AFK - battle skills - Endless Ages

**oogie** · 07-22-2008, 06:41 AM

Since it has been brought to the attention of the game staff and administrators, I thought I'd let the players have a voice in the matter.

People have been found afk macroing battle skills- such as weapon tech, mind control, melee, and shapeshifting. This is unfair to those who have worked those skills up honestly and quite frankly is illegal in any game out there. So in the new rules that are currently under final draft, what do you the players think should be the fitting punishment?

Edit: Added shapeshifting to the list of "battle skills."

Hellbinder · 07-22-2008, 07:55 AM

I dont know of anybody who has not done some kind of AFK "training" in this game. Who are these honest people you are talking about?

I have done afk macroing in destroyer. It still took me a week to get from WT 12 to WT 14. I still died about 10 times by gettig PKed or whatever. I still wasted tons of ammo shooting nothing.

In my case I spent a saturday a couple weeks ago in destroyer while i was doing work around the house and the property. I checked the game every 30 minutes or so. I used a program to reload my ammmo and i shoved a pencil into a key on the keyboard i had mapped to fire.

Even though i did that all day i still didnt gain a complete level. I finished getting from 13 to 14 the following day.

IMO you guys are way to bent out of shape on this. WHO CARES if someone is using macro to gian skills. It takes almost an hour to kill destroyer with an acid gun solo. Do you really think that is a *worthy* way to spend your time playing a game? Standing there shotting a stationary target for hours on end?

Until this games leveling system is fixed there should be ZERO nada NO PENALTIES for macroing level gain. It still took me 2 weeks longer to get to 14 than my other clanies of similar level becuase i cant play th4e game as much as them.

Seriously This horse needs to be completely gotten off of and forgotten about.

**oogie** · 07-22-2008, 07:58 AM

thank you for your opinion.

I guess you're option four....

Hellbinder · 07-22-2008, 08:04 AM

Just to clarify..

it took me 2 weeks when i got serious about going from WT 12 to 14.

And during that time i would periodicaly AFK macro destroyer. It still took 2 weeks because i cant play the game 12 hours a day. and even if i did i sure as heck wouldnt want to stand there shooting a stationary target for 12 hours.

As stated many many times this game should level you naturally as you fight and hunt. Everything should give you XP and the bigger slower guns should give you the most XP per hit not the little ones like it is now.

I should be able to go hunting on MR for a few hours with my nerv and see a decent gain in stats and WT.

At least thats my opinion.

Hellbinder · 07-22-2008, 08:06 AM

Everybody and i mean EVERYBODY who seriously plays this game has AFK macrod. It is totally ridiculous for anyone to suggest a stat reset because they are a hypocrite.

Mireillu · 07-22-2008, 08:18 AM

I voted Portal Them Away. I think there's no problem in AFK leveling AS LONG AS you're still not far from the screen, and can check like every 5 minutes max. Hellbinder, i indeed saw you many times in destroyer, and your "checking rate" was indeed like 30 minutes... if not more... which is too much imo.

Hellbinder · 07-22-2008, 08:38 AM

i told you what i was doing... and yes i leveled on destyroyer (using reloading macro) for a few days during a single week. Thats the most your many times could have been. yes i would set up shop at destroyer during that time and start shoting him then go do other things. If i check back in and everything is peachy i go on about my business.

Are you people in my house? Do you know what i am doing? I could be at the keyboard the entire time reading a book. If the target does not move then neither do I. Its franky none of your business what i am doing in my house or how i am playing the game. If it not maliciously affecting another player.

(I leveled on destroyer before that but not afk. People in destroyer showed me what do do that is how i learned)

**oogie** · 07-22-2008, 08:50 AM

hellbinder

this is just asking questions, take the heat out of the answers some. It's nothing more than just fleshing things out. ok?

chill

Sheeva · 07-22-2008, 09:02 AM

Well I can say I honesty never "macro" trained a battle skill in all the years I played EA. I trained like most others I knew, zone into a boss room and kill it 20000 times with an acid gun! lol

I did However" macro" train approximatley 70% of my alchemy skill while I was sleeping or at work.

Vincent · 07-22-2008, 09:57 AM

Give the cheesecake oogs every one here has at least gone afk a bit because they gt bored of shooting the same mob over and over.

Joeru32 · 07-22-2008, 10:04 AM

never AFK'd battle skills. I'd just genshock the snot out of clegorns/more brutal mobs. But I -never did- any sort of tradeskill due to the mindless, impossible-to-do-"legitly"-or-"humanly"-grind. So I just opted out entirely.

ShaDow · 07-22-2008, 10:18 AM

I think people caught exploiting should have the skill they were training reset to level 1. Muahaha!

jay7981 · 07-22-2008, 10:39 AM

the macroing of tradeskills i can see as ok, battle skills on the other hand is compeltly differant. Tradeskills only give you the ability to flood the economy (that of which it is) wont disturb gameplay. macroing the battle skills you can essentially max out within 3 weeks and i dont see that as a "Fair" advantage to the rest of the playerbase that may not know how to macro.

warning this is my opinion and as all opinions are the belief of its owner and nothing more. Opinions are like rectums everyone has one and most of them stink.

Eliwa · 07-22-2008, 10:40 AM

I have the same exact appenion as Mir...... I would say it is alright if they are still their. maybe watching TV from the computer seat and watching the computer also. But if they are gone for 10-20 or more they should be portaled away.

