"Exploits, Nerfs, Banning and Overequipping" by Gaute Godager

[Silver]

Over equiping? Well I tell you now, I have a level 70 agent who wears level 100+ tech armour. He has a QL125 gun.

He cannot solo 60% missions, some of the mobs are so tuff its stupid and you want to downgrade my weapons and armour? (well he could solo 60% missions if I wanted to spend hours on the mission for just 30k plus a crap rubber sleve for the mission reward). Also concealment is still crap. Today out of nine 75% missions I could only sneak and complete 4 of them with nearly 1000 concealment.

So to sum up my level 70 char with level 100+ armour and weapons with nearly 1000 concealment and buffed to the max useing all the advantage of false profesions spent 5 hours on 9 missions and completed ony 4 with a total of around 120k credits at the end of it and a few crap mission rewards. What can he buy with 120k? I spend 40k on restoking nano, treatment and first aid kits that leaves 80k. At level 70 80k is peanuts.

It seems to me the higher you get the harder it becoms to mission and earn cash.

Also you have to consider the people that kill there way through missions to earn cash. They mission for cash to upgrade there char. By the time they have enough cash to upgrade they gained so much exp in the missions they have now leveld past the stuff they were saving for. So they spend all their gametime in an endless circle of missions, saving for and outleveling the very gear they are working towards. No thanks I hate missions as it is. Not worth doing in a group the money is even worse, and it's boring to mission alone.

If you are making the game harder because of the exploits you are going to hurt the honest players even more.

It seems to me that between your bugs (many of witch should of been fixed before realse) exploiters and game balancing you have got yourselves into a right muddle. The game is to complex, maybe you should remove some of it to simplify things a bit.
I think that to fully disable weapons and armour you do not have the skill to use is a good idea. Leave all the other stuff as it is. But if you do this mobs will have to be made easyer or the game will be imposible.

Exploiters? Well thats a nest of vipers I dont want to put my hand in. They are here to stay, your current system seems fine. I think the most important part is to block the exploit as fast as possible.

And lastly, make test server more accesible. Allow us to increase our skills and levels at will and leave the patches on there longer.

[_______________Skara]

Funcom is taking steps to prevent exploiting by fixing bugs, and establishing a set of rules the general poplulation agrees upon for dealing with exploiters.

But make no mistake about it, if someone breaks my car window and steals my stereo, or if I leave my door unlocked and they just open the door and steal my stereo, they are a thief. Yes I should take steps to better secure my vehicle to make stealing my stereo more difficult, but nothing changes the fact that that person is a thief. If the police catch them in the act, are they going to lock me up for not locking my car, or the thief for stealing (though I will probably get that "What are you doing not locking your doors" look) ?

It is impossible to completely secure anything, whether a valuable item or a piece of software (I work in the IT industry and have handled security, and the only thing you can do against a truly skilled hacker is slow them down). The code that allows the exploits is something Funcom needs to address, but the real blame is with the exploiters.


Skara

[Raik]

I hope you guys at funcom are paying somebody a nice bonus for reading through all this...
but i think im speaking for the vast majority of your player base when im saying -
this thread / article was one of the best steps you have ever taken..

next thing I'd like to see is an IP-Wipe (optional or mandatory) combined with taking off all equipment on next logon - implants and maps included -

It has all been brought up in the previous posts - buff caps as well as ways to reset stats and equipment in a way that will render the sploiter bois at no gain or advantage at all (apart from leveling the hell out of AO - but hey... 'winning the game' just makes them leave sooner..)

You have been given the feedback you wanted... do something with it now.

[Hijack]

How about a system where people can grass exploiters to some sort of in game court (for a small reward) and then the court can decide what punishment is needed (cases of banning to be refered to funcom) this way the community is sorting out their own problems.

You could also implement the prisons so people can be thrown in for say a Rubika year or 2 as opposed to banning (maybe we could visit the prisons and watch the guards giving them a good kick in) and be stripped of all items, IP and cash and have characters reset to level 1 to leave them begging for a helping hand from some of the honest citizens. This I feel would be a fitting punishment.

And to everyone who does exploit please explain the point of paying $10 a month for when all your gonna do is cheat?

