Problems from a new Player

I've only seen two groups of reds so far in 7 weeks and individual reds 3 times. Given I'm not hitting the best places for max loot gain either so perhaps that's got something to do with it.

If you have a group of friends it seems like you just need a little time to get set up and then you'll be a force to reckon with. If it was too easy to come in and set up then it doesn't seem like it'd be much fun (imo)

You have options though so find the shard best suited for you. This one is pretty damn good though if I do say so myself. If you do stick around drop by Paws sometime and say hello.

Make a hiding bard. Keep reflect up. Recall when you see reds.

Follow these steps and you will hardly ever die to reds.
More importantly, if you ever expect to grow up as a UO player, you need to stop placing the blame externally. It's not mages fault, it's not that it's too hard to be a new player, etc etc. There are ways for you to avoid them or even kill them (and the reds here are terrified of anyone who might put up a fight, by the way) and your goal should be to become stronger, become better at evasion, etc etc.
UO is a game for people who are able to pick themselves up after a fall. Good luck out there.

Hey welcome to UOR and sorry your experience has not been the most pleasant. Unfortunately it sounds like a trammel server is.more suited for you and your friends.

I play nothing but solo and I rarely ever see reds. There are so many lucrative places to farm that the most active reds just simply don't hit them all. Im not knocking you in the least saying that but I have been around a long time on this server and if anything I have noticed a decrease in pking as far as the numbers and frequency.

I do hope you and your friends stick it out and keep trying but I really don't think a fel server is for you because as far as pking goes this is one of the most tame shards I have ever played. No offense reds!

QTF

Between recall macros, rotating hunting spots, and being alert you shouldn't be dying at all.

http://uorforum.com/threads/how-to-not-get-pkd-guide.7500/

I don't want to sound rude here, but this sounds like a butthurt post because you are getting pk'd one too many times after farming and someone takes all your hard earned gold.

I play a warrior, almost exclusively. I have 80 hiding and 20 magery tacked onto my dexxer. Makes recalling easy and also allows you to cast magic reflect off a scroll without an issue prior to dungeon delving.

The server era is Rennaissance. If you played during that time, you would know how the people were. This isn't any different.

Point of this reply is that I play a pure dexxer and I have absolutely no trouble avoiding ganks, fighting mages or farming gold.
You'll get there if you're consistent and listen to all the good advice given here.

Hi guys thanks for the replies, i'm constantly impressed by the maturity of this community, most times id expect a few flamers.

a few things that keep popping up as i don't think people read my longer posts based on the replies so ill dot point it out

I had a recall macro, perhaps due to latency it wasn't fast enough (from Australia), admittedly, as i was mainly fighting magic monsters as a peacemaker, i didn't have magic reflect up most of the time.

I rotated spots constantly, i should have kept an information on which spots i got pkd and how frequently, either i was insanely unlucky, or people are under reporting how often they see reds, most times it was a squad, very rarely was it a single pk.

Places i recall trying:
Ice ogres - pk gank squad every single time i went there (5+ times)
Titans in despise - ganked 2ce in a row, despite having some early success
dragons/drakes in destard - probably the least pking occurred here, 1ce or 2ce
yew liches - seemed ok at first, was killed 6+ times over a 2 day period there recently
hythgloth demons/balrons - killed both times i went there, gave up early
hythgloth? liche lords - had early success, pkd several times over several days.

There are other places i have tried farming i just cant recall them. This is over a 10 or so day period.

As i stated i am playing with friends, im not sure why people thought pveing in a group would be safer other than the herd mentality, if i was lucky enough that the PKs opened up on my friends instead of me, i may be able to escape, regardless as a group we are still getting frustrated, several had quit prior to making this post, i was hoping to lure them back with hopes of greater balance in the future, that seems unlikely now.


I'm not a new player to fellucia, or UOR, ive played almost exclusively UOR fellucia only shards, this is easily, the most mage, and PK friendly shard going around, people comparing this to ERA uor are simply off, mages were not the power overwhelming that they are on this server for several reasons (trying to keep this post short).

