Poll + Bonus Dev Discussion - Multiboxing

LieutenantToast

Glorious Ashes community - it's time for another Dev Discussion! Dev Discussion topics are kind of like a "reverse Q&A" - rather than you asking us questions about Ashes of Creation, we want to ask YOU what your thoughts are.

Our design team has compiled a list of burning questions we'd love to get your feedback on regarding gameplay, your past MMO experiences, and more. Join in on the Dev Discussion and share what makes gaming special to you!

This bonus Dev Discussion topic came directly from community feedback during our recent AMA with Creative Director Steven Sharif! Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the thread and/or poll below.

Bonus Dev Discussion - Multiboxing
What are your thoughts on allowing multiboxing, and why? If multiboxing is allowed, are there restrictions that you would prefer to be in place? How do you prevent false positives on enforcement for families and friends who play from the same home?

Multiboxing - Playing multiple separate characters at the same time.

Current Intrepid stance - Players are allowed to own multiple accounts, but may not launch multiple game clients from the same computer. Players may not use any software to automate character actions or mimic keystrokes.

Keep an eye out for our next Dev Discussion topic regarding quest breadcrumbs!

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Gumdrops

I think we need more multiboxing threads

Songcaller

Thank you, Toast. It's been a widely debated topic. The ball has started rolling. Awesome sauce.

Nagash

oh interesting

Cold 0ne FTB

Gumdrops wrote: »

I think we need more multiboxing threads

Perhaps we should multi-box more multi-box threads? But in all seriousness I think Intrepids solution for this issue is fair compromise.

WMC51

Current Intrepid stance - Players are allowed to own multiple accounts, but may not launch multiple game clients from the same computer. Players may not use any software to automate character actions or mimic keystrokes.

This is all you can do. There isn't a way to stop it so any rules against it only hurt the people who follow the rules.

Hell, I say make second accounts cheaper so I can let my wife and kids play. 15 for first, 10 for second, 5 for each additional.

Aeneas

Changed my opinion, I am totally happy with current policy.

Krojak

The current stance is the correct one.

Alpha Soul

I think I am in favor of the current intrepid stance. You can own multiple accounts, but you cannot launch multiple game clients from the same machine.

Couple this with the "No Macros" rule I think this is the best way to tackle this issue and adhere to the spirit, one person per account.

While I would love to say absolutely no mutli boxing, the problem is enforcement. I think too many false positives will come up in the attempt to enforce beyond that.

Roymachine

I believe that running multiple accounts on multiple computers (or instances thereof) is going to be hard to work around regardless of the stance. Making it work inside of that (no mimicking software) is likely the most realistic stance that can be taken.

Tuljan

current stance is the perfect choice

tyrantrexx

I honestly don't think Multiboxing is a good idea. As we have seen, some people can go crazy with it having up to 50 additional characters which could definitely sway any battle for nodes or in open world pvp. While that could be rare, the fact it can happen potentially and be abused to such an egregious level should be considered regardless.

LuckyGeek

After listening to the AMA, and to others, I agree with the current stance. Seems like the best option.

Hibraim

Multi boxing should be allowed. How are people of the same household meant to play together?

greygoose

This is all that can be done, gonna have two accounts in my own household

NoeSparks

i def agree. i know ill be using 2 computers

Leouch

IMHO multiboxing is cancer BUT! as long as there is no automation(look at wow multiboxing where you control 40 characters at once) it is fine and do not ruin game for everyone else.

Cypher

WMC51 wrote: »

Current Intrepid stance - Players are allowed to own multiple accounts, but may not launch multiple game clients from the same computer. Players may not use any software to automate character actions or mimic keystrokes.

This is all you can do. There isn't a way to stop it so any rules against it only hurt the people who follow the rules.

Hell, I say make second accounts cheaper so I can let my wife and kids play. 15 for first, 10 for second, 5 for each additional.

I second this, although I suppose the referral system is already sort of going to be a family discount. Just refer the family members to each other and you get a discount.

