Guise of the Deceiver - Possible Camp Solution?

[ApothicNightmare]

I was wondering if, given the current situation regarding extremely high wait times for the "Guise of the Deceiver", The developers could come up with another solution for people who were unable to get the item in time.

What if we temporarily created an NPC, located in maybe WC (just to keep it central) that offered a quest for the item, doable by people from level 35+?; the same level of the camp to keep it fair.

If that idea would be too much of an extra tax on the devs time, maybe a vendor? Id hate for people to think they can just buy desired items but just as a temporary measure as a, throw em a bone, kind of move to help de-stress us from all this lock-down going on in the world. Maybe a rare drop on mid-high level npcs like the Box of Abu-Kar?

I know many may think I'm way out of line but I just offer this as a suggestion to help us all out during a real awful time in the world. I'd love to hear opinions.

[Kavious]

Seems like a lot of work when they could just adjust the spawn rate/drop chance

Dont see anything happening though. Not everyone will be able to obtain these items

[Hazek]

No, camp it like the rest of us.

[Jimjam]

Fix the exploit of classes which can’t equip it are clicking it from inventory. These exploiters are blocking genuine bards and rogues from a BiS item.

[Christina.]

Make the manastone no drop. Solution complete lol

[ravinz]

Fix the exploit of classes which can’t equip it are clicking it from inventory. These exploiters are blocking genuine bards and rogues from a BiS item.

Bards and rogues will have the mask available forever. No one is keeping them from it.

[Jimjam]

Bards and rogues will have the mask available forever. No one is keeping them from it.

It won’t be bis forever though. Selfish exploiters hogging items they can’t equip. It’s worse than soulfires!

[Indecisive]

I'll save you some time dreaming, OP; it's not gonna happen. If you want the mask, you've got a little less than a month left to poopsock it. After that, it's gone forever on this server.

[BlackBellamy]

Oh god another "solution" thread where the developers have to create some sort of custom mechanism where the OP gets their /list item.

You're not going to get your Guise, OP. People who wear the Guise either got lucky or put in the time. You got a month to work on the former cause apparently the latter is not going to happen.

[Octopath]

Participation trophy’s man ....

[Bristlebaner]

Participation trophy’s man ....

[Picked]

The /list function has been a good implement I think. It's spawned one minor problem, there are more people obtaining these items that aren't really qualified to get them. For example a level 25 can go sit in Drelzna's room for jboots and eventually get them no matter what. Where as without the list command they would have to join the group to get in and get the item. With this dynamic more people would not camp the item. But seeing as how it's something they can do solo and on their own time the demand for the item has become even greater.

I'm a fan of the list command. I think it has solved more problems then it has created. And I like it this way, It's just one of the drawbacks that allows more people to essentially "camp" the item than before. Knowing your turn will come up eventually changes the mentality of the person seeking the item. Whereas before you weren't guaranteed anything.

[sajbert]

Looking at the timeline I'd expect Sol Ro to hit at around May or so. If this is the case, well, we're only talking about a couple of weeks left until the legacy items are gone. I personally feel like it'd be better to just stick it out at this point.

However, for the future if we'll have need for a /list system again I would like to see changes.

The current /list system rewards account sharing, unhealthy gameplay and makes /list items near impossible if not impossible to get for anyone with regular work and/or responsibilities.

I would personally prefer a system where you can enter a list and after X hours you are given an equal chance to win the item dropped. This way you CAN take a break and do it in sessions instead. It promotes healthier gameplay and doesn't reward account sharing (why is this allowed to begin with?). Yes it does open up the camp to more people and yes someone can get burned by the RNG-gods but since when is RNG something new to Everquest and item drops?

Just my 2 coppers.

[Krone90]

The only list iv done so far is J boots =), and it was a pleasant list camp with some good people =) all the other list stuff i can push to the wayside

[Krone90]

O and love ya Kingdom and your nice members =) you make ST look like children =)..... see ST this is how you do a guild take note ;)

[knucklehead]

No, camp it like the rest of us.

Not everybody got a chance to buy enough socks before shelter in place.

I don't think "give out a rain check" is the answer, but there might be one for those of us who don't do massive amounts of cocaine.

[loramin]

The real problem here is that lists started out as a classic, very EverQuest-y solution. Waiting your turn is 100% a reasonable way to share content, and has been one of the "sharing mechanisms" in EQ since the start.