[raybow]

Originally posted by Onaris
Why not just remove all skill based requirements to equip an item. Then have a formula that modifies the effect of the item based on what percentage of the skill "target" you meet. For example I get given a piece of armour that has a skill target of say strength 100 and gives 500 AC I would be able to equip it on a new character with a really low strength but I would not see any effect from the armour till I met say 51 Str then scale the AC addition so that I would et increased AC up to Str 100 where it would max out at the 500AC it should. The equation could be something like

If (Skill >= Skill Requirement)
{
Benefit = Item Benefit;
}
else{
Benefit Gained = (((Skill Requirement - Skill) / (Skill)) - 0.5)) *2 * Item Benefit;
If(Benefit Gained < 0) Benefit Gained = 0;
}

..........)

Without thinking it much trough, it seems like an good idea. I like the thought of using my cool looking, hard earned OP Elite armor now, even if the AC it gives me is decreased to my QL=LVL
Just don't make me code the changes ;)

At least this idea sounds good for agressive nanos (nukes), weapons and armor. But all other Nanos, like MP pets and "false profession:<something>" might not work good with this model.
Belts, NCU blocks and Implants should be left alone, at least for now, but uneqipped at a point so thoose who used exploits to equip them, can't equip them until they can without the exploits.

btw: I'm so tired of whiners. Do as "The Dude" : Adapt!

[______________Hodaka]

someone once suggested starting an "outcast" type system where Funcom could change someone from Clan or Omni or Neutral to Outcast. These people would be "kill on sight" and could be killed in any suppression gas, from 0% to 100%.

I kinda like that idea for exploiters

[_____________Salazar]

I see alot of people here saying there need to over equip in order to survive, and even then cant kill greens.
I have no problem with people over equiping. I think the problem likes in the fact that mobs are not classed properly. If you cant kill or find it almost impossible to kill what appears to be a green mob, then I would say that it shouldnt be green !!!
Currently this is based on player lvls this is wrong. It should be based on how much damage you can do and how much damage you can take. By doing it this way over equiping just means that what was orange/red to you before, now becomes green/yellow. It is easier to kill but you get less XP for doing so. If you dont want to over-equip you dont have to. You will still get a similar amount of XP for killing a green as a highly over-equiped player

[Blyzzard]

As for the pre-emptive strike on exploiting guilds, I think you should. It’s like being in the Mafia, even if you’ve never taken part in any illicit activity, you have benefited from membership with those who have. Where as governments can’t prosecute guilt by association, you as a privet industry can. I would be open to appeal on a case-by-case basis.

As for the Over Equipping problem, it’s more of a problem of it almost being a necessity to be able to solo. While nanos can’t be cast without the requisite skills, they also have more punch compared to firearms of similar skill requirements. Without over equipping the only firearms based class that will be able to solo will be agents, and they may not even be able too.

Soldiers already have a hard time soloing MOBs, without massive q 1 2 3 alpha strike MOBs will slaughter them.

Trader’s deprive/ransack only last so long, and then the shotty will become a poor club. Add to this that Wrangles instantly go from the only profitable nano they have, to a waist of credits to buy.

Adventurers who use pistols must over equip to even try to take on a green MOB 4 levels below them.

Fixers are having a hard time soloing as the Mausser is the only useable SMG, and they complain that they only get one SMG buff to help them over equip to handle the overly AC’d and hp’d mobs at high levels.

Agents will have the similar problem as the trader, as they use PF:Trader to be able to equip rifles strong enough to solo with.

My solution would be to leave the damage amount as it is (if not raise the Min damage of most firearms).

I would modify the chance to hit, if they don’t meet the skill requirements for the weapon. I would make the penalty to hit expediential. If you’re slightly over equipped there is little to no penalty, but if you’re using a gun 400 point over your skill, you can’t hit the broadside of a barn from 3 paces. May be increase the chance for crits the same way for using a weapon that you exceed the requirements (for being more familiar with the weapon).

Also make the AC and HP increase curve for MOBs a shallower curve. The AI has improved, and the MOB AC and HP should be closer (still higher, just not as large a gap) to the PC of the same level. A 120th NPC Advent should be similar to a 120th PC Advent.

Sorry this was long.

[_______________Hiero]

It seems that the whole way levels are worked out is messed up.

