As a looter, you could actually be roleplaying (yes, roleplaying!) a rogue. Once you have developed the style of your character, stay in that role. Others will come to appreciate you more for it, and may even totally change their view of you as a looter. The Galads are big fans of old swashbuckling movies, and have modeled their characters after heroes like Robin Hood, Zorro, D'Artagnan, and pirates of the high seas. If you think about it, all of these heroes were rogues. Robin Hood was an outlaw - a looter, in fact! He robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Well, along these lines, we have been known to give away extra loot that won't fit in our bank boxes, or even return loot to a victim if they have the right attitude, and we're feeling generous. Zorro, too, was an outlaw, although he fought political corruption. Yet, you will find some of his style in us as well. D'Artagnan, though one of the Kings Musketeers, became an outlaw by opposing the Cardinal and his men. Once again, he had a certain style about him that made him likable - a character you cared about. And of course, the pirates! That is essentially what we are! Pirates of UO. And who doesn't have a certain admiration for pirates? Role up all these characters, and throw in some additional comic relief, and you have the Galads - looters extraordinaire! ^^

You'll see in upcoming sections that as a looter, you should roleplay a certain style and you will have more fun than you ever dreamed of. You will find in this guide tips for creating your character, tricks for being the best looter you can be, and also how to have the kind of fun you've seen us having in our screenshot episodes. So read on - your UO life is about to change for the better!

Your Character

Before you begin to make your character, try to decide the type of character you will play. You can get ideas from heroes or villains from movies, books and TV. Your character will be the beginning of your style. Choose an appropriate name, but try to make it unique. Avoid the "Jo3 K3wL L00t3r" type of name. Also, avoid names like: "a corpse"; "I Own Joo"; or "Poopoo Kaka". There are seriously some really STUPID names out there, and yours shouldn't be one of them. Pick a realistic name, even if it takes time to think of one. This is how others will recognize your character, so take pride in it. How you look and dress will be up to you, but again, establish a certain type of character, and go with it. Wherever possible, make him look unique. However, it can sometimes be good NOT to stand out in certain situations. That will be up to you. Carry an extra costume with you and feel free to use incognito to totally change your identity.

Beforehand, you should also consider the type of looter you will play. You can always modify it later if you want to try something else. As a guideline, here are a few types of looters that you can consider...

Basic Looter

The typical looter will rely mostly on hiding (and maybe stealth) as his weapons. He will avoid combat, but will have a lot of fun evading anti-looters. He will be able to avoid detection while gray, and have more opportunities to loot. He will also have a good level of magery, along with high resist. You can also add a few other unique skills (like detect hidden) to spice him up. Overall, the basic looter is a very fun character to play!

Here is a possible skill set for this type of looter (feel free to play around with it!):

• Stats: 100 STR, 50 INT, 75 DEX
• GM Hiding
• GM Stealth
• GM Detect Hidden
• GM Resist
• GM Magery
• GM Healing
• GM Anatomy

Tank Mage/Dex Monkey Looter

This type of character can be fun for those of you who like to PvP. It gives you a chance to fight back against those pesky anti-looters, and maybe even get an extra loot in the process. In either case, you can loot more openly and use the invisibility spell instead of hiding. You can also use this character solely as a looter - being simply survive attacks, if you aren't into PvP. However, if you want to be a looter, you should probably avoid going red - that's an entirely different profession, with far different motivations.

Here are potential skillsets, but you may want to change them slightly, or save some points for hiding...

Tank Mage:

• Stats: 100 STR, 100 INT, 25 DEX
• GM Magery
• GM Meditation
• GM Evaluate Intelligence
• GM Resist
• GM Wrestling
• GM Tactics
• GM melee skill of choice

Dex Monkey:

• Stats: 100 STR, 25 INT, 100 DEX
• GM Anatomy
• GM Healing
• GM Tactics
• GM melee skill of choice
• GM Resist
• GM Archery or Parry
• GM Magery

Thief Looter

This is a type of looter that I have never played, but would if I had the time. The thief looter will be a pure thief, but use his skills towards looting. He will also try to avoid combat at all costs. He will excel in hiding and stealthing, and also be able to steal anti-looters' regs, weapons and runes. He will also steal loot off live critters that others are fighting, especially if the critter looted its last victim! Stealing regs when someone is trapped or low on health can speed up their demise. And just in case one of those anti-looters get frustrated and attacks you, you should be able to disarm him and steal his weapon if it's not insured or blessed. Having anatomy in combination with wrestling will let you pull off a stun punch, rendering your victim helpless while you steal another item or two. Really, the possibilities are endless! When not looting in Felucca, you'll be able to take a character like this to Dungeon Doom and steal the new artifacts and sell them for extremely high prices. Using Powerscrolls on this character may also be the way to go.

