In the next update for Elder Scrolls Online, the developers are tackling the problem of giving jewelry materials without unduly upsetting the intended rarity of jewelry materials. In the latest iteration of Public Test Server testing for feedback, they are doing this by giving materials through the daily jewelry-crafting missions (what they call daily crafting writs).
However, these missions can be done once per day, per character -- i.e., players with a lot of alts can farm these missions to get at the jewelry materials.
Farming with alts is a common issue in many online games that allow it. When the number of alts increases, farming can increase, and you can definitely expect illicit Real Money Transaction accounts to take advantage of it to transform repeatable missions into currency they then sell for real world dollars.
There is a place for alts -- usually to try different aspects of the game, make different choices, play different characters, etcetera. Farming with them is technically allowed but can really upset the economy and make planning and balancing the game tricky.
TL;DR version: Use alts to let players Catch-Up or Do-Ahead, but not do more than they are allowed.
Here is a proposal for how to manage alt-farming, making it both reasonable for developers and useful for players.
Suppose in this example a player has 1 main character and 4 alts, for a total of 5 toons. Further suppose we are interested in managing a mission that is meant to be allowed only once per day.
Day 1
Let's suppose the player has just come back from a two-week vacation (14 days away from the game) and it's the next day. So they missed 14 days already, and today they are allowed to do the mission 1 time.
The Mission Counter therefore starts at (-14 -1) = -15.
Let's assume the player does the mission five times -- once per toon. Mission Counter is now (-15 + 5) = -10
Day 2
New day, so the player gets another allotment for the mission. But they are still Catching Up from their vacation (as evidenced by the Mission Counter) so they can do the mission another five times.
Mission Counter is now (-15 from yesterday -1 today's allotment +5 toons running the mission) = -11
Day 3
Repeat of day 2. Mission Counter at the end of the day is -7
Day 4
Repeat of day 2. Mission Counter at the end of the day is -3
Day 5
Mission Counter still negative. Including today's mission allotment, it is (-3 -1) = -4.
The player is still allowed to do the mission five times (once for each toon) but this results in the Mission Counter becoming +1 at the end of the day. This means they have technically exceeded their allotment by 1. This is still fine -- we allow them to "Do Ahead" .
Day 6
Mission Counter (+1 from yesterday -1 today's mission allotment) = +0.
They basically did today's mission allotment yesterday on one of their toons, so today they cannot do the mission at all.
Day 7
Mission Counter (0 from yesterday -1 today's mission allotment) = -1. This means they can do the mission today. Let's assume they pick up the mission on all five toons. The Mission Counter then becomes (-1 + 5) = +4.
That means they have done 4 missions ahead of time, which is the maximum allowed based on the number of toons they have (one main + 4 alts). Over the next few days, they can continue to do the mission so long as the Mission Counter does not exceed +4, the maximum amount they can Do-Ahead.
A player might want this Do-Ahead utility because they might want to not split up their time over the next few days and really focus on other things. Or they might want to take a break from the game, but not miss out on this particular mission that they like to do or want the rewards from.
A player might want this Do-Ahead utility because they might want to not split up their time over the next few days and really focus on other things. Or they might want to take a break from the game, but not miss out on this particular mission that they like to do or want the rewards from.
To prevent churning alts (deleting the alt and making a new one to pick up a mission again), character deletions might have a 24-hour cooldown before a player can create a new toon. This system is also good for thwarting spambots from deleting toons that would get reported for RMT or other infractions, then creating a new one to repeat their infraction.
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