How COME?

[Brymstone]

I'm sure there is NO way screenshots would be inaccurate as we all know computers don't lie.

[Brymstone]

Im sure someone could go make a private server smake on cheese cake or some server name and put like 3 balrons in the balron room take a screen shot and post it on the fourms and THEN bam the gms will probly ut 3 balrons in the balron room

The screenshot in question was digitally dated. This comment is really insulting because the gms/developers of second age have worked really hard to acheive mechanical accuracy. They are all reasonable people who will make changes based on facts which players research and present.

This is duly noted and Derrick has done a great job, however, a demo disk and some "screenshots" does not ensure total accuracy as far as the combat or spell system. The system was constantly being patched back in the day, I wouldn't be surprised to see it being patched repeatedly today on the OSI run shards.

Patching was an every week event there for a couple months when T2A had just been introduced. The combat system was the most tweaked aspect of the game IMO because one thing would be fixed then another thing would be off, bitch fests would ensue then it would be patched again, lather, rinse repeat. It was the hottest topic of debate so I'm not surprised to see it rise up again here.

Fact remains is that until someone can get ahold of one of the original source codes or developers it's going to be a guessing game. The system in place now is a broken system, it is close to the era but mini heal had a more random amount of damage healed which made it a crap shoot and the recovery time for it's casting wasn't as fast as it is here, that's why nobody used it.

Seriously, if it consistently healed 11-14 (just guessing, I'm not sure of the low or high end amounts) points of damage and could be spammed like it is here it would have been "THE" spell back in the day. Problem is that the damage healed was so random nobody could rely on it because it was more in the 5-10 range and the recovery time was not as fast which made it ineffective for PvP.

[nightshark]

This is duly noted and Derrick has done a great job, however, a demo disk and some "screenshots" does not ensure total accuracy as far as the combat or spell system. The system was constantly being patched back in the day, I wouldn't be surprised to see it being patched repeatedly today on the OSI run shards.

The original source code, screenshot of mini heal during t2a, values taken from the official UO website during those time frames and even after the UO:R patch.. why are we beating this dead horse?

The only argument I can see at this point is that stratics listed a different value for mini heal (I believe that was 11-13). That value is consistent with what is on OSI today. This is trumped by an era screenshot, the demo and official UO website values, though.

[Brymstone]

This is duly noted and Derrick has done a great job, however, a demo disk and some "screenshots" does not ensure total accuracy as far as the combat or spell system. The system was constantly being patched back in the day, I wouldn't be surprised to see it being patched repeatedly today on the OSI run shards.

The original source code, screenshot of mini heal during t2a, values taken from the official UO website during those time frames and even after the UO:R patch.. why are we beating this dead horse?

The only argument I can see at this point is that stratics listed a different value for mini heal (I believe that was 11-13). That value is consistent with what is on OSI today. This is trumped by an era screenshot, the demo and official UO website values, though.

It still doesn't reflect the randomness of the spell, hence that is why it is not mentioned a whole lot in any of the PvP forums. UO Powergamers, The War Hall on Stratics and numerous others seem to miss that spell in their posted PvP tutorials from that era....wonder why? Oh, that's right because no one used it consistently in PvP during the T2A era.

I also fail to see where the Hally mechanics used here are mentioned, I'm sure there would be a tutorial on that subject if in fact it worked that way back then. Especially since hally cycling is the BREAD and BUTTER of tank mage PvP on this shard. Haven't seen hally cycling mentioned.....wonder why? Oh yeah, because there wasn't any (I know it's because we can use Razor nowadays, sorry, not buying it, Easy UO, Adrenaline, and many other third party programs that came out every year were in use and someone would have figured out how to abuse hally cycling if it could have been done back then, fact is it didn't happen, the timers were different back then).

Throw as much stuff up as you want, it doesn't erase the memory of those that played back then, it just didn't work like it works on this shard, regardless of how many screenshots or stratics page info people can dig up.

I know it's a dead horse and nothing will change, which is o.k. because I'm not here for the PvP.

BTW Nightshark, you know for a fact that the original proprietary source code has been obtained from the ENTIRE T2A era, including the patches and has been emulated here in it's entirety? I simply don't believe that.

[nightshark]

The original source code is taken from the T2A demo, which is dated late '98, I believe.

Regarding in era PvP guides.. let's take a look at the stratics one (I did not directly quote as I remember how stupid the essay itself is).

Methods to kill pks:
Method 1 - the ebolt method.
Simply cast ebolt over and over until the PK drops. If the PK doesn't die from this, whip out your katana and hack away.

Method 2 - the energy vortex method.
Simply plop and energy vortex on the tile next to the PK. Dead PK.

