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Rofl...  I didn't even check the date on the op.  Well, talk about resurrecting a dead thread...  lol

Welcome to Pandora, Integ!   

Welcome to Pandora, Cory.  I'm sure you'll enjoy it here.  Let us know if you need help with anything

I'm guessing you'd like the hp on Neira to be changed to better reflect what UOGuide has listed.  However, this isn't OSI, and if her hp were changed, I'm sure they were changed for a reason.  Neira can be brought down, it just may take more than one person to do so.  Try getting a good group of people together to fight her next time, and maybe the results will be better. 

I'm sure there are many folks on this forum much better qualified to troubleshoot this problem than I, but to try to rule out server-side issues, you might try the following:

Try running a traceroute to the server.  (Windows is Tracert, Linux is Traceroute)This can show abnormalities in ping between different hops along the way to the server.  I just ran mine (Windows machine) using 'tracert play.pandorauo.com' for an example, and show 15 hops between my box and the server, with the slowest return being 40ms.  My avg roundtrip is 52ms.

If you do happen to notice a spike in one of the hops, try running the traceroute again, using that location as your destination.  Does it return the same ping?

With that done, if you are on a Windows box, run 'pathping play.pandorauo.com'.  This will do the same as trace route, but provide more detailed information concerning dropped packets and such.  It'll take about 6 minutes to run, but with the information in-hand, you should be able to call your ISP and help them narrow down the problem and make adjustments to better their service to you.

Have you noticed that your ping spikes happen during a specific time of day?  Perhaps there is a connection between a business running some massive backup that happens to run through the same hop as you do, backing things up?  Another issue that may or may not affect you could be the relays in your local ISP hub.  We were having similar issues last summer, and came to find out a temperature regulator switch in the nearby hub had burnt out, meaning the entire board was overheating and impacting everyone in the neighborhood.  These are just a couple of the things to consider, if the problem persists...

Hope your situation gets resolved soon, and good luck!

I started assembling Virtue suits, but it just isn't going to be cost-effective for me to do, with the price of the cloak being 500k each.  I've got seven suits that need cloaks, so that would run 3.5 million gold, and I'm thinking that kind of moolah would be better spent elsewhere.  I'm wondering if we shouldn't just go with 70s leathers with or without LRC to begin with.

Again, I'm not looking to give the new players gear that is going to last them months.  Just long enough to get them through a few hunts so they can afford to begin upgrading, piece-by-piece, like most of us have.

Thanks for getting it posted up, Tys!  Hope it helps explain things a bit better for folks. 

With the influx of new players recently (woohoo!!!!), I've noticed a lot of folks (myself included) dashing around trying to come up with some decent starting gear while answering as many of their questions as possible.

Now, I realize we have a great resource in Insula for new players to dig through, and I wouldn't want it's value to be diminished, but would there be any interest from current players to contribute to New Player Starter Bags?  Crusean and I were tossing ideas around this morning, and we both agreed we wouldn't want to diminish a new player's experience by giving them powerful stuff, but at least something to keep them alive through their first couple forays into the wilds.

So this is what we are thinking of including, and please add items if you think of them.

A 60s to 70s resist suit, if the LRC suit included in a new player's bag doesn't have these resists.
A Cities Runebook
A Low-level Monsters Runebook
A single weapon, imbued one time with a hit property

I know Pandora already gives them a superb starting kit, but in getting a new player ready to hit the field, most of us try to do at least some of these things for them.

Taking the idea a step further, I'm also wondering if one of our incredibly talented GMs would be able to perhaps place a chest in Luna or Insula that a new player could drop a claim ticket into to receive their bag, OR have the chest accessible to certain players, so the bags can be handed out as needed.

I wouldn't particularly want the items to be spawned into the chest, or into a player's pack, as I would rather we all take some responsibility for helping to strengthen our community, and the act of contributing to the fund (whatever items on the list somebody can contribute) might go a long way toward retention of new players.

What I'm wondering, is, is there enough need for something like this to make it worthwhile, and is there enough interest in contributing to the cause to make it feasible?

Please let me know what you think, and what other items may or may not be good to include. 

