The AFK Police

[Bionic_Flea]

Or give each door a longer cool down after anyone clicks.  I'm not sure what the magic number should be, but if each door took a few minutes to recharge, that would encourage folks to "work the block" and not just a single hotel.

[Skyhawke]

Last time one of my characters "worked the block", the PPD got involved. Learned there are certain things a Hero ID doesn't cover you for...

[Bob]

11 hours ago, Troo said:

 

Whatever. I'm bored with this.

😕

[Bob]

2 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Or give each door a longer cool down after anyone clicks.  I'm not sure what the magic number should be, but if each door took a few minutes to recharge, that would encourage folks to "work the block" and not just a single hotel.

Then the event itself would just be fairly garbage is the thing.  I am not sure the solution is to cater to people who are too lazy or selfish to participate in hopes that they 'might' stop being lazy and/or selfish.   The only realistic solution we have is that the leader of a group removes blatant leechers.  Most choose not to, because the selfish people bark the loudest.

 

I still opt for shaming these people in game if that is how they want to play things though... kind of what kept servers functioning in the 2000s in mmorpgs.  Act a fool, be labeled a fool.  Works that way in all aspects of life.

[Bionic_Flea]

1 hour ago, Bob said:

The only realistic solution we have is that the leader of a group removes blatant leechers.  Most choose not to, because the selfish people bark the loudest.

 

That is not a solution at all.  Whether in the league or out, AFK Masterminds will continue to get stuff if their pets are attacking and getting attacked.

 

1 hour ago, Bob said:

Then the event itself would just be fairly garbage is the thing. 

 

Is the event clicking the same 15 doors (or however many the PI Hotel has) ad infinitum for a month?

 

1 hour ago, Bob said:

I still opt for shaming these people in game if that is how they want to play things though

 

You are free to do so, but you can't shame the shameless.  I don't think they give a hoot about what you or any other player thinks.

[Krimson]

4 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

Or give each door a longer cool down after anyone clicks.  I'm not sure what the magic number should be, but if each door took a few minutes to recharge, that would encourage folks to "work the block" and not just a single hotel.

It's the one building that is the root of the issue. Changing door timers would affect the entire event, whereas replacing the motel with a building that has four doors would have a more powerful impact. The essence of Trick or Treating is to go from door to door, not camp in one spot. So my solution is to remove the one camping spot and make players use their movement keys for a change.

[Bob]

4 hours ago, Bionic_Flea said:

 

That is not a solution at all.  Whether in the league or out, AFK Masterminds will continue to get stuff if their pets are attacking and getting attacked.

 

 

Is the event clicking the same 15 doors (or however many the PI Hotel has) ad infinitum for a month?

 

 

You are free to do so, but you can't shame the shameless.  I don't think they give a hoot about what you or any other player thinks.

I don't think the AFK masterminds are the biggest issue though, and if the devs ever find out the 5 masterminds hogging PI 1 on certain servers all belong to a single IP, then they will ban those accounts.  Other than that, the overall problem as I see it, is that most people in general are not participating in the 'farm' and simply are sitting against the wishes of everyone else.

 

I don't like the event.  I think it is terrible.  First time for me doing it, and people hyped halloween up to be some big thing in this game, but now I just assume it were the afkers saying that crap, because all that has happened is that group content has slowed down tremendously for everything else.  I would be fine if it ended today.  With that said, I'd want the option to speed up the reward gains by clicking more doors as I would do, not be forced to wait around a lot more time in hopes that maybe lazy people will stop being selfish.

 

Get their chat handle, blast it, and if those moronic rules did not exist here or on discord, we should post it.  Has little to do with them feeling the shame, but rather feel the consequence of them simply being known as someone not to group with.  Not a perfect solution, as no solution is, but it is an option.  Instead, the moment it is brought up in most ToT teams, people get annoyed at the idea of 'calling others out'.  Also worth saying that even those with no sense of shame, can still get bogged down mentally by that crap, as they should. 

 

 

Anyway, my only real point originally was that changing the event to be even more passive would just make it even less rewarding for everyone else who is actively playing.

3 hours ago, Krimson said:

It's the one building that is the root of the issue. Changing door timers would affect the entire event, whereas replacing the motel with a building that has four doors would have a more powerful impact. The essence of Trick or Treating is to go from door to door, not camp in one spot. So my solution is to remove the one camping spot and make players use their movement keys for a change.

Such areas do exist, like in KW there is a spot that is arguably 'better', but is widened and requires movement.  The reason people wont join those groups in mass is because the tagging becomes a serious problem in a league.  In a single team, its no problem, everyone sticks together, but that simply wont be the case.  So for this "farm" to work properly for a league to exist, it needs to be condensed.  

 

With that said, I personally think having it be a raid based thing is dumb anyway.  It simply devalues all other forms of content for XP/influence gains (excluding specialized farms or market play) for the entire month it is active.  

