First of all, I'm going to assume there will be some sort of auto-follow function in this game, as most others have as well. But perhaps it's time for a change in this as well. Pantheon seems to be following traditions regarding a lot of mechanics, and improving them where needed and/or possible. So here is my suggestion to improve auto-follow.
In most MMO's it's been possible to auto-run and auto-follow, but neither make much sense as the player is not actually there. Auto-running is usually dangerous, trees can hurt when you stumble into them. Unexpected rivers tend to turn up, and nobody likes to swim with the fishes if you know what I mean. With auto-follow not much changes, with you not there, is your path truely safe?
So why not, instead of auto-follow, players go for a piggyback ride on whoever they are "following", to ensure their safety. The other player would have to accept this ofcourse, and it would slow them down. But I feel this to be the only safe method is travelling whilst not at the keyboard. If piggybacking is not an option, perhaps holding hands to guide the AFK player along the treacherous lands is an option. Anything to ensure the safety of my character while heading somewhere without me being there!
Would safety really be ensured ? If you were attacked, you would have to drop the person, you couldn't swim because it's impossible to swim with someone on your back. You would get tired faster therefore having to put them down and rest much more. You would be heavier leaving you vulnerable to swampy areas, stepping deeper in snow, etc etc..
I don't really see a need to change it.
Presumably, the person you are following, knows they have you in tow, and would route their path accordingly to the best of their ability.
We typically only used it in open zones while someone was getting a drink or taking a bio-break. It was not really a 'follow the leader' type feature.
One of it's best uses beside "breaks" was when you were hunting an open zone, and running around randomly to find mobs to kill, it sometimes made following the leader easier when they had a tendancy to turn or run in circles alot (Like the Karanas in EQ1).
autofollow should require players to hold hands ! How funny would it be to see a line of ppl running around holding hands, dragging people through water haha
and also, maybe auto follow should be a skill ? make people at least monitor the journey for a while to ensure you aren't running in cirlces and so that they are required to learn/memorize where they are going.
+1 for no autofollow. It needs to be done away with.
It also makes boxing easier, which I'm totally against. When I see characters following others in a mechanical fashion, I want to be able to identify it as a hack. I certainly don't want the process to be any easier or safer.
Fulton said:I don't really see a need to change it.
Presumably, the person you are following, knows they have you in tow, and would route their path accordingly to the best of their ability.
We typically only used it in open zones while someone was getting a drink or taking a bio-break. It was not really a 'follow the leader' type feature.
One of it's best uses beside "breaks" was when you were hunting an open zone, and running around randomly to find mobs to kill, it sometimes made following the leader easier when they had a tendancy to turn or run in circles alot (Like the Karanas in EQ1).
I agree :) as for those who think auto follow allows for boxing or gold farmers ? I disagree you get boxers and gold farmers regardless of auto follow ..
Plus Brad has mentioned caravans ( prefer none ) that's auto follow to the fullest lol
Shea said:I agree :) as for those who think auto follow allows for boxing or gold farmers ? I disagree you get boxers and gold farmers regardless of auto follow ..
Plus Brad has mentioned caravans ( prefer none ) that's auto follow to the fullest lol
Yes, and I also disagree with caravans for the same reason. Something that lets you carry other players and allows them to progress while not actually there has no place in a challenging game as far as I'm concerned.
Dullahan said:Shea said:I agree :) as for those who think auto follow allows for boxing or gold farmers ? I disagree you get boxers and gold farmers regardless of auto follow ..
Plus Brad has mentioned caravans ( prefer none ) that's auto follow to the fullest lol
Yes, and I also disagree with caravans for the same reason. Something that lets you carry other players and allows them to progress while not actually there has no place in a challenging game as far as I'm concerned.
Agree totally :) but auto follow allows those players who need bio ( drinks , restroom , phone call ect ) break a chance to get one without having to log out . Sometimes people need a quick beak during raiding or grouping but it's only few minutes yet group or raid moving on due to respawn .
Breaks are easy for men playing this game , not so easy for us females . We can't just grab that beer bottle :p LOL
I ask myself ...
'What need is auto-follow fulfilling?'
There have been only a few, singular, instances when I have 'needed' as function such as Auto-follow. usually they were instances where, as a newbie, trying to follow the other members of the group as they ran off into the underbrush was a bit daunting! I was worrried about losing track of them, or aggroing a monster. So auto-follow 'helped' me out.
Was it 'essential' ? nope.... just helpful in those circumstances.
Could I have just followed them - or they ensured they didn't run off too fast? ... sure.
As for 'AFK auto-follow' ... that doesn;t even remotely come under the heading 'essential' or 'need'.
Beyond level 10, Auto-follow was mostly used because:
05%: needed to keep pace with Bard using Selo/Levi
05%: needed bio-break while moving to someplace.
05%: didn't know route so followed leader
85%: multi-boxed toons needed to keep track.
Few, if any, of these could be classified as 'essential to gameplay'.
Shea said:I agree :) as for those who think auto follow allows for boxing or gold farmers ? I disagree you get boxers and gold farmers regardless of auto follow ..
