Again, you seem to have a problem with the time frame. I'll go through it again...Artemis wrote:
I remember it perfectly, that instant hit patch was Feb 99. An I could even go over how I discovered instant hit combos, what led me to discover them. I even remember my char stats and skill in Dec 98, and how Jan 99 I decided I been killed by too much by cheating and started actively cheating myself.
The 80+ dmg hally hit was a part of the an old combat system, that came DURING and instant hit combo, I wasnt hunting rats when it happened, I killed my friend with it in front of a large group an we all said wtf, most stating that had to be a vanquishing halberd, which I didn't confirm or deny. The combat system was a lot more buggy than people realize, no charts you can find will get this set correctly and faithfully.
And you are mistaken about Tactics determining hit/miss, I have the Prima guide sold the same time this game was released('97) with all the original equations for combat spelled out better than stratics. Tactics never determined hit or miss, it was always attackers weapon ability VS defenders weapon ability determining hit and miss.
And the reason for One hit kill weapons wasnt the combat system, it was the old magic weapons system. Ruin +5 dmg, might+10, force+15, power+20, vanq+25. Heavy X bows 56 max dmg +20% str dmg bonus+ 25 magic damage
56+12+25=93 dmg, which few had 90+ hps back then.
When they changed the magic weapons tables, they couldnt change current weapons that had already been looted/already in players inventories and banks, so older magic weapons had a high $$$ value amongst players and were called "Pre-Patch weapons" because they still had the old magic damage bonuses on them. There was a trick to tell if a paticular magic weapon was pre-patch or not. Pre-Patched weapons were very MUCH a part, a small part of T2a era until they all gradually decayed out of existence.
People thinking tactics determining hit/miss was also a common misconception when people 1st started out in this era.
Im not trying to be an ass, I just have a good fucking memory
And I just have a problem with these player run shards were everyone has million gold running around with 100str, 25 dex, 100 int, x7 GM and calling it T2a and wondering why they aren't having much fun. People should be struggling and its the stats, skills gains, and easy loot preventing the true "old feeling" from being there. Its too fucking easy, an then its "just oh, well you will never get that feeling again". You might say im a bit bitter from getting dick teased by 3 other shards claiming they were going in the right direction when they didnt have a clue
- Insta hits were not part of the old system. The patch notes support this, and your own descriptions support this as well. The old combat system which yeilded instant kill, one hit weapons, as in you double click the person, and they die if you hit. The insta hit system yeilded combos that would kill a person with less than ~80-85 life under ideal circumstances. There is a significant difference between the two.
- The Prima Official Guide for Ultima Online had a copyright date of 1998, not 1997 like you claim. If you actually had the guide, you would also notice that on the cover there is a GIANT picture of the Ultima Online Second Age box cover. Thus, the guide came out, at the earliest, near the beginning of T2A (and from some of the information in the guide, it is unlikely that it actually made it out until December or January of the next year). Seeing as the new combat system came out only a month after T2A released, and was in testing at the release, its obvious that the Prima guide would have information about T2A in it, including the new combat system, where weapon skill did determine hit rate.
- All old weapons were converted to the new weapon system. If you read the patch notes for the actual update you would see that took place. The weapon balancing pass of Febuary 98 created pre and post patch weaponry, not the November 98 patch.
<- course no one in that guild wore tags cause it was a thieves guild. Amongst some others.
