Post: #1

I'd like to say sorry for making threads like that but in one or another way, this forum needs some kick to be more active. Anyway, i have been walking around the internet and kept looking for shard that would suit me. Some of them had like 80% of what i am looking for, but none had main thing to start playing there.

I will try to show you my idea about the shard that i would play. Before i start i just want to say one thing, i am not big fan of new patches i love old feeling of uo as it used to be back in the days.

General info:
- UO:R era
- Hard skill/stat gain (even though its so unpopular among players)
- 700/225 Skill/Stat cap
- Pre-cast OFF
- Chaos/Order guild wars
- Rare colors (such as: cloth dyes, skin dyes, etc.)
- Rare rides
- Weapon enchantment for PVM only
- Taxes (Anarch Cassius)
- Rune weapons (force, vanquishing, etc.)
- Skill synergy (Anarch Cassius)

MAP
Lets face it, UO is not in its peak days so it might be hard to gather player base in nowadays. We all know, Britain map is really big and way too big for small player base, especially if we want them to encounter each others. I have made little image of an idea of starting map for fresh shard just to make community as close as possible to each other.



RED LINE - might be wall or heavy defended point of the map that couldn't be passed by player just to shrink the map.
BLUE CIRCLE - Blue town, starting town.
RED CIRCLE - PK, unguarded town.
GREY CIRCLE - Neutral town, might be used to turn on or off guard zone, etc. Please brainstorm for grey town.

Variations of how town should be made can be changed. Vesper can be Blue town and Cove could be grey one, to be exact as Crafters town with great mines and rare trees.

The main thing what would make a shard ideal for me, is stats and skills with no pre-cast. I just want old good Santiago style pvp.

Help me out and tell me what you think or what would you consider ideal shard for you. And it would be nice if someone would like the idea about my ideal shard.

Post: #2

Well I don't think you're going to get AN ideal shard. The most popular shards I've seen tend to be close to modern EA with good custom stuff. Now I'm not a huge fan of modern EA but I think they made some good changes over the years. Like creating a magic property systems and damage types. Not saying the way they did those is great but it's the sort of system you need to have.

Caps: I agree here but give some limited way to increase those caps. Like the champ scrolls. No caps means everyone winds up with the same build in the end.

Rare colors: Ugh, I like this but it can be taken too far. If every elder player has dayglo everything the game starts to look weird. Keep odd colors and dyes for non-cloth rare.

Rare rides: Well any little custom thing that doesn't clash with the rest is good.

Weapon Enchantments for PvM: I can't stand this idea. My goal has been to REDUCE to differences and make PvP and PvM as close as possible. Better AI, equipment using NPCs. NPCs involved in the guild wars that fight with and against players. I hate it when they just make bosses with a billion hit points and need insane equipment rather than making them smarter and more interesting to fight. I'd greatly reduce the power and commonality of all weapon enchantments but leave them functioning the same versus players and monsters. Make picking your gear a strategic aspect of your build rather than a power creep quest to get a weapon that can hurt bosses fast enough.

Guild Wars: In line with the above I favor an EverQuest like structure. A dozen or more factions on varying terms with each others. Have NPCs help PCs and pick fights based on factions rather than just good/evil. Instead of the silver from killing system I'd like to see taxes on the towns used to generate faction funds. Each faction should have its own specialized NPCs, Items, and other goodies to flesh it out.

Post: #3

Great reply Cassius.

Little bit more about Enchantment. The thing is why I think it would be ok is quite simple. There was familiar shard that is ideal for me and one of the top lacks was - poor loot. I am not saying put tons of crap in it, deco and stuff like that, but in my opinion a Fire Scroll that adds +10 additional damage to monsters and +20 to (for example) Water Dragon would be fun. But your point of view is great too.

I will add to the list of an ideal shard - taxes. Amazing idea and i totally forgot about it because my friend had it in his shard that we used to work at.

Little bit more about caps, thing is i want to keep it balanced. INT adds spell damage, DEX swing speed, STR damage. I want to keep it to players playing skill, rather than stats or items. PVP FTW baby!

Post: #4

I would love to see a shard like this start up. However 100/100/100 is essential to the sant pvp game play. Also things like stamina and fatigue.

Post: #5

Thank you for warm word daggerr4k.

I'd like to explain little bit why i am keeping stats like this. Mainly for classes. I do not like an idea about Mages wearing plate males and weapons with swing speed as warriors. I'd like to keep things strict. As for example, mage comes with low AR in order to be able to cast a spells in a distance without pre-cast. Mage have to be careful since he will get raped by pure warrior (plate male, two handed weapon) in two hits. So close places are essential for warrior to fight against mage. I was thinking about Hiding and Stealth as one of the skills, that could be used to fight mages or archers (even though they are mainly for supporting and PVM). For example warrior could go into hiding or stealth mode without loosing his swing, might be fun to see the fight. In order to do that warrior have to loose one of his skills, at this point it might be parrying what would make him easy pray for MOBS or tank mages.

There can be millions of variations and possibilities. Always thank you for your replies and ideas guys, some of them goes to list. I have to be honest, i am not scripter.. Yes i do know Sphere and i can do simple stuff but nothing fancy so i am not able to make the shard we are talking right now but as little secret between us, i fired up Sphere at my machine and now little by little doing my thing

p.s. I am more into map editing. Love messing with CentrED

I'd like to hear more ideas from you guys, some of them are just amazing. I respect all thoughts so please keep it going.

