My first group: Story of a night to remember.

[Aeroprism]

So I've been playing on Ultima for a while, stopped a few months, came back and finally decided to get out of my cave and try to actually play with people.  (I soloed 100% of the time until tonight). I loaded my Ramarl (level 92), there were no opened groups so I made one.  People quickly joined, we went and destroyed the Sil Dragon, easy peasy.  No rares, no biggies, I got two levels out of this.

Then I logged my Hucast (level 28), found a game on hard, joined and had a blast.  We cleared forest, then did the Wrath of forest quest.  

 

Conclusion: playing with people beats playing alone any day.  Tonight I met cool people, quiet people, rude people and enterprising people who joined games just to ask for trades.  I noticed some players went out of their way to heal, S/D, share drops etc while other people just Han-Solo'd ahead, destroying everything without letting the poor underleveled Hunter tag anything.

There was one drop on the hard diff game, someone else picked it up, realized he couldn't use it, dropped it again and suggested I take it.  I couldn't.  Though I saw the item, I could not be taken.  We were not able to open a trade window either.  Special rules on the server?  How does rare loot rotation work on Ultima?

Anyways, it was fun.  I'm annoyed that I have to go to sleep, I'd much, much rather join another game

 

Thanks Ultima for being there and allowing us to PSO to our hearts content. 

 

[2blivion]

Awesome im glad you had a good time =] i'm always down for a game if you see me on

[Arek]

Agreed with what blivion said.

I also love this site/server and see myself sticking around for quite a long time. <3
Glad your experience has been positive and if you have any questions feel free to ask!

[Lemon]

That's great to hear.  As to your question, you should have been able to pick up the item unless you had a full inventory.  In regards to trade window, it cannot be opened while in a quest.  I'm pretty sure that's sega's limitation and not ours, but not 100%.  And yes, multiplayer beats solo any day!

[Aeroprism]

I'll be sure to keep an eye opened for your character names.  In Arek's case, it will be easy cause, you know, Lufia rocks HARD!

[Aeroprism]

Day deux of my venture into groups and PSO life shared with the awesome people of Pioneer 2.

(Notice: there is no point to this post, I just like writing stories.  TL;DR : I had fun)

 

This morning, as I was looking at the staggering number of things I had to do today, I chose to log on to Ultima and play with Keli because Keli always needs love. I joined a team hosted by an awesome RAcast named... RAcast.  I need to make a HUnewearl and call her HUcast or RAmarl.  Confusion > sanity.   

At any rate, more cool people joined us and we rocked that boat. Cleaned the ULT caves and gave Dal Ra Lie a trashing.  Then RAcast honored me with a great gift: a Spread Needle shotgun. Seeing how I was always struggling to tag everything, it was a very VERY nice gift.  I always figured I wanted to earn my own rares but I must admit, ULT with my silly JUSTY-23ST rifle was getting a bit... frustrating.  Especially since the only ULT rare I found on my own was... another JUTY-23ST.

I then tackled my list of things to do and left PSO for a bit.  Came back tonight and grouped with several awesome people, namely two gents whose names I just can't remember even though they were super easy to remember.  Anyways, they rocked.  We went through ULT Wrath of Forest and we had such a good time with the Mothvist rooms that we re-made another room called PEST CONTROL and we exploded the dragon, again.  Note to self: I need to play EP 2 and 4 sometime in this life.

One of the two gents gave me a few cool guns and two really neat shields! Considering that I was using my lv 55 shield, it was a HUGE help!  We all exchanged cards and promised to control pests again real soon.

 

Now, one thing I noticed and that really surprised me: I always assumed that Ultima players were old PSO veterans who did not want to leave a cherished game behind.  Yet, tonight, I met people with questions and behaviour that clearly indicated otherwise. I have played untold dozens of hours offline on DC and GC, I may not be familiar with PB chains, Photon Drops and online etiquette, but the core game, the one you play by yourself, I know inside and out.  One of my team mates was surprised that my RAmarl could use S/D and J/Z, they figured since RAmars couldn't, no other rangers could  I also saw people being repeatedly caught by mine traps in long halls.  Didn't they know that walking through a trapped hall with your menu invoked makes you bypass slowdown, making you essentially immune to traps?  It was refreshing and fun. They taught me about PB chains, I shared my knowledge of PSO classes.  Good times.

