This would solve EVERYTHING! *sarcasm - mostly*

[Iblis]

Off the top of my head, I'd say that allowing warlock weapons to scale with pracs the way they do was immensely daft.

Not only that, but it was further compounded by the prac change itself - similar to Jakaens.

But gee, I guess since he toned wizards he had to make other classes even more dumb.

-Iblis.

[Eternal1]

Its so hot when you use caps Serenity. Be more technical please....we both know I was right.

Pking characters of higher rank needs to be rewarded much more than it is.

Peace

[Xabren]

I would say at least 75%+ (probably more like 95%) of the people that play Nodeka just want to bot from time to time. Some of my best research, thesis writing and grading of papers is done during bot times. Then again, as someone who has had a character in this game since nearly the birth of this game, I hate to see it the way it is now.

In the end, much of it was caused not only from certain changes that have been commented on above, but also by players who throw fits because they were pk'd forever. Here are my suggestions:

1. Add a "pvpon" command. This command would mark <PVP> in red letters to the right of their name which would say that they want to fight. In addition this would open up a pvp channel (only when they are flagged).

- Players with this flag can form their own groups and pvp for renown.
- (Not a rule but suggestion): Form random groups to make it the most fun and most even. Everyone should get killed and kill others, not completely one sided. Break clan/friend/morality rules and just HAVE FUN!
- Get 10 non-augs to go kill a demigod, they all split random amounts of renown.

2. Renown is now only GAINED, not lost through pvp. You must be <PVP> flagged and it still degrades, but at a faster rate (every 1 hr it goes down by 100, even when logged out).

- Trials now give rp again instead of renown.

3. In the end, these changes are to make pvp fun. Make groups and make it enjoyable for all, not a gangbang against everyone else to just make no one want to flag up.

- Flags have a prevent of 30 minutes between toggles.

[Iblis]

Xabren,

With a maximum player total of 60 or so people, and an average of 30-40 on now, it is reasonable to say that if a full pk toggle were put in there would probably be around 1-4 people (if any) with it on.

Problem with pk is not that it isn't fun but it is made to be 'not fun' because when you're pking you aren't botting, and when you aren't botting you're going to be left behind in terms of the spiraling player sizes that changes have brought about.

Of course there is a solution to this, which some have taken in the past: Multiplay.

Multiplaying is the only way in which players can pk without risking being left behind. So sure, while I think Leben is a retard for multiplaying, I can't think of one good reason why he wouldn't have.

Advantages of multiplaying:

1. Faster growth
2. Ability to pk with one character while botting with others
3. A collection of characters for more versatility
4. Ability to unenhance characters means that once you are done multiplaying you can benefit doubly by unenhancing all your characters.

Disadvantages of multiplaying:

...none whatsoever because even if you do get caught your punishment does not even come -close- to mitigating what you gained by multiplaying (as Leben, and Bavarian before him, convincingly proved).

Hrm, while on the topic of advantages and disadvantages, think about this:

Disadvantages of pking

1. You end up making enemies who do try to kill you
2. You aren't getting gold so you aren't growing anywhere near as fast as someone botting
3. You are gaining rps, but not as many rps as you would gain by botting and buying donations (even if donations are 4k-5k/$).

Advantages of pking

1. Renown, but oh, you have to bot to gain any advantage from it really.

---------

Of course no one pks. Of course everyone bots. Of course people multiplay.

-Iblis.

[Xabren]

I will not even comment on the multi-playing as it should be common sense what happens to those players, and that is a different subject altogether.

While I agree at any one time between 0-4 people will be flagged, during peak hours you can get up to probably 10 or so people. Additional benefits such as once you cap out on renown you get x amount of free trains or something to that effect may help as well. Or if you stay flagged for the entire 30 mins you get x amount of plats or something. There would have to be a system in place though that would prevent people just afk toggling though or toggling and staying in safe to help with any potential abuse though.

The idea of making enemies in the game always bugged me, and that is why I think pk stopped the way it did. My data sheet leans alot more to the right than it should, but I try to not hold grudges. I'm also against killing someone that I would beat 99 out of 100 times so that could also explain my data sheet.

Other than offering incentives for those who pk, the only other way to balance it would be to make it easier to get pools/stats or something. That would piss off alot of those who put more hours into the game, but until the playing field is leveled off more, botting will ensue even more.

[Bihzad]

Limitless growth, while making it difficult for new players to catch up to old players, isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think the problem with Nodeka lies more with the lack of incentive for taking a break from botting for a time to participate in pk, which a number of people have mentioned in this thread.

