YOU THOUGHT BLUE HEALERS WERE BAD? [Author: wirehead]
Here’s a letter from Erik, who’s given this issue some thought:
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With all the madness over the Decay Patch, I feel something is being overlooked. All I’m seeing anywhere is (not from you, mind you, but others):
The Decay Patch is going to force me to throw everything away, but I’m glad blue healers will be fixed.
I’m hoping that with the increased number of secure containers allowed, and removing the weight restrictions, that this may not affect us nearly as much as we think. We shall see of course, but that being what it is, we need to be probing OSI regarding the details of the blue healer patch. You know their history: They briefly describe the patch, everyone talks about it unintelligently due to a lack of disclosed information on OSI’s part, then they implement it in some weird way that somehow screws us.
My concern about the blue healer patch is threefold: If you heal a guildy, and you go orange to that guildy’s enemy guilds, are they orange to you, and thus can you attack them like any other orange? Do corpses of people who are temporarily orange to you go orange as well, making them lootable? And (less important) What exploits could result from allowing someone to make themselves red for two minutes by healing a murderer?
IE:
I’m Erik the Blue Healer Patch Exploiter. I start a guild of one member called ERK. I want to exploit the patch against a guild I hate called DIK. I have 10 blue, non-guilded friends available. They locate a DIK group of 5 people and hang out. I walk into the room incog’d in case they realize I’m friends with those people. Perhaps I heal myself for a moment to let waste mana, then suddenly all 10 friends throw me a heal, making the 5 DIK’s orange to them, and lay waste to the room, and we all laugh it up. Suddenly, guildwars are NERFED since a “guild” is no longer made up of the people guilded, but rather whatever friends happen to be nearby at the time. Battles no longer become predictable to any degree, since you may not don’t know who’s friends with who. You no longer know who you are really warring. Each battle needs some predictability, so that each side can decide on some tactics! That’s what war is: Evaluate your enemy, plan, attack, then win or lose. Another exploit:
I’m a nobody, watching BOB and JIM, two warring guildies, battle it out. BOB gets low in health. I heal JIM to make BOB orange to me, and loot BOB since BOB’s corpse is orange to me. Granted, JIM can attack me now, but he’s busy looting too, probably confused a little, and I more easily get away since I’m not getting ganged by everyone else – since I didn’t go gray. Or perhaps simpler, I heal whoever looks like they have crappier loot right at the start, so I can help him kill the other guy for his loot. A Mage vs Townie fight would always result in the mage losing if other mages were in the room. Vice versa if a nearby fencer decides he wants the guy’s kryss.
I can’t wait to see no one wanting to be order/chaos (mostly a town activity it seems) when whichever side starts losing suddenly gets ganged by everyone in town by them healing the winner and jumping in for the loot.
Imagine the results of battles where some idiot with a dragon who is nearby notices a friend offscreen getting attacked, and heals that person and turns his dragon on his friends attacker. Guildwars NERFED! You send in spys, you gather guildmates, and tactically assualt an enemy group, only to be killed by supposed “bystanders”.
The solution should be obvious by now, and if OSI is wise, they are already planning this: If you heal a guildy, you are orange to that guildy’s enemy guilds, but THEY are not orange to YOU, and neither are their corpses. A minor detail OSI has left out, which could cost us all dearly. Additionally, to prevent any possible exploits, I see no reason to make someone red for two minutes. It makes no sense. People will only find ways to exploit it. What’s the point of it? When you heal a murderer now, you’re gray, and attackable, what’s the difference?