Gathering bans.

[Priest Daimheach]

Just to shine some positivity.... a guildie and I went plentiful hunting last night. We had loads of fun....Some of those plentiful nodes are amazing.

While many will feel (and have felt) that honest players are being 'punished' for things that dishonest players do, unfortunately these things need to get done. I'm grateful for a dev team that generally gives us something good to go with the bad. Seriously - look for some plentiful nodes... With rare supplies and no clockworks, I was getting 800 per click...One node gave me like 5k items....<be sure that you have inventory space in your bags!!>

 

[Zazie]

Just to shine some positivity.... a guildie and I went plentiful hunting last night. We had loads of fun....Some of those plentiful nodes are amazing.

I was also with a friend last night, sharing bountiful nodes in a gathering zone. There were so many of them, that we were able to divide them between us, and we had NO competition, cause there wasn't a soul in the zone besides the two of us. The repair globules may not have been dropping often enough, but there was a tool vendor in the zone, and the value of the gems was absolutely amazing!! It really felt as if we made out like bandits.

 

[Seawolf]

Just to shine some positivity.... a guildie and I went plentiful hunting last night. We had loads of fun....Some of those plentiful nodes are amazing.

While many will feel (and have felt) that honest players are being 'punished' for things that dishonest players do, unfortunately these things need to get done. I'm grateful for a dev team that generally gives us something good to go with the bad. Seriously - look for some plentiful nodes... With rare supplies and no clockworks, I was getting 800 per click...One node gave me like 5k items....<be sure that you have inventory space in your bags!!>

What seriously? 5000 items from one node. 800 per click???? That doesn't sound right at all. The plentiful I found had nothing like that. Not even remote close. Can I get some lottery numbers from you? I guess that means I would have to buy a ticket. Never mind. But wow. Congrats.

 

[Alethrii]

I am fine with the change as obviously there were some seriously unsavory practices going on and that needed to be rectified...it will take some time to get used to but worth it if it makes the game better for both devs and players. I gathered lots yesterday and only once exhausted a node! I do really hope the repair globule issue gets fixed, though. My picking tool broke 3 times after being fully repaired each time. In 16 full gathering cycles I had only 6 repair globules drop.

 

[Caly]

Sigh ... Can someone clarify for me if I am gathering and click on an exhausted node 5 times before I finally see the red messages at the bottom of the screen I will be banned for an hour? Am I understanding that right or is my lack of sleep making me stupid lol. Since I have a very hard time seeing the little messages (especially if they are red which is one of the colors I struggle to see) I usually fill up the little area with red before I even see it so I will be banned alot. I totally get that these measures are needed because our otters are being ripped off but it's frustrating knowing I will likely start being banned regularly. As always though thank you otters for the game that I have had to while away many hours. Sincerely, Caly

 

[CaraLox]

I think it has been brought up a few times the messages need tweaking, someone suggested background color changes....

 

[Majenta]

Sigh ... Can someone clarify for me if I am gathering and click on an exhausted node 5 times before I finally see the red messages at the bottom of the screen I will be banned for an hour? Am I understanding that right or is my lack of sleep making me stupid lol. Since I have a very hard time seeing the little messages (especially if they are red which is one of the colors I struggle to see) I usually fill up the little area with red before I even see it so I will be banned alot. I totally get that these measures are needed because our otters are being ripped off but it's frustrating knowing I will likely start being banned regularly. As always though thank you otters for the game that I have had to while away many hours. Sincerely, Caly

Technically, if you click on an exhausted node you will be kicked from the game for an hour, not banned. In practice that amounts to pretty much the same thing, but it is worth mentioning the difference.
When a node becomes exhausted, the node changes colour (it goes grey basically) and it is labelled as "exhausted". If you click on the node a system message appears on screen in red, and it also makes a different sound from the normal gathering sound. I haven't tried it on Android, but at least on PC the difference is quite noticeable.
It is also worth pointing out that since latch gathering only requires you to click once a minute, to click 5 times, you have to fail to notice the change in colour, the different sound, and the fact that your character doesn't actually gather for 5 minutes.
In general, if you click a node and nothing happens, assume there is a reason and don't just click again several times expecting something to happen, and you should be just fine.

 

[Caly]

Technically, if you click on an exhausted node you will be kicked from the game for an hour, not banned. In practice that amounts to pretty much the same thing, but it is worth mentioning the difference.
When a node becomes exhausted, the node changes colour (it goes grey basically) and it is labelled as "exhausted". If you click on the node a system message appears on screen in red, and it also makes a different sound from the normal gathering sound. I haven't tried it on Android, but at least on PC the difference is quite noticeable.
It is also worth pointing out that since latch gathering only requires you to click once a minute, to click 5 times, you have to fail to notice the change in colour, the different sound, and the fact that your character doesn't actually gather for 5 minutes.
In general, if you click a node and nothing happens, assume there is a reason and don't just click again several times expecting something to happen, and you should be just fine.

