Some Issues of Concern

[Shadow Walker]

Having been active on Whispering Pines for a few months, I've noticed some things that concern me, as a Ranger / Tamer. Last night, I was training up a rune beetle and noticed that it was no longer gaining combat and magery skills. A posting from this forum flashed into my mind. I added up the skill points and the total was precisely 700.0 - the HARD SKILL CAP for pets that exists on this shard. I knew this from having read the warning post about pet power scrolls. I can not help but wonder WHY pet power scrolls would exist at all on this shard if a pet skill of cap 700 is fixed and immutable.

Tonight, I took my pets to Twisted Weald to attempt killing IRK. We succeeded, but a paragon IRK spawned so quickly, my pets and I were all killed. Thanks to Chica, I was able to regain my gear. After ressing and healing my pets, I noticed one had stat losses in resistances and damage output. I figured I would hunt with them for awhile and, like the combat and magery points, the resistances and damage output would be restored. NOT SO. I talked to Falkor, who explained that those stat losses were permanent on WP. WHY???? Players can get self repair deeds off the token stone to essentially ensure that armor will not disintegrate, yet we tamers are told that our pets will eventually degrade and will need to be replaced???? This is just wrong!!!

Add to this the number of mobs on this shard that (apparently by design) are intended to kill pets quickly and it is hard to avoid feeling that Whispering Pines is not a tamer-friendly shard, in SPITE of the mythology of guardians and the special class of Rangers who protected the environment and the good of the world.

I would like to ask the owner and staff of Whispering Pines to review and discuss the issues I've raised in this post. One of the things OSI and probably every freeshard struggles with is game balance. I believe that this shard has an environment that is biased against tamers and their pets. I urge the owner and staff to get rid of pet stat loss, increase or eliminate pet skill caps beyond 700, so that rune beetles and pet power scrolls can become viable.

I mean no PERSONAL affront to GhostRiderGrey or anyone on staff, but I believe my points are valid and should be considered.

[Falkor]

Lately there has been grumbling about how things here are too inflexible. Whispering Pines was formed not to be the perfect shard for everyone but to be the ideal shard in the eyes of its founders. It is this goal that has kept the shard's direction steady for almost six years now. If you try to please everyone you will end up pleasing no one!

Some facts:

Pets wear out. If your pet suffers enough stat loss over time that you think it is no longer effective, tame another. The whole system is designed so that no pet lasts forever. If they did, what fun would it be after a few months?

There are pet killers in the game. Some mobs do more damage to pets than they do to players. These approaches are used to keep certain areas challenging. What fun would the game be if any player could tame a wyrm or two and then clear out any boss they wanted to? They'd be bored with the shard after a week. Nothing here is impossible - some areas just take more ingenuity to figure out a plan of attack. This is an excellent example of shard balance, something that is continually fine-tuned as the shard evolves.

Pet power scrolls were discussed in another recent thread. They are primarily for bio-engineered humanoid pets because with them you can set skills up/down just like your own, allowing you to precisely control the point distribution. The cap of 700 is still in place but you can decide which one(s) you want to reach 120 by sacrificing points in other areas. Some freshly-tamed pets have a skill total over 700, a bonus they keep until the points are lost due to death.

[Shadow Walker]

"Whispering Pines was formed not to be the perfect shard for everyone but to be the ideal shard in the eyes of its founders."

That pretty much tells the story. As I said, It's your way or the highway.

I disagree with everything you said, Falkor, especially the part about pets wearing out. But, you people who own and direct this shard have the dominant voice and the "hammer" to go with it. So, we tamers either "suck it up" and endure the restrictions ... or we go elsewhere.

Shadow Walker

[Artemis Entreri]

I actually think the stat loss was a great idea. What is the fun if you have the same pet forever? Just like in real life, pets eventually die. Most people move on and get a new pet. Yes, some pets are harder to tame than others, but that also keeps the economy going.

[GhostRiderGrey]

That pretty much tells the story. As I said, It's your way or the highway.

As a shard, we will never make everyone completely happy. That is an impossible task, as what is perfect to one person may not be to another. There has to be some sort of guiding principle. In the case of WP, the first admins and I designed a shard that we would like to play in. We had see far too many shards where pets easily became uber pets and were the end all, be all. We wished to avoid that, and put measures in place to assist with that. You are free to disagree with those measures. For our part, we must keep in mind the overall balance of the shard as a whole, and feel that pets as currently configured are working well within that framework.

We are happy to hear comments and concerns regarding the shard. Over the years, we have made many changes after a player suggestion/concern and will continue to do so, where prudent. For more insight as to the philosophy of the shard, see this.

