What PvP changes would you like to see?

Not true. When the orcs dismount you they go hungry.

If passive mana regen with a shield equipped is era accurate, then there is absolutely no reason not to implement it other than it will take time.

What I'd like to see fixed

I faction pvp and have done so for a few months on and off. I'm not the best and I'm no expert. I'd like to see a wider variety of viable pvp templates. It's easy to make changes but much harder to maintain a balanced system. I'd like to see parry one handed weapon healing warriors be viable. The low damage output from the wide roll variable here makes it fustrating.

I'm in favor of -
*on an individual player basis PVP ethics - with an honest one on one why do some feel the need to call others in?
*wrestle damage or landing a punch will disrupt
*change the melee damage roll formula for more consistant damage output... on the other hand runics are already pretty powerful
*I'd like to see archery tested in pvp and pvm situations, adjusted so it's a viable option for both styles of play. The misses and low damage output make it a poor option especially with nonrepairable, low drop, magic bows.
*Nox and Alchemy Mage templates... I'd like to see a chance type roll for curing deadly poison with a greater cure potion (1-3 pots?) maybe this is too powerful? and increased Explosion potion damage and cure rates for Alchemy Mages
*lower dex reduction numbers for plate by a small amount
*lower all leather AR slightly

Alchy mages need to stay on EA/Mythic, explode pots are fine as is. Alchy just needs to stay on crafter type characters, period. Platemail -dex % is great the way it is, needs no revamp as does not leather armor. Talking about nerfing leather armor, is another I'm a warrior that drools on my fucking keyboard, and pissed that I can't kill a mage in a few hits.

Bola supporters in short, needs a kick in the sack. You're all for it now, until us SL roles up tossing them at you.

Agree on alchy changes but you're ultra high if you think Plate if great in any way. If that were the case, people would use it more than just RP and there would be a market for it. Right now there is one simple reason they don't, imbalance. AR values of lesser armor is so great right now, plate has no merit because the dex loss outweighs any current benefit. You're also a keyboard drooling med warrior so let's not pretend like the 37AR mages aren't a concern (just not one you're acknowledging perhaps). I'm sure you'd have more to say if there were actually a group of them fighting you instead of just bards running.

Everyone on this server knows that the AR for leather is too high and that the AR values and dex loss for metal armor simply aren't worth the trade-off when a barbed leather suit, not studded mind you provides a WHOPPING 37 AR.

The AR numbers here are jacked and the dex loss for metal armor could be tweaked as to instill a little worth into the blacksmithing industry instead of it being a skill that isn't worth the investment one puts in it to GM.

Bro, do you even runic? lol, it's super worth it to make platemail. BoDs are ALWAYS hungry for more....just not players.

BODs seem to be the only thing that keeps Blacksmithing afloat. Point taken lol

AR values are still jacked up IMO

Yeah, that was mostly tongue in cheek because that's all I've really done with my smithy. I ran a metal armor vendor for about a month but it went no where and otherwise, I just occasionally craft low end runics on Occlo for free when I'm bored.

I remember what it was like to be a smithy in demand, I'm sure folks can remember when a smith could hang out at a town forge and meet TONS of people wanting weapons and armor repaired as well as exceptional items made.

It was a great way to meet people and also make a decent amount of gold. The town forge was kinda like the water cooler at work.

Absolutely and I miss that as well. The closest I've come is inviting newbies to Occlo forges to pick up free runic weapons. Fairly sad state of affairs for a dedicated smith.

I make more than bards run sire. Yes I have a meddy warrior, but you also forget my mages - Balla/Lefty/Brian Griffin and few others that I have in training. My LesClaypool has been getting played very little. The fact still remains, these wannabe fixes to AR, are warriors crying for a "nerf".

EDIT: as for plate, I don't believe a dex loss reduction is in order. The only thing that needs to be fixed with it is the exeptional chance.

I didn't forget your mages, but you're acting like this doesn't affect you because it only benefits you on the characters you play most.
If you'd pay attention to even your own teammates, you'd know this isn't just warriors crying for a nerf. The AR values are out of balance and regardless of what is done to make plate a viable field item, something must be done. If not, it's not History Perfected, it's Leather Perfected. Perfected for characters who don't rely on their dex as much as they do on high AR from a 1500g suit.

