The Bot-hunt

[Cherek]

Lauren: Cant you explain what needs rework? A statement like that does nothing to explain your point.

Recoba: I never said, nor meant, that we should change Genesis fundamentally. Nor that rules about haressment etc should be gone. But we dont have a big problem with that, we do have a big problem with botting and it needs a solution. Turing tests and a witch hunt for botters isnt the way to solve a problem that has surfaced mainly because of previous mistakes in the game design. Its already causing alot of distress where people who use any type of script seem to be labeled cheaters...

But honestly, Genesis isnt the boring parts. Is it? If we make the boring parts more fun, it will still be Genesis in every way, just better. Imho.

[gorboth]

Making grinding more fun: Random uncommon/rare/elite mods on weapon drops.

This way, if you are just botting, you are liable to miss out when your opponent happens to spawn with one of these rare items. I suspect this would force people to pay attention to what was happening, if they wanted to reap the benefits of chance.

G.

[Recoba]

I think the easy solution is the STATCAP. And don't put it too high, titan is fine. And keep the rules, but don't overpolice.

I'd let wizards explain how much rework all Genesis would require to make things achievable and enjoyable for titans ...

Why don't you add greenhornes, great adventurers and myths to that list? Genesis is big and varied, but the great disparity in player size is actually more of a problem in an achievable/enjoyable perspective. Game content will be EASIER to create and maintain if that disparity is reduced a bit, not to mention the good it would do player interaction, both friendly and hostile.

To adapt to a statcap, it's not that hard to identify those NPCs that become impossible and adjust their combat stats a bit if needed. And many things that big players kill solo or in pairs were meant for larger teams of medium-sized characters anyway, so we could even go back to that in some cases.

So there is your explanation from a wizard, as I am and have been a wizard, on Genesis and several other types of games - retired on Genesis though

[Recoba]

Making grinding more fun: Random uncommon/rare/elite mods on weapon drops.

This way, if you are just botting, you are liable to miss out when your opponent happens to spawn with one of these rare items. I suspect this would force people to pay attention to what was happening, if they wanted to reap the benefits of chance.

G.

Good idea there, Gorboth. And also, how about:

- Fairly frequent random unexpected spawns of NPCs with unusual abilities (poison, blinding spells, blocking). Things that can be a slight challenge if reacted to manually but a pain in the ass to script against.

[Zorath]

Making grinding more fun: Random uncommon/rare/elite mods on weapon drops.

This way, if you are just botting, you are liable to miss out when your opponent happens to spawn with one of these rare items. I suspect this would force people to pay attention to what was happening, if they wanted to reap the benefits of chance.

G.

Good idea there, Gorboth. And also, how about:

- Fairly frequent random unexpected spawns of NPCs with unusual abilities (poison, blinding spells, blocking). Things that can be a slight challenge if reacted to manually but a pain in the ass to script against.

Well, not to forget the mortal size of the party then, would have to be equal or close to the person(s) in the room.. if not it would probably kill anyone less than myth in size.

[Earth]

Actually, in the olden days, the biggest thing that prevent botting was the prevalence of critical hits. So even those that could grind in a certain area and make it all the way through just reaching somewhat hurt would have to pay attention, since you may find yourself suddenly very close to death.

Not sure if that would be a popular idea these days, but that's life isn't it?

[Makfly]

I think we can jump through a ton of hoops to put up roadblocks for scripters, still, I think anyone that wants to script will be able to script around it.

I think it's better to take the approach to try and minimize the need for scripting, so that grinding become of a choice than an absolute necessity, which people do grudgingly and there employ scripts.

[Budwise]

I wouldn't mind a statcap. Right now brute means advancing stats as a big player
takes umpteen million dead cows, trolls etc. That prospect is part of the reason
I stopped playing in earnest, as I don't want to invest all that time in a game these days.

And I only use the Quicktyper. I guess I would get some RoboTriggers TM.
if I really wanted to grind to grow.

Question is what to replace grinding with? I still think growing in size
is a major incentive for some people to play. So what do we give to the addicts
to keep them hooked?

And perhaps make a statcap where people above it would slowly
decay in stats down to the chosen size to cushion the shock a bit?
I don't doubt there would be wild protests and people leaving the game in a huff
but thats how it is with all big changes IMHO.

[Bromen]

The easiest way to break the monotony of the grind is to have other, just as meaninful, distractions in game. In WoW, there's the pvp arena and crafting skills. Perhaps there can be an "opening" of an arena where you have the option to join an arena battle to pvp. If you're defeated, there's not xp loss due to the medical efforts of the arena staff, and the winner gets a neat title for 24 hours+random item.

*shrug*

-b

[Recoba]

The easiest way to break the monotony of the grind is to have other, just as meaninful, distractions in game. In WoW, there's the pvp arena and crafting skills. Perhaps there can be an "opening" of an arena where you have the option to join an arena battle to pvp. If you're defeated, there's not xp loss due to the medical efforts of the arena staff, and the winner gets a neat title for 24 hours+random item.

*shrug*

-b

Yeah, or have more things like the Krynn war system, to combine the xp-gathering with some other meaningful and cool results.