Providence is empty and it's not good for the Game

[RobertoKarlos]

Maybe the people is running away from you and not from witches. Everytime i go to Providence is really active.

[lachlaan]

@ Claeyt

Perhaps the first would make sense if it were percent based damage. Thus the whole hint by JC that even a 20 humour char could survive an afk of less than 2 hours. If it were anything other than % based, then a 200 bile char couldn't be killed in 20 hours if it takes over 2 hours to kill a 20 humour char. Perhaps the russians didn't comprehend the mechanics, as they did confess, and sat online in their base rather than log off.

At the second point, it would make sense in combination to the first post. Half-ish damage per hour, and it'd take someone afk-ing two hours to not notice their blood go down by a chunk in boston. Of course I could be horribly wrong, or you could be horribly dense and instead expect that JC himself basically write the code governing the mechanic in here for all to disect, along with a word for word translation of what it means and how it works ingame.

I doubt a witch will outright confess to their sin and describe all tested mechanics just because you refuse to put 2 and 3 together and produce the number 23 for Syndarn to obsess over Jim Carrey style.

Edit: Also it makes more sense if it's : Curse, wait an hour, curse, wait the second hour, curseboomHEADSHOT.

[Claeyt]

Maybe the people is running away from you and not from witches. Everytime i go to Providence is really active.

No it's empty. JC said this earlier:

The threat isn't all that 'real' now, but player hysteria being what it is seems to be doing what it does. As for letting players derp around afk in town though, no, that will never be a thing.

This new game mechanic has meant that people can't go to town and just hang out and talk to other people or alt trade anymore. At least not easily. They have to constantly watch for anyone doing the little dance. This means that the way the 'townie care bears' play has changed dramatically and they can't play like they want. Traders like me who like to have an alt standing in town selling stuff have also been greatly affected. Every 4-5 minutes I'd call out what I was selling and what I'm buying while I was working my main on a different client window. We can't do that anymore because we might miss getting 'tuned' to a doll and then cursed. It's fundamentally changed how people play the game and I'm afraid that it'll discourage most town activity which was fun for some casual players.

Perhaps the first would make sense if it were percent based damage. Thus the whole hint by JC that even a 20 humour char could survive an afk of less than 2 hours. If it were anything other than % based, then a 200 bile char couldn't be killed in 20 hours if it takes over 2 hours to kill a 20 humour char. Perhaps the russians didn't comprehend the mechanics, as they did confess, and sat online in their base rather than log off.

At the second point, it would make sense in combination to the first post. Half-ish damage per hour, and it'd take someone afk-ing two hours to not notice their blood go down by a chunk in boston. Of course I could be horribly wrong, or you could be horribly dense and instead expect that JC himself basically write the code governing the mechanic in here for all to disect, along with a word for word translation of what it means and how it works ingame.

I doubt a witch will outright confess to their sin and describe all tested mechanics just because you refuse to put 2 and 3 together and produce the number 23 for Syndarn to obsess over Jim Carrey style.

Edit: Also it makes more sense if it's : Curse, wait an hour, curse, wait the second hour, curseboomHEADSHOT.

The Russians were summoned and held in combat for a long time. Darwoth said he was able to do 370 damage in 3+ hours. Nobody has said or can tell me if you have to be afk for 2+ hrs or just for the 60 sec dance. Darwoth had offline summoned characters held in combat, they couldn't log off unless they logged on while he was there.

I'm not expecting JC to hand us the info outright, but the only way to get or test witchcraft right now is 7000s or to buy a bunch of hat boxes and nobody's giving up any real info except Mereni. This has led to nobody knowing what's going on or how it works while people are cursing other people in Providence.

It's cool if it's secret, and nobody but the summoned Russians have died, but some basic info like I've been asking might make people feel safer in Providence so we don't have another dead server town sitting empty all day.

More importantly, this is a discussion about how this mechanic is going to affect parts of the game and how people like to play it. Is it going to drive all the "townie care bears", alt traders, ocean fishermen and barrel thieves away so the town is empty all the time? That's what it's done so far.

[callanrocks]

I refuse to play this game again until I understand how witch mechanics work.

[lachlaan]

It's cool if it's secret, and nobody but the summoned Russians have died, but some basic info like I've been asking might make people feel safer in Providence so we don't have another dead server town sitting empty all day.

More importantly, this is a discussion about how this mechanic is going to affect parts of the game and how people like to play it. Is it going to drive all the "townie care bears", alt traders, ocean fishermen and barrel thieves away so the town is empty all the time? That's what it's done so far.

Well holy firetruck, and here I thought people were exaggerating about you. You've gotten more than basic info from Mereni's wiki info, from JC himself on the first page of the thread, from myself. JC says over a minute attuning time, you read 20 seconds. JC says the witch has to be nearby, you read "in the corner of your screen".

