Filling in the gaps

[Dain]

Hi all,

Firstly thanks for being so welcoming on this server. I stopped playing UO just after Age of Shadows hit and over the last 12 years have only played on a couple of other servers between other online games, one which has now gone and another which wasn't to my liking and the community here has been the most welcoming I have experianced since my days on Europa from 98-2003.

Now obviously as I stopped playing in 2003 I have a knowledge gap, compounded by the custom status of this server. I am extremely happy to learn and read whatever I need to but having digested the Wiki I still have some really basic game questions I need to ask.

Am I ok to post them here or should I ask people in game instead? I don't really want to clog up game chat. I appreciate as well that I could join [ETA] and probably get the answers that way but I want to 'play' the game again and 'discover' it on my own [with my wife who also plays] as its been a very enjoyable first week or so for us and I would like to keep that 'rose tinted glasses' look from yesteryear for as long as possible .

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Dain [Veit Dumarr]

[Formerly of Europa]

[Fiernocht]

Hi Dain, welcome to the shard! You are more than welcome to ask questions here on the forums as well as in game if need be. Or if you want you can PM me directly in game and I will answer whatever questions you might have to the best of my ability! the name in game is Fiernocht.

[Gaara]

Or if you want you can PM me directly in game and I will answer whatever questions you might have to the best of my ability! the name in game is Fiernocht.

I second this, my in game name is Gaara.

[Dain]

Firstly, thank you Fiernocht and Gaara.

The main areas I am struggling with are these,

1/ Weapons and Armour, what should I be making to equip myself with at GM Smith level for 'General Adventuring'? I never fully understood the changes from AR to Resistances [with different metals and leather] from AOS so any help or links would be really helpful. Is there a 'Best in Slot' list anywhere for new players?

2/ Is it true that tamed Dragons and Nightmares are pretty useless on this shard? If so that is a shame but what should I be looking to use as a first 'training' pet for fighting? The Wiki says Mules but I don't want to spend loads of cash and then get the pet killed through idiocy. I am also not adverse to playing without a pet.

3/ Druid Scrolls - what are these and do i need to worry about them or can I just trash them? I get loads from the rats [unsure about Rat Druids!! ].

4/ Can I use Parrying AND Bushido, and if yes should I? If not what should I use. The wiki isn't exactly clear on this.

5/ Should I be stockpiling organics and ointments rather than selling them or are they easy to get outside of the Newbie Dungeon?

6/ I don't yet have any power or stat scrolls, should I be worrying about those now? I try to do the Newbie Champ Spawn when able but I am UK based so in a different timezone and I work so don't get on much during the week.

I don't intend on rushing to Mid Game/Late Game/End Game [if a sandbox can have an End Game], I did all that with original UO, WOW, SWTOR etc. I am happy to dawdle along at my own pace but I am concerned that if I dawdle too much I won't be kitted out enough to do the Mistvale Quests if the monsters are customised in Mistvale and so will lose out on some gear that I could use for a long time.

My account is now 14? days old to give you an idea of pacing. Notable Skills are GM in Swords/Tactics/Anat/Parry/Spirit Speak/Music/Med/Focus/Hiding plus Healing @ 83, Archery 75, Wrestling 75 and Lockpicking 87.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.

Regards,

Dain.

[Asmodean]

1) Starting out just about anything will do. Try to get something better as you yourself get better.

2) Yep. They both take more than 1 control slot, so are not as good as pets that only take 1 slot. most people start with mules, then progress to nobles, then into either imprisoned pets, or bio engineered pets.

3) Druid scrolls go into a Tome of Nature, which is a donation item. Certain spells are very useful, especially at champion spawns.
If you do champions regularly, it can be a big help, otherwise, probably not worth it.

4) I don't know. I have both maxed out.

5) Sell the organics for sure. To be a successful bio engineer, you need several thousand luck, which (unless you donate), you won't have for quite a while. You can get more from taming bods later on. Ointments.. It's really a personal choice. I would sell your initial ones to get at least your 220 dex suit before worrying about imps. The game changes at 220 dex.

6) You will always want to acquire the powerscrolls for the skills you use regularly. There are still some (after ~4 years) that I never bothered with since I never use the skills to begin with.

Definately ramp up to do Mistvale in your first 120 days (you have to be 21+days to enter, so you're doing fine). Especially for the sash/cloak/reaper of souls. You won't find better gear than the sash or cloak for a very long time ( basically, until you spend 500+ ED on a re-layer) The reaper is a nice starting weapon.

Whichever weapon you use, get a 120 powerscroll for that, anatomy, tactics, healing, minimally. Also remember, you can increase all your fighting skills to 130 by using essences of archery/tactics etc. It really does make a difference.