For example...lets compair a level 40 soldier and a level 40 Crat (as they are now). A level 40 mob will appear yellow to both of them...meaning that they are of equal level. This is misleading...as they are clearly NOT of equal attack and AC rating. The soldier may not have a problem but the Crat most certainly will.

For the most part AO is a skill based game. All of our ratings are worked out according to skill level...and NOT physical level. So then...seeing as this is the case why are level not worked out on a basis of our SKILL rating. There for a level 40 Crat would have a level sat 36(?) mob appear yellow to him...whilst a level 40 soldier would have a level 39-41 mob appear yellow to him.

Missions should all be worked out in this manner. So the Crat that has a mission full of yellows, they may actually be 3 or 4 physical levels below him...but in actuallity they would have the same SKILL rating.

If this skill rating was then represented as a level, and -/+ modified according to the QL of items equiped...then suddenly we make for a much more balanced game.

Example
1) A level 50 Enforcer with a low attack skill rating (becuase he/she has put all IP into Running and Nano Casting) with QL50 armour and weapons.
2) A level 30 Enforcer with a high attack rating (i.e. all meele skills etc are maxed) with QL50 implants and QL50 weapons.

These two Enforcers should have the same SKILL level or "virtual" level. And thus have PvP and missions levels allocated accordingly.

---

Add to this the idea of NOT being able to buff greys, and also have to grow into equipment, (as I mentioned previously).

Combine all these points and I think AO would work very well.

Really it comes down to one question...

Is AO a level based game or a skill based game? Think about it...the answer isn't so immediatly obvious. It can not be both...which is where I think FC are going wrong. Funcom need to decide which they want AO to be...and then balance it accordingly.

[______________Icaria]

This is a great thread and it's giving Funcom a good picture of what has been happening. Hopefully they will be able to decipher the picture.

Players had higher level friends buff them and help them equip items far beyond their normal capability. These same heavily armored folks with higher weapon capabilities than they should have had might be the ones who were complaining the game was "too easy" and "boring".

Reacting, instead of acting, Funcom made the MOBs stronger so those who took advantage of the system wouldn't be bored. In doing so they put EVERY other player in situations they just couldn't handle.

Now, which makes more sense and which will best guarantee the future of the game?

Should Funcom force ALL players into finding folks to help them make their characters stronger and more effective than they were meant to be?

Should Funcom limit the ability to create uber characters and bring the game back to where it was before all this took place?

Some of the analogies I see are interesting. "I did it because I could do it!" No thought to words like "fair" or "right" or "wrong", no thought to how our actions have an effect on other players and very little application of common sense.

Here's an idea. If someone really want to be a super character make it so! Make them a fully over-equipped level 400 and let them go play. <smile>

[Miriandel]

Keep this in mind though:

1° If all of a sudden characters can only use to fullpower equipement of their level, monsters have to be downgraded a lot !
Otherwise, the game will be very tedious.

2° Leveling is too slow in AO, and only veteran MMORPG's can realize that. You can't play with friends unless they are in the same level range as yours. Getting to 100+ requires way too much work. I would exploit my ass off to fill the gap between me and my friends if I had to catch up.
For those who played Ultima online, we all remember how fun it was to fight mobs or players being all Grandmasters. Leveling a GM mage was a bit hard (as a Smith, go figure why...) but you could have a full blown Grandmaster warrior in 2 weeks, that's just ok.
Thousands of us played UO for years, with characters maxed in their skills and only 4 dungeons worth hunting.
Fun in a game is NOT leveling, we are not spreadsheets !
The once promising Shadowbane game promised players to have a fully developped characters in matter of weeks, which was good news for everybody, centering the fun about gameplay and not XP gathering.
Funcom seems to take the EQ and DAoC path, trying to keep customers through artificial levels.
I for one think it's the wrong way.

Peace.

[____________Basilisk]

Hehe, after 11 pages I hope that someone is still reading this.

What I would like to see regarding over-equipping:

1. Armor, implants, belts, etc. are uneffected. In addition nanos should be added to the appropriate classes for buffing intelligence and psychic, to let them equip at the same level as everyone else.

2. Weapons, or anything else that requires a skill check to use should have noticable increase in botches if your skill is below the required minimum when you use it. The lower your skill, the greater the chance of a botch... thus debuffs will be useful.

