Before I start, here is a quote regarding a previous inquiry on the matter.
It has been a very highly debated topic for months and months and we have yet to get a clear answer. Now, with IToS officially launched, and F2P servers less than a month away, I think it is time that IMC voices their official stance. The quote above only implies that it hasn’t yet been cleared, and that whether it is a bot or AFK farming depends more on whether or not additional automation is involved (suggested via “case by case basis” meaning the punishments, if any at all, would be determined by the situation reported). The above quote also implies that, in the future, AFK+z may be announced as something that is not allowed or that will be acceptable… but, with our release, the future is now, and as the announcement is bound to be made someday one way or the other then there is no better time than now at launch.
Having any remaining gray areas in what is acceptable practice when using only in-game features to play the game isn’t itself acceptable.
After all, we’re playing the game and seeing it happen already again.
As this has been highly debated I will include a few common pros and cons to allowing AFK+z into the game. Not all opinions listed below are my own.
Pros-
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Promotes fairness. Banning AFK+z means that classes like Necromancer and Summoner would have inherent advantages. Classes like Archer and Swordsman types have to hold “z” to AFK farm but classes like Necromancer only have to stand while their minions do the killing. Banning AFK+z will have no impact on those pet classes as they do not have to hold the “z” key to farm, so the end result is some classes can farm overnight while others will not have that option. This creates an “unfair” leveling environment where some classes are able to see EXP and silver gains overnight where other classes will not.
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Allows players with limited play-time to gain limited EXP/silver while they are busy at work/class/life. Not everyone has 8-12+ hours to grind daily and allowing users to alleviate some of the grind isn’t a bad thing.
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Killing AFK players is fun. Thinking of new and creative ways to mess with them gives players a sense of a missing PK element in the game. Since you know the player is likely away you are free to rain on their parade.
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AFK farming has been proven to not even be really effective compared to active-play comparisons across the board. The gains in every AFK situation versus an active player are minimal. A player who is active, and plays the same amount of time the AFK player is away, will always see more productivity in silver and EXP.
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Players will always find ways around the rules to acceptably AFK farm. If AFK+z is allowed then users will be less reliant on gimmicks to circumvent the rules in place around farming. If AFK+z is banned then players like Necromancers will be free to AFK farm by simply standing there; if summoner type classes are given limited duration summons as a balance fix then players will simply stand there with a companion; if AFK checks are implemented to kick standing players then players will just hold an arrow key to run and contest that only holding the Z key was disallowed… the list goes on.
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Durability already limits the effectiveness of AFK farming. A spot that may be productive for a short while may be a death-trap once your weapon breaks.
Cons-
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AFK farming becomes almost obligatory to “keep up” with the crowd in terms of silver inflation and level. Although debated that, as a mmo, there is no real “race” for exp, and that silver gains are minimal compared to other movements in the game, it is still likely the player will feel obligated to “park” their character somewhere so they don’t miss out on potential gains.
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Congested hot-spots. Rather than simply playing the game normally these AFK players may be farming quest areas and making it difficult to complete your quest or may be sitting in the better grinding spots thus making them less effective for you as an active player. In icbt2 this wasn’t really the case but, as a trend, it has been noted that mob density in later maps is sometimes lower than expected. As players level up they will attempt to find new spots to AFK in (a lvl500 likely isn’t going to park in a lvl100 map but rather try to find a spot closer to his level so EXP is acquired). This could lead to difficulties later in active grinding/questing.
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Promotes users to abuse “safe zones” or glitch locations. This refers to players who will attempt to find spots where they can safely hold Z without any fear of being hit. Whether this is by jumping on some part of the terrain that is outside of the range of the monsters nearby or finding a spot on a wall that allows them to stand outside of hit box range, the user would be actively looking for locations to exploit or take advantage of. It could be contested though that these locations, when reported, could be addressed as they are found until they are no longer available.
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Laggy channels. If enough people do this then, instead of logging out of the game, the majority will choose to stay in-game, and possibly affect queues or channel populations. As each AFK player will be issuing attack commands via the Z key it is possible that some areas may feel heavily congested despite having a relatively limited number of active players in the region.
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Gives silver sellers a more reliable means to gain their stock. Once F2P launches there would be little to deter re-sellers from creating characters and parking them everywhere they can as this would be allowable practice. When considering these businesses may be running multiple clients per machine it could lead to immense server stress that would not be able to be punished if AFK+z were cleared. It could, however, be argued that there is nothing currently stopping them from doing the same thing with countless summoner classes though, and that even if AFK+z were banned that there would be other ways to non-actively gain silver for resale that are already possible and acceptable.
Have I missed anything? Please tell me and I will update the thread with additional pros and cons with your @name beside the number for credit. It’s early morning for me and I just woke so I attempted to recall some of the main arguments but I likely missed some (maybe even important ones).
@STAFF_Ethan @Staff_Julie @STAFF_John (not sending out a full summons, just to the most active staff I’ve seen in the forums)
Official word is long overdue. Any information you provide towards the resolution of this long-standing debate would be greatly appreciated.
