Truths about this Era - The Way it Was

[BloodyBandage]

Could you cast a spell with a weapon EQUIPPED in T2A?

No. Parry Mages weren't popular in this era for this simple reason. Unequipping both a weapon and shield to cast took too much time. Hence the Hally mage is born.

Could you cast a spell with a weapon equipped in Dreadlord days, I.E. before T2A?

Yes....you could also just around with a bow/heavy xbox and fire shots WHILE moving/running. You could also OUTRUN someones melee swing, hence the birth of the 'insta hit' to avoid DODGING the animation of someones hally. I remember dodging peoples melee animation all the time vividly pre T2A. You could also cast in Full Plate since the skill Meditation did not exist. Remember full plate mages? Everyone used Archery, bone or full plate in this era. If you had 85 magery you were a God. They saw lack of balance and made it so you had to make a CHOICE; you either have great armor and slow mana regen, or no armor and mana regen. Naked mages with a robe are the NEW NORM in the T2A era as people realize wearing any armor, even leather is not worth the offset of mana regen speed.

Is Pure Mage New Speak?

Yes, Every Mage (at least the best) in T2A Had this basic Template: Swords, Tactics, Wrestling, Magery, Magic Resist, Meditation, Evaluating Intellgience. They would get off your reflect, precast exp, get a hally hit, unequip wep, confirm target, ebolt, confirm target, and if not dead do a poison or keep on them with a weapon. Explode Ebolt Hally IS the staple of this era. Not defensive templates with 'pure magery' as that template was not the norm or even effective.

Is a Heal Mage foreign to T2A?

A Mage in the sense of no fighting weapons is NOT the norm or even effective during this time. The idea is a mage with 25 dex with PreCast enabled turns a slow Hally into a 40 point wrecking machine. How would you finish off an opponent? Most fights always come down to getting "the kill shot". It was only after T2A that stun mages and these abominations started creeping around. Explode Ebolt Hally is as cliche as this time era for a reason.

If you have troubles remembering (hell, we all do by now) just look to what was the most common template played. As players, we and others adjusted to have the greatest advantage during the time era. In PreT2A it was scary bone armor wearing heavy xbow wielding mages running after you while shooting after a Dexxer in Full Plate using Parry. T2A was a paradigm shift where skill based PvP, or Magery became the new norm. People packed away their armor and bows for the new powerhouse template. The PreCasting Insta hit death dealing Explode Ebolt Hally Mage. A dexer played well could still exist in this new paradigm shift but they needed to be equipped well for the new world. They also needed to embrace Magery. Surviving mana dumps relying on interrupting hits/bandage timer was not going to win consistently. So every template in this era used Magery. Whether for offense or defense it was in every great players template. Parry would survive the shift but the Full Plate took a back seat to "Dexer suits" where the helm was plate, neck was a plate/leather gorget and the rest was Chainmail to limit dex loss (a Dexer's life depends on his speed).

Did only Hally Mages and Chainmail Parry Dexers with Magery thrive?

Of course not. You people are resourceful! Stealth brought a new dynamic to the game. Stealing could be used strategically. Full Plate had its pros and cons and simply looked badass. Magic weapons did make a difference in some fights but not much (they are risking it and it should). These were all 'fun templates' as they were good for non-conventional things but when it came to 1 vs 1 combat you either were Explode Ebolt Hallying, or you were applying a bandage, babysitting your healthbar and chasing after the guy trying to Explode Ebolt Hally you.

Post T2A was the era of the true griefers as stun mages/disarm thieves were annoying as hell. I don't know much about the Post T2A era, but I have played UO since 98...but don't take my word for it. Use simple logic and understand why templates were popular in what eras. I haven't had a chance to play this shard that much but what I hear and tested with the spells this IS the closest to "the way it was". My best friend was the statloss Pk Syntax on Atlantic if anyone remembers. I also played Chesapeake for a bit with my brother Falar and friend Beast. Anyone remember Papa Woody, Escobar and Barry Manilow on Atlantic...remember fighting them. Fought this guy Cloud a lot on Chesapeake.

[alatar]

I have no problem killing people with a heal mage & a lightning wand, it's all about how you place/time your spells, especially now with mini heal weakened..

[Thomas2641]

In the first part of T2A you could cast with weapons in your hand. They implemented the hands-free casting between expansions - before Renaissance!

[DemonArkanis]

I have no problem killing new people people who rarely pvp with a heal mage & a lightning wand, it's all about how you place/time your spells, especially now with mini heal weakened..

fixed this for ya

[alatar]

oh thanks i appreciate that, tell me you aren't playing now because.. oh you ran out of magic reflection items, that's right ;\

/humor

[weedsmoke]

i got a bunch i dont use from mantle. someone should tell him to play again.

[Storm]

i got a bunch i dont use from mantle. someone should tell him to play again.

ahem.

[Slyfox]

If possible is there any way u could post the hally mage temp with correct stats and skills

[Loathed]

Hally mage Template, w/ correct stats and skills:

Magery
Eval Int
Meditation
Magic Resist
Wrestling
Swordsmanship
Tactics

100 str, 100 int, 25 dex.

[Chemistry]

For my Tank mage (ie Hally mage) i go with.

Magery
Meditation
MagicResist
Eval Int
Swords
Tactics
Anatomy

I sub in anatomy for wrestle. It seems to be worth it when i get that finishing blow with the halbred. I dont get interrupted much. Just seems to work for me.

[Teknix]

this is my hybrid character. it did well in pvp matches against your standard tank/hally mage. i had the most problems with macers/healing mages

fencing
tactics
anatomy
healing
med
magery
resist

i forget the stats, but i remember i had to cast bless on myself to cast 8th level spells, if i wanted to have that ability. i changed the stats up several times

100/100/25 worked well with factions, but i couldn't cast FS

95/90/40 worked great b/c i could precast FS anytime. that with a DP kryss or long spear would hurt

99/96/30 just seemed to work better, but i relied on bless a lot, so that could hurt me in pvp matches in certain situations

i used the mini heal to my advantage many times. i was never really worried about losing because i had 3 strong ways of healing (bandaids, pots, mini heal). my best chance at winning would be in the first minute or so. otherwise it usually ended with me running out of potions or the other person running out of mana, both shitty ways of losing IMO.

[alatar]

95/90/40 worked great b/c i could precast FS anytime.

No it wouldn't.. Spells do little damage without eval, so your flamestrike against 100 resist would do about 12 damage..

[Teknix]

true, the no eval thing hurt a lot when people had high resist. but the gm magery helped a lot. strong miniheals (11 points i think...) the FS would always suck, don't get me wrong. also, not everybody had gm resist, so damage would vary a lot.

the 99/96/30 was the best balance to me. i hit plenty fast (with bless it was as fast as it could be) and i had plenty of mana to mess around with.

[Squealer]

what about eval instead of med on that temp?
i know mana would be a bitch 2 gain, but you would have a dangerous finish???

[DemonArkanis]

oh thanks i appreciate that, tell me you aren't playing now because.. oh you ran out of magic reflection items, that's right ;\

/humor

I have about 3 whole bags full of them actually. If you must know ive just been busy with work