04-30-2012, 01:02 PM
I think it's a lot closer to 51a than any other system. Namely there is skill cap, everyone fights as a tank mage with healing or some subtle variant, there is still a massive reliance on potions, the poison mitigation is minor compared to every single other UO system, scrolls are still potent and necessary for PvP, there is no precasting, there is no resists system, mana regeneration is still quite someway below maximum rate, there is no fizzling, there are no magic weapon properties or spell channelling.
I could go on and on, these are all features that are pretty much unique to Sphere 51a, you won't find them in OSI publish pre-17, AoS, or any other newer version of UO. So I very much think our system is still 51a but slightly unbroken in a few places such that we get a bit more variety and pace.
The fact is we were not exactly 51a before either, and saying that XUO = 51a is also not correct since in 51a there is no precast mana cost, no health intake, all scrolls take half mana (not other variants), no hit limiters, overpowered Mana Drain and Reactive Armour spells, no individual stat limitations etc.
So I think it is a narrow view to say the changes you are used to are still 51a but other changes aren't. The fact is that if UO players from all different systems came here, only the 51a players would recognise how the system works, it would be pretty much alien to AoS/OSI/newer Sphere players. We even emulate a huge number of the flaws in 51a which in my opinion is a failing, such as keeping a number of spells disabled, not having context menus or mouse over texts, not having a resists system and so on. But these are done deliberately to maintain the 51a style of combat and gameplay, but I don't think we should shackle ourselves from making any changes at all or the server will die just like every other 51a server in history.
I could go on and on, these are all features that are pretty much unique to Sphere 51a, you won't find them in OSI publish pre-17, AoS, or any other newer version of UO. So I very much think our system is still 51a but slightly unbroken in a few places such that we get a bit more variety and pace.
The fact is we were not exactly 51a before either, and saying that XUO = 51a is also not correct since in 51a there is no precast mana cost, no health intake, all scrolls take half mana (not other variants), no hit limiters, overpowered Mana Drain and Reactive Armour spells, no individual stat limitations etc.
So I think it is a narrow view to say the changes you are used to are still 51a but other changes aren't. The fact is that if UO players from all different systems came here, only the 51a players would recognise how the system works, it would be pretty much alien to AoS/OSI/newer Sphere players. We even emulate a huge number of the flaws in 51a which in my opinion is a failing, such as keeping a number of spells disabled, not having context menus or mouse over texts, not having a resists system and so on. But these are done deliberately to maintain the 51a style of combat and gameplay, but I don't think we should shackle ourselves from making any changes at all or the server will die just like every other 51a server in history.