3. Nanos should use the same rules as weapons, as above. You can cast a nano if you dont have the skill for it, but have a greatly increased chance of botching. Since the mana is spent on a botch, this means that even buffing with a lower skill can be painful. This will level the playing field for nano runners, and again debuffs will still be useful.

The rate of botches will need to be carefully balanced of course, but overall I think this is the best solution to the over-equipping problem.

[doccat]

Crumbs why can this board not remember my password for more than 20 secons

I had not realised that overequiping was an exploit, assumed it was part of the game, ie making friends to buff you was a good thing

As it is such an ingraind thing, and easy to do thing perhaps just ripping it out would be to much of a change.

However one way is to change how the con bar works, rather than being a level thing why not weigh up your chars weapons ql/ AC vs targets ql/AC.

Obviously a more complex bit of code, but FunCom must know how strong each weapon is right? right?

Frawk

[___________Ravenwood]

Its easy to see we have a Paradox here.

[summary]

I jave been involved now with several games in this category, and notice that this game has just as quickly been ruined by those that play these games only to exploit and see how much they can "pimp" a char so they can go PvP or become a an icon of glory and status. I refer to this as the "kings new clothes" effect.

Not all PvP are exploiters, and not all exploiters like PvP. Same as the power gamers, same as the Average players. Most players new to these games will not PvP for a while.

As far as I see it, funcom would like to see PvP an active game mechanism with purpose in the story line they have created. The basis of MPRPG is the players interact based on a story or set of events that drive the game. Missions were provided for a way to get exp and items beyond hunting the wilds of a new world.

As most people have experienced, the available IP per level does not leave much room for improvment. As a matter of fact, it is real easy to ruin a char by misuse of IP. It takes forever to balance back out after spending alot of IP to use something only to find it doesnt work. the cascade effect of unbalanced abilities is a good example. All the skills require a combination of abilities and those abilities effect the level and effectivness of that skill. If your adding points into a skill that one of its base abilities is not maxed, you are taking a very significant hit to that skill. The same goes for nanos, higher matter creation results in better attack bonuses for you NT nanos. This creates a situation where (especially in melee/ranged) a player cannot put out enough dammage.

The longer into a release you get, the more holes you find and plug, changing things opens up new holes and your problems will continue. Anyone would be naive to think they can make flawless code and exploiters will always find a hole if it exists. Also, the issue of bugs due to changes does not make the decision any easier.

Changes in the game have been a direct result of exploiters, and powergamers, doing things that create an unbalance. Power gaming is fine. A certain amount of credit should go to those who have created a formula for success. Exploiting is just what it is, but it is not concidered by most as it should.

[Paradox]

By changing the game you create opportunity for more exploits and bugs, but yet the issue needs to be addressed. By not allowing the game to be changed due to exploits, you remove the effect that is most dammaging by them. If someone is exploiting, they will be noticable. A scan of all the players is not all that hard. Insurance companies do it on a daily basis. A routine that can scan the databases from a stand alone machine is easy to impliment and i dont doubt they already have one, or more..

Balance the game as it is as much as possible to the point that you feel comfortable the equiping of items is at an acceptable level and then drop everyones gear to a reclaim booth one time. It takes some time getting all that stuff back in but it can be done if your not cheating.

Scan all accounts and check for equiping that fals outside of the acceptable levels and drop the gear to a reclaim booth, if they are able to re equip you have an exploiter or a bug to fix. Most importantly approach the person. Some people see a bug and use it because they dont feel it hurts anyone and it helps them do a little better. But if they use it they unbalance the game and things get changed and the paradox continues.

Althoug an IP wipe would be nice for me, and i know alot of people seem to agree. An IP wipe would hurt those that spent money on rings and used them legit. On the other side of the fence, the rings effects add unbalance. So wiping IP and skills and returning IP equal to the level of the char may actuall help return the game to normal again for alot of people who experimented like me.

As far as the money....

If you make money an important item in the game, it will remain a target for exploitation. Items are the same. Its a game developers dream come true to create an economy in a game. But just as the RL has problems with the aspect of Rich vs. Poor you will have them in games with economies. Here is good oportunity for a little RP as well. Omni taxes all the rich fueling the conflict, or ICC cuts off rubi-ka banking and omni gives the people money based on level in comp to further peace etc...