The point that people make it a point of pride being able to actually survive on a dexxer should tell you how off the balance is right now, but hey, most of the setup players have their mages, mage tamers and mage provos already setup so why change anything?

I'm mainly disappointed that my points about runemarking in dungeons and innovation to the cloth system aren't the main points being discussed here, im not looking for sympathy, i wanted to inspire discussion of what seems to be a really imbalanced current system.

That is a great guide. You even included something that a lot of people forget about... being VERY suspicious of blues.

Way back on Catskills a friend of mine and I noticed that if either of us were hunting solo (Lich Lords or some nice place like that) and a blue recalled in, hung around for a couple minutes then left it meant within 5 mins a red or team of reds would show up.

If the blue hung around for more than a couple minutes they were likely a thief or waiting for an opportunity to finish you off.

In a way blues are more dangerous because of that. Since they aren't red people have a tendency to not expect them to do something like kill you so a person might let their guard down a bit. At least when a red pops up you can be 99.9% certain of their intentions and act accordingly (recall/gate macro or prepare to fight back).

Totally agree with this - I play solo 100% of the time, and frequent spots which rarely see PKs, including treasure hunting. A few times, I've seen blues at the treasure hunting spots, and often will stop and chat with them for a bit. So, my guard is generally pretty low when treasure hunting.. Well, I paid for that when blue Thanatos (this should have been my first clue, names can be good indicators of intentions) shows up near my treasure hunting spot... he hangs around a bit, I say "what's up", and while I'm busy switching loot between chars, the turd loots the gold I normally save to last to milk the chest, then flees to his BBC guild house.

Lesson learned, and at a 5k chest, pretty cheap at the price =)

some comments.

1. Simply traveling in a group does not mean you are safe and can beat pks. It will buy you time to run and make recovery easier.

Pks roll in packs, are trained and built to kill, and have surprise on their side. At this point you shouldn't expect more than escaping if you are pvming, and that's how it should be.

2. In the ultimate end game, yes mages are the best pvpers. That is the era and therefore the server situation. It does not mean dexxers are irrelevant, it only means that in a pvp scenario, with all things such as experience and numbers being equal, the stun scribe mage will win or it will be a stalemate.

3. I agree with you that the server may not be completely balanced with mages and dexxers. Do not let that overshadow all the great things about this server, such as all the quality of life improvements, special instances and quests, the attention to detail and friendly community.

4. Take a look at the guide I posted. If you follow all the steps, you will not die. If there are a lot of pks on, go do something else. It wouldn't be felucca if hunting spots were accessible at all times.

5. For the higher end monsters you are fighting now, you should change to a provoke dexxer. Peacemaking is good for mid range monsters but not high end.

I'm actually not a huge fan of the peacemaking dexxer guide because to me it is a transition character build. It needs to be mentioned that at a certain point, peacemakings effectiveness drops off significantly.

Very useful reply, thank you
To be honest i hadn't thought of changing to provoke, i have been using slayer instruments where i can and found that peacemaking was somewhat reliable but i appreciate the advice and will definitely try this if/when i decide to play again.

You are right about pvp characters vs pvm characters, i by no means expect to be able to escape without preparation, or compete with a good mage, i don't think mages should do less damage, but i do think that the ease which you can make/fund a character doing that much damage drives a bias towards that kind of character. The world is small for so many players, i think it should be more of a time investment to find victims as a pker and it should be more of a gear investment to do the kind of damage mages do.


I very much appreciate the good things on this shard its not a case of moving onto another shard for me, its a case of not playing, this is probably the best run shard i have played on and the community is great Unfortunately the imbalance toward certain character types, no prospect of future balance and the ease and frequency of PKing have reduced my enjoyment too much.

UOR highly favors tamers and I agree, it is sad that we aren't seeing them balanced out. Don't let that stop you from playing here though.

I understand your frustration. I am by no means a pker, too busy with BOD's, crafting, my vendors, ect. When I do go out adventuring(farming), especially at "hot spots", I know there is gonna be creeps lurking and waiting for me to hang around in one place too long and pounce. The trick is to stick and move. Get in and get out. Move somewhere else... rinse and repeat.

