A Brave New Salem

[Jalpha]

But I think what some people are concerned about is, if you're going to have GMs in the game (and you imply here that they will be separate from one or two dev characters) how will you ensure that they don't do things like break down a wall to help someone they like raid a town?

GM actions are typically logged, and they are held accountable by some higher power. So long as that higher power is honest and not part of the scheme the system works well enough. You can examine Wurm Onlines history for examples of volunteer CMs and GMs. There have been "incidents" but they were all dealt with.

It's not the policemen you need to be neutral, it's their boss.

[Darwoth]

the best games with small communities had "guides", "seers" etc from the community that were typically tasked with creating/running in game events, they usually had a special client they had to download and in order to keep folks honest actions from those clients were monitored.

there were also only certain actions that they could do, ie they could not alter characters or create 500k silver out of thin air etc.

[Jack]

What are your thoughts to fix it? We have never been fans of any fishing system we have ever played so we have hesitation to say our solution would be any better.

Fishing is one of the things I enjoy most in an MMO, though oddly I dislike games solely about fishing.

My favorite two systems are from Dark Cloud 2—a PS2 title—and Final Fantasy XI Online—but not at its release, the system in place they have now, assuming it hasn't changed since I played two years ago.

I think you misunderstood me. I never intended for Cthulhu to be killed, just to be fought/escaped from. Something like if you lurk in the darkness for a while, there's a bigger chance Cthulhu will appear and chase you around. The more you're close to it, the more you lose your mind - to the point where you completely lose the control of your character and just slowly walk towards Cthulhu. Upon reaching it, you will obviously be knocked out pretty soon.

However, if you bring enough players, you could try to take it on - damaging it for, say, 250, would cause it to stun everyone for 10 seconds and "possess" one character, after which point Cthulhu disappears and reappears randomly, only visible to some players. That character will deal several hundreds of damage with any attack and its health will increase by the same amount. If you avoid the possessed character for long enough, it will retain its sanity again and find a rare item in its inventory. After this character is no longer possessed, Cthulhu will not appear randomly for players as it was doing in the battle. It will, however, appear again.

Did you watch the video I linked in my first post? Giving a health bar to any of the Great Old Ones is and should always be impertinent, he said in a most neutral tone.

[Binks]

I recall several threads, topics, and rumours where the chief was also jorb. So from my perspective, not much seems to have changed. As for the Tribe, we plan to give you the tools to stop them but it will inevitiably be up to the players to change the political landscape. We do hope to see it change as no confrontation means no drama means no tears for US.

[Suffragium]

What are your thoughts to fix it? We have never been fans of any fishing system we have ever played so we have hesitation to say our solution would be any better.

Fishing is one of the things I enjoy most in an MMO, though oddly I dislike games solely about fishing.

My favorite two systems are from Dark Cloud 2—a PS2 title—and Final Fantasy XI Online—but not at its release, the system in place they have now, assuming it hasn't changed since I played two years ago.

I think you misunderstood me. I never intended for Cthulhu to be killed, just to be fought/escaped from. Something like if you lurk in the darkness for a while, there's a bigger chance Cthulhu will appear and chase you around. The more you're close to it, the more you lose your mind - to the point where you completely lose the control of your character and just slowly walk towards Cthulhu. Upon reaching it, you will obviously be knocked out pretty soon.

However, if you bring enough players, you could try to take it on - damaging it for, say, 250, would cause it to stun everyone for 10 seconds and "possess" one character, after which point Cthulhu disappears and reappears randomly, only visible to some players. That character will deal several hundreds of damage with any attack and its health will increase by the same amount. If you avoid the possessed character for long enough, it will retain its sanity again and find a rare item in its inventory. After this character is no longer possessed, Cthulhu will not appear randomly for players as it was doing in the battle. It will, however, appear again.

Did you watch the video I linked in my first post? Giving a health bar to any of the Great Old Ones is and should always be impertinent, he said in a most neutral tone.

Yes I did. Making him disappear only to still haunt you is not a health bar.

[Kaios]

But I think what some people are concerned about is, if you're going to have GMs in the game (and you imply here that they will be separate from one or two dev characters) how will you ensure that they don't do things like break down a wall to help someone they like raid a town?

On the flip side, I don't want to see the Tribe raid somewhere and then have some idiot on the forum claiming a GM helped us and have people actually believe it because things like that start happening.

I see you took Loftar's advice

[Jack]

Yes I did. Making him disappear only to still haunt you is not a health bar.

He would need a health bar for you to fight him and make him disappear. I think the video makes the point better than I.

[Dallane]

, I don't want to see the Tribe raid somewhere and then have some idiot on the forum claiming a GM helped us and have people actually believe it because things like that start happening.

Thats already happened in the past. Now that you guys own the game no one expects that to change.

[Frakked]

I think we may have a disconnect on how you are using the term balance here. What makes you so sure that the game will be in need of a wipe before balance changes? Why would we wipe accounts? We are not 100% satisfied with the balance that currently exists in the combat system, and definitely do not like the balance that currently exists between somebody who leaves a scent and the efforts that would be required to break into said persons base and do something about it. But we have no intentions of balancing these things in ways that would require wipes.

My concern is the use of bots and code manipulations- the fact you feel the need to point out it's not allowed and other threads that show that it exists: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9791&p=131211&hilit=bots#p131211

How can you promise folks a level playing field- a true balance if you just shrug everything to date under the rug and call it good?! Folk who benefited from it will continue to dominate the server at the expense of those who didn't.

I get that you might not catch every instance...going forward; but how will you address what has happened to date? You can't...unless you wipe.

[JohnCarver]

My concern is the use of bots and code manipulations- the fact you feel the need to point out it's not allowed and other threads that show that it exists: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9791&p=131211&hilit=bots#p131211

How can you promise folks a level playing field- a true balance if you just shrug everything to date under the rug and call it good?! Folk who benefited from it will continue to dominate the server at the expense of those who didn't.

I get that you might not catch every instance...going forward; but how will you address what has happened to date? You can't...unless you wipe.

A post made by another user is far from evidence. It is even farther from a reason to wipe the server. We plan on punishing bots when they are discovered so players are encourage to report any botting activity they see.