Another scripting legend

[Asha]

Posting this for my own posterity really as these things usually end in trouble down the road.
After this person and their crew just mindlessly ruining tons of hunts I just got tired of it. Wasting my favour.




A spectral triton defender thrusts with a lackluster blue steel harpoon at you!
You evade the attack by inches!

A spectral triton defender thrusts with a lackluster blue steel harpoon at you!
AS: +424 vs DS: +738 with AvD: +15 + d100 roll: +53 = -246
A clean miss.

A spectral triton defender thrusts with a lackluster blue steel harpoon at you!
You evade the attack with incredible finesse!

>
[Ruined Temple, Third Floor]
You notice a sienna-banded scallop shell shield.
Also here: Aripeen
Obvious paths: west
>
Aripeen just went west.
>w
[Ruined Temple, Third Floor]
You notice a spectral triton defender, a spectral triton defender and a coral-hilted sharply tapered longsword.
Obvious paths: north, east
>stance def
> hide
You are now in a defensive stance.
>
You attempt to blend with the surroundings, and feel confident that no one has noticed your doing so.
Roundtime: 1 sec.
HR>
Your surge of empowerment fades.
HR>
A spectral triton defender flickers for a moment, assessing his surroundings for signs of life.
A spectral triton defender peers suspiciously into the shadows with vacant eyes.
H>stance off
> aim clear
> feat silentstrike waylay defe
You are now in an offensive stance.
H>
You're now no longer aiming at anything in particular.
H>
You quickly step from hiding to deliver your waylay!
You swing an eonake-edged black mithril wakizashi at a spectral triton defender!
AS: +555 vs DS: +285 with AvD: +7 + d100 roll: +13 = +290
... and hit for 88 points of damage!
Large gash to the left arm seals as strike passes through.
You swing an oiled dark steel misericord at a spectral triton defender!
AS: +551 vs DS: +272 with AvD: -18 + d100 roll: +63 = +324
... and hit for 34 points of damage!
Hard strike shatters arm into vapor.
The arm reforms before your eyes!
You retreat back into the shadows.
Roundtime: 4 sec.
HR>
You feel at full magical power again.
Your muscles burn as the flood of stamina recedes.
HR>
A spectral triton defender flickers for a moment, assessing his surroundings for signs of life.
A spectral triton defender peers suspiciously into the shadows with vacant eyes.
HR>stance off
> aim clear
> feat silentstrike waylay defe
You are now in an offensive stance.
H>
You're now no longer aiming at anything in particular.
H>
You quickly step from hiding to deliver your waylay!
You swing an eonake-edged black mithril wakizashi at a spectral triton defender!
AS: +555 vs DS: +272 with AvD: +7 + d100 roll: +66 = +356
... and hit for 221 points of damage!
Hard strike connects with the triton defender's back!
A thin arc of mist spews forth, evaporating quickly.
You hear a sound like a child weeping as a white glow separates itself from the triton defender's body and rises into the heavens.
The spectral form of the triton defender tenses in agony as she begins to dissolve from the bottom up!
You deftly switch your ongoing attack towards a spectral triton defender!
You swing an oiled dark steel misericord at a spectral triton defender!
AS: +551 vs DS: +301 with AvD: -18 + d100 roll: +67 = +299
... and hit for 25 points of damage!
Strong hit rips arm from wrist to elbow.
The wound vanishes as the ethereal flesh swirls around in chaotic patterns.

** Necrotic energy from your dark steel misericord overflows into you! **

You feel energized!
You retreat back into the shadows.
Roundtime: 4 sec.
HR>
Dalabrac just arrived.
HR>
Out of the corner of your eye, you see an ancient triton defender approaching. She must be the creature that you've been tasked to kill!
HR>
Dalabrac just went east.
HR>
Dalabrac just arrived.
HR>
A triton radical charges into view, his determination clear in his battle-ready stance!
A triton radical charges into view, his determination clear in his battle-ready stance!
HR>
Dalabrac just went north.
HR>
A spectral triton defender flickers for a moment, assessing his surroundings for signs of life.
A spectral triton defender peers suspiciously into the shadows with vacant eyes.
HR>sym sleep
You come out of hiding.
You draw a glowing pattern in the air before you.

[SSR result: 230 (Open d100: 156)]
A triton radical's eyes roll up into his head as he slumps to the ground.

[SSR result: 92 (Open d100: 18)]
A triton radical is unaffected by your Symbol of Sleep.

[SSR result: 174 (Open d100: 88)]
An ancient triton defender's eyes roll up into her head as she slumps to the ground.

[SSR result: 152 (Open d100: 66)]
A spectral triton defender's eyes roll up into his head as he slumps to the ground.

>
Grand Lord Musix just arrived.
>stance def
> hide
You are now in a defensive stance.
>
You attempt to blend with the surroundings, and feel confident that no one has noticed your doing so.
Roundtime: 1 sec.
HR>
Musix absently whistles a few notes.
Musix skillfully begins to weave another verse into his harmony.
Warding failed!
The triton radical slowly comes back to consciousness.
A triton radical reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 90 damage!
... 85 points of damage!
Heart explodes rupturing the triton radical's chest.
The triton radical gurgles once and goes still, a wrathful look on his face.
The guiding force leaves a triton radical.
The white light leaves a triton radical.
The very powerful look leaves a triton radical.
The brilliant aura fades away from a triton radical.
The dull golden nimbus fades from around a triton radical.
A white glow rushes away from a triton radical.
The dully illuminated mantle protecting a triton radical begins to falter, then completely fades away.

The dull golden nimbus surrounding a triton radical suddenly begins to glow brightly.
Warding failed!
A triton radical reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 102 damage!
... 90 points of damage!
Heart explodes rupturing the triton radical's chest.
The triton radical collapses, gurgling once with a wrathful look on his face before expiring.
The warm glow fades from around a triton radical.
The white light leaves a triton radical.
The very powerful look leaves a triton radical.
The brilliant aura fades away from a triton radical.
The dull golden nimbus fades from around a triton radical.
A white glow rushes away from a triton radical.
The dully illuminated mantle protecting a triton radical begins to falter, then completely fades away.

Warding failed!
The triton defender slowly comes back to consciousness.
An ancient triton defender reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 76 damage!
... 70 points of damage!
Huge strike vaporizes the left thigh.
The triton defender convulses, falling inward upon itself while the leg mends.

Warding failed!
The triton defender slowly comes back to consciousness.
A spectral triton defender reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 118 damage!
... 95 points of damage!
Amazing strike enters one side and exits the other, neatly cutting the triton defender in half!
To your horror the two parts rejoin a moment later.

H>
Celsore just arrived.
H>
Celsore just went east.
H>
A spectral triton defender stands up with a grunt.
H>stance off
> feat silent rad eye
You are now in an offensive stance.
H>
Celsore just arrived.
H>
A little bit late for that don't you think?
A triton radical is already dead.
H>
A triton radical strides in, a wary look on her face.
H>
Celsore just went north.
H>'hey
You say, "Hey."
H>
The triton defender fades into transparency, her remnants rapidly dissolving into the air.
H>l
Musix absently whistles a few notes.
Musix skillfully weaves another verse into his harmony, directing the sound of his voice at a spectral triton defender.
Warding failed!
You hear a sound like a child weeping as a white glow separates itself from the triton defender's body and rises into the heavens.
The spectral form of the triton defender tenses in agony as he begins to dissolve from the bottom up!
A spectral triton defender reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 113 damage!
H>
[Ruined Temple, Third Floor]
You notice a thick canvas sling, a lackluster blue steel harpoon, a triton radical, a triton radical (dead), a triton radical (dead), an ancient triton defender (prone), a spectral triton defender (dead) and a coral-hilted sharply tapered longsword.
Also here: Grand Lord Musix
Obvious paths: north, east
H>
An ancient triton defender stands up with a grunt.
H>
The triton defender fades into transparency, his remnants rapidly dissolving into the air.
H>'stop
You say, "Stop."
H>stance def
> hide
You are now in a defensive stance.
H>
A tad paranoid, aren't we?
H>
Musix absently whistles a few notes.
Musix skillfully begins to weave another verse into his harmony.
Warding failed!
A triton radical reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 134 damage!
... 120 points of damage!
Heart explodes rupturing the triton radical's chest.
The triton radical collapses, gurgling once with a wrathful look on her face before expiring.
A triton radical seems slightly different.
The white light leaves a triton radical.
The very powerful look leaves a triton radical.
The brilliant aura fades away from a triton radical.
The dull golden nimbus fades from around a triton radical.
A white glow rushes away from a triton radical.
The dully illuminated mantle protecting a triton radical begins to falter, then completely fades away.

Warding failed!
An ancient triton defender reels under the force of the sonic vibrations!
Sound waves disrupt for 108 damage!
... 100 points of damage!
Amazing shot cleaves the torso in half at the waist!
You watch agape as the misty form knits itself back together!
It is knocked to the ground!

H>
Musix failed to skin a triton radical properly. The triton spine is ruined.
H>
Musix failed to skin a triton radical properly. The triton spine is ruined.
H>
Musix failed to skin a triton radical properly. The triton spine is ruined.
H>
Musix searches a triton radical.
A triton radical's slick skin begins to rapidly desiccate and dissolve away, leaving nothing behind.
Musix picks up some some silver coins.
H>
Musix searches a triton radical.
A triton radical's slick skin begins to rapidly desiccate and dissolve away, leaving nothing behind.
H>stance off
An ancient triton defender stands up with a grunt.
H> cman cutt mus
H>
Musix searches a triton radical.
A triton radical's slick skin begins to rapidly desiccate and dissolve away, leaving nothing behind.
H>
You are now in an offensive stance.
H>
You spring from hiding and attempt to slit Musix's throat with a vicious cross-slash!
[SMR result: 238 (Open d100: 177, Bonus: 10)]
Your size contributes slightly to the attack!
You slice deep into Musix's vocal cords!
... 28 points of damage!
Blood sprays from Musix's neck in a crimson arc!
... 9 points of damage!
You retreat back into the shadows.
Roundtime: 4 sec.
HR>
Fresh blood drips down Musix's neck.
... 8 points of damage!
HR>
Aripeen just arrived.
H>stance off
> cman cutt mus
An ancient triton defender feints to the left, Musix almost buys the ruse, but recovers just in time.
H>
Trickles of blood course from Musix's neck.
... 14 points of damage!
H>
You are now in an offensive stance.
H>
You spring from hiding and attempt to slit Musix's throat with a vicious cross-slash!
[SMR result: 121 (Open d100: 55, Bonus: 17)]
Your size contributes slightly to the attack!
You slice deep into Musix's vocal cords!
... 5 points of damage!
Musix's neck wound reopens and spills fresh blood!
... 22 points of damage!
You retreat back into the shadows.
Roundtime: 4 sec.
HR>
Aripeen just went east.
HR>l
Aripeen just arrived.
HR>
[Ruined Temple, Third Floor]
You notice a thick canvas sling, a lackluster blue steel harpoon, a thick canvas sling, a lackluster blue steel harpoon, an ancient triton defender and a coral-hilted sharply tapered longsword.
Also here: Aripeen, Grand Lord Musix
Obvious paths: north, east
HR>
Aripeen just went north.
HR>
Blood continues to stream from Musix's wounded neck.
... 18 points of damage!
HR>
An ancient triton defender swings her dark silver harpoon at Musix's sonic cestus!
An ancient triton defender connects!
The sonic forces of Musix's cestus cause an ancient triton defender's harpoon to bounce off!
HR>
Musix just left.
HR>
An ancient triton defender drifts north, gliding swiftly just above the ground.
H>hiss
You hiss.
H>l

[Alastir]

Have you tried getting a disk?

[BLZrizz]

Disk or no, dude looks like he's AFK scripting.

[Alastir]

Disk or no, dude looks like he's AFK scripting.

Probably, report him.

But he's complaining about the poaching which may be prevented by getting a disk or turning his obvioushiding flag on.

[Gelston]

Probably, report him.

But he's complaining about the poaching which may be prevented by getting a disk or turning his obvioushiding flag on.

Or, you know, maybe not. Dude could be using a shit tier script that doesn't see that shit either.

[Methais]

I'm surprised it was someone other than Dalabrac. Whatever script he runs is trash just like the one Musix is running. Possibly even worse, since it doesn't care if you're hiding or out in the open or what.

[Izzy]

Curious why he wants a Xaz dagger when he can just afk script Nelemar with 1030 :P

[Methais]

Curious why he wants a Xaz dagger when he can just afk script Nelemar with 1030 :P

Probably for his electronic penis.

[Mobius1]

I get poached pretty often even with a disk and obvious hiding. One large issue is if you hide the moment they walk in, bigshot sees the room as vacant and starts attacking. But sometimes people just have bad scripts. I just got poached yesterday when I wasn't even hiding.

I've also noticed that probably 95% of the players that poach me or that I rescue that are in danger, are scripting. In fact I can't remember the last non-scripter I've encountered. And probably 9 times out of 10 I get no response. I'm thinking I'm just going to stop saving people's asses, honestly. It's lame as hell interacting with a bunch of damn robots who don't actually play the game.

[Alashir]

You fucking dorks make it sound like you're fighting for scraps out there, rogues vs all. So dramatic

[Mobius1]

You fucking dorks make it sound like you're fighting for scraps out there, rogues vs all. So dramatic

You don't have the nosteal flag just yet! I personally tend to react to that crap by relieving the target of some diamonds. The fact that so many are afk, it can actually end up being rather lucrative.

[Gelston]

You fucking dorks make it sound like you're fighting for scraps out there, rogues vs all. So dramatic

Oh, is it you that is afk scripting with a shitty ass script like a n00b?

[Asha]

for reference i wasnt hiding when he walked in the room. I use set obvioushiding on and people who are not afk have no issues at all with me.
There's accidents sure and they're always pleasant when we interact about it. I love that. But script hunters dont care what flags you have on or what disks you use or what giant flashing sign you have. Its just a way common experience hunting now.

[Asha]

Mobius1

I get poached pretty often even with a disk and obvious hiding. One large issue is if you hide the moment they walk in, bigshot sees the room as vacant and starts attacking. But sometimes people just have bad scripts. I just got poached yesterday when I wasn't even hiding.

I've also noticed that probably 95% of the players that poach me or that I rescue that are in danger, are scripting. In fact I can't remember the last non-scripter I've encountered. And probably 9 times out of 10 I get no response. I'm thinking I'm just going to stop saving people's asses, honestly. It's lame as hell interacting with a bunch of damn robots who don't actually play the game.

Same same.

Also if I happen across a corpse I always ask if they want help. If they don't answer they get a whopping Voln lifekeep :D
Sometimes I'll drag them to the cleric for a death - raise loop. You find your fun where you can.

[Fortybox]

Your crying over this has taken longer than just moving on with your hunt. Sorry you lost 3 silvers and 1 second of hunting time.

[audioserf]

A disk is the only sure-fire way to stop bigshot from doing this. Obvioushiding helps in most cases but not all. I think bigshot gets fucked up by the ambusher hiding in a split second window between the 'is this room mine?' check bigshot does and the 'decide to attack or not' phase.

Creatures are the most plentiful natural resource in GS. There's always more of them. I'd be pissed if it was happening to me a lot too, so I get the OPs point. Getting a disk will solve the problem, even though the onus shouldn't be on you to decide to do it. The option is there. If you keep murdering people you'll eventually be the one in trouble, not them.

[drumpel]

A disk is the only sure-fire way to stop bigshot from doing this. Obvioushiding helps in most cases but not all. I think bigshot gets fucked up by the ambusher hiding in a split second window between the 'is this room mine?' check bigshot does and the 'decide to attack or not' phase.

Creatures are the most plentiful natural resource in GS. There's always more of them. I'd be pissed if it was happening to me a lot too, so I get the OPs point. Getting a disk will solve the problem, even though the onus shouldn't be on you to decide to do it. The option is there. If you keep murdering people you'll eventually be the one in trouble, not them.

GMs will take the side of the one that gets killed, unless they're present to witness everything. I've blasted a few people in the past because they didn't listen the the Ragin' Thrak and just waltzed into my hunting ground (room) and started killing the creatures I was hunting. I'd always ask multiple times for them to stop, tell them to be polite and ask if they can join and finally a warning that I would retaliate if they didn't stop. If I was met with silence, I'd drop them. Only time anything happened was when one character actually responded after I killed him....he started cussing and screaming and all of a sudden he went *poof*. A GM snatched him up to the naughty room, the GM sent me a message saying I did nothing wrong as he witnessed the entire situation and the final outcome and he told me to have a good day (this happened years ago, I don't expect any current GMs to be as lenient, they'd probably still punish you).

