f13.net

I am (read: have been) bored.  So I am downloading the UO 14 trial.  Wish me luck!

I figure I will give Siege Perilous (sp?) a whirl.  Any suggestions, comments, or anyone wanting to join me?  Yeah, I know the #1 suggestion is to delete the game off my 'puter. 

---

First impression.

WOW.  There are still all the old servers I remember, plus tons of new ones!!!  For a game that I thought was dead it is impressive to see this.  I went ahead and selected SP as my server of choice; this is the PvP psuedo classic server.  I putzed around for a bit, did a couple escort missions, and promptly realized I needed to read up on the server rules and maybe check out the stratics forums to see whats up.  Yeah, stratics.  Better then VN at least.

The GUI is improved and there finally seems to be some sorta quests around.  Targetting is much prettier!  Currently I am pleasently surprised and confounded as to why none of the later generation MMOGs have bothered with this model.  Considering UO is still alive and kicking- does this not prove the longevity of sandbox gameplay?  No need to mess up this thread with your opinions, I am just waxing randomly.

---
Day 2: Bit more impressed, more people, more lonely

Well I finally interacted with some individuals.  Ran into some group, the said "Vas Corp" or some such nonesense, and I blew up.  UO Assist said it was from explosion.  Ouchy!!!  One thing I was not prepared for was the droppage of noob items; damnit, I actually took a few minutes to coordinate my clothing!

Oh well.

Next group of people I ran into were much nicer.  I queried about raising lockpick/remove traps (this is one skill I never really bothered with in my early days) and got some good info off them.  After our little chat I went off to work on mining and tinkering; goal currently is to make my own lockpicks and tools.  Beyond basic treasure hunting I have not quiet determined skills; I am thinking of Lockpick, Remove Traps, Magery, Meditation, Provoke, Music, with some mixture of wrestle/spell resist.  With the number of skills now and the new synergies between them it is much tougher to make a template!   I kinda miss the 2 skill to compete days.

---
Day 3: Cheddar keeps on truckin'!
Basically worked mining and tinkering up.  I can finally make lockpicks!  Problem now is carpal tunnel syndrome; I will need to get some sort of macro program ASAP or my wrists will burst.  Really it has not been bad working on my character as I feared!

I am leaning towards taming now.  Problem is getting the skills down pat; I am thinking of having lower taming/lore/vet and just buying pets from other people.  I definitely want to treasure hunt with A PET DRAGON!!!!

---
Day 4: Cheddars iron levels go up
Gathered 1000+ ingots last night while watching an episode of Sex and the City.  Now I am working on turning the pile into lockpicks.  I am having a bitch of a time getting LP up; maybe I can talk WUA into making a bogus character on Siege Perilous with 50 tinker/50 carpentry.  This would help save on lockpicks and time! 

So how about it WUA, can you hook a brother up?

---
Day 5 1/2

Basically I have began working Lockpicking and find/remove traps.  East Trinsic has a plethora of box spawns, wandering healers, and sheep.  Wandering healers are especially important as I tend to blow up while working on remove trap!  I have read somewhere that getting a "fire suit" will negate the need for remove traps- my plan for now is to assume this is not true until I have a chance to test it.

If it is true I can free up 150 skill points and get cartography!  This is good as it affords me the ability to go treasure hunting outside and opens up a whole new array of gaming fun.  Tonight, after I put the ass in cat, I will post my current skills as they stand.  I am extremely pleased with the rate of gain, but fear ROT (rate over time) restrictions inherent on Siege Perilous.  This does not apply until 70 skill, but I have enough to do that it should not be too detrimental to my fun.  There is a possibility I may hold off on helping our EQ2 brethren out until tomorrow.  I am having that much fun!

Take up downloading internet porn. Its more entertaining.

Don't feel bad. I've been on a trial/resub spree myself.

Siege Perilous it's *almost* like the old time UO.
Mmm. That's what I needed, someone just luring me back in UO. At the moment I am playing turn based 20 years old tactics games, and I feel officially tempted by your post...

