Chardok exploitation hurting the spirit of the game

[Vermilion]

I was hesitant to post this because I hate drama over a video game, but people like this need to be called out and held accountable otherwise this behavior just continues.

TLDR: level 60 enchanters locking down Chardok with solo farming and trains. Claiming spawns by merely sitting afk (non agro, full spawns). Gathering trains and dumping on groups trying to dungeon crawl.

I've recently come back to the game, I played the week Everquest launched in 99 until Luclin came out. I understand the game has changed and people have found all kinds of loopholes, unique ways of soloing and raiding that werent around in 1999. No problems there at all. It's fun to use your class to it's highest ability to do things that were intended for groups or even raids. However, abuse of this is ruining the real intention and spirit of the game.

Case in point - Over the past few weeks myself and some friends and numerous random people just wanting to check out Chardok, have been creating a group a few nights a week to try and explore the dungeon. It's a challenging dungeon with a lot of unique features and is fun to crawl around in. Going here with a group feels like what EQ was made for. However, virtually every time we are here, there are solo 60 enchanters farming the desirable camps using an exploit to do things that were intended to be done by groups or raids. The problem isnt necessarily that they are doing this, although that could be argued. The problem is mainly that they are creating massive trains that prohibit groups from even going to certain areas of the dungeon. Many nights there is an enchanter broadcasting over /OOC that he is pulling Korocust room and that there will be a massive train, and that we have all "been warned". This is happening every 15 minutes, all night long and keeps us from even going to that area of the dungeon. Trust me we found out the hard way.

Ok sure, whatever, he is just one person locking down a whole section of the dungeon and he was already there and seems to always be there. We go somewhere else. We have been trying to figure out how to get to Herbalist and Overseer camps, not easy to do. Many nights and several attempts with mysterious trains being dumped on us and always a solo enchanter was just passing by moments before. Coincidence I'm sure.

Last night we finally make it to Herbalist as a full group, after a couple of hours forming up and fighting our way down the old school way. We see 2 enchanters sitting outside of the herbalist keep, both AFK. All mobs are spawned including the Herbalist PH. We try to speak with these enchanters and get no response, clearly afk. We do not pull the herbalist PH and instead go past to the overseer down the hall and clear that area out. We return to the Herbalist and these 2 are still AFK so we pull Herbalist PH and proceed to clear the area and keep it cleared for the next hour, killing the PH multiple times. 1 enchanter logs off, the other, named Gnobono, finally comes back from AFK and is surprised to see a group down there (the zone is typically empty other than the enchanters). This guy proceeds to try and explain how he has been camping this spawn for over 3 days and that he has put in all this "work" and that all he wants is that one spawn and implies that it still belongs to him because he can sit inside the room because he is not agro, but because we are all KOS and need to sit outside the room and pull, he has "line of sight" first therefore it belong to him. Laughable.

I go back and forth with him in tells explaining that we wont be there much longer and that the rules of the game dictate that he cannot claim this camp by merely posting up AFK and that we have been there over an hour keeping the place clear. When he sees that he is not getting his way and we continue to kill the respawns, he says he is done talking to us, gathers up a train and dumps it on us during the next keep respawn. He was clearly seen by our group with agro mobs chasing him, he is not KOS here, so the only way to gather agro mobs is to be intentional about it. They are dumped on us, and we have to evac after a couple of deaths.

This behavior is incredibly selfish and a shitty thing to do to a full group that are trying to play the game as intended. In all of the groups I've been in in Chardok, everyone unanimously agrees that this enchanter farm camping thing is 1) pretty cool and probably fun to do, 2) endangers everyone else in the zone with trains and wipes, and 3) should not be allowed when others are in the zone. If you cannot hold a camp without creating trains that block others from accessing the dungeon, you shouldn't be doing it if anyone else is around and you should be held accountable for wiping groups with your trains, intentional or otherwise.

However our encounter last night with Gnobono was beyond even this. As this guy was trying to claim a camp even after being AFK for over an hour. And the intentional train on us should have serious repercussions to this person specifically. What are those repercussions? I was in a full group that can confirm this guy's behavior. I'm not sure what the rules are regarding his behavior but it's greedy people like him that ruin the spirit of the game for entire groups trying to do the right thing and it's discouraging to return to the game after 25 years and see this kind of crap happening on a nightly basis.

This is our conversation start to finish for clarity and confirmation of what I've said:
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[Vermilion]

Well I am not sure why the screenshots of our conversation are not showing, i uploaded them to imgur and linked them under the "insert image" icon. I dont even see an option to edit the post.

[CrazyPro]

Galaxy brained EQ savants turn on OBS before stepping foot in chardok

[CrazyPro]

Originally Posted by Vermilion [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well I am not sure why the screenshots of our conversation are not showing, i uploaded them to imgur and linked them under the "insert image" icon. I dont even see an option to edit the post.

You have to copy the actual image link and not the link to the page with the image. Right click the image itself, open it in a new tab, and then use that link.

[Vermilion]

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[sammoHung]

Sincere advice OP: Walk away from p99.

These servers used to be chock full of both casual-leaning friendly players and hardcore no-lifer poopsocking scumbags.

Many of the former category have left, but almost none of the latter have.

[sammoHung]

Originally Posted by CrazyPro [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Galaxy brained EQ savants turn on OBS before stepping foot in chardok

It's pretty sad that this is the state of these servers - Green seems to be much worse off than Blue in this regard.

