Report 1578

Report #1578
Skillset: Totems Skill: Chopping
 Org: Serenguard Status: Completed Jan 2017
Furies' Decision:
Solutions 1 and 2. As it is a channeled action, solution 3 is implied.
Problem: Elders have been called a "conflict mechanic" for as long as Lusternia
has been open, and by definition this is true. However, mechanically speaking
they are not promoting Conflict as players define it. Instead they promote a
grief mentality, that many players view along the same lines as Fire, Space
Rocks(Vines), Hit-Run on mobs. This is mostly due to the ease at which Elders
can be cut down.
[A:12 R: 1] Solution #1: Have chopping of Elder Trees act as a channeled
 action that takes 2 minutes to perform. To show
 Axelord's proficiency with axes have it take 90
 seconds for them.
[A:10 R: 1] Solution #2: As well, as Solution 1 have Elders call out on CT the
 room location at the start of chopping, the mid point
 of the channeled action, and when the tree is
 actually felled.
[A:14 R: 0] Solution #3: As well as Sol 1 and Sol 2, Hinder mechanics
 (entangle, stun, paralyse, etc.) should stop the
 channeled action.
Player Comments:
---[Enyalida on 12/5 @ 21:28 writes]:
Solution 3. This will help to dissuade all but the most dedicated trolls of
disruptors from chopping totems while people are logged on. It doesn't totally
solve the issue of totems, I still fully support and urge the Furies to revisit
report 1374 as mentioned in their original decision. The discretionary powers do
not touch the fundamental issue inherent in the problem, but the solutions
presented in that report and its comments will.
---[Aeldra on 12/6 @ 10:21 writes]:
I said I would support a report changing the mechanic and I stand by that. I
however would like to see another solution that would include something that
actively alert / record the person chopping. feel-like I'd rather have a denizen
report trees being chopped then the tree itself. Or it could be an ambient 'You
hear the loud sound of axes hitting wood coming from 'at the moonhart mother
tree'. I think if forced movement like gust/beckon/rad/etc breaks the channel,
Solution 2 is enough, thus Support for Solution 1 & Solution 2.
---[Enyalida on 12/6 @ 13:54 writes]:
The issue with Solution 2 is the cement socks artifact and other ways to pump
your summon resist. If you get caught right at the beginning of chopping that's
one thing, but it's possible to get absurdly high summon resist and take quite a
while to move.
---[Falmiis on 12/6 @ 19:00 writes]:
I don't think any of these solutions will really "solve" the frustrations
communes have. All it will do is make it even more likely that people will wait
for times with even less people around to go chopping. My preferred solution is
to just remove chopping and power generation of elders/totems as a mechanic. A
compromise if this is not desired would be that elders automatically get
ironbark for 24 hours when they revert. This keeps chopping/power generation as
mechanics but gives the communes a much larger window (that they will know the
exact times for) to carve their totems. Duration can adjusted as needed.
---[Lerad on 12/7 @ 00:36 writes]:
Thanks for making this report to make it more difficult and nerf the act of
chopping. I have created another report as well, 1580, that approaches the
problem from the side of the act of replanting. I support any of the solutions
in this report, with or without the inclusion of any of the solutions in 1580. I
am obviously biased, yes, but I am also fully convinced that implementing
solutions from both reports together is not unreasonable.
---[Shango on 12/15 @ 05:20 writes]:
Really none of these would matter if the given Communes just attend to carving
their Elders into Totems. Could just make the totemcarving skill cost a lot less
on balance/eq time, to hasten the process for maintence, otherwise...is this
really a problem often? Once made into totems, I'm told they're untouchable till
they revert back to the lesser forms, no?
---[Lerad on 12/16 @ 00:59 writes]:
Yes, yes it is a problem. It is a problem because communes DO attend to carving
their trees into totems. It is a problem because the problem statement is not
about how easy it is to carve totems, but about the frustration and grief that
results from the difference of effort between CHOPPING and REPLANTING.
Specifically, the problem statement states "This is mostly due to the ease at
which Elders can be cut down". Specifically, there is no mention about carving
in either the problem, or the solutions - the solutions target the act of
chopping to make it harder to do so. It doesn't quite do enough, because it
doesn't address the actual frustration of replanting, which requires 5 respawns
and 36 x 3 hours of growing time per elder tree - compared to 2 x 6s of a single
command to fell it. I'm in full support of any of the solutions here, of course.
Anything that addresses the gap at all, even if it isn't sufficient, is
something I will support. But yes, it most assuredly is a problem.
---[Enyalida on 12/21 @ 14:15 writes]:
That's pretty funny: "Just do all the busy work constantly and cities won't
grief you!". Har har.
---[Wobou on 12/21 @ 15:30 writes]:
I am also in favor of removing the power generation mechanic to solve this but
in the case that that solution is not accepted in Lerad's report I support all
three solutions. I agree with Falmiis that realistically people are just going
to do this at dead times anyway so the delay will probably not be enough as
strong as it is.
---[Shuyin on 1/14 @ 18:27 writes]:
Ok
---[Malarious on 1/17 @ 19:21 writes]:
If you are motivated to cut a tree down for whatever purpose, I do not think we
should make it impossible (having the tree call for help). 1 and 3 supported
without 2.