Make buffs available to all chars via trade shops where vendors will buff you upon purchase of the buff. this will allow everyone the opportunity to equip and whatnot.

Last but not least (if i keep going people will fall asleep)

Hire a math professor to analyze your formulas, it sounds screwy but trust me, the right math geek can figure out the impossible when it comes to finding flaws in formulas. There apears to be a multi cascade of effects due to the elaborate and versatile system developed (thats a compliment btw) and carefull scrutiny over the math is important to stop bugs before they happen. I know of several companies who have a math think tank solving formula problems.

bid-a bid-a Thats all Folks!

[___________John Peat]

Firstly, I think that the Gaute's article covers some valuable areas however I am HIGHLY offended by the implication that by Mission Running, Over-Equipping or simply holding 2 Tear Stained Pillows at the same time, I'm considered an exploiter!!

I realise there is a fine line to draw between 'maxing my character' and 'exploiting unforeseen gameplay features' but I beleive the onus remains on Funcom to ensure that the game 'works as intended'.

Expecting players to totally ignore 'bugs' or 'not working as intended features' in the game when it affects their ability to play their character the way they want to, is no way to run a game in my opinion.

Another thing which is unacceptable is introducing 'nerfs' which affect EVERYONE to catch a few 'cheats'. Andre Backens Letter
(http://community.anarchy-online.com/.../articles/996L)
talked about how he felt Funcom had approached some of these issues too harshly in the past and yet I still see 'ham fisted' fixes being implemented. An example would be the fact that my Enforcer has to re-equip her 2nd Melee weapon EVERY time she zones or dies - I assume this is an attempt to catch out dual-pillow wielders? - well it's BLOODY irritating!!

So - I'm voicing my 10p on the issues below - with an overall 'message' at the end...

Exploiting
Where this refers to duping and the flagrant 'breaking' of game mechanics (e.g. SparrowFlighting Mobs to ensure easy kills!) I'm 100% with the process of warning and then banning of players. I'd extend that to people who break the code of conduct in terms of their actions or behaviour - from offensive language, through 'Griefing' and including things like GridCamping or Gas-Level-Border Camping players...
However, I am talking about FLAGRANT cheating or abuse here - not the equipping of 2 pillows or the blitzing of a few missions for fast NanoCharger cash???!!!

Nerfs
ALL changes made to the game now it's 'live' and has a persistant population of characters into which people have spent SERIOUS time and effort needs to be done CAREFULLY and in a SMALL way.
Any discussion of a blanket change to the way weapons or armor will be used is irrelevant - you simply CANNOT change something like that overnight without causing a HUGE amount of unhappiness. Whether it's right or wrong - it's worked that way for a long time now and you CANT just change it in a single patch - seriously you can't do that without causing aggro!!!

Gaute's comments about leaving in bugs if everyone's better off is a good one - however everyone can't be happy all the time and my feeling is that the majority of people are happier when they aren't 'messed about' at all frankly - something I'd recommend he considers a while longer...

OverEquipping
I've both thought about and talked this through with MANY other players and I'm 100% convinced that some degree of overequipping was INTENDED in the game design. I come to this conclusion because there are items and buffs in the game which simply serve NO OTHER PURPOSE!

My soldier is a major over-equipper and I'm damned proud of it!! He wears Armor 45 levels above his own and a weapon 35 levels above - all of which took some CONSIDERABLE effort on my part to 'get into' - and I even ENJOYED doing it! I consider what I've done an intrinsic part of the 'skill' of playing the character to be honest. Anyone else could do this too of course - so I don't feel I'm cheating at all - I'm just 'playing smarter' than some players perhaps.

I should add that I DON'T do PvP when I can avoid it - an area where having a gun or hammer 100 levels higher than my own is probably more of an issue - but then the whole issue of balancing the PvP and PvE games is a horror story I leave to the people daft enough to try to do it frankly - keep me out of it!!

Now - whilst I'm 'overequipped' and therefore 'exploiting' the ability to stack buffs, use temporary implants etc. - I'd also highlight that DESPITE my 'uber' stats, my character still struggles to solo some Green or GreenishYellow mission MOBs!! When I think what it would be like without my 'uber' gear - I wince - so I think more thought is needed here...