How about, as a community, Green decides to ostracize scumbag players instead of require people to run OBS 24/7? Or would ostracizing the scumbag players have too much of a negative effect on everyones loot?

SHUT IT DOWN ROGEAN

[Vermilion]

What is this "OBS" you guys keep mentioning? Sorry dunno what that means

[sammoHung]

Originally Posted by Vermilion [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What is this "OBS" you guys keep mentioning? Sorry dunno what that means

It's a screen capture software - it's used to record PnP violations. It's helpful on raids.

But back to my original point: these servers are cancer. There are so many folks here that have no prospects for happiness in real life, so they sit at their PCs for 12-16 hours a day in a 25+ year old game to try and feel alive.

As time passes and the server gets older, the ratio of well-adjusted people to no-life losers gets smaller and smaller. Soon it will be less than 1.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Originally Posted by Vermilion [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I was hesitant to post this because I hate drama over a video game, but people like this need to be called out and held accountable otherwise this behavior just continues.

TLDR: level 60 enchanters locking down Chardok with solo farming and trains. Claiming spawns by merely sitting afk (non agro, full spawns). Gathering trains and dumping on groups trying to dungeon crawl.

I've recently come back to the game, I played the week Everquest launched in 99 until Luclin came out. I understand the game has changed and people have found all kinds of loopholes, unique ways of soloing and raiding that werent around in 1999. No problems there at all. It's fun to use your class to it's highest ability to do things that were intended for groups or even raids. However, abuse of this is ruining the real intention and spirit of the game.

Case in point - Over the past few weeks myself and some friends and numerous random people just wanting to check out Chardok, have been creating a group a few nights a week to try and explore the dungeon. It's a challenging dungeon with a lot of unique features and is fun to crawl around in. Going here with a group feels like what EQ was made for. However, virtually every time we are here, there are solo 60 enchanters farming the desirable camps using an exploit to do things that were intended to be done by groups or raids. The problem isnt necessarily that they are doing this, although that could be argued. The problem is mainly that they are creating massive trains that prohibit groups from even going to certain areas of the dungeon. Many nights there is an enchanter broadcasting over /OOC that he is pulling Korocust room and that there will be a massive train, and that we have all "been warned". This is happening every 15 minutes, all night long and keeps us from even going to that area of the dungeon. Trust me we found out the hard way.

Ok sure, whatever, he is just one person locking down a whole section of the dungeon and he was already there and seems to always be there. We go somewhere else. We have been trying to figure out how to get to Herbalist and Overseer camps, not easy to do. Many nights and several attempts with mysterious trains being dumped on us and always a solo enchanter was just passing by moments before. Coincidence I'm sure.

Last night we finally make it to Herbalist as a full group, after a couple of hours forming up and fighting our way down the old school way. We see 2 enchanters sitting outside of the herbalist keep, both AFK. All mobs are spawned including the Herbalist PH. We try to speak with these enchanters and get no response, clearly afk. We do not pull the herbalist PH and instead go past to the overseer down the hall and clear that area out. We return to the Herbalist and these 2 are still AFK so we pull Herbalist PH and proceed to clear the area and keep it cleared for the next hour, killing the PH multiple times. 1 enchanter logs off, the other, named Gnobono, finally comes back from AFK and is surprised to see a group down there (the zone is typically empty other than the enchanters). This guy proceeds to try and explain how he has been camping this spawn for over 3 days and that he has put in all this "work" and that all he wants is that one spawn and implies that it still belongs to him because he can sit inside the room because he is not agro, but because we are all KOS and need to sit outside the room and pull, he has "line of sight" first therefore it belong to him. Laughable.

I go back and forth with him in tells explaining that we wont be there much longer and that the rules of the game dictate that he cannot claim this camp by merely posting up AFK and that we have been there over an hour keeping the place clear. When he sees that he is not getting his way and we continue to kill the respawns, he says he is done talking to us, gathers up a train and dumps it on us during the next keep respawn. He was clearly seen by our group with agro mobs chasing him, he is not KOS here, so the only way to gather agro mobs is to be intentional about it. They are dumped on us, and we have to evac after a couple of deaths.

This behavior is incredibly selfish and a shitty thing to do to a full group that are trying to play the game as intended. In all of the groups I've been in in Chardok, everyone unanimously agrees that this enchanter farm camping thing is 1) pretty cool and probably fun to do, 2) endangers everyone else in the zone with trains and wipes, and 3) should not be allowed when others are in the zone. If you cannot hold a camp without creating trains that block others from accessing the dungeon, you shouldn't be doing it if anyone else is around and you should be held accountable for wiping groups with your trains, intentional or otherwise.

However our encounter last night with Gnobono was beyond even this. As this guy was trying to claim a camp even after being AFK for over an hour. And the intentional train on us should have serious repercussions to this person specifically. What are those repercussions? I was in a full group that can confirm this guy's behavior. I'm not sure what the rules are regarding his behavior but it's greedy people like him that ruin the spirit of the game for entire groups trying to do the right thing and it's discouraging to return to the game after 25 years and see this kind of crap happening on a nightly basis.

This is our conversation start to finish for clarity and confirmation of what I've said:
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
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dispel their pet or the enemy. get as many buffs as you can, including rapture, mezz and charm.

open and close trade window while they're fighting.

grab agro and train yourself (and them)

spend 260k on 2 AONs and spam them until the zone desynchs

obviously, you'll want to turn the body cam off BEFORE you do any of this.