Bring back skill loss on bonded pets

I understood your point but it is still two entirely different scenarios. The skill loss for bonded pets was only implemented like a month ago or something. If the LOS issues weren't such a pain in the ass to actually fix I have no doubt he would have fixed that by now.

This is just something, many agree upon. Me too.

QFT

How about this? 2.5 times the slot that the pet takes? Also increase dragon to 4 and mare to 3.

This way = Dragon skill&stat loss: 10%, Mare 7.5%, Frenzied 2.5%

Everyone is happy.

Genius has spoken.

I support this. You guys removed part of the "risk" factor for tamers due to uncontrollable disconnects (DDOS), but totally ignored the larger risk factor for PKs who suffer from the exact same uncontrollable disconnect.

I can deal with stat loss, I actually think stat loss is a good idea, but you should at least handle the DDOS issues in a fair way. Remove all stat loss, or remove no stat loss until you get it under wraps.

Bless ma slayaz!

I doubt there's much more that the admins can do to get the DDoS attacks under control than what they have already done, which was shelling out a bunch of money for servers that can handle them better. DDoSing is something major companies still have to deal with because its not an easy thing to control.

Sadly, despite that I would like to see a tamer nerf(or a buff to dexxers/4x bards), I like the 0.1% stat loss over the 2.5%. Stat loss on pets is mostly just something to grief with in my experience, it doesn't do anything to benefit the player killing another player's pets, its just a way for someone to feel like they've caused hardship on you. Veterans don't care because they just train their pets at night anyway. Stat loss doesn't really do anything but be mildly annoying and discourage newbies. Speaking for myself, 0.1% is still enough that I try to keep my pets alive at the risk of the rest of my loot(I still usually try to gate out from PKs rather than just recalling).

It feels obvious to me that tamers are OP, but I would rather fix the direct problem(the amount of damage they do and possibly their safety) than have stat loss be at 10% or even the 2.5%, especially for smaller pets for people that play like Keza does.

I would support a change to reduce the amount of damage dragons/mares/etc do by as much as 50% or whatever is appropriate when they are tamed, as something like that attempts to fix the actual problem more than the fear of stat loss does. "The animal loses the ferocity of a wild life."

Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but it doesn't really matter. As explained above, it's just temporarily at 0.1% and will return to 2.5% when the DDoSing is over.

Pet stat loss is to add some type of risk to an OP bonding feature.

It also "punishes" you for trying to bite off more than you can chew.

I dont know about 5% because that's a week or two of farming worth of resist lost for a pack of reds to get you with but I gotta say I did try and be careful with the 2.5% and none at all is no fun.. considering all of us had to train them with the 2.5 on..
but then again if no stat makes tamers come out more than I dunno what to say except add in some minimal stat?

A good slayer could be a week or two of farming for a dexxer (i'm seeing 300k+ weapons here). This is the whole point, this game is about risk. Risk is the primary element why UO is the amazing game it is. You lose if you die.

In another thread, Brimstone was talking about increasing chances to slayers. Big no, these are high end weapons and should remain as such. I already see +15 weapons of force on the ground in a young city, there is already a massive inflation of magical. You bring slayers down to this then you're killing the feeling of attainment, the second demise of the game after the risk element..

Lots of great points in this thread.

I agree wholeheartedly that pet skill loss should be returned (perhaps even at a higher percentage) ... as has been mentioned numerous times in previous posts already; tamers are at enough of an advantage as is. This is a change that seems to completely favor a particular playstyle... one that is already by far the most played template.

Let's not homogenize the pool of templates played even further.

(I feel I should note that I am the KING of letting his pets die... remember the pets that were dead inside of cupid's this year overnight almost ever night? Definitely mine.)

Nerf the living crap out of tamers, or allow dexxers to have 800hp.

i don't know what QFT means but I fully support the 2.5 % per slot! Makes great sense to me.

I also agree with PFR! PK's take the same risks as a tamer and are don't get the same protection from the DDOS.

While we are at…Let us make some runic bows or give it a damage bonus if you use Oak Wood or something shit.. The HXbow is basically useless. I don't remember it being that slow… Give Archers a quiver and allow a 20% SSI while using one or something. I know I know its not era correct. Neither is the fortress or the fishing and many other things we all enjoy and love on UOR. I love the PK's here too. Trammel sucks. Period. Insurance on weapons would be sweet but make it cost a lot or something. Bone Armor should be at least 50% medable. Studded should only be 20% penalty. Add Smiting so Warriors can attack with their shields and make it active use skill so they can only use the attack every 4-5 seconds and make it take 5-6 Stamina! Enough ranting

Chris, thanks for taking your time to provide the best free shard I have ever played. I know all that you have heard a million times but it makes me feel better to type it but please nerf tamers where they can only have 1 dragon at a time or something..

SOrry guys I was rambling..

QFT is Quoted For Truth.

I'm not for any major coding changes to add/remove stuff out of the game, I'd rather seeing 1 line code changes so it both helps Chris and the shard, because they are much easier to implement and test, and also remains much more era accurate than a quiver.

I think overall, the shard has great content and balance, the only thing preventing is the non-risk elements tamers have, which will hopefully go when these DDOS are sorted.

3/4 of my gold comes from tamerlife so I'll throw my 2c in.
I farm with unbonded and untrained pets, so I'm completely okay with stat loss. I wouldn't even cry about a pet nerf with how often I'm waiting for respawns. I've lost exactly three dragons since I started playing on this server: one to a harrower, one to an ill-advised gate jump and one to a wyvern boss after being PK'd. How exactly are all of your pets dying? The combat skills train up relatively fast. Is 95 magery really vastly different from GM or is everyone weaning off of their OCD meds with reckless abandon?
#nerftamers

Bring it back!

Tamers have no risk right now, wheres the fun?

A couple of thoughts:

The assertion that PKs should have been granted relief from stat loss as well is unconvincing. As far as I can tell, PK stat loss is largely non-existent on this shard. Even the most active PKs tend to have just a few short-term counts at any one time, which are quickly worked off. PK stat loss is effectively optional and apparently easily avoided on this shard. In my opinion, the scales are already tipped in favor of PKs.

I disagree with the argument that dragon stat loss should be higher than 2.5%. It's true that using dragons to farm in regular dungeons will generally result in only the occasional dragon death, and that in such circumstances, stat loss is arguably an appropriate cost of doing business. That doesn't hold true in more chaotic environments, like champ spawns, where dragon deaths are far more common. In fact, I strongly suspect that the recent increase in public champ spawn activity can be attributed at least in part to the removal of dragon stat loss. Certainly I will think twice about playing more than one tamer while working champ spawns once dragon stat loss is reinstated. I suspect that most people would agree that these sorts of events and activities are good for the shard, but maybe I'm wrong.

More generally, what are we trying to disincentivize with dragon stat loss? The current grace period has had two effects on me: (1) I'm more willing to fight back against PKs; and (2) I'm more willing to take my dragons into clusterfuck situations in which they're likely to die (e.g., champ spawns). Is there a good reason to try to discourage these things?

I'm sympathetic to those who bristle about pet bonding as a whole when other classes aren't entitled to the same same risk avoidance mechanics. My preference, however, would be to institute something equivalent to the zookeeper quest for weapon bonding, rather than trying to just #nerftamers.