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Dev's could you do something to stop the griefing at the Castle Blackthorn Dungeon entrance

swroberts

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Many times I am greeted by both a Greater Dragon and The Slayer when I come down the stairs to the dungeon. Since I am on foot and a mage, I do not last long, and unless there is someone on the other side of the door to lure tem away....the dungeon becomes completely inaccessible.

Recommendations:
1. Make the Dungeon area between the stairs and the doors a guard area
2. Place an energy barrier at the first set of doors preventing monster passage
3. Have Greater Dragons and The Slayer teleport back to their area if they get too far from their respective areas
4. Place an energy barrier at each of the different areas to keep the "residents" in their respective areas

I would prefer #4, since there is a lot more luring going on than just the stairwell, but the stairwell is where I don't have much of a chance...all the rest is irritating but manageable.

Thanks
 

Winter

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Dear Devs,

please make no changes to the Blackthorn Dungeon until you do something first about all the unattended tamers and sampires. And, don't make any of the suggested changes for the Felucca side, because it's not needed there.

Thank you.
 

Warpig Inc

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Your confusing being childish dropped on the head with griefing. It gets lonely in the basement. So the littlest thing gets them off. With all the water barrels out there. Every year for a week or two someone takes the two from Buc's Den smithy. The mindset that does theese petty things will get distracted soon enough by something sparkley and new. Do some fishing or mining for a few days and things might get better. Plan B - learn how to precast invis slide through method.
 
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swroberts

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Warpig, thanks for the completely unhelpful advice in that you cannot pre-cast any spell in the Castle area....maybe before the bridge....run to the dungeon....and then you are revealed..repeat..kind of a pain.

As for unattended players...guarding the area between the stairs and the doors will not prevent any of you AFK policemen from completely violating the UO harassment policy by utilizing game mechanics to harass other players (i.e. luring monsters on other players), whether they are afk or not.

The point of this post was not to argue the justification for illegal activity in the game, either scripting or luring.

It was a request to provide a safe zone, where one can enter the dungeon....get a pet...get on a mount....without having to spend the first half hour trying to figure out how to get past a Greater Dragon...lure it away...and retrieve your body.

Just one little spot...and the rest of the idiots can still feel justified while they script and lure away...until they finally get banned.....
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I can say this.... I for one am FED UP with seeing Tamers hidden AFK in that first spot while their pet is busy killing the mages nearby... to me if the Tamer isn't near enough for the pet to get commands..... then it ought to just stand there and do NOTHING. As a tamer myself I think the behavior gives all tamers a bad name. If you can't actively tell your pet to kill something ie it isn't in YOUR sight to do that then it ought to not be fighting for you...... OR if you aren't close enough to your pet to direct it's attack then YOU shouldn't be close enough to get a drop from the kills your pet does while your too far away to know what he's doing.
 

Tjalle

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
swroberts, since you said you are on foot I take it you´re a tamer as well. Stable the GD and run down on a mount while in protection, have the monsters follow you and just park them somewhere else with a invis and then go back and get your pet(s). That should be doable.
 

Mandrake of DF

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I have never encounterd that problem - and I dont see how you can call it greefing. If that is a problem for you, precast invis when you run in and invis once you are inside.
 

S_S

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
swroberts, since you said you are on foot I take it you´re a tamer as well. Stable the GD and run down on a mount while in protection, have the monsters follow you and just park them somewhere else with a invis and then go back and get your pet(s). That should be doable.
This is not an issue for my shard but we all get dismounted when we enter the castle and cannot remount until down in the dungeon.
 

S_S

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
I have never encounterd that problem - and I dont see how you can call it greefing. If that is a problem for you, precast invis when you run in and invis once you are inside.
This is not an issue on my shard, but we cannot cast spells before going down into the dungeon once we enter the castle area.
 

S_S

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
The only real issue I see is if players are griefing by luring the creatures into that small 5x9 tile room when you first enter the dungeon. I personally wouldn't like meeting a greater dragon and balron right there in such a small room. But again, we all enjoy "fun" in different ways I guess.
 

Warpig Inc

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The only real issue I see is if players are griefing by luring the creatures into that small 5x9 tile room when you first enter the dungeon. I personally wouldn't like meeting a greater dragon and balron right there in such a small room. But again, we all enjoy "fun" in different ways I guess.

