In regard to the event "The Night Rogue Strikes"

[Kaityra]

Hello!

I really appreciate the effort that a GM puts into making any event but I personally think that this event is a slap in the face of anyone trying to play a rogue in this game. Sorry, but I think it is quite easy for a GM to give uber powers, e.g. appearing out of nowhere and disappear again at will or being able to freeze people, to any character he/she "plays". And now let's have a look at the abilities a player rogue has...nothing. But hey...I can just walk up to a character and state that I just appeared out of nowhere but I guess this would be called godmodding then, right?

With kind regards
Kaityra

[Colinb]

Hehe.... I gave up on playing a rogue because of lack of mechanics and the fact that is next to impossible to play a rogue fairly without upsetting everyone else(Personal Experience), well the Game doesn't have the mechanics to support such actions just yet to do that. But can't blame them for trying. And yeah it would be god modding if a player tried that without having some rules set and the other party agreeing to it.

[Illysia]

I was asked before the event started if I wanted to participate. I'm sure all players were. There was a preset agreement, not just them freezing anyone they choose. And there may be better opportunities in the future, just give it some time.

[Vonor]

As Illysia has mentioned it, we have contacted the players before freezing and teleporting them. I can't say for sure if we did for every player.

The event is a long term event, you might have noticed since when and for how long the guards are around and yesterday it was quite some time. You will have to see the event continue to understand how the rogue is able to do these things.

-the game is in development and the current features don't allow players to do such actions yet. But it is planned to give both sides, goodies and baddies chances to RP their chars proberly. There is already the skill "hide in shadows" (not yet working), there is also a dark way spell "shadow", these things could be used in RP's already. There also are thievery skills (also not working atm) which could be used RP wise. But remember, the other party could still think that you godmod, for OOC clarifications and to find possible agreements you could always use /tell and /group.

Who knows what the feature brings? Perhaps it brings approved guilds (see forum poll) or player government (another forum poll) or even player guards (see irc discussion with PS_Surveybot). And perhaps it even brings more useful spells for baddies or even enchanted items with some magical power (Not official, just a thought from me). Lets see what will come and in the meantime lets RP with what we already have

Vonor

[Under the moon]

Godmoding, people, god+mode+ing.

And there is a reason for it in this case. For one thing, let's say we take your typical rogue, and toss it into a group of your typical players. Five minutes of drama, players /tell all their buddies and guilds, tons of people show up to the -exact- spot the rogue is (even when it is out in the middle of nowhere in a -secret- rogue camp, tisk), and the 'event' is over before it starts with goodie characters monkey-piling the bad guy.

We have to give the event rogues/baddies some 'edge' typical characters do not have, or the events would be short-lived and silly. One well-leveled character can easily walk through the game and take out every single rogue there is without a sweat. We also put a fatal flaw in them which makes them vulnerable (something some players do -not- do). For those of you who have been following the event, you already have the answer, even if you do not know it.

Don't worry, there will be 'rogue' things and features in the future, but don't you think we should have a bug-free combat system to build on first? Exploits+rogue features = bad news.

[Dajoji]

Indeed. There are many things we can't do given the lack of mechanics. However, Settings and GM team are doing their best so the notion that there is a government, that there are laws and that there are criminals exist. For this, we have to make do and use the maps, commands, items and whatever we have. This means the players have to meet us half way, as it is required in every RP.

The result may not be perfect and things get tweaked as we find flaws or better ways to do things, but all in all, it's become very educational for us. We're learning first hand what kind of mechs we could use in the future for this kind of RP as well as developing game content around it, and that's a good thing. Keep your suggestions coming but keep in mind that this is sort of an "experimental treatment" and participants are our patient test group. It's like we're facing a big medical PS problem (player can't RP rogues or the presence of the law and government) and existing treatments (i.e. mechanics) aren't good enough. Then we have this idea and we decide to test it (i.e. Octarchal Crackdown, the Night Thief, The Hand of Law, etc.), but we have to use the resources we have. Along the way, we detect what works best and what kind of tools we need for better results, which means mistakes are inevitable, but if we didn't even try, we may never find a way to make rogue RPs and IC law enforcement possible. BTW, Like all experimental treatments, we only involve those who are willing to participate.

So what would you rather have: nobody doing anything to fast forward this kind of content and, thus, not being slapped on the face by anyone with the things you can't do (given that nobody will ever be able to do them); or have us experiment with mechanics, plots, and players so that this, rather important, aspect of the game can be developed?

[Kaityra]

Godmoding, people, god+mode+ing.