BTW. all I do is sit in my chair and talk to my friends and stick a stapler on my mouse and check every 5 minutes or so.....

Deathlight · 07-22-2008, 11:20 AM

i think afk lvling of battle skills should be punished by a temporary ban, if you find them give them 10-15minutes to respond, if they dont i think they should get a 24hr ban, afk macroing of battle skills is a complete exploit of mob AI which at the moment is less than impressive, infact it is down right retarded for most things that shoot. Until the mob aim is fixed to aim atleast at the waist i think it should be punished cause as it is now there are alot of mobs that have trouble shooting you when you are on lvl ground with them and standing still. Or it could be solved by making all mob shots go through walls which would completely **** me off lol I already get annoyed with shockions hitting me through walls in BM. I have afk macroed ss, and alchemy before, but never truly afk lvld WT, never been away from the comp more than 10 minutes while I leave it shooting something, being able to leave it most of the day seems like cheating to me. Then again as everyone can attest to, the grind required for WT/MC is insane. It is part of the reason I am still not lvl 12 WT, dont feel like shooting rune bosses with acid gun, or physus or anything like that, plus my lag spikes are too bad to do much of anything at the moment.

jay7981 · 07-22-2008, 11:51 AM

the macroing that should be set to illegal should be defined as this...

the use of software/hardware, objects that allow you to gain battle skills (WT, MC, Magic, and any other skill that can be used to do damage to mobs/players) with no physical interaction from the player him/her self. If a GM was to Question you in game and you do not provide a response within a matter of a few seconds action should be taken towrads that player. To what action is why this post was created.

Keep in mind that i am not a GM and my opions are just that MINE!., until expressed by other GM staff this is only my opinion.

PeterTheLeader · 07-22-2008, 11:53 AM

Eliminate the cause and the problem goes with it. Impliment a way to gain more exp because people who AFK macro to gain exp, and it is the fastest way as well, should be a real cry for help to the developers. I recall reading my game development book for Game Programming I. It talked about how your not supposed to treat players like enemies. It gave an example about saving a game. A player should be able to save a game anywhere, not just in specific spots (Game Design and Development: Fundamentals of Game Design, by Ernest Adams and Andrew Rollings):
"Preventing the player from saving in order to make the game more difficult is lazy game design, adding difficulty without adding fun. If you really want to make the game harder, devise harder challenges...You may not like it if a player repeatedly reloads a game to avoid a random event or to solve a problem by trial and error rather than skill, but the player doesn't play (or buy) the game to make you feel good...The notion that saving makes a game too easy assumes the player is your opponent, a violation of the player-centric principle."

Now, change some things:
"Preventing the player from [Macroing] in order to make the game more difficult is lazy game design, adding difficulty without adding fun. If you really want to make the game harder, devise harder challenges. You may not like it if a player repeatedly [macros] a game to avoid [leveling regularly]...but the player doesn't play (or buy) the game to make you feel good...The notion that [macroing] makes a game too easy assumes the player is your opponent, a violation of the player-centric principle."

In other words, if a game feels more like a chore something is wrong. Make the chore fun, entertaining, and worth while. It will then be a chore no longer and a true game.

ArceusSP · 07-22-2008, 12:44 PM

Well I havent macroed anything I have been AFK like HellBinder but i didnt use the reloading macro I serioulsy had to come back every 3 mins. to press "R" to reload and i was sitting at my desk reading a book so i wasnt "technically" afk when i could read chat bar and reach my keyboard... To the people who have macroed and are wayyyyy stronger than average players i suggest you dont taunt us or make fun of us because we are low leveled compared to you. But yes in a way i have seriously leveled. And i suppose let people gain power their own way oogie, we shouldnt take a serious action like temporary suspension...
I however will not vote, It is wrong in a way but i guess its ok...

Blobz · 07-22-2008, 12:59 PM

You can't have terrible AI and expect people not to take advantage of it, fix the AI and there wont be a problem.

goldbott · 07-22-2008, 01:25 PM

We this situations been going on for a while and i think that players who macro wt mc and melee do it because they can easily gain skills this way. I think that currently it takes too long to lvl so maybe you could make it a little easier to gain lvls. Personaly I like the first option (zone players away) because macroing isnt really a huge offence. Im still lvl 8 and i wish it didnt take 5-7 hrs manually shooting something to gain one lvl.

**oogie** · 07-22-2008, 01:27 PM

just for reference.

Rune boss respawn time

05-21-2008, 02:10 PM #8
Jason Lee

Quote:

We'll be changing our rules on afk macroing soon.

The penalty shall be harsh.

Eliwa · 07-22-2008, 01:28 PM

I do have to say. if it is put as illegal we need to fix the chat box cause if a GM says somthing like. Are you macroing. and I am back in the next 2 minutes but what the GM said would not be on my chat screen anymore because the attacks would have taken the chat box over. we would have to split it so one catagory shows dmg and the other shows the chat.......

Oblivion · 07-22-2008, 01:36 PM

in my own opinion i think people are lvling too fast,so i think afk lvling for those skills shouldn't be allowed

takes 1 week to get to lvl 12 wt which is more than halfway there,and yes i know it takes longer for higher lvls but at lvl 12 you can already use more than half of ea's weapons.

I also have afk lvled off such things like tilidions which i got from lvl 12 mc to lvl 16 mc in under a week and now there really isn't much left for me to do in game.

I agree with blobz that ai should definately be fixed because people will keep finding new exploits or w/e with this current ai.