Macroing

@Chris and @DarkStarr, please consider either addressing the marco'ing in code, design, or merciless enforcement. Enjoying the awesome scenery, the depth and detail paid to mechanics and everything else all fades to black the first time a player is seen AFK pumping a gustball.

At the very least, make sure players know that it is not ok. There are some people that have the delusion that it is more than ok. If they are told it is not ok, many would stop doing it.

 

I think using Captcha or something similar to stop macroing is a great idea. I remember, as a counselor and senior counselor in UO, how many times we had to go after macroers, it was rampant. It was against the rules and it should still be against the rules in SotA. It's not fair to others and it's almost like exploiting.

Edit: They should put those caught by not entering the Captcha into a jail just like the old days.

 

The way XP and skill gain is awarded is very unfriendly to macroing. It´s really clever, but might still need some tuning.

We have to hunt monsters in order to gain XP and, when raising the skills, the gain is limited by the accumulated XP. Surely we all know that. Well, a macroer will eventually hit zero on XP (no more bar) making it worthless the macroing, for no skill gain will occur anymore... until the macroer actually play the game again, recharging the accumulated XP.

 

I know that's how it's supposed to work. But the impact is not that people stop macroing because gaining the skills is not fun...and when people sleep or go to work it's just easier to have the character skill up then, and have fun with a more powerful character when you're actually there.

Who cares if you have to go get more XP, you would've had to do that anyway. So people that marco are taking the non-fun part out of the equation. That's the problem that we need to either fix, or we need to prevent them from being able to do that to provide a fair playing field. It doesn't matter if it's not efficient to marco, no one cares because they have a life outside of this game.

 

What is the point in letting do the work by a bot (makros are nothing else) ?
Why play a game anyways if one doesn't play by himself?

Really..I don't understand why people use Macros.
*irony on* Maybe Portalarium should sell fully leveled chars in their shop for those, who are too lazy to improve their skills by themselves *irony off*

 

I too hope the devs will do a great work preventing macros (and bots in general) but it´s a mayor issue with online games, and a difficult one. Some games have been ruined by bots, for they farm gold and resources to sell to the players. The only way to stop them is having somebody monitoring the behavior of every account.

At SotA we have some "per design" features that help, that is a big plus. Yet only time will tell if Port will be able to defeat this kind of cheaters. And others kind too.

 

Again, the biggest issue here seems to be ill defined concepts and the resulting equivocation. For example, one should not discuss XP related macroing with resources/gold related macroing in the same sentence, if even in the same thread. They are completely different things. XP related macroing is not such a big issue (for reasons pointed out many times over), whereas gold/resources related might well be, but that kind of macroing is not even possible in this game without a very sophisticated exploit (amounting to hacking, which again is a completely different thing).

Yes, folks pumping gustballs should have the decency to go SPO when doing their favorite hobby, it's indeed one of the biggest eyesores, but then again so is folks RUNNING around everywhere. Now in all conscience - who does that (perhaps even while complaining about gustballers)? I'd say the rampant running around everywhere is much worse a problem if one wants to be "[e]njoying the awesome scenery, the depth and detail paid to mechanics and everything else" as @Tahru so well put it. But I digress, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway.

Then again, I personally would not mind seeing, say, archers doing target practice to real archery practice targets. Or - wait - should I? Perhaps I should go try and kill that devious cheater in Soltown -- what was his name again? Oh yes - Varren. Varren the Master Ranged Trainer. Or at least go spit on him. I'll include his picture below so everyone can recognize him and go do the same. For shame, for shame.

Spoiler: Yes, even NPCs *cheat* in this game.

More seriously though -- once again, bad design should never be fought with anything else but better design. Good, meaningful gameplay is not macroable by definition. We are not machines. The game played for fun should not be attempting to turn us into ones.

I really hope that especially the underlined part was some kind of sarcastic remark?
The solution is very simple: take the non-fun parts out from everyone's equation. Playing field leveled, problem solved, no?

Edit - a little elaboration

 

One solution @Chris :
Make some training gear (archery targets, training dummies/golems etc.) craftable and/or purchasable (so that they can be used as e.g. house/basement decorations), and make them have a durability value. So they a) have a cost (either in resources or gold) and b) they break and need to be repaired/replaced. For example, an archery target might cost 500gp and last for a few hundred shots until it breaks and needs to be replaced/repaired. XP macroing problem solved, and a fine RP supporting element added to the game.

And while at it, please please do make gustballs so that they are only good for the gustball game and nothing else...

 

CAPTCHA in a game? Hilarious. People macro the grind - even if you have to be present for it for fear of being banned. Take away the grind and there won't be a reason to macro.

 

Yup.

