I am new to UO:R but began my journey in Ultima well before Ultima went Online. When UO:R went live I remeber spending numerous hours on end killing nobles for their 200 some gold and assorted clothing and on occasion a magic item or gem. I would use enticement to lure them out before my 5 min escort lock would reset and kill kill kill to save money to place when housing would be made available. The reason that I bring this up is because I was lurking about Skara Brea on my entrance to the realm and found to nobles to "escort" and no board in the tavern asking for assistance. A major feature of the day was the escort quest which many a mage would do for quick profit...or the rogue-ish brute. It would be quite wonderful to some how re-incorporate this lost feature back into the game....Escorts Escorts Escorts.
Well you're in luck man! Telamon restored this one. Most banks have two bulletin boards around them. One for bounties (murderers) and one for escorts. The escorts also include things like mage towers with bosses in them occasionally.
Those boards also include those random "Prisoner Camps" with Orc, Brigand, Lizardmen or Ratmen guards. It's worth crashing those camps since there's a chance for a piece of plat in the chests and the prisoners reward double compassion when escorting them.
I haven't done much noble slaying on UO:R, but back in the day I do remember it being somewhat profitable to do. I remember them dropping an occasional vanquishing weapon or invulnerability armor piece as well.
That's true. They used to drop loot in line with liches. However, that led to such ridiculous farming of them that OSI made it so when they were attacked, they summoned 2-3 guards with bows that hit for about 20-30 a shot. The gold they carried also got split between the guards they summoned, so you couldn't just kill them and run from the guards.
I used to dress up as a noble, and have their replies hotkeyed. Follow someone outside town and when they attack..SURPRISE!
Interesting on the loot aspect, currently they just have the standard noble equipment. If anyone has links/reference for accurate spawn data please forward it to me. Information on the various camps can be found here http://www.uorenaissance.com/search/camp We also have restored and remodeled the classic mage tower that were seen very early on in UO. http://www.uorenaissance.com/search/tower
July 2000 and the following couple of months is when they nerfed it, because that's where one of my episodes of me dressed as a noble was published.
http://uo.stratics.com/uoherald/news/archives.php?offset=21&cat=genNews Nobles Hire Henchmen UO Team 20 Dec 2000 00:00:00 EST Nobles and Seekers of Adventure will have the following changes: When a Noble or Seeker of Adventure is attacked outside of town limits, they will call “henchmen” for assistance. Henchmen that can come to the aid of a Noble or Seeker of Adventure will have increased fighting ability. Some will use archery. The Noble or Seeker of Adventure cannot be killed until the henchmen are dealt with (killed). Henchmen will carry some of the gold from the noble or seeker of adventure as payment for coming to their rescue. After a short time, the henchmen will leave the noble or seeker of adventure and return from where they came.
I remember killing many a noble when UO:R came out and never got a power or vanq...albiet magic loot was random and they always had one...but I do know that they had magic jewels on occasion and at least 200 gold as I was using them to make enough to buy a house to place. I will have to look for these towers and camps. They are like the camps of old and the tower the next level in the concept but I was saying each town had droves of npcs wanting to travel between the towns and looked for traveling companions. I remeber seeing mages gathering npcs by the drove to gate them to their destination for easy gold. Merchant escorting could be a nice addition as monsters could attack the caravan or always the danger "reds". Cant gate a caravan...
Wait., are you the actual crazy joe from crazy joe adventures?? If so, you and imanewbie were so legendary
I always found it odd that these Nobles needed escorts to go from say, Cove to Vesper, yet they had their own guards. Made no sense!
At that time, I believe the nobles also gave murder counts and a player would turn red after killing a certain amount, no? Edit: Maybe it was just shopkeepers who gave counts. But I thought it was ALL "blue" NPCs...