Balance between players

[dergon darkhelm]

I don't think that you are allowed to DM yourself.

Something about pillars.

What? I just made myself a kickass +4 shortbow of etherealness that I rewarded myself for killing those kobolds! Stop ruining my fun!!!!!

[Vendrin]

I don't think that you are allowed to DM yourself.

Something about pillars.

No, but others in your timezone might have a dm, which may attract more players in that timezone and then one day one of them might become a dm.

[danielmn]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe hard caps were in place in Daggerdale...but it's been so long I couldn't be sure of it.

[Veilan]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe hard caps were in place in Daggerdale...but it's been so long I couldn't be sure of it.

Yep, it was illegal to earn less than 1000gp in one server crossing there .

[Kemeras]

Well, generally I would say that in this instance, that is not a defence. "I will only stop doing something that can get me banned from ALFA if you give me something better to do" isn't exactly going to make a DM feel sympathy to your plight.

Hi Swift, just wanted to add to this. That is not what he is really talking about, this is more of a design issue than a player issue.

I suspect that 99% of the people that 'farm' spawns are doing it in an appropriate IC manner (i.e. hitting one of the spawns per day, trying to go with a group and create IC reasons). The real problem that you are all having is content and that takes a long time to implement.

I am working on some adventures that I am hoping will convey a PnP without a DM but would be significantly enhanced with the a DM present.

Personaly I would say that only realistic solution is a blended on, low level statics, complicated chained quests for higher levels (where choices made will cut off specific paths, i.e. build the conditions into the quests so the Thief that takes the statics to get into the thieves guild cannot take the same statics to became part of the Guard faction).

The purpose of spawns, static repeatable quests and static chained quests is to help define the current story lines and plots to assist the DMs. The design focus for any static spawn has to take into account the fact that NPC/Monsters keep coming back to that same spot. It's only reasonable to build in reasons for PCs to keep killing the same creatures at the same location *if* they keep re-appearing at the same location.

This is one area that I think could be turned into a real strength.

That being said, I do think abuse will and can happen with any system and means to discourage that should be built in (using conditionals on the statics is the best way to control this. Put a local int on the character that is removed after 24 hrs, so the game will only allow you to take 1 static per 24 hours).

That is reasonable, since the game engine would be telling you directly what you can and can't do. People will do what they are allow to do in a system and will assume that because they are allow to do it, it is OK to do.

Please don't let that 1% taint all other players, I completely agree that there are total D*cks out there any they need to be dealt with harshly.

[Swift]

I suspect that 99% of the people that 'farm' spawns are doing it in an appropriate IC manner (i.e. hitting one of the spawns per day, trying to go with a group and create IC reasons). The real problem that you are all having is content and that takes a long time to implement.

Those people are not considered farmers. The farmers are the ones wiping the same areas clean day after day after day after day.

I am working on some adventures that I am hoping will convey a PnP without a DM but would be significantly enhanced with the a DM present.

Makes me think of the group dungeons in DDO that have alot of scripted DM descriptions.

Please don't let that 1% taint all other players, I completely agree that there are total D*cks out there any they need to be dealt with harshly.

Oh I don't, the majority of players are still here for what the community stands for, not to farm like crazy.

[Kemeras]

I suspect that 99% of the people that 'farm' spawns are doing it in an appropriate IC manner (i.e. hitting one of the spawns per day, trying to go with a group and create IC reasons). The real problem that you are all having is content and that takes a long time to implement.

Those people are not considered farmers. The farmers are the ones wiping the same areas clean day after day after day after day.

I am working on some adventures that I am hoping will convey a PnP without a DM but would be significantly enhanced with the a DM present.

Makes me think of the group dungeons in DDO that have alot of scripted DM descriptions.

Please don't let that 1% taint all other players, I completely agree that there are total D*cks out there any they need to be dealt with harshly.

Oh I don't, the majority of players are still here for what the community stands for, not to farm like crazy.

Thanks man! We are in total agreement then Farming is clearly different for just using the spawning IC and THAT is the key part of this discussion.

