Curse

Cobalt · Jan 05, 2009, 05:02 PM // 17:02

For every action there is a equal and opposite reaction; Anet made the move speed of the Grenches that kill presents to fast and as a result people looked for ways to circumvent that.

Trying to farm those presents for CCShards in Kamadan this year I sure saw a lot of those types of shenanigans going on:

I saw some players in virtually vacated dists using some kind of speed hacks it was like they were skating or sliding around at high speed instead of running and out running the grinches with ease.

Players were getting the Grinches stuck by the candy canes for easy present turn ins (which I didn't mind). However that never lasted long because some wiseass would pick up a present and go AFK which caused presents not to spawn killing the event for that District.

There were two warriors literally holding international district two hostage for their own personal present farm. They had the grinches stuck and were farming presents and anytime some one else came a long to farm they would hold a present so they would stop spawning and demand they leave the district.

Anet must have caught on to that because I checked back there later that day and District two had been shut down

I did come across one smart guild farming those presents in one of the Asian districts. They had the grinches stuck and had one member at each of the present spawning areas turning them in as fast as they spawn, they must have racked up a boat load.

Anyway, as much as I enjoyed shard farming I think either the grinches need to be slowed down so people don't go out of their way to look for exploits to circumvent it or the event needs to be scraped in Kamadan next year.

phan · Jan 05, 2009, 05:11 PM // 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobalt

For every action there is a equal and opposite reaction; Anet made the move speed of the Grenches that kill presents to fast and as a result people looked for ways to circumvent that.

Trying to farm those presents for CCShards in Kamadan this year I sure saw a lot of those types of shenanigans going on:

I saw some players in virtually vacated dists using some kind of speed hacks it was like they were skating or sliding around at high speed instead of running and out running the grinches with ease.
Players were getting the Grinches stuck by the candy canes for easy present turn ins (which I didn't mind). However that never lasted long because some wiseass would pick up a present and go AFK which caused presents not to spawn killing the event for that District.

There were two warriors literally holding international district two hostage for their own personal present farm. They had the grinches stuck and were farming presents and anytime some one else came a long to farm they would hold a present so they would stop spawning and demand they leave the district.

Anet must have caught on to that because I checked back there later that day and District two had been shut down

I did come across one smart guild farming those presents in one of the Asian districts. They had the grinches stuck and had one member at each of the present spawning areas turning them in as fast as they spawn, they must have racked up a boat load.

Anyway, as much as I enjoyed shard farming I think either the grinches need to be slowed down so people don't go out of their way to look for exploits to circumvent it or the event needs to be scraped in Kamadan next year.

Whut? pls explain .

Ctb · Jan 05, 2009, 05:12 PM // 17:12

Better idea: stop rewarding items of value for winning minigames so that the only motivation to play is for fun, or cap rewards by account.

The Guild Wars players that are left anymore generally act like children, so it's time they start being treated like children.

Lycan Nibbler · Jan 05, 2009, 05:20 PM // 17:20

hmm dont know about Kam, but I know in LA the grenches explode if stuck - I would think to stop players abusing the trapping method. Seems strange that they wouldnt do the same in Kam.. I dunno though, found theres much better things to do with my time than that

.

Lycan Nibbler · Jan 05, 2009, 05:23 PM // 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobalt

I saw some players in virtually vacated dists using some kind of speed hacks it was like they were skating or sliding around at high speed instead of running and out running the grinches with ease.

Look up Blue Sugar Drinks and Choc Bunny on wiki (+50% speed boost). Also, if I was going to farm these presents, of course Id try and find the most deserted district - thats only common sense......

micosay · Jan 05, 2009, 05:27 PM // 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobalt

I saw some players in virtually vacated dists using some kind of speed hacks it was like they were skating or sliding around at high speed instead of running and out running the grinches with ease.

Fruitcakes; Mandragor Root Cake; Red Bean Cakes; Creme Brulee all give you 25% speed boosts and Chocolate Bunnies give you 50% speed boost in town...

Dreikki · Jan 05, 2009, 05:27 PM // 17:27

But ain't returning presents for CCS slow as shit?

Martin Alvito · Jan 05, 2009, 05:37 PM // 17:37

A game designer's job is similar to that of a cop in a town full of imaginative crooks.

The only way to successfully catch all of the crooks is to anticipate the crooks' moves and catch them in the act. This isn't realistic, because there are lots of crooks and not many cops. It's good that you report this, since it's likely the authorities didn't observe it.

However, if you let this sort of thing outrage you, you're going to spend a lot of time outraged playing online games. It sounds like some entrepreneurs discovered a situation where they had power. It should come as no surprise to you that someone would choose to use that power once it was discovered.

