression suppression is more effective.
Hmmmm...me reads it again latah.
Hasta. |
^ top-I WILL SKULL FUCK YOU!
[Nieves] March 21 - 1:49 PM EST | HOLY HELL, I love John Mullins!! I wanna bend over and squeeze out his babies and spread for more because he's a GOD DAMN AMERICAN HERO. He can crack a commie's skull by planting a high jacket round through the core of the left eyeball and celebrate with a warm glass of his blood. OOH-RAH! I CANT HEAR YOU. OOH-RAH GOD DAMMIT. I've even seen that piece of commie cry-baby queer-as-folk shit Arcadian Del Sol talking about playing online. Oh My GOD! He is a killing machine reborn god dammit. I saw his war face and it looked more like a whore face but he's working on it. GOD BLESS WAR AND GUNS. GOD BLESS RAVEN SOFTWARE. I AM SO GONNA KICK SOME WET DIAPERED ASS IN THIS GAME.
Arcadian Del Sol's new poster so fucking owns...
If you get a chance, read Arcadian's interview with Calandryll. You will know why Nieves thinks Calandryll is the coolest motherfucker he has met in a long time. When Cal speaks, he gets me more excited than a nineteen year old rice cropper virgin at Fort Apache during weekend leave.
Hasta. |
^ top-Dubugging Your Bards.
[Nieves] March 21 - 12:52 PM EST | For the use of internal Quality Assurance, the new bard code has debugging information built-in that causes targets of bard abilities to announce their difficulty. Furthermore, the bard character itself will announce its overall difficulty for Provocation attempts, taking into effect the averaging of difficulties and instrument modifiers.
I've been given permission to leave this debugging output active when these changes go to external test shards. So, rather than just posting a huge table listing all approximate bard difficulties, for a time you will be able to see the actual numbers in use.
The difficulty will be given as a whole number. For instance, when you provoke a Terathan Avenger on a Terathan Matriarch, the Avenger might say "My bard difficulty is 959" and the Matriarch might report "My bard difficulty is 918". (Those are realistic examples.) Your character would then say "Overall difficulty of provoke: 938".
The overall chance of successful provocation is computed as follows: Divide the difficulty number by 10, and subtract it from the bard's skill level. Multiply the result by two, then add 50%. This is the bard's chance of success. With the above example, a bard at 95.0 skill would have a chance of 50 + 2 * (95.0 - 93.8) = 52.4%.
The bard can attempt any provocation at (Difficulty / 10) - 25 skill points. This is the point at which the bard has a non-negative chance of success. In the above example, the bard could attempt that provocation at 68.8 skill.
Very cool :)
On a different note, people at the UO Discussion boards are bitching (big surprise right) about people putting items from UO up for sale on EBAY. EBAY *is* the Devil! I don't necessarily believe in selling UO items on EBAY but it sure is tempting <-- IGNORE THE DEVIL!
Here is what Calandryll has to say about a specific case of selling a set of 94 Vanquishing weapons on EBAY:
94 swords of vanq out of 2500+ items is less than 4% of the total items for sale. :) And 94 sales out of the hundreds of thousands of accounts is statistically insignificant. Really what buying this items boils down to is a trading of resources. They spend money (a resource) in lue of spending time (another resource). Again, if someone mines for a few days to sell the ingots on an auction site, they are not taking up the only mining spot in the game. People who want to mine for themselves or to mine to sell for gold are not hindered by the few people mining to sell on eBay. Now if there was only two or three spots to mine in the entire game and the auctioneers were camping those spots, keeping other people out, the issue might be different.
Let them EBAY. It's their choice. And it's allowed. To me, the stupid ones are NOT the ones selling the items, it's the ones buying them.
Hasta. |
^ top-IanStorm Interview
[Nieves] March 21 - 11:13 AM EST | IanStorm.com are proud to announce the 2nd UO chat with the Ongoing Design Team. This is your chance to ask all your questions about the upcoming and past scenarios!
With all the changes apparent with the release of Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge, this is one you will not want to miss!
Our special guests will include: Ignatz, Gromm & Augur!
The chat will be held this Thursday, March 21st at 7pm CST in
#StormEvent channel on the Storm IRC Server. You can connect to IRC by using the following server in your chat client:Or you can use our JAVA based chat, by pointing your web browser to http://irc.ianstorm.com/.
