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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
but
if they don't allow it seems like more people would want to play this game.
I don't really think this many people defending multi-boxing actually mutlibox but if that is the case well ...damn I better get my credit card out.
Like if you multibox 1 or 2 extra accounts would you not play this game if they don't allow it?
Some people have brought up that someone can make another account, buy a freehold, then give their main account permission to use it. Such a thing sounds ludicrous to me because I can't afford to pay for more than one account but perhaps Intrepid could keep an eye for things like 5 accounts from the same IP. If a group of Youtubers or roommates or something need more, then it can be investigated?
I don't know. But overall, my point is that from this feedback they can make contingency plans for if their current stance doesn't work out or needs more restrictions.
However I am against making all multiboxing formally forbidden. We all know that some people will use it anyway and covering it up is not that hard ("it was my wife and kids"), so this would straight up provide advantage to people who don't care about following rules, and why would you want that...
I would personally like to see no multiboxing, but I know that it is impossible to track down with 100% legit cases. So investing resources into thing which cannot be controlled feels silly.
The only way I could see it working is if there is reward for reporting multibox/botter and getting reward if report was legit. In this case community itself will clean it up.
The simple answer is make the game systems work in a manner that the time spent multiboxing is equally or less profitable than other ways you spend your time playing the game. Make it so that the freehold system isn't just like printing free money(WoW Garrison style).
This makes it so those who enjoy playing the game in this multitasking, micro economic way, can do so. While others can enjoy farming efficiently on one character, or grouping up with other players to delve into more difficult content.
Keep in mind with completely open PvP, it is going to be very difficult for a multiboxer using multiple input devices to defend all their characters.
Isn't there a away to track that? Via vicinity and cast log?
Also I have members you are semi disabled but still want to play. So we set up 3rd party cast sequence macros to help them out.
Example one of my officers is an electriction. Who was working on a sub power board when some one turn the power back on...... he's a bit crispy now and his left hand does not work to well so we help him out with casting macros to still be able to play with us.
Just my thoughts
Phalafax
P.s who else has been messed up by 5 multiboxing shamans in wow. Instant lava burst ftw......
So no, multi-boxing should not be allowed in my opinion. I don't know how could you prevent false positives (multiple people playing on the same network). But if in the end, you decide to allow multi-boxing, make servers that allow multi-boxing and servers that DON'T allow it, please I don't wanna get fucked over or have a handicap compared to them, because yes, multi-boxing is a paid advantage.
But if I can choose I would prefer strictly against multiboxing.
Now main problem is how to enforce it. It is not that difficult to obfuscate connection to look like completely different player from server perspective even on same computer.
Maybe it is great opportunity to use nowadays quite popular big data and machine learning.
Gather information about connection like IP, hardware, resolution ... (basically concept of "web browser fingerprinting"). Having list of most used VPNs and their IP ranges. People will of course use VM etc. but with enough data there is potential to detect patterns of heavy multiboxers.
Combine this with behavioral info of players. AI could be trained during alfas and betas and continually be improving after game goes live.
Basically use big data to detect patterns of most players and flag deviations that would be investigated by active GM in game. By this AI would be actively trained and getting more robust.
I am counting on the fact that if anyone is multiboxing it won't be as fluid as normal player. Of course false positives will be common, especially in the beginning of the system. That's why active GM is important.
But after time there is potential for considerable success rate. And if so, after time, game could get reputation as not possible to multibox in it (or not).
But I guess if auto attack is not a thing in this game, usage of macros and scripting will be strictly punished and overall design of the game will discourage use of multiboxing, it is quite possible it won't be that much of a problem at all.
We'll see.
There's quite a difference between respectfully disagreeing with the devs and saying that they're mindcontrolling their community and calling those who disagree with you clowns.
not big enough sample size yet
This is a poll and discussion to see how people feel, not a vote to determine what they do.
yeah so gold sellers get a discount
This is what usually happens in mmorpgs.
Player A multi-boxes. Player A has twice the resources you do. Player A has reached top gear quicker than you.
Enter Player B. Player B, didn't multi-box. Player B has twice the resources you do. Player B has reached top gear quicker than you.
And then there's you. Still struggling through level 30.
You encounter Player B, and die, then start raging how they're cheating when the simple truth is they reached there by either being a better player, or spending more time than you did. Now you have no way to prove that they did in fact cheat, nor you can prove that they didn't cheat.
If you want to compete against the best of the best, you need to dedicate serious amount of time to this game. If you can't do that, then I don't see a reason why this would be an issue AT ALL.
It provides an advantage over normal players given by monetary means. It can strongly influence the economy and it can lead to major griefing of other players.
The restrictions put in place are really good and will definitely stop many from multiboxing. Another measure I could think about is have player key-presses monitored and compared. When multiple characters simultaneously press the same buttons in an unusual manner, either have automatic suspensions or which would probably be more reliable, have a GM check them out and if needed warn/suspend them.
I can't think of any other possible way to stop people from multiboxing but even if it's just the two restrictions you already have, it shouldn't be too big of a problem.
There should be zero multiboxing. Under no circumstances should it be acceptable for players to run multiple instances of the game and simultaneously control all of those characters from a single machine. In 15 years of playing MMOs, every time I've encountered multiboxers in games it has always been an absolute mess with various forms of griefing. They are generally regarded as an annoyance, only negatively impacting those they come across.
Multiboxing from separate machines. I don't know of any method by which to effectively multibox from separate machines. Maybe I'm not aware of a known method of doing this that results in an efficacy similar to that of multiboxing from a single machine. If that is the case I don't support multiboxing from separate machines. The number of machines would be irrelevant and is essentially the same as a single machine.
As far as I can tell, Intrepid's current stance is the correct one.
I hope they take everything with piles of salt. We lash out like abused dogs, interpid knows we care that much and try to trust them bit by bit. (warning loud!)
As others have said, this is the most you can do without hurting normal players. In an ideal world AoC would have no multiboxing, but that's not really possible.
There is literally no effective way to stop/prevent multiboxing in a way that does not give a lot of false positive results. Stop it.
Transactions between characters can be monitor and sus activity can be cought. Apart from that there isn't really much they can do if someone has separate machines and multiple accounts.
This right here, is the main reason I am against multiboxing. I also tried out the L2 classic servers and this completely ruined the experience for me. There was nearly no reason to main one of the more niche classes because someone around always had an alt in the party.
What I am worried about in Ashes with multiboxing, is mainly on the economy side. If someone has the resources to multibox, would they be able to level up multiple professions at once? can they gather twice as fast? How large of an economic impact could they make?
I think the answer given to us by Intrepid is sufficient in that I doubt there will be many multiboxers if those rules are in place. I just wanted to provide my experience with the negative side of multiboxing.
This would be great! I like the idea of a Family Plan. I think a 20%-30% subscription discount for additional family accounts would be a nice perk. I suppose they would need to be linked somehow, though. Same credit card or bank account, perhaps.