SphereCommunity

Hello ,
I've started working on a new project called Darkshire. I'd like some help testing this server. It's in BETA right now and you should receive lots of items in the bank to help you test. It's using 56c and it's script pack. I'll report all general issues back here on spheresvr forums to be addressed within the default pack, so your not only helping me but your helping sphere itself so without further a due, the website is http://www.darkshireuo.com please log in and give us a test! looking forward to seeing you on the server.

server information:
version 56c Nightly
script pack 56 Nightly
server location Ohio
login server ip darkshire.servegame.com
port 2593
website http://www.darkshireuo.com

Thanks,
Soulless

I logged on yest and had a look around. It seems you have taken scripts from a variety of script packs and fixed them / tailored them to your shard pretty well. I would help test but i don't like pre-casting sooozzz.. good luck

thanks. yeah some scripts like the online. and housing system are taken from mordaunt. and i have a crafting system from i don't know who. mostly things i didn't want to do. a lot of the scripts on there are my custom scripts that i made though. i just don't feel like doing some things =D which is what mordaunt is for anyways haha.

Soulless, looks cool (so far what i found from website)

Hey soulless your joinuo link re-directs to the sphere site rather than darkshire.

Yah, it wouldnt let me use my site for the longest time. i had to like PULL TEETH to get the link fixed by an admin. it took like 9 correspondence to get them to do it.

just joined it today, i won't be too quick to judge so i'll start with first impressions:

Joining the game: Good enough for me! compatible with multiple versions of the game so life made easy. nice choice

Character created: The moment i entered the game, i saw a huge number of dialog boxes appear immediately. a tad over-whelming. I took my time and navigated through the options. There were 8 PVP classes and 3 merchant classes. As i have an interest in PVP, i naturally took one of them. I love the melee combat system in UO, so i took the Draconian class (evil).

Upon getting through all the menus, I found i was in the tower near brit. there were 3 afk players next to me with weapons attacking an NPC called "sparring partner". I assume this is purely for grinding. Was kinda disappointing to see that there's a section of the game dedicated to taking the player out so they can leave their computer on for their characters can buff up.

I then proceeded to look at the level system. I haven't worked out everything about it yet, but I've learned that you need so many ranks to gain a level, and leveling upgrades your stats. There is also an experience system which applies to weapon skills, which is quite a creative idea on slowing down skill progression.

I then went on to look in my backpack, i double clicked a green bag which then exploded with items. there was a book that granted me 3 extra 60.0 skill slots straight off the mark, which meant i had to pick some that wasn't my 2 50 skills from creation to get the most out of it. There was also a potion that granted me stats such as str, dex and int. it was kinda strange, it didn't tell me how much i would be getting, but as a fighter, i took 2 str and 1 dex. I also got a full bag of regs and to my disappointment a full spellbook.

First Impression Overall: Mixed feelings about this server. Upon entry I receive a boat-load of messages which to someone without patience could miss out on a lot (especially a new player, as i have about 8 non-uo players interested in playing on a server with me). From the word go there are players grinding for skills on static npcs which means you can't play the game to your full potential unless you left the cpu on with your character hitting an invul npc for hours. This, is not fun as the experience of the game came from leveling through adventure, not through stand-still grinding.

The class system is an interesting idea, but i feel it hasn't been utilized very well (unless i'm missing something). From first glance, it seems that each class only affects the initial stats of the character (e.g. my class is mainly str and archers are typically elves with high dex ect.). UO as a whole had the problem that melee and archery was flat-out out-classed by mages, which yet again seems to be the focus in this shard over any other skill.

But that's enough of the negatives, i'll say something positive now. The shard stats, level system and function options are beautifully organised. Although the servers not newbie-friendly, it does appeal to the experienced player. The towns are fully spawned and the NPC's display clearly what their profession is.

What's Next?: I won't stop here, I have only shown my first impression of the server, so i will be exploring the map, looking at ALL skills and experiencing PVP. The starting items are fair and quite generous and the class system has potential.

Hey there UltimaAku, thanks for reviewing the server and giving some feedback. It's always great getting input from players/testers that we can use.