...must... resist...

Its free to try...

http://www.uo.com/newplayer/newplayer01.html

FYI its much faster to DL from Markee Dragon. http://downloads.markeedragon.com/

Believe it or not, I *never* uninstalled UO, and I am patching right now. sigh, I know, I am a *SF(tm)* (see the Vanguard thread).

A game came out this week you might enjoy Cheddar, Spellforce 2. I could be wrong, but at least it's not UO.

The US version is out? Weee, Spellforce 2 without Starforce.

First impression.

WOW.  There are still all the old servers I remember, plus tons of new ones!!!  For a game that I thought was dead it is impressive to see this.  I went ahead and selected SP as my server of choice; this is the PvP psuedo classic server.  I putzed around for a bit, did a couple escort missions, and promptly realized I needed to read up on the server rules and maybe check out the stratics forums to see whats up.  Yeah, stratics.  Better then VN at least.

The GUI is improved and there finally seems to be some sorta quests around.  Targetting is much prettier!  Currently I am pleasently surprised and confounded as to why none of the later generation MMOGs have bothered with this model.  Considering UO is still alive and kicking- does this not prove the longevity of sandbox gameplay?  No need to mess up this thread with your opinions, I am just waxing randomly.


edit.  Good read on SP.  http://boards.stratics.com/php-bin/uo/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=5780242&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Just a note, a credit card is required for the trial.

Technicalities:

I needed an activation code, so I followed your link, Cheddar, and ended up on the fileplanet thing.
They sent me an activation code, so I followed _their_ link for registration and ended up on the UO account creation page.
I put in the code and... they ask for credit card. Mhh.. that's not so odd, lots of games ask for CC when you sign up for trial, but here I have to sign up for a specific billing plan named:

Ultima Online Age of Shadows (or Ultima Online: Gold) EUR 13,99/mo + first 15 days free

That sounds like an account purchase to me.
Other games I played use to tell you that you will be billed AT THE END of the trial days IF you don't cancel before trial expiration. But I can't find anything like that here, and I don't want to buy a new account. Should I pay again, I'd reactivate my old one.

Cheddar, any hint or tip? Did you get a code by fileplanet or gamespot?
And can you postively affirm that your CC hasn't been charged already?

€13,99? Jesus. Christ. For fucking UO? Are you kidding me? EA does indeed know hot to make money.

I originally went with file planet, and they pulled the same shit.  So I went to game spot.  But then I realized I had an old account lying around, so I activated that.  Check your PM's. 

Thanks so much Cheddar :)

Unfortunately, it seems they REALLY want the money for the trial, I keep getting the same page asking for 14 euros.
I could pay that, but what I really can't stand it's the "free trial" that actually costs 14 euros.
I still can't believe they really charge me for activating a trial (actually selling me a valid cd-key), but there's nothing on that page that states the opposite :(

Don't do this. Going back to UO is like digging up your long-since-dead sister and having an intercourse with her.

In the ass.

they're right! don't do it, play Everquest 1's free trial instead!

EQ1 it's already part of my Station Access. In fact, I patched and made a stroll in Mistmoore Castle just this morning :)

I had a character on Siege years ago.  Was old-schooly and fun for a bit, but it tends to be perenially underpopulated.  (Mostly because it has all the rare super-items of the modern game, but anyone who kills you can loot them like it's 1998.)  Since you're going to be a broke-ass newb, you might want to take up bushido.  The moves function more like weapon specials than spells, for the most part, with low mana costs and no reagents or anything required.  It's a reasonably powerful skill that takes nothing to train up.  Chivalry might be a good choice once you have some money, since it consumes immaterial (and thus unlootable) "tithing points" you get from giving gold at a shrine.

Anyway, anyone signs on and wants to play a "normal" shard, I'm a Yankee immigrant to Europa.

No. 

When I get ganked these days, it's in a big fucking space ship, not a gay-ass robe.