The chat will be in a moderated format, but feel free to join in with the general chat in #StormCenter before, after and during the chat.
Events Team
http://www.ianstorm.com
Enjoy.
Hasta. |
^ top-Current Cost to GMing Poisoning
[Nieves] March 20 - 5:59 PM EST | Well, as promised, here it is, my essay regarding poisoning worked along side a newer version of the alchemy system.
The Alchemy Changes
First, for those that don't know, this "new" alchemy system was instated a couple months ago, and instituted a smaller penalty for failing to make a certain potion. For example, at GM Alchemy, you have a 20% chance to create a Deadly Poison potion. Each potion costs 8 Nightshade to make, however, the failed potions carry the same pricetag. For those that aren't familiar with the old system, that equates to about 4,000 Nightshade PER Deadly Poison keg.
Now with the new system in effect, when you fail to make a Deadly Poison potion, or any potion for that matter, you lose only a fraction of the regular cost in reagents. You now only lose 1-4 Nightshade (from what I've seen, the loss is randomly chosen by UO) when you fail to make Deadly Poison, making a total keg of Deadly Poison cost about 1,500 Nightshade to manufacture. Hooray!!
The Total Price(s)
I'll start from what I did before I even started poisoning, then at 0 on up to 100 skill.
Gold Cost
30 Empty Kegs = (500 Gold * 30) 15,000 Gold
37,800 Nightshade = (3 Gold each) 113,400 Gold (Ok, I didn't know the exact amount of shade before I started, this is the total amount I used)
200 Mortar/Pestles = (9 Gold each * 200) 1800 Gold
40 Butcher Knives = (6 Gold each * 40) 240 Gold
1 Pouch = (6 Gold each * 1) 6 Gold (gotta put the knives somewhere :P)
0-35 Skill = 328 Gold for NPC Training
Total Gold Spent: 130,774 Gold Pieces
Nightshade Useage
35.1-60 Skill = (6 Regular Poison kegs @ 200 Shade per Keg * 6 Kegs) -1,200 Nightshade
60.1-89 Skill = (24 Greater Poison kegs @ ~400 Shade per Keg * 24 Kegs) -9,600 Nightshade
89.1-100 Skill = (18 Deadly Poison kegs @ ~1500 Shade per Keg * 18 Kegs) -27,000 Nightshade
Total Nightshade Use: ~37,800 Nightshade
Conclusion!
If you ever GM your poisoning, consider yourself one of the few who have. I consider GM'ing poisoning a great accomplishment, moreso than GM'ing almost any other skill in the game simply because it is one of those skills that requires a great deal of patience, not to mention the incredible value of the rewards granted with the "Grandmaster Assassin" title. Thank you all and good luck!
Give props where deserved.
Hasta. |
^ top-What PvP Template Do I Pick Anyway?
[Nieves] March 20 - 4:04 PM EST | One approach towards constructing your PvP template would be to first consider those templates that are 'easier' to play... with the fewest number of discrete actions per second required and with abilities that tend toward the automatic rather than the triggered. Examples might be parry-warriors or lumberjacks.
The other school of thought is that you shouldn't get into 'bad habits' or lean on 'crutches' and should thrust right in to the most difficult types of templates to play.
My take on it is that when I was learning to PvP, I changed my template a kabillion times as I got real experience as to what combat was like. And no, playing on Test Center is not the same.. on the real shards, everyone isn't a 7X GM, and resource management, risks over losing l33t crap, murder counts and many other factors come into play which are blithely ignored on test center, and you don't get an accurate appraisal of how people will really behave and react.
Fortunately, you needn't worry about rebuilding from scratch all the time if you follow a few rules. Deciding between warrior and mage is the first decision. (thieves are something else altogether and that somewhat throws a kink into my outline, but we'll deal with that later.) As a warrior, you'll have five core skills, and two supplementary skills. The supplementary skills and an appropriate stat combination will define you, and these are what might change as you get experience.
These core skills are: Anatomy, Healing, Magery, Tactics, and Resist. (if you're going to do without Resist, you'd better have a good reason. Being a thief with the many skills associated with it is one reason.) Note that one of your secondary skills must be a weapon skill. The other is free to be anything.
