[Carding]

I'm sure any weapon will stop spell spam being the weapon of choice in larger battles for the simple reason that entering melee in a big fight puts you in a very compromising position, even if your weapon guarantees you a kill odds are it will also result in your own death. I think if you have a system with no classes (no skill cap) it's not surprising not to see many styles of combat, everyone will always go for whatever is most efficient.

1) My bad, I was thinking that bandages used to cure poison instantly but now that I think about it more that doesn't seem quite right, I must have been thinking about a different server.
2) Yes, that's exactly what I mean. I'm not sure what you mean about weapons not being the major factor, but I remember PvP (in small numbers) being about waiting to land a lucky critical hit with your weapon (very random damage) and then capitalise with magery (non-random damage on most spells).

I'm actually installing UO right now!