If, after due thought, 'people feel that something needs be done about OverEquipping, then I'd suggest simply making Armor and Weapons have 'reduced effectiveness' as buffs wear off, implants are removed or debuffs are applied is the ONLY possible solution. Making armor and weapons 'fall off' is just plain STUPID in my opinion - going that route will drive many people to quit the game entirely - myself amongst them - it's MORONIC.

If the 'reduced effectiveness' route is taken then if I choose to use a QL98 Nova at Level 60 it will be no more effective that a QL70 would be BUT I will 'grow into it' - so it's upto me whether I spend the time getting the buffs to use the higher gun and thus save buying 2 or 3 intermediate weapons or whether I just stick with the weapons I can get 'naturally'...

HOWEVER

I'm not convinced ANYTHING need be done about this to be honest - at least not for PvE.

AND

If anything IS to be changed - I'd expect that EVERY player be made to drop and requip their gear to keep the playingfield level of course...


Mission Blitzing

Gautes comments on this are particularly ill-informed and suggest that he doesn't play his own game!! With that in mind, I'd like to bring him up to speed on a couple of issues.

Gaining XP from mission blitzing it just about IMPOSSIBLE - the XP awarded for completing blitzable missions is PATHETIC (you get more for killing 2 Green MOBs!!) and about 75% of blitzed missions end in death (and thus XP loss) anyway!!
I find the suggestion people are power levelling through Blitzing missions bizarre frankly - unless I'm missing something!?

Gaining Money and Items from Blitzing works very well of course - I've done and will continue to do VERY well from it thank you
Yes, I'm a regular Mission Blitzer - in fact I consider myself a MASTER of blitzing - and I'll tell you WHY I do it too.
Because the Missions system - as it stands in AO right now - is VERY VERY DULL INDEED.
Every profession get the same generic missions for the same random and largely worthless JUNK rewards. The missions we get are random in size, location, MOB difficulty level and the 'plod through and kill everything' gameplay is TEDIOUS!!.
HOWEVER
Running through missions avoiding death whilst trying to find the item (or make the exit!) actually gives me quite a buzz - and so that's how I choose to make my cash!
When I need XP - I hunt with a team (WAY WAY more effective than missions) but don't think I've avoided the missions system entirely - I earned my 120 Token board fair and square at Level 49 and I really can't face another 'plod kill repeat' mission anytime soon
Another problem with missions is that doing missions well equates to total slaughter equates to a Token - erm, couldn't we think of something a little more imaginative than that? For Soldiers, MAs etc. a slaughter mission makes sense perhaps - but for Traders and Doctors (amogst others) it's BIZARRE frankly!!

So - before you even THINK about disabling blitzing I'd ask you to actually REPLACE it with something worthwhile and more interesting please. I can't earn the money I need for ammo, guns and armor from hunts, so I have to take missions after all! I'm not asking for a miracle here but I am asking for profession specific tasks requiring the player to use their specific skills and thus receiving rewards they can make good use of perhaps - not QL1 clothing or Tattoos for taking on (or running past) QL120 MOBs ...


Summary

I'd really like to get this across CLEARLY - so I'm restating it here...

AO is a 'living' game now - lots of players have been in there a long time and DO NOT want to be messed about with and made to rethink (or reroll!!) their characters because of MAJOR changes which are made to the game.

If Funcom (or anyone) beleives there are problems in the game then they should address them GRADUALLY - the time for big changes is long gone and if that's seems to be a problem then I'd again suggest Funcom actually FINISH the game BEFORE you ask people to start paying to play it next time around eh?

Tirade over

J

p.s. If you made it this far - thanks for your time - I hope I've struck a chord!

p.p.s. I trust Gaute will read ALL of these comments and post a follow up article summarising what people have said AND give us a chance to comment on that also - I'd like to know my (and others) are getting through here

[______________Bastet]

I've summarized all the posts that I think are giving viable options, then added my own twist to them... There are loopholes, but I'm not going to write a 10-page essay.

---On Buffs---
There should be a limit based on the caster to reciever on WHO can be Buffed. Whether it's a level difference, or a QL difference, a lower level person shouldn't be able to recieve +80 or whatever buffs.