Post: #6

I have added my idea about the map that could be used. I'd like to know what you think guys.

Thank you.

Post: #7

(07-04-2012 10:54 PM)AngryLocomotive Wrote:  Thank you for warm word daggerr4k.

I'd like to explain little bit why i am keeping stats like this. Mainly for classes. I do not like an idea about Mages wearing plate males and weapons with swing speed as warriors. I'd like to keep things strict. As for example, mage comes with low AR in order to be able to cast a spells in a distance without pre-cast. Mage have to be careful since he will get raped by pure warrior (plate male, two handed weapon) in two hits. So close places are essential for warrior to fight against mage. I was thinking about Hiding and Stealth as one of the skills, that could be used to fight mages or archers (even though they are mainly for supporting and PVM). For example warrior could go into hiding or stealth mode without loosing his swing, might be fun to see the fight. In order to do that warrior have to loose one of his skills, at this point it might be parrying what would make him easy pray for MOBS or tank mages.

There can be millions of variations and possibilities. Always thank you for your replies and ideas guys, some of them goes to list. I have to be honest, i am not scripter.. Yes i do know Sphere and i can do simple stuff but nothing fancy so i am not able to make the shard we are talking right now but as little secret between us, i fired up Sphere at my machine and now little by little doing my thing

p.s. I am more into map editing. Love messing with CentrED

I'd like to hear more ideas from you guys, some of them are just amazing. I respect all thoughts so please keep it going.

Your server will fail simply on the fact that its to much like, guild wars or wow. Even then Tanks can still cast spells. Your taking away from the ultima online experience. Uo used to be all about, Pking, hence the reason to loot people, is the fastest way to get new items. Your right, not many people play uo anymore especially with D3 nd GW2 coming to hit soon and the already huge player base of wow. So good luck. Yeah the t2a map is big but dont go about restricting players where they can and cant go. Thats their choice. Players will just quit if they find that out. my 2 cents good luck tho.

Post: #8

(07-05-2012 04:36 AM)Sypheris Wrote:  Your server will fail simply on the fact that its to much like, guild wars or wow. Even then Tanks can still cast spells. Your taking away from the ultima online experience. Uo used to be all about, Pking, hence the reason to loot people, is the fastest way to get new items. Your right, not many people play uo anymore especially with D3 nd GW2 coming to hit soon and the already huge player base of wow. So good luck. Yeah the t2a map is big but dont go about restricting players where they can and cant go. Thats their choice. Players will just quit if they find that out. my 2 cents good luck tho.

So you would rather have all characters identical? I just don't see the point. I thought the point was picking what skills you want to focus on and be good at.

What you and dagger4k describe does not sound like an MMORPG. It sounds like a 1st person shooter style server using RPG-like mechanics. Just have everyone fight on the same terms while grabbing items.

Not saying that there is no place for that but it seems completely different from the sort of server where people develop unique characters with specialized roles.

I hate arbitrary limits. This is why I hate new EA and WoW. WoW doesn't feel like a persistant world simulation, it barely feels like an RPG, it feels more or less like a sport. Every member of each race starts in the same area and does the same quests. My suspension of disbelief was stillborn. I can't steal, I can't take people's items, I can't start a fight. Unless of course I play PvP where everything is just a giant Horde vs Alliance mess. Ultima started off being about letting you do what. WoW was like, You can do these quests, or you can participate in our severely regulated battle with two pre-defined teams.

Forcing you to choose this stat over that stat, this skill over that skill. That isn't an arbitrary limit, that's the points you work with. 100/100/100 is just as much a limit as 250 total, but it's one without a choice involved. That means less strategy.

And no where am I saying Tank Mages shouldn't exist, just that the old completely well-rounded concept of them shouldn't. Sure you can cast and wear heavy equipment... but your dex is going to be crap and your skill points are spoken for. That's what makes UO cool, you have so many skills to mix and match. Classes are just loose generalizations. But having everyone maxed in everything leaves as little player choice as letting them pick nothing.

Post: #9

I don't think my idea about ideal shard is close to any MMORPG you mentioned. I am keeping everything that UO is special about but adding little bit of a twist at pvp that makes it class based.

You might be right about the map but from my side as player i never used most of those towns, used dungeons and that's it.

I'd like to hear more ideas what could be added.

I also would like to know some thoughts about Rune weapons.
For example it could be like this:

Katana of Force - 25 dmg and it could be smithed into some sort of rare ore for example Black Rock Katana of Force - 32 dmg.

As usual weapons could be found in loot, t-chests, etc.

Post: #10

Forgot one of the most important ones for me, though it'll conflict a bit with cloning UO:R.

Balanced skills: The stats are decently balanced. The skills are not. The weak and useless skills should be buffed and expanded to encourage more possible builds. Skills should be given synergies where reasonable. Having Arms Lore boost both combat and crafting for example means you will see more warrior smiths and at least a few less warriors with smith mules.

Also I prefer the modern properties to the old system. My combat rules are closer to UO:R, though with elements added, but I find the new properties much more fun and flexible.