I guess I miss the old days when you could get away with dropping dumb fucking players without the crying.

[Lavastene]

I'm surprised it was someone other than Dalabrac.
Honestly, this is what I was assuming it was going to be when I started to read it.

[Lavastene]

A disk is the only sure-fire way to stop bigshot from doing this.
But now you are forcing a disk interaction on me... [/toosoon?]

[Methais]

A disk is the only sure-fire way to stop bigshot from doing this. Obvioushiding helps in most cases but not all. I think bigshot gets fucked up by the ambusher hiding in a split second window between the 'is this room mine?' check bigshot does and the 'decide to attack or not' phase.

Creatures are the most plentiful natural resource in GS. There's always more of them. I'd be pissed if it was happening to me a lot too, so I get the OPs point. Getting a disk will solve the problem, even though the onus shouldn't be on you to decide to do it. The option is there. If you keep murdering people you'll eventually be the one in trouble, not them.

I think the issue is that sometimes, for some unknown reason, ;wander ignores the obvious hiding string and doesn't keep walking around. My non-bigshot script has the same issue sometimes and just starts blasting at stuff when someone's in the room using obvious hiding.

But yeah, I don't recall that ever happening when a disk was there.

[Mobius1]

In this instance a disk wouldn't have mattered. He hid after Musix entered the room, in which case Bigshot will poach, disk or not.

Honestly, it's not the poaching itself that he's upset about, nor what I get upset about when it happens. Hell, I poach people on accident on rare occasion, myself. What the real problem is that you get poached by a robot. 9/10 of the time I personally get poached, I don't hear a peep out of the person, which tells me they can't be bothered to stop watching Youtube to hunt.

[Methais]

In this instance a disk wouldn't have mattered. He hid after Musix entered the room, in which case Bigshot will poach, disk or not.

Honestly, it's not the poaching itself that he's upset about, nor what I get upset about when it happens. Hell, I poach people on accident on rare occasion, myself. What the real problem is that you get poached by a robot. 9/10 of the time I personally get poached, I don't hear a peep out of the person, which tells me they can't be bothered to stop watching Youtube to hunt.

I just grab them and fog them to town. Did that to Dalabrac once and he just stood there for a pretty longtime and then I guess eventually idled out.

Group closed? Hide and stalk them when they pass by again, unhide and fog.

[Asha]

Your crying over this has taken longer than just moving on with your hunt. Sorry you lost 3 silvers and 1 second of hunting time.

I did mention this happens on the reg, dumbass.

[Mobius1]

It was way worse with the bandit train. At that time it was happening to me like 3 times a hunt (And with bandits that's a lot of time lost.).

[Stanley Burrell]

I've got obvious hiding on, with the room text of the obvious hiding flag set to radioactive grape drank purple. You can't miss it. Have a sip.

[audioserf]

Last I looked the most popular bandit script literally didn't have a check for other people in the room let alone hidden, lmao

[Methais]

I've got obvious hiding on, in radioactive grape drank purple. You can't miss it. Have a sip.

https://i.imgur.com/foqpQLq.png

[Stanley Burrell]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Methais again.

PISS!!!

[Methais]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Methais again.

PISS!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o0KsP5d61I

[Fortybox]

I did mention this happens on the reg, dumbass.

The creature gen in Nelemar is fine. You’re whining over something that has little impact to you.

[Mobius1]

The creature gen in Nelemar is fine. You’re whining over something that has little impact to you.

For me it's just a constant reminder that I'm playing with a bunch of freaking bots. It sucks that Bigshot gave this game cancer, which is now inoperable since it's infested like 90% of the player base. Literally last hunt just minutes ago I was poached by one of these bots who don't actually play the game but get rewarded XP/Silvers for it.

You want to talk about pointless whining, that would be litter Nazis. Why the hell do people get so triggered over litter?

[Fortybox]

For me it's just a constant reminder that I'm playing with a bunch of freaking bots. It sucks that Bigshot gave this game cancer, which is now inoperable since it's infested like 90% of the player base. Literally last hunt just minutes ago I was poached by one of these bots who don't actually play the game but get rewarded XP/Silvers for it.

You want to talk about pointless whining, that would be litter Nazis. Why the hell do people get so triggered over litter?

I don’t get it. It’s such a minimal impact. Literally can type in “east” and find another critter to fight.

Buncha snowflakes.

[drumpel]

I don’t get it. It’s such a minimal impact. Literally can type in “east” and find another critter to fight.

Buncha snowflakes.

I haven't hunted much in the past 6 or so months with my capped wizards there, but I find it hard at times to find creatures there to combat because of the swarm of folks running around through the rooms so fast. I can wander the entire place multiple times before I might come across a room that a creature resides and no one else is in there fighting it. It's not a common thing, but it happens enough that hunting there some times can be a pain in the ass. What could be a 5-8 minute hunting session turns into a 15-20 minute session because so many people are there or you have so many people just coming into the room and spamming high end AOE killing spells or wizards that wander through with super high bolting AS, 908 the room in 3-5 seconds with rapid fire active and walk out.

To each their own. If you find it super easy to find more creatures to hunt, then so be it, but sometimes for others it's a struggle with all the dumb fuckers botting about and KSing.

[Realk]

908 the room in 3-5 seconds with rapid fire active .

for what it's worth i use 505 and steam bolt only ... i didn't even know what 908 was =)

[Orthin]

I haven't hunted much in the past 6 or so months with my capped wizards there, but I find it hard at times to find creatures there to combat because of the swarm of folks running around through the rooms so fast. I can wander the entire place multiple times before I might come across a room that a creature resides and no one else is in there fighting it. It's not a common thing, but it happens enough that hunting there some times can be a pain in the ass. What could be a 5-8 minute hunting session turns into a 15-20 minute session because so many people are there or you have so many people just coming into the room and spamming high end AOE killing spells or wizards that wander through with super high bolting AS, 908 the room in 3-5 seconds with rapid fire active and walk out.

To each their own. If you find it super easy to find more creatures to hunt, then so be it, but sometimes for others it's a struggle with all the dumb fuckers botting about and KSing.

afternoons and evenings are when it is the worst. Pop down to level 2 though and its a ghost town so plenty to hunt there

[BLZrizz]

For me it's just a constant reminder that I'm playing with a bunch of freaking bots. It sucks that Bigshot gave this game cancer, which is now inoperable since it's infested like 90% of the player base. Literally last hunt just minutes ago I was poached by one of these bots who don't actually play the game but get rewarded XP/Silvers for it.

Agree, AFK scripting is stealing (i.e. receiving the reward but circumventing the cost, i.e. responsiveness to the gaming environment).

I do what little I can, reporting AFK scripters, congratulating the staff when there's a big AFK scripting bust, and reiterating via feedback that my substantial financial support is contingent on continued aggressive AFK scripting enforcement.

But it does feel like a losing battle at times.

[Gelston]

Agree, AFK scripting is stealing

No it isn't, and you constantly calling it stealing won't make it so.

[drumpel]

for what it's worth i use 505 and steam bolt only ... i didn't even know what 908 was =)

I don't use 908 myself, but if I remember correctly if you can build up with enough MOC and you can get more guaranteed splashes from 908. In a room with 3 or 4 creatures you're bound to kill them out rather fast using 908. The DF is kind of weak, but the AvD is higher than most other bolt spells so you tend to hit targets easier and sometimes you get good crits from the spalshes. It's not as effective for hitting everything in the room like 518 might be, but with the right training and rapid fire a few casts of 908 to clear a room is cheaper on your mana over casting a few shots of 518.

I mainly use 904 and 510 (having 130 EL:E ranks cranks up the DF on these)....after looking at my cheat sheet for DFs/AvDs for bolt spells I just realized I can evoke major acid (use 904 with Evoke). I should try it out sometime....but I'm sure I'll probably forget about it right after I post this. If something is being difficult and getting a lot of dodges against my bolts, then I'll use 917.

[Mobius1]

Agree, AFK scripting is stealing (i.e. receiving the reward but circumventing the cost, i.e. responsiveness to the gaming environment).

I do what little I can, reporting AFK scripters, congratulating the staff when there's a big AFK scripting bust, and reiterating via feedback that my substantial financial support is contingent on continued aggressive AFK scripting enforcement.

But it does feel like a losing battle at times.

Honestly, I'm not even talking about AFK scripters specifically, but even those that "aren't." It's so bizarre to me, that in a game where RP is mandatory, where they even have you rest for XP in order to encourage more interaction, automated hunting scripts are allowed. In any other game, this would be botting and would be illegal, AFK or not. It's insane that you can gain experience and silvers in this game with zero effort.

Granted, I understand that stopping it at this point would kill the game (as I said earlier about it being "inoperable cancer."), but I definitely lament the fact that Simu didn't squash it early on when they had the chance! Now it's absolutely out of control, and likely 90%+ of players do it.

I'm not going to trash on players that avail themselves of it, as that's on Simu, not you. But it sure is a damn blight to this game. Of course, I'm sure several will rebut that you wouldn't play this game if not for botting (at keyboard), and I will simply argue that more people have gotten bored of the game and left, than this stupid system has helped retain. Why else is it illegal in every MMO? Because it's clearly bad for any game, and unfair to reward people for expending zero effort in the game.

And yeah, as I said earlier, getting poached by bots is just a freaking daily reminder that I am playing with robots who are raking in XP/Silvers for no effort.

[audioserf]

a game where RP is mandatory

It's literally not. You're not allowed to be blatantly OOC, but there's nothing in Policy that requires roleplay.

[Methais]

I don't mind afk scripters. I do mind afk scripters that use trash scripts.

[Mobius1]

It's literally not. You're not allowed to be blatantly OOC, but there's nothing in Policy that requires roleplay.

REALLY!? Damn, thanks for teaching me about the game I've been playing for like 26 years.

You obviously know what I meant.

[audioserf]

You said "a game where RP is mandatory" but sure go off I guess?

[Gelston]

REALLY!? Damn, thanks for teaching me about the game I've been playing for like 26 years.

You obviously know what I meant.

Most of the people playing this game probably have over 20 years into it and guess what? We'll all have different opinions and ideas.

[Taernath]

You said "a game where RP is mandatory" but sure go off I guess?


inb4


I made no such claim and I absolutely demand you edit it out of your post or I will cease to interact with you in this discussion.

[Mobius1]

Most of the people playing this game probably have over 20 years into it and guess what? We'll all have different opinions and ideas.

Yep, and my opinion is that fully automated hunting is a blight to this game. Which is likely a minority opinion, I realize, seeing as pretty much everyone bots now.

[Fortybox]

Agree, AFK scripting is stealing (i.e. receiving the reward but circumventing the cost, i.e. responsiveness to the gaming environment).

I do what little I can, being a whiny bitch by reporting AFK scripters, congratulating the staff when there's a big AFK scripting bust, and reiterating via feedback that my substantial financial support is contingent on continued aggressive AFK scripting enforcement.

But it does feel like a losing battle at times.

FTFY

[Fortybox]

I don't mind afk scripters. I do mind afk scripters that use trash scripts.

Wut about cybers?

[Fortybox]

I don't mind afk scripters. I do mind afk scripters that use trash scripts.

Wut about cybers?

[Doomsday]

Not really a huge secret who my character is and im active on Discord if you had shot me a message id gladly have addrssed it immediately and paid you back for whatever i looted. Still will if you want.
It obviously wasnt intentional and didn't really know there was an issue until I saw this. I havent changed anything lately so im not sure why its doing it, its obviously not a super complicated attack cycle. Did you direct message me? I dont have a seperate chat window so if you only said something local theres no doubt i would have missed it and it scrolls pretty fast.
Either way im sure its not the cool PC thing to do or whatever but I applogize, and Sorry that happend.

[Fleur-de-me]

I don't mind afk scripters. I do mind afk scripters that use trash scripts.

Wait...so your problem is with bigshot not the afk scripter?

It sure sounded like you were pretty mad at Dalabrac, not the other way around.

[Fleur-de-me]

Not really a huge secret who my character is and im active on Discord if you had shot me a message id gladly have addressed it immediately and paid you back for whatever i looted. Still will if you want.
It obviously wasnt intentional and didn't really know there was an issue until I saw this. I havent changed anything lately so im not sure why its doing it, its obviously not a super complicated attack cycle. Did you direct message me? I dont have a separate chat window so if you only said something local there's no doubt i would have missed it and it scrolls pretty fast.
Either way im sure its not the cool PC thing to do or whatever but I apologize, and Sorry that happened.

Holy shit, maturity, civility, and owning one's mistakes. Someone archive that post immediately we may never see that again. Kudos. We need more players like this guy, AFK or NOT.

[Hightower]

Yep, and my opinion is that fully automated hunting is a blight to this game. Which is likely a minority opinion, I realize, seeing as pretty much everyone bots now.

FWIW, I agree. But that ship sailed many years ago. I don't blame the players. A lot of them are supplementing their income because for some reason this game's currencies, items, and characters still have decent cash value. But even if it weren't about the money, the gameplay is mind-numbingly boring. Why torture yourself actually playing it when you can just let it play itself and get the things you want out of it?

As a consequence, there is also little worthwhile interaction. With most players spending the vast majority of their time in game not actually playing or paying attention to it, interaction is mostly relegated to special events which invariably feel contrived. There are probably still a few try-hards out there, attempting to recapture what made this game special to them at some point in the distant past. They're a bit like a mime on a street corner as everybody shuffles past on their way to work. If you're looking for compelling gameplay or worthwhile interaction, I'm afraid GS ain't it.

[Viekn]

As a consequence, there is also little worthwhile interaction. With most players spending the vast majority of their time in game not actually playing or paying attention to it, interaction is mostly relegated to special events which invariably feel contrived. There are probably still a few try-hards out there, attempting to recapture what made this game special to them at some point in the distant past. They're a bit like a mime on a street corner as everybody shuffles past on their way to work. If you're looking for compelling gameplay or worthwhile interaction, I'm afraid GS ain't it.

For context, I started playing in 1996, stopped in 2003, then started playing again in 2014 and have been pretty consistently active with a few short breaks. Was hunting ever filled with rich interaction and RP opportunity back in the day? I recall going out in groups more often back then, and indeed that was more fun. Maybe we lament the fact there's not so many people playing the game now and therefore we have fewer friends to go out and group hunt with? But I don't remember going on solo hunts pre-bigshot and finding that I was constantly interacting with people. When I was solo hunting pre-bigshot, my usual interaction was when people poached stuff, which is the same thing this thread is about, only with bigshot.

I agree with you that depending on the special event, those interactions feel contrived. The whole storyline around Lumnis and the flowers changing colors at the Festival of Lumnea felt extremely contrived and cringy to me. We were standing in a field trying to figure out what might have lead to the flowers changing color and maybe why Lumnis was unhappy. There was like 20-30 people just standing there, while a small group would just toss out ideas. It didn't feel like a natural interaction in any way at all.

Conversely, as I've mentioned in another thread, I attended a Beacon Hall Restday Fast Breaking they hold every Sunday and it was a ton of fun, the interactions were all natural and didn't feel contrived at all. But that was a player run event, and not a GM run special event. With a GM run special event, I'd say it's more likely to feel a little contrived. Instead of the group interacting with each other, it's more about individuals in the group interacting with the GM('s).

I compare the possibility of fun interactions in GS with taking a walk in a busy neighborhood park. If you go for a walk in a local park that's fairly busy, would you say that you're often interacting with the people there in meaningful way? Probably not. You're going for a walk, they're doing their own things, and chances are you're never going to interact with them. But if interaction is what you want, you could look for local groups that are having get togethers at the park: group walks, softball, barbecues/picnics, etc., and look to attend those things. To me, it's the same with GS, if you're expecting consistent meaningful interaction from your everyday business in GS, it's not impossible, but with fewer people playing the game, the odds just aren't great anymore.

But I think that has little to do with bigshot. I'm not saying there's no issue with AFK scripters. If you're letting bigshot run for hours at a time while you're off watching a movie, doing chores, running errands, sleeping, that's no good for anyone and I think enforcement of the rules around that behavior is crucial. If that's your goal, to earn silvers, gear, increase your character level, all on auto-pilot, then do it in Shattered or some other instance designed for that, BUT...allow silvers/gear (NOT Shattered ooc gear)/characters built there to be transferred to Prime. You'd obviously have to tweak the systems/rules, but allowing something like that would remove the afk auto scripters from Prime, but allow them to still get from the game what they want without ruining people's experiences in Prime.

