>>In all seriousness, you might get better traction posting this stuff in the empath folders.

The Crossing Empaths' Guild has been overrun by rampant botting. Personally, I would like to see staff being a little more proactive with scripting enforcement in gathering places where new players are likely to show up. (New players who see only silence and scripting are unlikely to stick around.)

However, I also understand that GM manpower is very limited, and they don't enjoy spending their time conducting script checks. I think there are some measures that would improve the ability of Empaths to use the Crossing Empaths' Guild for its intended purpose without requiring constant GM oversight.

Note: This suggestion is specifically limited to the Crossing Empaths' Guild, an area designated for Empaths to heal patients, an area where players (especially new ones) are told to seek healing. This is not about whether it's possible to stop AFK scripting or whether it would be effective to chase AFK scripters away from other popular gathering spots where people merely gather for no reason other than to script while teaching/listening to classes.

---

AFK Scripting in General: Currently, the guildhall (especially the Courtyard Garden) is a scripter's paradise. It is warded against PvP and theft. You can forage for grass/vines to braid. You can practice locksmithing. Since the room has no roof, you can interact with the moons. The scroll is bad even with extensive gags. For a new player in the Web client (where all content is dumped into one window), the scroll is overwhelming.

I would like the Courtyard Garden (entrance) and Infirmary to be less scripting-friendly. Even just disabling the ability to forage and practice locksmithing would help immensely. (Ideally, I would also prohibit hiding/invisibility and disable the combat ward.)

In the previous thread, a player asked why the ATK Empaths don't simply move west to the Infirmary. I would note that all of these suggestions apply to both the entrance and the Infirmary. That being said, here is why simply moving to the Infirmary (with no other changes) would not be an effective solution:

1. The Infirmary is almost as scripting-friendly as the entrance room. (The only thing you can do in the entrance that you can't do in the Infirmary is forage for grass/vines for braiding.) Without changing the room's mechanics to make it less scripting-friendly, the bots are likely to follow the Empaths into the new room (to listen to classes while they script).

2. Overcoming the inertia of players who are used to going to a particular room (the entrance) can take weeks of vocal campaigning. This effort is not worth it when you consider that any reduction in the bot population will be temporary, requiring constant periodic relocation of the ATK Empaths.

3. Even with Empaths encouraging them to come to the Infirmary, players tend to stop in the entrance room, especially if they see other players in there. (The Infirmary is not the first room you see when you enter the guild.)

4. Moving to the Infirmary does not address the problem of healbots (the kind that automatically trigger on response to requests for healing) that are immune to the removal mechanics. (See below.)

Of course, Empaths should not have to periodically relocate in their own guildhall for the convenience of AFK scripters. I don't see why these two rooms need to be uber scripting rooms at the expense of the purpose for which the rooms were designed.

If players want to silently script non-combat skills, they have plenty of other options that don't interfere with Empaths healing patients in an area designated for that purpose. There are also plenty of other rooms where players can park their healbots/mules.

---

Healbots Specifically: In addition to the rampant AFK scripting in general, there are some players running bots that robo-heal before any human can manually respond. (You can tell they are bots when they instantly attempt to heal people who are merely talking about healing.) We have reported these bots as disruptive, but there is not enough manpower for GMs to handle these reports in a timely manner.

In the absence of GMs to deal with disruptive healbots, player Empaths could step up and police their own. However, Empaths who are at least 100th circle cannot be removed from the guildhall, even by much more senior Empaths. I think this immunity should be weakened if not eliminated. (If abused, a player's ability to remove other Empaths can be removed by GMs.) For example, an Empath who is least 150th circle might be allowed to remove any Empath under 150th circle. With a second vote from another 150+ Empath, an Empath could remove any Empath above 150th circle. A 200th circle Empath might be allowed to remove any other Empath of a lower circle with a single vote.

---

"Empathy doesn't make people nice." --GM Armifer

Empath new player guide: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Empath_new_player_guide

Empath hunting ladder: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Empath_hunting_ladder

I wholeheartedly support this event or product.

-Krusty the Klown

I am okay'ish with the afk-scripters, as long as they aren't being disruptive by lying down and repeatedly kicking at the air because their forage script hanged. I don't want to derail the thread by talking about game design, but if you're trying to max your training, you're probably going to semi-afkscript 90% of the time, or you'll go nuts and get carpel tunnel. So I've come to terms with zombies -- I ignore them, and let them die when they get infected or bleed out. If they're spamming from a hanging script, I kick them out.

My main issue are healbots, who I believe are utterly detrimental to the guild. I have 3 big reasons why:

(1) wounds are a limited and unpredictable resource, which they immediately and completely consume -- imagine if there was only one hunting area in all of Zoluren, and it takes hours for one monster to spawn sometimes. And when that one monster does appear, an afkscripter immediately one-shots it. Good luck advancing as a Circle 1 Empath.

(2) Beginner Empaths have no way of advancing except by healing, and very slowly. And the first non-healing training method, perceive health, is extremely slow -- nearly unviable at low circles.

(3) For non-combat Empaths, the guild is everything to them. It's where they RP, train, circle, rest -- and healbots effectively take it away from them.

In my opinion, people who afk-heal should be punished greatly. Guildmate removal is not sufficient, in my opinion, especially since it's the beginner Empaths who are affected the most (and would not be able to enact the removal).

For 3, I was referring to non-combat Empaths. They still exist!