--- On Equipment)--
In PvP mode, the issue arises where you need fairness. The fight will only last so long, unlike in PvM where you could hunt for hours. So, any weapons or armor that the player can't use with a Buff must be disabled (Go red, as in Diablo) when entering a fighting arena. Also, he must be able to cast the buff HIMSELF. This is a fight of a Player VS a Player, not his friends buff against the other player. For example, he couldn't get his best-buddy to boost up his ARifle skill so he can use his QL 300 Gun and Armor. If he can't cast the buff on himself, he has no right to get the benefit of the Buff against other players, and thus the Equipment must be "disabled" (Go red in the inventory, Such as in Diablo).

In PvM mode Funcom should go easier. In PvM if a player has a weapon or armor that he can't use without a Buff, but was able to equip within the last 24 hours due to a friend's buff, or his own Buff, he should be allowed to keep it on. It would get annoying and unnecessary to have to rebuff yourself every 30 minutes. Now, that doesn't mean the effects of the buff last! I'm just saying the weapon or Armor will stay equipped for 24 hours, then after that it will disable.

---(On Implants)---
Implants are tricky because you can get a doctor to install an implant for you because they have such a high treatment skill. Pretty much, any limits on Implants should depend on the Ability required, not the treatment skill of the player. (Just to clear that up.) Next, after you equip the implant, if you used an Ability Buff to equip the Implant, unless you keep reapplying the Buff, you will suffer ability penalties after the Buff wears off. I think the penalty should be based on the Difference of Required Ability to Possessed Ability. The penalty would be explained as the negative to trying to use an Implant that your body could not handle. Then, a curve or such should be made where if the differences are mild, then the penalty would be mild, and if the differences are large, then the penalty would be exponentially higher.

Finally. On Exploiters.
Give them all a warning. (Guilty By Association). Let them know you know about them. Secondly, if you catch any of them exploiting, give them all a warning, AGAIN. Basically, give warnings to everyone in the faction or by association, but only BAN anyone who YOU have CAUGHT. Otherwise, it's not fair to Ban people who are just in the faction. But they also must understand that by being associated with a faction that is known to exploit... they run the risk of being punished. Basically, you're giving them a thin line to walk.

Thank you for reading this extraneously long message.
Bastet

[_______________BSRK1]

I will say this I over equip, and i have never used an exploit. If you are calling me a cheeter then I dont want to play this game anymore. I do not pay each month to have someone call me an exploiter. If overequiping is wrong then your game was ruined the day the first account was opened.

[____________eleetist]

Originally posted by ReetJoo
This is my first RPG game ever and I have invested a lot of time learning strategies, spending IP, acquiring equipment based on the current rules of the game. I shudder to think how hard it will be to start over and have all my strategies put into question.

How was I supposed to know putting the best gun in my hands was an exploit? It shouldn't be called an "exploit" if it's the fault of the game code, it should be called a "bug".

In any case, please, no more changes to the rules of the game. I like the game how it is. All of these dramatic changes should have been done before letting people play and pay.

Imagine starting a 2 hour game of Monopoly then after an hour in, someone say's "hey, lets make it so those who own Hotels can't charge as much."

Start a new server with the new rules. Leave this server alone.

I completely agree with you. This is my first MMORPG as well. I play an Agent, Lvl53 now. Please No more dramatic changes. don't take anything else away from any classes, just try to add to and improve the classes that are deemed weak (in much the same way as the Meta was fixed and the Crat is being fixed). There should be some advantage for making the connections and spending the time to get higher level equipment. Honestly I have a QL117 Fletchette, but I no longer PvP, because even though I am deemed an OVEREQUIPPER by some of the standards here, I couldn't hold my own against a healing class or Soldiers with two guns unless I got some lucky crits. I did get hit by a clanner named Cooterz the other day for a 3k burst at Lvl46... you do the math, I had only 1k hp at the time and my ONLY special only hit for 300 max at that point. So I am not sure where the imbalance is. I don't think it comes from overequipping, since I was very well equipped with 1300 AC and a QL91 gun at level 46 and only got 1 shot off before I was killed. Even under the new PvP rules, he only had to Full Auto, Burst, Fling me to kill me. I imagine his superiority came from being buffed by people considerably higher in level too him. I really feel you solve almost 100% of overequipping issues with one VERY SIMPLE FIX!

