The two solutions are.
1. Police the Game
2. Do as much to remove the edge scripters have.
Obviously #1 has flown out the window. So that leaves Option #2.
What edge do scripters have.
1. The ability to scan the servers for idocs 24/7.
2. Looting Across Multiple Characters as soon as the house falls.
3. The ability to loot afk if it takes 15 hours to drop.
4. The ability to know exactly when a house can be placed.
Fixing #1 and #3 should be easy. They just need Public billboards at the banks with the idoc information. Make the information public knowledge. Can leave the Random Timer, but make it public knowledge for when it will actually drop.
Fixing #2 is a little trickier. Players running multiple characters will always have a larger advantage than single players.
Easiest Option: Increased Object timer when looting at an idoc. Players can only pick up 1 item every 10s. Sure they could use 100 accounts to still vacuum up everything, but gives a better chance.
Medium Option: Grubbers, Lots and Lots of Grubbers, Make them invuln for the first 30s so they can run away from the idoc a decent distance to prevent instant death. Give them more HP
Hardest Option: Create New Content. Turn idocs into a boss encounter, gate pops up, goes to an instanced room, players kill the boss. Boss Corpse looks like a packing crate if you put walls everywhere in the house.
Fixing #4. Make a key. The key, lets the player place at the location.
If they take the Easiest/Medium Option. Make a Super Grubber. Just tons of HP, average resists, no slayer. Put the key on the corpse Loot Generation Wins. Players can pick to try to get the key or focus on loot.
If they take the hardest option. Put the key on the corpse same concept.
Fixing #1 and #3 should be easy.
- This won't stop the scripters.
Fixing #2 is a little trickier.
- This won't stop the scripters.
Medium Option:
- This won't stop the scripters.
Hardest Option:
- This won't stop the scripters (Look at the EM event multiboxers).
Fixing #4.
- This won't stop the scripters.
If they take the hardest option. Put the key on the corpse same concept.
- Good idea but this won't stop the scripters.
To solve the scripting issue that sounds like an idea: Make the idoc house DROP UNPREDICTABLY from instantly to XXX hours, random timer. If/when the house drops to the ground and items not picked up, then everything goes to in game random moderate to high difficulty mobs anywhere in the game, and treasure chests.
That would kill several birds with same pebble including the scripters. Also would increase people actually playing the game and do all sorts of content, including Thunting.
What do you think?
- This won't stop the scripters.
I rather like the idea of a Lotto and/or putting the loot in T-Maps and MIBs...
- This won't stop the scripters.
how about the have server restarts several times a day like other games so the cheat programs cannot keep up. I remember the bliss of doing idocs the day of a publish or patch and the usual cheats don't turn up as they have to timers. And of course they were "working" so could not make it, but alas. the next day all updated.
- This won't stop the cheaters
She will ask us to vote on the decision/suggestion.
I would say :
Cancel all idocs
Remove stage from sign
Back to the original idocs, cancel this 5-10-15 hour bs
- I agree with second and third choice
5-10-15 gives a great advantage to the scripters because they do not need to wait 15 hours, whereas a 'normal' player can not spend his days waiting as much.
What I will think best:
- Make sure that an EJ account can not see any element of a house sign. (Of course, no draw tile or invisible stuff.)
- Remove the IDOC stage from the house sign and add only 1 text saying that the house is being destroyed. (This will not stop the scripters, but they will have to use a 24-hour account (which is no EJ))
- revert to 7-h fall
- No horse / lama pack etc. allowed at IDOC. (This will not stop script writers but will fix these dyson script looter)