Day 2: Bit more impressed, more people, more lonely

Well I finally interacted with some individuals.  Ran into some group, the said "Vas Corp" or some such nonesense, and I blew up.  UO Assist said it was from explosion.  Ouchy!!!  One thing I was not prepared for was the droppage of noob items; damnit, I actually took a few minutes to coordinate my clothing!

Oh well.

Next group of people I ran into were much nicer.  I queried about raising lockpick/remove traps (this is one skill I never really bothered with in my early days) and got some good info off them.  After our little chat I went off to work on mining and tinkering; goal currently is to make my own lockpicks and tools.  Beyond basic treasure hunting I have not quiet determined skills; I am thinking of Lockpick, Remove Traps, Magery, Meditation, Provoke, Music, with some mixture of wrestle/spell resist.  With the number of skills now and the new synergies between them it is much tougher to make a template!   I kinda miss the 2 skill to compete days.

Day 3: Cheddar keeps on truckin'!

Basically worked mining and tinkering up.  I can finally make lockpicks!  Problem now is carpal tunnel syndrome; I will need to get some sort of macro program ASAP or my wrists will burst.  Really it has not been bad working on my character as I feared!

I am leaning towards taming now.  Problem is getting the skills down pat; I am thinking of having lower taming/lore/vet and just buying pets from other people.  I definitely want to treasure hunt with A PET DRAGON!!!!

why not try the new ATITD or Minions of Mirth or Seed (see if it's stabilzed) and report back.  I'm too.... busy, or otherwise I would give you a hand.  Good luck. 

I don't understand why, if Ched is enjoying some UO action, people keep recommending other games. UO was the best mmorpg thus far, and is still a great sandboxy game. I'd play it occasionally myself if it weren't so completely alien to me now.

If you're going treasure hunter, you definitely want a dragon, or some brawny friends. My SP character was a treasure hunting rogue (no combat skills, incl magic, heh) and could never really solo the hunts. Luckily I was in a nice guild and it was some good adventuring. SP was a great shard, and was always underpopulated, one of the things I liked about it. You could get to know most people who shared your playtimes rather than be in an urban ghetto like Atlantic.

I disagree

But I do agree that Cheddar should play whatever the hell he feels like playing. And I enjoy reading the updates. Keep 'em coming, Chedd.

This has been tough on me as well.  It used to be like this; pick 7 skills and max them out.  Now, with the skill cap increases, item properties, and various other things it does not play that way. 

Once I had a handle on this things kinda fell into place.  I am still learning some of the new things, but overall my enjoyment increased after accepting the fact that skill sets are more fluid and not encased in stone. 

Just out of curiousity. Which mmorpg deserves that title for you?

If they remade UO with modern shiny, a spiffy interface, quality production values, more housing room to avert sprawl, PVP servers that functioned like old UO, and PVE servers that functioned like Trammel, it would be the greatest thing ever.

Holy shit I agree totally with WUA.

*shudders*


EDIT: On a side note, im going to a Pre-R server called www.Metropolisshard.com after I finish this horrible download...Damn u cheddar...but im not going to pay money for UO ever again. Im not down with ninjas. If anyone feels like rollin with the Slay send me a PM. I have a vent server and stuff.

Soon, WUA and I will merge into a megahuman, our minds and bodies fused in monstrous harmony.

How does that fusion occur, through butsecks?

That's quite clearly the preferred method.

"..."

Shhhhh.  You don't have to say anything.

I was leery about the whole "OMGNINJAS AND ELVES AND BEARS O MY!!!!111ELEVEN!!!"  Then I realized it was just another balancing method to bring fighting type characters up as a viable template.  I think they should come up with a pirate skill!  Call it Grog, and give it peg legs and wenches!

Don't laugh. People have been begging for better fighting in boats for years. A lot of them would be thrilled with a Pirate skill if it let them do that I bet.

Ok, that was seriously funny.  Thanks for that.

Pirates?  I'd play that.