Why not integrate something into the world map itself to instigate pk. I think I've brought this up before, but I still think having areas that could be held by certain groups, either clans, or those of certain morality leans, and that would give bonuses to the groups holding them, would be a good way to invoke more pk and even let little guys get in on it.

Isn't the problem less the infinite player-growth (people who have played for 10 years should be bigger, of course) than it is the lack of pk opportunities for smaller players? If you could split the mud into 2 or 3 factions, with incentives for the factions to pk, you'd have a better game.

Also, I think having pk off shouldn't affect your experience gains, but should shut off faction benefits and come with a hefty wait time for turning it back on. So, people who don't want the pk can play without it, but won't gain the benefits from participating.

[Eternal1]

At least it has been somewhat interesting around here lately.....

please add "ETERNAL DO NOT LOCK PEOPLE WHILE THEY ARE STILL ON MOBS!" to the auto-hints.....

hehe

In addition....Serenity, you are a complete moron. When I said that I wanted the botting to stop and pking to happen I was talking about a "TOTAL WAR" (hehe) between two similar-sized clans.....not you demolishing me one vs. one. Things have definately been more fun lately due to said conflict...and even Iblis has come back some (granted I wish he was on our side) and maybe even Pico will come back. So stop being a complete nubby and realize that this IS what I wanted....more chaos and less of the same old same old monotonous training. AS SOON AS or IF things to back to how they were....people who love to bot will be fine and people who actually like to play will probably "quit" again. (As a disclaimer...I should say we are all very impressed at how many morality trials you can do, bloke....bloody hell....you are just super)

Either way, I hope Nijlo keeps this game going for years to come....so that the people who have invested so much MONEY and TIME into it won't feel slighted.

Peace

[Murdoc]

I'm pretty shocked that people only recently seem to be thinking of Nodeka as a "second window" game. It's been that way to me for a long time, and it's the reason why I quit way back when.

So, because of that, I don't think that changing this prevention to that or giving that class this skill or some remort branch some ability is going to help Nodeka in the long run. That's not the big problem. I stopped seriously playing around the same time quests were put in, so forgive me if I'm just naive here, but this sort of debate makes me think that people just can't see the forest for the trees.

Yes, the gap between "big" and "small" was a lot shorter back when I was active (I think the biggest character when I quit was...35k or so?), but scripting was still pretty much required if you wanted to keep up with the Jonses. Like Iblis said, it was/is possible to catch up, but scripting was/is required. Also, OCD, and perhaps some programming knowledge. Also also, a good enough reason to spend the months/years building a character, which 99% of the newbies who don't check out a MUD for a few seconds and log off to play WoW aren't going to have. Having thousands of dollars lying around, ready to be poured into Nijlo's coffers? Yeah, that helps too.

Nodeka as it is, and as it was back then to a smaller extent, caters to a niche of a niche of a niche.

In my opinion, Nodeka was doomed to this fate from the very beginning. There's a reason why running scripts that automatically clear areas is considered botting in most muds, even when you're sitting there watching that script run. I know that manually running areas gets repetitive, but repetition helps to keep inflation in check. It also encourages players to go off and do other things more often, which further keeps things in check.

In the long term, I think there's only one thing that can be done to save the game: a pwipe. Nijlo's been against that from the very, very beginning, so how about keeping the player files on one server, but creating another where the slate is wiped clean, and scripting is outlawed, with violators zapped on the spot. Taking out the ability to change classes/races would probably help too.

I don't know what kind of an investment Nijlo would have to make that happen, but in the long term, I don't see Nodeka being viable otherwise. And it would definitely make things interesting.

[Torment]

What you just said makes no sense, a pwipe? You think a pwipe solves things? It's bad enough that 90% of the mud are vets and there's no new people staying to play. So tell me, if you can't get new people to play, then pwipe the loyal vets, whose gonna play this game? I think your way outdated on your thinking.

[Murdoc]

I think your way outdated on your thinking.

Possibly. Like I said, been at least 4 years since I've seriously played.

But you missed the part where I said keep the player files on one server, then make a parallel world where everyone starts from scratch :P Word on that would get out pretty quickly, and attract back a lot of older players, which would in turn attract a lot of new players. And outlawing scripting outright on the new world would help the game retain more players in the long run.

And if you think that all the vets would just pack up and call it a day, then you need look no further than Dark Castle to find that's not true.