Ultima Online

[Raistlin]

Doomy told me he made a thread about UO, but I couldn't find it, so here it is.

Do any of you play(ed) UO? If you do, you can continue reading. If not(or if you don't want to read the boring details), skip to the last paragraph.

I've played for around 4 years now. I started out way back in '98-'99(right around the time of the Trinsic invasions), but soon quit. I started back right after UO:R release.

I've played on Chesapeake for the entirety of that time. I have five characters on that shard, but only two are really built up:

Raistlin: tamer/mage. My first character(started out as a pure mage, then tank mage, then tamer/mage). Has 86-something taming, 90-ish animal lore, 97.5 magery, lower 90s meditation and eval int, and a pathetic high 60s veterinary. About 10 mil in the bank, with a Fel large L-shape. Rides a mare(bonded), and has dragons and a white wrymn in the stables.

Gunthar: 3x GM pure swordsman, started out as a bard/swordsman. 106 swords, 105-ish tactics, 101 anatomy, 97 parrying, 80-ish healing, 55-ish resist spells, and I forget what else. With his earth ele slaying katana, can easily kill earth eles in two hits, and completely owns level shame. I can get almost as much gold with him in level 1 shame as I can with Raistlin fighting daemons with his mare. About 200k in the bank. Has a valorite katana that I paid 600k for when they were first made available(when it was a GM indestructable, surpassingly accurate katana of vanquishing), but is now worth around 10k(*sigh*). But I once soloed a rotting corpse with him!

Dalamar: bard/mage. 80s provo, high 80s music, 70-ish peacemaking, 75-ish magery, 70-ish eval int and med. Can solo daemons.

Theros: blacksmith/miner. 80-ish mining, 56-ish blacksmithy. Newbie blacksmith.

Derek: newbie pally(and I mean newbie).


Anyway, Doomgaze, myself, and Jebus decided to start over completely on Atlantic, a shard that neither of us had characters on. We used Suikoden names. So Doomy's mage/bard is Mazus and his blacksmith/tailor is Mace, Jebus's alchy/scribe/mage is Crowley, and my Paladin is Viktor, and my t-hunter is Killey.

We haven't been at it long. Doomy has used 8x8 to get his music up to 80s, but I only have one skill past 70 with Viktor, and that's Focus.

With the massive drop in housing prices, we were discussing eventually buying a good-sized fel house, hopefully for around 200-300k(we have around a combined 20k right now, but we're still working on skills).



So, if any of you do play UO, how about creating a character on Atlantic and joining our little group? It's been slightly delayed with Jebus's absence(he had been playing on the Return to Britannia for Free program), but I have been assured he will return(or he'll get a nasty visit to his house late one night). Yes, you can join up even if you already are established on Atlantic, but we did all this to get the feel or starting over completely again.

My contact info:

AIM: WesM118
ICQ(shut up, I've been trying to sell stuff on Chessy): 63664743

[Rydia of Mist]

I played for a while on Lake Superior.

The game has a fantastic system, which I love, but...

They really really REALLY REALLY need to update their graphics engine and interface. REALLY REALLY.

If they made an Ultima Online II with the same mechanics but updated the things in which they've fallen severely obsolete and cumbersome, I'd be all over that game.

[Raistlin]

UO has better graphics than any other MMORPG I've seen or played. I hate 3D MMORPGs(I played EQ for about 6-8 months).

[Optium]

I played for about 4 years on a free server called Imagine Nation. It was a
good time, have a lot of friends from it but I just got sick of the game. I
still use the IN forums and stuff though.

.opt

[Raistlin]

Ew. Free shard. Those have all of about 10 people on at any given time.

[Optium]

The highest I remember was about 240 on at once. This was a shard
where the process of getting on took weeks, that's how the idiots were
weeded out. I'll go for 10 super cool people over 100 idiots any day. 240
cool people.......that's a great gaming experience.

.opt

[Super Christ]

For whatever reason, I always liked making my own shard more than acutally playing the game.

I'm still waiting for someone to make a FFXI server emulator, actually.