[Ravenplume]

6 hours ago, Skyhawke said:

Last time one of my characters "worked the block", the PPD got involved. Learned there are certain things a Hero ID doesn't cover you for...

 

Exchange it for a Rogue i.d.  You can freely work the blocks there...or perhaps hit the big time with Ms. Jones's team at the Giza.  :)

[Krimson]

16 hours ago, Bob said:

Anyway, my only real point originally was that changing the event to be even more passive would just make it even less rewarding for everyone else who is actively playing.

Such areas do exist, like in KW there is a spot that is arguably 'better', but is widened and requires movement.  The reason people wont join those groups in mass is because the tagging becomes a serious problem in a league.  In a single team, its no problem, everyone sticks together, but that simply wont be the case.  So for this "farm" to work properly for a league to exist, it needs to be condensed.  

 

With that said, I personally think having it be a raid based thing is dumb anyway.  It simply devalues all other forms of content for XP/influence gains (excluding specialized farms or market play) for the entire month it is active.  

I think the motel in Kallsti should be left alone because that area has its own challenges for characters below level 50. 🙂

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, Krimson said:

I think the motel in Kallsti should be left alone because that area has its own challenges for characters below level 50. 

There's a proper 'murder motel' in DA that could be used if that zone had ToTing enabled; it wouldn't be as attractive as the one in PI because it's close to the middle of the zone, much further away from the hospital, though. 

[Krimson]

15 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

There's a proper 'murder motel' in DA that could be used if that zone had ToTing enabled; it wouldn't be as attractive as the one in PI because it's close to the middle of the zone, much further away from the hospital, though. 

I think Dark Astoria is considered a hazard zone, which is why ToT isn't enabled there.

[Clave Dark 5]

On 10/19/2025 at 11:53 AM, Skyhawke said:

Last time one of my characters "worked the block", the PPD got involved. Learned there are certain things a Hero ID doesn't cover you for...

 

They are so mean right??? Then again, if the only thing covering you was that Hero ID, you would tend to draw attention, both good and bad.

[srmalloy]

8 hours ago, Krimson said:

I think Dark Astoria is considered a hazard zone, which is why ToT isn't enabled there.

But there's nothing inherently stopping the HC staff from enabling it there; it just raises the risk some for the really low-level characters looking for a ToT league -- and they could sit at the zone entrance until they get invited and SK'd up to where they're not meat on the table on their way there.

[BigGotter]

Move the Halloween event to the PvP zones only, lol.

[Neiska]

9 hours ago, BigGotter said:

Move the Halloween event to the PvP zones only, lol.

 

I for one, take no small amount of solace and satisfaction in knowing that it is difficult for PVP folks to grief in this game. After all the PVP griefing BS in other games over the years, I find it rather comforting. The only way people will engage in PVP here, is if people opt into it. I do feel a little down for the respectable pvp folks not really getting any content, but for the d2/eso/wow/etc gank-style pvpers? Feel free to presume my laughter. Want to harass people and stomp on their playtime? Have to do it somewhere else. Sorry not sorry. 

[srmalloy]

21 hours ago, Neiska said:

I for one, take no small amount of solace and satisfaction in knowing that it is difficult for PVP folks to grief in this game. 

The fact that there was no PvP in City of Heroes (at least, not at the start of May 2004 when I started playing the game) was one of the things that made it more attractive to me. And since then, the greatest period of time that I've done PvP was shortly after the release of CoV, when I joined a few friends in taking the sun on the roof of the hero base in Bloody Bay; we cleaned off the turrets and hung out for about an hour, not doing anything but being an annoyance to the heroes, smacking the turrets as they respawned, along with any hero who came up on the roof and objected to our being there. More of a "We're on your base, catching some rays" situation than actual focused PvP.

[Bob]

On 10/21/2025 at 1:01 PM, Neiska said:

 

I for one, take no small amount of solace and satisfaction in knowing that it is difficult for PVP folks to grief in this game. After all the PVP griefing BS in other games over the years, I find it rather comforting. The only way people will engage in PVP here, is if people opt into it. I do feel a little down for the respectable pvp folks not really getting any content, but for the d2/eso/wow/etc gank-style pvpers? Feel free to presume my laughter. Want to harass people and stomp on their playtime? Have to do it somewhere else. Sorry not sorry. 

Odd statement to make in response to a clear joke xD

 

Also, I hate to say it, but part of the reason quite a few other mmorpg's survived (or in few cases, thrived) is because PvP was a decent part of it.  YOU may not like it, but WoW pvp servers being the dominant choices (when it even mattered) means it made the most money to have those things in the game.  That isn't to say every game should have it, but it is what it is.  City of heroes chose a 2 'faction' system, and did little with the PvP... which makes little sense.  They tried to do it, which is why they added villains to begin with.  