Here's a sample skill set for this type of looter, but feel free to play around with the numbers:

• Stats: 100 STR, 25 INT, 100 DEX
• GM Snooping
• GM Stealing
• GM Hiding
• GM Stealth
• GM Anatomy
• GM Wrestling
• GM Arms Lore

Bard Looter

This can also be a very effective character to play. With this character, you will have the basic looter skills, as well as provoke and peacemaking. With this character you will be able to avoid getting killed in high critter scenarios, especially when they are hovering around a corpse. Getting critters to attack each other will help you survive. But you can also lead critters toward unsuspecting players, use peacemaking so that they no longer target you, then hide so that they will attack someone else. Again, you are playing a defensive looter, so you will have no need for combat skills. Your barding skills can be powerful weapons though! Hmmm...a bard looter...looting with a lute...

Try this skill set options on for size:

• Stats: 100 STR, 25 INT, 100 DEX
• GM Musicianship
• GM Provoke
• GM Peacemaking
• GM Magery
• GM Resist/GM Eval Int
• GM Hiding
• GM Stealth/GM Discordance

Once again, these are all just general guidelines. You can play around with them and hopefully create your own perfect looter. If you have any other template suggestions, be sure to let me know.

Stats and Skills to Choose

The stats and skills you choose will depend on the type of looter you want to be. Here is a general description of how your stats and skills will be used to accomplish looting. You may even come up with your own type of looter!

Stats

Depending on the skills you use, you must try to find the optimal balance of stats for you. Here are some things to keep in mind...

Strength: High strength is vital for looting for two main reasons. The most obvious is that you will be able to sustain more damage and survive longer. But just as importantly, you will be able to carry more loot. To determine how much you can carry, simply multiply multiply your strength by 3.5 and add 40. (ie; STR = 100...100 x 3.5 = 350...350 + 40 = 390...with 100 STR you can carry 390 stones worth of loot!) For the most part, you will want to get your strength as close to 100 as possible. This may require training some combat skills (like wreslting or maces) initially and maybe dropping them later, but it's worth any extra effort.

Intelligence: This will depend on the type of looter you choose. If you want to be a tank mage, or use magic frequently, you will want high intelligence.

Dexterity: High dexterity is perfect for the majority of looters. Dexers will obviously choose high dexterity, as will thieves and bards. It's also important if you use a lot of hiding or stealth.

Skills

Below is a description of how various skills can be used effectively in looting...

Hiding: This has got to be one of the best skills to have as a looter, even if you can't afford to GM it. If possible, get it up towards 90 or more for maximum benefit. At this level you will be able to hide most times if not in line of sight. You'll really want to practice your time with this skill, being able to judge when you will be able to use this skill again. When you master this, you will be able to open a corpse, hide, grab a choice piece of loot, then hide again immediately. Using perfect timing, you will also be able to evade anti's by ducking around a corner and hiding, tele-hiding, and being able to hide each time you are revealed. You can also taunt them, then hide again before they can attack. By far, this is one of the most fun and useful skills for a looter! Other uses can include hiding in doorways, or tight locations to block your victim (discussed more below in the section on blocking), and hiding after you have lead a dangerous critter near a potential victim. Know this skill well and look for new and varying ways to use it. It can save your life and earn you lots of gold!

Stealth: Used in conjunction with hiding, this skill can be a lot of fun to use. After looting you can stealth away while the anti-looters try vainly to reveal you or firefield you. Meanwhile, you will be laughing into a tissue because you are a dozen tiles away. Primarily, you will use this skill for getaways and remaining hidden until you are blue again. You can also use it to stealth up to a victim for a perfect block, stealth up to a corpse to avoid critter entanglement, and generally to just toy with anti-looters. If you GM this skill you will be able to take 10 steps while hidden before having to use the skill again. In AoS, they added Stealth powerscrolls! If you manage to make it 120 in this skill, I assume you'd be able to take uo to 12 steps, meaning by the time you moved all those tiles, you'd be ready to use the skill again. Perpetual hidden walking!