Whatever your playstyle... hanging around too long..gets ya killed. Especially here.

As folks have suggested, the 'ole rune escape macro will usually work if your paying attention.... but not always.

Sometimes, your gonna die by just being at the wrong place at the wrong time.......plain and simple.

Pork Fried Rice makes his living on folks that hang around a second too long.

If you get a weird feeling things are going too smooth.. time to recall out!

This is today's UOR.

The issue you are experiencing isnt that a certain skill isnt balanced, its that the game has been out for 18 years. The level of preparedness is much greater then it was 10 years ago. Years ago, even on free servers, you could equip yourself with 30 each reg, no armor, and a weapon if your template called for it, and run out and be competitive. That is no longer the case. The amount of equipment players carry here is unreal. It just so happens that more experienced players typically play mages, as it grants them more flexibility then a weapon based character. Trust me, if you ran into a fully geared, runiced out, explo pot throwing pure dexer, you would be dispatched just as quickly, if not moreso.

You can play a char with zero magery, just know how you have to play him (have hiding, etc). Having a char with no resist is not viable if you plan on surviving player encounters, and that is not unique to this era of UO.

Also, the places you listed as your main farming areas are the areas I farm the least. You are the most likely to run into PKs those places. I avoid them as it ensures I will be interrupted - Killed or not, having to leave because you're attacked definitely slows down your income.

I think you will run into this on all UO servers these days. Its not 1999 anymore. UO was once a game of staying ahead of the learning curve - now its a science.

Ive definitely had to do my share of adjusting after a 10 years layoff. You will have to do the same, and it is not because this server favors mages. This server is very close to spot on to the late p15/p16 era.

Hope you stick around. Just have to get with the times.

Great points about the game being out for 18 years, certainly this is a factor, people know the best skill and item combinations, something i think that is being overlooked are the tools we have at our disposal now days. Razor being auto installed has made quality of life so much better, it has also made item usage, spell targeting, item sorting, looting, pretty much everything easier. This has the greatest bias towards click to target classes, where its all essentially auto targeted now this is something not around during ERA in the same way. Its so much easier to play a mage now than it was back in the old days, it's also more powerful then it ever was because of this.

I appreciate all of the kind and useful replies, but saying mages/pks aren't OP on this server is just false, that being said it is obviously something embraced by the community, it just doesn't resonate well with me or my friends. If you aren't conforming to to long list of requirements, both skill, macro and item just to avoid constantly getting pkd, you will have a horrible time on this shard. Character diversity is a huge appeal for UO, but having to conform to a strict set of requirements just to avoid constant PKing doesn't make for fun or diverse play, which is fine, if you only expect to get pkd occasionally, but its a constant occurrence on this shard, its so easy to find people to kill for the reasons i have mentioned earlier.

Naturally, after getting constantly and so easily ganked by people, your mind space goes to hey lets roll up a pk squad of our own (the thought process my friends and i were in before deciding to quit), which just perpetuates the problem.

which is precisely why not allowing rune marking in dungeons will work, it will reduce effectiveness of tamers, and increase time to victim for PKs, addressing both issues.

It's so much easier to play anything than in the old days.

Crafting? A freaking AFK joke here.
Tamers? All kill, target nearest grey
Dexers? Do you realize how easy it is to toggle half a dozen weapons, wands + targeting , potion usage, bandaging self, using pouches, etc.
Mages? Targeting spells, targeting wands, potion usage, pouches.

The problem you're applying to mages has little to do with mages and all to do with hotkeys and the fact that people today are more ready to juggle the extra hotkeys then they were in the past.

Having to keep 30 skill points (recall scroll) isn't exactly a strict set of requirements. Skills (resist, hiding) beyond that are definitely helpful but are not required. If you want to be an "adventurer" and seek monster bashing activities, it's only natural you're going to need extra defensive skills. I'm not sure why you can't seem to understand that some templates thrive doing one activity whereas others thrive doing another, but guess what? Mages are far from OP on this shard and you must just be too new to see that.