Bottom line, do whatever you can to make the lives of scumbags difficult without making things bad for the rest of us!

Hsiubn

I agree with the current stance on multi boxing. Because of Ashes crafting system and general stance on progression the abuse that Multibox has on other games will not be as prevalent.

badtaste

As long as i can play with my family, i dont mind either way..

Xetnal

It depends, not allowing multi-boxing by any means would mean that me and my GF cant play on the same Wi-fi? If thats the case then I 100% agree with the devs in this matter, although measures against exploiters should be severe.

Dmonlrd

Multiboxing has never been the downfall of any MMO as far as I know. While botting certainly is an issue, multi boxers are such a minuscule part of the population that they don't have enough influence to genuinely affect the game. WoW has allowed it for ages and it hasn't been part of the reason for the negative in the game.

tugowar

Samiel Aurous

I think the stance that intrepid is taking is fine, as long as botting and the like is not allowed. As someone that had multiple people on one house playing the same games, i can tell you now the biggest issue with playing a new game is making sure we could play it together on the same network.

caedwyn

@LieutenantToast i can't thank you enough for making a poll, but Are we sure people cant multi-vote ? 😅

nick10281

as much as i agree with households with multiple players i just cant accept the high risk of solo players with 5 accounts and junky PCs botting, farming, and swaying votes in the cities. the last one is the biggest to me. oh and pocket healers from archeage. hated those in PvP.
@Nagash im best necro.

Asri

Granted there isn't a viable way to stop manual multi-boxing, but I don't feel it should be officially sanctioned. It adds absolutely nothing good to the experience of the overall playerbase to have people multibox farming nodes or other uses.

Hakurai

I think that if you try and restrict it anymore than the current stance, you risk causing issues for family play, for people who sign up with multiple family members in the same house.

How would you vet their accounts to make sure it isn't the same person using each account, if for example I am paying for both my own, my wifes, and my daughters accounts and we all want to play the game together, our IP and payment methods would be the same on all acounts and we'd all have the same last names.

Any restrictions that went above the current stance would involve Intrepid being forced to block more than one connection from our IP? or block my payment method from opening multiple accounts? If you'd only restrict making multiple accounts based on the name used to register the account, it would be easy to make fake accounts.

If you used further restrictive methods, it'd punish people playing from the same household.

So IMO, Intrepids solution is the best.

Edit: To add, Macro blocking is basically all you need to do to stop the most harmful form of multiboxing - it prevents people from running around with 5 characters oneshotting people which creates an unfair advantage.

With a lack of macros and same-pc gameplay, the most someone could achieve is to just gather/craft/trade/monitor auction houses while the other account is used to play, or one account is used to spy. And to that end, no amount of restrictions will stop a determined player from multiboxing in that way, pushing heavier and heavier restrictions to prevent that would cause more harm than good, IMO.

Edit again: After spending more time thinking on the subject, I summarized my thoughts in this video: https://youtu.be/fhTy69Bk-f0

Darkann

I just don't see the point of authorizing multi-boxing. Most multi-boxing players do that with automation tools or keystroke duplication in order to make their life easier.
In a game such as Dofus (turn-based strategy MMO), I get it, it makes your life easier and you don't even need automation tools. But for an action based MMO like Ashes of Creation, I'm not sure I see the point if you are not going to play both characters at the same time with external tools.

Chillus

If everyone had the resources to multibox they would. There is no reason for me to not multibox if I had the money to spend on it, it provides an advantage to players who are able to commit the money to this game. If I want to spend my own money on this game then it should be on cosmetics or in-game sub time, not toward re-buying a sub to provide an advantage for my own personal use. Even though it is somewhat convoluted, this is a P2W system and does hurt the integrity of the game. Solo players who don't have extra money to spend on the game are especially hurt by multiboxing. The only good to multiboxing I see is that if you are desperate to preform better solo and you have the money, you can achieve that, but by that same coin you take away part of the social aspect of the mmo.