This is equal parts suggestion/complaint/question -

I was talking to a younger Necromancer earlier, and they were complaining about SO and ACCUSATION. I normally take the position that the only way to find yourself on the wrong side of justice as a Necromancer is if you've done something seriously wrong, but in response, they showed me three logs taken over two months which had them being arrested by the guards within maybe 15-20s of entering town. Like, they run past NE Gate Customs, head to the tannery, pause a beat, and are arrested. No Trans buffs up, no former SO, nothing.

We were trying to figure out what happened, when I had a thought - can F2P characters accuse individuals of Necromancy? If so, I wouldn't put it past some players to make accusation bots that linger at popular areas (NE Customs, Ranger or Warmie Guild, Riverhaven East Gate, etc.) and are set up to run to a guard and accuse anyone on a list. To be clear, I have no evidence this is a thing, but I cannot think of any other explanation for how this younger Necromancer was successfully accused so rapidly upon entering town.

So, IF F2P characters can ACCUSE others of Necromancy, I suggest that be removed to prevent both accusation bots and accusation chains. If 'the full experience' is wanted, maybe at the very least add a minimum circle requirement to being able to ACCUSE others. Maybe, say, 50th for F2P, 10th for paid accounts?

Nope. Stealing was not part of their training.

>If someone suspects that this is happening; I would suggest they assist.

I advised them to do so, but I think they decided to just focus on playing a different character (a non-Necromancer).

The reason I doubt this is occurring with paid accounts is that it's not a particularly good use of time. The reason I wager if it's happening, it's happening on F2P accounts, is because I know of a handful of bots that people have set up to do various other things (check trader tables, moons, healbots, pelt/gem bots, mules, etc.), and figure this behavior could explain what happened to my friend.

Personally, I love the idea of F2P and think it's mostly been implemented very well, and just think there are a few loopholes to close regarding some F2P behaviors.

>You already get thrown in jail for failing ACCUSE too frequently, which would limit the effectiveness of your hypothetical accuse bot.

I believe that's only for number of accusations within a certain time frame. The issue here is less that the bot (or bots!) are spamming accusations, and more that they're immediately accusing any necromancer on a list that runs through town.

>If this is really a problem then focusing on F2P mechanical restrictions is also a poor solution; the focus should instead be on revising how the ACCUSE system works.

Yes, I agree, but I think this is specifically an F2P issue because of what F2P can represent for players - a method to establish bots that are NOT optimizing their time in game, aka as mules, watchers, etc. The issue here is NOT that ACCUSE isn't acting as intended, but that F2P provides a specific loophole for players (not characters, but PLAYERS) to exploit how ACCUSE works.

For example, ACCUSE policy specifically states that using multiple characters on the same account is mech abuse. F2P allows an easy circumvention of that rule, as the same player can set up 20 F2P accounts and immediately jail anyone they want, on a trigger. Thus, I feel making F2P characters either unable to ACCUSE or adding some other stipulation would prevent this.

I think the opportunity to exploit f2p here is evident. People do not use paid accounts for 24/7 mules for obvious reasons.

>I think you are underestimating the player base. I have seen people subscribe as premium just to enter a premie only area to kill another player.

LOL...just...wow.

Lots of people have secondary mule accounts just for their healing/bundle/rezzing/vault needs, myself included.

Tangent Over.

Thank you.


Annwyl
Message Board Supervisor

If you've questions or comments, take it to e-mail by writing me at DR-Annwyl@play.net.