Hide Nameplate/Disguise option?

virilikus

It would be super cool if a player could work towards an item or buff that allows them to temporarily obscure their nameplate from others. Like a potion of disguise or something to that effect. Maybe even choose a "disguise name" to operate under.

This would allow someone that has made a good name for themselves to also work towards a secret second life for RP reasons. If you decide to kill or harass others they don't immediately know your name or who to call out, they could just report where you are and try to give a description of your character.(Obviously GMs would be able to see past this for things that need real reporting on.)

There could also be an item that exists to erase the buff as well. So you'd have to be careful whom you use it around.

Edit: Just to clarify, I'm talking about the name itself. Not the health bar or anything else. Just the words of the name.

Songcaller

I've asked for Name Plates to be hidden for Bounty Hunters. Edit: When Bounty Hunters flag.

I do not think it will happen because IS have said Name Plates will degrade instead of Health Bars. Edit: In PvP.

I don't think Name Plate Concealment and Name Plate Health can be done together.

Caeryl

Health should be visible in a general sense (aka Full, <75%, <50%, <25%, <10% visible indicators).

Name plates honestly shouldn’t be visible by default, just visible to Friends, Friends of Friends, Guildmates, and groups. Obviously if they’re Mayor, or in a position of power in that node, or part of a server first, or have some otherwise notable achievements to get “celebrity” status, then sure maybe they lose that anonymity, but some random joe isn’t going to have their name known through the realm.

If I instinctively knew the names of everyone I ever met, it’d make things a lot less awkward, but it sure as hell wouldn’t make any sense.

virilikus

Neurath wrote: »

I've asked for Name Plates to be hidden for Bounty Hunters. Edit: When Bounty Hunters flag.

I do not think it will happen because IS have said Name Plates will degrade instead of Health Bars. Edit: In PvP.

I don't think Name Plate Concealment and Name Plate Health can be done together.

Well the words could just be gone. Or alternatively, the potion of disguise could allow you to enter a different name temporarily.

virilikus

Caeryl wrote: »

Health should be visible in a general sense (aka Full, <75%, <50%, <25%, <10% visible indicators).

Name plates honestly shouldn’t be visible by default, just visible to Friends, Friends of Friends, Guildmates, and groups. Obviously if they’re Mayor, or in a position of power in that node, or part of a server first, or have some otherwise notable achievements to get “celebrity” status, then sure maybe they lose that anonymity, but some random joe isn’t going to have their name known through the realm.

If I instinctively knew the names of everyone I ever met, it’d make things a lot less awkward, but it sure as hell wouldn’t make any sense.

Yeah if you can't view names by default that would be great. Maybe only when partied or sharing an organization(friend list, guild, etc)

Lfmr

virilikus wrote: »

Well the words could just be gone. Or alternatively, the potion of disguise could allow you to enter a different name temporarily.

I might be worried about players abusing this to frame other players, or using it to circumvent punishment, MMO's are a very social game, and if you go around scamming, killing and trolling other players, people talk and soon no one will want to play with you. This is a very healthy system in a social game, and allowing people to get past it would be a design mistake IMO.

darthaden

Not a fan of this idea. People would use this to gank and run. If you decide to WPVP you shouldn't be able to hide your name so you can quest in peace later without people hunting g you down for revenge

virilikus

darthaden wrote: »

Not a fan of this idea. People would use this to gank and run. If you decide to WPVP you shouldn't be able to hide your name so you can quest in peace later without people hunting g you down for revenge

This would exactly be its purpose. You would still hold onto corruption until you can clear it if the person you attack does not fight back. I think if there are ways to grind or obtain an item to do this then that is fine. It's something for players that want to occasionally go corrupt can use to hide their identity. Limited duration means they can't keep it up forever. So I think it remains in the vain of the corruption system. You'll still be marked on a bounty hunter's map.

Heartbeat

Being able to hide your name and health bar is fine, but when attacking someone said players health bar might appear on your HUD anyway since that's your "target", it only makes sense that if theres a method of hiding something, there's a method of revealing it that isnt cancerous like bdo flares. Having an item or armor piece or buff that hides your char info would be cool, there'll most likely be methods of revealing whats hidden anyway as a counter. If i'm correct one of the things shown early on was that certain areas of the world could be hidden and mages and rangers or scouts or w/e would have methods of revealing them, the same could probably be hidden and revealed but for players.

darthaden wrote: »

Not a fan of this idea. People would use this to gank and run. If you decide to WPVP you shouldn't be able to hide your name so you can quest in peace later without people hunting g you down for revenge

That's the point, people don't hide themselves for no reason, but with any method of hiding something, there's gotta be a method of revealing it, i.e if you kill them you can examine the body or you just get a system message saying who you killed in chat. Or an active or passive buff that "reveals what is hidden" or w/e it could be.

