127 Quarter DC Cap
Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 1:14 am
So, before anything I want to acknowledge that some of the behavior I'm going to mention is probably a Be Nice violation. Some of this is also going to be a criticism of the effectiveness with which the rules are enforced but that's not meant as a condemnation of the staff who already work hard (especially for volunteers). That said, while I understand that things like incentivizing reset rushing are a concern I thought overclocking locks was an okayish middleground even if things like the price could have been more fair.
I'm sure for a lot of players it's rarely a problem either way but, having seen a few groups with quarterbreakers at odds with eachother as well as at odds with groups that lacked quarterbreakers, my limited observation of qb spam (whether it involves actual theft or not) is that the spammer and/or their faction is rarely if ever punished (sometimes for practical reasons like fairness towards members of those groups) and if they are then it's never (again this is just my observation) in a timely enough manner for the resolution to actually matter to the victim. So the good that reporting does in the end is debatable as far as the reporter is concerned.
Having the option to overdial locks seemed fair to me since, even if it probably should have been more expensive, for some homes and guildhouses being quarterbroken and then repairing your locks can cost over 200k by itself (obviously we could also be talking about if the locks should break at all). Another reason it was nice is that, and I realize this is just my personal opinion, I don't think it's very interesting rp for a faction or hostile individual to be able to just roll without restraint on enemy characters at all times repeatedly even in a staggered fashion to abide Be Nice. Further, since there's no mechanical limit on how often the same quarterbreaker can be used to enter somewhere it creates a paradigm where once you have a qb the target has no real option for mechanical counterplay anymore besides surrendering to demands (this is before even addressing the informational value of clues, as described in the updated rules, being close to nil since you could already check your dcs to verify).
The issue of counterplay goes beyond just concerns about factions. An individual qb might not be able to fight well but that rarely matters since they can simply time their particular break-ins to the target's offline hours. Again, I realize some of this is governed by Be Nice but I've never seen that to matter in time for the victim and it does little to prevent the same patterns from emerging through different individuals in the future.
And so, I think at the very least a more costly mechanical option for especially concerned characters would be a good thing. I realize there have recently been some changes to quarterbreaking rules but in my opinion the context of those changes reinforces my point in that for even those changes to occur the issue had to become so frequent and common that there was widespread discontent.
Finally, if overclocking locks/traps is to stay removed I think there should at least be some sort of new counterplay mechanic added in its place so that victims of overly aggressive qbing can at least do something besides sit on their hands when being qbed to a rulebreaking degree. At minimum, I think that if things are going to stay like this then either the cost of repairing locks (or the need to do so) in the aftermath of being quarterbroken should be re-evaluated or there should be a mechanical timer that imposes a limit on how often the same qb can break into a quarter.
I'm sure for a lot of players it's rarely a problem either way but, having seen a few groups with quarterbreakers at odds with eachother as well as at odds with groups that lacked quarterbreakers, my limited observation of qb spam (whether it involves actual theft or not) is that the spammer and/or their faction is rarely if ever punished (sometimes for practical reasons like fairness towards members of those groups) and if they are then it's never (again this is just my observation) in a timely enough manner for the resolution to actually matter to the victim. So the good that reporting does in the end is debatable as far as the reporter is concerned.
Having the option to overdial locks seemed fair to me since, even if it probably should have been more expensive, for some homes and guildhouses being quarterbroken and then repairing your locks can cost over 200k by itself (obviously we could also be talking about if the locks should break at all). Another reason it was nice is that, and I realize this is just my personal opinion, I don't think it's very interesting rp for a faction or hostile individual to be able to just roll without restraint on enemy characters at all times repeatedly even in a staggered fashion to abide Be Nice. Further, since there's no mechanical limit on how often the same quarterbreaker can be used to enter somewhere it creates a paradigm where once you have a qb the target has no real option for mechanical counterplay anymore besides surrendering to demands (this is before even addressing the informational value of clues, as described in the updated rules, being close to nil since you could already check your dcs to verify).
The issue of counterplay goes beyond just concerns about factions. An individual qb might not be able to fight well but that rarely matters since they can simply time their particular break-ins to the target's offline hours. Again, I realize some of this is governed by Be Nice but I've never seen that to matter in time for the victim and it does little to prevent the same patterns from emerging through different individuals in the future.
And so, I think at the very least a more costly mechanical option for especially concerned characters would be a good thing. I realize there have recently been some changes to quarterbreaking rules but in my opinion the context of those changes reinforces my point in that for even those changes to occur the issue had to become so frequent and common that there was widespread discontent.
Finally, if overclocking locks/traps is to stay removed I think there should at least be some sort of new counterplay mechanic added in its place so that victims of overly aggressive qbing can at least do something besides sit on their hands when being qbed to a rulebreaking degree. At minimum, I think that if things are going to stay like this then either the cost of repairing locks (or the need to do so) in the aftermath of being quarterbroken should be re-evaluated or there should be a mechanical timer that imposes a limit on how often the same qb can break into a quarter.
