Hello all. My name is Paul and I have been playing Ultima Online off and on since 1999. Throughout these years I've maintained two UO obsessions: The Bardic Arts, and ridable llamas Even though I've only been on this shard for a short while, I've already answered numerous questions on the forum and IRC about how to master one of the most useful skills for newcomers and veterans alike: Provocation. So I decided to write this guide as the existing ones are old. UO:R is quite kind to us Bards, and as such, GMing Provocation is not difficult here, nor really time consuming when you consider the fact that unattended macroing is allowed / encouraged here. One just simply needs to know where to macro this skill. That's where this guide comes in handy. If you are new to Ultima Online in general, I recommend visiting a few other guides first, such as this one. STEP 1: Starting Out Visit Antje the Bard residing just North of Ocllo Bank (NOTE: The name of the NPC might change): Purchase from her 20 tambourines. You can buy any type of instrument really, but the tambourine is the lightest. If you did not start with 50 Provocation when creating your character, not to worry. Say near her: "Antje train Provocation". Then drop the amount of gold she asks for onto her. UPDATE: The bard shop below (South) the bank has a Bard Guildmaster/mistress who can train you several points higher. Now it is time to talk about the macro you will be using. Here is mine as it looks in Razor: And here is the macro in the file: !Loop Assistant.Macros.DoubleClickTypeAction|3763|True Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1044082| Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.5000000 Assistant.Macros.AbsoluteTargetAction|0|0|1156074|3420|2599|55|400 Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.5000000 Assistant.Macros.AbsoluteTargetAction|0|0|1155840|3416|2599|55|401 Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.5000000 Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|succeeds Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000 Assistant.Macros.ElseAction Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:05.5000000 Assistant.Macros.EndIfAction First you will see the "double click the lute"; this is whatever instrument you bought. Target one of them, then change this to "by type". This is a critical line in the macro. It ensures you can keep macroing once an instrument breaks due to Provoking. Note: On UO:R, instruments do not break due to playing them (double clicking it and gaining musicianship). This is also why my guide doesn't really address your Musicianship skill as this macro will GM it quickly while working on provoke. Some people say to GM music first, I don't think it is truly necessary as I run this macro typically overnight or while I am work. More than enough time to GM both all in one go. The first absolute target is the first monster. The second absolute target is, you probably guessed it by now, the second monster. That's it. This macro also accounts for how if you fail in provoking two monsters, the wait time is 5 seconds and not the usual 10. STEP 2: Getting to the Pens If you're in the Young Program, then proceed with all of your newly purchased instruments above Antje and into the Ocllo newbie dungeon. If you are not, be sure to bank most of then and only take 4-6 of them with you as sometimes, you can die in this dungeon. Once inside, Run NW (straight up) past the earth elementals and harpies till you hit the wall. Turn W (up and to the left) until you get to the "pens": You will notice that a Troll and Lizardman spawns in the left pen and a Troll, Harpy, and Ratman spawn in the right. Depending on your Provocation "shown" skill (Not Real), provoke as follows: 30ish: Lizardman onto Ratman/Harpy 50ish: Troll onto Harpy Eventually (I usually do this in the 60-70's), switch to Troll onto Troll. Keep macroing this until you hit 81.8. This is where I've noticed the gains slow tremendously. It is possible to go higher, but not necessary. At this point you are done and can exit the dungeon. STEP 3: Provoking Pirates A while ago @Wodan created his Provo House W of Ocllo near the Pirates. Trapping two of them in it allows players to macro Provocation easily and safely beyond the 80's you can get at the Pens. He has since transferred the management of this house to P'S (Project Sanctuary). You will also notice an identical house S of it, this is the TnT Provo House, and is under @Sir Billy 's management. To get into Wodan's, ask in the #Renaissance or #PS channel in IRC. Many people can get you in it and also help you set it up if the sailors have de-spawned (after 24hrs of being trapped). You will notice a pouch with instruments on the floor. Feel free to use some if you need, but please don't be greedy. And when you are GM, it is always nice to "pay it forward" by dropping off your unused instruments. UPDATE: 02-01-19: So if access to the above house is unavailable, you can always try @BlackEye's public provocation house. See here. And that's it!. After enough macroing, the pirates will take you to 100.0 / GM. I hope some of you found this helpful - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you are new here and have any questions, IRC is your best friend. I always suggest being in the main channel, #Renaissance. Lots of good people there are more than happy to answer questions. You can also hop in Project Sanctuary's channel, #PS. Any of their members would be more than happy to help out, or point you in the direction of someone who can.
Awesome guide, just wanted to add that the bard guildmistress in the other bard shop south of the bank, trains the provo skill higher by 7 more points.