GhostRiderGrey

[Exodus]

While it is true that most high end stuff.. peerless and dungeon bosses destroy pets.. the strongest Pets serve as a good crutch to prepare yourself for the high end content. Steel steed can help at champs and my Bio can solo some champs but pets are far from the best template. I haven't taken a pet hunting in ages and can kill all peerless solo as well as solo oaks in under 30 mins. If you want to kill powerful stuff.. even paragon thunder wyrms.. you have to mix Up playstyles and have multiply sets of gear. The point I'm making is that the shard enables all content to be done solo and petless.. you just have to figure it out

[Exodus]

And futher, there's not really anything to suck up about being a tamer. It's possible to kill every dungeon boss and get a full set of crusader or tainted gear while wearing star hunter armor. And star hunter armor is obtainable by wearing starter gear and using a bow. I don't see where there's any sucking up.

P.S. Irk is a peerless key monster and if his paragon is causing you trouble, you might not be ready for Dreadhorn.. just sayin

[Forgepriest]

Ok .....

I am sorry for being out of foruns lately ..... but this discution is pointed to me by two other players and i decide to "break the ice" and say some words ....

I am in this shard almost 4 mounths now ..... i do like it a lot, i defend it for some friends that come here and dont like it, and when i am asked about a shard, i always let them know about this one ..... i vote here, i wanna see more and more people ...... but i see some fails that really dislikes me .... and this discution is one of them ....

Let me start saying that i do belive in the staff, that they pursue a balanced game, but we need to see sometimes that we are wrong ..... and especialy, we need to see when is a preference and not balance what is propose ....

This shard has lots of kind of pet killers, let me mention some, Spectral Pet killer, Beast Wax, Chuck Noris, are some names in the list .....

A balance game is a game that any build can do it, alone or in party .... in some areas tamers just CAN'T GO, and i mean tamer .... not our friend Exodus, that is here from the begning and has a lot of sets and change builds as he pleased, i mean the ones that like to play as tamers ..... a tamer dont go in Destard level 03, lots of Best Wax (3), and monsters dificult to kill such as Ancient Wyrm.

For me is not a balanced game .... for me is a clear game that teach us not be a tamer. Yes, as someone says above "just tame a new pet" but this person dont think how hard is to tame a good new pet ..... it took me 3 months to get a white wyrm level 30 (to tame one with this maximum level), i still can't get it a Raibow/Thunder/Hurricane/Rain/Light Pet with maximum level above 27 .... and i am working a full mounth now .... i dont even try to get a Legendary Wyrm .... wich i belive a good one (at least maximum level 27) is gonna be dificult to get .... after i get a good pet and train it, i will go in a area that a stupid pet such as a spectral one can kill it in 2 hits is not fair .... and in some places every mob has at least one of them .....

Guys .... raissing taming skill is not easy one .... yes we have Brush but after taming 110 uping with brush is a process that i dont recomend .... and i am not talking about animal lore and veterinary ..... and we are not going to talk about getting a PS of one of this skills above 115 and 120 .....

After all of this dificulties of the game ... to become a good tamer, every time my pet dies i lose permanent points .... i mean .... why to be a tamer so? to pass for all of this?

So for those who likes to be a tamer it is not fair ......

Let me say this .... i am not asking to get off the pet killers .... not asking to get off points loses when a pet dies, i am saying that at least the pet losses are not permanent ones ...... because that is definely not balanced in my vision .... and in the vision of some people in the shard such as Shadow Walker .... just ask in public channel to see it .....

My thanks for the time ....

Forgepriest

[Shadow Walker]

THANK YOU, Forgepriest! I am sincerely grateful for your support - you are the only one who has risen to defend my points of view. While I would like to see all of the changes I suggested implemented, I would be happy if GhostRiderGrey and the staff would eliminate PERMANENT STAT LOSS and allow pets to regain their ALL of their stats, including resistances, damage output, combat and magery skills after being killed. That change alone would be sufficient for me to try again to find ways to deal with the toughest mobs on WP.

GhostRiderGrey, you said you have implemented player suggestions in the past - can you not compromise on this one issue now? Of course, toning down the pet killers would be a greatly appreciated change as well.

Again, Forgepriest, you were the only player who supported my concerns and I am very grateful to you.

Shadow Walker

[Falkor]

There will always be areas of the game that cannot be defeated using a particular play style. Some mobs can't be killed using direct mele - it would be suicide for any player with any equipment. Some are easier to defeat using magery, or ranged weapons, or (gasp) pets. Others have 100% ranged damage reflection so your best bet is to attack directly. You have to discover which approach works in each situation.

UO is a game without an end. That's why it is completely reasonable to spend months finding the perfect pet. Treated well it will last for years. Treated as a meat shield it will need to be replaced much sooner. Both are perfectly acceptable ways to use them. Every player with a bio pet or steel steed has 120 or more taming, and they all took the same route you're on to get there. Have patience and you'll reach it just like they did.

The pet configuration will remain as it is; it's a fundamental principle of the shard. The easiest way to prevent stat loss is to keep your pet from dying. You can kill pet killers before they reach your pet. You can get the stronger heal spells to replenish their health. You can lean which mobs hit too hard to use pets.

Don't assume that we don't understand the resulting game play. Staff comes from the shard player base so we've been in the game here since the beginning.