As a mage, your five core skills will be: Magery, Meditation, Eval int, Wrestling, and Resist. Again, you have two free slots to play with that will define you.
So, you'll know that at a maximum only 2 of your skills will be dumped and changed around, so raise the core skills first and toy with various secondary skill combinations.
Thank you, you Rat Bastard.
Hastsa. |
^ top-Memories
[FrozenFire] March 20 - 12:32 PM EST | Time passes quickly. UO has changed quite a bit over the years, and looks like it will change even more with publish 16. Once it hits test well get some more stuff to talk about; how to powergame champions. The new best bard template and so on. But for now, lets look back.
Back in 97 and 98 hardly anyone was a powergame, at least not the way we think of it today. I remember running through some fire fields and ws happy to have my resist up to 45 or so. Of course I was attacked a couple of times by field jumpers, but that was normal (and pretty exciting too). Actually, in a sense I was powergaming even them. Firefields didnt go any damage in guard zones and if you could find a secluded spot noone would call go grey and call the guards on you. I think I finally hit 57 or so, just using the fire fields.
Some time later another method was discovered The Wind resist method. Hiring mages to cast at you in Wind. This was at the time when spells didnt do damage in town. So the thrifty budding powergamers hired a ton of mages and had them positioned in town while they stayed on the outside. Wind with its miniwalls and ample supply of NPC mages made many a player GM resist.
The Wind method was fixed when they made it so mages would cast at you or some such. But, spells still didnt do any damage in town. I know guilds that would team up 10 or more members inside town and then blast one member outside the town limit. This worked pretty well up to 85-90 but was a tad too slow for most people to keep going to GM.
So what was the next big thing? Unattended macroing was HUGE in those days, and it was easy to take a stroll in the suburbia that is UO and see chars casting spells on themselves all night. Some fools even did so in plain sight near banks and such. Enterprising budding griefers, helped themselves to the regs by suicing using, either explosion or DP daggers.
Unattended macroing is what made the 7GM the norm in pvp. Alot of players had achieved the other skills, but GM resist was really rare to see, until unattended macroing became the norm. And to put it in perspective, there was a time when people who claimed to know someone with 7GM were laughed at. . .
Anyways, unattended wasnt the only way to raise resist quickly. STanding on top of Blade Spirits could yield crazy gains and going from 80 to GM was only a matter of a couple of hour. All you needed was a place where the BS could be directly underneath you. Tower wings were perfect for this. Have a friend bandage you and get some heavy armor and you were good to go.
With UO:R unattended macroing was shot down in flames. Powerhour and 8X8 actually made most skills easier, but how to powergame resist? Demons were the answer. They are easy to find and have alot of mana. The new code did make it harder in that you needed a lot of demons blasting you at the same time to gain at high levels.
On my shard at least, the solution was the tower in the hedge maze. Accessible through a semi-secret passage under the farm, demons could be summoned using the brazier at the top. As the demons spawned a couple of floors down, you had time to prepare and as I recall, wooden boxes were the barrier of choice. It was easy to summon 10 demons milk them and then dispel them, rinse and repeat.
The methods have been numerous and creative, but the goal has always been the same: Obtaining the best template and getting there as efficiently as possible.
What are the current powergaming paths to GM resist?
After a while the braziers ability to summon demons were turned off, and a new supply of demons had to be found: scrolls. This is the current "best" method to GM resist and P-Nut were the first to post the method on the powergaming forums. Basically you get a boat and bring a few friends. Have some summon demons on the shore, using scrolls, and some friends to keep you alive with bandages.
If you dont have a reliable supply of summon demon scrolls or friends to help you, you can still use monsters to GM resist. I recommend a visit to the Skeletak Knights in Deceit 2 or trying out the Reapers in "reaper valley" (located just NE of the minoc passage to the Lost Lands). It will take roughly double the time as summoning demons will, but hey, its free!
Note: Some of these methods have been frowned upon by OSI and some were even branded as exploits after a while. If you value your account (and you should) dont go near anything that can get your account into trouble. The current method with summoning demons is nowhere near an exploit so dont hesitate to use it.
Share you memories of training resist in the UO PowerGamer Forums |
^ top-Now This Is Roleplaying...
