RoB replacement brainstorming

[Jackard]

look man its not my fault you don't think about what you type, dont bark at me

Characters should be able to easily join their friends who invited them to play the game, instead of spawning a several hour journeys worth away

Travel system could be used for this, by having the player that's doing the inviting typing in the character name of the character they're friend-inviting and a password. The friend receives the password by in-real-life means, types it into a special travel window, and if the password succeeds and the character name matches, the character travels to their friend. The character name check exists so that even if a non-friend knows the password, they still can't use it.

not only is this rather convoluted, what happens when the friends are outside of AGI10 travel range? Is the player shit out of luck?

[Machenoid]

If it's the case that the starting items are being used to farm experience or some other bullshit, there is always a way to stop it without removing the free item entirely, such as making the free raw materials be forced to QL10, give no experience from using in crafting, making the item disappear after a set time, making the item disappear after leaving an area around the RoB, etc. It's an exceedingly easy problem to fix, if time were spent to do figure out how. Also:

It's not like i said they'd be handing out metal bars for fuck sakes. Simple, basic items that are related to the job with consumables the job needs; the more "powerful" jobs get less consumable items, etc, use your constructive criticism to improve it.

not only is this rather convoluted, what happens when the friends are outside of AGI10 travel range? Is the player shit out of luck?

Friend travel always works when it's available.
1. Player 1 types in the name of their friends character and a password. Friend logs onto that character, hits "travel to friend" and types in the password. The computer checks if the password is correct and the character name matches the name Player 1 typed in. If successful:
2. Friend travels to Player 1. "Friend Travel" is now on a _ hour cool-down minimum and travel weariness is set to the appropriate amount, or whatever the maximum it is, with the _ hour cool down being increased based on how many travel-weariness bars the number could fill (if it could fill 3.4 travel weariness bars, it'd increase _ additional hours)

[Jackard]

thats not the travel system then, but something else altogether. moving on:

1. create alt
2. summon alt to help you rob place as a mule
3. relog at ring/hearth/village

[Machenoid]

[how to rob people 101]

That's a problem with the theft and counter-theft system, not the transportation system.

[edit - if stolen items were marked by the theft even if the item was used in crafting a new item, and could be tracked by the owner some way, that would solve a part of it. The other part is stopping the item getting stolen in the first place.]

[jorb]

a whole bunch of special cases to be treated in special ways using special mechanics and requiring specific handling to deal with yet other specific cases that arise only because we put those first special cases in to begin with

Yeah, we try to avoid those.

What we need is a simple and elegant solution and, if that isn't possible, one that at least ties in decently with existing mechanics. "Special" is an often used euphemism for "retarded".

there is always a way to stop it without removing the free item entirely, such as making the free raw materials be forced to QL10, give no experience from using in crafting, making the item disappear after a set time, making the item disappear after leaving an area around the RoB

Case in point. Things like these tend to give rise to a whole number of weird and unintended edge cases. Even if it's not about something game breaking it can still cause player incentives to become confused in strange and unpredicted ways.

[Machenoid]

a whole bunch of retarded cases to be treated in retarded ways using retarded mechanics and requiring specific handling to deal with yet other retarded cases that arise only because we put those first retarded cases in to begin with

Expect no more input from me, then.

[jorb]

a whole bunch of retarded cases to be treated in retarded ways using retarded mechanics and requiring specific handling to deal with yet other retarded cases that arise only because we put those first retarded cases in to begin with

Expect no more input from me, then.

k. Sorry if I seemed overly dismissive. The point wasn't that you shouldn't make suggestions. I just didn't agree with the particular ones you had made.

[theTrav]

Criticism doesn't work two ways Jorb, you can either do what he says or you can be a horrible person.

You don't want to be a horrible person now do you?

[sabinati]

a whole bunch of special cases to be treated in special ways using special mechanics and requiring specific handling to deal with yet other specific cases that arise only because we put those first special cases in to begin with

Yeah, we try to avoid those.

What we need is a simple and elegant solution and, if that isn't possible, one that at least ties in decently with existing mechanics. "Special" is an often used euphemism for "retarded".

there is always a way to stop it without removing the free item entirely, such as making the free raw materials be forced to QL10, give no experience from using in crafting, making the item disappear after a set time, making the item disappear after leaving an area around the RoB

Case in point. Things like these tend to give rise to a whole number of weird and unintended edge cases. Even if it's not about something game breaking it can still cause player incentives to become confused in strange and unpredicted ways.

this post owns and is apt as hell.

[firemage]

Maybe new characters could spawn on a random unclaimed spot in max civ areas, or, if they wish, in a village that allows newbie spawning.
For the latter villages should also be able to better define, what can be done on their turf and what not.

Characters without a hearth and village could be summonable on the spot, where they logged out.

As for the "newbies arre locusts"-problem: There is already somewhere a thread regarding this problem. Basically it's because newbies need lots of wood in the beginning and can't replant it themselves. And WHEN you can replant trees you usually don't need that much anymore. So newbies should be able to replant trees from the start!