Patch 5 and the downfall of UO

[Maleficia]

In my opinion it was patch 5 (pub5) on April 27, 2000 was the beginning of the end of UO on the EA shards (I beleive it was still Origin at the time, but it doesn't matter). A summary of what Patch 5 brought is:

Cure Potions: check on potion str v/s the type of poison.

Monster Looting / Fame and Karma: Looting was based on a point system, Karma as well. Those with a cert % of "points" could loot a monster without going grey (Felucca only) and fame and karma points were disrtibuted similar instead of the player with the kill shot getting all.

Skill Changes:
Heal - no longer difficulty based (no need to cure or res to gain healing)
Resist - changes to the anti macro code to look at more variables
Carto - Enter the 99.5 cap on world maps
entice/provoke - changes to the anti macro code to look at more variables
Fishing - Raised rate of skill gain in deep water and lowered the rate of SOS
Lockpicking - Hello 95.0 skill cap on player made chests

New House Designs

Combat:
Archery - damages, speed, and to hit % increased
Poisoning - No longer heal through poison, only 1 handed weps poisonable, Poison skill effects type of poison administered
Parry - Chance to defend and damage absorbed based on type of shield
Lumberjacking - Bonus to damage when an axe is yielded
Two Handed Weps - Hello There Special Attacks (Crushing Blow etc.)
Maces - Restricted Damage and Stamina loss
Armor - Changes to AR and Dex Penalties
Wrestling - Awesome (sarcasm) New special moves (disarm and stun punch)

Misc. Changes
Spell books auto arm when casting a spell

Spells
Recall - But Not when you are flagged as an aggressor or are grey
Magic Reflect - Circle of spell determines chance to bring it down
Reactive armor - Amount absorbed based on Eval, Med, and Inscription
Protection - durration and effectiveness determined by Eval Med and Inscription
Mind Blast - Damaged based on balance of targets stats

Haven for new players

One House Per Account

The Party system
AND HELLO TRAMMEL!!!!

I propose that since this seems to be the line of demarcation for a lot of things that started to end T2A and UO, as well as where the line is drawn on this shard, that pub 5 be the point of no return and is all or nothing.

I suggest that Lockpicking and Carto be returned to what it was prior to pub 5. Healing be made difficulty based again and so on. This publish brought the new houses, Trammel, Special moves, which all have agreed were out of era, but other parts of this publish still remain on this shard. Anyone else's thoughts?

[Derrick]

I suggest that Lockpicking and Carto be returned to what it was prior to pub 5. Healing be made difficulty based again and so on. This publish brought the new houses, Trammel, Special moves, which all have agreed were out of era, but other parts of this publish still remain on this shard. Anyone else's thoughts?

Yeah, that publish was UO:R, we never intended to have anything from that era, it's just a matter of getting it out if it exists.

Nice post, but logistically, If you could provide specific error it'd be really helpful.

[Maleficia]

Sorry Derrick. Lockpicking, Carto, and Healing are certainly what I had in mind when I started looking for the patch information, but after reading the patch changes (and weeping like a baby in the fetal position afterward), I did try to paint with a broad brush. Too broad eh? I was looking for when the changes were made, wasn't sure if it was pub 5 or one of the few right before it.

In T2A you could GM Carto off of world Maps, GM lockpicking off of GM Tinkered chests, and healing gains sped up using poison from 60-80 and res from 80-GM.

[alatar]

Sorry Derrick. Lockpicking, Carto, and Healing are certainly what I had in mind when I started looking for the patch information, but after reading the patch changes (and weeping like a baby in the fetal position afterward), I did try to paint with a broad brush. Too broad eh? I was looking for when the changes were made, wasn't sure if it was pub 5 or one of the few right before it.

In T2A you could GM Carto off of world Maps, GM lockpicking off of GM Tinkered chests, and healing gains sped up using poison from 60-80 and res from 80-GM.

thus 4000 t-hunting characters are born.. the skills are hard to gain for a reason.. it's the most profitable template there is..