Detect Hidden: This one of the most hilarious skills you can add to your arsenal. You will use this skill to reveal hidden players when dangerous critters are near. For instance, there are always players luring deadly monsters around, then hiding so that it will attack others. Well, you can remain hidden and use this skill to reveal them time and again, just when they think they are safe! And they'll never know it's you...too, too, too funny! You can also reveal other looters who are gray to take the heat off you, or so that you can loot them after the get killed and not need to go gray.

Stealing: Any thief can tell you how good this skill (and it's sister, snooping) can be for a looter. You can steal loot of critters while others fight them - especially critters who looted their last victim! You can steal vital regs and weapons off anti's to deter them from attacking you, or off blocked victims to prevent them from escaping. There are so many possibilities and so much potential with this skill!

Magery: Magery in some form is vital! You need to be able to recall to your looting grounds, as well as to the bank, even if you only have enough skill just to use a scroll. If you're hitting dungeons, Night Sight can really brighten things up. Using the teleport-hide trick can often save your life as well. I will discuss the spells you can use for looting in more detail later, but take your magery as high as you can. Fizzling in tight situations is not acceptable!

Resisting Magic: Changed during the Age of Shadows update, though everyone swears you still need this skill to survive in magical combat. Decide for yourself.

Wrestling/Evaluate Intelligence/Anatomy: It is still said that wrestling, in combination with Eval Int and Anatomy effects how often your spells are interupted. So, if you plan on casting a lot of spells while in close quarters with angry anti's or critters, you'll want high wrestling so that your chances of being interupted are lessened. Anatomy will also help if you have the Healing skill, and Eval with give you a slight damage bonus to your spells.

Melee Skills: If you want to fight back, or make money fighting critters, grab one or more of these (along with tactics). The new special weapon skills alone make you want to GM them all.

Other: You can pick whatever skills you want. Some good skills to look at depending on the type of looter you play are: evaluate intelligence (at high levels you can see how much mana a mage might have left, and also deal more damage with your offensive spells), meditation (for faster mana rejuvenation), healing (bandages can save your life time and again!), etc...whatever you like. But watch how your skills effect your stats.

Equipment

When preparing to go out for a night of looting, you want to be well stocked, and yet not carry too much. You want to free up as much weight to tote more loot to the bank. Also, keep in mind that this is a dangerous profession, so you are bound to die from time to time. Don't carry all of your Greater Heal potions, or your best weapons and armor if you don't want to risk losing them. And if you are out fighting critters, but aren't prepared to loot, be careful if a corpse appears. There's nothing worse than wasting an hour fighting critters for gold and items only to lose it all, and a phat lewt to some anti's because you were unprepared! Always remember that whatever you are holding when you are out looting (including previous loots) is in danger of being lost. Loot safe and you'll be richer, and a lot less frustrated!

Armor: Since AoS, armor is now a must for survival. Where you are looting will determine what to where. Enjoy looting in the Fire Dungeon? Make sure you wear armor with high fire resist. If you're going to PvM while you wait for looting opportunities, you may want to wear some gold armor which will boost your luck making the monster loot a bit more desireable. Having high physical resist is also a must for when the anti-looters decide it's time to Noto.

Potions: Always carry a variety of potions! Greater heals are vital and can save your life in tough situations. How many you carry will depend on how often you bank. Keep track of how many you use so that you aren't caught short in a pinch. Don't carry so many that it hurts to lose them if you die. Total refresh can help a lot if a damned anti is whacking away your stamina. It also helps if YOU get blocked - chug it and run through the offending blocker. Carry a couple of these at all times. Poison is now a big deal within UO, so always have a few Greater Cures on hand to rid yourself of any toxins you come in contact with. You MUST carry at least two strength potions for those wonderful ocassions when you are overloaded with loot. Chugging this (or using the spell) will keep you from being overloaded long enough to make your escape and trip to the bank. Dungeon looters should carry some night sight potions to use in a pinch. Depending on your looting style, you may also use agility and explosion potions.

Reagents: How many and what regeants you carry is up to you. Be sure to carry enough recall, teleport and heal regs. Invisibility and night sight regs are important too. If you are new, or have little magery skill, carry less than 20 of each that you need. If you are a more experienced mage, carry as many as you feel comfortable with. Regs can always be replaced, but it's a pain to die with 200 of each on you. Also, keep in mind how many you should make while looting. You'll learn this through experience and knowing your looting grounds well.