[Rydia of Mist]

UO has better graphics than any other MMORPG I've seen or played. I hate 3D MMORPGs(I played EQ for about 6-8 months).

When I can't find my spell components in my bag because they're 4 pixels wide, dark, and against a black background, there is an interface issue. :P

[Doomgaze]

it's called a "reg bag," get one. :) Or better yet, a 100% Lower Reagent Cost suit.

But yes, they should have a more customizeable interface. Hell, at least bring the 3d client's resizeable bag gumps to the 2d client.

[Shoeberto]

For whatever reason, I always liked making my own shard more than acutally playing the game.

I'm still waiting for someone to make a FFXI server emulator, actually.
Haha...that's not going to happen. I've played on an EQ emulator that only had a miniscule amount of zones with barely anyone online for it. I'd imagine the task would be more large-scale for FFXI than it would ever be for something like the original EQ.

[Raistlin]

Haha...that's not going to happen. I've played on an EQ emulator that only had a miniscule amount of zones with barely anyone online for it. I'd imagine the task would be more large-scale for FFXI than it would ever be for something like the original EQ.
EQ's bad enough without playing on a crappy emulator.

[Shlup]

I got it the week it came out. My account still exists, though I haven't played in well over a year. Its my dad that does all the playing; he likes to kill people. All. Day. Long.

We always played on Baja. My character was Yohko, and I mostly did carpentry and tailoring with some magery and archery skills. I could barely cast... what was it, energy bolt? I mostly just played because my dad has four houses (3 small, one big) and I spent a lot of time sorting his loot, selling it, managing his vendor ourside of the Britiannia cemetary, and decorating the house. My house was beautiful! And two of his houses had a great location; they were at the end of a cul de sac in a mountain that you had to weave between rocks to get in or an invisible wall would bounce you back.

Ultima Online is fun.

[Raistlin]

We always played on Baja. My character was Yohko, and I mostly did carpentry and tailoring with some magery and archery skills. I could barely cast... what was it, energy bolt? I mostly just played because my dad has four houses (3 small, one big) and I spent a lot of time sorting his loot, selling it, managing his vendor ourside of the Britiannia cemetary, and decorating the house. My house was beautiful! And two of his houses had a great location; they were at the end of a cul de sac in a mountain that you had to weave between rocks to get in or an invisible wall would bounce you back.
Holy crap, Shlup, you're dad's done a helluva lot better for himself then I have. xD

Although you can't own more than one house at a time anymore. ;_;

[Shlup]

You can if you already owned the houses before they made that rule. He isn't giving up any of his houses for nothin! They're all totally full too.

Then again, he used to macro his character for days at a time. He's not nearly as much as a gameplay kinda guy as he is an "I'M GONNA KILL YOU YOU SOB" kinda guy. For awhile he told me to put "Wolfshield's Daughter" in my profile to see what would happen, and a lot of people would either PK me repeatedly or just give me things. I don't know if its true anymore, but at one point he had by far the highest bounty in UO history. If he still has the screenshot of it I'll post it.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Hey Raistlin, how did you manage to get all of the Dragonlance names? I would think that those would be taken by now (especially Raistlin and Dalamar's names because both those characters are freakin' awsome).

[Shlup]

Its because he's evil and does it to torment me.

[Raistlin]

Hey Raistlin, how did you manage to get all of the Dragonlance names? I would think that those would be taken by now (especially Raistlin and Dalamar's names because both those characters are freakin' awsome).
Have you ever played UO before? Multiple people can have the same name. Yes, that can get kind of confusing.


Then again, he used to macro his character for days at a time. He's not nearly as much as a gameplay kinda guy as he is an "I'M GONNA KILL YOU YOU SOB" kinda guy. For awhile he told me to put "Wolfshield's Daughter" in my profile to see what would happen, and a lot of people would either PK me repeatedly or just give me things. I don't know if its true anymore, but at one point he had by far the highest bounty in UO history. If he still has the screenshot of it I'll post it.
xD That's awesome.