Indeed and that's great if you play with sound on. I was just looking for clarification since when I am gathering it's while also doing other things and often not paying a great deal of attention to visuals either. Gathering gives my eyes a break and therefore a way to ease my headache without giving up the game entirely. I apologize if you took offence to my post or something. Happy gaming. Caly

 

[CaraLox]

Many people play music instead of game sounds, so a bolder visual queue might be needed

plus some habit adjustments from the players too

 

[Caly]

Many people play music instead of game sounds, so a bolder visual queue might be needed

plus some habit adjustments from the players too

Indeed I will have to make adjustments. Part of that was first getting clarification. No more gathering for me unless I am lucky enough to be experiencing no headache for a change. Lol I've seen me click a ton of times thinking I was just not clicking on the node properly since I admittedly have not been paying attention or whatever lol. Caly

 

[Priest Daimheach]

Indeed I will have to make adjustments. Part of that was first getting clarification. No more gathering for me unless I am lucky enough to be experiencing no headache for a change. Lol I've seen me click a ton of times thinking I was just not clicking on the node properly since I admittedly have not been paying attention or whatever lol. Caly

Or, rather than stopping gathering altogether, set a timer for 10 minutes (or count 10 clicks) and then do something else for a bit....then come back and repeat.

 

[Majenta]

Indeed and that's great if you play with sound on. I was just looking for clarification since when I am gathering it's while also doing other things and often not paying a great deal of attention to visuals either. Gathering gives my eyes a break and therefore a way to ease my headache without giving up the game entirely. I apologize if you took offence to my post or something. Happy gaming. Caly

Absolutely no offence taken, I did not consider your post in any way offensive. I was merely trying to point out there is more than just the red message to indicate the node becoming exhausted.

 

[CaraLox]

Or, rather than stopping gathering altogether, set a timer for 10 minutes (or count 10 clicks) and then do something else for a bit....then come back and repeat.

thats a good idea, i might have to try that.... maybe i will get something done besides binge watching netlfix

 

[Caly]

I miss the game this uses to be. I don't handle changes well lol. Before latch gathering I used gathering as a sleeping aid haha

 

[Caly]

thats a good idea, i might have to try that.... maybe i will get something done besides binge watching netlfix

Haha a person after my own heart. I have recently been binging old shows on Amazon Prime video and other sources while playing lmao

 

[Majenta]

I miss the game this uses to be. I don't handle changes well lol. Before latch gathering I used gathering as a sleeping aid haha

I always found woodcrafting the best for that - the sound of the lathe is wonderfully soporific.

 

[Caly]

I always found woodcrafting the best for that - the sound of the lathe is wonderfully soporific.

Yes it is. Lol and o how I miss the graveyard! The sounds there were amazing for insomniac habits.
Sorry I led the topic off mark

 

[Diet]

Hi all, I wanted to take some time and clear up some info on how the system works since there is some misinformation floating around.

When you click on an exhausted node, it gives a warning message that says the node is empty. On PC there is an audible sound and a red message. On Mobile there is an audible sound and a notification with red text. After this point, it lets you click a total of 5 times before it decides you are doing something fishy (especially if you are fishing). It then pops you back to character select. It purposely gives a vague message as to why you were booted, the reason being we don't want to tip botters off to the fact that we are on to them.

It lets you do this a total of 5 times before it gives a ban. Some information was saying that it banned on the first time, it DOES NOT. It knows you might have made a mistake and gives grace. It is only after you get disconnected the 5th time that it will give you an hour long ban. It is worth noting that this secondary count to 5 is tracked and never goes away. We might change how this works in the future. But basically as it stands now, you could get kicked 4 times from the game, and then play a year without getting kicked at all, then get kicked one final time and get an hour ban. But I think this is where some players think it only takes once, forgetting that they were previously kicked. And again, we might change this in the future.

There also is an issue we already found, which is that when a player gets kicked then comes back in, just a single click on that exhausted node will result in another kick. This isn't working how we wanted it, we wanted it to be another 5 clicks. So we will be fixing this and pushing the change live in the future.

The final result will be a system where players will have to click on an exhausted node a total of 25 times before getting an hour ban. That is 25 red warning messages, 25 errors sounds, 25 times your character doesn't start gathering, and several times of being kicked from the server. This is a LOT of chances to get it right.

All that being said, we totally understand that this new feature is changing the way people have to play the game. So we want to double iterate that just because you accidentally clicked one too many times and got a kick / ban, we aren't coming for you. This new system has helped us detect some bad eggs in the mix, and once we know of them, we have other ways of figuring out if they are botting or not. So rest assured, if you are a honest player, you have nothing to worry about.

We will keep ironing out issues as we find them, and try to get the system to the best place possible.

 

[Diet]

For those of you who have mentioned that the node exhausted in the middle of a cycle, can you explain how that happened?

If the cycle was interrupted for other reasons (you cancelled, combat, moved away, etc.) then that is working as expected.

However if it is the case that you click, you start gathering, your gather bar comes up, and mid way through with absolutely no interaction from you the node turns grey and kicks you, then there could be something wrong.

So for those of you who have had this happen, can you in detail describe exactly what it was that occured?

 

[Caly]

Thanks @Diet for the clarification. So that must be why I was kicked 3 times yesterday. Going to have to start playing with sound on all the time instead of only when I am trying to get tired at night lol.