 

So here are a few questions of my own:  

Is there a difference in monster HP and drop rates between "one person mode" and "regular online"?  

If I clear the "one person mode" quests on say, VH diff, will they be cleared on other modes as well?

Are there guides here that can tell me what online quests to tackle to get nice items?  

 

Can't wait to play tomorrow!!!

[Lemon]

I want to start out by saying that I really wish I could catch you online, you seem like the kind of person who'd be great fun to play with.

1 hour ago, Aeroprism said:

So here are a few questions of my own:  

Is there a difference in monster HP and drop rates between "one person mode" and "regular online"?  

If I clear the "one person mode" quests on say, VH diff, will they be cleared on other modes as well?

Are there guides here that can tell me what online quests to tackle to get nice items? 

1) I don't know about the monsters, but I'm pretty sure the bosses are.

2) No, but really no need in my opinion.  You only really need to clear them to convert parts to weapons since (almost) everything else is available in multi mode already unlocked.

3) Not that I know of, but you can check the drop charts and look at monster counts Here.  I would read all the way down that, since the top post hasn't been updated in a while. (2014)

I hope this helped, I don't play much solo mode so I'm not very well versed in it.

[Larva]

Great story's to read. Mine is really long and it takes me back to 2009 ... maybe another tellday

[Fyrewolf5]

1 hour ago, Aeroprism said:

Day deux of my venture into groups and PSO life shared with the awesome people of Pioneer 2.

(Notice: there is no point to this post, I just like writing stories.  TL;DR : I had fun)

 

This morning, as I was looking at the staggering number of things I had to do today, I chose to log on to Ultima and play with Keli because Keli always needs love. I joined a team hosted by an awesome RAcast named... RAcast.  I need to make a HUnewearl and call her HUcast or RAmarl.  Confusion > sanity.   

At any rate, more cool people joined us and we rocked that boat. Cleaned the ULT caves and gave Dal Ra Lie a trashing.  Then RAcast honored me with a great gift: a Spread Needle shotgun. Seeing how I was always struggling to tag everything, it was a very VERY nice gift.  I always figured I wanted to earn my own rares but I must admit, ULT with my silly JUSTY-23ST rifle was getting a bit... frustrating.  Especially since the only ULT rare I found on my own was... another JUTY-23ST.

I then tackled my list of things to do and left PSO for a bit.  Came back tonight and grouped with several awesome people, namely two gents whose names I just can't remember even though they were super easy to remember.  Anyways, they rocked.  We went through ULT Wrath of Forest and we had such a good time with the Mothvist rooms that we re-made another room called PEST CONTROL and we exploded the dragon, again.  Note to self: I need to play EP 2 and 4 sometime in this life.

One of the two gents gave me a few cool guns and two really neat shields! Considering that I was using my lv 55 shield, it was a HUGE help!  We all exchanged cards and promised to control pests again real soon.

 

Now, one thing I noticed and that really surprised me: I always assumed that Ultima players were old PSO veterans who did not want to leave a cherished game behind.  Yet, tonight, I met people with questions and behaviour that clearly indicated otherwise. I have played untold dozens of hours offline on DC and GC, I may not be familiar with PB chains, Photon Drops and online etiquette, but the core game, the one you play by yourself, I know inside and out.  One of my team mates was surprised that my RAmarl could use S/D and J/Z, they figured since RAmars couldn't, no other rangers could  I also saw people being repeatedly caught by mine traps in long halls.  Didn't they know that walking through a trapped hall with your menu invoked makes you bypass slowdown, making you essentially immune to traps?  It was refreshing and fun. They taught me about PB chains, I shared my knowledge of PSO classes.  Good times.

 

So here are a few questions of my own:  

Is there a difference in monster HP and drop rates between "one person mode" and "regular online"?  

If I clear the "one person mode" quests on say, VH diff, will they be cleared on other modes as well?