But, where it went south was letting lists last longer than 24 hours. Live GMs (the original "list enforcers") never enforced a list beyond 8 hours, let alone beyond 24, because they were employees who had to clock out. P99 ignoring that is what lead to the current "not sleeping" and "sharing accounts" mechanisms ... but those are terrible sharing mechanisms that reward 0.01% of the server at the expense of everyone else who just wants to play a game.

However, it's super easy to fix, using another "sharing mechanism" as a model: player agreements. Player agreements do not reward the sleep-less or those with real life partners: they reward the lucky and the patient. If you believe EQ is a game for all of us, and not just the sleepless/partnered players, then (IMHO) you should see this as the way EQ is supposed to work, because then anyone who plays the game has a chance to get those items, if they're lucky/patient enough. And again it would not be hard at all to switch from a "no sleep and account sharing" model to a "patience and luck" model.

All it would take is a list cap: after X people are on the list, you can't /list (where X might vary by camp, but would be a small number that would only very rarely result in 24+ hour waits). Instead, you can only /waitforlist. Whenever a list slot opens up, if you're in zone, everyone waiting for the list gets a "roll", and if you win that roll you go on the list.

IMHO it would be a much more classic solution than this no sleep/account sharing solution we currently have. But ultimately I think it comes down to "casuals" vs. "competitors", and what "competition" means to the people in charge.

The powers that be here are huge on "competition", and they've traditionally defined that competition as "a willingness to do things most other players won't" (eg. not sleep for a week). Historically they've seemed to prefer that idea of competition over "a willingness to do the same exact thing everyone else does, but stick with it longer or be luckier" (ie. the way it is if you try to win Golden Efreeti Boots, a Fungi Tunic, or any other non-list item).

But I haven't given up hope either: the fact that the staff does enforce player agreements, and even the fact that they made /lists at all, still makes me think that someday they might embrace a broader idea of competition that lets everyone "compete for the special stuff" the same way they compete for the "non-special stuff" (like Fungis) ... instead of making those items special giveaways to 0.01% of the server.

[Cen]

No, camp it like the rest of us.

I got mine when you got yours on my cleric, and trust me.. We didnt camp it at all lol

[fastboy21]

Don't you still have like a full month?

[Taiku]

How mad would everyone (who camped it) be if they just never removed these items from the loot tables as scheduled, I'm playing green super casually and only level 5, so I have no opinion on it either way!

[Jimjam]

/waitforlistAs a Brit the suggestion of queueing to join a queue excites me greatly.

[loramin]

As a Brit the suggestion of queueing to join a queue excites me greatly.

ROFL :D

I mean, I suppose they could eliminate /list and just have /waitforlist (or just change /list to work like "/waitforlist"), and only ever have one person on the list at a time. That would also work.

I was just trying to suggest the smallest change possible to the current system. The really important part (in my book) is going from "special giveaway to people willing to do what no one else will" to "everyone on the server who wants it has a chance ... but there's no 'welfare pixels' either, they have to keep trying until they 'win'".

[Picked]

Don't you still have like a full month?

Yes there is probably a month, there could be two, or three and it still wouldn't change the way things are. The people who don't have 36-120 hours straight to sit in front of a computer aren't going to all of a sudden develop that kind of time to play. Since the server has progressed through time these lists have only gotten longer and longer. They aren't going to get any shorter until the items are taken out of the game.

The problem is I see is the people who have 3-4 pairs of jboots or 3 manastones on their account or accounts and are still on the list for more. Or they are helping their guild mates gets more. Leaving the list so long that people like me have absolutely no shot at ever getting the item. With Jboots eventually i will just farm the plat and buy it from someone in EC. I have come to that realization already. I'm not upset at the fact I will never get these items the way they are intended to be gotten either. It's what the staff has decided to do and I think it's better than letting people fight over spawn after spawn. I'm sure it's made the GMs life a lot better than the alternative.

I'm not complaining how the system is, I don't really need a manastone, or rubi bp. Jboots I do need, and have needed so that is a bit of a pain. But I just go buy sow pots and call it a day. I'm somewhat of a casual player so I've been through this on blue and it doesn't make me want to play any less. It's just this when people say "well you still have this long to do it" That really doesn't matter. With this current setup it's going to be this way until they are taken out of the game or replaced by other means.

[ApothicNightmare]

Great feedback, thank you all for sharing your opinions. If nothing else comes from it, this gave me a sense of what a part of the P99 community feels like in regards to what I thought might have been an improvement/work around.

For now I'll /list up with the rest of you and (because I'm sure we will all need it) the first case of black burrow stout is on me!

[fastboy21]

The way I look at it is that these mechanics will improve over time as devs hone them to meet their goals.

The alternative would have been a total shit show though...