[Tgo01]

But I don't remember going on solo hunts pre-bigshot and finding that I was constantly interacting with people.

Honestly I think people interact with me more now while I'm hunting than they did back in the good ol' days of 2000+ people logged in at once.

Back then I think the most interaction I had was someone entering my room, yelling "CHASE!", killing the critter that clearly spawned in my room and didn't enter the room from another room, skin and loot said critter, then move on.

[Gelston]

Yeah, I've never had any meaningful interaction while solo hunting, scripts or not. We did use to do TD parties and shit, but that is gone because player numbers are a lot lower and honestly, people are done with the entry level hunting areas in the first hour of playing.

[Hightower]

To clarify, I was not referring to interaction while hunting. I meant that full automation has contributed to the change in player behavior patterns all around. Obviously, a player who is AFK scripting on a hunt/rest cycle doesn't interact at all. But even players who would interact now "play" the game without playing it. We're doing chores, work, playing other games with actual engaging gameplay, watching Netflix, etc. As these are the things engaging our attention most of the time as we play, we're engaging less in the game. And as that is obviously a two-way street in any interaction, there are generally fewer players left to interact with at any given time. So, unless you're the mime on the street corner, there's rarely a reason to "perform", as it were.

[Ramrod]

FWIW, I agree. But that ship sailed many years ago. I don't blame the players. A lot of them are supplementing their income because for some reason this game's currencies, items, and characters still have decent cash value. But even if it weren't about the money, the gameplay is mind-numbingly boring. Why torture yourself actually playing it when you can just let it play itself and get the things you want out of it?

100%. Also keep in mind that they added a bunch of end game content AND massively slowed down experience gain when they nerfed Symbol of Dreams and Meditate years back. People used to make 25K exp/day playing by hand. To go from 0-100 today literally takes years now with scripting. Even if you AFK script 24/7 it takes over a year to get to cap.

They've also introduced all these weapons, spells, etc that produce a shit-ton of screen scroll even with combat brief on. A single attack can basically scroll the entire game window in half a second. If you're at the keyboard AND paying close attention it's easy to miss something. If you're not paying close attention it's even easier.

I would guess that at least 75% of their players are scripting. If they want, they could catch every single one of them at some point. Punishing players for scripting will be the end of the game. There's simply not enough players that don't script to keep the game alive.

[Fleur-de-me]

100%. Also keep in mind that they added a bunch of end game content AND massively slowed down experience gain when they nerfed Symbol of Dreams and Meditate years back. People used to make 25K exp/day playing by hand. To go from 0-100 today literally takes years now with scripting. Even if you AFK script 24/7 it takes over a year to get to cap.

They've also introduced all these weapons, spells, etc that produce a shit-ton of screen scroll even with combat brief on. A single attack can basically scroll the entire game window in half a second. If you're at the keyboard AND paying close attention it's easy to miss something. If you're not paying close attention it's even easier.

I would guess that at least 75% of their players are scripting. If they want, they could catch every single one of them at some point. Punishing players for scripting will be the end of the game. There's simply not enough players that don't script to keep the game alive.

This is absolutely correct. Agreed.

[Taernath]

playing other games with actual engaging gameplay

This is the heart of it. We were starved for choice 30 years ago and put up with clunky typing syntax and absorption mechanics because we had to. Now other games and their gameplay have evolved exponentially while we are still expected to sit there and >ATT RAT forever. Relying on scripts is a method to alleviate some of the worst aspects of GS.

[Viekn]

To clarify, I was not referring to interaction while hunting. I meant that full automation has contributed to the change in player behavior patterns all around. Obviously, a player who is AFK scripting on a hunt/rest cycle doesn't interact at all. But even players who would interact now "play" the game without playing it. We're doing chores, work, playing other games with actual engaging gameplay, watching Netflix, etc. As these are the things engaging our attention most of the time as we play, we're engaging less in the game. And as that is obviously a two-way street in any interaction, there are generally fewer players left to interact with at any given time. So, unless you're the mime on the street corner, there's rarely a reason to "perform", as it were.

Understood, and I didn't mean for my response to indicate otherwise. My points were based more on the circumstances that sparked the thread, being afk script hunting, than your specific stance. But I quoted your response because you made some good points and wanted to apply those to the bigger picture issue of afk script hunting.

But again to your point, I absolutely see what you're saying. I am definitely in that boat of doing other things while playing, and bigshot and other scripts have allowed me to do that. I'm almost never actually afk while scripting unless I'm using the restroom or grabbing a bite to eat and sitting back down at the computer. But I play two ways: just as you mentioned, I've got GS up and I'm running bigshot on one monitor, and on the other I'm doing work or watching a movie, and I obviously couldn't do that without the fully automatic script; but that obviously gets boring and so other times I'll be fully paying attention to only GS and I'm sure my character has the potential for better possible interactions when I'm playing that way. I'll randomly start mouthing off at upstarts in Landing TSC who, amazingly, still pull stuff like blatant ooc references or "I WANT A BROADSWORD!!!" type stuff. When I'm fully paying attention to that stuff happen, I can, in character as my haughty elf , mock or reprimand them.

[Asha]

The creature gen in Nelemar is fine. You’re whining over something that has little impact to you.

I don’t get it. It’s such a minimal impact. Literally can type in “east” and find another critter to fight.

Buncha snowflakes.

I've already explained this to you, so I already know explaning it again won't help you understand though I will anyway.
It wasn't a matter of someone walking in once and wiping my entire room, it was every single time the person appeared I'd just stop typing and watch them do it again. Sometimes I'd rush to get my hit in first and he'd just wait till I searched it and took all the boxes. So after multiple attempts to contact him and staff without any change I just stopped it myself. Fuck it.

I don't really care about the boxes or the coins, I only care about the EXP and the action of killing. It's a lot of fun for me and puts me in a zen mood just grinding through critters. So I honestly lose nothing when I'm endlessly poached other than the fun I'm having in my flow being halted over and over again. I don't like the blatant rudeness of someone hitting their script and walking away while everyone has to worry about their out of control character.

People just enjoy the game however you want, its meant to be fun. Although don't do it in a way that spoils it for someone else. That's all there is to it.


If you still think that me simply going east will resolve all this, I can't help you.

[Asha]

Not really a huge secret who my character is and im active on Discord if you had shot me a message id gladly have addrssed it immediately and paid you back for whatever i looted. Still will if you want.
It obviously wasnt intentional and didn't really know there was an issue until I saw this. I havent changed anything lately so im not sure why its doing it, its obviously not a super complicated attack cycle. Did you direct message me? I dont have a seperate chat window so if you only said something local theres no doubt i would have missed it and it scrolls pretty fast.
Either way im sure its not the cool PC thing to do or whatever but I applogize, and Sorry that happend.

It's fine, I'm glad this might have made you look at your script. If there's anything I can do for you, let me know. I'll pay for your herbs too no prob.

[Ramrod]

I've already explained this to you, so I already know explaning it again won't help you understand though I will anyway.
It wasn't a matter of someone walking in once and wiping my entire room, it was every single time the person appeared I'd just stop typing and watch them do it again. Sometimes I'd rush to get my hit in first and he'd just wait till I searched it and took all the boxes. So after multiple attempts to contact him and staff without any change I just stopped it myself. Fuck it.

I don't really care about the boxes or the coins, I only care about the EXP and the action of killing. It's a lot of fun for me and puts me in a zen mood just grinding through critters. So I honestly lose nothing when I'm endlessly poached other than the fun I'm having in my flow being halted over and over again. I don't like the blatant rudeness of someone hitting their script and walking away while everyone has to worry about their out of control character.

People just enjoy the game however you want, its meant to be fun. Although don't do it in a way that spoils it for someone else. That's all there is to it.


If you still think that me simply going east will resolve all this, I can't help you.

You're not wrong and I agree with everything you've said. We're playing a game designed for 2000+ players that play by hand and advance at a much faster rate with choices for advancement beyond simply hunting (healing, raising, lockpicking, RPA, etc). The issues are that hunting is really the only method for advancement now, there's 500 players instead of 2000, and advancement is much slower. If you want to make any meaningful progress in the game, the only solution is to script. Simu won't address the underlying issues and, in fact, has only exacerbated them with not only the in game changes, but also their adoption of Lich. That's not counting the fact that there's much more competition for entertainment dollars today and way more multiplayer game choices.

It's really hard interact and RP when you're in a world designed for 5-10 times as many players and the only way to advance is through hunting.

[drauz]

Honestly, I'm not even talking about AFK scripters specifically, but even those that "aren't." It's so bizarre to me, that in a game where RP is mandatory, where they even have you rest for XP in order to encourage more interaction, automated hunting scripts are allowed. In any other game, this would be botting and would be illegal, AFK or not. It's insane that you can gain experience and silvers in this game with zero effort.

Granted, I understand that stopping it at this point would kill the game (as I said earlier about it being "inoperable cancer."), but I definitely lament the fact that Simu didn't squash it early on when they had the chance! Now it's absolutely out of control, and likely 90%+ of players do it.

I'm not going to trash on players that avail themselves of it, as that's on Simu, not you. But it sure is a damn blight to this game. Of course, I'm sure several will rebut that you wouldn't play this game if not for botting (at keyboard), and I will simply argue that more people have gotten bored of the game and left, than this stupid system has helped retain. Why else is it illegal in every MMO? Because it's clearly bad for any game, and unfair to reward people for expending zero effort in the game.

And yeah, as I said earlier, getting poached by bots is just a freaking daily reminder that I am playing with robots who are raking in XP/Silvers for no effort.

Sounds like you have it all figured out on how to make the perfect game, you should go do that.

[Ramrod]

Honestly, I'm not even talking about AFK scripters specifically, but even those that "aren't." It's so bizarre to me, that in a game where RP is mandatory
, where they even have you rest for XP in order to encourage more interaction, automated hunting scripts are allowed.

Staying IC is required, RP is not. Automated hunting scripts have been around forever. Fuck, the wizard has a scripting engine built in. I remember people AFK script hunting back in the AOL days in hobgoblins.



In any other game, this would be botting and would be illegal, AFK or not. It's insane that you can gain experience and silvers in this game with zero effort.
What effort is there in hitting F1 to kill something versus a script doing it? This isn't a game of skill. A higher APM doesn't make you better at the game. Tons of other games have third party tools associated with them. GS is not unique in that way.



Granted, I understand that stopping it at this point would kill the game (as I said earlier about it being "inoperable cancer."), but I definitely lament the fact that Simu didn't squash it early on when they had the chance! Now it's absolutely out of control, and likely 90%+ of players do it.

Simu literally included scripting with the game. Granted, I've only played since 1993? or so, but ever since I've played the Wizard has been compatible with scripting and even included a guide on writing scripts. You act like AFK scripting started with Lich when it's been there the whole time.



I'm not going to trash on players that avail themselves of it, as that's on Simu, not you. But it sure is a damn blight to this game. Of course, I'm sure several will rebut that you wouldn't play this game if not for botting (at keyboard), and I will simply argue that more people have gotten bored of the game and left, than this stupid system has helped retain. Why else is it illegal in every MMO?

Everything you're saying is just wrong. Scripting has been around as long as the game has been around. The fact that you didn't notice 20 years ago just shows how oblivious you are. You realize that back in the day there was the Wizbot client designed for AFK scripting the game, right? I still have old scripts from before Lich that were 100% AFK. Lich isn't even the first. Also, you realize that there's entire MMO's out there where you gain XP while not playing, right? You realize that there's no difference between WoW gold farms and scripting GS other than the script doesn't use slave labor, right?



Because it's clearly bad for any game, and unfair to reward people for expending zero effort in the game.

What effort is there exactly? Using a movement script to go to your hunting area then using the number pad and the function keys to hunt? There's no real effort there. There's no skill. I would argue that anyone paying the sub is good for the game whether they script or not. Poaching didn't become a problem with Lich. It's always been a problem. The Thrak even talks about it.



And yeah, as I said earlier, getting poached by bots is just a freaking daily reminder that I am playing with robots who are raking in XP/Silvers for no effort.
Versus what? The people that did it for the first 20 years that you didn't notice? Versus the people that abused old systems to rake in silvers/xp? Versus the people that sat on node to heal/raise and then used meditate and symbol of dreams? Versus the GM's that created and sold items for cash or gave to their PC's or gave to their friends? Throughout the history of the game, there's been tons of abuse of various systems as well as AFK scripting. All lich did was make AFK scripting available to the masses. That's it. The lack of interaction is due to how Simu has developed the game. There's plenty of solutions for the interaction piece, but Simu doesn't address the issue and the changes they make just make the issue worse.

[Fleur-de-me]

Staying IC is required, RP is not. Automated hunting scripts have been around forever. Fuck, the wizard has a scripting engine built in. I remember people AFK script hunting back in the AOL days in hobgoblins.


What effort is there in hitting F1 to kill something versus a script doing it? This isn't a game of skill. A higher APM doesn't make you better at the game. Tons of other games have third party tools associated with them. GS is not unique in that way.


Simu literally included scripting with the game. Granted, I've only played since 1993? or so, but ever since I've played the Wizard has been compatible with scripting and even included a guide on writing scripts. You act like AFK scripting started with Lich when it's been there the whole time.


Everything you're saying is just wrong. Scripting has been around as long as the game has been around. The fact that you didn't notice 20 years ago just shows how oblivious you are. You realize that back in the day there was the Wizbot client designed for AFK scripting the game, right? I still have old scripts from before Lich that were 100% AFK. Lich isn't even the first. Also, you realize that there's entire MMO's out there where you gain XP while not playing, right? You realize that there's no difference between WoW gold farms and scripting GS other than the script doesn't use slave labor, right?


What effort is there exactly? Using a movement script to go to your hunting area then using the number pad and the function keys to hunt? There's no real effort there. There's no skill. I would argue that anyone paying the sub is good for the game whether they script or not. Poaching didn't become a problem with Lich. It's always been a problem. The Thrak even talks about it.


Versus what? The people that did it for the first 20 years that you didn't notice? Versus the people that abused old systems to rake in silvers/xp? Versus the people that sat on node to heal/raise and then used meditate and symbol of dreams? Versus the GM's that created and sold items for cash or gave to their PC's or gave to their friends? Throughout the history of the game, there's been tons of abuse of various systems as well as AFK scripting. All lich did was make AFK scripting available to the masses. That's it. The lack of interaction is due to how Simu has developed the game. There's plenty of solutions for the interaction piece, but Simu doesn't address the issue and the changes they make just make the issue worse.

WAIT just a damn minute here are you saying that you don't think the 20-30 minutes of mine carts and 10 sec rts to get to Elven Nations is fun? Or that you don't enjoy 15 minutes of wasted time on a boat to get to teras or Kraken falls?

I think you miss it Ramrod, the GM's have told us as much on discord. This is a game, but in their words not mine "Fun isn't the point."

[Ramrod]

WAIT just a damn minute here are you saying that you don't think the 20-30 minutes of mine carts and 10 sec rts to get to Elven Nations is fun? Or that you don't enjoy 15 minutes of wasted time on a boat to get to teras or Kraken falls?

I think you miss it Ramrod, the GM's have told us as much on discord. This is a game, but in their words not mine "Fun isn't the point."

Apparently the point is to see how quick they can kill the game. By my estimate, they have around 200 customers left. If they can up their ban numbers, they can kill this thing by the time the next lockdown hits.

[Fleur-de-me]

I propose that we make all Lich users wear a mandatory prename title of "Dirty Scripter" and have to bear some kinda public non-removable mark like a scarlet letter so we can shame them in game and remain IC.

**And then make a flag a few months later that allows you to opt out of it, like stealing.

[BLZrizz]

Apparently the point is to see how quick they can kill the game. By my estimate, they have around 200 customers left. If they can up their ban numbers, they can kill this thing by the time the next lockdown hits.

I'm not sure where you've been since 2010, but "terrible, baseless hot takes" are likely their number one export.

Here is a link from a Stillfront investor report from 2016 listing GS4's DAU/MAU figures at 1377/2746 (page 16).
https://www.stillfront.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016Q2_Pres_saJ88lkj.pdf

And here are PC threads discussing in-game population in 2016 (hint, equal to or lower than today's numbers) :
http://forum.gsplayers.com/archive/index.php/t-103054.html
http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?106379-Game-population

[Fortybox]

I've already explained this to you, so I already know explaning it again won't help you understand though I will anyway.
It wasn't a matter of someone walking in once and wiping my entire room, it was every single time the person appeared I'd just stop typing and watch them do it again. Sometimes I'd rush to get my hit in first and he'd just wait till I searched it and took all the boxes. So after multiple attempts to contact him and staff without any change I just stopped it myself. Fuck it.