Ya the game would really suck if they ever policed the game. Little banning with public posted video would work. If GM request for other player issues had some observer record and bann fear would get better gameplay.

Then you should ask for the spawn there to be rubberbanded to their spawn area. Or get rid of that useless no casting no pets zone BS. I see no purpose for it but t have an area for aalllllllllll those event happening to gather at. Still will stick with being the bigger person and juts wait for the child mind to get bored. If this luring is a tactic used by the AFK then EA would like you to hold your breath till they give a damm.

I think the UO code mages invented invis potions.

A second enterance at the other end of the pods would work. Players are either going to work the pods or farm the light spawn. A second entery should be there. There are two driving forces in that dungeon. Having to run through one to get to the other is fun for new players.

Just another case of farming to sell for gold math. What the AFK farmers are selling the Minax at now. Be quicker just to go hunting for gold and buy what you need. Those that like to crap on the world as I see it. They will move on and then it is a matter of other like minded players like myself will move into that area and play the game as it is ment to be. What makes the community shard hunts so fun. We can go out and do a peerless or abyss champ having fun. Unlike the whole SWAG when it is new headache.
 

Tjalle

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
This is not an issue for my shard but we all get dismounted when we enter the castle and cannot remount until down in the dungeon.
Ah, didn´t know that.

On Siege we can run through the castle on a mount. Thanks for the info.
 

Giggles

Wielder of Ebil Cookies
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Social Media Liaison
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
As far as the Balron and Greater Dragon greeting you, it sounds to me like you have one or two jerks on your server. Eventually they will get bored and stop doing it. No reason to go making massive changes over it.

As far as the semi afk tamers hidden. I find it funny when I see this. People have forgotten that killing things while hidden reduces your chances for drops. In addition, you won't get any credit for your dragons kills if he isn't in a guarding state. That means every 2-3 minutes a command is needed or you won't get any loot at all.

For science, I hopped on the afk tamer bandwagon with one account. While on another account, I was using my thrower in the same location in fel. My "afk" tamer only got one drop in a full hour, while the thrower I was playing received 6 drops in that same hour. Knowing that just makes me laugh when I see the afk tamers now.
 

Winter

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
... Then you should ask for the spawn there to be rubberbanded to their spawn area...

PLEASE don't do this!

In Felucca it's quite entertaining to use a stealth-herder to move the GD's around, collecting a few arties from bodies. At least that suggestion is overkill to fix a small problem.
 

Veritas et Sapientia

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Eventually they will get bored and stop doing it. No reason to go making massive changes over it.
No your wrong they don't get bored they get their jollies off on it.

Some players are so bored that they have nothing better to do and it makes them feel good playing "AFK police" on players they really can only suspect of being AFK.

Players also lure if they want a spot you happen to be farming on.

I've seen players on my stealther consistently lure monsters on others only to chase that player off and so they can work that spot for themselves. You can't tell by the actions of the player he isn't AFK but still he gets lured on.

The luring of monsters is a major problem.

I would love to see monsters rubber banded to their spawn locations.
 
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Ender

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
PLEASE don't do this!

In Felucca it's quite entertaining to use a stealth-herder to move the GD's around, collecting a few arties from bodies. At least that suggestion is overkill to fix a small problem.
Good solution in my head at least would be to implement the spawn range limit on Trammel side only.
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
This is not an issue for my shard but we all get dismounted when we enter the castle and cannot remount until down in the dungeon.
Dismount before crossing the bridge to the castle, then you can remount immediately on entering the dungeon. In the end it's about the same delay as getting dismounted halfway to the dungeon entrance.
 
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swroberts

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Trust me when I say, there is no time to mount, no time to run, invis potions just stay on my body. There are a few seconds during the server shift(to a dungeon server) where your character is in the dungeon(attackable) while the game shifts down. By the time you can see your character...you're dead. And you don't know tactically, whether anything will be there or not. Right now I have a second character there hidden and log in with him first, then wait the five minutes to actually play. I mean it is not every day...just enough to be irritating...

I would also only advocate changes to the Trammel side...the Fel side should be left alone.
 