Runebooks: I would have to say that this is perhaps the most essential piece of equipment to have. (Carry more than one if necessary - I carry 15!) It will enable you to carry runes to your different looting grounds, different locations within each looting area, and your house and bank - and if you die, you won't lose them! Also, if you die and can't get any regs to recall out, you can use the charges in your book to get you to a bank so that you can get re-equipped and return to looting as quickly as possible. Be sure to check creature corpses for recall scrolls and keep the charges in your book at maximum. Running out of regs, or having a theif steal your black pearl, will not be such a worry if you do this.

Bags of Sending: A fairly new item, these have saved me valuable time on many occasions. Recieved as a reward for doing a Solen quest, these babies will magically teleport items from your backpack directly to your bank box! It's perfect for that situation when you're overloaded, grey, and being surrounded by Anti-Looters, or when you're already overloaded and there are still corpses to be had! Anything can be sent through the bag with the exception of containers. Though, keep in mind that the bag has a limited number of charges. Each use consumes one charge and the Bag can be recharged with Powder of Translocation.

Magic Rings/Bracelets: Since AoS made the game more item based than skill based, magical bonuses started popping up on rings and bracelets which are commonly found as monster loot. Some aren't worth looking at twice, some are overlooked completely, and some are downright godlike. These little items can really help you get the jump on other looters, and help you survive in tough situations. Some of the better bonuses include Enhance Potions %: which is perfect for when you're down to 5 hp and you have only one greater heal left, Night Sight: No more worrying about the lights going out in the dungeons at inopportune times, and Spell Damage Increase %.
Others have attributes which will raise your strength, intelligence, or dexterity, and many have bonuses to certain skills while worn. This is where the huge advantage comes in. Say you're training stealth. Your skill level is 75. Pop on a +7 Stealth ring, and a +8 stealth bracelet and your seven steps just turned into nine!
Other skills this becomes extremely useful for includes Magery, Provocation, Healing, and Meditation. Just be sure if you come across a really nice item that you use Item Insurance on it so you don't lose it to a nasty anti-looter. And that leads us to...

Item Insurance: So it isn't really equipment, but it's worth mentioning. While Item Insurance can be a looter's worst enemy, we can also profit greatly from it. By single clicking your player you can toggle insurance on items. When you die, 750 gold for each insured item will be taken from your bank box, but when you rez, you'll still have those items. This works well if you're deep in a dungeon, just picked up that awesome weapon with killer bonuses, but Ancient Wyrms have surrounded you, leaving little chance for escaping alive. Simply insure, and throw yourself to the wolves...er...wyrms. Keep in mind you can insure up to 11 items!

Savage Paint/Orc Mask: If you plan to be looting in locations containing Savages or Orcs, be sure to grab the corresponding item. Wearing these will make you invisible to the critters. Let them make the kill, and you take the loot. Savage paint is made from tribal berries by GM Chefs, and the Masks of Orcish Kin can be found as loot on savages and orcs. A couple of notes on these items: When wearing these items, be sure not to attack the type of creature you are pretending to be. Your item will explode causing around 50 points of damage, and the critters will then target you! Also, when wearing the orc mask, Ettins will still attack you, so be prepared for that.

Supplies: Other supplies will include some food for replenishing stamina and keeping your character happy, an extra pack or two for organizing your loot, trapped pouches for escaping paralyze (though you will recieve damage!), weapons (if used), and maybe a book with your signature to leave on your victim's corpse or hand to them personally. Again, carry what you need, but don't weigh yourself down needlessly.

Do It With Style

If you're gonna loot, you have to do it with style! This is the moto that the Galads have tried to live by, and I think all of LuT have adopted this as well. If you're gonna loot with style, why not do it Galad-style? As discussed in the first section, our style is largely based on swashbuckling heroes and pirates, with an extra dash of comedy thrown in. You can also get a good sense of our style by reviewing the screenshot episodes and classic pics. However, I will try to condense our style into this section as closely as I can.

Obviously, one of the major components that make up our style is a good sense of humor. We always try to share some humor with everyone we meet online, even our victims. On the other hand, we do not needlessly mock our victims. As pointed out by a fan of ours, we are most often very polite when confronted about our actions, and especially to our victims. Some times this infuriates them more, which can bring added joy. Other times, they appreciate not being labeled a newbie who got owned. A simple rule of thumb is: When in doubt, lol. You'll also notice that we try to use old english as often as possible, so we do in fact roleplay. However, roleplaying a looter brings a lot of gaming pleasure. And we enjoy sharing our experiences with our fans, via this site.

