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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.
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Lame-asses are fun, too. Haven't you ever read Galad?
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 :)
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.
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"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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doomgaze
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.
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...
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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.
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.
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Having to actually adapt to the situation requires more "real life" skills.Quote:
Originally Posted by Optium
You basically just described OSI shards, along with every other emulator shard in existence.Quote:
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.
Yet again...Quote:
Even the best
players could be brought down with time and a lot of effort
Still seems like basic PvP strategy. [/QUOTE]Quote:
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Optium
I believe the game you are looking for is called "Quake." Go get it.