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Trouble on Nimbus III/Being able report players abusing Boff bots

captaincelestialcaptaincelestial Member Posts: 1,925 Arc User
I went back to Nimbus III from the Risa Summer Event, and somebody (or more than one person) had set up 'bots, one at the main entrance of the city, and two at the entrance and exit of the bar. These BOffs (I can't get any info by clicking on them except for species, hp, and a few other tidbits, nothing important) are spamming Cover Shield power blocking people from coming in or out of the city.

Since I couldn't target them, I couldn't find out anything of them until I found a spot that I could target one of them. At first, I thought it was a player, until I couldn't get anything more than info that a person would get from a BOff.

This behaviour is preventing most any one from getting in, at the bar, but it's impossible to get out without having to telport out.

Since I can't get any info about who set up these barrier bots, I can't properly report this behaviour. This makes it difficult to at least report the behaviour and move on, since just about anyone could have set it up and be long gone before a GM can show up (esp. during an Event going on).

Being able to see the handle of the player who set up the bot would make it easier and more definative of who was committing game interrupting behaviour.

From what I overheard at the Summer Event, someone was pulling off something like this earlier, so this wasn't the first time something like this has happened.
Post edited by captaincelestial on

Comments

  • sennahcheribsennahcherib Member Posts: 2,823 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    i have always thought that this shield should be removed from the game. i have engineer captains, and i don't use it; totally useless agaisnt moving targets and the heralds; even if you use the shield to cover your generators, Thralls can teleport themselves behind the shield.

    i have also often seen this shield used to annoy other players (nimbus, defera ...). anyway, engineers deserve a better skill
  • kyrrokkyrrok Member Posts: 1,352 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    It's gets too much in my way when I use it. When my boff puts one up, it ruins my progress. IMO, the cover shield is more trouble than it's worth. It's no use except to impede other players. If they get removed from the game, I'll shed very few tears over it.
  • thatcursedwolfthatcursedwolf Member Posts: 1,617 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    kyrrok wrote: »
    It's gets too much in my way when I use it. When my boff puts one up, it ruins my progress. IMO, the cover shield is more trouble than it's worth. It's no use except to impede other players. If they get removed from the game, I'll shed very few tears over it.

    If they could recode it to block line-of-sight for attacks but not block player movement it'd be a much better skill.
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  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,001 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    It is actually a useful ability if used and saved my bacon quite a few times. Saying it is useless because it is used to grief is a bit short-sighted.

    I don't understand though why it is a solid object for friendly players and/or why it can be used in social zones. These are things easily fixed, no need to remove the shield.
    If they could recode it to block line-of-sight for attacks but not block player movement it'd be a much better skill.

    I thought the same for a moment, but it's also meant to block melee attacks so drones or bugs can't reach you to do harm. Removing that feature would be a great loss of utility. Why, however, friendlies (and the player itself) is blocked by it, I don't understand.
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    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
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  • vsilverwings1vsilverwings1 Member Posts: 572 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    The vast majority of the time I've seen it used since the game launched its been used to grief or be poorly used. Players will spawn it for no reason in front of me preventing me from attacking or putting it up in front of the flag in risa.

    It's best either removed and made a new ability or it be made possible to run through it and it only deflects energy attacks.
  • madeyejudemadeyejude Member Posts: 24 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    @ captaincelestia

    they are probably the same guys/fleet as the one who did their stunts at defera powerplant today. You can get their names and add handles when you look into the map who's in the same zone than you. There you get all the information you want, handle and fleet and you will see they belong all to the same fleet.

    They left defera some time today, seems like they moved to Nimbus III now.

    This is the post I did today:
    http://http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1479441

    And funny, there are still ppl out there who seem to enjoy it when other players get harassed...
    I have no words for that.
  • darkjeffdarkjeff Member Posts: 2,590 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    If they could recode it to block line-of-sight for attacks but not block player movement it'd be a much better skill.

    This.

    The odd corner cases where you're being melee'd by Borg is not worth the multitude of issues that would be solved by not having it block movement.