Hi! Thx for the guide, it's good. I Just want to add 2 things on it to be better. 1- If there are no one that can add to the provo house walk to the coast south-west of the house and some times there are some ships with sailors trapped inside. 2- Just a few adds to the provo macro posted here. With this one and a magical wizard hat (just bought in any mage shop) you can get your meditation raised while macroing provo and music. Its possible that you have to retarget the hat on 1st point (Assistant.Macros.LiftAction|1097497884|1|5912) and 17th. !Loop Assistant.Macros.LiftAction|1097497884|1|5912 Assistant.Macros.DropAction|0x6DCC3|(0, 0, 0)|6 Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.5000000 Assistant.Macros.DoubleClickTypeAction|3741|True Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.5000000 Assistant.Macros.UseSkillAction|22 Assistant.Macros.WaitForTargetAction|30 Assistant.Macros.AbsoluteTargetAction|0|0|553145|3364|2729|-2|401 Assistant.Macros.WaitForTargetAction|30 Assistant.Macros.AbsoluteTargetAction|0|0|1428516|3366|2735|-2|400 Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.5000000 Assistant.Macros.IfAction|4|0|succeeds Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:10.5000000 Assistant.Macros.ElseAction Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:05.5000000 Assistant.Macros.EndIfAction Assistant.Macros.LiftAction|1097497884|1|5912 Assistant.Macros.DropAction|0x41225ADF|(103, 65, 0)|0 Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:01
Awesome addition Zheik! This can be done really with any skill that does not use the same 10 second CD timer.
Great guide! Another way to GM provo while young is to drag the executioner (preferably with another char) in the Occlo dungeon to the pits. As long as noone kills it, you can GM off it by provoking it to a troll or something.
Interesting idea... Checking the website, it shows that the sailor has a barding difficulty of 104 where the executioner is 115. I'm not the highest authority on this and don't know everything about what exactly these numbers mean, but I can say that the slightly higher number means the executioner should take you to GM, but can't be started as soon as the Sailor. Lastly, I think dragging an executioner up would mean he might attack non-young macroers next to you. Either way, excellent suggestion!
Provo house was a bust. Spent a lot of time in ps channel trying to get someone to let me in and when it finally happened I was killed in it and told people hide in their and sometimes murder you. I went to pirate fort and couldn't get a good setup for macro. So here I am stuck at 86 provo...using peacemaking to get by for gold making.
A troll is 50 skill, while an executioner is 115. Provoking the two together would be a difficulty of 83. So it would be possible, but would take a decent bit longer. However it doesn't take a long time relative to a lot of other skills. 74 provo skill to gm takes I guess 14 hours with a proper macro on sailors if they don't vanish and someone doesn't leave the door unlocked for "the jerk" to kill ya lol. Provo gains slow down a lot in my experience once your displayed skill matches or exceeds the skill of the average of the two targets. Still you would gm in a reasonable time if you didn't get interrupted on either method.
That is very odd @retrojoke . Usually there are tons of PS people or non-PS people who can help in that situation. Are you on now? IRC me.
When I started my Provo characters it was during the holidays and I had trouble getting into the houses. I went to wyvern isle and made it to 97.5. I used store bought instruments instead of GM. I've read that you cannot GM there, and I believe that. The gains really slowed down toward the end, but you can make it to at least 97.5.
Don't forget you can always ask in the main chat as many non-PS members are friended to the Provo house. Also TNT members can get you into the other house.
Doctor Satan helped me that night and yes their were a lot of people there but likely not actually "there" in the chat room. After 2 nights of asking, doc Satan helped me start my 9 minute macro then death. Ill try again sometime if I can't find anything else. -raynor
I'm away til tonight, but I'm sure someone can get you into the house again. Sorry you found it frustrating but not much can be done about some things. About 4 or 5 people gm provo each day there I'd guess. Some things cannot be helped while keeping it a functional house. The friend list stays full. I try to keep up with who to remove when finished but we are talking 30 characters a week added and deleted, now and then some bored soul will use the house to interrupt a person's night of macroing. I have many people co-owned to it, and only half are in #ps, others are trusted members on the server and can be found in #renaissance. If you see any grief there just announce it in those channels. Any co-owner online can fix it. Also, it may not be people friended to the house that's the issue, 99% of the time it is not. The issue is people who leave the door unlocked lol. There is a guy who spends to much time killing people macroing skills, if you stand in the center of the crates and the door is locked you're safe.. if unlocked he will kill ya within a day. Even banned he can still open the door and kill you from the outside. The sailors only last about 23 hours each time restocked, there are times you get access and the timer is unknown and they may quickly vanish, if this happens just restock them or if people are in your way or you don't feel comfortable, let someone know. The house isn't perfect, but it's still awesome. You should carry nothing but tambourines, check your char every 5 hours so you don't miss a ton of time if it gets disturbed, and you'll gm within a day. Since you had a bad experience and left upset, 10 characters have easily came and gm'd and left since then. I just wanted to explain why you had a bad experience, and just recommend a bit of patience and understanding to get it knocked out. Also.. if anyone who has a fair reputation wants to assist in these provo houses, please contact me. It keeps us busy!
Yes, you have to make sure only young people are macroing there, but that is usually the case. I did executioner right after trolls and made it to GM that way, but I guess you could always start with one of the lower level spawns in that room
i'll try the executioner macro. I don't recommend the provo house unless you want to be at the mercy of bad human encounters whilst being afk. I believe i was killed at provo house by another provo macroer who I guessed thought I was messing their macro up.