Are there guides here that can tell me what online quests to tackle to get nice items?  

 

Can't wait to play tomorrow!!!

 

Monsters do have different hp and stats for one person mode and multiplayer mode, though the drops and droprates are the same.
The one person quests can be cleared on any difficulty and they will be available for all difficulties. However, any special things like converting items, obtaining soul eater or frying pan, etc., may require you to be on the same difficulty throughout, and can only be done once per char instead of once per difficulty.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Fyrewolf5

[Aeroprism]

8 hours ago, Lemon said:

I want to start out by saying that I really wish I could catch you online, you seem like the kind of person who'd be great fun to play with.

 

Thank you! That's very nice of you to say!!  I try to make every game a bit more fun but I must admit: the battle areas are so fast paced, whenever I drop the controller to grab the keyboard and type a few words, I get left two rooms behind while my teammates destroy everything ;-)  

I need to spend a while creating my automated replies and custom chat to facilitate the "essentials".  For instance, whenever I join a game, I ask "May I join?" because it sounds like the polite thing to do.

Thanks for the answers.  I might try some solo ULT to test my luck with drops but ever since I got a taste of group play, solo play feels very, very lacking.

 

 

[Sasquash]

12 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

I joined a team hosted by an awesome RAcast named... RAcast.  I need to make a HUnewearl and call her HUcast or RAmarl.  Confusion > sanity.   

Then RAcast honored me with a great gift: a Spread Needle shotgun. Seeing how I was always struggling to tag everything, it was a very VERY nice gift.

 

That was me. Hope you have a good time. The Needle was a gift to me and I got my use out of it. I was gifted an Arrest Needle and so it was time to give the Spread up. I hope you use and abuse it, because thats exactly what I did. Glad to hear that you are having a good time. Multi is way better than solo, at least for me. If you see me on again just hit me up. 

[Aeroprism]

My adventure continues!

Keliwen is now level 109. No new rares but I keep getting HERO/ABILITY units by the truckload for my alts.  

I got to try ULT Ruins with a team that kindly tolerated my squishiness today. It was fun. No red boxes dropped but the EXP was amazing!  Right after that I made a team and 3 other players of level similar to mine joined and we destroyed the Sil Dragon.  That team was seriously amazing! We joked around, destroyed everything, FUN!

I also met a really strange player... A true PSO noob.  He was... weird, flirtatious, borderline creepy.  I tried to stay neutral and polite.  He eventually left on his own.  Stuff happens.

So yeah, I'm settling into the mold.  I can't get enough of this online play, it's just so great!!

 

If you guys want to find me online, from now on I will name all my games "Prismy" so there you go, easy peasy.

 

And here are my questions du jour:  

I have seen tens of RAmars and HUmars, FOmarls and FOnewms, a few RAcasts, HUcasts, HUcaseals but I have yet to see any RAcaseals, FOnewearls, HUnewearls...  Is there a reason why those classes are so unpopular?   Two of those three are actually my favorite classes!

Also, why are people deliberately avoiding evade mats but go crazy over defense mats? Isn't the idea of not being hit at all better than being hit for less damage?

 

 

[Aeroprism]

My grand journey through the colorful lands of Ultima continues.  

Today I discovered TTF Ultima. I can certainly understand why it is so popular.  Where it lacks in finesse and imagination, it does know how to smother your face with OMG IS THAT 75 GILLCHICS IN THE SAME ROOM AT THE SAME TIME? WHY ARE THEY ALL LOOKING AT ME? 

Yup.

I also felt a bit silly, being a level 113 ranger among level 199 people.  It felt like I was slowing them down, grabbing for tagged XP as best I could, making them use their precious Moon Atomizers out of... pity?  The word is perhaps too strong.  More like tolerance for an annoying child you HAVE to keep around otherwise the rest of your family will look at you funny.

