Playing the Scoundrel

"You can kill NPCs, get caught be guards, have a bounty placed on your head, and run from the law via labyrinthine tunnels and sell stolen goods to fences, or “launder” them so that you can sell them in stores."

"...players can opt to become bounty hunters by donning a special tabard that allows them to track and kill players wanted by the law."

These are quotes from the latest review of ESO by MMORPG, about its in-game Justice system, which has been added post-release, and is still being updated.

What do you think about any of this for SotA?

 

Well that tabard thing sounds a little ridiculous. Apart from that you're just begging for shameless plugs about justice systems and functioning prisons.

As far as ESO it doesn't sound that much different than what they did in Oblivion and Skyrim.

 

I'm all for "grey" gameplay. It isn't a real sandbox if there isn't someone throwing sand in someone's eyes or kicking over castles, after all. Heroes are boring, villains are simple. Bring on the scoundrels.

 

Agreed, the point is that this is a working Justice system in an MMO space. And that makes it more interesting to me.
What's ridiculous about the tabard thing? And yes, I have no shame, please plug any threads you know of for SotA justice systems here. It's been awhile, and people don't like to resurrect old threads for 'no reason'....

 

Give us the Unjustice system please ! ill be more than happy to rot in prison cell for all my wrong doings .Im talking about-thieving,bountys,kill contracts and etc...

 

The Justice system in ESO is alright. You basically steal little miscellaneous bobbles and bits from dressers and crates, or do this pickpocketing percentage-based game to get something random from an npc, and then you go to a sewer hideout in every city and turn it in for gold. You have a daily limit on how much you can turn in per day. Guards have a snare and a pull and are unkillable, sadly.

Its a pretty tame grey system and doesnt let you pickpocket from players sadly

 

Even Princess Leia wanted a scoundrel in her life.

 

I think it is correct to say that if someone wishes to play gray or black, they are willingly choosing to be a PVP participant. Otherwise, if you could commit infractions in PVE world and always stay "safe", what's the point? And in PVP areas, everything's fair all the time anyway right?

So, it seems to me, this all boils down to "losing" safeness in PVE zones by committing infractions in PVE zones. So if the game engine tracks your "crime points" committed in PVE zones, at some point it could give you the PVP tag and you can't remove it except either by paying a fine, waiting long enough or getting killed in PVE zones enough times to "do the time" and revert to non-wanted status.

We could do the tabard thing, but what's wrong with just: all who are not criminals can tag themselves PVP any time they want to fight a criminal then remove their PVP tag and go about their business. Non-wanted players who want to hunt down criminals could do that as much as they like.

 

Well for one it's an obvious mechanic based way or doing things. You shouldn't have to don a tabard to be a bounty hunter. A tabard serves no real purpose in this regard except to say "hey everyone I'm bounty hunting right now" which is really nobody's business anyway.

Ok shameless plugs coming up.

 

My favorite posts on the subject.. and not just because I started both of them.

Justice System Brainstorming

Functioning Prisons?

 

I too am all for a justice system. I dont like anything that forces players to have to accept grief from other players though. Im all for PVP'ers being able to do that to PVP'ers and the likes or that stuff being availible in PVP areas against players. But in ESO even the "Tame" grey gameplay is quite good.

 

I believe the reason for the tabard is because, it gives them special powers they wouldn't have otherwise. It's saying, 'hey guards, i'm not breaking the law right now, i have a license to kill'. Or something like that?

 

So a bounty hunter gets killed and their tabard stolen. Now a criminal is wearing it around so longer "breaking the law" cause they're wearing a piece of cloth?

Why would a tabard give any kind of powers? More game mechanics.

A more realistic way would be to require the bounty hunter to carry a warrant for their target and check in with local guards when they're on the hunt. Wearing a tabard would be like announcing to criminals that they're being pursued. Might as well run around shouting "Hey criminals.. come out, come out where ever you are! Then stand still and let me hit you so I can collect your bounty!"

 

See, now SotA can make a system better than ESO! Episode 2 Justice, here we come!

 

Easily. ESO's justice system isn't all that deep. The tabard is there for exactly the reason Bowen pointed out. It makes bounty hunters stick out so people with bounties don't get caught off-guard. SotA could have a much neater system like what Bowen described. Imagine having to announce show papers and announce that the player is under arrest before trying to capture them. Lots of drama. Drama is fun.

 

I think there are a lot of good ideas and discussion in the afore mentioned threads... I'd love to see something really fleshed out that the devs can chew on and digest.

On a related note.. there's also a lot of fun and interesting ideas for criminals as well that'd be fun to have in-game on a deep level. ie black markets & contraband..