Shroud of the Avatar: Reset of the Virtues

I often wonder if people notice that some of the Oracle commentary on actions are a little... off.

 

That's why I was surprised that the virtue values were hidden now. I always figured they'd be hidden eventually, and the resets where when I always thought it would happen.

 

People can trivially map what action affects which virtue how.

 

All I was getting at is that if you wanted to communicate to people the change that had been made, you could have just said something in the patch notes. It obviously isn't obvious to everyone that having a virtue score of -1 means that virtue scores are unavailable. Not trying to make a big deal out of it or anything, but that wasn't communication.

 

So non persistent persistence.

 

This was given a partial answer by Richard Garriott himself on Twitter yesterday.
QUOTE:
Richard Garriott ‏@RichardGarriott 14h14 hours ago

Richard Garriott Retweeted Violation Clauth

Cleaning up items now, but in homes or kiosks - NOT yours! On ground or in ruins - for the taking!
UNQUOTE

 

There is a difference between playing courage as a game and having an idea and habit of courage that guides your actions.

Although I don't always agree with the way the virtues are defined in-game, I can see that LB and team want to operate in the area of the latter. They don't want us to "play courage". They want us to think about our actions and have the game respond, creating opportunities for interesting reflection and interaction. That's the real game here, not the scores themselves!

Those who want to "play courage" and get their lollie from the Oracle aren't really thinking about virtue or letting the game unfold in the way it is designed to be. Keep going @Lum the Mad, it takes courage to continue in the face of those who don't understand!

 

However while we could see the virtue stats, we could report all the bugs surrounding this which was and is numerous. So you would indeed get dinged in virtue by taking stuff from the ground or from ruins. Just like if you go to a bandit camp and the bandits attack you, then you are not dinged for looting the bodies but you are dinged (in some) for looting the camp. Like the bandit leader's chest.

Such soft 'bugs' are no longer detectable.
Where my opinion would be that some stats should be available through Early Access if they steer up the bug report functions on the forum a bit.

Howerver if Lum is correct and they will implement the "Owned:" flag as a tooltip, then we can again get a data point to report against.

 

Thanks @Lum the Mad for quick answering our concerns.

 

all i would ask is a reset on the virtue hit from killing watchers in combat scenes when they were auto targeted and attacked.

if there was a hit... never checked to see if there was but i have a red glow and the only thing i can think of is that...

...and looting the dead in tenebris harbor...
...and the slave cages in the rumor peaks clones...

...so maybe not so innocent after all lol

 

I'm somehat tempted to see if I can become "Dastardly" just stealing carrots. "There goeth the Dread Druidess Jaanelle! I heard she once sunk an obsidian arrow into a farmer's chest... just to get at his carrots! She's super serious about her vegetable stock!"

But in all seriousness I have been wondering... does stealing still ding Truth if nobody sees it, and there are no watchers around?

Also, if I sneak up behind a watcher and smash it to smithereens... will the Oracle know whodunnit?

 

We technically could limit stealing virtue hits to only work if within eyesight of someone, but currently do not do this. THE ORACLE KNOWS WHAT YOU DID

 

Too bad Humility has been forgotten as a virtue.

Thanks @Lum the Mad for your explanation. I'm totally fine with not knowing my virtues stats.

That said, I cannot rely on the Oracle without having any reason to do so. And assuming that I trust her one day, I look forward to when she can usefuly guide me toward the virtues, listing my faults.

 

I went to the Oracle and he said that I really LOVE my weapon as I am always repairing it.

I am going to have to name her.

 

The oracle is too creepy - I consider it to be the pure evil (like RL Facebook).
I had to visit it once on the Island of Storms and have never visited it again and do not intend to ever visit it again - unless I am able to kill it.
500g is not enough compensation....

 

That Oracle... I tell you things were a lot more friendly around Novia before she started nosing around in everybody's business!

Nowadays, people walk around flaunting their "Virtue" as if it were some sort of trophy! Harrrumph!

We of the Sacred Order of the Thrice Great Grandmothers practice the old ways of Humility... something which appears to have been forgotten with this new-fangled Cult of the Oracle.

So she has been watching us? Ha! Well we've got our Eye on her as well. And it hasn't gone unnoticed that all this riffraff banditry, blood-crazed elves, and shrieking undead, only seems to be getting worse as she and her filthy gold gain favor among those Zombie Outlanders.

Virtue Cloaks of Light. Bah! Any Druidess worth her salt knows that a cloak is meant to conceal, not reveal. Damned fools are in for a big surprise when they go to collect their final "reward" from that double-dealing hag!

I wouldn't be surprised if she were the one responsible for... What's that? Do you hear that beeping noise?...

 

So much this. This is the whole deal why removing those numbers is not a good thing if you actually want to fix what's broken.

 

Is a courageous act truly courageous if performed only for show and for glory, or for some perceived "reward" from some supposedly all-powerful entity?

The Oracle and her cat-head technology can only ever see actions. Not intent. And that will be her own undoing...

 

Oh, we've definitely noticed.

But we are not certain what to make of it - especially since she "seems to be be" the one who is judging whether or not we have been following the Virtues. But we do not know if she is actually the one who is determining how well we are following/fulfilling our quest for virtue (hence the quotation marks in my sentence) or if she is just the information gatherer and there is someone else who is actually "judging" our progress.

But this mystery is obviously meant to be . . . .

I do think we need that "OWNED" tool tip quickly!! Or else there will be many frustrated players with negative karma when all of this is implemented and it really begins to matter. Just something for you and Richard to keep in mind - but I am sure you are.

If there is going to be a future "reset" of everything [like when the game officially launches] it would be good to know that up front as well.

Or perhaps there will be a way for you to tease out the things that "well, that wasn't quite fair because there was no way for them to figure out x,y,z" out of the behind-the-scenes-inside-the-game computations, but that sounds to me like it would be very hard from a programmer's perspective. I don't envy you guys on this.

 

Oh, yes... And having a better intuitive sense of how we're doing in the virtues (whether aided by ownership flags or other cues) would make me (and hopefully others) much less likely to see intentional contradictions in the Oracle's words as bugs.


And I wouldn't be disappointed if, having demonstrated mastery of the virtues, we are given the opportunity to fix her once and for all--though percussive maintenance may be the order of the day if it'll get rid of those darned metal insects that keep getting underfoot!

(I'll keep an eye out for appropriate punch cards or scrolls in the meantime.)


if Reality is PseudoScience -
EvilEntity is EntitySearch(All, Powerful, Evil)
if EvilEntity -
Check is PushReality(EvilEntity)
if not Check -
Test("Thou shalt never see this!")