source taken from Developers Corner
Thread :- How long should it take to GM?

Leurocian Ultima Online Designer

Thought provoking question of the day...RE: Raising Skills.

Hail and Well Met,

How long do you feel it should take to achieve 7XGM in the skills of your choice? Understand that I realize that certain skills are considerably more involved to raise than others. Power scrolls are not apart of this discussion. I just want your general opinion on how long it should take a 'casual' player or a 'hardcore' player to achieve 7XGM in the common professions with a character?

Thanks!

I am curious too...

-RMS Carpathia-

If they are thinking about gains, its almost certain to become easier to get gains.

I am unsure if this is the answer you are looking for. I thought I understood the question until I read the posts which followed.

With that said, I personally think it should take 8 monts to 1 year for a new player off the street with no UO experience to 7xGM a character. This assumes that the first 5 GMs are obtained in less time, and that two require extended effort to obtain. (EX: Magic Resistance to 80 is easy, without basic knowledge of how the game works getting to 100 is not so easy).

The upside is that the player will have actual experience. The downside is that they have to play 8-12 months to do it. Giving away the first 5 GM skills without extended effort is in my opinion enough to entice a player to stick around and learn how to GM the last two, or make multiple "quickie" 5x GMs for pleasure gaming.

I tried to think of reasonable numbers, taking into acount that UO wants subscription fees, and players want to enjoy themselves.

UPDATE:
"casual player" = 4-5 months
"hardcore player" = 2-3 months

Oh well then I must be the slowest out there, I still do not have animal taming and provoking maxed... oh well. I am enjoying myself anyway ^_^

*note: I only got one character so far...*

-RMS Carpathia-

If someone wants to take months to gm 7 skills, they should just lock their skills, and unlock them when they want a gain. A game shouldn't take months to be able to get a "playeable" character. Just having GM Skills is barely enough to give you fighting chance.

It's a simple answer.

Fast skill gains (25 to GM in only a few hours for everyone together gaining) should be allowed through powergaming when people work together.

Slower but dependable gains alone through normal play must likewise be allowed.

Searching for just the right creature to hit should be eliminated.

Searching for just the right non-common spell to cast should be eliminated.

Non-lethal weapons (bows, fencing, swords, macing) should be craftable by high-skill crafters that will never do more than 1-8 damage a hit regardless of the strength or skill of the person swinging it and regardless of the armor of the target. Some healing would still be required, but not so much than one healer can't heal a naked recipient with 4 people hitting the recipient at the same time.

Very interesting question.!
And not to worry Cap, I still have chars that I still use since 1997 and have yet to GM anything. Some chars I just like to play and see where it takes me.

I really don't see a problem with how it's set up right now. Just please don't make it as easy as it was back in the day. People would get banned for doing something, and would laugh at that, because they would be able to get a new account and build up another character to where they were before they got banned within a few days, so being banned wasn't a big deal.

I am going to say that getting "Grandmaster" skills should take a long time, BUT.... the journey should be fun. More emphasis on the adventure aspect of UO, then I will accept harder skill gains. The real fun shouldn't begin at GM skills.