It sounds like there are four potential fixes that don't require removing the game:

1) Present in-hand blows up after a certain time period (easy)
2) Presents continue to spawn even when other presents are held (easy)
3) Respawn stuck Grentches (slightly harder)
4) Reorganize Kamadan so the Grentches can't get stuck (harder)

#1 is probably the superior easily implemented fix. #4 is ideal, but would require more commitment of developer time. #2 might make it easier to farm shards depending on how it is implemented, so it is not necessarily a neutral solution. #3 may or may not be a better solution than #1, depending on implementation

Slowing the Grintches down doesn't imply that people would not engage in the same behavior during the next event. If you reduce the incentive to cheat, but cheating still produces superior results...some people will still cheat.

EDIT: You'd think that botting Strength of Snow would be more efficient than scripting present running, but it's probably more challenging to bot running to the back wall and to script picking up the unassigned CCS's prior to opening the chest.

Fril Estelin · Jan 05, 2009, 07:50 PM // 19:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobalt

some kind of speed hacks

They were using the Sugar Rush, produced by cakes and creme brulee.

You're killing two birds with one stone, gaining Sugar points from your sugary stuff and collecting CCS.

Quote:

Anet must have caught on to that because I checked back there later that day and District two had been shut down

They probably added some checks on that situation, since previous years saw similar abuse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ctb

The Guild Wars players that are left anymore generally act like children, so it's time they start being treated like children.

You can't be a good judge of that if you're no longer playing seriously this game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreikki

But ain't returning presents for CCS slow as shit?

IIRC, it's ok, faster than afking SoS for a chance at MPB (which gives something around 1CCS per min). And it's a nice way to get the CCS you need for a present or wintersday weapon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Alvito

EDIT: You'd think that botting Strength of Snow would be more efficient than scripting present running, but it's probably more challenging to bot running to the back wall and to script picking up the unassigned CCS's prior to opening the chest.

Pretty sure Anet is checking for botters and if people learned the lessons of the last few years (recent one being the HFFFers, some of which got very lucky) they won't be tempted to do it.

Dzjudz · Jan 05, 2009, 08:00 PM // 20:00

So I gather you didn't get ANY fruitcakes dropped in the two weeks of the event?

Rocky Raccoon · Jan 05, 2009, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Why would anyone waste their time gathering shards that way? You can waste your time running SoS for shards and Wintersday chest.

Cobalt · Jan 05, 2009, 08:23 PM // 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miss Drops Az

Look up Blue Sugar Drinks and Choc Bunny on wiki (+50% speed boost). Also, if I was going to farm these presents, of course Id try and find the most deserted district - thats only common sense......

I know, I saw people on the sugar rush farming as well, but a couple I saw were different they like slid across the ground at chocolate bunny speed their legs did not move unless I was getting some major lag and did not realize it.

And likewise if I was going to use some sort of speed hack Id try and find the most deserted district so as not to be seen- that too is only common sense......

Monk Gsb · Jan 05, 2009, 08:25 PM // 20:25

NEXT wintersday. lol at your optimistic view on how long guild wars will last.

StueyG · Jan 05, 2009, 08:36 PM // 20:36

lol... speed hack....

I had that happen to me a few times in normal speed, was the game lagging and glitches

Gun Pierson · Jan 05, 2009, 08:38 PM // 20:38

It just wasn't worth the trouble this year. Those presents only give one item. The ones you get from the festival guy for trading in ccs give for example 2 fruitcakes, 2 snowman etc. On top doing the Sos quest gives around 15 ccs + chest stuff every 7-8 minutes. In LA the grentches exploded and respawned, making it unpossible to get them stuck. All in all, not worth the time and not as much fun as previous years. (when there was no tard holding the present ofcourse, because that was a problem)

They can leave it in or take it out, I don't care.

Bob Slydell · Jan 05, 2009, 08:55 PM // 20:55

I just hung out and did normal present runs to Scrappy Jhim in LA, he gives you actual presents.... much better then CC shards IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monk Gsb

NEXT wintersday. lol at your optimistic view on how long guild wars will last.

People said that ^^ last year. Wintersday 2008 showed up didn't it?

im no farmer · Jan 05, 2009, 09:10 PM // 21:10

im sure if you get the sugar rush you would get the enchantment appear by name also

Puddin Cheeks · Jan 05, 2009, 09:35 PM // 21:35

Who cares anyway, those presents were rubbish. Even the Winter Gift from Scrappy jihm was crap, no good stuff in them and the amount of shards you could get from those things was null compared to SoS.

LordScro · Jan 05, 2009, 09:57 PM // 21:57

Leave the presents in, not like they are hurting anything.

Dr.Jones · Jan 05, 2009, 10:26 PM // 22:26

LOL i played the pick up present for about an hour with out using any speed boots and i did just fine.