A prepared player is the most deadly character and it sounds like, despite good advice from many, you do not wish to prepare yourself. You just want to point at what you perceive to be problems, complain, and suggest changes that fit your specific needs rather than trying to take the advice people have given you in the last few days. I'm not sure why you are putting so much resistance in if you and your friends have already quit.

I like this idea because you'd never make it to spot you want to hunt at. PKs would get you at the entrance. BUT, this just makes mages even more powerful because they can recall out of dungeons but the poor 0 magery guy has to leave on foot whereas at least now, someone with 0 magery can get gated into a dungeon.

I am going to struggle to construct my early morning thoughts but, I'm going to give it a shot.

I recently created a new character with a premise and for lack of a better term, "rules for my character" in mind. I haven't had this much fun with a character in UO since my first one I made one late Christmas night in '97. Nothing will top that.

This character has purposeful limitations and after playing awhile, has added more than my intended "challenges" (which I don't even think of anymore) but rather, changed the way I play the game when I log onto this guy. I'm looking at the game from a different angle now and thus far, it's been great.

Anyway, this really isn't about the character or even a template guide. What I think I'm trying to say is, if you're seeking balance you're in for a road full of frustration that never ends. Each hill that you climb only reveals miles more bitterness.

For a developer (anywhere) balance should be a goal that's never truly met. Regardless of what the naysayers that speak ill of Chris and his team, we have a really good thing here.

Everyone: If Chris was to pull the plug on this whole thing right now, how would it effect you? Would you first say, "Well damn that sucks but hey, at least all the imbalance is over!"

*grabs a hatchet off the wall and smashes that soap box*

Yes, magery for the most part is stronger than other templates here. I can put up a very strong argument as to why that is but, I doubt I would reach you. However, when reading your posts I and my play style see things a little differently.

You are getting PK'd way too much. There are things you can and should be doing that you aren't. You're comparing your PvM character to another character that is tuned to killing you. You can have a successful PvM "dexxer" character that will give a PK a good fight and still PvM well.

A "dexxer" that knows how to survive the first mage template "dump" will end up being the one chasing the PK through the dungeon. It is not as imbalanced as you've experienced. Dexxers are stronger than you think.

I strayed off of my topic, sorry. . .

Sure, I could grind out a tamer and obliterate everything in PvM. Sure, I could hop on my fisherman and rake in the gold. Yes, I can play this template or that and be way more successful than I am when I'm on this new one.

But for me, right now... it's not "me" VS my ability to "get stuff faster than anyone else". It's not me VS everyone else and the moment I lifted that burden off my subconscious...


... my f*cks went to cannot give status.






If you want to know how to succeed on a dexxer (PvM), avoid PK's, have a better understanding of how PK's seem to find you, and the like.
Hit me up on IRC.

Magery is a skill, not a template. GM magery doesn't make you a "mage" by any means. Magery can exist on pretty much any character template.

People have already given the crucial advice of keeping magic reflect up and the handy dandy recall macro. Not sure if I've seen this yet, but bank often! I usually bank at 5k. If you wait too long, you've just lost more. It might be a hassle but its better to do that than lose it.

There is no shame in recalling even if you see a blue running up. Like someone mentioned before, a blue hanging around too long might be up to no good. Not every time, but if you've got any loot on you at all, go ahead and bank it. And yes, if you see ThanatoS, recall... he's an ass.

Another thing- keep line of sight in mind. A mage can't cast on you if you aren't in their line of sight. If possible, position yourself to where the pk would have to move around something like a wall or turn the corner to actually target you. I've seen people place boxes in strategic places as well, to slow down any pk and give them enough time to recall.

If you really want to get creative, make an alt archer and hide them somewhere nearby with a macro to where they'd automatically target and pincushion any red that comes by. That char will definitely die, but the point is to get your main char extra time to escape. Also, it is a force multiplier. You might avoid a solo pk that way who picks up 3 players in one spot. Unless they stealth into it, they might not want to risk a 3 on 1 fight.

Also remember, turning off the ability to mark in dungeons just makes mages and tamers more powerful because they can just reverse gate their pets or alts in while the poor guy with no magery has to walk in and can't even ask for a gate from someone hanging around at the bank.