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I'll speak strictly for myself here, and let others have their say.

I have played T.C. VERY frequently the past 9 months since my surgery and rehab slowed me down. Kaga, Kitno, Klaatu, and others. I particularly was interested in Mark's constant attempt at balancing conflicting viewpoints and philosophies.

Taking the strict gaming viewpoint, there is a very long steep learning curve here, and frequent assistance from others is necessary for all but the most dedicated gamers to stick with it long enough to overcome the "constant-nap" issue. Taking 15 steps and collapsing from exhaustion does not equal enjoyable gaming. This is why I try to share a few tips and items with any promising new players (studded bracers, ceremonial rings, energy shoes, etc) Factor in the unavailability of any roles (other than ranger) or reliable methods of wealth acquisition that don't revolve around violence (warriors inflict, healers repair violence) and it becomes a fairly mudane experience once you've explored a bit. Realize that this will change significantly if the number of players online jumped and the possibilities for new interactions increases with it.

I have also enjoyed figuring out ways to "beat the system" while still playing within the laws of physics and user guidelines. This is just another aspect of problem solving for me.

I plan to add more later here but I have to leave just now.

Regards,
Darryl

Hi Darryl:

Just pointing out that the Thief role has been online quite a while, and there are some nonviolent Thief characters out there who are scoring good exp and $$. I personally play mostly Warriors, but, just wanted to point this out.

I hope your rehab is going well!!!

Also healers can do more than simply heal the results of violence.

Likewise on your rehab! Glad to have you with us while you're recuperating!

--Mark

A brief continuence:

I have noted many recent posts on the in-char BB's from people who are apparently very knowlegable of the game, but have rarely if ever been encountered on the streets of TC the past 6 months. Most of these players advocate the emphasis of non-violent activities in TC, and I tend to wholehearedly agree, with one caveat: The game as it currently exists (or did exist prior to the physics change) did not seem to offer enough non-violent experiences to keep the high level players engaged on a frequent basis.

I offer the lack of high level healers, rangers, and thieves on the streets as my evidence to this theory. I still have not seen a Level 20 player logged in (other than Poobah & Mark). Who is beta testing the Level 20 skills and encounters? If these players exist, how did they acquire enough "practices" to do so without merchant attacks? There are also several high-level attribute enhancing items in TC that could only have been acquired by the murder of certain merchants, these items (I'll not mention them here) are currently unavailable by any means, fair or foul.

The warrior Lord Kaga was created a few months ago and is at level 19 and rising. The booty from his exploits has enabled me to learn and explore many of the non-violent skills that I would otherwise have never had the opportunity to experience. The recent changes to TC appear to be in direct response to my "outlaw Kaga" gameplay. The new "Bounty-hunter" role also seems rather coincidental. If I have violated the terms of service here let me know. I can understand Poobah toughening up the merchants, I still don't understand the "Adding Buglites, wait! No merchie attack" flip-flop.

Darryl

Hi Darryl:

Just a couple of quick answers to your questions. Sorry I have to be fast and then run: more later.

There are no level 20 characters. Kaga and Kitno are far the highest-level characters. Next I've personally seen is at 14.

The world as a whole isn't yet a level 20 world. I'd characterize it as ready for level 15, not beyond. Current work is to bring it to level 20, with appropriate challenges, eq, commands, etc.

The high-level attribute enhancing items which can only have been acquired by the murder of merchants shouldn't have been acquired. The fact that they have been strongly unbalances the game world. This is the main reason why attacks on merchants have been banned.

You are correct that the "no merchie attack" flip-flop was just that, a flip-flop. We decided to ban merchant attacks rather than use buglites because the buglites would have gotten Kaga and others killed, possibly without warning, for doing what they've been doing. We didn't want those higher-level characters to die in an unreasonable way, so we changed our minds about the buglites and changed the "laws of physics" instead.

(Bounty Hunter isn't on the to-do list because of anything you've done, it's a standard iterative enhancement to CrimeNet. There'll be more.)

Lastly re who's in the streets, don't forget that people play from all over the world and are on at different times of day. I see the connect logs every week and there are Healers, Thieves and Rangers with as much online time as Kaga. I suspect you're simply on at different hours.

