Spicing Up Stealing & Stealth

[Oaks]

Stealing Ideas: More functionality other than taking player items.

Monster Rares - Either normal or MOTM mobs can be stolen from for a chance to get unique items or aesthetics.

Dungeon Artifacts - Pulling one from other expansions here but it would be nice to see this implemented. These could be on long timers to increase the rarity. Could go as far as 30-day timers. Replica of the Inquisitors that could be only for display.

Champ Artifact - Stealable artifact on the boss. Low success chance when stealing from champ boss. It'll be dangerous and likely cost your life.

Stealth: Add a chance to resist being revealed from spells and detect hidden. Could implement powerscrolls for the skill and require 120 stealth to gain this ability. Stealthers are already on foot and I think this would be a great benefit.

 

[Grug'Bug]

Stealing Ideas: More functionality other than taking player items.

Monster Rares - Either normal or MOTM mobs can be stolen from for a chance to get unique items or aesthetics.

Dungeon Artifacts - Pulling one from other expansions here but it would be nice to see this implemented. These could be on long timers to increase the rarity. Could go as far as 30-day timers. Replica of the Inquisitors that could be only for display.

Champ Artifact - Stealable artifact on the boss. Low success chance when stealing from champ boss. It'll be dangerous and likely cost your life.

Stealth: Add a chance to resist being revealed from spells and detect hidden. Could implement powerscrolls for the skill and require 120 stealth to gain this ability. Stealthers are already on foot and I think this would be a great benefit.

Also at 120 maybe allow to wear a full leather suit or something. 10 ar as it stands now

 

[cobrakhan]

I love the ideas!
I feel thieves need more of an incentive to go out and steal more in the wild, instead of comfortably bank sitting.

Certain thief/rogue/assassin skill combos deserve different perks.
Also why not give these skills some sort of 120 perk???

120 Hide Gives a 5 second period to loot items without off an NPC or Player Corpse without revealing yourself
(So you got 5 seconds to grab as much as you can while hidden after initial first item grab)

120 Stealth Ability to stealth while mounted for 10 tiles(This could be critical in a sticky situations evading a group of PKs)

Then the other thing is skill combo perks and more titles
Example

Having GM of this skill combo
100 Hide
100 Stealth
120 Poison
100 Fencing
100 Anatomy
100 Tactics
Should have a 50% chance to lethal poison+ stun combo an NPC or player target when hit from stealth while equipped with a dagger.

This should give you the title of "Dark Assassin"

 

[Darkarna]

The problem with adding more incentives to the thief class is based around the fact that thieves do already have, quite a few incentives and helpful features which make the thief one of the most over-powered classes in Ultima Online. With the ability of UOSteam scripts which allow a kind of auto-stealing and other assorted things and Sallos, which allows the pack to remain open at long distances you have a class which can pretty much out-perform many other PVP related classes.

Adding items which can be stolen only is fine, improving stealth *the new Rogue Talisman allows five run steps in stealth, per level* would make the skill that vastly over-powered that all you would have would be a server of thieves. The Thief class as it stands has many advantages, is one of the easiest builds to play to get rich quick, there are times when you lose literally nothing only to get a BIG reward, has a very versatile
and comprehensive build list and is one of the funnest classes to play. Adding things which benefit PVP based thieves *Those that steal from players or actively engage in player vs player* would not just unbalance things, but would probably break the game completely.

To balance things out, stealth would most likely be required to be returned to Use Skill mode. Stealth at the moment works without toggling the skill and allows a thief to walk across land without stopping, unchecked. This would need to be changed where there is a cool-down, 10 seconds before you can use the skill again. This would then ruin the talisman, however, the talisman could be changed so each level of the talisman per level adds points to maximum stealing, with the very most being 12 stones which would mirror a 120 stealing power-scroll. For something to be added to the thief you HAVE to take something away, all because of the nature of the class and how easily it can tilt the scales of balance.

The only thief class I have not played to its fullest extent is the true PVP thief, one who steals something and then fights back using Magery or weapon skills. I have watched friends play them, I have watched streams of them and honestly, in the right setting, the right scenario that thief is completely unbeatable. Also remember, that thieves are still considered one of the most controversial classes ever to be made in a game and can cause some of the biggest amount of upsets a game has seen.

The point about stealing from monsters and getting rare rewards is a good thing, but I would suggest only items that add to decoration or stuff that does not influence the game apart from making it look pretty.

Now, if UOSteam or changes to Sallos were not a factor in this, then we could go into detail regarding more incentives for the thief but as it stands, only the PVM part needs to be dealt with.

 

[Blaine the Gypsy]

I am a thief. I need no changes or upgrades. There's plenty we can do as it is.

 

[drasked]

that thief is completely unbeatable.

You can clown bad people with it, but as far as PVP goes its quite bad.

 

[drasked]

No edit button?

I'd say lets start with removing anti thief mechanics first, like auto reveal.

 

[Oaks]

The problem with adding more incentives to the thief class is based around the fact that thieves do already have, quite a few incentives and helpful features which make the thief one of the most over-powered classes in Ultima Online. With the ability of UOSteam scripts which allow a kind of auto-stealing and other assorted things and Sallos, which allows the pack to remain open at long distances you have a class which can pretty much out-perform many other PVP related classes.

Adding items which can be stolen only is fine, improving stealth *the new Rogue Talisman allows five run steps in stealth, per level* would make the skill that vastly over-powered that all you would have would be a server of thieves. The Thief class as it stands has many advantages, is one of the easiest builds to play to get rich quick, there are times when you lose literally nothing only to get a BIG reward, has a very versatile
and comprehensive build list and is one of the funnest classes to play. Adding things which benefit PVP based thieves *Those that steal from players or actively engage in player vs player* would not just unbalance things, but would probably break the game completely.

To balance things out, stealth would most likely be required to be returned to Use Skill mode. Stealth at the moment works without toggling the skill and allows a thief to walk across land without stopping, unchecked. This would need to be changed where there is a cool-down, 10 seconds before you can use the skill again. This would then ruin the talisman, however, the talisman could be changed so each level of the talisman per level adds points to maximum stealing, with the very most being 12 stones which would mirror a 120 stealing power-scroll. For something to be added to the thief you HAVE to take something away, all because of the nature of the class and how easily it can tilt the scales of balance.

The only thief class I have not played to its fullest extent is the true PVP thief, one who steals something and then fights back using Magery or weapon skills. I have watched friends play them, I have watched streams of them and honestly, in the right setting, the right scenario that thief is completely unbeatable. Also remember, that thieves are still considered one of the most controversial classes ever to be made in a game and can cause some of the biggest amount of upsets a game has seen.

The point about stealing from monsters and getting rare rewards is a good thing, but I would suggest only items that add to decoration or stuff that does not influence the game apart from making it look pretty.

Now, if UOSteam or changes to Sallos were not a factor in this, then we could go into detail regarding more incentives for the thief but as it stands, only the PVM part needs to be dealt with.

I would like to stay focused on additional PVM (rares, items for looks and display, small artifacts). Stealing itself doesn't need any type of buff.

As for stealth adding powerscrolls would help the economy. Giving the benefit of being able to sometimes resist detect & reveal and additionally being able to wear leather would not be game breaking.

Thieves are very limited and at a disadvantage in PvP. The template requires 4* skills (Snoop, Stealing, Hide, Stealth) limiting your PvP abilities. Arguably you don't need all 4 skills but it's still a limited template for PvP.

The main focus here is the PvM aspect which would be a benefit to the economy and longevity to the server.

Giving a minor buff to stealth would benefit the stealth PK's more than thieves but with the automatic on foot disadvantage, it should be considered.