They were nice enough to let me grab the rares no one wanted so hey, two GOD/BODY just like that.  Though the XP was insane, I can't say that was my best and funnest team.  I'll try to avoid joining people who are of a RIDICULOUSLY higher level, seems like proper etiquette. Makes you look like you're wearing the uniform of the interstellar beggar association, even though your intentions are pure and noble. (Somewhat)

 

It was a good day for Morfaust, my hunter who went from 37 to 53 in two rooms.  I soloed HARD Wrath of Forest and killed THOUSANDS of Mothmants, laughing like the neophyte mongolian warlord raiding his first village. The experience helped me come to terms with the two times I was stung by real-life wasps. (I assume the wasps did not gained any XP out of this, especially the one I immediately pulverised out of spite.)

I then joined a TTF on HARD and tried to keep up with the Level 110-ish HUcast who blinked at things and then they died.

I like Morfaust.  He is orange, he swings a mean blade and his gas/mileage is fantastic.

 

The biggest loser of the day is Eleanova, my FOnewearl.  I KNOW this force is meant to nuke single target, I just can't stomach that she spends 1/6 of her TP bar to kill one booma when Morfaust (approx same level) obliterates the rest of the booma's family (including estranged cousins) by just dropping his Gae Bolg on the forest floor.  

I might be inclined to try another force instead. Suggestions?

[Auli'i]

A bit late on responding to this, but I love that I'm not the only one lol. I was dragged onto the server by @KarmaTheFoney and dreaded meeting anybody. Made two accounts and leveled two FOmarls to a fairly high level all alone.

I don't even remember how I ended up talking to Karma's friends on the server, but once I did, I never went back haha. I love all of the people that I talk to actively, but @mudkipzjm, @griffeni, and @HHawk4 are the three that really kept me on Ultima for quite some time, until the love for the game took over (I still love you three, dw). 

So yeah, playing with people provides a much better experience if you can find people you enjoy talking to/playing with. Being social not only makes the game more fun, but helps you progress faster than playing solo ever could (Until you're Under, and then you solo just as fast as faster than most people can do things in a group).

Love the post!

[HHawk4]

4 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

I might be inclined to try another force instead. Suggestions?

I'll add my story too if anyone wants, haha, but,

 If you don't like nuking and wanna just hit stuff, try FOmar or FOmarl. Both are great for melee fo'ing, and are both great battle FOs in general, haha.

FOmarl is good, has a good ATP and MST (I'll find the exact numbers later) and a max ATA of 180. Also has a fast shot speed, so using RM (Rambling May) is good on her. She also is the most balanced FO if i recall correctly. She has boosted ranges for shifta/deband/resta/anti which is really nice. A decently high atp and good ata. Also, Kroe's Sweater, a level 181 armor that boosts ATA 10 over max, can be used to boost her ATA if you want her to have more. They shouldn't be more than 15 pds at most. She also has access to a weapon called Vivienne, an all female weapon that takes 580 ATP to use, grinds to +9 and has like 650 ATP. They're really easy to find, or to find someone selling a decent one for cheap.

FOmar is great, has a max ATP of 1102, max MST of 1440, and a max ATA of 173. FOmar is really good for melee, but he lacks ATA. He has the lowest ATA in the game, (His 173 versus RAmars 259). If you see it as a problem though (most people do), just find someone selling a Godric's Cloak (A FOmar only armor that can be used at any level and boosts all stats by 30. Pretty sure its 30. This includes ATA, so that's a 30 ata boost over max at level 1 possibly). Or I could just give you one that's sitting in my bank :3. FOmar also has a range boost to shifta/deband which is nice, no resta/anti boost for him or FOnewm. FOmarl/FOnewearl have natural boosts to resta/anti, wheras FOmar/FOmarl have natural boosts to shifta/deband. FOmarl just has great support ranges. Poor FOnewm doesn't get any boosted support ranges but can use Rico's Parasol, a male only Tyrell's Parasol that looks cooler and does the same things, except males can use. Buut, he has great ATP, great ATA (ill also find the exacts for FOnewm later), and a max MST of 1600

There's my input on it, hope it helps! If you need anymore help (which might be beyond my capabilities, which isn't very much) ask Fyrewolf5 or -Saith. I think we all just call him Saith or saith. 

Edited October 27, 2016 by HHawk4
things