While we don't insult people outrightly, we do mock our victims - those with attitudes all the more! Wearing your victim's clothes or armor can get a very funny response, indeed! It's a fine line that we waver on constantly: we'll block someone so that they die, and yet res a ghost elsewhere; we'll give a victim back some of their loot on ocassion, or else loot them clean and parade around in their clothes. You need to try to balance your bad deeds with good deeds wherever possible. That makes you a partial hero...a heroic villain. The best kind!! ^^

There are a couple of other rules that we follow as well. One, we try to be very social with people, even those who are out to kill us. If you are a mute stick-in-the-mud, you are a dull character, and won't be having as much fun as you really can. We also try to befriend fellow miscreants where possible. Working as a team can reap rich rewards. There is also always a bit of a rivalry between guildmates when we loot: who can outloot the other. This little bit of friendly competition will hone your skills, enabling you to outloot less experienced, would-be looters. On ocassion, we may be generous enough to return some loot to a victim, or give away loot to newbies or players who really had a bad break, but we NEVER return highly valuable items! Powerful weapons and Gold goes to the bank or a vendor, unless you're swimming in it! I ocassionally cough up 5 or less recall regs to a victim so that they can get back in action. After all, every well-equipped player is potential income - always remember that! And when you are looting, use your time effectively. Don't get into a verbal fight with lamers who have nothing better to do. We always have something better to do - get more loot!

There is much more that encompasses our looting style, such as our individual personalities. Do your best to stay true to your character, be as professional as possible because looting is a profitable business, and always be polite and in good humor. This type of character attracts other people, even if you are a rogue. Most of all, have fun!

Blocking Essentials

As I describe blocking, remember a few things: blocking is not the nicest thing to do to people, and you will not make any friends doing it; blocking is simply a means to an end, a way to speed up your opportunities to loot; blocking is not necessary to looting if you don't feel comfortable with it, but it can yield great rewards; don't bother blocking newbies! That said, let me get into some blocking essentials.

In order to block effectively, you have to look for situations where you can block effectively. Things to look for are: players who are getting low on health or fighting vicious critters, a player who has a critter unexpectedly spawn near him or who gets attacked by multiple critters at once, small spaces - one tile are the best - like doorways, bridges, etc. If you play your cards right, you can create your own opportunities for looting when things are slow.

For effective blocking, you'll want to be hidden or invisible. This accomplishes several things: first, if the player doesn't know if you are there, there is more of a chance of them trying to run over your; second, if the player dies at your feet, the critter will not immediately attack you. It is sometimes wise to be mounted when you are blocking. Then if there are no other players for the critter to attack and it won't leave the corpse, you can dismount while still hidden and sacrifice your mount. While the critter is busy fighting, you can quickly loot the corpse and begin your escape. There's nothing worse than missing a loot because you have to outrun the critter that killed your victim!

Another option is to cast agility on the player as they approach you before hiding. This will increase their dexterity, thereby they will not be at full stamina and will not be able to push through you. And since it is a helpful spell, you won't go gray for using it.

Other than the typical blocking, there is also boxing. This is when a person can only escape from a critter from one side, either because they are surrounded, or they are up against a wall. You will fill in their only way out and hide as usual. Alternately, if you have a partner, you can work together to box someone in from two sides. If they happen to escape, just emote a smiley face or say: "Doh!" to lighten the mood, and hopefully they will laugh it off instead of attacking you.

Unfortunately, since blocking is a widely used tactics by villains everywhere, many people get wise to it quickly. So in some cases, you will have to block on-the-fly. One way to do this is to criss-cross in front of a player fleeing a critter, killing their stamina, even hiding in front of them. Having a mount makes this even more effective. If they escape, start casting Greater Heal and yell: "Lag!" They may believe you, or they may just laugh at your failed attempt. But it's funny either way! You can also wait until the last minute and then tele-hide in front of them to block.

The final method is blocking by proxy, using spells such as Wall of Stone and Energy Field. Wall of stone can be especially effective since you can quickly wall someone in with quick, successive casts. You have several advantages using this method: you can block far more than one single tile; you can block from a safe distance from the critters, in case things go wrong; even with full stamina, players can't push through these spells. Make sure to practice to get your timing right and get used to placing the wall or field in the proper direction, since it is based on the way you are facing. The more you practice, the better you can employ this method.