A bit of a response here for potential issues.



sorry about all the dialogs havent found a better way to equip players with essential knowledge than shoving it in their face right away

The sparring partners will only take you to 100.0 , the skill max is 150.0. So players are forced to progress their last 33% of the skill on monsters in the open world or a more traditional method.

the class system is really just a race system, which depicts what race you have. it has special abilities like faster xp gain, bonus with axes, etc. there is also race items taht only certain races can use. the races are basically just to split the factions up , and allow some personalization of your character. if your a pretty basic guy who just wants to go in and have simple choices and an easy start human is pretty straight forward. if players like archers they can pick from basically any of the elves. and the melee classes split you up between mace fighting, swordsmanship, axes, etc. or there is a few races that are good with spells. the different races just adds an extra to it isntead of just having 3 factions, you can pick your preferred race. (coming up there is going to be perks you can select that allow you to truly customize your character (much like diablo 2) with perks and new abilities. )

The spellbook received is only half full, you can purchase a full spellbook for a chunk of change on the supply vendor.

on darkshire we attempt to balance the melee vrs magery. Running while casting has always been a huge advantage for any spellcaster in sphere, and most players who play sphere desire to move while they cast, which often times creates a huge disadvantage for melee players. armor affects spell speeds, so heavy armor can really only be used by melee players. heavy armor also effects the spell strength, and will give you additional protection from spells. but as we go, this is work in progress.

hope to hear more from you soon, and really appreciate your feedback! Glad to hear your getting some new players into UO, it's a great game taht people should experience atleast once!

Why not a tutorial entrance? take advantage of map 1 use arrow items to guide the player and allow them to learn the very first steps of the game with stones that can be used to select a class.

Thank goodness for the spellbook. only half full isn't so bad. but it does cut half of the scrolls out as "usless", however i still believe a full spellbook shouldn't be obtainable without scrolls or inscription.

When I was planning on hosting a server, i created a few ways to combat magery without the need of nerfing it too much, but of course if they countered magery, they had to have draw-backs. if i get chance i'll show you a few ideas

I'm standing on 115.0 swordsmanship and i've just been stood there with the sparring partner, maybe a script problem?

As for the new players, newbie friendly is the biggest factor for this, as if they don't know what they are doing, they will lose interest very quickly, and UO is a game that's difficult to make newbie friendly.

Now to continue my review. This is the second day and I decided to go hunting. I used melee as my main method of hunting to begin with so I was expecting to have some trouble with the higher mobs...

As a beginner, rather than starting in a dungeon, i went to a graveyard, where i might find some easy opponents. I traveled to Vesper Graveyard as it was one of the biggest, only to my surprise it was unusually under-whelming...

I encountered 5 mobs and 1 re-spawned on me, all had level 1 above their heads. It was pretty easy. I noticed all the level 1's were carrying worn or warped equipment, so i compared it to my own. I could hardly tell the difference. As i left the graveyard and followed the road, i saw a mass collection of healers... I don't know why, was just seriously confused XD. I then ran to the desert near the green fields and encountered my first level 2 mob, the mud golem. I thought "heh, easy" so i went in, only to receive 38 HP damage on the first hit. Well that was a suprise, i just had to kill it, something tough enough to fend me off that much has to have at least a good gold pool. So i attempted to use every bandage I had... over and over because my healing wasn't trained very high and said "screw it" and chugged pots. After backing off another time, i finally killed it, and looked in his body, and found... the same as the level 1 loot... darn...

I assumed there was a rarity drop on them, so I fell back to find a lvl 2 Scorpion. The fight was much easier, but it did leave me poisoned... Deathly sick... luckily i had a cure potion so I was ok . I encountered a strange set of earrings, known as "earrings of perfection" and when i clicked it, it said "rare item, DEX+5". I concluded that this was a random tier 2 drop I just found. but also it made me question "why would i fight that mud golem if i can find much weaker level 2 creatures?". I did just that by finding undead level 2 monsters in deceit, and collected a good number of rare drops.

I pushed my luck and attempted higher level mobs with the equipment i had, and found i struggled most at level 4 +. My only known problem is, i could wager if i was an archer, i could fight the majority of the higher level mobs.

My Experience: The dungeons I visited (covetous and Deceit) were nicely presented and well-spawned, but the overworld was a little messy. The level system is not an accurate guide to a mobs strength unless you begin to aim higher in the level bracket. Archers dominate the PVM system as melee does not work against middle-ground monsters.

I believe that melee was made to work if the user had a heavy set of armor, which could only be obtained through blacksmithy or hunting. This means it's a redundant skill until you have already made progress, which again is the case for the majority of UO servers.

Overall: I can see much potential here, the choice to have a specialized class for each combat method is good. It could be improved by making a unique skill or attribute for a race (e.g. mage race can sacrifice a burst for health for mana with a cooldown, warrior race can resist all damage for 3 seconds with a cooldown, archer race gains triple dex for 3 seconds with cooldown ect.). This would open a lot of options for the player without making it too complicated.

The overworld needs a little tidying up, i'm not sure why there are healers scattered across the road from minoc, and I even encountered a scavenger hunt event chest from an old event.

I believe the training tower should be flat-out ditched and replaced with a newbie dungeon. the experience of the game comes from adventure, not afk training. I had far more fun hunting mobs than standing still hitting a sparring partner.

I still want to test 2 more features of the server before I conclude my research:

1. PVP Locations and environment.
2. Hunting down the champions (high tier mobs)