    (If you're worried about being melee'd by Borg, and actually get in that situation often, you should be carrying Force Field Dome anyway.)
  • azniadeetazniadeet Member Posts: 1,871 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Couldn't it be programmed so that it only blocks the movement of hostiles?

    Or just make the thing slightly shorter so we can jump over it.
  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    This is the same stunt people were doing in Undine Infiltration, and I agree that removing collision for friendlies would solve the problem while also allowing legitimate use (which I have seen in a *different* part of UIE).

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  • risian4risian4 Member Posts: 3,711 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    i have always thought that this shield should be removed from the game. i have engineer captains, and i don't use it; totally useless agaisnt moving targets and the heralds; even if you use the shield to cover your generators, Thralls can teleport themselves behind the shield.

    I haven't played engineers a lot, but I recently started levelling one and I must say, that shield has already made a difference on several occasions, especially in Fed starbase incursion. I must add though, the character is still below 50 so I don't have access to all abilities yet so I can't really tell how much I'd use it once I get access to other abilities.

    Removing an entire ability because some childlish players use it to troll others isn't the way to go. Nanoprobe infestation was also used in the Dyson battlezone to slow down other captains. Command abilities have caused severe lag for a while now. Many singularity Croud Control abilities and TBR can be used to move targets away from players, making it harder to hit stuff. I could go on for a while, point is: if we're going to remove everything that can be used to troll others instead of fixing it, there soon won't be many abilities left.
  • warmaker001bwarmaker001b Member Posts: 9,205 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    angrytarg wrote: »
    It is actually a useful ability if used and saved my bacon quite a few times. Saying it is useless because it is used to grief is a bit short-sighted.

    I don't understand though why it is a solid object for friendly players and/or why it can be used in social zones. These are things easily fixed, no need to remove the shield.



    I thought the same for a moment, but it's also meant to block melee attacks so drones or bugs can't reach you to do harm. Removing that feature would be a great loss of utility. Why, however, friendlies (and the player itself) is blocked by it, I don't understand.

    LOL, guys saying Cover Shield is useless are idiots. The ability is a great defensive tool to buy you breathing space. Just being able to Break LOS is a good luxury on featureless maps. It's amazing with the DOFF to provide resists to anything within close range of the Cover Shield and that makes it central for Turret Bunker play.

    Love Cover Shields :cool:
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  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Yeah, Cover Shield can't be removed.. it's a 'bread and butter' ability for Engineers.

    If you think it's worthless, then you have either never used it or have never used it correctly. Pop one down, put your Shield Generator right behind it to protect it and you can keep all your parties shields up. You can also take cover behind it when you're about to drop.

    It is however, a constantly abused mechanic. Best solution in my opinion, is leave the shield exactly like it is right now with one small change. Make it so that player characters in non PvP zones can walk through it. That way it couldn't be used to block people.

    It would suck if they took away one of the Engineers best skills just to deal with griefers.
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  • lordsteve1lordsteve1 Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Nobody is (or should be) suggesting they get rid of the ability, but this is the 3rd location in as many days that has seem certain player groups griefing by using this ability to block access to areas or generally be disruptive.

    There is no excuse for such behavior and the devs seriously need to look at how this is being done and come up with solutions.
    Legitimate use of the shield in combat is fine but it's clear that this is not the case here.

    Just making it non-solid to friendlies or outright unavailable in social zones would be a start.
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  • gulberatgulberat Member Posts: 5,505 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    lordsteve1 wrote: »
    Just making it non-solid to friendlies or outright unavailable in social zones would be a start.

    Both would be needed, because from what I understand, cover shield griefing occurs in social zones as well as in combat.

    Removing collision for friendlies would solve both problems, I suspect.

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  • farmallmfarmallm Member Posts: 4,630 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    I hadn't saw this before, but ran into some here and there. I agree they do have their bonuses, I used them some when missions required them.

    I say make them where players can run through them. So only the enemy can't.
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  • darkjeffdarkjeff Member Posts: 2,590 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Someone correct me if I'm wrong, because I haven't used it in a long time, but Force Field Dome blocks enemies but not friendlies, right? So that would mean they figured out how to do that at least once before.
  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    I have only seen players use the cover shield to block people from entering the settlement on Nimbus a few times and they were all poorly placed so other players can still squeeze through.