Personally I like the ability to disguise yourself, gives confrontations a sense of mystery, and if you kill them or find out who they are, it just makes it better when you get revenge and makes them look dumb in the process.

darthaden

Imo if your a player who earns a reputation as a ganker or your in a guild with a reputation of ganking you should own the consequences of that decision. If you dont want to deal with people specifically targeting you or your guild then don't give them a reason to. Players who've earned such a reputation shouldn't expect to be able to pve in peace simply because they're not in the mood for pvp at the moment

virilikus

darthaden wrote: »

Imo if your a player who earns a reputation as a ganker or your in a guild with a reputation of ganking you should own the consequences of that decision. If you dont want to deal with people specifically targeting you or your guild then don't give them a reason to. Players who've earned such a reputation shouldn't expect to be able to pve in peace simply because they're not in the mood for pvp at the moment

I think if it requires in-game work and grinding to get items that allow for said peace or disguise, then absolutely they should have that opportunity.

Players that don't, won't have any need to spend the time to gather said item/buff, so there is still a form of detriment to the disguised. And again, I think there should also be items obtainable to remove the buff or disguise, so players that want to counter this can. It adds more layers to the social aspect of the game with a really simple mechanic.

Lfmr

I feel like it sort of circumvents the natural social systems in an MMO, the coolest thing about your name and character is the reputation you build, people recognize others in their server, and this system just sort of enables griefers / scammers / ninja looters to do what they do without repercussion. I feel like it literally goes against the Risk VS Reward systems in the game.

Unknown

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Kilvorian

This is basically asking for the equivalent of Ghillie suits from BDO. Which in most peoples opinion is just an annoyance and takes fun away from open world pvp. You can counteract ghillies in BDO by changing gfx settings to make them glow red and stand out but why have something like that where you have to fiddle with gfx setting to reliably see another player. Overall I think this is not something that will add to the spirit of fun gameplay and should not be added.

virilikus

Kilvorian wrote: »

This is basically asking for the equivalent of Ghillie suits from BDO. Which in most peoples opinion is just an annoyance and takes fun away from open world pvp. You can counteract ghillies in BDO by changing gfx settings to make them glow red and stand out but why have something like that where you have to fiddle with gfx setting to reliably see another player. Overall I think this is not something that will add to the spirit of fun gameplay and should not be added.

Very different than ghillie suits as you will still be fully visible in every way. Your name will just be obscured so you can't be identified by name during the time of the buff.

I agree that ghillie suits from BDO are bad but that was just players messing with the visibility of the game.

GodsThesis

Kilvorian wrote: »

This is basically asking for the equivalent of Ghillie suits from BDO.

But in BDO, you can see who killed you in the logs and death screen. So it's actually not the same. The direct implications are also not the same because AoC seems far more social and reputation would matter more.

OP also suggested full anonymity from what I am reading, hence, "second life". Not a system message that reveals upon death.

I am not a fan of this though. I too would prefer this play-style have consequences associated with their name/reputation.

The potion idea seems far too abusable and can cause way too much needless drama. Sure it seems fine for RPers as you may suggest but for the general population? What's to stop me from changing my name to another player's. People would be getting ostracized for things they didn't do. It may sound cool but is it really good for gameplay?

While you may have think you have a good idea, it does not mean it will have good results or behave the way you think it will. If you think this will help you want to go occasionally corrupt, the even worse offenders (the griefers and whatnot), will take it many steps further than you do.

virilikus

GodsThesis wrote: »

Kilvorian wrote: »

This is basically asking for the equivalent of Ghillie suits from BDO.

But in BDO, you can see who killed you in the logs and death screen. So it's actually not the same. The direct implications are also not the same because AoC seems far more social and reputation would matter more.

OP also suggested full anonymity from what I am reading, hence, "second life". Not a system message that reveals upon death.

I am not a fan of this though. I too would prefer this play-style have consequences associated with their name/reputation.

The potion idea seems far too abusable and can cause way too much needless drama. Sure it seems fine for RPers as you may suggest but for the general population? What's to stop me from changing my name to another player's. People would be getting ostracized for things they didn't do. It may sound cool but is it really good for gameplay?

While you may have think you have a good idea, it does not mean it will have good results or behave the way you think it will. If you think this will help you want to go occasionally corrupt, the even worse offenders (the griefers and whatnot), will take it many steps further than you do.

I mean the initial idea was to just obscure the name. And if you can make a disguise name it could be subject to the limitations of not having the same name as another person. Surname or otherwise. That would be a pretty easy thing to avoid.

The purpose of it is that it is weird in the first place to just automatically be able to know someone's name.

There are consequences still in place. You'd still get corruption. You could still be tracked by bounty hunters. You would just have a method of getting around someone immediately knowing your name. It could also be something that takes time to obtain. If takes a reasonable amount of time to obtain you can't just do it all the time. This would also incentivize those that want to cause havoc all the time to maybe only do it when they can obtain one of these items.