Plus Brad has mentioned caravans ( prefer none ) that's auto follow to the fullest lol
It makes boxing easier since you only need to move one character and have the others on "autofollow"
Caravan the PC's are offline, you would be logging in and out to use them, its lame but auto follow is worse.
Would rather not have any hand holding mechanics.
I +1 Auto-Follow. I cant stress the amount of times I've had to bail people out of areas because they are geographically not inclined. As to multi boxing I agree it should be disabled for that, so there has to be a better solution other than just disable it. Auto run should also be there, I dont want to cramp my hand/finger holding down 'W'.
Maybe auto follow should have a movement debuff on the whole party, and the more followers the more of a debuff to movement with possibly short bursts on the leaders shift keypress (like a 5 second dash)
What would your suggestion be?
Fulton said:
If the biggest negative against auto-folow is boxing, and boxing is illegal, then I would hope VR has a better method of stopping boxing than just removing features that make boxing easier. :)
Moving multiple characters around while only in control of one, the negative out weighs the positive.
Well I am a father and when my daughter starts acting up- it's nap time. If it's nap time and we are travelling around in the karrana's....SMH.. It could take a half hour to find the group after taking an unfortunate 20-30min AFK- providing a damn corrupted lion hasn't killed me. Now that we are all adults, there are so many possible reasons for needing to AFK, it'd be rediculous not to have it.
I hate to like my idea of making AF a skill, something you have to work hard to level and could take a year or two to cap to ensure you don't lose your target- but perhaps we can also make it like the person above suggested- make it so using AF slows down the party members using AF, both the leader and the follower(s)..
If this still isn't good enough of a compromise, just join the rollplaying server for people who like more strict/basic set of rules. IMO, 2 boxing is a must! That being said, I've heard dev's say with Pantheon, it'll be much more difficult to do.
Obliquity said:Shea said:I agree :) as for those who think auto follow allows for boxing or gold farmers ? I disagree you get boxers and gold farmers regardless of auto follow ..
Plus Brad has mentioned caravans ( prefer none ) that's auto follow to the fullest lol
It makes boxing easier since you only need to move one character and have the others on "autofollow"
Caravan the PC's are offline, you would be logging in and out to use them, its lame but auto follow is worse.
Would rather not have any hand holding mechanics.
caravans might be offline , but they allow group members to by pass content and having to fight through . Not that I like caravans :) but no difference from auto follow .
Nor do I want hand holding in Pantheon :)
Shayken said:Well I am a father and when my daughter starts acting up- it's nap time. If it's nap time and we are travelling around in the karrana's....SMH.. It could take a half hour to find the group after taking an unfortunate 20-30min AFK- providing a damn corrupted lion hasn't killed me. Now that we are all adults, there are so many possible reasons for needing to AFK, it'd be rediculous not to have it.
I hate to like my idea of making AF a skill, something you have to work hard to level and could take a year or two to cap to ensure you don't lose your target- but perhaps we can also make it like the person above suggested- make it so using AF slows down the party members using AF, both the leader and the follower(s)..
If this still isn't good enough of a compromise, just join the rollplaying server for people who like more strict/basic set of rules. IMO, 2 boxing is a must! That being said, I've heard dev's say with Pantheon, it'll be much more difficult to do.
You could say " Got to log for awhile to take care of my daughter and I'll catch up with you later" Then you dont have to be killed by the damn corrupted lion and your group aint dragging you around for 20-30 minutes. That would seem like the adult thing to do right?
Two boxing isnt a must to me, having an old school style MMO with less hand holding features is tho.
Shea said:caravans might be offline , but they allow group members to by pass content and having to fight through . Not that I like caravans :) but no difference from auto follow .
Nor do I want hand holding in Pantheon :)
Auto Follow youre online and can use their abilities to gold farm content, the other youre offline cant use those characters abilities.
Thats a huge difference.
On the (allied) topic of 'going AFK whilst grouped' ...
... dunno what your server (on EQ1) was like, but etiquette on AB was:
ACCEPTIBLE: Going AFK for a few (2-5) mins to:
go for Bio-break,
Answer phone/ door,
peel cat off your keyboard / ankles / face
grab coke (liquid not powder) / beer / Absinthe
give excuse to BF/GF for why you can't leave the group 'right now'
NOT ACCEPTIBLE: Going AFK :
without telling anyone (and putting auto-follow on healer),
for 10+ mins unless group pre-accepted this,
to check the % your Pr0n d/load has got to,
more than once in any given half-hour without good reason (**** sometimes happens tho),
mid-pull (especially if you are either Healer, CC or Puller)
Auto follow that expires after 5 mins might be a middle ground.
I know a lot of people hate auto follow and for me it is not something I need or use often but I know my group likes to use it on me since I play enough where I always know where I am going and I have a habit of getting ahead of the group ;)
Loop
{
Send {/autofollow}
Sleep 300000
}
Pause::+Pause
Point being, when you offer that kind of in game functionality, its really easy to set up scripts to circumvent limitations.