Pirates???


www.puzzlepirates.com

It is actually really fun for a while...

Maybe he just wants to spoon first.

I never could get the hang of sailing.  Bilging, sure.

Oh no, I'm just rounding up a shoehorn, a live ferret, and a tub of bacon fat. 

Sailing and bilging are cake... carpenting on the other hand...

I laughed. 


And dude, I will play that pre-Ren UO server with you if you want.  If you don't hate me, send me a PM with the info and we can be best friends.

If enough people play I will join you chuckle heads as well.  Start a new post asking people to play!

I'd prefer not to since I know nothing about it.  I've only heard of these mythical emulated UO shards.  Also, word on the street is some are really cool and some are really not.  Boy I'd sure feel like a horse's ass if I joined one of those!

But like I said, I'll definitely try it out.

I'd consider it, but I'm already splitting my time between production UO and WoW.  I'll probably keep up like this for a month and then make a decision which to keep active for the time being.  (Even I like a little shinyding every now and then.)  My main UO character is finally well-developed, and the idea of grinding (or even macroing) up another is just... blah.

I was under the impression that you've been playing a long time.

Yeah, but I'm always switching servers, deleting characters, and changing my template all around.  Most recently I swapped healing and anatomy off my necro/warrior for bushido and resisting spells.  It plays MUCH differently.  The more damage I take, the more aggressive I have to get, since I'm relying on big-damage hits and life leeching to get by.

I can do sailing, but I'm not good at stacking the thingies so that I can get a nice fat score.  Carpenting I'm good at, but not fond of.

Wait until you get to try gunnery and navigating...  They are rough.

Day 4: Cheddars iron levels go up

Gathered 1000+ ingots last night while watching an episode of Sex and the City.  Now I am working on turning the pile into lockpicks.  I am having a bitch of a time getting LP up; maybe I can talk WUA into making a bogus character on Siege Perilous with 50 tinker/50 carpentry.  This would help save on lockpicks and time! 

So how about it WUA, can you hook a brother up?

Day 5 1/2

I took the liberty of copy/pasting the entries into my initial post; this way people can read it without scrolling around the thread and whatnot. 
Basically I have began working Lockpicking and find/remove traps.  East Trinsic has a plethora of box spawns, wandering healers, and sheep.  Wandering healers are especially important as I tend to blow up while working on remove trap!  I have read somewhere that getting a "fire suit" will negate the need for remove traps- my plan for now is to assume this is not true until I have a chance to test it.

If it is true I can free up 150 skill points and get cartography!  This is good as it affords me the ability to go treasure hunting outside and opens up a whole new array of gaming fun.  Tonight, after I put the ass in cat, I will post my current skills as they stand.  I am extremely pleased with the rate of gain, but fear ROT (rate over time) restrictions inherent on Siege Perilous.  This does not apply until 70 skill, but I have enough to do that it should not be too detrimental to my fun.  There is a possibility I may hold off on helping our EQ2 brethren out until tomorrow.  I am having that much fun!

I'm on it.  Check your PMs.

Ive been doing some research and there seems to be a couple spots to choose from. www.uodivinity.com is one , www.metropolisshard.com would be the other.

Divinity : Done by the guys running 2 other successful emulated servers. Server is only a couple months old (so housing is not a huge factor). No horses, statloss on reds (if there bounty reaches 5000 gold...im kinda iffy on that one), no special attacks like concussion or paralyzing blows. pre-casting... No factions, Order/Chaos is live. Supposed to be setup as a t2a server. I think skill gain is slower than metropolis

Metropolisshard: Been havng recent problems with some hacker crashign them , had to disable account creation or some crap. I played on this one like a year ago and it was fun. I believe housing could be a problem. I believe they added factions very recently. Has pre-casting.

This just scratches the surface of the shard rules. i advise those that are serious to PM me, I have a Vent server and we could get rolling quick.

www.metropolisshard.com

www.uodivinity.com


EDIT: Please post if you are in, and we'll figure out stuff.

