Parry

[Kraarug]

Ok, I have to admit. Although I've had characters on OSI and here on UOSA with GM Parry, one of the things I haven't understood is if it actaully worked differently between melee and missle attacks.

I remember rumors that some magic attacks were going to be treated as missle attacks but I don't think that ever came into fruition with the changes UO:R required for launch.

So, I've looked up this Parry essay and am asking, is this how it works here on UOSA?

http://web.archive.org/web/200003062320 ... yessay.htm

[Kraarug]

Here's something interestesting from that essay...

Using magical clothing/armor of Protection raises parry skill 9.1. There is a bug that will give you different AR depending on what order you put on your shield and magic item of protection.

Parry started in UO alpha as ‘Battle Defense’ and determined how well you defended in combat. Some time before beta, this was changed to ‘parry’ for shield use. The fact that magic items of ‘protection’ raise parry skill (unlike the spell ‘protection’) is an artifact of the old ‘battle defense’ skill.

Do we have this 'feature' in UOSA?

[Derrick]

Parry works on UOSA as described in that article.

We do not have the feature that protection adds to shield AR, I see how this could have happened though, will look into this a little deeper. Thanks!

[ClowN]

i remember the protect items raising parry now. i had forgot all about it before i saw this thread. i would love to see this added here.

[Derrick]

I found another error in the parry formula, in addition to adding the virtual armor modification to shields.
I'm posting to test center in a moment.

[IdleBlade]

I found another error in the parry formula, in addition to adding the virtual armor modification to shields.
I'm posting to test center in a moment.

Will this change make Parry more or less effective?

[Derrick]

With the exception of the addition of the addition of the protection skill modification, now that I'm looking closer it may actually be a wash on the formula change, I think I only ended up simplifying it.

These are the Parry Formulas:

• Displayed AR = ((Parrying Skill * Base AR of Shield) / 200) + 1
• % Chance of Blocking = parry skill / 2
• If Blocked:
  • Melee Damage Absorbed = (AR of Shield) / 2
  • Archery Damage Absorbed = AR of Shield

AR of shield is now equal to the Base AR or shield, plus any magical bonuses or bonus for exceptional (or less or poor), less any wear (durability), Plus any Magical AR bonus due to the protection spell/items.

It will not be less effective.

[MatronDeWinter]

I dont remember parry making that crazy (white ball) parry animation in T2A.

[Eulogy]

There was a Parry revision midway through T2A that made the smaller shields deflect blows more often(the white flash) and absorb less damage per hit, while the larger shields deflected blows less often and absorbed more damage per hit.

Before this revision, everyone would just want the biggest shield possible.
After, the diversity and strategy of melee PvP improved greatly.

[Faust]

That was actually the UOR publish Eulogy...

Parrying
The chance to successfully parry a physical (melee or archery) attack and the amount of damage absorbed upon a successful parry will now depend on the type of shield the character is using and his/her parry skill. The AR rating of a shield will determine it’s effectiveness. Shields with low AR (such as a buckler) will increase your chance to successfully parry a melee attack but will only absorb a small amount of damage. Using a shield with high AR (such as heaters and chaos/order shields) will allow you to absorb more damage but will not successfully parry a melee attack as often. Your parrying skill will increase both your chance to parry and the damage absorbed.

As an example, a fighter with 100.0 parry using a buckler will successfully parry a physical attack approximately 86% of the time. However, the shield will only absorb about 10 points of damage her successful parry. By contrast, a chaos shield used by the same warrior will allow him/her to successfully parry a physical attack about 36% of time, absorbing approximately 48 points of damage. All other shields scale in between those too shields.

[ClowN]

i think the white flash is accurate. not that its a big deal either way but im pretty sure it always did that. i remember macroing parry on blade spirits back in the day, and seeing that white flash animation just spam over my character non stop.

[Daolin]

I recall the early parry wasn't about how many times you were hit. You had to parry larger and larger amounts of damage to raise the skill. Thats why it was so difficult. Eventually you had to fight daemons or something to get higher level gains. Was this pre-T2A?

[Arkon]

I GM'd parry here using Matron's guide by using about 20 various small animals, and it took less than 2 hours from 30. I don't remember it being that easy on OSI. Specifically, I remember Wisps giving the best gains for me for some reason.

[Cutpurse]

I GM'd parry here using Matron's guide by using about 20 various small animals, and it took less than 2 hours from 30. I don't remember it being that easy on OSI. Specifically, I remember Wisps giving the best gains for me for some reason.

My guild used blade spirits.

[Derrick]

I GM'd parry here using Matron's guide by using about 20 various small animals, and it took less than 2 hours from 30. I don't remember it being that easy on OSI. Specifically, I remember Wisps giving the best gains for me for some reason.

My guild used blade spirits.

Aye we did too. Was the only way to do it.
Skill gain of Parry and Ranged/Melee are definately way way faster than OSI.