I am just going to conclude that you are a very good troll for the sake of my sanity.

Attuning distance is 7 tiles, cast time is as JC says around or over a minute, read, the kind of minute that lasts 60 seconds, in case you live in some foreign country with weird time measurement systems.

If Darwoth did 370 damage to chars with around 370ish HP in 3+ hours, chars which being combat locked could not regen, chars which if they were summoned could do nothing but AFK, then how the flaming crap does that relate to having to move around every now and then in boston? Unless you intend to sit there for 2 hours or more, you can't even be killed provided you get there with full humours. Albeit enough bears spawn in providence to make afk-ing for 2 hours stupid from the get-go, so no, witchcraft didn't change the status quo in that sense past the point of causing paranoia, and more importantly caution. As more details are being unveiled about the mechanic people can start chilling the ***** out and just keeping an eye on their char when they fish/trade/socialize. The fishing system in itself doesn't allow you to go afk for 60 seconds as long as you actually intend to catch fish. Trading can be performed just fine while also keeping an eye on your surroundings, and just dance with your other socialite friends to both stay safe and have some social fun.

[Claeyt]

Well holy firetruck, and here I thought people were exaggerating about you. You've gotten more than basic info from Mereni's wiki info, from JC himself on the first page of the thread, from myself. JC says over a minute attuning time, you read 20 seconds. JC says the witch has to be nearby, you read "in the corner of your screen".

I am just going to conclude that you are a very good troll for the sake of my sanity.

Attuning distance is 7 tiles, cast time is as JC says around or over a minute, read, the kind of minute that lasts 60 seconds, in case you live in some foreign country with weird time measurement systems.

If Darwoth did 370 damage to chars with around 370ish HP in 3+ hours, chars which being combat locked could not regen, chars which if they were summoned could do nothing but AFK, then how the flaming crap does that relate to having to move around every now and then in boston? Unless you intend to sit there for 2 hours or more, you can't even be killed provided you get there with full humours. Albeit enough bears spawn in providence to make afk-ing for 2 hours stupid from the get-go, so no, witchcraft didn't change the status quo in that sense past the point of causing paranoia, and more importantly caution. As more details are being unveiled about the mechanic people can start chilling the ***** out and just keeping an eye on their char when they fish/trade/socialize. The fishing system in itself doesn't allow you to go afk for 60 seconds as long as you actually intend to catch fish. Trading can be performed just fine while also keeping an eye on your surroundings, and just dance with your other socialite friends to both stay safe and have some social fun.

Thank you for these very specific answers. They were very helpful. You answered some of the basic stuff that those of us who do not have access to witchcraft were wondering. It'll help a lot to alleviate the worries of the social 'townies'. I'm still worried a bit for us alt traders. It seems like it could still be too easy to 'tune' a doll and curse someone sitting on a second client window just trying to sell iron in the square.

The one thing I've loved about Witchcraft so far is that it can really be used by rangers and other smaller teams to screw with the larger one's as long as they're able to summon and hold any summonable scent makers. This is why I was interested in the Russians going down like that.

Couple little things though. You mentioned that you'd have to afk for 2 hours with full health to be killed. You don't say it conclusively but I take this to mean that any movement at all stops the curse/spell from continuing. What if a person is afk with minimal health, can he be killed in less than half an hour? Also the big one I'm most worried about is can people who don't know they are being cursed, who log off continue to be cursed. I'm assuming 'No' based on your information. Is that correct?

Also, when did bears start agro'ing non-combatants in town again? I thought they stopped doing that. Did JC dev the mass noob bear attack back into the game?

I suppose we'll find out what those combo's of dolls and spells do eventually. It's interesting to think of someone cursing you're luck or SnC without you noticing and that's what I hope witchcraft is, a way for people to mess with people that might be too powerful to be raided.

[lachlaan]

JC has said KO'd people can't be attuned, thus dock club poses no risk of getting attuned when you get KO'd (that was a worry of mine)

My little anectode in the first post pointed to the fact that one person can't be cursed more than once per hour, note the curse at hand being considered the "finalization" of the curse, not so much the attuning of the doll.

I left out of the anecdote the story where the witch was grumbling about offline characters not being cursable.

The issue with low character players having a curse thrown at them is a totally different one however, as I'm not sure how that works, and if it would indeed kill them. But presume that it's best to go full health to providence either way (it's good for anything from bears to anything else). And just in general don't afk if you know what's best for you. There are better ways to trade than just afk-ing and pasting a sentence about iron bars every now and then. It's a bit like alt vaulting, you can do it now, but once it gets disincentivized by the devs your best bet is to adapt and stop doing it. Afk trading has just gotten disincentivized, so do it at your own risk, or preferably not at all. The alternatives are out there, be they forums or selling to a different reseller to put up on a stall for a fee.