S_S

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Dismount before crossing the bridge to the castle, then you can remount immediately on entering the dungeon. In the end it's about the same delay as getting dismounted halfway to the dungeon entrance.
This is exactly what I do on my shard. But for the OP he's saying the GD and Balron are right there where you would mount up at for most of us.
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
This is exactly what I do on my shard. But for the OP he's saying the GD and Balron are right there where you would mount up at for most of us.
Exactly so there is no mounting you can't ride the ethy into the dungeon because the second you cross the bridge it'll be gone back in your pack... you can't call you pet on a pet ball when you enter as you will be dead the instant you enter... the only way down there is to have a stealther... Because you can't precast then run all the way thru the castle to get down the stairs before the precast wears off... you also have 3 sets of doors to open.. you can't cast in the castle only AFTER you go down the stairs where the Balron and Greater are waiting to eat you..... so all your ideas are not going to work....

Siege is different because Siege doesn't have Blackthorns NEW castle and all it's rules since that's in TRAM only...

So in my opinion this IS Greifing..... Luring monsters to somewhere to kill other players and keep them from entering Blackthorns Dungeon.
 

Leira of Asrai

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
It's not always somebody luring spawn to the entrance in an effort to grief... An attended player may be in the Mage room and pick up aggro from the Balron or GD because they tend to have a large wandering area. When that player runs to exit the dungeon, the spawn follows them. Once the player is out of sight, the spawn just sits there.
 

Goodmann

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Do you notice people rather kill spawn there than actually do the lighthouses? it's to hard esp for lower pop shards. When a captain can one hit kill you it's not what I consider a good time. I forgot to mention there 100k hit points are not fun either. Just keep addind hps/dci and more damage output for new mobs!
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Course you could just honor yourself and just walk by smiling.
Many folk don't have honor because they don't have time in the game to spend working up 500,000 skills and gathering 100billion different reagents, materials, gold, items, and other things to play the game... they have a wee bit of time to spend hunting in the dungeon or perhaps they were going down there to check and see if others were down there so they could do the lighthouses and were completely unprepared to be set on by such things..... point is that most people only play casually not for 400+ hours a week that it seems to take to maintain all the crap you have to maintain just to stay competitive in this game.
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
If the balrons and greaters are really right at the entrance, honor seems the way to go, and it doesn't take many succubi to reach the first tier (or maintain it afterward).
 

Veritas et Sapientia

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Yeah let me go build up my honor to Knight so I can turn around and take my first step inside Castle Blackthorn. That's sounds like a great idea and exactly how I want to spend my time in UO.:rolleyes:

How about I just take my <insert template here> and beat the hell out of it the Balron and the GD or whatever else happens to be lured. The problem is 10 minutes later it's been lured back and we have to repeat the process over and over and over.

Meanwhile we have someone sitting around on their stealther laughing like a little girl because they're bored to death and can't find anything better to do in the game.
 

Veritas et Sapientia

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Do you notice people rather kill spawn there than actually do the lighthouses? it's to hard esp for lower pop shards. When a captain can one hit kill you it's not what I consider a good time. I forgot to mention there 100k hit points are not fun either. Just keep addind hps/dci and more damage output for new mobs!

I'm not crazy about the Captains/Lighthouses myself. It is what it is though...

It'a a catch 22. It's a brutal grind albiet an optional one.

Even with the insane grind the items are finding themselves into the game and the system isn't going anywhere. Everyone who wants to get their hands on these items can if they put in the time.

Also, the goal of the Devs is to keep us playing. Making these items which are highly desired is one way to keep players playing and subscriptions active.

The difficulty in obtaining Blackthorn Artifacts can be be argued both ways. I don't think making items easy to get is healthy but neither is making items too hard to obtain. There has to be the right balance.

Players have clamored for a Doom point type system which is essentially what we have with Castle Blackthorn. It's brutal but you are guaranteed a drop and this includes farming the weaker spawn within the Castle.

I compare it to trying to farm a Crimson Cincture. Trying to farm a Crimson is also a brutal grind or a certain Mark of Travesty. Approximately every 50 Dreadhorn I did when I was farming corrupted Unicorn heavily I would get a Crimson Cincture.

Do you want to do 50 Dreadhorn or do you want to kill 100 lighthouse/Captains/Spawn?
 

