nerf locked empty chests in missions

[Thyrra]

its bad enough that so many of these doggone chests in missions are empty. it is aggrevating after about 20 chests being locked and empty in one evening.

down with empty chests. nerf them. they make my attack skill and ac go down each time i unlock an empty chest. if it wasn't for locked empty chests in missions enfs would not be so gimped that they need to phear a leet in the backyards at lvl 100+.

if an empty chest showed up in a pvp area, it would get ganked by all sides.

[________________LRRH]

Uh. Why is your attack and AC going down when you unlock things?

Anyway, unlocking stuff gives experience, which is always good.

[Servivious]

Empty locked chest are ok - you do get xp from them even though I fail to understand why anyone would lock away nothing..

Its empty locked trapped chests that really get me For some reason (and has anyone else seen this?) traps seem to be much higer ql than the lock on the same chest. My b&e and td skill are the same (both unbuffed and with no implants) and I can unlock the chests is see within 5 tries, but have yet to disarm a trap within about 20 tries, if at all..

So what happens is I give up disarming and just open the chest (trap dmg is no nightmare) and I get nothing but still have to use medikits to get health back..

Not very fun...

[-Zagadka-]

Disarming has always required higher skill than lockpicking, in any game (pen and paper or computer) I've seen.

I would like to see the raw attempt data (random number + skill mod and number required), just because it is kinda fun to see that kinda stuff. If it breaks the RPGing element for some people, make it togglable. :-p

[______KramerTheWeird]

Originally posted by Thyrra
its bad enough that so many of these doggone chests in missions are empty. it is aggrevating after about 20 chests being locked and empty in one evening.

down with empty chests. nerf them. they make my attack skill and ac go down each time i unlock an empty chest. if it wasn't for locked empty chests in missions enfs would not be so gimped that they need to phear a leet in the backyards at lvl 100+.

if an empty chest showed up in a pvp area, it would get ganked by all sides.

That doesn't even make sense..
So, you're saying you lose AC and attack skill when you unlock an empty chest... does it do it to full ones? And what the hell do you mean it'd be "ganked" by all sides in a pvp area, if you end up LOSING AC and attack skill?
I hate everyone who decides that everything is so screwy it's time for NERF! NERF! I never even heard of empty locked chests doing this until now. If it was a serious problem, everyone else would be complaining about it, but until others seriously are affected by it, that whole statement is just laughable.

[Xaielao]

Locked empty chests don't bug me too much as they are fair xp (I've lvled on one before)


BUT locked & trapped chests that are empty drive me nuts too! Luckely I'm a fixer with maxed B&E and close to max Trap Disarm I rarely get caught with a trapped chest.


Those of you who are finding nearly every chest empty.. try raising your Perception. I know perception is at least 1/2 the equasion on whether a chest has something in it. Some time ago (first month or so of release) a friend of mine and I tested this. Where as I had 200 flat in the skill (it's green to me) he (an Atrox ENF) had never put a single point into it.

We went through 3 missions.. and alternated taking the chests in each one. Most of the time chests were empty for him.. and when they had something in them it was 1 maybe 2 items.. and usually junk (ammo, tradeskill items).

About 75% of the chests had something for me and it was never under 3 items.. most often 4 or 5. So perception plays a MAJOR part in this.

I can also say that now (with my fixers 3rd incarnation) I still max Perception and found a Mid at 25th lvl.

Anyone else who reads this please state if you've found a high-quality item in a chest before and what your perception skill is.

Mines around 150 I believe.

[______KramerTheWeird]

Sounds like a good theory, too bad my perception is a blue skill.

[Thyrra]

these chests lower my ac and hp and attacking and nuking and pet casting and grid phreaking and healing and wrangling abilities in that i get tired and upset about it; especially when doing missions with 50+ rooms.

i like the perception theory. i've heard it before and have heard it refuted also. i have a char with perception about 100. i have other chars where i did not touch perception in any way shape or form. i have not noticed any difference in the loot from chests.

[________________LRRH]

Wait, wait. You didn't explain anything, you simply re-iterated your earlier statement.