Thanks for the correction.

We have to give the event rogues/baddies some 'edge' typical characters do not have, or the events would be short-lived and silly.

Why? If you play your rogue properly like every player has to do at the moment, he will live as long (or not).

One well-leveled character can easily walk through the game and take out every single rogue there is without a sweat.

And what do you think a player rogue faces?

[Prolix]

It appears that your best solution, Kaityra is to try to join the GM team.

 Personally I am a little miffed that the victims have been preselected, unless of course it means that our rogue wanders around looking for a likely target and then /tells them before proceeding.  I spent a whole night (almost) wandering around with my torch and sword and saw nothing. It appears that I would have been better off standing around doing nothing. Oh well my idea would have likely enraged the dude anyway.

[Illysia]

We have to give the event rogues/baddies some 'edge' typical characters do not have, or the events would be short-lived and silly.

Why? If you play your rogue properly like every player has to do at the moment, he will live as long (or not).

One well-leveled character can easily walk through the game and take out every single rogue there is without a sweat.

And what do you think a player rogue faces?

The problem is that GMs get criticized way harsher than a player rogue would. Partially because they have GM powers and should be able "to do better" than a player.

Personally I am a little miffed that the victims have been preselected, unless of course it means that our rogue wanders around looking for a likely target and then /tells them before proceeding.  I spent a whole night (almost) wandering around with my torch and sword and saw nothing. It appears that I would have been better off standing around doing nothing. Oh well my idea would have likely enraged the dude anyway.

I'm pretty sure like targets are just chosen as they walk around. My character was sleeping in the tavern and out of the blue asked to participate.

[Rayken]

Yep.  Victims are not pre-selected, just screened for their willingness to participate.  Remember, you can't call anything that is settings approved, which all GM/Dev events are, Godmodding or Godmoding.  That would be like accusing a D&D DM of godmoding for making an NPC attack you with powers that you don't have.

[Prolix]

That is as I really expected. Wandering around with a torch and a sword in my hand likely would not make me appear to be a good target even if the dude was looking. It is entirely possible I was on at the wrong time anyway.

As for godmoding or whatever I have had a DnD GM drop 16 tons on my head that he invented just that moment and other less blatant things so nothing is impossible. The god modification occurs when the new powers are not predefined and just added at the spur of the moment.

I would suggest that if you are giving your creations powers that will never be available to players then it is godmoding. If they may possibly be given to players of sufficient rank, unless it turns out to be too unbalancing, that is a different story. As well, if you are creating a new God to which status a character can never aspire that is also different. And lastly if the power is not going to be available to players then there must be some kind of counter to it that will become available.

[Xillix Queen of Fools]

The details of the story will emerge and it will make more sense.

Cry to your mom I ain't interested. [Seriously I am sick of people coming from outside something that has takes a large group of volunteers a long time to put together and is very well thought out with some jaded sneer of a complaint and despoiling all the hard work that was put into the event. This kind of crap is what makes people quit the project. Instead whining about the state of the game or the nature of an event why not get involved. If you were to ask around among the unlawful types you would find that the event does in fact accommodate evil or lawless players also.]

For prolix the victims are just chosen for their isolation relative to others and remember the "Night Rogue" [Vileneck Ord] must be logged on the server to pick you.

[Illysia]

Not all characters are just mercilessly killed... Mine got away by cutting a deal. Try other tactics than killing, sometimes the result is hilarious.  Have fun with the event. I did and I usually hate robbing RPs. 

[Dreamcrafter]

I have to say, first of all, that I think this event has been generally awesome.  I honestly wander around at night with a torch, half-scared that the rogue will appear.   But what I wonder is, how can low-leveled characters get involved in events like this?  Seriously, it seems like you have to have all stats maxed out and skills super high to be effectively considered useful on the game right now.  I'm basing this on what others have told me, so I very sincerely would like advice on how to handle that problem.  I've got no issue with working my way up from lower to higher levels, but if everything is aimed at the uber-players, what about the newbies?  Are we just outta luck, or have I been misinformed?  I really hope it's the latter. 


Either way, love the game and love the event.  I love feeling like the world is alive and has something to really be interested in!

[Raa]

There also are thievery skills (also not working atm) which could be used RP wise.

Random thought here... but since there are a bunch of skills that should be working but don't, maybe you developer people should put up a page about skills that exist but don't work. So then people can use them in RP even though they're not ready yet mechanical-wise. It would only be fair. Most of the players don't have a clue what they're capable of doing. They only use what mechanics allows them.