I don't really care about the boxes or the coins, I only care about the EXP and the action of killing. It's a lot of fun for me and puts me in a zen mood just grinding through critters. So I honestly lose nothing when I'm endlessly poached other than the fun I'm having in my flow being halted over and over again. I don't like the blatant rudeness of someone hitting their script and walking away while everyone has to worry about their out of control character.

People just enjoy the game however you want, its meant to be fun. Although don't do it in a way that spoils it for someone else. That's all there is to it.


If you still think that me simply going east will resolve all this, I can't help you.

As someone who actively hunts with 3 characters there I see no material impact these "problem" players bring. You're just being a whiny little bitch.

[Ramrod]

I'm not sure where you've been since 2010, but "terrible, baseless hot takes" are likely their number one export.

Here is a link from a Stillfront investor report from 2016 listing GS4's DAU/MAU figures at 1377/2746 (page 16).
https://www.stillfront.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016Q2_Pres_saJ88lkj.pdf

And here are PC threads discussing in-game population in 2016 (hint, equal to or lower than today's numbers) :
http://forum.gsplayers.com/archive/index.php/t-103054.html
http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?106379-Game-population

Rofl. Yeah, came back during lockdown, left and back again for the past few months.

I was basing the 200ish number on the number of players online as well as the number of people on their discord server. From their report, I can't tell what the DAU/MAU means. Is that website visitors or unique logins to the game? Either way, I'm still guessing they have roughly 200 paying customers at any given time.

[Tgo01]

I got my first script check in many months last night.

It was shortly after I mentioned my latest and greatest script ;flag-simulator on Discord, so I think that had something to do with it. Or it was just a giant coincidence, but I'm going with the former.

[Fleur-de-me]

I got my first script check in many months last night.

It was shortly after I mentioned my latest and greatest script ;flag-simulator on Discord, so I think that had something to do with it. Or it was just a giant coincidence, but I'm going with the former.

I got checked as well last night.

[Tgo01]

I got checked as well last night.

It was weird. It seemed more automated than usual and I didn't receive a notification from the GM that I had passed the script check like I usually do, which makes me wonder if they have created some sort of system that automates script checks. Like they will send out an automated script check and if the person fails that then maybe a GM steps in to do a manual check.

[Taernath]

It was weird. It seemed more automated than usual and I didn't receive a notification from the GM that I had passed the script check like I usually do, which makes me wonder if they have created some sort of system that automates script checks. Like they will send out an automated script check and if the person fails that then maybe a GM steps in to do a manual check.

An automated system... to script check for automated scripting?

:thinking:

[Tgo01]

An automated system... to script check for automated scripting?

:thinking:

It's afk scripting all the way down!

[BLZrizz]

FTFY

Why? Because I care about the game? Because I don't want to see it become more of a bot farm that it already is? That I don't want to see the beautiful community choked out by rampant botting like it has in DragonRealms?

I appreciate the yeomans work you put in on the Discord pickpocketing flag thread, fighting against the snowflakery and postmodernist "everything is priceless because you say it is" and "no bad things can ever happen to me" ethic that has now come to infect our beloved game.

My charge to you is to use your scripting talents not to enrich yourself but to enrich the game.

[Realk]

the first time i made a script thinking that i was going to head out to the coastal cliffs and fight nymphs, i ended up in hill trolls... that sucked. but i did meet some dudes out there that helped me navigate around the AI and to a spot where they just stood and waited for them down a hill.

[Fortybox]

Why? Because I care about the game? Because I don't want to see it become more of a bot farm that it already is? That I don't want to see the beautiful community choked out by rampant botting like it has in DragonRealms?

I appreciate the yeomans work you put in on the Discord pickpocketing flag thread, fighting against the snowflakery and postmodernist "everything is priceless because you say it is" and "no bad things can ever happen to me" ethic that has now come to infect our beloved game.

My charge to you is to use your scripting talents not to enrich yourself but to enrich the game.

Script automation is not hurting the game, it’s keeping it relevant.

Sorry caped hero, you’re in the wrong fight.

[BLZrizz]

Script automation is not hurting the game, it’s keeping it relevant.

Sorry caped hero, you’re in the wrong fight.

Again, don't want to conflate scripting and AFK scripting. I use go2, wander, and a heal script for my pocket healer (which I only use when I am able to be fully responsive to that window). Would probably stop playing if I couldn't use those.

But AFK scripting is against policy and yields ill-gotten gains, as evidenced by the fact that any benefits attributable to it can be confiscated.

[Hightower]

Again, don't want to conflate scripting and AFK scripting. I use go2, wander, and a heal script for my pocket healer (which I only use when I am able to be fully responsive to that window). Would probably stop playing if I couldn't use those.

But AFK scripting is against policy and yields ill-gotten gains, as evidenced by the fact that any benefits attributable to it can be confiscated.


I'd make the distinction between using scripts and full-automation, both of which are allowed per policy as far as I'm aware. But again, that ship sailed long ago. If you don't like the uninteractive state of the game today, I'm afraid your only recourse is to find something else to waste your time on. The player base today wants to run GS in the background while they do other things. You can get your sense of community out of them when they choose to engage themselves, but the opportunities for this are few and far between.

[Fortybox]

Again, don't want to conflate scripting and AFK scripting. I use go2, wander, and a heal script for my pocket healer (which I only use when I am able to be fully responsive to that window). Would probably stop playing if I couldn't use those.

But AFK scripting is against policy and yields ill-gotten gains, as evidenced by the fact that any benefits attributable to it can be confiscated.

Those “ill gotten” gains don’t affect you though. You just don’t like it.

Statistically if you were to not be a bitch about it and move on your hunts in the long run aren’t materially affected.

[Ramrod]

Why? Because I care about the game? Because I don't want to see it become more of a bot farm that it already is? That I don't want to see the beautiful community choked out by rampant botting like it has in DragonRealms?

I appreciate the yeomans work you put in on the Discord pickpocketing flag thread, fighting against the snowflakery and postmodernist "everything is priceless because you say it is" and "no bad things can ever happen to me" ethic that has now come to infect our beloved game.

My charge to you is to use your scripting talents not to enrich yourself but to enrich the game.

Scripting isn't the problem. Scripting is a symptom. The problem is that Simu continues to expand the world that is already too spread out. That's what is choking out the community aspect. They put in all these population controls when the game was getting 2000+ players and haven't adjusted to the fact that there's 500 or so players on. There's some really simple fixes they could implement if they wanted to.

[Ramrod]

I'd make the distinction between using scripts and full-automation, both of which are allowed per policy as far as I'm aware. But again, that ship sailed long ago. If you don't like the uninteractive state of the game today, I'm afraid your only recourse is to find something else to waste your time on. The player base today wants to run GS in the background while they do other things. You can get your sense of community out of them when they choose to engage themselves, but the opportunities for this are few and far between.

100%. Unfortunately, scripting is the only way to make meaningful progress in the game today. At 2k exp/hour, it takes 3,750 hours to reach cap. I don't think there's a single game in my Steam library that I have 3000+ hours in.

[Gelston]

100%. Unfortunately, scripting is the only way to make meaningful progress in the game today. At 2k exp/hour, it takes 3,750 hours to reach cap. I don't think there's a single game in my Steam library that I have 3000+ hours in.

Chump. I have several total war and paradox games exceeding that.

[Asha]

if you were to not be a bitch about it and move on your hunts in the long run aren’t materially affected.

You're purposefully avoiding the point now. I don't care about the loot I care about the EXP and enjoyment of hunting, one of which I no longer have. Moving on doesn't solve the problem when you're followed in a small area.
This has been explained to you enough times. Like every post you've posted on the boards you're just doing it to be inflammatory like you're trapped in 2006.

[Methais]

Wait...so your problem is with bigshot not the afk scripter?

It sure sounded like you were pretty mad at Dalabrac, not the other way around.

If Dalabrac is even using ;bigshot, which I'm sure you'll be able to tell me if he is or not, right? Anyway, if he's using ;bigshot, then his settings are set for it to run like a trash script, assuming he hasn't made adjustments since last time I was on Teras. Funny how whenever I run ;bigshot it doesn't just clean out rooms that already have people in there and scoop up anything that might still be on the ground, etc. Meanwhile, Dalabrac's script will just run in, scoop up everything on the ground, and then leave.

So yes, if that's the case, then using ;bigshot with those settings is trash.

I'm rarely on Teras so dealing with him in particular is 99% a non-issue, but the point remains the same.

The best script in the world will still be trash when it's configured wrong.

[Orthin]

If Dalabrac is even using ;bigshot, which I'm sure you'll be able to tell me if he is or not, right? Anyway, if he's using ;bigshot, then his settings are set for it to run like a trash script, assuming he hasn't made adjustments since last time I was on Teras. Funny how whenever I run ;bigshot it doesn't just clean out rooms that already have people in there and scoop up anything that might still be on the ground, etc. Meanwhile, Dalabrac's script will just run in, scoop up everything on the ground, and then leave.

So yes, if that's the case, then using ;bigshot with those settings is trash.

I'm rarely on Teras so dealing with him in particular is 99% a non-issue, but the point remains the same.


I feel like it can't be bigshot because like you said he will walk in to a room while someone is fighting and just scoop up everything and move along, and it is not a one-off it tends to happen more often than not. That I will say it quite annoying.

[Taernath]

The only times I've had bigshot 'poach' is if someone is ambushing without a disk or obvioushiding, and/or if they hide in the split second between the bigshotter entering the room and scanning for players. Maybe if you are using an old version from before the obvioushiding flag, or if you manually dug into the code to disable avoiding other players it would poach, but it's generally good at not messing with other people.

[Ramrod]

Chump. I have several total war and paradox games exceeding that.


lol. I need to get my hours up then. I think my most played game in Steam is Oxygen Not Included and that's sitting around 2,000 hours. Even then, that's from replaying it over and over.

Point being - Just to get to endgame content one time in GS takes over 3,000 hours at a minimum of $15/month. That's an insane amount of time to type kill creature/search creature over and over. Meanwhile, you're still trying to catch up to people that got there way faster using the old mechanics.

[Asha]

lol. I need to get my hours up then. I think my most played game in Steam is Oxygen Not Included and that's sitting around 2,000 hours. Even then, that's from replaying it over and over.

Point being - Just to get to endgame content one time in GS takes over 3,000 hours at a minimum of $15/month. That's an insane amount of time to type kill creature/search creature over and over. Meanwhile, you're still trying to catch up to people that got there way faster using the old mechanics.

heh I'm probably misunderstanding but the old way took forever before scripting a hunt became a thing. I think I hunted a lot more than most people who were actually roleplaying a lot and I forced people to hunt with me who preferred to roleplay. It took me from September 2003 to July 2005 (2006? I might be remembering this wrong) to become capped. You're essentially right though, it takes ages.

[Methais]

100%. Unfortunately, scripting is the only way to make meaningful progress in the game today. At 2k exp/hour, it takes 3,750 hours to reach cap. I don't think there's a single game in my Steam library that I have 3000+ hours in.

Even when not scripting, even if you type every single command manually, the fastest way to cap is to be "playing" as little as possible, i.e. fry/saturated as fast as you can, then go afk at a node to absorb.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/J4HP3FcGqP6Yo/giphy.gif

[Taernath]

https://media0.giphy.com/media/J4HP3FcGqP6Yo/giphy.gif

Definitely not ironic, it was designed that way back when you paid like $5/hour to play GS.

The hourly charge is gone, but the progression system built around it remains.

[Methais]

lol. I need to get my hours up then. I think my most played game in Steam is Oxygen Not Included and that's sitting around 2,000 hours. Even then, that's from replaying it over and over.

Point being - Just to get to endgame content one time in GS takes over 3,000 hours at a minimum of $15/month. That's an insane amount of time to type kill creature/search creature over and over. Meanwhile, you're still trying to catch up to people that got there way faster using the old mechanics.

And even then, endgame is exactly like the first 99 levels, just with different numbers.

[Methais]

Definitely not ironic, it was designed that way back when you paid like $5/hour to play GS.

The hourly charge is gone, but the progression system built around it remains.

I know why it works the way that it does. The irony is about how playing a game as little as possible is the best way to level up in said game, in a thread complaining about people "not playing" the game.

[Ramrod]

Even when not scripting, even if you type every single command manually, the fastest way to cap is to be "playing" as little as possible, i.e. fry/saturated as fast as you can, then go afk at a node to absorb.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/J4HP3FcGqP6Yo/giphy.gif

Which is how so many people leveled so fast back in the day. Sit on a node and heal/raise/pick then sym dreams or meditate all day long. Way back when, you could sit at the north gate, raise someone every 5 minutes or so, get saturated, meditate and repeat. It literally took entering 2 commands every 5 minutes or so to make exp at 2x the rate you can today script hunting.

Back then you could also make enough silvers recharging ruby amulets in pookas to buy a mansion.

[Methais]

Back then you could also make enough silvers recharging ruby amulets in pookas to buy a mansion.

Good times. I made a shitload doing that + blue crystals with unlimited 516 in pookas. Then Celtic got all butthurt (forgot if he was a GM at the time or not yet) trying to say it was mechanics abuse. Meanwhile he was cranking enchants out of a private workshop left and right and drowning in silver...

Then they eventually nerfed 516 and 517 and made things stupid. :(

[Ramrod]

Good times. I made a shitload doing that + blue crystals with unlimited 516 in pookas. Then Celtic got all butthurt (forgot if he was a GM at the time or not yet) trying to say it was mechanics abuse. Meanwhile he was cranking enchants out of a private workshop left and right and drowning in silver...

Then they eventually nerfed 516 and 517 and made things stupid. :(

Yep, that's my whole point. Everyone was playing catch up to people like Celtic that got up there so quickly then they nerfed shit. Then things slowed down with the nerfs and when people started to catch up again they nerfed shit even more with GS4. Now everyone is playing at a much slower pace, in a much bigger environment, with way fewer people (no more exp for simply raising/healing on nodes) and they're mad people are AFK scripting it.

Typical Simu - instead of fixing the underlying issues, nerf the game and punish the players. Then they're shocked they keep losing customer.

[BLZrizz]

Yep, that's my whole point. Everyone was playing catch up to people like Celtic that got up there so quickly then they nerfed shit. Then things slowed down with the nerfs and when people started to catch up again they nerfed shit even more with GS4. Now everyone is playing at a much slower pace, in a much bigger environment, with way fewer people (no more exp for simply raising/healing on nodes) and they're mad people are AFK scripting it.

Typical Simu - instead of fixing the underlying issues, nerf the game and punish the players. Then they're shocked they keep losing customer.

With Gift of Lumnis, RoL brooches, adventurer's guild, etc, leveling is faster than ever. Not sure what you're talking about. I didn't cap one character playing on and off from 1996-2010, and from 2015 to present capped two, one of which was a half-krolvin, all by hand, without bigshot. This "I have to AFK script to play Gemstone" is a false narrative.

[Methais]

With Gift of Lumnis, RoL brooches, adventurer's guild, etc, leveling is faster than ever. Not sure what you're talking about. I didn't cap one character playing on and off from 1996-2010, and from 2015 to present capped two, one of which was a half-krolvin, all by hand, without bigshot. This "I have to AFK script to play Gemstone" is a false narrative.

I think he's referring to old cleric meditate and Symbol of Dreams. You could plow through levels pretty fast if you were a cleric or in Voln. I don't remember the specific numbers but your exp bucket would clear at least 2x faster, possibly 3. But probably closer to 2x.

[Archigeek]

With Gift of Lumnis, RoL brooches, adventurer's guild, etc, leveling is faster than ever. Not sure what you're talking about. I didn't cap one character playing on and off from 1996-2010, and from 2015 to present capped two, one of which was a half-krolvin, all by hand, without bigshot. This "I have to AFK script to play Gemstone" is a false narrative.

All true. Much easier for most people to gain experience today than it was back in the day. Keep in mind that there was no reallocation back then, so any skill you learned you were stuck with, and your stats were also quite likely less than optimal. There were a ton of reasons it was more difficult to gain levels then. Today it's easy to gain experience.