The Zog historian

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Yeah let me go build up my honor to Knight so I can turn around and take my first step inside Castle Blackthorn. That's sounds like a great idea and exactly how I want to spend my time in UO.:rolleyes:

How about I just take my <insert template here> and beat the hell out of it the Balron and the GD or whatever else happens to be lured. The problem is 10 minutes later it's been lured back and we have to repeat the process over and over and over.

Meanwhile we have someone sitting around on their stealther laughing like a little girl because they're bored to death and can't find anything better to do in the game.

You don't need Knight. As I said, the first level doesn't take many succubi at all, and it'll give you more than enough time to get through.

Should you have to do this? No, not in Trammel. But until there's a fix, enough people getting some Honor will prompt griefers to give up.
 

cazador

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I guess I'll be the one to ask the obvious question here..what character are you really bring down there that can't live and run past a balron and GD? A crafter? If your a Mage precast invis and run..set an open door macro..if your a sampire pre hit confidence or pop a box and prep bandages..this is like reading OMG I died! Fix the dungeon..fix your character, next it'll be OMG fix destard some jerk lured 8 GD and my poor beggar can't get in to stand by the shrine and Roleplay..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I guess I'll be the one to ask the obvious question here..what character are you really bring down there that can't live and run past a balron and GD? A crafter? If your a Mage precast invis and run..set an open door macro..if your a sampire pre hit confidence or pop a box and prep bandages..this is like reading OMG I died! Fix the dungeon..fix your character, next it'll be OMG fix destard some jerk lured 8 GD and my poor beggar can't get in to stand by the shrine and Roleplay..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Once again I must tell you that You CAN'T precast!!!!! duh......

Obviously not very good at reading comprehension....
 

Dot_Warner

Grand Inquisitor
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Precasting invis before the bridge and using an open door macro DOES work, as long as you're not lagged. I just tried it.

That being said, people shouldn't have to jump through hoops like that just because another player has decided to be an ass. This method would NOT work if you had just been rezed by the Agent of the Crown...unless you ran all the way out of the castle.

Remember, the next patch will introduce a corrupted crystal portal teleport into the dungeon. The problem will likely only get worse.

"Simple Fix" the devs install cannons just west of the first set of doors that 1-hit kill mobs and do not leave a corpse, similar to what protected the docks in Magincia before it was leveled. OR a tiny, tiny guard zone.
 

petemage

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
install cannons just west of the first set of doors that 1-hit kill mobs and do not leave a corpse, similar to what protected the docks in Magincia before it was leveled.

The entrance to the underworld on Fire Island has such cannons as well. You can always lure the gremlin way down to it, when being on a weak training char :pie:
 

Leira of Asrai

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
There's plenty of doors in the castle... The GD and Balron can't open doors... Run past them, close a door and deal. I"m sure a player probably lured the Balron out of the spawn area so they could fight the mages without worry of agroing the Balron. This is not that big of a deal, and in most cases is not a situation of a player luring to grief... If it's happening in Fel, then it's perfectly acceptable play style and I"m all for it.
 

Dot_Warner

Grand Inquisitor
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
People are saying the GDs and the Slayer are in the tiny room with the stairs from castle. This means they were lured in there, the only intention could be to grief other players.

Since griefing isn't legal in either facet type, it's certainly not acceptable.
 

cazador

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Since this is such a huge deal, and people are unable to survive..PM me your template and I'll explain why it sucks..and how to survive the extreme assault of such bad ass MOBS such as the balron and GD standing idle at the 8x8 tile hallway..nm don't bother I'll do it here yet again

- Sampire walk thru the entrance..have an open door macro and run to the other side..open the door and either
A: run away heal the massive amounts of damage you have just endured
B: If you are even a halfway decent sampire kill those Peerless Boss type MOBS!!
C: run in scream OMG (have it on macro) run out! Page a GM and say this game is too hard!
D: if you are capable of scanning thru the endless amount of pvp trash talk I'm gen chat and ask for assistance
E: come to Stratics and complain the game is too hard because some jerk off lured those massive baddies to the entrance and DEMAND IT BE FIXED..

-Mage (Precast Invis at bridge target yourself once you get in)
A-E are the same

One last option for both..Get Better

Your choice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

flappy6

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I just stopped going in there,its unplayable....gms do nothing/dont respond ,guess thats a hint maybe im to old to play video games :eek:)
 
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