 

@Chris and @DarkStarr Remember, a few loud voices the majority does not make. Don't force a particular playstyle. macroing a gustball is only spending what is already earned. If you really want gustballing skills to stop, put in an edit area to skill #'s to put the skill that we've earned into from the pool.

 

a few loud voices? perhaps it's the macroers that are just 'a few loud voices' ........ sigh.

 

For the life of me, I can't understand why anyone in would defend macroing. Even if one felt justified in doing it, it is simply not fun to do. They should join with the overwhelming majority whom hates macroing in asking for a better and more fun solution.

 

@Baron Drocis Fondorlatos
The crux of your argument seems to be about macroing. Someone casting abilities over and over does not mean that one is macroing, just practicing. Without having the ability to verify that the other player is using automated input that's merely an assumption. It's very plausible that the player, being in a scene, was waiting for mobs to respawn or even for a particular spawn. I can't fault another player for trying to make the most of their time in game. If the other player was indeed macroing I feel that the current system is adequate to address that. Barring the usage of exploits or hacks everyone is on a level playing field as far as gaining XP goes. This is a sufficient gate and no one should have an unfair advantage due to this. The difference will come down to how well any particular individual will maximize their skill gains during their game time. Individuals will always find the most efficient way of doing things and it is their right to do so. Are some of those things more of a grind than others? Absolutely, but if that's what one chooses to do, so be it. MMOs, and really most games, by their nature are all about the grind. That's what keeps players engaged in the game, getting that next level of whatever pixelated reward you're after.

I'll be honest and say that the current XP/skill system took some getting used to. Now that I understand it I find it extremely engaging as I have to make meaningful choices in my skill progression. There are many aspects of this game that need fixing and adjusting, but I feel the current XP/skill advancement system to be pretty right on. As in real life, you have the ability to practice something outside of the actual performance of said ability. "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee. Poor Bruce, he would've run out of XP in SOTA. He was also, apparently, a skill spammer.

As far as gustballs go, PLEASE leave them as is in game, at least until testing is over. I would actually like to see further advancement in their usage or better yet an actual combat dummy. It would be great if it could take full damage from abilities while having the ability to instantly regenerate that damage. This would enable us to better test out abilities. It would be great if it could also deal out damage at specified numbers for testing defensive stats & abilities. If it also had an adjustable adventure level & dex it would be perfect for checking hit chances. I can dream...

But back to the XP/skill system, working as intended. There is no need to spend development dollars & hours to fix what is not broken. I'd also like to ask, how were/are you competing with the person that you were observing? Were they aware of this competition? That person you were watching could have been thinking, "I'll never be able to compete with someone who parties up with a high adventure level GM. I'd better get busy." Perhaps they weren't thinking anything along these lines, simply playing the way that they like play while waiting for their intended victim to materialize out of the pixelated ether, getting in some practice time.

 

I loath gustballs, but I don't care so much until the final wipe. As long as those cheater balls are nerfed, before the final wipe, justice is served.

Most people using gustballs are cheating and they are AFK. There is no need for benefit of the doubt because they are cheaters. I have never found one person using a gustball that was not cheating and I can prove it. I go up to every one and blow it away with gust and the user never reacts. Case closed.

 

This is the same type of reasoning I hear when talking about multiple characters. Multiple characters are good, macroing is good. Don't change anything, don't try to make the game better or evenly balanced for everyone, just let people do what they want.

If we applied that to hacking, where would we be? Let's make a game everyone can enjoy, not a game that half the population enjoys at the expense of the other half.

 

AFK means Away From Keyboard. You can be at your keyboard and mindlessly grinding while watching Netflix, talking with your spouse, talking on the phone, reading the forums, or any other activities. The CAPTCHA idea is asinine. Perhaps the worst idea in the history of gaming.

A real solution would be to make a webcam mandatory to play the game. Developers should randomly monitor the Shroud of the Avatar players to ensure their eyes are focused on the screen with Shroud of the Avatar 99.5% of the time or their account is permanently banned. Otherwise ban them for non-compliance. Also get rid of anyone wearing pink. Anyone talking in 1st person. Anyone breaking immersion should be skinned alive.

Greyfox approves of this message.

 

lol, I game naked. j/k

I have tried sparking polite conversations with people as well. I propose a robot can catch most of the cheaters.

if targeting a gustball or not targeting anything and casting spells in same general area without hostile mobs, prompt user for a simple response to a question. No response = ban. Problem solved.

 

Is it cheating if you miss a CAPTCHA? Half the time I can't get those idiotic things right even with my full attention. Please CAPTCHA is for something important or something annoying. Not for gaming!

Make the game FUN to play and people won't need to macro.

Now back to my Big Brother monitoring system, that has real potential!

 

I did not say captcha. Not a fan of that. But there are other ways of asking for user input of the drunk and brain dead.