[Ramrod]

With Gift of Lumnis, RoL brooches, adventurer's guild, etc, leveling is faster than ever. Not sure what you're talking about. I didn't cap one character playing on and off from 1996-2010, and from 2015 to present capped two, one of which was a half-krolvin, all by hand, without bigshot. This "I have to AFK script to play Gemstone" is a false narrative.

You're proving my point here. You script hunt today using go2 and wander. Since doing that you capped 2 characters whereas before you capped 0 characters. I didn't say you had to AFK script to play Gemstone; I said you have to script to make any meaningful progress. You're scripting your hunts, but you've only automated 90% of it instead of 100%.

Also, a brooch is $1600? to clear a full mind. Better ROI to just buy a character...or 3.

Under the old mechanics, you could sit on node and gain exp through picking, healing or raising and then Sym Dreams/Meditate. Lumnis and AG don't get close to touching that. Lumnis basically gives 1 day/week of what you could gain 7 days/week back in the day.

Here's my point - AFK scripting is a symptom rather than the cause. The underlying issue is that without automation (whether that's go2/wander, bigshot, etc) there's no way to make meaningful progress in the game. Simu should address the underlying cause rather than the symptom.

[Mobius1]

Automated hunting scripts have been around forever. Fuck, the wizard has a scripting engine built in. I remember people AFK script hunting back in the AOL days in hobgoblins.

It's being pretty disingenuous to make any claims that it was anything remotely like it is today. Also, I complained about it back then too, and have always complained about it, so why do you keep making claims that I didn't notice?

Ultimately, there's not much point arguing about it though. People get to be lazy asses and get rewarded for it, and that's here to stay because it's a tumor through our vital organs at this point. Teras, or Zombieland as I like to call it, is a tragic case of how it truly wrecks things, but it's nearly as bad almost everywhere, really.

One reason this game doesn't keep new customers, is because the immersion and interaction is so dead. If I'm a new player and the world around me is a bunch of botting zombies, it's going to be a huge red flag for me. Clearly we all are guilty of minimizing the game or going afk while resting, but running scripts just amplifies the problem.

Again, many do enjoy the fact that they can automate hunting, and make gains without all the drudgery. But you'd enjoy crack too - That doesn't mean it's good for you or those around you!

But there's no fix for it, so all I can do is lament the fact it happened. It's just sad.


Here's my point - AFK scripting is a symptom rather than the cause. The underlying issue is that without automation (whether that's go2/wander, bigshot, etc) there's no way to make meaningful progress in the game. Simu should address the underlying cause rather than the symptom.

First of all, how do you define "meaningful" progress? I'd say that botting your way through the game has much less meaning. Why do you even "play" the game, when you don't actually play the game?

Second of all, I make tons of "meaningful" progress without scripting. I just have to ACTUALLY play the game. Automated scripting should actually be doing nothing to improve your leveling speed, unless you are breaking policy. Which therein lies probably the biggest issue - Most players that are running automated scripts are essentially afk scripting, in my experience. That experience being that probably only 1 out of 10 ever respond to me.

[Mobius1]

I think he's referring to old cleric meditate and Symbol of Dreams. You could plow through levels pretty fast if you were a cleric or in Voln. I don't remember the specific numbers but your exp bucket would clear at least 2x faster, possibly 3. But probably closer to 2x.

It was 2x, but so much has changed since then that XP is better now than it ever was. We have Lumnis, the brooches, logic enhancives, but most importantly we have the adventurer's guild and the instant XP absorption you get from that. Also, as you get post cap, it can get even better, as you get complete mastery over your preferred hunting area. Saying XP was faster with old symbol of dreams is nostalgia goggles.

[Roblar]

The underlying issue is that without automation (whether that's go2/wander, bigshot, etc) there's no way to make meaningful progress in the game.


https://media.giphy.com/media/l3q2K5jinAlChoCLS/giphy.gif


Alot of assertions about what is needed and how the game is now versus then. Also KILL/Search creature posted earlier is archaic. Upgrade your game experience and use: WEAPON/MSTRIKE/CMAN/BERSERK/10 other things & LOOT.

Symbol Dreams/Meditate were nice for its time but you didn't see the experience then you do now. You fully credit scripting for this but aren't accepting the feedback about the game changes that make experience gain so very much easier. Scripting is not needed and no one is catching up to people that used symbol dreams/meditate back then. There are several new characters under a decade in that have more experience than any player did back then (ex: Leafiara as just one that I don't think would mind), including the ones that utilized dreams/meditate. It's just far easier for alot of reasons already mentioned.

[Roblar]

Also, Drayal, Mobius1, BLZrizz are correct that unchecked afk scripting guarantees the game's death.

See Shattered's server and various games as to why. To an already small niche base, it would eventually drive off a segment of players that largely creates the community keeping it together.

[Mobius1]

https://media.giphy.com/media/l3q2K5jinAlChoCLS/giphy.gif


Alot of assertions about what is needed and how the game is now versus then. Also KILL/Search creature posted earlier is archaic. Upgrade your game experience and use: WEAPON/MSTRIKE/CMAN/BERSERK/10 other things & LOOT.

Symbol Dreams/Meditate were nice for its time but you didn't see the experience then you do now. You fully credit scripting for this but aren't accepting the feedback about the game changes that make experience gain so very much easier. Scripting is not needed and no one is catching up to people that used symbol dreams/meditate back then. There are several new characters under a decade in that have more experience than any player did back then (ex: Leafiara as just one that I don't think would mind), including the ones are utilized dreams/meditate. It's just far easier for alot of reasons already mentioned.

Yeah, technically speaking I make a lot more XP per hour than any automated scripters I have spoken to. Granted, there could be some out there that have pretty amazing scripts that complete bounties in a way that absolutely maximizes XP per hour, but at best they will match me. If you are in an area where your bounty completion is good, then you can make 3.5k per hour. The reality is I tend to do more like 2-2.5k per hour during the day, but that's because I am working and can't give as much attention to the game. And if I was automated hunting at those times, that would be....news flash!!! AFK SCRIPTING!

[Ramrod]

Scripting is not needed and no one is catching up to people that used symbol dreams/meditate back then.
Exactly


There are several new characters under a decade in that have more experience than any player did back then (ex: Leafiara as just one that I don't think would mind), including the ones that utilized dreams/meditate. It's just far easier for alot of reasons already mentioned.

If you're right, then why are the vast majority of players scripting?

[Methais]

It was 2x, but so much has changed since then that XP is better now than it ever was. We have Lumnis, the brooches, logic enhancives, but most importantly we have the adventurer's guild and the instant XP absorption you get from that. Also, as you get post cap, it can get even better, as you get complete mastery over your preferred hunting area. Saying XP was faster with old symbol of dreams is nostalgia goggles.

Bounties add up, definitely. But you're not consistently turning them in every 15 minutes either, and unless you have unlimited vouchers, you'll end up dropping at least some bounties and have to wait another 15 before getting another one. Take dreams and meditate out of the picture and I'd agree with you though.

Brooches cost like $8000 to max out or some stupid shit like that and is P2W bullshit that most people don't have.

Logic enhancives at what, +1 exp per pulse for every +7 bonus I think? I'll take double absorption rate with dreams/meditate over that any day.

Being able to literally ring somewhere, fry in 30 seconds, and be back in town meditating/Symbol of Dreams before the next exp pulse even hits added up extremely fast. And pretty much anyone could do this reliably in a lot of areas if they wanted to, not just wizards or aoe classes. You might need to be slightly inconvenienced and get a Haste II imbed if you were melee, since 0 RT was a thing back then, but it was still easy to do, and a lot of places swarmed steadily. Plus there was no exp limit from uphunting like there is now with 150, which made it even easier to fry in very short amounts of time. If it took you a while to fry, then that obviously puts a huge dent in the numbers. So a lot is dependent on that.

That + enhanced absorption on call 24/7 outweighs 6 hours of Lumnis every week and some instant bounty exp. And even though it didn't really happen much to my knowledge, all of that could be fully scripted back then too if you had a good enough .cmd script.

Though RPA orbs weren't a thing back then though if I remember right. And RPAs in general were pretty rare. For a while they were being handed out like candy in GS4. If you were grinding during all that, you made a lot of really fast gains. That's how Ryjex capped in just under 6 months.

I wanna also say that exp gained per pulse worked differently in GS3 too, but I can't remember any actual details, but I want to say that people like Jadall were getting like 50 exp pulses on a node or something stupid like that.

[Roblar]

Exactly

I should edit adding "trying" to catch up to them. Whatever exp lead they had is gone, most of those don't play anymore.


The majority of players are scripting because it is the easiest path, easily available (Lich), and told to returning players as usually the first thing they need to get. It's become a mantra and it not necessary. I have more experience than anyone and never have, It's just easier for most. You're saying its because the base game is not stimulating enough, and maybe that's true for you, but there have been steps to shrink the world, reduce transportation/add transport options etc. I'm not sure if you've played recently or are just basing your views on an older mindset.

Editing to add scripting is not a problem. It's the afk scripting/non responsiveness. Nevertheless, those reasons apply as to why scripting is more prevalent now (also adding hand/typing issues).

[Mobius1]

Exactly
If you're right, then why are the vast majority of players scripting?

Two reasons. One, human nature. Why work when you can have a robot do it for you?

Second, because the types of people that don't want to script are playing the game less and less, making the percentages shift even more. Again, Teras is a good reference on the micro level, as it is so blatantly bad there. Most of the active non-zombie players left the island. Even people that had lived there for decades, because they got sick of all the bots bots and nothing but bots. On the macro level, this has happened with a lot of players, having less of an interactive experience than they had in the past, and cancelling their subs. Or new players deciding this game is not for them. It's one reason we've positioned the game into a tough spot, where it's difficult to get new players, and sheds players as fast as those that return. The reason we are still alive and will be for some time, is the strong devoted core, who are mostly comprised of automated hunters. It's why it can't be fixed, because they are all that is left of the playerbase (Many of which were absorbed into it, obviously, by becoming automated hunters.).

Clearly there are still many who don't automate hunting, like Myself and Roblar. But we have become a small minority thanks to those 2 reasons.

[Ramrod]

It's being pretty disingenuous to make any claims that it was anything remotely like it is today. Also, I complained about it back then too, and have always complained about it, so why do you keep making claims that I didn't notice?

I didn't say it was the same as today, but you're acting like it's some new issue. People have scripted it since the game started. Don't act like this is something new.



Ultimately, there's not much point arguing about it though. People get to be lazy asses and get rewarded for it, and that's here to stay because it's a tumor through our vital organs at this point. Teras, or Zombieland as I like to call it, is a tragic case of how it truly wrecks things, but it's nearly as bad almost everywhere, really.

One reason this game doesn't keep new customers, is because the immersion and interaction is so dead. If I'm a new player and the world around me is a bunch of botting zombies, it's going to be a huge red flag for me. Clearly we all are guilty of minimizing the game or going afk while resting, but running scripts just amplifies the problem.

The reason they don't keep new customers, if anyone even finds the game, is that it's tedious, slow-paced, overpriced and there's little community anymore compared to how it was. All fixable issues.



But there's no fix for it, so all I can do is lament the fact it happened. It's just sad.

There are fixes for it. Increase exp gain, decrease travel time, get rid of some of the super nodes so people congregate...that's just off the top of my head.



First of all, how do you define "meaningful" progress? I'd say that botting your way through the game has much less meaning. Why do you even "play" the game, when you don't actually play the game?

Achieving goals. For most, that's levels and silver.


Second of all, I make tons of "meaningful" progress without scripting. I just have to ACTUALLY play the game. Automated scripting should actually be doing nothing to improve your leveling speed, unless you are breaking policy. Which therein lies probably the biggest issue - Most players that are running automated scripts are essentially afk scripting, in my experience. That experience being that probably only 1 out of 10 ever respond to me.

Scripting has always and will always increase leveling speed. If nothing else, the script maximizes the experience gain by sending the character out to hunt. With the script running, you are always gaining exp.

[Roblar]

Teras is bad, but has been for a long time.

The last time I was based there was hunting Nelemar before the Rift re-arranged & Scatter was added. I'd be constantly pushed by someone to add Psynet lol.

It got so boring I took a few months off, and was very happy to return to the Rift and mainland.

[Roblar]

There are fixes for it. Increase exp gain, decrease travel time, get rid of some of the super nodes so people congregate...that's just off the top of my head.


They have increased exp gain with the introduction (or more availability as clerics had it I think) of saturated minds, LTE, have decreased travel times across the board, and super nodes both increase exp gain and specifically were created to have people congregate in them.

They also give out exp award orbs like candy via giftboxes, have had whole months of increased base double exp (and that same effect is also available for free as a LOGIN BOOST).

[Ramrod]

Two reasons. One, human nature. Why work when you can have a robot do it for you?

Second, because the types of people that don't want to script are playing the game less and less, making the percentages shift even more. Again, Teras is a good reference on the micro level, as it is so blatantly bad there. Most of the active non-zombie players left the island. Even people that had lived there for decades, because they got sick of all the bots bots and nothing but bots. On the macro level, this has happened with a lot of players, having less of an interactive experience than they had in the past, and cancelling their subs. Or new players deciding this game is not for them. It's one reason we've positioned the game into a tough spot, where it's difficult to get new players, and sheds players as fast as those that return. The reason we are still alive and will be for some time, is the strong devoted core, who are mostly comprised of automated hunters. It's why it can't be fixed, because they are all that is left of the playerbase (Many of which were absorbed into it, obviously, by becoming automated hunters.).

Clearly there are still many who don't automate hunting, like Myself and Roblar. But we have become a small minority thanks to those 2 reasons.

Everyone automates this game to some degree.

Funny enough, we all agree that it's a problem. We disagree on why. My argument is that the problem stems from slow progression times, long travel times and a world that's too big for the number of players. Honestly, EN was added when they were getting 2000 players logged in and they've expanded it much further since then.

These are all fixable issues and I think automation is a symptom of these issues rather than the cause.

[Roblar]

"Everyone" doesn't, most do.

Valid points to slow progression times (debateable it's not going to drastically changed as lower level experience for actual new players is already minimalize as to speed of leveling & they see overall faster progression hurt as hurting player retention/investment long term)/

They're not going to shrink the world (other players embrace those towns/cities/RP) and have reduced travel times. Some separation is appropriate.

[Ramrod]

They have increased exp gain with the introduction (or more availability as clerics had it I think) of saturated minds, LTE, have decreased travel times across the board, and super nodes both increase exp gain and specifically were created to have people congregate in them.

They also give out exp award orbs like candy via giftboxes, have had whole months of increased base double exp (and that same effect is also available for free as a LOGIN BOOST).

I swear, some of you must be on Simu's payroll. You keep bringing up shit like brooches ($1700) or LTE (250 exp/day). Seriously? Your argument for how fast you can level is to just spend $1700 with Simu or take advantage of that 250xp/day LTE.

My point on super nodes is that there's so many of them players spread out. If the number of super nodes were reduced, players would congregate there. Further, if they changed the bonus so you get a +1 absorption for every minute you spend on a super node then people would stay there even longer. The way absorb works now is that you're best off going back to hunt when your mind drops below 800. If you maximized that by staying in TSC till your mind was empty then it would encourage people to socialize more.

[Ramrod]

"Everyone" doesn't, most do.

Valid points to slow progression times (debateable it's not going to drastically changed as lower level experience for actual new players is already minimalize as to speed of leveling & they see overall faster progression hurt as hurting player retention/investment long term)/

They're not going to shrink the world (other players embrace those towns/cities/RP) and have reduced travel times. Some separation is appropriate.

I don't mean shrink as in, get rid of, but they can make travel times down to nothing. If you could hunt EN and rest in Landing, then it would bring people closer together. Does it really make sense to have that long of a travel time in a world with this number of players?

[Roblar]

That brooch cost is to put alot into it, I haven't paid anything and am at 5x a day. That' like a whopping 4k exp (as I have other rings reducing it). I didn't even include that item as being a paywall one.

LTE is 500 exp or more a day if you use both boosts, you can also get more from certain creatures, clerics, and empath work. That still contributes and adds up.

Reducing super nodes could help, I agree. Though alot of players have pushed for even more of them added, and staff has generally not been able to but only to rearrange/move out less used spots to new rooms.

I'm not sure that approach is best, with bounties. I barely hunt, vs what I used to. You can get experience from spirit beast arena challenges, gem tasks/skin tasks, quests, bandits (won't even consider real hunting, no boxes and mow down), escorts, artisan ranks, you could grab orbs from pshops for exp even.