UO has been around for 14 years, people have had time to learn every detail of the game and adjust their playstyles as such. UOSA itself has been around far longer than the T2A era itself ever was - combined with fast connections, PvP has evolved. I'm not saying what we have on UOSA is totally accurate to what was in T2A, but the way people fight is never going to be accurate to how people fought in T2A.

[Brymstone]

The original source code is taken from the T2A demo, which is dated late '98, I believe.

Regarding in era PvP guides.. let's take a look at the stratics one (I did not directly quote as I remember how stupid the essay itself is).

Methods to kill pks:
Method 1 - the ebolt method.
Simply cast ebolt over and over until the PK drops. If the PK doesn't die from this, whip out your katana and hack away.

Method 2 - the energy vortex method.
Simply plop and energy vortex on the tile next to the PK. Dead PK.

UO has been around for 14 years, people have had time to learn every detail of the game and adjust their playstyles as such. UOSA itself has been around far longer than the T2A era itself ever was - combined with fast connections, PvP has evolved. I'm not saying what we have on UOSA is totally accurate to what was in T2A, but the way people fight is never going to be accurate to how people fought in T2A.

If a shard is indeed era accurate then T2A is T2A regardless of whether or not it is 1998 or 2018. You don't think we tried every exploit, hack or bug in the pursuit of PvP l33tness? If there would have been hally cycling or mini-heal spamming you can be damn assured someone would have discovered it. PvP back at that time was just as competetive and brutal as it ever was.

I really don't care, I LIKE the mechanics here. Tank mages can pull off some sick shit as compared to back then so by all means keep it as it is. I'm just saying that people shouldn't regard the PvP mechanics here as T2A era accurate, because they simply are not. Dueling here is great cause it can go on forever if you have enough regs and are on a horse.

[4579190a]

way 2 much words now lol

[Brymstone]

Agreed

[4579190a]

lol

[Blaise]

tl:dr

I say to hell with this alleged 'era accuracy', Derrick is doing the best he can to make a FUN shard, that 'harkens' to T2A more than it truly emulates it and I'm fine with that.
I would like to see some tweaks to balance it a bit AWAY from your average fag-mage...errr, sorry, cliche-mag....errr, sorry, tank-mage.
Yes, you can do some 'sick shit' with them, but it's been quite difficult for a stubborn shit like me to get along with my 'gimp' warrior, not using magic.
I've got a sally-mage too, but I hardly ever put him in the field because A) I suck and B) cliche bores me to death.

I'd rather die 100x on a character that is UNLIKE 90% of the shard, than once on a character that is like the rest.
That's just me, but honestly, I think the whole concept of era accuracy should just be dropped, forgotten and ignored so the shard can become what it truly is already. Derrick accurate.

Beauty is in the eye of the shard admin and players, and honestly, he's done a damn good job here, despite the discrepancies in 'era accuracy'. I'm not looking for global changes to cater to my gimp ass, but it would be nice to not feel like I need a mage around to cover me with Greater Heals whenever I leave the safer areas.

That said, I don't care if it ever changes from the way it is now. I play UO for the community and comraderie, so bringing a mage buddy along is actually PART of why I play. Any REAL role playing nerd will admit that a diverse party, is a great party.

Can you imagine what a KKK rally would be like? Everyone looks exactly the same....acts the same (like scum) and talks the same (like goat-roping hilljacks). Sounds like a party I don't ever want to attend.

[4579190a]

lol

[Blaise]

lol

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you'd prefer we express our thoughts through numbers?

[4579190a]

lol

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you'd prefer we express our thoughts through numbers?

wtf?

[Kyrie]

People for sure always used G-Heal back when I used to PvP in T2A.

I think it's the biggest problem with this shard is you shoot for era accuracy mechanics rather than era accuracy gameplay. Despite it being by far the best administered free shard the numbers are a fair bit lower than the other big ones and I'd say the reason for this is because of how gimped it makes certain character classes here.

But I see the point that we'll never get era accurate gameplay no matter how hard you tweak with the server settings because we simply do not have the mass and constant influx of newbs. Also Razor pretty much destroys any era accuracy single handedly. A handful of people used EasyUO or UOX or UOA etc and they weren't half as good as Razor save for a fastwalk hack but about 95% of the population didn't. About 95% of the population do use Razor here. Not to mention we all have broadband now.

So it's a tough one, mangle the mechanics a bit for a bigger player base whilst still trying your best to keep it authentic, but that will piss off the regular die hards that do keep the shard going. Or keep the status quo and have a steady stream of people joining and leaving the shard because it isn't how they remember it, keeping the numbers down to just the hardcore. Also there is no guarantee if you mess with the mechanics of swing timers, mini heal etc that people would actually play here more.

Summary: I don't have a scoobies what's for the best

[Blaise]

lol

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you'd prefer we express our thoughts through numbers?

wtf?

You said earlier something to the effect of "too much words" and considering your name is primarily numbers, it was a joke.
I guess it went over your headtf.