How, -exactly-, are they lowering your stats? Want to show us a couple of screenshots? It seems odd you would be discussing this here, instead of submitting a bug report, if it is acting as you say it is.

[Thyrra]

i'll simplify things a little.

read my posts and eximine your knoweledge of the game and its mechanics.

the first post was meant to bring up the issue of there being too many locked empty chests. the 500ish xp i'm getting from unlocking a chest if fine xp at lvl 20, but not at lvl 60+ ( earlier mostlikely, i'm not checking at the moment though ). if i wanted to click around that much, i'd go camp a mission term.

merely making missions bigger adds difficulty to the game. it also add frustration, weariness, increased likelyhood of not having enough time to finish a mission during normal play periods for casual gamers ( the majority that play 1-3 hours at a sitting? ), an increased likelyhood that RL will intrude on play time and the gamers will find AO increasingly less rewarding over time.

there has to be another way to make things more difficult. if i got paid to think up ways or i was a real hardcore player, i would come up with something.

the fact remains that a high number of locked empty chests in missions, especially 2+ hour missions, decreases game enjoyment.

the first post was also meant to frame the issue in a somewhat humorous and silly/ridiculous light. much of the game becomes more interesting when you frame it that way.

my second post did not explain how chests mess up ac and so forth because chests don't intereact with these things. it also did not explain that no one character can have all the things it claimed get affected either.

i like the perception theory. i wish it worked in a consistantly verifiable manner.

if FC came out and told us that perception does indeed affect the quantity and/or quality of what loot you find, then the empty chests can be blamed on the players with low perception and things would be ok. this is similar to people with a low B&E right now not having much ground to complain when they don't find a yalm in an unlocked chest, because they have no way of knowing if one of the chests they could not unlock indeed have a yalm for them.

[______________Krneki]

I don't get it..

/me reads again.

nope, don't get it...

[XtroXtreme]

How about just properly linking number of doors and locket chests in mission to that of that of the sneakines bar on mission selection?

Bar at 50% means 50% is locked etc.
Just an idea.

[Thyrra]

spook, dear spook

that idea seems brilliantly simple on the surface.

it won't work.

if they tried something that simple we'd end up with the locked chest $ being linked to the average nanopool you used for every 4th fight over the past 12 levels; modified by your curent tutoring skill.

and of course it would remain undocumented for eternety(sic?).

[_____________arsiine]

I buffed up my perception to up over 400 mostly to test if i could see traps. I found this amount gave me ~100% success in detecting traps but many of the chests still had nothing in them. I didn't notice any increase in the amount of loot but who knows, maybe its just me.
Oh, and about these trapped, locked, empty chests. I say keep um coming. I get good 6-7k xp per disarm thats one free hard kill for me.
Also, what happened to the bombs we used to receive when we succesfully disarm a trap? I have a backpack full of them from a long time ago but now when i disarm stuff I get no bombs. Did they change this intentionally or is it just a bug?

[Thyrra]

if nothing else, you should at least be given some sleeping rats when you disarm chests successfully.

[_____________arsiine]

Originally posted by Thyrra
these chests lower my ac and hp and attacking and nuking and pet casting and grid phreaking and healing and wrangling abilities;

LOL, now thats comedy.

[garpenlov]

Originally posted by Thyrra
if nothing else, you should at least be given some sleeping rats when you disarm chests successfully.

Good idea, they could be just like bot shells. Then, if you're an adventurer, you would have the ability to go out into a rollerrat preserve and deploy the rat. It goes back to its home and you get some xp for freeing it from its chest.

[Thyrra]

you have just given meaning and purpose to the adverturer prof garpenlov

[XtroXtreme]

Originally posted by Thyrra
spook, dear spook

that idea seems brilliantly simple on the surface.

it won't work.

if they tried something that simple we'd end up with the locked chest $ being linked to the average nanopool you used for every 4th fight over the past 12 levels; modified by your curent tutoring skill.

and of course it would remain undocumented for eternety(sic?).

Sorry forgot that it was Funcom we were talking about.

[__________Mindswayer]

My head hurts after reading this thread.

Make it go away!