Its because he's evil and does it to torment me.
:love: <3

[Shlup]

I asked him for the screenshot of his bounty and he sent me a bunch. xD None of my house though. ;_;

http://www.questw0rld.com/UO/paperdoll.jpg

http://www.questw0rld.com/UO/deadguys.jpg

This is in his big house. He also ownes the house next door. His other two houses are on a penninsula on the coast a few screens awy from... Minoc or something. I don't remember the name. One of the "M" cities.
http://www.questw0rld.com/UO/lurker.jpg

No idea what's going on... o.O
http://www.questw0rld.com/UO/surrounded.jpg

Practice, apparently.
http://www.questw0rld.com/UO/practice.jpg

We liked to visit the castle of our lord on occasion. xD
http://www.questw0rld.com/UO/lordbritish.jpg

Here's his bounty. This must've been like four years ago or something. He would occasionally just get pissed off and go murderer for like a week or something.
http://www.questw0rld.com/UO/bounty.jpg

I want screenshots of my house! Damn you, Raist, now I want to play UO again. :p~

[Raistlin]

Yay! You can join our little group on Atlantic. :love:

Those screenshots make me sad. There's no more Counselors, no more Lord British, and no more bounties. ;_;

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

No, I haven't played UO, I've wanted to but haven't had a chance. Is it a pay-to-play?

[Shlup]

My dad says last time he logged in everything had decayed. ;_;

[Raistlin]

No, I haven't played UO, I've wanted to but haven't had a chance. Is it a pay-to-play?
Yes.


My dad says last time he logged in everything had decayed. ;_;
That happened to one of my former houses, too. :(

[Doomgaze]

Wow, those screenshots are old. Richard Garriott in game, nice. Though he did remember his invulnerable flag this time, I see :)


EDIT: I've got a bunch of account creation codes (which come with a free month), but I can't find a download of the client.

[Raistlin]

Just updating with the fact that Doomy did, indeed, find the client download. So you can get the game for free and the first month for free. Not bad, eh?


Richard Garriott in game, nice. Though he did remember his invulnerable flag this time, I see :)
LB wasn't exactly known for his fighting skills. xD

[Doomgaze]

Are you kidding? Fire up one of the single player ones and have at him :)

You can poison him in one of the games though, apparently.

[Shlup]

I like private servers better. My friend let me be a GM on his for awhile and I made myself a purple dragon. ^_^

[Raistlin]

I like private servers better. My friend let me be a GM on his for awhile and I made myself a purple dragon. ^_^
Although not only are those illegal, they're deader than doorknobs. I believe the average statistics for fairly active emulator shards are 100 people on during the typical play-hours, closer to 200 during peak hour(s). That's absolutely deserted.

[Super Christ]

Another part of why I like private servers.

Plus I like doing other random stuff, like building a bridge from Moonglow to the mainland. Or randomly sticking a lamppost in the forest, and a dozen squares away placing a wardrobe. Or building towns in Green Acres.

That, and there's nothing quite like taking a friend who's idling, switching his body with a goat, leaving his real body wandering around Trinsic, and watching the reaction.

[Raistlin]

Another part of why I like private servers.

Plus I like doing other random stuff, like building a bridge from Moonglow to the mainland. Or randomly sticking a lamppost in the forest, and a dozen squares away placing a wardrobe. Or building towns in Green Acres.

That, and there's nothing quite like taking a friend who's idling, switching his body with a goat, leaving his real body wandering around Trinsic, and watching the reaction.
Yeah, but that novelty amusement wears off fast.

[Shlup]

This is true. Both points.

[Optium]

GMing on free shards is fun for about 10 minutes. Playing with 200 people
is awesome because, if the shard is well run and the requirements for
joining are high, then that's 200 awesome people to hang out with. As I
said, I'll take 200 awesome people over 19,998 lame-asses.

.opt

[Raistlin]

Lame-asses are fun, too. Haven't you ever read Galad?