I got a cool idea, how about make barbed leather suits drop your Int by 2 points a piece. Seems legit. lol


Exceptional chance has literally not a damn thing to do with whether you see it in the field or not. I rock studded leathers which are just as painful to craft as plate. Perhaps you should do some homework before chiming in about how warriors are crying for a nerf when many many mage-only players have clearly stated AR values are too high.

I would like to see it impact passive mana regen (no impact when actively using meditation skill)

I was kidding but that's not a terrible idea, if the AR values are going to stay this high.

Not sure what you mean. Active mana regeneration is 2x passive regen. Are you saying you'd want that formula broken, or that you would want leather to have no impact on your chance to begin active meditation?

I think impacting the meditation rate is the best solution here as well (along with some small dex penalty changes),.

I think he means so that your passive med would be impeded to a degree (or entirely) while wearing leather armor, but have 0 impact on active, based on the normal formula.

the year is 2015
telamon has turned over development of pvp mechanics to bad dexers with big dreams
mages subjugated, you sit in your house, turning sulph ash into purple potions for bart to throw in ctf
it's so cold. your leather armor lays in a dusty pile. you could put it on, but your int is all you have left.
you push your spellbook into the fireplace.

from outside a child's voice catches your attention
"uncle dalavar gave us verite axes, let's go beat up homeless mages hehehe"
you step to the window to watch, tears welling in your eyes
Lord Blaise is coming down the streets, a procession of admirers following him, exulting his name triumphantly
atop a valorite armored swamp dragon he marches, his enchanted platemail glows majestically
his purple cape seems to flow for miles, whipping in the faces of his followers when the wind catches it

the crowd halts suddenly before your home. a wretched figure writhes in the street
it's pax romain, his gaunt frame twisted beneath a torn blue robe
his cracked hands pull at earth, desperately hoping to grip something solid enough to pull him out of Lord Blaise's path

righteous anger flares below Lord Blaise's visor, "THE WICKED HAVE NO PLACE IN BRITANNIA" he sounds like a thunderclap
his weight shifts, his cape shrugs over his shoulder and reveals his arsenal
+20 dex, clawed plate gauntlets of vanqushing and invulnerability
triple wielding poison coated valorite double axes
he raises them over his head, his oiled platemail makes no sound.
the crowd in hushed awe, their gleaming eyes reflecting valorite death, some have spittle forming at the corner of their mouths
holding their breath in excited anticipation

suddenly, a dowdy grey figure jumps in the way - your breath escapes your mouth in one word
"Jupiter"
scowling faces voice murmured disapproval
you feel ashamed. looking at your dirty hands "but spells...are all reflected by platemail..." - the excuse you give yourself

below the slit of his enchanted barbute, Lord Blaise's teeth appear, framed in a beautiful smile
in the blink of an eye his axes chop the air, and the crowd falls flat.
your eyes catch a broken sign spinning against the one link of chains left holding it
then the sonic boom deafens you
a thousand crippling arrows rain from the sky, piercing the grey figure and pinning him to the ground
his torn body lays still, as if crucified on top of the skin and bones man he had hoped to save

your ears ringing, your eyes glazing over, your last hopes leave as you mouth
"The Age of Shadows is upon us..."

i know i'll catch a lot of flack for responding to this point as people will paint me as being defensive on the topic, but i don't feel like anyone has really explained this phenomenon on the part of SL as most take it for granted as us just being wimpy jerks.

we are a group of good friends who all sit on mumble together whenever we play. if something novel is happening to one of us in game, we usually chat about it. for instance, if i get to my vendor and find that apoc has bought it out in a fit of rage, i'll mention it in mumble and make a joke about it. i have to imagine that this is a common theme in video game guild VOIP circles. by the same token, though, if i'm chasing an orange around moonglow while on mumble, it takes a bit of restraint to bring it up to a quiet group of friends (whom i often know are bored). admittedly, this is something that our group needs to improve upon, however it is hardly the malicious phenomenon that most people think it is.

i agree with all of these things and commend you for your balanced insight on these topics.

now these i'm not as sure about. let's take them separately and add in Roach Mages, since they seem to garner quite a bit of attention.

IE = In-Era (referring to events which occurred on EA/OSI servers during the UO:R time period)


Nox Mages

History

the utility of the Nox Mage template IE is indisputable. many people played the template and had great success in doing so.

field: successful. fed on players whom did not carry greater cure potions.
7x: successful. pots were disallowed in most 7x duels and many dexxers went without magery.

