Rogue service proposal

[Mobius1]

I am not sure if your argument depends on other people losing items it is going to go very far unfortunately and I am someone who doesn't really like this brigading group that rushes in to discord to shape every conversation their way. I wish we could have a world with immersion and consequences but maybe that's just asking too much.

At least the loot pool stops someone from claiming "Hah you can't touch the Son of Zorg you Peon!"

A couple ideas I thought were interesting were to have a loot boost to those who don't flag (Like a 1% boost to all loot or something.). But I don't think anything that includes an OOC flag is a proper solution. There simply is no good IC way to explain the flag. Demeanor flags? Those make sense from an in character perspective. You could say that maybe those people are guarding their pockets? Well, that system is already in place - the WATCH verb (Yet another tool people have against thieves.)

Another idea is to simply implement a system that forces the thief to give the stolen items back if he gets caught. But do remember, by making things crazy harsh, it could make pickpocketing at lower levels completely unviable. Someone that isn't capped is going to get caught a lot, so they are already facing heavy consequences.

Honestly, the system is pretty robust as it is. I don't know why negatives need to be tacked on. The boosts to it with NPCs is a positive direction and I think the flag part should just be dropped. But I'm open to compromise if that is the only way to prevent the flag as is currently proposed.

[Renaden]

Similarly if you don't like it you can simply not turn your anti-pickpocketing flag on. Go steal from the other 5 people that currently participate in that system.

[Mobius1]

Similarly if you don't like it you can simply not turn your anti-pickpocketing flag on. Go steal from the other 5 people that currently participate in that system.

If you don't like it you can use the plethora of in character tools you have already been given. Closing bags, auto closing bags, poison needles, jaw traps, cursed items, junk items, sancted nodes, casting and/or singing sanct, the WATCH verb, the ACCUSE verb, the CHALLENGE verb, blacklisting, anti-theft items, theft cooldown, lighting conditions, perception, pickpocketing skill, etc. etc. etc. You literally have all the tools and more that you need, ALL of which have an in character explanation to them.

[Maerit]

How do you troll someone with pickpocketing? You literally just have to close your bags. They even sell auto closing bags. You can also go to a sancted node. These things are in place to give people the opt out they want, yet keeping it in character so that our characters are able to properly navigate it RP wise.

You can steal bounty items (skins/gems) while stalking the player. High skill trolling! Again, this appears to be an attempt to get ahead of the massive complaining that could occur if the number of thieves greatly increases due to making pickpocketing a potentially "meta" skill for rogues. If a large % of the rogue population suddenly fixskills to have pickpocketing due to the proposal, and you increase your potential thief population by hundreds, I can see where it could create a lot of nerd rage over losing their uncut emeralds when they were in the process of selling them to the gemshop for a bounty.

In your head, you don't see a thief setting up shop in the non-sancted gemshops, picking off targets who are selling, but may indavertantly snag gems from players turning in a bounty and suddenly their head explodes because they are no longer able to finish the bounty? I mean, that's a scenario waiting to happen already with how much Candor loves to steal from single gem sellers.

[Renaden]

If you don't like it you can use the plethora of in character tools you have already been given. Closing bags, auto closing bags, poison needles, jaw traps, cursed items, junk items, sancted nodes, casting and/or singing sanct, the WATCH verb, the ACCUSE verb, the CHALLENGE verb, blacklisting, anti-theft items, theft cooldown, lighting conditions, perception, pickpocketing skill, etc. etc. etc. You literally have all the tools and more that you need, ALL of which have an in character explanation to them.

I also have magical auras, spiked & flaring armor and armor accessories, a literal flesh-eating shadow shroud that surrounds my character, all of which pickpocketing bypasses in a very blatant out-of-character manner.

[Taernath]

If you don't like it you can use the plethora of in character tools you have already been given. Closing bags, auto closing bags, poison needles, jaw traps, cursed items, junk items, sancted nodes, casting and/or singing sanct, the WATCH verb, the ACCUSE verb, the CHALLENGE verb, blacklisting, anti-theft items, theft cooldown, lighting conditions, perception, pickpocketing skill, etc. etc. etc. You literally have all the tools and more that you need, ALL of which have an in character explanation to them.

How would you or your character even know someone is using a flag vs. just not having anything that can be stolen?

[Mobius1]

You can steal bounty items (skins/gems) while stalking the player. High skill trolling! Again, this appears to be an attempt to get ahead of the massive complaining that could occur if the number of thieves greatly increases due to making pickpocketing a potentially "meta" skill for rogues. If a large % of the rogue population suddenly fixskills to have pickpocketing due to the proposal, and you increase your potential thief population by hundreds, I can see where it could create a lot of nerd rage over losing their uncut emeralds when they were in the process of selling them to the gemshop for a bounty.

In your head, you don't see a thief setting up shop in the non-sancted gemshops, picking off targets who are selling, but may indavertantly snag gems from players turning in a bounty and suddenly their head explodes because they are no longer able to finish the bounty? I mean, that's a scenario waiting to happen already with how much Candor loves to steal from single gem sellers.

Honestly, I'd wager money it wouldn't have a very noticeable impact. Most people still won't steal from players even if they have the skill, as that potentially makes their character a villain.

Perhaps it would result in a handful of new pickpockets, as it will maybe enliven some to dust off their rogues. But I just can't see it being any sort of a problem, as it will probably be too small a number, if any. And there is essentially solid proof in this regard, as with the introduction of Mug, there hasn't been an increase in player thefts, even though there has been a significant increase in rogues trained in pickpocketing already.

The opposite argument could also be made, that people will pickpocket less because they have more options for its use.

[Maerit]

Not sure how thieves are getting passed my sorcerer miasma (716) that activates on all forms of attack! Immersion ruined!

[Mobius1]

I also have magical auras, spiked & flaring armor and armor accessories, a literal flesh-eating shadow shroud that surrounds my character, all of which pickpocketing bypasses in a very blatant out-of-character manner.

If you wanted to argue that those should stop theft, that's fine. Several things like those already do stop theft.

How would you or your character even know someone is using a flag vs. just not having anything that can be stolen?

The messaging will be different I believe. But yeah, as you are pointing out with this, it's literally a redundant system, and thus not needed.

[Mobius1]

Not sure how thieves are getting passed my sorcerer miasma (716) that activates on all forms of attack! Immersion ruined!

There are lots of systems that bypass 716.