 

Worth noting that even in open world PvP (keep in mind most games had SERVER choices for such things), griefers are not the majority, and some even like the threat and thrive on the competition.  IF one joins a pvp server and whines about harassment, then I don't get why they joined to begin with. 

Edited yesterday at 03:53 AM by Bob

[Neiska]

5 hours ago, Bob said:

Odd statement to make in response to a clear joke xD

 

Also, I hate to say it, but part of the reason quite a few other mmorpg's survived (or in few cases, thrived) is because PvP was a decent part of it.  YOU may not like it, but WoW pvp servers being the dominant choices (when it even mattered) means it made the most money to have those things in the game.  That isn't to say every game should have it, but it is what it is.  City of heroes chose a 2 'faction' system, and did little with the PvP... which makes little sense.  They tried to do it, which is why they added villains to begin with.  

 

Worth noting that even in open world PvP (keep in mind most games had SERVER choices for such things), griefers are not the majority, and some even like the threat and thrive on the competition.  IF one joins a pvp server and whines about harassment, then I don't get why they joined to begin with. 

 

No, to me the joke would be them putting a holiday event behind what is clearly an unbalanced and unfair pvp system.

 

I have no problem with PVP as a concept. I don't mind 1 on 1 duel-style pvp. Or even team pvp. What irks me is the gankfest that most pvp has become in games. Its not a test of skill. There is nothing that will convince me that a lvl 50 with full epics stomping a lvl 10 repeatedly is in any way fair. In wow as well as a few other games, it was the people who would "camp" low levels, or people who would repeatedly kill a quest npc that made people leave. In Everquest it got REALLY bad when a guild took over a single NPC for a cleric epic, effectively preventing cleric on the server from getting their raid weapon, unless you paid them real money. That's when the DMs had to step in. Now I do want to say that isn't necessarily pvp behavior in the game sense, but pvp in the one person being a jerk to another sense. And I don't much care for it. 

 

And I kind of disagree with the idea that pvp is the reason why some games survive. I'm sure it helped, but its entirely likely that it harmed as well. (IE - people may have left because of it.) We can't know either one to be sure. But taking ESO as an example, where they have to more or less "bribe" people to pvp via cosmetics or even hide PVE skill trees behind PVP exp, tells me that they have to coherence or push people into it.

 

And I got nothing against pvp. Only the gankers. If people want to gank people, they can go play Call of Duty, Marvels, or whatever pvp game is big right now. If you like pvp, then fine. More power to you, and I hope you enjoy it. 

[srmalloy]

4 minutes ago, Neiska said:

What irks me is the gankfest that most pvp has become in games. Its not a test of skill. There is nothing that will convince me that a lvl 50 with full epics stomping a lvl 10 repeatedly is in any way fair.

Or, as I describe it when someone asks me why I dislike open-world PvP, it's because it's a magnet for the sort of loser gamer whose sole measure of their "leet skillz" as a gamer is how fast their level-capped combat monster in BiS gear can gank newbies fresh out of the tutorial zone, and who run like scared chickens from anything that even might be close to an even fight.

[Ukase]

There are a number of solutions that could be tried, but invariably a solution to a problem usually ends up with collateral damage. 
Suppose the AFK timer in PI during the month of October were changed to 3 minutes? 

Well, that satisfies a good number of mooching afk-ers. 

Suppose it didn't matter if you were on a TF or AE arc, you still auto-logged after being idle?

[Krimson]

10 minutes ago, Ukase said:

There are a number of solutions that could be tried, but invariably a solution to a problem usually ends up with collateral damage. 
Suppose the AFK timer in PI during the month of October were changed to 3 minutes? 

Well, that satisfies a good number of mooching afk-ers. 

Suppose it didn't matter if you were on a TF or AE arc, you still auto-logged after being idle?

So players have to quit if they have to use the bathroom? I'd pay good money to see the fallout from that.

[Krimson]

The real solution would be to not activate ToT at all. They already removed the decorated windows and the eternal night, I'm guessing the event is big hassle that the HC team might not even enjoy.

[Ukase]

21 minutes ago, Krimson said:

So players have to quit if they have to use the bathroom? I'd pay good money to see the fallout from that.

It's all a question of where the line would be drawn. Perhaps the easiest thing to do would be to remove the afk bubble, and that would likely put the afk-ers underneath the radar. 

To me, it's annoying, but I can always quit and do something else. 

[Gerswin]

35 minutes ago, Krimson said:

So players have to quit if they have to use the bathroom? I'd pay good money to see the fallout from that.

 

The whole "bathroom" problem has been solved.  

 

[Skyhawke]

Well, it's only another week of it then it'll quiet down for a bit until people start complaining about interactions in the Winter Event. Silver lining? 🤷‍♂️