Hi mortys,
I have been thinking about murder counts and how they currently function and see a few areas for improvement.
I think the issue many have currently with murder counts is two fold, on one hand they are too easy to get (difficult to avoid a murder count as a blue player who wants to defend themselves) and on the other hand they are too punishing for the red players who want to be criminals but constantly find themselves having to wait out long timers and run parcels in order to grow their reputation for access to amenities found within blue towns.
Both of these “problems” have pros and cons in my opinion.
In the case of murder counts being easy to accrue we are given a system that will ensure that a red player(criminal player) is classified as a murderer and therefore punished for their violent actions toward innocent players. (I am aware that people find ways to get around this)
Then on the other hand In the situation where red players feel forced to regain reputation frequently to use amenities is successful in that criminals should absolutely lose access to blue cities and towns. And I would go as far as saying this should be harsher than it is.
—
So I obviously think there should be consequences to rpk against innocent people imo so I see that as a success for the current game.
What I don’t find to be successful with the implementation is how those consequences are perceived to both sides of the isle and I think that is a design flaw.
Perception is key.
What I mean by this is that a red player imo should not view murder counts as a detriment to themselves at all, and a blue player should see the red player as being severely punished.
Blue players should want to avoid murder counts and red players should want to accrue them for opposing reasons.
In my opinion a blue character should see the red player as losing out on access to their towns and be hunted actively it should look stressful to players who enjoy slow paced gameplay,
the red player should see the blue players and their towns as luxuries they don’t need and the bounty hunters as a welcome (but dangerous) challenge.
That is how the ecosystem should appear. A focus from a game designer should imo always be on FUN for everyone involved.
Now I do think the system now can be fun for both parties so I am not here disingenuously putting down the game or it’s design. I just think there could be some changes that would make the system better.
—
So you ask what are said changes?
I want murder counts to be a sort of currency that criminal players go out of their way to attain and maintain
To start, all amenities found in unlawful towns should require murder counts to varying degrees to use.
Murder counts will increase your reputation with the closest unlawful town and you will have to have reputation to have access.
From the red priest to the general goods vendors, to the use of the town bank. With red priests only requiring (1 murder count or more to access)
Criminal players should always be encouraged to both increase their murder count, and also feel pressured not to lose it.
To balance this I think red towns should have better and unique amenities within them. Both in form and function.
I think murder counts should not be depleted over time.
And I think murder counts should be removed in varying amounts by criminals being slain by blue entities dependent on which blue has killed the criminal.
(My recent post on bounty hunting talks in depth about how I think bounty hunters should play an integral roll in this. With the best bounty hunters being able to wipe out a red players reputation entirely with enough of a time and monetary investment.) (more on that system here: Bounty Suggestion)
In general the murder count should represent a crime and a red player being killed by a blue player or guard should represent that player being punished for their crimes.
A rough estimate of this system would look like this:
This system would put criminals into a situation where their murder count is the key to their success as criminals and it would be a constant push and pull for them to remain effective.
Yes a criminal can kill a blue and take all his stuff still, but in order to profit from this they will need to have a high enough murder count to access the means in which to sell it and even store it effectively.
As stated before the murder count is what will allow criminals to use all of the towns services in which they are closest too and also add onto those services for added benefits.
My rough list of murder counts needed for services would be as follows:
1 murder count or more:
The system described above is all obviously subject to complete overhaul and change in terms of what murder count is required for what amenities and I have obviously added my own half baked ideas for new systems/items that could be used as benefits for murderers holding onto high murder counts, so feel free to fill in the blanks.
I have been thinking about murder counts and how they currently function and see a few areas for improvement.
I think the issue many have currently with murder counts is two fold, on one hand they are too easy to get (difficult to avoid a murder count as a blue player who wants to defend themselves) and on the other hand they are too punishing for the red players who want to be criminals but constantly find themselves having to wait out long timers and run parcels in order to grow their reputation for access to amenities found within blue towns.
Both of these “problems” have pros and cons in my opinion.
In the case of murder counts being easy to accrue we are given a system that will ensure that a red player(criminal player) is classified as a murderer and therefore punished for their violent actions toward innocent players. (I am aware that people find ways to get around this)
Then on the other hand In the situation where red players feel forced to regain reputation frequently to use amenities is successful in that criminals should absolutely lose access to blue cities and towns. And I would go as far as saying this should be harsher than it is.
—
So I obviously think there should be consequences to rpk against innocent people imo so I see that as a success for the current game.
What I don’t find to be successful with the implementation is how those consequences are perceived to both sides of the isle and I think that is a design flaw.
Perception is key.
What I mean by this is that a red player imo should not view murder counts as a detriment to themselves at all, and a blue player should see the red player as being severely punished.
Blue players should want to avoid murder counts and red players should want to accrue them for opposing reasons.