[Derrick]

In T2A you could GM Carto off of world Maps, GM lockpicking off of GM Tinkered chests, and healing gains sped up using poison from 60-80 and res from 80-GM.

Aye. Lockpicking is to 95 on player made only by design for economy protection. I wan't aware however that you couldn't gm carto off world maps

[~|~Damaja]

In fact you wouldnt gain healing at all past 60 unless you cured. As the same with ressing past 80. You also had to heal at the lower end of the health bar to gain skill as you got closer to the 60 mark.

This is not the only skill that does not follow accurate t2a gain procedures. Meditation was very much the same. You did not gain skill while passively medding and you had to actively med at the lower end of your mana pool to gain at the higher levels.

Weapon skills gain on misses while it should be like tactics and only gain on hits. Alot of skills are still set like this. magery on fizzles, taming on failures etc. There is documentation to back all these up but I think it is on the back shelf to do eventually or it isn't a big deal atm compared to other stuff? or might just stay like this hehe

oh ya and the UOR patch is our total cut off date for rulesets.

[Gilgamesh]

I agree with the meditation. On free shards I always use the "hat trick" to gain but on OSI I distinctly remember having to meditate at lower levels of mana in order to gain at higher levels of meditation skill.

These types of things I believe are drawbacks of the RunUO system. Archery is messed up and cannot be fixed either.

[Derrick]

Archery is messed up and cannot be fixed either.

Everything can be fixed.

[Gilgamesh]

I don't know the first thing about coding for UO free shards but I was told by a programmer for another shard that with RunUO you can't make archery work the way it's supposed to in t2a. Something about insta-hit (which archery didn't have during t2a).

[Derrick]

I don't know the first thing about coding for UO free shards but I was told by a programmer for another shard that with RunUO you can't make archery work the way it's supposed to in t2a. Something about insta-hit (which archery didn't have during t2a).

The insta hit isn't quite right currently, but it is being corrected and this will fix the archery issues as well.

Not really wanting to turn this into a technical thread, but RunUO is just software, some changes require more work than others, but there's really nothing that can't be done within the limitations of the client. And as a kudos to the RunUO core coders, they've really made modifications like this probably as easy as they can possibly be. Modern RunUO shards run on an engine that is far superior to what was even possible in the T2A era.

[Gilgamesh]

The guy that said that used POL software.

[~|~Damaja]

I don't know the first thing about coding for UO free shards but I was told by a programmer for another shard that with RunUO you can't make archery work the way it's supposed to in t2a. Something about insta-hit (which archery didn't have during t2a).

I have also mentioned this about archery to. But couldn't find any proof that it didnt instahit. Actually the only thing I did see was in the recent patch notes from late 97 published to the t2a wiki mentioned archery now has a 1 second delay from equiping to when damage is done to target. Which might be what I was remembering about archery not instahitting. 1 second isnt alot but its still another second added to the already slow shot timer for bows.

also how is instahit not working correctly atm? something to do with reuip timers?

[Gilgamesh]

I've never been big on finding patch notes for proof. The proof for me was playing it. Also anyone who played saw the huge numbers of archers pre-t2a and the massive switch to mostly swords mages during t2a.

I can't really test pvp stuff yet because my character is still a total noob but I'm looking forward to it.

[brandonsantacruz]

I'm still waiting for longer spell timers to get melee ppl a chance. Either that or a pile of magic reflect equipment

[ironfistmax]

I don’t understand why I keep hearing dexxers don’t compare to tank mages. The PvP balance between Tank Mages and Dexxers is almost perfect. Making spell timers the length you want will kill off every mage on the shard. If that’s what you want, fine, but don’t make ignorant remarks about dexxers.

Not only are dexxers as strong and powerful as mages, they can be even almost unbeatable if played by an experienced PvPer. The only reason I play a mage over a dexxer is because I want some challenge when I fight. If I played a dexxer, I would lose probably 1 out of 50 times.