[Roblar]

I don't mean shrink as in, get rid of, but they can make travel times down to nothing. If you could hunt EN and rest in Landing, then it would bring people closer together. Does it really make sense to have that long of a travel time in a world with this number of players?

I don't mind really if a plat style transport goes in effect but with chronomages, OSA, and other stuff I don't mind and usually hit near every town in seconds, never walk.

[Roblar]

Also not sure if you've been around for a few years, gold ring range has expanded to much larger realms.

[Mobius1]

Bounties add up, definitely. But you're not consistently turning them in every 15 minutes either, and unless you have unlimited vouchers, you'll end up dropping at least some bounties and have to wait another 15 before getting another one. Take dreams and meditate out of the picture and I'd agree with you though.

Brooches cost like $8000 to max out or some stupid shit like that and is P2W bullshit that most people don't have.

Logic enhancives at what, +1 exp per pulse for every +7 bonus I think? I'll take double absorption rate with dreams/meditate over that any day.

Being able to literally ring somewhere, fry in 30 seconds, and be back in town meditating/Symbol of Dreams before the next exp pulse even hits added up extremely fast. And pretty much anyone could do this reliably in a lot of areas if they wanted to, not just wizards or aoe classes. You might need to be slightly inconvenienced and get a Haste II imbed if you were melee, since 0 RT was a thing back then, but it was still easy to do, and a lot of places swarmed steadily. Plus there was no exp limit from uphunting like there is now with 150, which made it even easier to fry in very short amounts of time. If it took you a while to fry, then that obviously puts a huge dent in the numbers. So a lot is dependent on that.

That + enhanced absorption on call 24/7 outweighs 6 hours of Lumnis every week and some instant bounty exp. And even though it didn't really happen much to my knowledge, all of that could be fully scripted back then too if you had a good enough .cmd script.

Though RPA orbs weren't a thing back then though if I remember right. And RPAs in general were pretty rare. For a while they were being handed out like candy in GS4. If you were grinding during all that, you made a lot of really fast gains. That's how Ryjex capped in just under 6 months.

I wanna also say that exp gained per pulse worked differently too, but I can't remember any actual details, but I want to say that people like Jadall were getting like 50 exp pulses on a node or something stupid like that.

Ugh, I didn't want to get into this argument, because it's so much better now.

Just factoring in current absorption while saturated + instant XP, already slightly beats out old symbol of dreams if you do the math (which I have). You can easily be getting 40-50 XP per pulse when saturated now. And when you factor in Lumnis which is free 20k+ XP per week, LTE, instant absorbs, brooches (hell, even tier 2 brooches), +Logic, and offline absorb, it's not even close.

Also, we can uphunt pretty good now too, except we get to abuse post cap by being much stronger but still getting the bonus of uphunting.

[Ramrod]

That brooch cost is to put alot into it, I haven't paid anything and am at 5x a day. That' like a whopping 4k exp (as I have other rings reducing it). I didn't even include that item as being a paywall one.

LTE is 500 exp or more a day if you use both boosts, you can also get more from certain creatures, clerics, and empath work. That still contributes and adds up.

Reducing super nodes could help, I agree. Though alot of players have pushed for even more of them added, and staff has generally not been able to but only to rearrange/move out less used spots to new rooms.

I'm not sure that approach is best, with bounties. I barely hunt, vs what I used to. You can get experience from spirit beast arena challenges, gem tasks/skin tasks, quests, bandits (won't even consider real hunting, no boxes and mow down), escorts, artisan ranks, you could grab orbs from pshops for exp even.

Outside of spirit beasts, almost everything you listed is either hunting based or would be faster scripting.

That's what I'm getting at here - Where's the incentive not to script? Or to socialize in town? As a returning player, I died 4 times doing a single bandit tasked (i'm a noob), got a task for an escort from the IMT to Zul (pass) and it's just not worth it. I don't die hunting. Ever. Also, I make closer to 3k exp/hour just hunting. I use 2k exp/hour because that's a low bar.

The underlying issue is that when it comes down to risk/reward scripting wins every time. Maybe if progression was faster people wouldn't risk the AFK penalty. Maybe if things that weren't easily scriptable offered much greater rewards people would do those. Maybe the game would be more social if people rested in 5-10 sports versus 100+ or if there were increased benefits by spending more time in town or socializing.

[Ramrod]

Ugh, I didn't want to get into this argument, because it's so much better now.

Just factoring in current absorption while saturated + instant XP, already slightly beats out old symbol of dreams if you do the math (which I have). You can easily be getting 40-50 XP per pulse when saturated now. And when you factor in Lumnis which is free 20k+ XP per week, LTE, instant absorbs, brooches (hell, even tier 2 brooches), +Logic, and offline absorb, it's not even close.

Also, we can uphunt pretty good now too, except we get to abuse post cap by being much stronger but still getting the bonus of uphunting.

The only way it beats out the old mechanics is with AG and like Methais said, it's not as steady. You'll drop bounties or you'll get stuck on one or whatever and you'll fall behind the old mechanics. You could go hunt with a ruby amulet and 8x gear and have almost no chance of dying.

I'm not arguing for bringing Sym Dreams back, I'm just pointing out why people script it. If progression was faster, maybe people don't script everything.

FWIW - I wrote .cmd scripts for OTF that could be AFK. The functionality has always been there.

[Mobius1]

Everyone automates this game to some degree.

Funny enough, we all agree that it's a problem. We disagree on why. My argument is that the problem stems from slow progression times, long travel times and a world that's too big for the number of players. Honestly, EN was added when they were getting 2000 players logged in and they've expanded it much further since then.

These are all fixable issues and I think automation is a symptom of these issues rather than the cause.

It's not so simple.

It could be a good thing if they boost lower level progression, but they can't boost post cap progression. Also, people will automated script even if they boosted progression.

The problem stems from human nature, and people would still automated script hunt even if all the things you mentioned were implemented. The only true fix was to make it against policy, but as has been mentioned several times, that ship has long since sailed. it will never be fixed, and can never be fixed.

As for world size, technically, as Roblar pointed out, travel times are better than ever before. We even have the chronomages, mounts, upgraded gold rings, OSA, faster EN travel, ;go2, reduced teras boat travel/cost, the RR boot re-added, etc etc.. The main reason for all the new areas is new content, and not having them would just leave us with other issues.

Quite frankly the game is a million times better than it used to be, and there are so many amazing improvements. But the automated hunting and out of control pay to win are what I personally feel are the biggest issues. Both are mostly unfixable at this point, though. WE just have to survive on the merits of the game that still remain.

Population decrease is really mostly due to this game being over 30 years old and text based. The main thing keeping it alive are constant updates and new content always being introduced, IMO.

[Roblar]

That’s a big “maybe”, that we do know the answer to.

They will script regardless, but just progress faster. Supernode reduction makes more sense and doesn’t reduce scripting outside of the rest time but may increase socialization. Though as Methais said people usually just do other stuff as they rest. Still, it’s somewhat an incentive if they are up for it.

[Mobius1]

The only way it beats out the old mechanics is with AG and like Methais said, it's not as steady. You'll drop bounties or you'll get stuck on one or whatever and you'll fall behind the old mechanics. You could go hunt with a ruby amulet and 8x gear and have almost no chance of dying.

I'm not arguing for bringing Sym Dreams back, I'm just pointing out why people script it. If progression was faster, maybe people don't script everything.

FWIW - I wrote .cmd scripts for OTF that could be AFK. The functionality has always been there.

You mentioned getting 2k per hour scripting? I am getting 3.5k an hour (when I am actively playing.).

Literally the way to beat out old mechanics is to simply complete your Lumnis, use your boosts, and do all the bounties you can.

Damnit, I feel like I am arguing with Scintillion again, when he was trying to say GS3 rogues were better. They were not better.

[Roblar]

Again, scripting is fine. Not sure if you’re advocating for afk scripting.

[drauz]

I think a lack of new hunting grounds being released on any sort of decent timetable is a major cause to scripting, after your 10000th kill of the same mob it will get boring. People like other aspects of the game so they stick around for that and just script the hunting.

[Fortybox]

You're purposefully avoiding the point now. I don't care about the loot I care about the EXP and enjoyment of hunting, one of which I no longer have. Moving on doesn't solve the problem when you're followed in a small area.
This has been explained to you enough times. Like every post you've posted on the boards you're just doing it to be inflammatory like you're trapped in 2006.

XP isn’t affected either.

You’ve wasted more time crying about it than anything else.

[Fortybox]

Even when not scripting, even if you type every single command manually, the fastest way to cap is to be "playing" as little as possible, i.e. fry/saturated as fast as you can, then go cyber at a node to absorb.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/J4HP3FcGqP6Yo/giphy.gif

FTFY

[Ramrod]

It's not so simple.

It could be a good thing if they boost lower level progression, but they can't boost post cap progression. Also, people will automated script even if they boosted progression.


Sure, but the risk/reward changes if they boost progression.


The problem stems from human nature, and people would still automated script hunt even if all the things you mentioned were implemented. The only true fix was to make it against policy, but as has been mentioned several times, that ship has long since sailed. it will never be fixed, and can never be fixed.

I never understood why they allowed Psinet, Lich, etc. It was simple to just block everything outside of official clients.


As for world size, technically, as Roblar pointed out, travel times are better than ever before. We even have the chronomages, mounts, upgraded gold rings, OSA, faster EN travel, ;go2, reduced teras boat travel/cost, the RR boot re-added, etc etc.. The main reason for all the new areas is new content, and not having them would just leave us with other issues.

They're better, but chronomage and gold rings are P2W features too. A lot of the fixes you've mentioned happen to be P2W. My reasoning for cutting travel time is to bring the players together. 2 people resting at the Dais, 3 at TC in IMT, etc. If everyone rested in TSC like the early days there would be much more opportunity to socialize/RP.


Quite frankly the game is a million times better than it used to be, and there are so many amazing improvements. But the automated hunting and out of control pay to win are what I personally feel are the biggest issues. Both are mostly unfixable at this point, though. WE just have to survive on the merits of the game that still remain.

Some things are better; some are worse. The P2W aspect, Simu or secondary market, are as bad as they've ever been. I'm not sure how you can say the game is a million times better when that's the case.



Population decrease is really mostly due to this game being over 30 years old and text based. The main thing keeping it alive are constant updates and new content always being introduced, IMO.

Agreed, but the P2W and zombies don't help. I just think the fix lies in boosting progression and bringing the active players together. My arguments being that progression has been faster in this game in the past and there's not a need for the population controls of the past.

Also, on the 3.5k exp/hour, I was using 2k exp/hour as an example. That's a low bar that anyone can hit. The advantage to scripting is that it's completely steady. There's need for dropping tasks, vouchers, etc. In general, script hunting will win out over a long enough period of time.

[Mobius1]

Man, Shimmering trinkets alone made the game 1 million times better!! There have been so many cool items added to the game (not pay to win), as well as class improvements/new skills, massive system introductions such as advguild/OSA/enhancives, etc.. There's so many things that are better now, it's too many to list. Saying things were better in the past is just looking through nostalgia goggles.

Even the population isn't so bad, and has rebounded recently.

Obviously the pay to win is absolutely awful, some things being absolutely cringeworthy. It would be less bad if that money was going back into the game, but I doubt much of it is thanks to Stillfront buying the game. But on the flip side, that is also probably helping the game to remain more active, because so many have invested so much into it they are less likely to quit. The rest of us can scratch our heads wondering why someone would spend so much money to make sure things are extra dead when they kill them.

Unfortunately, the damage of P2W is already done, same as scripting.

For scripting, I think clever ideas that make scripting untenable, is perhaps the best solution. For example, an area being difficult like HW, but having better rewards than anywhere else (This is still being worked on, and currently this is not the case. They decided to release HW before the reward systems are completed.). In fact, that could result in some boosted progression speed. I'm sure some people script HW, but at least it's a higher bar, so not just anyone can do it so easily. But I think more than that can be done, and more ideas could be thought of.

How could you make hunting areas more difficult to automate? I think if we can come up to answers to that question, it would be the best way to fix the scripting problem.

[Ramrod]

Man, Shimmering trinkets alone made the game 1 million times better!! There have been so many cool items added to the game (not pay to win), as well as class improvements/new skills, massive system introductions such as advguild/OSA/enhancives, etc.. There's so many things that are better now, it's too many to list. Saying things were better in the past is just looking through nostalgia goggles.

Even the population isn't so bad, and has rebounded recently.

Obviously the pay to win is absolutely awful, some things being absolutely cringeworthy. It would be less bad if that money was going back into the game, but I doubt much of it is thanks to Stillfront buying the game. But on the flip side, that is also probably helping the game to remain more active, because so many have invested so much into it they are less likely to quit. The rest of us can scratch our heads wondering why someone would spend so much money to make sure things are extra dead when they kill them.

Unfortunately, the damage of P2W is already done, same as scripting.

For scripting, I think clever ideas that make scripting untenable, is perhaps the best solution. For example, an area being difficult like HW, but having better rewards than anywhere else (This is still being worked on, and currently this is not the case. They decided to release HW before the reward systems are completed.). In fact, that could result in some boosted progression speed. I'm sure some people script HW, but at least it's a higher bar, so not just anyone can do it so easily. But I think more than that can be done, and more ideas could be thought of.

How could you make hunting areas more difficult to automate? I think if we can come up to answers to that question, it would be the best way to fix the scripting problem.

Have hunting areas that are mazes and/or randomly generated areas. If the directions are different, especially if it requires things like searching, climb tree, go door, etc. then it gets really hard to script. Also creatures with randomly generated names and/or abilities. For example, rather than kill kobold it might be a list of different types that randomly spawn (kobold, sprite, humanoid, etc). It could even tie in the random name generator if you wanted - a fearsome kobold named Aggind, Coldheart, w/e. As soon as you can't put the creature noun in a script, scripting it gets difficult. If that noun is randomly generated then it really raises the bar. Ex - fearsome kobold general Aggind, kobold Coldheart in farmers garb, etc. The creature type could also change on a daily/weekly/monthly basis so that it's kobolds one day and hobgoblins the next, then trolls, w/e. In the end, anything is scriptable, technically, but the ROI drops the more difficult it is to script. Spending 500 hours on a script or spending that same time hunting.

More than anything though, Simu needs to make it more rewarding to socialize, to not script, etc. Like I said, less super nodes and a portal travel system would allow people to congregate in a central location while hunting globally. Hell, just make TSC in the landing a Super Duper Node that gives an extra +1 or +2 to absorption so people will choose that over a Super Node. Make 225/116/130 global. Let people get saturated in hunting areas that aren't scriptable. Have more invasions and hand out RPA's like candy for social interaction. The experience absorption rate is backwards for encouraging social interaction - You're better off resting shorter and going out with 800xp in your head than you are with 0xp in your head. Simply reverse that.

There's a ton of low effort fixes, but Simu adopted a policy of using the stick rather than the carrot a long time ago. I'm not sure why they've always felt the need to get into pissing contests with their own customers.

[Methais]

FTFY

I stand corrected.

[Mobius1]

Yeah, having random systems was the best method I could think of, as well.

As far as grouping people together to socialize....where is there an issue that you are seeing, specifically? For the most part, I've found TCs to generally be pretty well populated. I'm at KF right now and there are 8 different players here (Not characters.). That's not bad for a Tuesday morning. I mean, it's hard to remember waaaaay back, but things seem pretty good based on how things have been for many years.

Even Solhaven has a decent TC now thanks to SoS!

I also think there's a lot of GM run invasions and RP events. Admittedly, a lot of their time does get wrapped up in P2W events, but even those events tend to have things that are fun for non-P2W people as well. I find GMs to be more active now than ever before, churning out content, RP, and mechanics improvements like never before.

Granted, I'm not going to 100% defend the GMs, as I do disagree with some things they are doing, and some of the direction they are taking the game in. Them getting into said "pissing contests" for example, is certainly one of their problems (Though I shouldn't lump ALL GMs into this. as not all of them have this problem.). I think the main issue with that, is GMs are/were players, and most don't get paid a salary. So they are as opinionated and obstinate as we are! And they aren't exactly good examples of customer service, that's for sure! What drives me crazy, personally, is that no matter what it is they change, it is perfect and beyond reproach. Aside from bug fixes, good luck trying to get anything that was worked on by the current dev GMs changed, as their personal vision for the game is absolute. But they will gladly gut the work of previous GMs, as it's not something they helped create.

Still, they mean well, and most of it does make the game better off. And they do listen to good ideas as far as implementing new things.