[Nieves] March 20 - 11:54 AM EST | The Guardians Of Undead Lords at War.
Own.
You know, I just had a thought. The general contention by "hard core PvPers" is that Roleplayers sucks. Well, I have yet to hear "Adam Ant sucks" from anyone and we all know he's big into Roleplaying.
Hasta. |
^ top-Not UO Related..
[Nieves] March 20 - 9:19 AM EST | But I thought I would share:
Richard, (my husband), never really talked a lot
about his time in Viet Nam other than he had been
shot by a sniper. However, he had a rather grainy,
8 x 10 black & white photo he had taken at a USO
show of Ann Margaret with Bob Hope in the background
that was one of his treasures.
A few years ago, Ann Margaret was doing a book
signing at a local bookstore. Richard wanted to
see if he could get her to sign the treasured
photo so he arrived at the bookstore at 12 o'clock
for the 7:30 signing. When I got there after work,
the line went all the way around the bookstore,
circled the parking lot, and disappeared behind a
parking garage.
Before her appearance, bookstore employees announced
that she would sign only her book and no memorabilia
would be permitted. Richard was disappointed, but
wanted to show her the photo and let her know how
much those shows meant to lonely GIs so far from home.
Ann Margaret came out looking as beautiful as ever
and, as 2nd in line, it was soon Richard's turn. He
presented the book for her signature and then took
out the photo. When he did, there were many shouts
from the employees that she would not sign it.
Richard said, "I understand. I just wanted her to
see it".
She took one look at the photo, tears welled up in
her eyes and she said, "This is one of my gentlemen
from Viet Nam and I most certainly will sign his photo.
I know what these men did for their country and I
always have time for "my gentlemen". With that,
she pulled Richard across the table and planted a
big kiss on him. She then made quite a to do about
the bravery of the young men she met over the years,
how much she admired them, and how much she appreciated
them. There weren't too many dry eyes among those
close enough to hear. She then posed for pictures
and acted as if he was the only one there.
Later at dinner, Richard was very quiet. When I
asked if he'd like to talk about it, my big strong
husband broke down in tears. "That's the first time
anyone ever thanked me for my time in the Army",
he said.
Richard, like many others, came home to people
who spit on him and shouted ugly things at him.
That night was a turning point for him. He walked
a little straighter and, for the first time in
years, was proud to have been a Vet. I'll never
forget Ann Margaret for her graciousness and how
much that small act of kindness meant to my husband.
I now make it a point to say "Thank You" to every
person I come across who served in our Armed Forces.
Freedom does not come cheap and I am grateful for
all those who have served their country.
If you'd like to pass on this story, feel free to
do so. Perhaps it will help others to become aware
of how important it is to acknowledge the contribution
our service people make.
Whether this is a true story or some kind of urban legend, I think the message behind it is especially important today.
Our US Armed Forces have been sent to places that we US Citizens sometimes didn't agree with. But that makes them no less important and we should always remember and honor their work and sacrifice. After September 11th, the operations tempo these service members are experiencing on a high track. A track they haven't experienced in I believe 10 years. With what was done in the last 10 years to gut our military and with the smaller amount of resources than they are used too, the US Military has it very hard. They will succeed, but they need our support.
America is at war. It's not a declared one like World War II. But it's war nonetheless.
They are our sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandmothers, and grandfathers. Remember and honor them.
Hasta |
^ top-ScreenShot Contest
[LadyGrania] March 19 - 8:30 PM EST | BestGameShots.com is holding a UO Screenshot contest. Rather than just allowing you to submit the pixels to a predetermined panel, you can both submit, and judge the pictures submitted.
You can check out all the details here.
They say that you can download a program called SnagIt, which I suppose is all well and good, but it's no better than any other screen capture program out there.
So, Submit your shots. Let's see what you got!
Love ya! |
^ top-Can I Use Two Computers To Play UO??
[Nieves] March 19 - 12:30 PM EST | Hi,
To over-generalized answer is that using two computers to play UO is fine, but there's a couple of things to consider first.
If you can manage both computers at once, without leaving one to manage the other, then that's a good start at determining if you're in an acceptable position.
Also, if you spend less than 5 minutes with one account (5 minutes being the "inactive character time-out" period), and then less than 5 minutes with the second account, and keep j |
|
| |