Whichever method you use, always be on the lookout for opportunities, unless you are already overloaded. Being too greedy can get you killed as well. Keep track of who you've looted, so you don't waste effort on someone who is empty-handed. Be aware that people can get quite upset if you block them, so try to make a joke out of the situation. If they are screaming for you to move, simply come back with something funny, like: "Nay, unless ye hand over all of thy belongings!" or "Damn, I'm stuck!" or wait until they die and say: "Doh! Lost conn!" Be sure to hide right after. This can bring you lots of laughs, set you up for some nice screenshots and establish your style.

Spells of the Trade

Here is a list of some of the best spells that you can use while looting, not including offensive spells. There may be some ways to use these spells that you've never considered before:

Incognito: This spell temporarily changes your name and appearance and can be useful when anti's are hellbent on killing you even when you are blue. Be sure to change your clothing as well.

Teleport: This skill is great for escapes, like in locations where you can teleport onto and off of hills, or across water or lava. The best use of this skill is the tele-hide trick, which I will outline in the Tips and Tricks section. It's also handy when someone is trying to block you!

Invisibility: Obviously if you don't have hiding, or failed an attempt, or can't get out of line of sight with your attacker, then invisibility is essential. It's a handy spell to get off when you're toe to toe with a poison elemental in the exploding mushroom room!

Paralyze: Mostly to keep attackers, human and critter, at bay.

Strength: If you are overloaded, casting strength on yourself will allow you to tote more weight and avoid possible catastrophy when you run out of stamina from carryin too much!

Telekinesis: This can be a handy spell for checking the loot on a corpse before venturing into a dangerous location. From safe distance, you can cast telekinesis on a corpse to open it to see if there's anything on it worth getting. It is also handy for strange situations like when a corpse is somehow on top of something and you can't loot it normally. If you run into strange situations when looting, keep this spell in mind. It's also perfect for opening doors from a distance to let critters get at your victims!

Wall of Stone/Energy Field: These spells are great for blocking people to their doom, as well as creating a safe cushion between you and your attacker. Wall of stone uses far less mana and takes less time to cast, making multiple uses possible. Energy field (a level 7 spell) is less efficient, but lasts far longer. The situation will dictate which one to use.

Magic Lock/Unlock: These are two spells that are often overlooked. Magic lock can be used in dungeons to lock doors on players who are losing to a critter and trying to make a run for it. It is especially effective against warriors who can't cast a heal to save their life. Unlock is good for magically locked doors, whether to help you make an escape, or to unleash a dangerous critter who can't get at another player. Make sure you hide near the door so you can open and close the door while hidden. I generally make it a policy to help critters out whenever I can! ^^

Protection: While under the effects of the protection spell, your castings will not be interrupted by a critter or some pesky anti-looter beating on you. The only downside to this spell is that after casting this spell upon yourself, your Resist will be cut in half. Cast this spell on yourself again to remove its effects.

Harm: This is a spell I like to use when someone has paralyzed a vicious critter (like a poison elemental) and think that they are safe. Hit the critter with harm, releasing it from paralyzation and follow up with a wall of stone to trap your unsuspecting victim. But be ready to run in case the critter turns on you!

Others: Some other important spells to keep at your fingertips are night sight, recall, heal/greater heal, and cure.

Survival 101

Since the life of a looter is a dangerous one, you must always consider your survival before you begin to work each night. Remember, even nice guys will attack a gray on sight, even if you turned gray by accident. Hence, you must be ready to go into "hunted" mode at all times. When you are hunted you are not fighting back, especially if a posse is after you. Looting is not the same as PvP, with it's 'rules' and 'honor'. This is survive to keep your loot at all costs! You are out there to make money, and dying trying to prove you are a badass only slows down your profits while you go and get ressed, re-equip, etc. It's a waste of time for the hard-core looter.

So here are a few tips for survival, whether you are new to looting or a veteran...

1. Be well equipped. The section on equipment describes the best way to do this. Having that extra greater heal may save your life, but it can often give you an extra few seconds to grab some more loot off a corpse before you make your escape.

2. Avoid critters! Always use hiding and invisibility to avoid being targeted by critters. There's nothing worse than looting a body only to be ganked by critters, and never knowing what was in the heavy-ass pack you grabbed!

