Stealing is so nerfed for any reason?

???? I've had stolen platinum coins and slayer/vanq weapons at various places which is hundreds thousands golds and I think there are plenty of thieves on this server already. I am sure other players also have some bad experiences with thieves here. And literally it is a small chance to kill the thief or get my items back when he dies in gray in the city or on mount whatever. If stealing is broken, no one would play thieves like nox mage but are there no thieves on this server???
I don't understand why people complaint about for not buffing the system like to piss off other players like stealing and house looting. Such a crime world uo.

I don't roll a thief yet, but I'm pretty sure you can use the incognito spell or the disguise kit to keep your real name from being uncovered.

Interestingly, this brings up two questions:
1. If you die does your corpse still keep your undercover name or does it reveal your real name?
2. What are the advantages the disguise kit have over the incognito spell and where do you attain one?

If anyone is familiar with these answers could you please enlighten us?

1. Corpse keeps your disguise kit name

2. Incognito lasts 2 mins, disguise kit lasts until death

Once you have signed up for the thief guild say "disguise kit" to the thief guild master and they will sell for roughly 500gp

The corpse keeps undercover name but the cut up head reveals the current name, so once your disguise kit or incognito wears off its back to your original name.

My 2 issues with making stealing more viable is this:

1. It mainly preys on newer players. As Chris has said numerous times, he evaluates everything to maintain a balance between the way it was, the way it could be to be better, and how it should be that promotes a healthy shard (inviting so more new people join).

2. If it is so bad why are people like Pockets aka @The Crooked Warden still stealing successfully? He stole a vanq from me at Ocllo bank on like my second week here. And this proves my point in #1, a vanq weapon is cheap here for any established player. But for a 2 week old me, that wiped out a good chunk of my financial worth.

Is stealing in the best possible balanced state? No. But I agree with shard management that UOR shouldn't delve into a cesspool. Town killing, scamming, etc... does not promote a healthy shard. Stealing can be a productive member of the shard, but it must be implemented cautiously.

1.) The corpse keeps the undercover name. BUT there is a bug on UOR where once the corpse is cut up, the items show your real name. Basically, if you are disguised and don't want to be discovered, you better keep disguising to a new name every 15 minutes or so (so the website doesn't cache you), and also don't die or let anyone get any item with your name on it (gm crated items, body parts, etc)

Additionally, any ghost there when you die will see your real name on the ghost. Or if you accidentally tab into war mode when you die, you show who you are. This is not correct to UOR era UO. On OSI you kept your disguise for 2 hours, even after death, no exceptions. In fact it STILL works this was on OSI if you were to log in and check (well, at least up to about a year ago when I checked last).

2.) It won't wear off after just a few minutes.

A PK could have killed you and taken your vanq and everything else you own. Besides that, "well, X stole a Y from Z just last week" isn't really worthwhile evidence as to the current state of stealing. Ask any of the players that are actually thieves what they think about it. There's only a handful of us. I don't comment on how good/bad or balanced PvM is here, because I don't pvm. I do "have" a pvmer, but I don't think my criticism has any weight compared to say, @El Horno who actually plays a pvmer and doesn't just moonlight as a newbie farmer.

Would a look at improving PvM thieving help? I've tried out a burglar who stealths through dungeons and steals from monsters and after making it all the way to the ancient wyrm hidden and being killed a few times (for me, a fun adventure in itself...), I find that the best I would have done was a stack of ~200 gold. I can see that it would be easy money if it was too profitable, but perhaps increase the weight that can be stolen from monsters? Or perhaps add the chance of rares to drop, to include PvM only stealables from higher end monsters?

Again, I know there is an aspect to stealing from other real players that appeals to a lot of people, but perhaps this is a compromise that makes the thief a little more playable while not causing problems in other areas?

*Note: I don't really follow all the discussions of the issues surrounding thieving, so take this with an amount of implied ignorance.

I think this would help wannabe-thieves, aka PVM-tamers that wanna do something else for a change. Pure thieves wouldn't appreciate it to any greater extent I think. I'd probably play around with it once in a while but not more than that. I want to play out/create wonderful stories with other players.