I am up for whatever.  I am pretty ticked about the ROT thingy on UO, and extremely loathe to go to another server.  Maybe you should create a new post and see who would like to play? 

also, there is UO Redemption. 

Ok, ill count ya in but make a post as well in the new thread :)

Day 5 2/2 - Cheddar is fed up (who wouldn't be?)

ROT.  R O FUCKING T.  This is an extremely stupid game mechanic implemented on the Siege Perilous server.  In a nutshell, any skill after 70 takes 5 minutes to get a gain on it, and you can only gain a total of 5 skill points a day.  This gets worse at 80, and even worse at 90.  For those of you with a DIKU bent its like this:

WoW institutes a "hardcore" server.  From level 1-40 levelling is identical to other servers; only difference is safe zones are limited to small areas.  From 40-50 you can only gain experience from quests/monsters every couple minutes, from 50-55 you only gain xp every 5 minutes, and from 55-60 its every 10 minutes.  Also you are limited to gaining half a level in XP a day after 40.

I could live with daily limits on skill gain, but this whole wait 5 minutes before getting a gain thing is extremely detrimental for a casual player such as myself.  I guess EA wants only the "Core Gamer" on SP.  Oh well, I may still toy around with the production shard, but I am extremely bummed out with this whole development.  How the hell can I recommend this to other people?

Wow, that is so stupid.  What is the point of playing a game you can play once in 5 minutes?

Exactly.  It would not be so bad if the 5 minute timer did not kick in until 90 or so, but at 70 you are basically worthless.  I am extremely surprised to see this mechanic in place; as if SP was not hard enough, they put up a barrier that is asanine.

No wonder it's empty.  I'm on, so post if you want me to log in that mule still.

And check your messages.

Take your grindy angst to the normal servers.

I loved RoT on Siege while I was there. Along with single characters, it meant people made characters with some degree of permanence, rather than macroing up a bunch of jackassy mules and alts. For instance, it gets rid of lookiloos like yourself, Ched :) The folks on SP when I was playing were all pretty dedicated to playing on SP, there were almost no tourists.

It's a great tool for community, too, given the relative permanence of characters. Since rerolling hurt so much, few people did (not that you had to in UO anyway). Too bad they gave in to whining and made it over 70 only. It was great for casual players like me.

For me, gaining exp is not the game. It's just a character customization mechanism.

That's all great, but I'm guessing most people subbing now would be like me and only plan on 2-4 months, so Siege would be out of the question.  I used to be anti-emulation shards, but they look more and more attractive to me these days.  I'd certaily do that rather than pay the amount EA wants. $14.99/mo is crazy and actually got me to drop my subscriptions (yes, more than one at the time.)

SP probably had its time in the sun, but with the state of game now, it has become a raisin.  Most people hate it, but still tasty to a few.

I think that raisins are more popular than that. Particularly when covered in chocolate. They should make it a chocolate shard. I mean the delicious drink made from dark chocolate and white milk. But don't keep it in the sun.

This is insane.  It does nothing for the community; like West Virginia it just isolates itself until they are forced to breed mutand half cousins.  Or something.

All Ro does is keep the current player base active while chasing away potential subscribers/community additions.  Siege is tough enough as is; what is the point of RoT?  Fact is you cannot sell anything (except to another player), all items cost 3 times what it does on a normal server (thus encouraging purchasing from another player), there is one character per account, open PvP, and no insurance whatsoever.  Calling it a character customization mechanism is fucking with semantics to further your agenda.  Calling me a "lookiloo" is in the same vein as well. 

Shit.  Perhaps they were too soft and shoulda taken banks out and instituted weekly skill decay.  This would seperate the men from the boys! 

Chocolate makes everything better.  We've just found the saving grace for old MMOG's.

UO Chocolate!  Now even better....with Chocolate!

I'd buy that.

