There is a sort of a paradox here. Currently, there is a bug with Peacemaking which lets you keep all monsters peaced infinitely. The developers know about it, the spawners know about it. But it has not been fixed for months, perhaps even over a year.

One way to get bugs fixed is to post about them on Stratics. But no one seems to be interested in this particular one. So I posted a video showing how a person can solo the Harrower using it. There were many replies and views, but Stratics took it down because you are not allowed to accuse people of anything.

Thus, how is it possible to built sufficient player outrage about this issue? Well I am thankful that UOForums will allow such videos to be posted. Here is a link to the original which shows a single player killing the Harrower, only aided by a scripter peacemaker:

Part 1: Soloing a UO Harrower with Peacemaking Exploit Part 1 : Online Video | Veoh Video Network
Part 2: Soloing a UO Harrower with Peacemaking Exploit Part 2 : Online Video | Veoh Video Network

That only became possible after they nerfed the Harrower in the last publish. Since then, the shown guild has been chaining many Harrowers. One night we found them doing 3. But this next video shows what has been going on for 6 months or longer. One or two Necromancers with Peacemaking running around, Withering the heck of calmed monsters.

UO Doing Champion Spawn with Peacemaking Exploit : Online Video | Veoh Video Network

This video is just over 12 minutes long so here is a timeline of the major events.

0:30 - Harp charges decay at an impossibly fast rate, only possible through exploit
1:20 - Upon entering war mode there is a constant spam of peacemaking above my character, yet not enough peacemakers present to produce that many messages.
1:20 - 2:00 - Creatures that target me instantly untarget. Creatures I attack break their target just as quickly.
4:05 - I question why so much peacemaking is being used, they promptly stop.
4:25 - One player nearly dies from lack of Peacemaking.
5:30 - I ask why they are only casting Wither.
5:45 - One player casts Lightning two times in obvious response to my query, but quickly switches back to Wither only because spawn has reached level 4.
6:00 - At long last their backup has arrived to try and take me out.
7:30 - One player begins his attack on Barracoon. The champion just stands there, unable to fight back because of a bug existing since Age of Shadows.
10:30 - I snoop the attacker's backpack, revealing a rather large collection of Greed Skulls from all the spawns they chain.
11:35 - They don't even care it is being recorded, showing how brash they are about cheating.

This bug has been submitted and confirmed as being in the queue. But even though it has been known for over a month it was not fixed for the current publish. There just isn't enough player outrage to get this fixed and I don't think the developers understand how badly it is being exploited.

Yea, the peacemaking exploit is one which effects all skills which have a timed delay between uses
It effectively lets you remove said delay, so you can use the particular skills in quick succession (Peace, provoke, hiding etc)
I believe it's existed since AOS, or perhaps even before then.

(Note: JC did request permission to post this and it was granted)

thats a damm shame and good for you to point something like this out shame on ea for putting up with this that long .. first time i am hearing about this

The current exploit has existed only since the last exploit was fixed (virtues bug).. there is actually two skill time avoidance bugs right now.

Both skill timer exploits have been reported. The one in the videos is relatively easy to use compared to the other one. It is also faster.

sure.. what you fail to mention about this video.. is it's pretty obvious that the said characters are scripting.. and running dual clients.. as he has a character following him around Alt+Left click anyone... but they take forever to do despise.. shouldn't take more than 15 minutes.

I don't think it is necessary to focus on hypotheticals. Just go on what the video shows. Not turn it into a debate on whether or not someone was duel clienting and scripting.

haha.. well it's not speculation.. I'm telling you from experience... that the charges are going down to fast.. that's pretty obvious that there is a script running.. plus ViP posts screen shots of spawns all the time.. there is always "the forbidden program" running in the background.

Thanks for the post, I hate seeing crap like this. Scripters and cheaters are so smug.

What is the significance of the wither spell?

it doesn't come up with a targeting reticule.. its fast.. and can kill things around you pretty easily.... other than that theres no relevance.. maybe other than fact when you're in wraith form you leech mana back.. so when you kill things it goes constantly.. but then again so does Earthquake, thunderstorm, and my favorite.. Essence of Wind.

Unfortunately, I can't access this video from work.

However, I preemptively offer many thanks to JC for pointing this out. My biggest fear is that the Devs will chose to nerf peacemaking instead of fixing the problem. Remember many publishes ago, when they accidentally made it so peaced monstered could not be attacked or damaged?

Interestingly, I spend a great deal of time down at Deceit and I've never encountered anyone using this method. Perhaps FL zerging serves a purpose after all...

~M

It is hugely relevant. You don't see mages casting Meteor Swarm or Earthquake nonstop like you can Wither. It is the sole spell casted in situations like this. Wither is completely unbalanced due to the amount of damage it can inflict for little cost.