You quoted my post, but didn't really respond to any of my issues correctly in the message they were conveying...

No, he/she wouldn't. Never stated I was afk during this stealing example. If a PK/town killer tried to kill me, I would've guard whacked him easily. I just didn't notice the steal line in the corner of my screen or Pockets going gray.

My anecdotal example is merely an accurate display that thieves who are skilled and know what they are doing can still acquire things from others. You can't refute that claim. I wasn't implying that my example means the skill as a whole is fine as is. You are making assumptions of my intentions in what I wrote. I even state plainly towards the end of my post that something needs to be done to improve the skill.

Not being/playing a thief character on this shard does not mean I do not have an opinion that could be as equally valid as yours. I have played a thief before, just not here.


Overall I respect your opinion and I hope you don't take any hostility from my response. But I truly wish one of the several vocal thieves on the forums actually respond to the one thing I said that I feel is always missed:

"As Chris has said numerous times, he evaluates everything to maintain a balance between the way it was, the way it could be to be better, and how it should be that promotes a healthy shard (inviting so more new people join)."

It could be possibly that Stealing needs to be difficult to do properly (against era mechanics) so the shard has a healthy population.

You must study for proficiency in "stealing" and prove retention before I'll ever let a comment like ^ slide, sir.

I'll begin by challenging you to tell us the %chance to succeed on the specific weapon (see: weight) to steal and include the number of viable witnesses in the steal zone.


Healthy dialogue is healthy.

Stealing is overpowered in my opinion. I should note, I do not have a thief, but I use the stealing skill probably 5x a day, which is likely more then @snap dragon. So in a way, I am more qualified then her to speak to the power of the stealing skill. I don't want to make this about Snap but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the rumors swirling around the dark alleys of Sosaria that the thief guildmaster was even considering booting her from the guild since she apparently has turned her back on the more traditional practicing of the art!
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Whenever I see a shady looking person in game, I use the stealing skill on them. This will tell me if they are perma grey or not so I can kill them. 0 skill invested, lots of information gained.

I'm not sure what you are actually trying to say.

It sounds like you are saying I should be a veteran thief who has been here a certain amount of time before I can offer my opinion. I must humbly disagree. I am a UO veteran who has played on many player operated shards and also on OSI. I can say that many mechanics some people dislike here was a refreshing change of pace for someone who has played on other shards. Namely the lack of town killing (compared to other shards) and scamming. My ultimate point is yes, something should be done to help Stealing, but it should be done cautiously such that it isn't a negative impact on the shard as a whole.

I'll agree that stack stealing needs to be looked at.

• Maybe look at some of the 0 weight items to maintain a balance.
• I'm not sure about HCoins or Plat. I'd lean towards not as steal-able as others simply because of their value, and because many new players rely on the welfare plat to allow them to buy many things.
• Other things like stealing from monsters, always going gray when stealing even from a red, etc... Sure, it needs to be fixed.
• Calling guards through walls is dumb.
• I'm ok with the extra guards.

Keep up the great work. I am sure I am not alone in saying that I enjoy hearing the logic behind certain mechanics - helps provide context for the way things are, and where a change could occur. Thanks for weighing in @Chris

Hey if thieves get a boost, I won' complain one bit lol. I play a thief and I know how to safeguard against them, or pretty much shut them down. I'm only stating that there are a lot of things that so many don't know about when it comes to the mechanics of stealing. I love stealing here but I'll also take a boost .

Hey all. Great discussion. Just wanted to weigh in as I've been playing a thief for a few months now.

Not trying to nitpick here but for the purpose of getting facts out there:

Unless you mean permagray here, this actually isn't true. It's extremely rare; I'd estimate about a 2% chance, but I've successfully stolen an item and remained blue to everyone 2+ times.

Regarding stacks: Sure this could probably be fine tuned if you wanted to steal more gold or reagents. However for platinum it works fine IMO. I've stolen a stack of 9 plat and was more than satisfied with that amount. I don't really care to steal more gold but it's a welcome buff if deemed necessary.

I'm not sure how thief used to be as I'm new to the thief class and UO in general, but I like how thief is here on UOR. I don't feel gimped or anything by playing one. Thanks for all you do @Chris

Regards