08-16-2017, 10:22 PM
Now, I know what you guys are gonna say - it's only been 5 minutes, give it a chance etc. And don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful for what you guys have done and I feel like an ungrateful little snot for saying anything, but...
Can we please talk about the new stealth system? :c
Now, I know Helovia's system wasn't perfect. It didn't make IC sense for an OOC riddle to determine a stealth. But at least it involved skill. The person making the riddle had to put some thought into it, come up with clues. It was totally in the targets hands to save themselves, which is an ideal system to prevent hurt feelings and OOC drama.
This new system, though, is based completely on luck. Basically, someone could work super hard to earn their stuff, then have it stolen based on a dice roll. A warlord character who never lets their guard down could be kidnapped by a 10hh pony, based on a dice roll. A dice roll that's completely 50/50, not even weighted towards the target. Aka, pure luck. That's just not fun and I think it will put a lot of people off joining the site if they know their hard earned items can be stolen based on someone throwing up a speed post and getting a lucky dice roll.
Character development, I hear you cry! And yes, having your character stolen is good development....but not everyone wants that. It's not IC for every character. Forcing development on someone when they don't want it is borderline PP, and for example if Vol got stolen by a tiny mare it would almost ruin his character, not enhance it.
I can totally see that this system makes more IC sense but it's going to cause so many OOC problems I think. In Helovia, an OOC grudge couldn't be taken to IC as it was still dependant on the stealth being passed. Here, what's stopping someone from trying over and over again to steal a character based on spite, because sooner or later they'll get the lucky dice roll? Imagine all the back and forth stealths based purely on OOC. Imagine the hurt feelings when someone who has worked hard for their items suddenly loses them all based on something out of their control.
These are the suggestions I have to maybe make it a bit less luck based:
1 - At least make the dice weighted towards the target. Like, how is it feasible for there to be a 50/50 chance of stealing someone's big cumbersome armour? XP Imo it would be more realistic to have the target have a 70% chance of defending themselves compared to a 30% chance of stealth success.
2 - Make an opt in/opt out system for stealths. Certain people, myself included, never want to make stealths - it doesn't interest me. My suggestion is that people can choose to opt out of the stealth system altogether, which means they cannot be stolen from however they can also not steal anything. Maybe this could be a decision that you can only change once an IC year or something, to prevent people turning 'off' stealths once they have stolen something from someone else?
3 - Make it more skill based. To me, stealing something should be earned - you shouldn't be able to throw up a 100 word post and get what you want based on luck. Maybe instead of a riddle, the character has to describe how they go about discovering info about the character they want to steal from? For example if someone wanted to steal from Vol, they could track his movements by appearing in his threads, then try and stealth him by hiding behind a tree and luring him with a pretty mare....idk xD But it would mean the stealer had to do some research and work, and change their strategy based on the character they're stealing from. Brute force won't get you anywhere with Vol, but also a clever plan might not work with intelligent folk like Rikyn etc.
4 - Furthter to the above, maybe stealths could be judged based on a combo of how clever the thief is in their attempt, and also on how the target reacts? So if Vol was being stealthed, but he set up golems to keep watch for him and kept his back to a tree, he'd earn points for being harder to steal from. Idk it's a very basic idea but could work with some more fleshing out?
Thanks for reading and I really hope you guys don't think I'm being negative because that's not the intention. I really like this new site and you've done a fantastic job so I hope you're open to feedback on systems that could maybe be tweaked :)
Can we please talk about the new stealth system? :c
Now, I know Helovia's system wasn't perfect. It didn't make IC sense for an OOC riddle to determine a stealth. But at least it involved skill. The person making the riddle had to put some thought into it, come up with clues. It was totally in the targets hands to save themselves, which is an ideal system to prevent hurt feelings and OOC drama.
This new system, though, is based completely on luck. Basically, someone could work super hard to earn their stuff, then have it stolen based on a dice roll. A warlord character who never lets their guard down could be kidnapped by a 10hh pony, based on a dice roll. A dice roll that's completely 50/50, not even weighted towards the target. Aka, pure luck. That's just not fun and I think it will put a lot of people off joining the site if they know their hard earned items can be stolen based on someone throwing up a speed post and getting a lucky dice roll.
Character development, I hear you cry! And yes, having your character stolen is good development....but not everyone wants that. It's not IC for every character. Forcing development on someone when they don't want it is borderline PP, and for example if Vol got stolen by a tiny mare it would almost ruin his character, not enhance it.
I can totally see that this system makes more IC sense but it's going to cause so many OOC problems I think. In Helovia, an OOC grudge couldn't be taken to IC as it was still dependant on the stealth being passed. Here, what's stopping someone from trying over and over again to steal a character based on spite, because sooner or later they'll get the lucky dice roll? Imagine all the back and forth stealths based purely on OOC. Imagine the hurt feelings when someone who has worked hard for their items suddenly loses them all based on something out of their control.
These are the suggestions I have to maybe make it a bit less luck based:
1 - At least make the dice weighted towards the target. Like, how is it feasible for there to be a 50/50 chance of stealing someone's big cumbersome armour? XP Imo it would be more realistic to have the target have a 70% chance of defending themselves compared to a 30% chance of stealth success.
2 - Make an opt in/opt out system for stealths. Certain people, myself included, never want to make stealths - it doesn't interest me. My suggestion is that people can choose to opt out of the stealth system altogether, which means they cannot be stolen from however they can also not steal anything. Maybe this could be a decision that you can only change once an IC year or something, to prevent people turning 'off' stealths once they have stolen something from someone else?
3 - Make it more skill based. To me, stealing something should be earned - you shouldn't be able to throw up a 100 word post and get what you want based on luck. Maybe instead of a riddle, the character has to describe how they go about discovering info about the character they want to steal from? For example if someone wanted to steal from Vol, they could track his movements by appearing in his threads, then try and stealth him by hiding behind a tree and luring him with a pretty mare....idk xD But it would mean the stealer had to do some research and work, and change their strategy based on the character they're stealing from. Brute force won't get you anywhere with Vol, but also a clever plan might not work with intelligent folk like Rikyn etc.
4 - Furthter to the above, maybe stealths could be judged based on a combo of how clever the thief is in their attempt, and also on how the target reacts? So if Vol was being stealthed, but he set up golems to keep watch for him and kept his back to a tree, he'd earn points for being harder to steal from. Idk it's a very basic idea but could work with some more fleshing out?
Thanks for reading and I really hope you guys don't think I'm being negative because that's not the intention. I really like this new site and you've done a fantastic job so I hope you're open to feedback on systems that could maybe be tweaked :)