[Dain]

Thanks Asmodean,

That covers quite a lot of what I needed to know. Do Dragons actually do less damage than mules? I appreciate mules are more efficient as they only use one slot BUT dragons are pretty cool right? I know they take up a lot of the screen as well which can be an issue I imagine at Champ Spawns?

The 220 dex suit I have read the guide about, when realisitically should you have this in the overall scheme of things? After Mistvale? Or is this a mid game/late game item? Is it purely because of bandaging?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Dain

[Asmodean]

They can both be bred to have 1100 strength as far as I know, so they will hit equally hard.
You can have more mules than dragons though, which means higher damage throughput.

Mules have a pack, and can carry stuff for you which is awesome, and
they are also poison immune, which can be very beneficial depending on what you are fighting.

Now as your taming improves, and you move onto nobles, they have something called pack instinct.
What this means, is they get a bonus for every one attacking the same thing. You would lose the pack
that mules have to carry your stuff, and the poison immunity that mules have however.

Mules do 100% physical damage. So, if it hits for 100, it does 100 damage (before resists).
If you have 5 mules attacking a target, each hitting for 100, they hit for 500 (before resists).
Here's where it gets tricky.

A noble does 40% physical damage, 59% energy damage as base damage.
So if a noble hits for 100 - it actually does 40 physical and 59 energy damage (before resists)
Since most things usually have lower energy resistance, it will hit harder than a mule would
since less of the damage gets resisted. They also move significantly faster than mules.

They also get a bonus for each one attacking. (pack instinct).

Assuming each noble hits for 100 damage,

1 noble = 100 damage (before resists)
2 nobles = 200 damage + 25% = 250 damage.
3 nobles = 300 damage + 50% = 450 damage.
4 nobles = 400 damage + 75% = 700 damage.
5 nobles = 500 damage + 100% = 1000 damage.

Of course, exact numbers vary (especially since strength is capped at 250 on pack animals vs 1100).

But it works out to be 5 nobles will do roughly 2x as much damage as 5x mules everything considered (depending on resists).

Now imprisoned pets... are in a league of their own.

They do have capped strength 270-370 (can not be ointed or improved).
They do not suffer stat loss.
They do get pack instinct.

The best part though is squirrels and ferrets do 100% physical and 100% poison damage
and dogs do 100% physical and 100% fire damage.

So 1 imp @ 100 damage actually does 100 physical damage, and 100 poison/fire damage = 200 total damage (before resists).

2 imps would be 400 +25% = 500 damage
3 imps would be 600 + 50% = 900 damage
4 imps would be 800 + 75% = 1400 damage
5 imps would be 1000 + 100% = 2000 damage.

Of course, this is all before resists, assuming pets are hitting for 100 damage.
5 imps do roughly 2x damage as 5 nobles.

Dragons do *look* cool, but just aren't as efficient.

[Sylph]

Asmodean,

Just a minor correction about pet breeding and stat caps.

The strength cap for non-pack-instinct animals is 1000 via breeding.

Hit Points will go to 1100 via ointments and can even go higher than 1100 if you breed 1100 HP animals, although not by much.

Stamina can also exceed the 500 breeding cap. You can raise it to 550 via ointments and then slowly raise it above 550 by breeding maxed animals.

[Asmodean]

Thanks for that correction!

I got confuzzled.

[Dain]

Hi all,

So I am past the first 21 days, I have picked my first Mistvale quest to do but someone suggested to me that it was worth getting a weapon to level while in there. I don't yet have the required amount of tokens but I want to make sure I get it right when I do so I have read the wiki on levelling weapons a few times but its still a little unclear. As I fully intend on getting 'The Reaper of Souls' it seems to make sense to me to get a bow weapon to level up.

So these are the questions I have.

1/ Do I need a particular skill other than Archery to use a Yumi?

2/ What should I be picking for the bow [other than spell channeling]?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Regards,

Dain

[culichi]

shouldn't be that hard to find a crafted yumi with at least mana leech, lower defense and either fireball or lightning all in the mid 40s or above to me that would be a decent wep for leveling.

[Ilsanor]

My info might be dated, since it's been a while since I did the calculations, but having bushindo along with parrying reduces your shield parry chance by 10% (or so) but doubles your parry chance with 2-hand weapons (including bows!). Seeing that 2H are the most used weapon category - being best DMG and special-wise (and that's what you really want), Parry+Bushi is the way to go.

Should you need any help obtaining a levelable weapon (or a deed for one) - feel free to contact me here or in-game.

[Dain]

Thanks Ilsanor!