In terms of movement, I saw a very silly witch trying to hex JC as revenge for Lizbeth's death, but when JC moved the attuning itself stopped. As JC himself stated earlier in this thread, only the attuning is interruptable by movement, and only the attuning requires vicinity. Past that point the witch can have its way with you from anywhere in the world, and all that the priest does (I think) is stop the link between you and the doll, or perhaps remove any lasting effects from the curses that might have such effects.

All in all I'd suggest that people make friends with a good witch, or just generally be more alert in boston. It's not that big a thing to ask to be fair. I just make a point to only go when I actually need to be there, and had already stopped afk-ing there after bears were led there to kill people.

[Claeyt]

The issue with low character players having a curse thrown at them is a totally different one however, as I'm not sure how that works, and if it would indeed kill them. But presume that it's best to go full health to providence either way (it's good for anything from bears to anything else). And just in general don't afk if you know what's best for you. There are better ways to trade than just afk-ing and pasting a sentence about iron bars every now and then. It's a bit like alt vaulting, you can do it now, but once it gets disincentivized by the devs your best bet is to adapt and stop doing it. Afk trading has just gotten disincentivized, so do it at your own risk, or preferably not at all. The alternatives are out there, be they forums or selling to a different reseller to put up on a stall for a fee.

That's the whole point of barrel tradiing. To buy and sell to people with stalls. Basically Witchcraft has utterly ended barrel trading for those of us who couldn't buy stalls. This means I have only the trade thread (which sucks for small items, it's best for large pricey stuff) or sitting in town on a single client window watching for witches. They nerfed trading hard with this stuff, in my opinion.

In terms of movement, I saw a very silly witch trying to hex JC as revenge for Lizbeth's death, but when JC moved the attuning itself stopped. As JC himself stated earlier in this thread, only the attuning is interruptable by movement, and only the attuning requires vicinity. Past that point the witch can have its way with you from anywhere in the world, and all that the priest does (I think) is stop the link between you and the doll, or perhaps remove any lasting effects from the curses that might have such effects.

This means that unless a person is actually paying attention to their biles/skill points/whatever, if they don't notice the change they could be out farming, weaving, digging and drop dead as the witch finishes the curse. This seems really, really harsh unless there's some clear sign that the curse is going. What if someone is out hunting and doesn't notice their blood going down and then gets in a tough fight and loses almost all their blood. Will the witches curse then finish them off a few minutes later?

This really makes it pretty damn difficult for people who want to hang out in town and socialize. There's not going to be any more just having fun in town if you're going to have to constantly watch out for your character or face a 200s penalty.

No wonder Providence is empty these days.

I just make a point to only go when I actually need to be there, and had already stopped afk-ing there after bears were led there to kill people.

Where does it say that bears now agro again in town? I've seen 2 of them in town and they only agro'd the person hitting them.

Even you are saying to avoid town now. This just means it's over. No more dance parties, no more hanging out and chatting with people, no more barrel trading with alts, no more checkers and certainly no more watching dock club in a chair on the cliff, that's for sure.

[lachlaan]

Perhaps bears were changed after the one happening, but I remember JC mentioning that he considers animals being dangerous even in town a feature. Much like witchcraft, meant to keep you alert.

You're right that witchcraft ruins any sort of afk-ing unless you have the money to dish out to cleanse every couple of hours, and I guess that's the point of it? It's mostly intended, from what I gather.

I'm only saying to avoid AFK-ing in boston. You add nothing to town as an afk-er, and dance parties involve movement. Spectating a show involves being able to see the other spectators just fine. But yeah that's all I'll say on the topic, it's not as harsh as i first feared it would be, but it still makes it so you can't just slack your way through the game.

[Claeyt]

Perhaps bears were changed after the one happening, but I remember JC mentioning that he considers animals being dangerous even in town a feature. Much like witchcraft, meant to keep you alert.

Can anybody confirm this?

You're right that witchcraft ruins any sort of afk-ing unless you have the money to dish out to cleanse every couple of hours, and I guess that's the point of it? It's mostly intended, from what I gather.

It hasn't ruined any sort of afk-ing, it's ruined any sort of standing still in Providence. You can't stand still and barrel trade, you can't stand still and watch the dock fights. All of that's done because there's a chance that you'll end up dead or out 200s.

I'm only saying to avoid AFK-ing in boston. You add nothing to town as an afk-er, and dance parties involve movement. Spectating a show involves being able to see the other spectators just fine. But yeah that's all I'll say on the topic, it's not as harsh as i first feared it would be, but it still makes it so you can't just slack your way through the game.

Hell, I stand still all the time. I'll have 4 or 5 chat's open and be typing and standing still. I'll be trading stuff with alts at a barrel and you'll have to watch then. I'll be sitting in a chair watching dock club. This is sort of nuts, I don't know what I expected, but I assumed that it would be safer than this I guess.