Should we be reporting people we see macroing?
Should we be reporting people we see macroing?
Here we go all over again.... You don't fix a broken game mechanic by punishing the players. Skill gain system base on repetitive simple actions just begs people to create macros. Darkfall partially fixed this by making skill gain against NPC's 3x to 6x faster which made it more rewarding to play the game rather than afk macro in the player cities. However, offline/time-based/Eve style skill gain system would completely eliminate the need to macro. It's the lesser of two evils in my opinion.
Bottom line: If there is significant gain to be had by macroing, players will find a way to do it without getting reported or banned. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't played a game with a skill system like this.
Another thing to think about, do you really want Xsyon to have to pay for more GM's because they are spending all their time chasing down reports of people AFK macroing? Or, would you rather have that GM's time freed up for let's say NPC invasions controlled by GMs?
The only things I've seen that are even 'worth' macroing, is fishing (where all you end up with, it a ton of fish, that probably will never get completely used up) and Hiding (which just makes it so you can be a bit sneakier... and slow as hell). Most of the crafting professions (aside from Basketry) would need to use some form of storage to keep items that they want to craft with. Every time you craft something, storage containers close, thus making it so that if you were macroing, you'd only be able to do it for so long... like 15 minutes, or so, due to weight restrictions. Now, if someone was keeping an eye on the progress of their macro, they wouldn't really be afk... So, afk macroing isn't exactly a fruitful thing, especially due to the soft skill-cap.
P.S.- As far as I can tell, noone would gain any sort of edge in combat, from macroing, since you have to actually hit a creature or person, to level combat skills. Also, if someone did macro say, hiding, to 100, they would reach the soft skill-cap much faster and they would only end up with one really good, but generally pointless, skill.
Or you could make it if your food and water levels deplete completely for a long period of time, your character will die. This would prevent people from leaving the game on for long periods of time and macroing. Of course, just a thought.
This is actually a very good idea to help reduce the amount of macro use. Only problem is that it is not hard to script in the eating and drinking. I do however agree that lack of food and water should result in reduced skill gains and possibly a debuff of some sort for the short term. And death with skill loss for long term.
As to my previous comment about Not carring about botters during testing; That is just another aspect of a game that needs to be tested. I do not think it is something that needs to be blown out of proportion and turned into a witch hunt. I am sure that there are plans in place to combat botters/macros, and what better time to test them out than now. I say, let them macro, let what ever program is in place to locate or counter a Bot do it's job. Just don't go to the Tweeks and Suggestions and Post about seeing someone you think may or maynot have been using a macro. My comment about who cares was only directed towards the point that it was posted, where it was, when it was.
I Personally support Xsyon in preventing and punishing players for cheating. After launch, any members of my Tribe caught botting/cheating will be turned into the Development Team or Moderators and Kicked from the tribe.