I wasn;t sure (message boards are horrible for misunderstandings) and didn't want someone new taking away the wrong impress.

The modules in DDO was one of the few things I really liked about that game and that has influenced my design goals. I should have something for you guys to review soon (RL issues has pushed back my free time otherwise I would have a rough draft ready for some Live DM feedback).

Cheers and thanks again for clarifying the postion.

[paazin]

Yep, it was illegal to earn less than 1000gp in one server crossing there .

Veilan that was Daggerford not Daggerdale

[Veilan]

Crap, you're right!

I stand corrected.

[dergon darkhelm]

Yep, it was illegal to earn less than 1000gp in one server crossing there .

Veilan that was Daggerford not Daggerdale

I was gonna say. Daggerdale seemed dry as a bone for XP/GP when I was there.

Daggerford otoh...Whoohoo!!!

It always struck me as strange that the Daggerfordian economy was 3 times that of Waterdeep despite being a village 1/1000th the size.

It *was* fun though.

[wvincenti]

*chuckles*
Yea, the loot was impressive in Daggerford by ALFA standards and yes the crowd of RPers was fun too. Since I played mostly on servers where gold was far more scarce, the return trip home was always akin to the Conquistadors returning to Europe laden with loot. I wouldn't complain about finding a happy medium between the two levels of loot.

Shadowdale had some good xp & loot early on (2004-05) and so did Daggerdale, Northern Cormyr and Loudwater if I recall correctly. Even Waterdeep had loot if you were RPing a rogue or part of the crime syndicate back then. (I loved watching the crime wave run by Evro, Lafter and the others from afar.)

It saddened me to see the servers stripped of xp & loot drops in response to a relative handful of easily identifiable farmers. That kind of behavior can be adjusted in game by a DM. By adjusting I don't mean killing the PCs or banning the Players, how about mugging them? There weren't many PCs in ALFA that could survive a determined DM armed with either a small army or a gifted pick pocket.

That all being said, I loved knowing that some PCs were loaded compared to mine. It amused me to no end and I can't say that I ever saw someone pick a fight just because they knew they had better gear than some other guy.

-Bill

PS. The current Silver Marches server doesn't strike me as bad for loot. The statics pay decently and they're designed to force folks to work in groups which I'll never complain about. I don't know what's out there for the higher level PCs as I've only seen a bit of what's underneath Silvy in game.

Yep, it was illegal to earn less than 1000gp in one server crossing there .

Veilan that was Daggerford not Daggerdale

I was gonna say. Daggerdale seemed dry as a bone for XP/GP when I was there.

Daggerford otoh...Whoohoo!!!

It always struck me as strange that the Daggerfordian economy was 3 times that of Waterdeep despite being a village 1/1000th the size.

It *was* fun though.

[Castano]

the way to deal with excessive wealth is to use this little tool in the DM menu called adjust gold...it allows any integer negative or positive.

If a few someones were been farming the crap out of something (like, oh say,TSM's loot chests), they will hardly complain at the gp loss. It's a bit like mugging a bank robber..he can't complain...

[Vendrin]

Amusing to note that despite what some might call it's wealth issues Daggerford alone was probably more popular then all of ALFA as it is now. Something to consider.

[Swift]

Amusing to note that despite what some might call it's wealth issues Daggerford alone was probably more popular then all of ALFA as it is now. Something to consider.

That was likely because you could get the same level of gear in 6 months on Daggerford that took years and huge amounts of RP to acquire elsewhere. Is it any wonder that games that keep players hooked with the lure of continual gear improvement are so popular?

I question whether Daggerford would have been as popular as it was had you not been able to trip over magic items in the street.

[Castano]

Amusing to note that despite what some might call it's wealth issues Daggerford alone was probably more popular then all of ALFA as it is now. Something to consider.

I do think we SHOULD think on this. Clearly, there were underwealth issues on other ALFA servers, and upwards adjusting magic allows for different DM plots. More fun epic stuff for example.

But it needs to be community wide, not some rogue server disghing out phat loot and causing disruption to other plots as players flock.