[Gelston]

They should just roll out a prestige system already, then they could get double use out of all the hunting areas per character.

[Methais]

For scripting, I think clever ideas that make scripting untenable, is perhaps the best solution. For example, an area being difficult like HW, but having better rewards than anywhere else (This is still being worked on, and currently this is not the case. They decided to release HW before the reward systems are completed.). In fact, that could result in some boosted progression speed. I'm sure some people script HW, but at least it's a higher bar, so not just anyone can do it so easily. But I think more than that can be done, and more ideas could be thought of.

How could you make hunting areas more difficult to automate? I think if we can come up to answers to that question, it would be the best way to fix the scripting problem.

My non-bigshot script works fine in HW. Or any area anywhere where ;wander can be used. Divergence makes HW too boring for me, at least in its current form, but that's another topic.

Simu would have to throw out so much randomness in order to make an area unscriptable that it would be a colossal clusterfuck for anyone playing manually. Not saying it's impossible, I just don't see how it could be done without making life more difficult for people who aren't scripting.

[Mobius1]

My non-bigshot script works fine in HW. Or any area anywhere where ;wander can be used. Divergence makes HW too boring for me, at least in its current form, but that's another topic.

Simu would have to throw out so much randomness in order to make an area unscriptable that it would be a colossal clusterfuck for anyone playing manually. Not saying it's impossible, I just don't see how it could be done without making life more difficult for people who aren't scripting.

Not only that, but at this point scripters make up such a large portion of the playerbase, why would they want to cater to the minority like me?

[Ramrod]

Yeah, having random systems was the best method I could think of, as well. As far as grouping people together to socialize....where is there an issue that you are seeing, specifically? For the most part, I've found TCs to generally be pretty well populated. I'm at KF right now and there are 8 different players here (Not characters.). That's not bad for a Tuesday morning. I mean, it's hard to remember waaaaay back, but things seem pretty good based on how things have been for many years.


In the past month I've been hunting Solhaven, EN and IMT. On average, I'd say there's usually about 3-5 people in each TC with most of them being zombies. I'd also say that we have a lot more players that only play M-F, 8:00-5:00pm than we did in the past. Node changes and portals help address that.



I also think there's a lot of GM run invasions and RP events. Admittedly, a lot of their time does get wrapped up in P2W events, but even those events tend to have things that are fun for non-P2W people as well. I find GMs to be more active now than ever before, churning out content, RP, and mechanics improvements like never before.


I agree they're more active, but the events still seem to cater to the night/weekend and P2W crowds. Lots of people are playing while working from home these days. Lots of people aren't interested in paying for an event that conflicts with their playing schedule. For that matter, just simple big invasions aren't scriptable and I don't think require that much work to spawn a bunch of creatures around towns.



Granted, I'm not going to 100% defend the GMs, as I do disagree with some things they are doing, and some of the direction they are taking the game in. Them getting into said "pissing contests" for example, is certainly one of their problems. I think the main issue with that, is GMs are/were players, and most don't get paid a salary. So they are as opinionated and obstinate as we are! And they aren't exactly good examples of customer service, that's for sure! What drives me crazy, personally, is that no matter what it is they change, it is perfect and beyond reproach. Aside from bug fixes, good luck trying to get anything that was worked on by the current dev GMs changed, as their personal vision for the game is absolute. But they will gladly gut the work of previous GMs, as it's not something they helped create.


That's always been the problem. A dev GM decides their personal vision should be implemented and does it without regard for their customers. Shit, some things they've done just out of spite. Whether the work is done by a volunteer or an employee, they should be working on a shared vision that customers want rather than their personal vision.


Still, they mean well, and most of it does make the game better off. And they do listen to good ideas as far as implementing new things.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, lol.

[Mobius1]

Well, it makes sense they time events the way they do. Like many things, it was born from lessons learned over past experience. It's generally easier for people to be able to make time in the evening, whereas the day time just isn't possible for many.

As for portals, there are the chronomages which can help. You can pay 5k a day to teleport between IMT and Landing, or Sol, unlimited times. I'm not sure what the cost is for further locations though, but you can teleport to any of them. Premie can also teleport to FWI and use GC.

Honestly, if everyone just teleported to the same few areas though, it would result in certain areas becoming more dead, and I don't know if that is actually a good thing for the game.

[Methais]

Have hunting areas that are mazes and/or randomly generated areas. If the directions are different, especially if it requires things like searching, climb tree, go door, etc. then it gets really hard to script.

;wander sidesteps 99% of this.

The Confluence changes its layout randomly. I use ;walk in there since it ignores special exits that I don't want to use, like the pit that takes you between hot and cold side (there's probably a way to get ;wander to ignore this but I never looked into it), and the only inconvenience I run into is if the layout shifts and the direction ;walk was trying to use suddenly doesn't exist anymore for that room, it'll get hung up until I move in another direction, then it's fine again.

;wander probably doesn't have that problem in there, but I never bothered to figure out the best way to set up boundaries, since I usually would hunt just the hot side, and the pit and exit rooms do change.

[Methais]

As for portals, there are the chronomages which can help. You can pay 5k a day to teleport between IMT and Landing, or Sol, unlimited times. I'm not sure what the cost is for further locations though, but you can teleport to any of them. Premie can also teleport to FWI and use GC.

You can ;go2 from Solhaven to Icemule in less than a minute with Survival, maybe 2 minutes without it. While it's not a bad feature to exist, having it only work between those towns is also pretty meh.

[Asha]

Wait, shimmering trinkets? What are they I have some that I didnt know what to do with

[Asha]

Oh nvm, just waded through the replies and think I got it now.

[Ramrod]

;wander sidesteps 99% of this.

The Confluence changes its layout randomly. I use ;walk in there since it ignores special exits that I don't want to use, like the pit that takes you between hot and cold side (there's probably a way to get ;wander to ignore this but I never looked into it), and the only inconvenience I run into is if the layout shifts and the direction ;walk was trying to use suddenly doesn't exist anymore for that room, it'll get hung up until I move in another direction, then it's fine again.

;wander probably doesn't have that problem in there, but I never bothered to figure out the best way to set up boundaries, since I usually would hunt just the hot side, and the pit and exit rooms do change.

They can make areas so difficult to script that it becomes not worth it. We can argue back and forth about how it's done, but it's not impossible. Make an area like that and have it offer more silvers/exp than you can make scripting. If people want that, then they'll do it.

My point here is that if they don't want people scripting then give them a better alternative instead of just running customers off with punishments. Right now, there's no better alternative to script hunting. Can you make better experience with AG? I don't think so, but I acknowledge it's possible. However, AG is risk and effort vs no risk and no effort scripting.

I don't think making areas more dead is a bad thing when we're talking about people socializing in the Landing vs IMT, Haven, etc. Socializing and RP is what keeps customers. Resting by yourself or next to someone that's AFK isn't engaging.

None of this really matters. Simu is going to do whatever they want without much regard for the customers and the game will continue towards its death. Maybe the game is better today than it was, but the punishments (warnings, bans, etc) and the changes drove a lot of customers off.

[Methais]

They can make areas so difficult to script that it becomes not worth it. We can argue back and forth about how it's done, but it's not impossible. Make an area like that and have it offer more silvers/exp than you can make scripting. If people want that, then they'll do it.

My point here is that if they don't want people scripting then give them a better alternative instead of just running customers off with punishments. Right now, there's no better alternative to script hunting. Can you make better experience with AG? I don't think so, but I acknowledge it's possible. However, AG is risk and effort vs no risk and no effort scripting.

I don't think making areas more dead is a bad thing when we're talking about people socializing in the Landing vs IMT, Haven, etc. Socializing and RP is what keeps customers. Resting by yourself or next to someone that's AFK isn't engaging.

None of this really matters. Simu is going to do whatever they want without much regard for the customers and the game will continue towards its death. Maybe the game is better today than it was, but the punishments (warnings, bans, etc) and the changes drove a lot of customers off.

It could be done, yes. Is anyone at Simu creative enough to do it without making shit so retarded that people who play "normally" don't end up being the real victims in the end?

https://media3.giphy.com/media/fJMWN7XnZM0hO/200.gif

[Ramrod]

Nah, they'd most likely tard it all up.

[Tgo01]

It was weird. It seemed more automated than usual and I didn't receive a notification from the GM that I had passed the script check like I usually do, which makes me wonder if they have created some sort of system that automates script checks. Like they will send out an automated script check and if the person fails that then maybe a GM steps in to do a manual check.

Based on what someone else sent me, it does seem like maybe they are automating script checks.

Here is what my script check was like:


A large owl suddenly swoops down and banks in a circle around you a few times. Its right eye locks with yours in a stern gaze while its left deftly scans your person. The owl emits a series of loud hoots and says, "Hey YOU! You seem to be under a bad spell and wandering about or killing beings unconsciously! HOOT now to let me know you're OK!"

Someone else messaged me stating they received two script checks, both of the scenarios were completely different than mine, but one script check ended with "GROWL FOUR TIMES" and the other was "SIGH THREE TIMES."

These verb requests is not something I have typically seen in script checks in the past, it was typically something like they ask you a question and you had to answer it, or sometimes they even straight up tell you to SEND saying that you are at the keyboard.

By requiring you to use a specific verb the GMs could theoretically automate this part of the process. You fail to use the verb properly then perhaps a GM has a bit of a closer look, you pass then the GM doesn't really have to waste much of their time script checking you since you passed the automated check.

Or perhaps there is just a newer GM out there that is deciding to be more creative and straight forward in their script checks.

[Gelston]

They can make areas so difficult to script that it becomes not worth it. We can argue back and forth about how it's done, but it's not impossible. Make an area like that and have it offer more silvers/exp than you can make scripting. If people want that, then they'll do it.

My point here is that if they don't want people scripting then give them a better alternative instead of just running customers off with punishments. Right now, there's no better alternative to script hunting. Can you make better experience with AG? I don't think so, but I acknowledge it's possible. However, AG is risk and effort vs no risk and no effort scripting.

I don't think making areas more dead is a bad thing when we're talking about people socializing in the Landing vs IMT, Haven, etc. Socializing and RP is what keeps customers. Resting by yourself or next to someone that's AFK isn't engaging.

None of this really matters. Simu is going to do whatever they want without much regard for the customers and the game will continue towards its death. Maybe the game is better today than it was, but the punishments (warnings, bans, etc) and the changes drove a lot of customers off.

Unless they have infinitely different "checks" a script can be written for it. It comes to a point where the area becomes too goddamn annoying to an actual player.

[drumpel]

Based on what someone else sent me, it does seem like maybe they are automating script checks.

Here is what my script check was like:



Someone else messaged me stating they received two script checks, both of the scenarios were completely different than mine, but one script check ended with "GROWL FOUR TIMES" and the other was "SIGH THREE TIMES."

These verb requests is not something I have typically seen in script checks in the past, it was typically something like they ask you a question and you had to answer it, or sometimes they even straight up tell you to SEND saying that you are at the keyboard.

By requiring you to use a specific verb the GMs could theoretically automate this part of the process. You fail to use the verb properly then perhaps a GM has a bit of a closer look, you pass then the GM doesn't really have to waste much of their time script checking you since you passed the automated check.

Or perhaps there is just a newer GM out there that is deciding to be more creative and straight forward in their script checks.

I think the script checks are horseshit, along with most of the GMs.

The only time I was script checked I had some young child run up to me and it said something along the lines of how he likes my weapon and asked if he could see it/hold it/use it. I didn't know it was a script check since I had never had one before and I DISMISSed the child and kept on going. A few moments later the child appears again and asks the same question and I said, 'No. And then told the child to go away and leave me alone.

The child shows up again a few moments later and asks again and I told it to leave me alone and go away and I kept going on doing what I was doing. A moment later I was snatched up into a room and told I was scripting and didn't respond to the script check because I didn't use the syntax of ANSWER NO (like you would answer questions from the Ragin' Thrak, use the ANSWER verb). I told the GM I was talking to it and told it multiple times to go away and it couldn't use see my weapon and that it wasn't made clear you needed to use the ANSWER verb, but because I didn't use ANSWER, even though I was talking to the kid and responding, I was "scripting".

I was so pissed I un-subbed for a couple of months and took a short break.

[Tgo01]

I think the script checks are horseshit, along with most of the GMs.

The only time I was script checked I had some young child run up to me and it said something along the lines of how he likes my weapon and asked if he could see it/hold it/use it. I didn't know it was a script check since I had never had one before and I DISMISSed the child and kept on going. A few moments later the child appears again and asks the same question and I said, 'No. And then told the child to go away and leave me alone.

The child shows up again a few moments later and asks again and I told it to leave me alone and go away and I kept going on doing what I was doing. A moment later I was snatched up into a room and told I was scripting and didn't respond to the script check because I didn't use the syntax of ANSWER NO (like you would answer questions from the Ragin' Thrak, use the ANSWER verb). I told the GM I was talking to it and told it multiple times to go away and it couldn't use see my weapon and that it wasn't made clear you needed to use the ANSWER verb, but because I didn't use ANSWER, even though I was talking to the kid and responding, I was "scripting".

I was so pissed I un-subbed for a couple of months and took a short break.

Yeah that's kind of bullshit. Clearly you were at the keyboard and interacting with the child.

[Gelston]

I think the script checks are horseshit, along with most of the GMs.

The only time I was script checked I had some young child run up to me and it said something along the lines of how he likes my weapon and asked if he could see it/hold it/use it. I didn't know it was a script check since I had never had one before and I DISMISSed the child and kept on going. A few moments later the child appears again and asks the same question and I said, 'No. And then told the child to go away and leave me alone.

The child shows up again a few moments later and asks again and I told it to leave me alone and go away and I kept going on doing what I was doing. A moment later I was snatched up into a room and told I was scripting and didn't respond to the script check because I didn't use the syntax of ANSWER NO (like you would answer questions from the Ragin' Thrak, use the ANSWER verb). I told the GM I was talking to it and told it multiple times to go away and it couldn't use see my weapon and that it wasn't made clear you needed to use the ANSWER verb, but because I didn't use ANSWER, even though I was talking to the kid and responding, I was "scripting".

I was so pissed I un-subbed for a couple of months and took a short break.

That is one you could have won writing feedback about.

[Ramrod]

Unless they have infinitely different "checks" a script can be written for it. It comes to a point where the area becomes too goddamn annoying to an actual player.

That's my point. They could have an almost infinite system with the name generator or have the directions in an area dynamically generated using search, climb, open, pull lever, etc. Would it be annoying to hunt? Sure, but if the exp/silver from that type of area was way better than you could earn scripting then people would have the option.

Maybe it's time we all acknowledge the game died with Warclaidhm and we're just on borrowed time. Too soon?

[Gelston]

That's my point. They could have an almost infinite system with the name generator or have the directions in an area dynamically generated using search, climb, open, pull lever, etc.

Honestly, scripts could figure that all out too. The system itself would be a script creating that.

[Ramrod]

Honestly, scripts could figure that all out too. The system itself would be a script creating that.

Of course - We have mostly self driving cars today. The question becomes whether the ROI on writing a script or constantly updating a script to handle it is worth it. With an infinite list of nouns for creatures, scripting it gets really difficult.

There's no shortage of options for how to prevent scripting even passing the login key to the Simu client over an encrypted channel. You could just give people not using Lich increased silver/exp. At the end of the day though, Simu seems more interested in trying to trick scripters into getting punished through vague and easy to miss checks rather than reward customers that don't script. That has always been the case. Miss a check because of screen scroll but respond immediately when pulled? Warning.

If you want players to be more engaged, then give them better options for engagement instead of going out of your way to try and punish them for scripting.

[Gelston]

Of course - We have mostly self driving cars today. The question becomes whether the ROI on writing a script or constantly updating a script to handle it is worth it. With an infinite list of nouns for creatures, scripting it gets really difficult.

There's no shortage of options for how to prevent scripting even passing the login key to the Simu client over an encrypted channel. You could just give people not using Lich increased silver/exp. At the end of the day though, Simu seems more interested in trying to trick scripters into getting punished through vague and easy to miss checks rather than reward customers that don't script. That has always been the case. Miss a check because of screen scroll but respond immediately when pulled? Warning.

If you want players to be more engaged, then give them better options for engagement instead of going out of your way to try and punish them for scripting.

Eh, I don't think the GMs could defeat scripts by making weird hunting levels at all, even with infinite "checks", a script could be created to account for it. Nothing short of a live GM monitoring the area and performing all these personally would work.

Shutting down lich, which they could do, would be the easiest way, but I also think that'd just gut the player base.