Fix to implement: Don't allow players to buff players that are grey to them. Or preferrably, do it on the same rules as PvP with no max cap. So a Lvl 40 can buff a level 30 or above. but you won't have Lvl 20 players getting Iron Circle or Sniper's Bliss. This would weedout all the problems with overequipping and is clearly the simplest solution. It does not kill the market for selling buffs. It only keeps players from getting too outragious with the buffs. It also does not effect overequipping post-Lvl75, which is the concern of many. I think Funcom can save a lot of reprogramming and player balancing and losing players just by implementing this simple fix.

I also have to mention that with the prior ip exploit and having seen a Lvl 200 Agent for sale on Ebay that all Abilities fully maxed, all nano skills fully maxed, and all other Agent related skills fully maxed, and still having an extra 1.7 million ip to spare for sale tells me that an IP wipe is badly needed. This would save the time of hunting down these ip exploiters and help rebalance the game.

And in support of two simply great ideas mentioned before by another player:

"(PvP) Shops in the political zones should only be accessible by the (side) controlling them. EX. 2HO shops should only allow Omni inside. This would eliminate shop jumping. Furthermore, if the side player enters a shop he or she is not allowed to leave the shop in the Political zone for 5 minutes. Keep the invulnerability setting in place but boost it to 20 seconds instead of 15 seconds due to possible slow zoning issues. "

"~ Create Re-allocation Booths in all Backyards.

~ When a player logs in they cannot attack or use any equipment until they visit a Re-allocation Booth in a backyard.

~ Upon entering the booth, all of the players implants, equipment and currently outfitted items are teleported to their bank. The character is now naked.

~ The character has to re-allocate all of their IPs (they had a month to plan for this).

~ After re-allocation is done that person can now leave whereupon the character can now initiate with the gaming environment properly again. "

I really feel that by implementing these things Funcom will manage to curb the issues that arose early on in the game. With all the rule changes since the beginning, this is the only way to fully balance PvP. Unless for some reason someone thinks that they deserve to have 2 Pillows when everyone only gets one. With the ip Reallocation at least they can't complain that they wasted ip on multi-wield when they shouldn't have. I think these changes would go along way in improving the happiness of the player base. The only people that would be incredibly disturbed by them are the players that currently have the advantage that they don't want to lose (i.e. 2 pillows or 2 million extra ip at level 200). I hope everyone takes the time to fully read through all these articles as I have, so that Funcom can get a good opinion of what people are looking for in the game. I have played since 2 weeks after release and I played in Beta. I've seen the game come a long way. It pains me to see people ruining it through exploits that have happened (trading tokens, etc.). Let's reset equipment and ip... giving players 2 weeks to prepare for it, so that they have the money to rebuff into their weapons and armor that can be obtained under new rules.

Eleetist, Lvl 53 Agent

p.s. If you can balance the game, I'd love to see more political zones. If not I'll continue to stay away from them, as I've seen them mainly filled with griefers to date.

[_______________Tatja]

Quick comments:

I dont think over equiping is problem. It is part of the game. Exploiting is a problem that should be taken care of.

[__________griemdaall]

My thoughts on overequipping:

With advanced notice, on a given day, make everyone in the entire game's items and implants appear in the bank instead of on them when they log on. You are completely naked, and you are left to your own devices to get it all back on. There have been changes lately that will make it impossible for people to overequip in the way they did before, so those supertwinked implants won't go back in after the surgery clinic fix, and those super high implants were what was allowing much of the overequipping anyway. Also, I'm sure there are many NCU and belts that won't go on after the frequent customer change, which is all well and good. Then let people equip things as they can now, which isn't as unfair since anyone can overequip with patience and money in the current system.

I think an IP wipe is just asking for homogenous uber-templates, most people who have played a certain character know what thier 'weakness' is, and know exactly what change they would make to undo that. I have no sympathy for someone who spends IP to accomodate a bug, then loses the IP. Heck, I don't have much sympathy for people who lose IP due to a change in the system. (I've lost plenty, with my advent, crat, and NT). It's the way it works in skill based games, if the system gets changed even a little bit, you will have people who are unhappy, if the system isn't changed a little bit, you will have people who are overpowered or underpowered and unhappy.

Just a thought...

Exploiters? Who cares what happens to 'em? As long as they got one notice, kick 'em for good. Kick thier whole families for all I care.

Thanks