Deterring murderers

[Wylos]

I'm not sure if someone's suggested this or not. From what I checked it's a fresh idea.

I find it disturbing how a small group of high level players can kill others at will after acquiring the skill "murder".

Some ideas which should deter murderers:

1- A debuff (called "guilt" or something along those lines) could be implemented which would cause the murderer to play with reduced stats (reduction of 5% or 10% for every victim).

2- The murderer's "guilt" can be detected by rangers and this would allow the ranger to kill the murderer or gather a village mob which would hunt down the murderer, the reward being extra LP, the murderer's items and perhaps a buff such as "duty" or "revenge" which would allow the recipient to earn LP faster or increase his stats permanently.

3- Ranger reputation. The idea of bounty hunters earning a reputation for themselves which would allow them to show off their skills (to attract customers) seems like a cool idea. This would create an abstract "law" in which anyone can be a criminal but runs the risk of being a hunted outlaw in doing so. Also, the rangers should be allowed to write contracts which state that certain items must be given in return for a murderer's life, after which the said items would be reserved for when the ranger completes his task.

4- The belief system should act an important role in this, where a hearthling that respects life would receive a harsh penalty for killing another hearthling, but a hearthling that worships death earns a smaller penalty, if not none at all.

5- With respect to point 4, death worshipping hearthlings can create their own "outlaw settlements", which would give them a chance of surviving with all the rangers/bounty hunters around.

- Wylos

[Avu]

Murder alts = I don't care about your guilt and rangers

[Jackard]

3- Ranger reputation. The idea of bounty hunters earning a reputation for themselves which would allow them to show off their skills (to attract customers) seems like a cool idea.

it is not

[Chakravanti]

@OP you clearly don't understand game mechanics in general to be making these suggestions.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The key to balancing combat is to make PvP type toons lower investment than crafting characters. Acknowledge the fact that people use murder alts and make thanes a regular buff instead of a tool to make it easier for highly developed villages to have disposable murder capacity.

With mild slowing traps that serve as little more than time delay an short, temporary debuff mechanisms characters in a village can log of their high investment crafting toons and engage in defensive combat.

Assasin type character which cost next to dirt and serve *only* for murdering summons force battle attrition on assailants (such units cannot vandalize or steal). Village's being able to remove scents with authority under a sensible system (and better village management) will mean that assaulting villages will cost resources. The defense naturally loses based on the success or failure of the assault.

You can't prevent PvP. It may seem counter-intuitive but the more you have to invest into PvP the shittier it will *ALWAYS* be. No one uses crafting toons for PvP anyway.

You can't play non-pvp style in a PvP game.

Let me rephrase. THe key to balancing combat is to adjust the *COST* of pvp characters. Formulas derived thereof can be remade hundreds of times and you will never have a combat balance if the cost of that combat isn't considered.

[Wylos]

These were just suggestions. If ALL these had to be implemented, I'm in full agreement that they will take the fun out of PvP.

[Pacho]

Having a buff that gives extra lp gain would drastically increase the body count of alts and their murderers (so the main can murder the murder alt). Inherit and repeat.

[flaw]

@OP you clearly don't understand game mechanics in general to be making these suggestions.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The key to balancing combat is to make PvP type toons lower investment than crafting characters. Acknowledge the fact that people use murder alts and make thanes a regular buff instead of a tool to make it easier for highly developed villages to have disposable murder capacity.

With mild slowing traps that serve as little more than time delay an short, temporary debuff mechanisms characters in a village can log of their high investment crafting toons and engage in defensive combat.

Assasin type character which cost next to dirt and serve *only* for murdering summons force battle attrition on assailants (such units cannot vandalize or steal). Village's being able to remove scents with authority under a sensible system (and better village management) will mean that assaulting villages will cost resources. The defense naturally loses based on the success or failure of the assault.

You can't prevent PvP. It may seem counter-intuitive but the more you have to invest into PvP the shittier it will *ALWAYS* be. No one uses crafting toons for PvP anyway.

You can't play non-pvp style in a PvP game.

Let me rephrase. THe key to balancing combat is to adjust the *COST* of pvp characters. Formulas derived thereof can be remade hundreds of times and you will never have a combat balance if the cost of that combat isn't considered.

There is no pvp in this game as it currently stands, only player v. victim. Your suggestion would, I think, go somewhat toward actually making their be some pvp. I think the OP was more focused on removing the victim part, which could be done by making pvp toons higher cost and removing such things as hearth vaults, but this would also reduce any potential for real pvp.

[Wylos]

Re: Chakravanti

Are you saying that a player with the murder skill should be allowed to go on a killing spree with nothing to stop him? I understand basic gameplay mechanics, and funnily enough most online community games have what is called a "PK penalty", which is when a player that kills other players without their consent are subject to a kind of penalty. Some games make use of bots or debuffs to implement this penalty. Looking back at what I said, debuffs would go against the H&H spirit of gameplay, which is why I also suggested that rangers should play a more active role in the game (with proper rewards as incentives).

If you look deep enough into this, the implementation of bounty hunting would create the perfect foundation for PvP, where (possibly), criminal factions (which could be called bandits) are at constant war with bounty hunting guilds. But I digress.

Simply put: Bandits vs. Bounty Hunters = PvP on an epic scale while keeping the general public safe

[Chakravanti]

People have to stop him. WHich is why PvP toons should be cheaper to make doing so more viable.

Making PvP toons more expensive will not reduce the number of victims. It will in fact create more of them.

Also i'm not sure how you see fit to have game mechanics that differentiate between 'bandits, bounty hunters, and the general public'?

If the general public is safe then why are bandits bandits and what crime are the bounty hunters bringing them to justice for?

[Leusoj]

One thing that can possibly solve these murder problems is to remove items like thane's ring from the game.. or at least put a prerequisite for wearing them (e.g. 50 base str and con). Make these murder alts earn the ability to murder effectively.