I'm only going by what Vorspire has told us.  With that number of skills, and that number of scrolls, each scroll has an individual .5% chance of dropping.  Now, if there is something else being figured into that equation, maybe that changes things.

The fact that some people are getting some of these drops, though, attests to the fact that they ARE dropping, albeit too slowly for some folks' tastes.

I can't account for the reason magery 120 drops often and Imbue does not.  I can only calculate using the given parameters.  And, given the fact Vorspire has said it is working correctly, I would assume he's checked it and is satisfied with how it is running, so our debating it here isn't going to change much.   

I think Jason is wrong:

If chances for each scroll are equal, then it doesn't matter how many scrolls of each category exist.^^

Yes, the chances are the same for each scroll, as Vorspire has said.  But, when you look at the number of harvesting/crafting scrolls versus the number of non-harvesting/non-crafting scrolls available, your odds aren't so good:


There are a total of 58 skills in our game.  Let's say 50 of these skills have powerscrolls available for them (I don't know the exact number).  This means there are 4 scrolls per skill, giving us 200 possible scrolls.

At each Champ, you are awarded scrolls.  I typically get two scrolls per drop, though I've heard some get three on occasion.  Your chance for any particular scroll, on each of these drops, is 1 in 200, meaning 199 times out of 200, you will NOT get the scroll you are looking for.  Taking that a step further, this means there is a .5% chance of any particular scroll being awarded through each scroll drop.

If we are hoping for any scroll within a particular skill, for instance any Mining scroll (there are 4 of them), then our chances improve slightly, to 4 in 200, or 2%.

If we are just trying for any scroll within a particular group of skills, for instance any crafting/harvesting scroll in the entire lot, then our chances improve a bit.  Now, we have a 40 out of 200 chance, or 20%.  20% is still not a winning average, so you are much more likely to lose than win.

The only way to improve the chances of getting these particular scrolls would be to raise their percentage likelihood of being selected higher than that of the other skills.  Again, as Vorspire has said, each scroll has the same chance of dropping, so it just boils down to the odds.  I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd bet your next drop won't have the scroll you are looking for (but it could).

Please don't misunderstand my post and think I want the scrolls to be unattainable.  I definitely understand your frustration, and would think, after that many hours of gameplay, anyone would have picked up a couple of the aforementioned scrolls.  However, as Jason pointed out, there are a lot more non-harvesting and non-crafting scrolls than harvesting/crafting ones, and while it may feel like "they never drop", it might just be a case of really bad luck.  Vorspire assures us they are all coded to drop, and a few players have chimed in saying they've acquired them recently, so we can perhaps hope the run of bad luck may be over.

I personally don't mind them being so rare, in the fact that it's a challenge to acquire them, but that's just me.

p.s.  Don't get me wrong:  I'll be first in line if the scrolls become available some easier way.  I'm an rambling lunatic, not a martyr.   

<<<bulk of this post deleted by author after he realized he was a raving lunatic and might just be a total jackarse.  If you read it already, I apologize.>>>

I know this won't be a popular interjection, but the question I have about this whole issue is:  If everyone gets all the crafting powerscrolls, and everyone jumps to 120 skill in all the crafting areas, doesn't that serve to further isolate players from one another in a game that's supposed to be about interaction?  What I mean is, if everyone can do everything for themselves, there isn't much need for trade except on artifacts and imbuing mats, and quite honestly, about a month after everyone 120's their skills, there won't be much market for imbuing mats, either, since everyone will have already maxed their gear with runes.  Maybe I'm wrong, and I hope I am, but there's already far too few vendors offering anything of substance right now, and I feel that situation will only get worse if the scrolls start dropping like candy from a pinata.  That's the end of my soon-to-be flamed opinion, so feel free to roast me over the coals now.  Long Live Pandora!   

I saw this also...  there is also a huge turkey at the Northwest corner in Luna... 

Here's one of the prizes...  It drops the axe as you step near it, and whispers in your ear...  very cool...  hehe

Thank you, everyone!  Lots of fun building the houses...  now to find the perfect spot to display the prize!