Current State

although there is no functional change from IE mechanics, the Nox Mage template has much less efficacy here than it did on EA/OSI. the polarization of play-styles resultant from the boiling down of the UO player-base combined with the trend toward group combat due to the growing popularity of VOIP has dramatically reduced the usefulness of this template. the two aforementioned factors mean that, respectively, there are less players with middle-of-the-road pvp ability/willingness and that the amount of opportunities for the Poison spell to shine have seen a reduction.

field: disadvantaged. everyone carries cure potions. poison is not often cast.

7x: slightly disadvantaged. fewer dexxers go without magery and more mages react appropriately to poison casts.

The Future

mes and i briefly discussed the merits of "poisoning for mages allows your poisons to penetrate others' magic resist more easily". the idea being that such a change might serve to address a common complaint (that poison is too often resisted). i find the approach of fixing one system by patching another to be bad policy.


Alchemy Mages

History

they never existed IE.

Current State

still don't exist.

i know it seems like i am being lazy here, but what would you have me say?

The Future

i have played servers (Hybrid) where Alchemy mages have been awkwardly-shimmed into the era and found it to be an alienating mechanic that completely changed the meta (e.g. you can't pvp without Alchemy). that being said, it was alienating because i felt forced to learn to use heat-seeking purple macros simply to be able to kill anyone. if the skill would have been balanced properly, then it may have found a place among practical templates, rather than becoming the master-template.

i will say that i do not see "cures lethal poison more reliably" as a very large value-add, however it would add a bit of character to the formulaic "ONE SKILL = ONE BENEFIT" schtick that our beloved UO stubbornly adheres to.

any bonus to the damage done by explosion potions, or the healing provided by healing potions must be *very carefully* measured as it has ruined the field PvP meta of some servers.



Roach Mages

History

the Roach Mage template existed IE as a novelty. many people whom remember the template suffer from confabulation with regard to its pervasion and efficacy. that is to say that Roach Mages were few and that they had very limited usefulness during UO:R on EA/OSI servers.

field: slightly disadvantaged. if you consider "staying alive" to be success, then this template was moderately successful versus dexxers and was crippled by lacking one useful skill versus mages. if you believe that having an offense is important, in either circumstance, this template fell short of practicality.

7x: somewhat successful. although this format brought the same set of advantages and challenges to the Roach Mage template, the pruning of other means of survivability (pots, specifically) gave the advantages of this template somewhat more significance. additionally, the small dueling arenas presented a challenge that the shield was uniquely-qualified to address.

Current State

the mechanics which govern the Parry skill have been called into question on this server. i do not know whether or not they are much different (i believe dalavar is the expert here), but from my limited experience (i do have a character with parry that i have many hours of melee experience with) it seems that the Parry skill does make a consequential difference when fighting melee opponents over an extended period of time. if the two sets of mechanics are as similar as i suspect they are



Conclusion

none of the templates that folks have been reminiscing about have changed all that much with regard to mechanics but rather have declined in utility due to cultural and social factors.
you already know the bad news: we have fewer templates running around in the wild than there were on OSI. the good news is that, since the mechanics here are so similar to OSI, we have a great base to improve from!

on the subject of improvement, let me just caution you that there is such a thing as "too much customization"! Angel Island's implementation of Poisoned Arrows is a strong and clear example whereas things like Hybrid's Alchemy Mage changes are a more insidious example. Telamon know this lesson well and that is clear with his mantra "When you do things right, people won't be sure that you've done anything at all."

Nice story. It's a shame that people seeking for balances which you yourself have accepted are an issue (armor), get trumped into some woeful tale of a Trammel I guess you foresee. From what I recall, you said AoS was some of the best PvP you remember from OSI. I'm not sure what made it so, but could that somehow work without the blessings and Trammel that ruined the overall experience for most? While I like the concept of resistances for elemental damage and modifiers for metal type, I don't think that's going to be a viable thing here. Nor do I want Eval Mages to be a nerfed out of existence. Anyone who doesn't see the imbalance in the field, is just ignorant.

That said, good post Liberation, well said. I think nightshark once went on in detail about how Roaches were a niche thing and only temporary as the benefits were patched out shortly thereafter or some such.