3. If possible, always ride a mount. This gives you several advantages: you will have greater stamina to push through people; you will be harder for others to push through; it can put more distance between you and the anti-looters; if things get hairy, dismount and yell: "all guard me" for a distraction while you continue your escape. (PS - Give your horse a good name, even the same name as you to potentially add to an anti-looter's confusion.)

4. Try to loot in a party of trusted friends or guildmates. This way, if you die (gray or blue) they can grab your stuff for you without being flagged. Also, you can coordinate your efforts better because you can chat even with each other, even if you are on different facets, or hidden/invisible.

5. Be good at running from people. Often the most fun of looting is the chase, so practice it in newbie locations to perfect it. Remember that outdoor locations are ideal for escaping, since there is so much more room to move. Use your area to your advantage: hide under the cover of a mountain, making it hard for people to reveal you; teleport onto, and off of, buildings (like the Keep); run around a corner in a dungeon to hide. Be sure to backtrack if someone flies by you while you are hidden. The more you practice, the more fun you will have, and the more loot you will tote to the bank!

Tips and Tricks

Here are some of the other tricks I use to get the most loot possible...

1. The teleport-hide trick. This is a great way to escape critters and anti-looters alike. Practice it on your own first, then when a cheesy critter, like a mongbat, is attacking you. What you need to do is cast teleport and target a location out of the critter's line of sight - preferably behind them. As soon as you have targeted the ground, hide. You will seem to disappear into a puff of smoke. I have my teleport and hide macro keys side by side for quick acccess. Also, practice it in your looting ground before you actually need to use it. Some areas, like the fire elemental room in Deceit, have strange areas where you can't target to teleport. This once again comes down to knowing your territory well. All I can say is to practice this trick and you can make some daring escapes!

2. What to loot. Before you make a grab for a pack, try to take the time to single-click on the items in the corpse. If you are hidden and have time, check it out thoroughly. Click on bags, packs and pouches. Look for number of items (8 usually indicates regs) and number of stones - the heavier the better. Click on piles of gold to see how large it is. Basically, you must quicly prioritize what you want, then strike and hit the most valuable items first. Later on, when you are going through your loot, see if those packs carried what you thought. Through much practice and analysis, you'll soon be able to quickly determine the most valuable items and outloot the best of them. If you don't have the time to pick through everything (perhaps due to other looters in the vicinity), grab the most attractive looking packs first. Look carefully because corners of packs could be sticking out under cloth or such. Practice, practice, practice and you'll continue to get better and faster.

3. Hiding! It's no trick, but it's essential for maximum escapes. Learn this skill thoroughly. Perfect your timing and get a sense of how long it is between using the skill the second time. This can save you when you are revealed by angry mages as you hide before they attack. You can also perfect the hide-loot-hide-loot trick, where you grab an item, hide, wait until you can use the skill again, grab another item, hide, etc. I don't think you can have more fun looting unless you can stealth as well!

4. The pass-off loot. In order to pull this off, you have to work as a team. The best thing to do is to use the party system, so that you can send messages each other to coordinate your efforts - even while hidden and invisible. Now, the idea of this loot is to grab the loot, then immediately pass it to your buddy. He'll remain blue, but still have the loot, in case an anti succeeds in killing you. The one to go gray can even be naked, if you don't mind sacrificing yourself. You used to be able to loot stuff and put it directly into a trade window, until OSI squashed that.

Third Party Programs

I've included this section since I believe that you may as well use every tool at your disposal, including third party programs...

Ultima Online Assist: A superior program. You can get more information at the UO Assist Homepage.

Ultima Online Screenshot Utility: Many have asked us what we use to capture our screenshots for our episodes. Well this is it, the UO Screenshot Utility! It's probably the best screenshot utility out there. Lets you take pics quickly and automatically saves them as JPEGs to avoid the hassle of pasting them into a separate program to save them.

Davina's GGS Timer: Since skill gain in UO is currently based on the Guaranteed Gain System, this handy utility will track your skills and let you know when you're ready to successfully gain. It also has timers for criminal flags, escorts, and corpse decay. The program is free but requires UOA to run. You can find it at the Tanis Webpage.

Conclusion

All in all, to be a great looter, you have to have a great attitude, great image, and great knowledge of the game's mechanics. Know how players and critters respond and react, and how to escape anti-looters. I advise you to print this guide out and read it over several times. Maybe even try putting it under your pillow while you sleep or having your friends quiz you on it. But most importantly, have fun, and Happy Looting!

Brought to you by Good Galad, Neutral Galad & Evil Galad
of the Looter's Lair website