In my opinion a blue character should see the red player as losing out on access to their towns and be hunted actively it should look stressful to players who enjoy slow paced gameplay,
the red player should see the blue players and their towns as luxuries they don’t need and the bounty hunters as a welcome (but dangerous) challenge.
That is how the ecosystem should appear. A focus from a game designer should imo always be on FUN for everyone involved.
Now I do think the system now can be fun for both parties so I am not here disingenuously putting down the game or it’s design. I just think there could be some changes that would make the system better.
—
So you ask what are said changes?
I want murder counts to be a sort of currency that criminal players go out of their way to attain and maintain
To start, all amenities found in unlawful towns should require murder counts to varying degrees to use.
Murder counts will increase your reputation with the closest unlawful town and you will have to have reputation to have access.
From the red priest to the general goods vendors, to the use of the town bank. With red priests only requiring (1 murder count or more to access)
Criminal players should always be encouraged to both increase their murder count, and also feel pressured not to lose it.
To balance this I think red towns should have better and unique amenities within them. Both in form and function.
I think murder counts should not be depleted over time.
And I think murder counts should be removed in varying amounts by criminals being slain by blue entities dependent on which blue has killed the criminal.
(My recent post on bounty hunting talks in depth about how I think bounty hunters should play an integral roll in this. With the best bounty hunters being able to wipe out a red players reputation entirely with enough of a time and monetary investment.) (more on that system here: Bounty Suggestion)
In general the murder count should represent a crime and a red player being killed by a blue player or guard should represent that player being punished for their crimes.
A rough estimate of this system would look like this:
- Criminal kills criminal = zero loss or gain in murder count.
- Random blue player kills criminal in fight = -1 murder count for criminal
- Guard kills criminal = -10 to murder count for criminal
- Bounty hunter kills criminal = -1 to 100% murder count.(depends on how many contracts they have collected on the criminal)
This system would put criminals into a situation where their murder count is the key to their success as criminals and it would be a constant push and pull for them to remain effective.
Yes a criminal can kill a blue and take all his stuff still, but in order to profit from this they will need to have a high enough murder count to access the means in which to sell it and even store it effectively.
As stated before the murder count is what will allow criminals to use all of the towns services in which they are closest too and also add onto those services for added benefits.
My rough list of murder counts needed for services would be as follows:
1 murder count or more:
- access to red priest.
- access to low tier vendors(equipment vendor/ grocery vendor/ weapon vendor ect)
- Can purchase a small stash a box (3-6 slot placeable storage chest accessible by owner and blue players)
- access crafting/profession vendors
- access to low tier librarians
- access town bank (Can be lost if murder count drops bellow 20 Items will remain when regained access)
- Access to equerry
- Purchase larger placeable storage. (Accessible by you and blue players)
- Basic protection in criminal town near key locations.
- access to local trader and mail
- Access to tier 1 stolen goods fence(buys any stolen items for a good price)
- Access to tier 1 assassin contractor.
- Purchasable booby trap for portable storage.
- Large portable storage (accessible to you and blue players)
- Protection from some local bandit camps with access to some bandit camp vendors.
- Access to black market fence trader (this trader will allow you to set prices on goods that will be put onto the closest blue city/town auction house)
- All but a few bandit camps will now be friendly to you and trade with you.
- Access to hideout vendor(criminal housing vendor)
- All prices for traders in town will be reduced by 50% including librarians.
- Access to tier 2 assassination contracts
- Access to basic bribe token (gives criminals the ability to bribe guards for a short duration allowing them to move freely through blue areas. KILLING voids this bribe )
- All bandit camps now give small gifts to you.
- Vendors purchase items at a much higher rate.
- Access to exclusive criminal stronghold in criminal town with high skill vendors.
- Access to tier 3 assassination contracts
- Future murder counts will be scored against all other criminal players over 100 kills. The person with the highest kill count in this region will gain significant benefits including access to a private room inside of a special building in the criminal town they live in.
- All vendors will now give 75% off on all wears and buy all your items at the highest rates (whoever is the highest scoring person in that region gets 80-90% off and will recieve even more money from selling items.)
- The black market fence will now sell your items on the closest blue town for no extra cost. (The highest murder count player in that region gets an option to sell their items on any auction house in the continent)
- Bandits give you increased rewards as tribute and will sell you better items at a lower price.
- Gaurds in blue towns will now be able to take bribes that will make them look the other way for a limited number of crimes. (The highest scoring criminal in the region will make most guards (not all) run from them in fear)
- and many more
The system described above is all obviously subject to complete overhaul and change in terms of what murder count is required for what amenities and I have obviously added my own half baked ideas for new systems/items that could be used as benefits for murderers holding onto high murder counts, so feel free to fill in the blanks.
