/pickpocket

[Knuffeldraak]

So, here's a concern that has been rising up today, though most definetly not the last, nor the first.

As the title states, this is about the /pickpocket command. It allows players to steal from other players as long they've chosen the thief role, or are a VIP.

Now before going ahead, we can all agree to that when we first get access to this command, it is such a great thing for ourselves to use. But what we don't understand at that point yet, is how frustrating it is that somebody else is leeching on your welfare, and can't do anything of it.

But when we fall victim to it, then we suddenly come across quite some annoying features of this. The command is easily abuseable, can raise to herassment, and can trigger a server-wide irritation if one keeps pickpocketing without end. This is what is happening today.

I have talked to 4thshadow about this, and we can both agree that this thorn of the /pickpocket command needs to change, if not disappear. This is why I have the following idea(s) that you may select from in a poll. If you have your own idea, then please share .

1 - Keep it as it is.
2 - Reduce the amount of SS gained.
3 - Drastically increase the cooldown of it
4 - Prevent from the same person being targeted twice in a predefined time
5 - Create a storage for players to store SS on that cannot be pickpocketed
6 - Remove it alltogether

[Brendan D. Winter]

As I can't vote twice, I'm coming here to vote on 3 and 4.

[Laxxy]

I say 4,5,6 x3 xerxes kept pickpocketing panther

[4thshadows]

I'm not sure what I think of the command in terms of balance, the problem I see is how it can easily make new people dislike this server. I like the idea of preventing repeated targeting, but I feel like there might be a better way. What if the amount pickpocketed is based on a percentage of the total bank balance of the target. An upper limit on the amount that can be taken would prevent people from pickpocketing only the wealthiest, and a low or nonexistent lower limit would protect newer players.

Edit: Apparently it already is slightly percentage-based. Nevermind.

[youssefbsh]

I chose 1 4 and 5 lil nut raised alot of ss by /pickpocket and i wanted my taxes

[Temple Priest]

The pickpocket command right now is fine. If someone is repeatedly pickpocketing someone beyond them asking them to stop, preferably multiple times, thats considered harassing, and against server rules already.

[Knuffeldraak]

It's not only the herassing that's the problem. The point is that you get a serious lot of SS, from 50k up to 150k, and this is stolen directly from other members.

Imagine this coming at you when you're not level 100 yet. You need literally every SS you can get a hold on, SS-Farming as well has become harder with the new SS system. Suddenly, you're missing 250k SS out of the blue air, and need to spend another hour of grinding, for what somebody did to you with literally a few minutes.

As well, there is a big problem with vurnability. VIP's and Thief-classes are not so desired targets, but anyone else is a very big source of money. Why? Because they can't counter. They can't prevent, they can't do anything against it. Even even to fill within the terms below herassment, they can easily haul in millions of SS, literally stolen from other people on the server.

The SS dropping on PvP had dropped because people didn't like that they lost SS from strong players, in terms of overpowered/unbalanced play. So why exactly is a level 100 master thief pickpocketing a level 21 warrior any different?

Thiefing people is a disgusting way to make enemies. Even though it's within the game, I never use the /pickpocketing command anymore because I know people despise it. Right now, people are leeching off AFK people because they are defenseless (Xerxes and Lil Nut made tens of millions from pickpocketing Panther and Zoe when they were idle yesterday), and are also double-accounting by muling (transferring to another account) money just to make sure it doesn't get stolen.

[Temple Priest]

If i remember correctly, pickpocketing only takes so much based on your balance. If someone is getting pickpocketed for 100k then they should have enough money to spare. If it takes 50-100k from any player regardless, i can see where this is a problem, but otherwise, its fine. (Also just about every mod cares little to none about their ss once they get their account as they have various commands that allow them to get past the need for soul shards). About this muling thing, There is nothing wrong with that. Before this summer, i had about 4 accounts, and i used all of them. One for the rank, One for building, One for pvp, and one for storing ss. The thing is with the loss of ss, is that anyone can make extra accounts, and if a trustworthy person is on, you can ask them to transfer your ss to your 'bank' account. It has always been risky carrying a ton of ss around, and honestly, i think it makes the game more challenging and fun.

[Knuffeldraak]

Nope I'm sorry, pickpocketing is not entirely dependant on your current SS. Yes, the quantity is affected a bit, but it has a minimum cap of 50k (if level 100) if the user has less than 250k SS, and a maximum cap of 150k if the user has 7.5M SS. And on top of that, they can do this every 2.5 minutes! 2.4M per hour is an insane income (taken avaragely), we don't even have such rates anymore outside gambling since the SS overhaul in July 2015!

About the "muling" part, I do not know if that is actually true as of July 2015. Muling was one of the reasons of the big wealth spikes within the server, as people managed to find an untoucheable store of millions of SS. Even though there's nothing in the rules that disallows them from doing it, it IS exploiting the system in order to tackle a feature within the server. If SS was meant to be safe at all times, then SS-pickpocketing (as well as SS loss on death and SS-PvP, though those don't exist anymore) wouldn't even be applied.

Also, what I find mentionsworthy as well, is that we can't deny that all the actual rich people are either Thieves or VIP's. Not as much because they are long on the server (because I know plenty of people that aren't VIP yet are still not having 100M+), but because they can't do anything against it. You and I can easily type /pickpocket to whoever is pickpocketing us to steal whatever they took from us (maybe even more), but everyone else literally can't. They can't protect themselves, they can't counterattack, nothing. In all honesty, ever since July, I have yet to see anyone that isn't a thief, VIP or Staff that has more than 100M without having to thank another person for that.

We will need Flounder's or Panther's standpoint on the Muling point. Because in the end, it's an exploit; usage of an alternate account in order to evade effects of an official server feature. Theoritically it's the same as punishment-evading; you're using an alternate account to evade a server feature; a banishment or mute.

[RunnerNS]

Muling is anything but an exploit. Its like putting your money in a bank instead of carrying around a wallet. In fact its exactly that. I encourage people to use alternate accounts in order to protect items and ss, in the case of account corruption or a stolen password. The real issue here is when people use pickpocket as a targeting tactic for someone they dislike. I think the best way to stop this is make the chance of succeeding in a pickpocket lessen with each consecutive one on a single person. That would make more sense seeing as if you were pick pocketed in real life, you would be a lot more observant of it happening again. Other than that id have to agree with temple, Its a fine command the way it is.