[Ramrod]

Eh, I don't think the GMs could defeat scripts by making weird hunting levels at all, even with infinite "checks", a script could be created to account for it. Nothing short of a live GM monitoring the area and performing all these personally would work.

Shutting down lich, which they could do, would be the easiest way, but I also think that'd just gut the player base.

My point here is that if they want to curb scripting then they should offer better alternatives rather than trying to trick scripters with vague checks and punishing them.

I honestly don't care if people script AFK 24/7 as long as their script doesn't interfere with other players. I don't see that as being any different than things like Celtic making billions off his private workshop, GM's creating OP weapons and selling them for cash or any number of things that have happened over the course of the game. Scripting is just the latest in the series of things that once the masses started benefiting from it then Simu decided it should be removed.

[Mobius1]

It could be done, yes. Is anyone at Simu creative enough to do it without making shit so retarded that people who play "normally" don't end up being the real victims in the end?


Honestly, I am not one to defend everything the GMs do, and have my beefs with a handful (I'm looking at you, Naos.), but I think that this kind of thing is pretty unfair. Dealing with hunting and mechanics, are the changes that tend to bring the most controversy, since nerfs are never fun, or seeing your class neglected, etc.. It's a difficult balance in any game, and it's never perfect. But even in the most PvE centric MMO's around, balance is STILL a concern, and to neglect it is wrong, I don't care what people try to argue (Usually from a selfish viewpoint, IMO.).

But ultimately, it's not the hunting that keeps most of us playing this game. How could it, really? We've been repeating the same crap over and over and over for years. I get why that makes automated scripts more appealing, as for most it's unfun drudgery. But then I also wonder why the hell people even care? So you get more strength to kill things you already have no issues killing? This actually makes combat MORE boring for people, generally, as it makes the content easier and easier. But then again, perhaps the majority DON'T care, but those with the drive are simply the ones that have stuck around the most.

Ultimately though, I think it comes down to the REAL reason we play this game - Character personalization. You simply can't get the kind of personalization we get in this game anywhere else. And gaining XP helps with this. And when it comes to this, I think the GMs do amazing work, and is the main reason I think the game is far better now than it ever was (Like shimmering trinkets as the example I gave!).

In the end, I don't personally care if I kill things a little slower, or die a little easier, as it's all drudgery, and is not the reason I play this game.

But I also think you shouldn't be rewarded with silvers or XP without putting forth the effort. People like Roblar and Wolfloner worked their asses off to get the XP they have, meanwhile others just get to watch Youtube and profit. For me this is 4/5 the reason I hate automated scripts. The other 1/5 is the immersion, as I have also mentioned. But I just can't see a way to fix it without revitalizing the game in some other way that I just don't think is possible anymore. I think the best thing is some sort of compromise, where there is some way to give added benefits if you don't script hunt (HW is sort of in the right direction, once it's fully completed. But people can and do still script it.).

Maybe they could make a new UI where Lich no longer works, or is restricted in some sort of way, but has many of its features built in instead. You could still use the old UI and Lich, but you'd lose out on certain benefits.

[Fortybox]

Based on what someone else sent me, it does seem like maybe they are automating script checks.

Here is what my script check was like:



Someone else messaged me stating they received two script checks, both of the scenarios were completely different than mine, but one script check ended with "GROWL FOUR TIMES" and the other was "SIGH THREE TIMES."

These verb requests is not something I have typically seen in script checks in the past, it was typically something like they ask you a question and you had to answer it, or sometimes they even straight up tell you to SEND saying that you are at the keyboard.

By requiring you to use a specific verb the GMs could theoretically automate this part of the process. You fail to use the verb properly then perhaps a GM has a bit of a closer look, you pass then the GM doesn't really have to waste much of their time script checking you since you passed the automated check.

Or perhaps there is just a newer GM out there that is deciding to be more creative and straight forward in their script checks.

Please select all the pictures with bridges in them.

[Gelston]

Based on what someone else sent me, it does seem like maybe they are automating script checks.

Here is what my script check was like:



Someone else messaged me stating they received two script checks, both of the scenarios were completely different than mine, but one script check ended with "GROWL FOUR TIMES" and the other was "SIGH THREE TIMES."

These verb requests is not something I have typically seen in script checks in the past, it was typically something like they ask you a question and you had to answer it, or sometimes they even straight up tell you to SEND saying that you are at the keyboard.

By requiring you to use a specific verb the GMs could theoretically automate this part of the process. You fail to use the verb properly then perhaps a GM has a bit of a closer look, you pass then the GM doesn't really have to waste much of their time script checking you since you passed the automated check.

Or perhaps there is just a newer GM out there that is deciding to be more creative and straight forward in their script checks.

Script checks, as they were when I was on the other side, generally started small like that. They usually required you to fail a few of them, with ever increasing obviousness. Sometimes they'd have to pause a script check for when someone went to rest, and then continue them almost immediately after they started hunting again. If you'd failed that, they'd have moved on to a less ICish method.

[Tgo01]

Please select all the pictures with bridges in them.

"That one didn't have a bridge! Ban!"


Sometimes they'd have to pause a script check for when someone went to hunt, and then continue them almost immediately after they started hunting again. If you'd failed that, they'd have moved on to a less ICish method.

That's odd. I would say 99% of my script checks have been while I was hunting.

[Gelston]

"That one didn't have a bridge! Ban!"



That's odd. I would say 99% of my script checks have been while I was hunting.

I meant to put rest rather than hunt.

[Methais]

Based on what someone else sent me, it does seem like maybe they are automating script checks.

Here is what my script check was like:



Someone else messaged me stating they received two script checks, both of the scenarios were completely different than mine, but one script check ended with "GROWL FOUR TIMES" and the other was "SIGH THREE TIMES."

These verb requests is not something I have typically seen in script checks in the past, it was typically something like they ask you a question and you had to answer it, or sometimes they even straight up tell you to SEND saying that you are at the keyboard.

By requiring you to use a specific verb the GMs could theoretically automate this part of the process. You fail to use the verb properly then perhaps a GM has a bit of a closer look, you pass then the GM doesn't really have to waste much of their time script checking you since you passed the automated check.

Or perhaps there is just a newer GM out there that is deciding to be more creative and straight forward in their script checks.

I've seen similar checks like that that other people have posted. Last time I got checked, which I think was in like 2015 or something, it was something similar iirc.

You should have replied with a REPORT and inform them that your character doesn't HOOT, and that whoever is running the check is ruining your roleplaying immersion experience by forcing you to be out of character.

And/or just be like, "No, I am not going to HOOT, because blah blah blah etc." just to see if you get pulled anyway despite clearly demonstrating that you're present and responsive. And message Wyrom on Discord while it's happening like "Dude check out what's happening right now..."

Itzel would probably be upset forever.

[Methais]

I think the script checks are horseshit, along with most of the GMs.

The only time I was script checked I had some young child run up to me and it said something along the lines of how he likes my weapon and asked if he could see it/hold it/use it. I didn't know it was a script check since I had never had one before and I DISMISSed the child and kept on going. A few moments later the child appears again and asks the same question and I said, 'No. And then told the child to go away and leave me alone.

The child shows up again a few moments later and asks again and I told it to leave me alone and go away and I kept going on doing what I was doing. A moment later I was snatched up into a room and told I was scripting and didn't respond to the script check because I didn't use the syntax of ANSWER NO (like you would answer questions from the Ragin' Thrak, use the ANSWER verb). I told the GM I was talking to it and told it multiple times to go away and it couldn't use see my weapon and that it wasn't made clear you needed to use the ANSWER verb, but because I didn't use ANSWER, even though I was talking to the kid and responding, I was "scripting".

I was so pissed I un-subbed for a couple of months and took a short break.

What fucking idiot GM was that?

[drumpel]

What fucking idiot GM was that?

I don't remember, it probably happened almost 4-5 years ago now.....it was back when you could infuse mana into elemental flaring potions for enchanting so you could off set the amount of elemental lore ranks needed to enchant flaring items.

I wanted to start enchanting some flaring stuff I had, but needed potions to do so with infused mana to offset the lack of having 100 EL ranks. I was putting myself through alchemy and busy forging for a bunch of crap when this stupid NPC kid was running around me, asking to see my weapon.

[Gelston]

I don't remember, it probably happened almost 4-5 years ago now.....it was back when you could infuse mana into elemental flaring potions for enchanting so you could off set the amount of elemental lore ranks needed to enchant flaring items.

I wanted to start enchanting some flaring stuff I had, but needed potions to do so with infused mana to offset the lack of having 100 EL ranks. I was putting myself through alchemy and busy forging for a bunch of crap when this stupid NPC kid was running around me, asking to see my weapon.

Might have been newer ones, although a lockout requires a SGM approval. You should have definitely complained to feedback.

[Methais]

"That one didn't have a bridge! Ban!"

"It did have a bridge, if you look at the 3 pixels in the top right corner with a magnifying glass, you'll see it! I'm going to force you to read POLICY now."

[Gelston]

"It did have a bridge, if you look at the 3 pixels in the top right corner with a magnifying glass, you'll see it! I'm going to force you to read POLICY now."


file size last update author DLs rating
---------- ---- ------------------ ---------- --- ------
policy.lic 0.2k 2014-09-30 1:03pm Gibreficul 17


Policy reader
for reading policy
Because sometimes you gotta do it
author: Gibreficul
tags: utility, scripting violation

[Methais]

file size last update author DLs rating
---------- ---- ------------------ ---------- --- ------
policy.lic 0.2k 2014-09-30 1:03pm Gibreficul 17


Policy reader
for reading policy
Because sometimes you gotta do it
author: Gibreficul
tags: utility, scripting violation

"Brb Itzel, gonna go take a dump while I run this ;policy script since it doesn't generate exp, silvers, fame, etc."

[Asha]

I think the script checks are horseshit, along with most of the GMs.

The only time I was script checked I had some young child run up to me and it said something along the lines of how he likes my weapon and asked if he could see it/hold it/use it. I didn't know it was a script check since I had never had one before and I DISMISSed the child and kept on going. A few moments later the child appears again and asks the same question and I said, 'No. And then told the child to go away and leave me alone.

The child shows up again a few moments later and asks again and I told it to leave me alone and go away and I kept going on doing what I was doing. A moment later I was snatched up into a room and told I was scripting and didn't respond to the script check because I didn't use the syntax of ANSWER NO (like you would answer questions from the Ragin' Thrak, use the ANSWER verb). I told the GM I was talking to it and told it multiple times to go away and it couldn't use see my weapon and that it wasn't made clear you needed to use the ANSWER verb, but because I didn't use ANSWER, even though I was talking to the kid and responding, I was "scripting".

I was so pissed I un-subbed for a couple of months and took a short break.

That is so absolutely fucked. That would have spelled me selling everything and leaving forever after posting the log on the forums and Discord, which would have no effect on anyone whatsoever of course. It might even help the brown-noses improve their standing with the GMs when they inevitably come to their defense.

A friend of mine did exactly this when he had the same thing happen. It did nothing. He was called a lot of things in Discord it was disgusting.

My own experience and only warning for scripting came when I was fletching at a table. The entire screen blew up with a big status like when you level up but x10, saying ''if you are paying attention type Vultite is the worst smelling metal'' right at the bottom I had to scroll to find it.
I was halfway through reading wall of text when I was pulled away into a room and left there to read policy.
I tried to explain everything like I just did now, they didn't even reply. That's the whole interaction. If anything like that ever happens again I am out. Nothing of importance would be lost of course.

[Methais]

A friend of mine did exactly this when he had the same thing happen. It did nothing. He was called a lot of things in Discord it was disgusting.

Discord is overflowing with toxic mental illness, and most of the people who live on Discord 24/7 will do literally anything if they think it will get a GM to pay attention to them. I'm pretty sure they whack off just to the thought of it.

It's like the GS equivalent of a normal person going to an anime convention.

[ycelacie]

I think the issue is that sometimes, for some unknown reason, ;wander ignores the obvious hiding string and doesn't keep walking around. My non-bigshot script has the same issue sometimes and just starts blasting at stuff when someone's in the room using obvious hiding.

But yeah, I don't recall that ever happening when a disk was there.

is there a line to check for other PCs? I have a script I use to hunt when i am grouped but till need to work... but I don't know how it would just check for other people outside my group. Needless to say I start shooting and my friend susually have to pull me out of there then I, yell sorry!

[Methais]

is there a line to check for other PCs? I have a script I use to hunt when i am grouped but till need to work... but I don't know how it would just check for other people outside my group. Needless to say I start shooting and my friend susually have to pull me out of there then I, yell sorry!

I don't know shit about Lich code but I would assume yes, since 99% of the time it doesn't stop when someone ungrouped is in the room, either in the open or using obvious hiding/disk. I have no clue why it just randomly fucks up, but it's uncommon enough to where it isn't much of an issue.

[Tgo01]

is there a line to check for other PCs? I have a script I use to hunt when i am grouped but till need to work... but I don't know how it would just check for other people outside my group. Needless to say I start shooting and my friend susually have to pull me out of there then I, yell sorry!

Not sure how your script is set up, but here is a simple script you can run and leave running in the background:



$everyone_in_my_group = Array.new
$my_group_leader = nil
fput "group"
while line = get
if line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) (is following you.|is the leader of your group.|is also a member of your group.)/
$everyone_in_my_group.push($1)
if line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) is the leader of your group./
$my_group_leader = $1
elsif line =~ /is following you./
$my_group_leader = checkname
end
elsif line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) joins ([a-zA-Z]+)\'s group./
$everyone_in_my_group.push($1) if $2 == $my_group_leader
elsif line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) (?:clasps|adds|grabs|reaches out and holds|gently takes hold of) ([a-zA-Z]+)(?:\'s)? (?:hand tenderly.|to [a-zA-Z]+ group.|hand.)/
$everyone_in_my_group.push($2) if $1 == $my_group_leader
end
end


When first started it will note everyone who is part of your group, then anytime someone joins the group it will update everyone in your group. I didn't account for people leaving the group because I'm lazy, and also you don't get any notification when someone leaves the group, only if the group leader removes them.

Then you could use the global variable $everyone_in_my_group to check for people in your group.

For example:



this_room = nil
loop{
wait_until{ this_room != Room.current.id}
this_room = nil
wait_until{ GameObj.targets.count > 0}
wait_until{ checkpcs }
person_not_in_group = checkpcs.find{ |name| !$everyone_in_my_group.include?(name) }
echo person_not_in_group
if person_not_in_group
10.times{ echo "DO NOT ATTACK!" }
else
10.times{ echo "ATTACK!" }
end
this_room = Room.current.id
}

[adred]

Not sure how your script is set up, but here is a simple script you can run and leave running in the background:



$everyone_in_my_group = Array.new
$my_group_leader = nil
fput "group"
while line = get
if line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) (is following you.|is the leader of your group.|is also a member of your group.)/
$everyone_in_my_group.push($1)
if line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) is the leader of your group./
$my_group_leader = $1
elsif line =~ /is following you./
$my_group_leader = checkname
end
elsif line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) joins ([a-zA-Z]+)\'s group./
$everyone_in_my_group.push($1) if $2 == $my_group_leader
elsif line =~ /([a-zA-Z]+) (?:clasps|adds|grabs|reaches out and holds|gently takes hold of) ([a-zA-Z]+)(?:\'s)? (?:hand tenderly.|to [a-zA-Z]+ group.|hand.)/
$everyone_in_my_group.push($2) if $1 == $my_group_leader
end
end


When first started it will note everyone who is part of your group, then anytime someone joins the group it will update everyone in your group. I didn't account for people leaving the group because I'm lazy, and also you don't get any notification when someone leaves the group, only if the group leader removes them.

Then you could use the global variable $everyone_in_my_group to check for people in your group.

For example:



this_room = nil
loop{
wait_until{ this_room != Room.current.id}
this_room = nil
wait_until{ GameObj.targets.count > 0}
wait_until{ checkpcs }
person_not_in_group = checkpcs.find{ |name| !$everyone_in_my_group.include?(name) }
echo person_not_in_group
if person_not_in_group
10.times{ echo "DO NOT ATTACK!" }
else
10.times{ echo "ATTACK!" }
end
this_room = Room.current.id
}


I used something similar to this (modified ;wander) and it still would randomly poach. My best solution was to set up a global variable that would toggle $combat between nil and true so that I could push a macro from any any of the party clients to instantly stop any and all actions so I could say sorry, pull prone players, and move on without extra disruption.