I see you typing, but I just hear "WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAH'. :)

I played for about a year on SP, it was second only to early UO, which people tend to dislike as well. It's not like there aren't a bunch of normal shards if you don't dig SP. Did you pick that shard just to gripe or what? The ruleset has been /eased/ since I played, fer crissakes.

And you /are/ a lookiloo. You play for a couple months and jump to another game. /I/ am a lookiloo these days. But when I was on SP, I was a Britannian.

Oh, and: there's /insurance/ in UO? For fuck's sake.

Come play on metropolis with us sky :)

I will concede the lookiloo comment; by definition I am a lookiloo.  Or something.  But I maintain the RoT as it currently exists is a mistake.  I tend towards casual with catassy tendencies when I have time.  The whole "5 minutes until you can gain again" destroys whatever playtime I would want.  As I said above, the limit for skills per day seems fine, its the gain over minutes I think is detrimental.  Yeah.  MENTAL. 

It puts the ass in the cat.

Uhhh, Fuck you.

does this mean you are downloading the client and ready to join us?  Christ, I am starting to notice my typos lately, and unfortunetely (sometimes) can not blame them on the booze.  I need to get a new keyboard.  3 months with this backup one is too long.

You've been catassing so much it is affecting your brain.  I believe he took offense because he's probably from West Virginia.  Thus, you called him an inbred mutant.

My bad, I didn't realize they had changed the way it functioned beyond having the 70+ limitation on RoT. I was talking about the limit for skill gain per day. The gain over minutes would probably hobble me a bit more as a casual, too. Not sure why the hell they'd change it, but UO hasn't had a decent dev team since 1997 (original SP rules excepted imo). So it's not really a surprise. There are reasons I've not played UO since 1999.

But he IS an inbred mutant.  Haha.  Naw, I caught that he was from WV, but figured I would attempt to manipulate him into joining us on UO.


I think its a throwback from when Power Hour was around.  Or at least I assume thats why they instituted some stupid ass rule such as that.  I did try working with it, but it was just so bad standing around for 5 minutes that I had to quit.  I am going to keep my sub up while I play metro though; it helps me feel less guilty that way!

Guilt is for suckers!

UO received plenty of my cash, for far too long. If i wanna use an emulated server, fuck em :)

Oh yeah, www.metropolisshard.com guys...come rock this joint :)

Sorry, Slay. Heroes 5, CoC, and X-Men Legends II are more than my playtime can handle already. Gaming goodness, I got the X-Men PC game for $10 at CC, fer crissakes.

Looks pretty kickass, though (Metropolis). If I had the time, I'd jump on it.

How bout this, you pick a template and ill 7 x em...then you can just log on and have quick fun :)

I'm like a crack dealer, the first hits free...i know they'll keep comin back! :)

I tried crack once, it wasn't for me.

Fair nuff punk!

I guess it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Get crackin', cracker!

*This thread is now over*

No, no... wait!  There MUST be more corny jokes to be squeezed from that!  You people give up too easily!

Can't come up with any  :?.  If this was about EQ I'd say Evercrack, but I won't drag that pile of steaming poo into this wonderful thread about UO.

Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care.

Cheddar, I know you are desperate. But today I tried the beta of PKR (http://pkr.com) and the first table I joined had a Cheddar playing (and losing) on it.
Are you THAT desperate? :)

Are you still playin Metro Falconeer?

I have a forum up if you plan on stickin around...

register at m-n-m.net

Sorry for disappearing without a word, Slayerik. I am not playing anything right now. Too busy with technicalities and a broken heart.

Fuck.  I can't figure out how to do a mining macro. 

Just say no to macros.

Hush.

Macros that involve moving your character can be tough to get right. Been a long time since I did any UO anything, though.

Using Razor it can be tricky.  If you want one though I can try and figure one out.  Just let me know what you want it to do.

I just want to be able to leave it running and mining all day. Even if it's pretty slow and he doesn't move, but just waits for the next batch of ore to spawn.  Ideally it would be much better than that of course.

I am going to try doing something like this soon as well.  Lets keep each other informed!