[Doomgaze]

I'd guess there's relatively the same ratio of lameasses and awesome people everywhere, giving far more than 200 "awesome" people on any of the real shards, not that anywhere near all 200 people on a free server are awesome. A cover charge is a pretty good requirement for joining, you know. You're going to be more likely to cheat and act like a retard if you're not out any money.

and yes, lameasses can be amusing toys :)

[Optium]

On the shard that I played, Imagine Nation, you had to write a story about
your character and based on that you would be accepted or denied. This
worked well because many of the people who were looking for a shard
just to mess around with crap on wouldn't bother doing that, and the
people who actually did do it but were still idiots would write something
like "peepz killed my family so now I r pker kill evry1!!111" Of course there
were a couple of lame people, but they were usually looked down on by
the rest of the community and, for the most part, would leave after a
short time. Believe it or not 100 people was more than enough to find
really good fights all the time, mine with some other blacksmiths, trade at
the bank, or go take on a dungeon with some friends. And for a while, PvP
was actually incredibly good. It was based on your skill as a player--how
well you knew your macros and the fighting system, knowing when and
how to heal, etc etc, it's all experience that comes only with practice--
and while skills and items ingame played a part, they just helped you out
rather than being the deciding factor in your PvP ability.

There was no skill cap and while this probably seems strange, it actually
worked well for PvP. Many people hate the idea of tank mages but that's
what you had to be in order to PvP (for the most part), and it actually
made it more challenging because not only would you have to know
exactly how and when to use spells, but how and when to use a sword,
a halberd, pull out your bow, or use some bandages. I'm sure this sounds
pretty alien to many of the people who have only played OSI, but to be
honest, Imagine Nation was better than and OSI shard I ever played on
and to this day (having quit IN about a year ago) I still converse with
a ton of the people I used to play with and I still frequent the IN forums.

.opt

[Doomgaze]

"There was no skill cap"

Say no more, your shard sucked. If you actually were good rpers and pvpers, you wouldn't need everyone to be 20x GM tank mages.

[Raistlin]

"There was no skill cap"

Say no more, your shard sucked. If you actually were good rpers and pvpers, you wouldn't need everyone to be 20x GM tank mages.
Amen. Play on Test Center if you want quick, cheap, easy PvP action.

Oh, and I know plenty of non-tank mage PvPers. Ever heard of a nox mage? Or maybe a dexer(though they sometimes have magery, but don't rely on it)? Or even a disarm thief(hilarious at PvP)? Or a tamer? Paladins and ninjas are also fair at PvP, I've heard. You only have to be a tank mage when there's no skill cap, so you can GM everything.

Also, I'm guessing this was pre-AoS shard(so no spell-channeling). In that case, it would definitely not be advantageous to be a tank mage.

[Optium]

As I said, it probably sounds alien. You never played on the old IN so you
really wouldn't know the PvP, many members moved to other shards where
they are some of the best fighters there as well. I moved from the first
IN shard to the new one they put up which uses RunUO, most of the people
did, and that had a lower stat cap and a 700 skillcap, and the PvP there
really takes very little skill, it's all about items. I know what I'm talking
about man, IN wasn't a test shard where you became a 10x GM as soon
as you joined, anyone who played it knows how well the PvP system was
done. Honestly it was the best fighting system of any game I've ever
played. The thing about "no skill tank mages" is that it creates equallity
among all the fighters so if you had trained enough, it really only mattered
how good you were at fighting. I know none of you will believe me but
you all have a pretty skewed view...I played OSI for about 6 months on
numerous shards, then IN1, and a number of other free shards, then IN2
and after that I quit playing UO, so I have a pretty wide range of
experience when it comes to UO PvP...

.opt

[Raistlin]

How can fighting be about skills when everyone has all the skills?

PvP in a real shard takes actual thought and dedication. Yes, it is partly about items. But the PvP in earlier times, back when I'm assuming you joined your "other" shard, was with GM armor and weapons that you could pick up from any player vendor for 5-10k for a full suit and not be afraid to lose. There'd also be a challenge towards having to actually adapt depending on your situation and who you're fighting against. Your PvP style would change depending on if you're fighting a mage, a dexer, a tank/mage, a tamer, etc. With everyone being GM in all skills, there really is much less strategy involved.