    I think the best solution for Nimbus III is to simply change the front gates to make the opening much wider where you need at least 3 cover shields to completely block the front entrance. Sure blocking players can still be done, but the trolls need more coordination to do so.
  • freakiumfreakium Member Posts: 424 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Then they'll just get a friend to put up 2 cover shields. No the best option is to simply allow allies to pass through.
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  • mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    angrytarg wrote: »
    It is actually a useful ability if used and saved my bacon quite a few times. Saying it is useless because it is used to grief is a bit short-sighted.

    I don't understand though why it is a solid object for friendly players and/or why it can be used in social zones. These are things easily fixed, no need to remove the shield.



    I thought the same for a moment, but it's also meant to block melee attacks so drones or bugs can't reach you to do harm. Removing that feature would be a great loss of utility. Why, however, friendlies (and the player itself) is blocked by it, I don't understand.

    and saying it doesnt have drawbacks because one a few minors cases of survival doesnt invalidate the opinion either. infact the cover shield should be reworked to be less invasive then it is, the problem is that its rapidly becoming a tool used by greivers rather then for its original purpose, i dont know why cryptic has not created a mini force field dome that keeps enemies out and keeps all enemy attacks out for 30 seconds and players can come and go as they please. its less invasive, it can be deployed anywhere, and it works the same way the shield does even if the ai has a direct los.
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  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,001 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    and saying it doesnt have drawbacks because one a few minors cases of survival doesnt invalidate the opinion either. infact the cover shield should be reworked to be less invasive then it is, the problem is that its rapidly becoming a tool used by greivers rather then for its original purpose, i dont know why cryptic has not created a mini force field dome that keeps enemies out and keeps all enemy attacks out for 30 seconds and players can come and go as they please. its less invasive, it can be deployed anywhere, and it works the same way the shield does even if the ai has a direct los.

    I never said it doesn't have drawbacks. Actually, in the very same post you quoted, I asked and made a suggestion how to fix it.
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    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    This thread and others like it are the reason there are trolls like that in the game. Just switch instance and forget about it.

    Stop feeding the trolls.
  • madeyejudemadeyejude Member Posts: 24 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    warpangel wrote: »
    This thread and others like it are the reason there are trolls like that in the game. Just switch instance and forget about it.

    Stop feeding the trolls.


    You knoiw what, this post is just hilarious. The main problem is that you often have just 1 instance at all. The last 2 days I had 20 ppl at Defera in 1 instance. The same goes for places like Nimbus III. All you can do is leave the planet and forget about your mission.

    This has nothing to do with feed the trolls, it is a major problem to players as they have no other choice. I'm all for not feeding the trolls and I never even talk to them, just put them on my ignore list. But so far this has not stopped them as they just look up at the map who's there and spam you with match invites and all you can do is turn of all invites on your toon.

    And since the support site on Arc is no availabe for whatever reason this way is the only way to get the attention of mods.
  • bernatkbernatk Member Posts: 1,089 Bug Hunter
    edited June 2015
    i have always thought that this shield should be removed from the game. i have engineer captains, and i don't use it; totally useless agaisnt moving targets and the heralds; even if you use the shield to cover your generators, Thralls can teleport themselves behind the shield.

    i have also often seen this shield used to annoy other players (nimbus, defera ...). anyway, engineers deserve a better skill

    Or better yet, make them not block players. Only mobs.

    (* frak pvp)
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  • timelord79timelord79 Member Posts: 1,852 Arc User
    edited June 2015
    Or meybe reduce the height of the cover shield? So everybody is at least be able to jump over it?
    To get out of line of sight you'd had to crouch behind it which would make it actually much MORE usefull because running around it to fire and run back behind it to take cover is a very clunky mechanic.

    Turrets and generators generally have a lower height so would still save behind it.

    Boffs could be programmed to crouch, too, when using it and talking heavy damage.

    The only drawback would be the NPCs you might want to protect from enemy fire like Rico in Bug Hunt.
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