Hope this helps! More later.

Mark

Hi, here are a couple of additional thoughts. Sorry to be in such a rush that I can't do this more coherently!

The Big Picture issue is game balance. Kaga, Luciano and probably others are so impervious to damage that they strongly warp game play. In my opinion this is so out of balance that it changes the identity of the game world, making it far too much like traditional MUDs for my taste.

Re why it was done, it's not a response to your game play specifically -- I don't really remember seeing you on a real lot when I'm on, come to think of it -- rather to finding so many dead merchants and also dead Stormtroopers in the log. The log makes it plain how seriously out-of-balance things have become.

Anyways I hope that covers everything I wanted to say!

--Mark

Even when fully armored with his ill-gotten gains, Kaga is far from invincible. I have found many NPC's to be dangerous and deadly, even for a Level 19 warrior with Armor > 125.

I quite strongly respect your right to modify your own creation here as you see fit, but I still feel that many less severe options were/are available than an absolute ban on surveyor/merchant attacks.

For the low-low price of $150 US dollars I can buy 200,000 TC dinars, which will get me 4 titanium LED bracelets. For another $150 dollars I could buy 4 titanium LED rings. A neutral warrior with these 8 items would definitely "unbalance" the game as well. Would the solution then be to ban the purchase of dinars with US dollars?

The Rescue skill is only available to Level 20 and up. The Lore BB messages in August03 about the sewage plant led me to believe that a PC with the rescue skill is commonplace. I didn't realize I was truly blazing new ground.

It takes close to 500,000 exp points to go from level 19 to level 20 alone. If someone plays TC twice a week for a year, they will have to AVERAGE five-thousand experience points accumulated per playing session to make it from level 19 to 20 in one year. Looking at those numbers may help you understand why I keep beating this dead horse.

In any case, Luciano is currently quite stuck in the Sewage plant with the vast bulk of Kaga's high level items,(assuming he's still alive) so balance has now been restored and the greater realm rejoices at the regained peace and harmony throughout the land.

Good morning everybody.

I just want to point out something which I'm guessing isn't well understood by all players. The Warrior role is at a strong disadvantage in accumulating exp compared to other roles which have more skills available.

I know this because, while most of my characters are Warriors (sorry Mark, I like killing things), I do have one level 14 Thief who's able to rack up exp and dinars far faster than the toughest of my Warriors. Faster than Kaga, too, based on Darryl's estimates. This Thief character can rack up 10,000 exp and 5,000 dinars in an hour of play, easy, and can do it without using any violence. Totally cake. This means he could gain the 500,000 exp Darryl mentions in 50 hours of play. Probably less, really.

This is 'cause the Thief role has several skills available, and exp in TriadCity is awarded fastest for use of skills. My Thief character can sneak, hide, peek, steal, and meditate his way around the NorthWest or NorthEast thirds, and those exp points simply rain. (He actually does use violence, but not for exp, instead to gain items to sell in the shops.)

So I guess my suggestion is to understand that use of violence is actually an inefficient way to grow characters. Use of other skills is faster.

Sorry, posted that last message before I was through with it.

I just want to stress that I'm not advocating non-violence. ALL of my characters use violence, and I LIKE playing violent characters. My point is that Warriors don't accumulate exp as fast as Thieves, and that may be true of other roles as well.

One last point and I swear I'll drop the topic:

Even with only a few mid-level PC's playing, merchants run out of cash very quickly. Killing a cash-less merchant resulted in their rapid replacement by a fresh merchie with around 400 dinars to buy items from players. Finding and selling items can be a non-violent way for low level chars to acquire the basic items necessary in TC. Daily server resets or other code changes may be necessary to keep TC's economy rolling now that merchies are untouchable.

The plan is for all human merchants to go home at night, as some of the White Plaza merchants do now. The bots will probably simply be replaced with new ones from time to time. Code is in progress now to allow the shops to close properly, that is, shoo players out. Etc.

Additionally merchants may operate without cash of any kind, using the banking system instead for funds transfers. Not sure yet.

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