[Optium]

Not everyone was at GM skills, the gain was still pretty slow. And when I
said skills, I tried to stress this but I guess I didn't get my point across.
The skills that you needed to fight were not the skills in game, I had like
90% in most of my combat skills for a loooong time, and I never actually
GMed mage, but the skills outside of the game, your actual ability in real
life. That's why it was so good. The economy was very balanced and
good armor was hard to come by, but the best armor was only used by
the people who were rich enough to ahve enough of it. Even the best
players could be brought down with time and a lot of effort, so there was
always a risk of losing things. I, on the other hand, got tired of losing things
that I worked very hard for, so I started wearing bad armor and using
bad weapons and relying on my skill in real life rather than my items and
skills in the game. I couldn't take down the best PvPers in this stuff, but I
was very underestimated because people thought I was some newb, and
that's how I won most of my fights. I was in the best order guild on the
shard and the group of us could take on basically any number of people
on the shard...believe me when I say it was a very good time, better than
any other shard I've ever played.

.opt

[Raistlin]

And when I said skills, I tried to stress this but I guess I didn't get my point across. The skills that you needed to fight were not the skills in game, I had like 90% in most of my combat skills for a loooong time, and I never actually GMed mage, but the skills outside of the game, your actual ability in real life. That's why it was so good.
Having to actually adapt to the situation requires more "real life" skills.


good armor was hard to come by, but the best armor was only used by the people who were rich enough to ahve enough of it.
You basically just described OSI shards, along with every other emulator shard in existence.


Even the best
players could be brought down with time and a lot of effort
Yet again...


I, on the other hand, got tired of losing things
that I worked very hard for, so I started wearing bad armor and using
bad weapons and relying on my skill in real life rather than my items and
skills in the game. I couldn't take down the best PvPers in this stuff, but I was very underestimated because people thought I was some newb, and that's how I won most of my fights.
Still seems like basic PvP strategy. [/QUOTE]

Basically, it's a bunch of hardcore RPers who don't want to make more than one character. Yet again, requires less actual thought and skill(both in-and-out-of-game) than a real shard.

[Optium]

Most people had more than one character. You always have to adapt in a
fight, OSI, RunUO, Sphere, POL, whatever type of server you're on. From
my experience on OSI and RunUO (an emulator which is based on the idea
of completely copying the OSI system), PvP is based very much on items.
Of course skill is important, but in my experiences, items play a huge role
compared to the first IN. You can claim that it was what you want but
it doesn't seem like you played on it for about 3 years. Granted I only played
on OSI and RunUO a combined 2 years or so, but I think my experiences
with both have given me a pretty level perspective.

.opt

[Raistlin]

Yes, items do play a huge role, as they should. Those items also create even more elements of strategy necessary for PvP. Someone could be using a DPed dagger, in which case you'd want to stay the hell out of the way. Your parry-dexer wouldn't want to go toe-to-toe with a macer if he wants to keep his shield. A mage wouldn't want to tangle with a fast dexer that could stun. Any pure fighter hates to meet a disarm thief.

[Optium]

I disagree...which is why I still enjoy first person shooters online and
stuff, because I don't think items should be the deciding factor in a fight,
which I have seen them to be in many MMORPGs. But it is much more fun
to me to be able to compete just by being experienced, quick and
coordinated rather than your ability to compete being decided by how
much time you spend hunting. To each his own though.

.opt

[Raistlin]

I disagree...which is why I still enjoy first person shooters online and
stuff, because I don't think items should be the deciding factor in a fight,
which I have seen them to be in many MMORPGs. But it is much more fun
to me to be able to compete just by being experienced, quick and
coordinated rather than your ability to compete being decided by how
much time you spend hunting. To each his own though.

.opt
But OSI's servers are decided by both. Have you ever witnessed a mage battle or a dexer/dexer or dexer/mage battle in OSI PvP? I have. My old guild on Chesapeake was full of 'em. Those fights are fast and furious and extremely interesting to watch. There's so many more decided factors to PvP on OSI servers(especially in the good ol' days) than crappy emulated servers, that there is really no comparison.

[Doomgaze]

I believe the game you are looking for is called "Quake." Go get it.

[Raistlin]

I just have to say that I just soloed a dragon for the first time ever without pets or any sort of aid.

As Galad would say, "UO IS LOVE!" :D