Of Pirates and Macros – Shortcuts Revisited

[Ironhawk]

Originally Posted by Plunderin Mom

So, I have to admit that when I heard somebody had gone from level 32 to level 40 within a few days, macro was the first thing that crossed my mind, and I was somewhat annoyed.

There are only 7 pirate who had reached lvl 40, including me, and
because i think i'm the fastest to raise level from 30 to 40, i believe
you are pointing your finger on me for using macro.
Well that hurts.
I played really hard to raise my notoriety so that me and my friend
Grizzly, who was ahead of me, can reach level 40 at the same day.
I worked in isla tormenta everyday and tried really hard to get rep
points from those seabeards and mollusks and went to jail like 7 to 8
times a day. But i didnt give up and keep playing and get bit by bit
of rep point to have notoriety level ups.

I never use macro, bots, or whatever cheats to get my reps.

[Dolnor]

I have given up trying to understand why people have to race to the top level in a game...then complain that there is nothing to do. Whether they use macros or bots or whatever...once they are there at the top/end, they moan that are always bored.

I play for enjoyment, not bragging rights. I gave those up long ago in the playground in grade school.

I have seen too many friends leave games because they macro-ed/bot-ed their way to the top numerous times and got bored. They moved on to other games where they did the same thing. Eventually they stopped playing all games.

If you feel that running macros benefits you, have fun. I doubt anyone would want to buy your level 40 account.


Toodles,

Dolnor Numbwit
Eternal Newbie

[Plunderin Mom]

Originally Posted by Ironhawk

There are only 7 pirate who had reached lvl 40, including me, and
because i think i'm the fastest to raise level from 30 to 40, i believe
you are pointing your finger on me for using macro.
Well that hurts.
I played really hard to raise my notoriety so that me and my friend
Grizzly, who was ahead of me, can reach level 40 at the same day.
I worked in isla tormenta everyday and tried really hard to get rep
points from those seabeards and mollusks and went to jail like 7 to 8
times a day. But i didnt give up and keep playing and get bit by bit
of rep point to have notoriety level ups.

The person I'm speaking of is absolutely not you. This person made 40 just recently, in the last week. I have not kept track of how quickly anyone has gone from one level to another and the only time I even look at the leaderboards is when I or one in my small group of guildmates has leveled up in Notoriety.

I was told about how quickly this person had leveled and, like I said, my first thought was "macro." That doesn't mean it was used. I really don't know. I can only base what I think on the amount of time that I have put into the game. I have spent a lot of time leveling (though not recently) and know how long it takes on average to level up, and that it only gets harder to do so. I was able to spend more time on it than the average person, but it's quite possible this person was able to spend even a lot more time than me. They were leveling day and night. Perhaps they also had friends who continuosly held agro on the enemy so all they had to do was kill them, and who would stay in the area while the person teleported back and forth for more ammo (From what I understand, they used Kingshead for most of their leveling, so that would have saved a lot of time). I really don't know.

If this person didn't use a macro then I'm sure they would be hurt at knowing people suspected them of it, too. Unfortunately, when you level that quickly as this person did, other people (especially those who are also spednding a fair amout of time at leveling, too, but aren't getting there nearly as fast) are going to assume that you may have used one. That's something every person (in any game where a macro can be used) at the top has to deal with if they make it there a lot more quickly than others. But they, and those closest to them, know the truth, so it doesnt really matter what other people think anyway.

[WizardHawk]

I'm level 38 and raised two levels in less than two days to get there. It might be easy for some to think I may have done something like that as well. I was not only on the leaderboard for level but also for kills (something over 2,000 I believe). I can assure everyone that I worked a few 12 hour shifts and often get bored at work and play there as well so it is easy for me to level up fast when you play around 15 hours a day just to be doing something to try to stay awake.

I'm not at level 38 because I want to get to the top, to get ahead of friends, or for any other reason other than I enjoy the game and my time with my friends there and have a bit more playing time than the average person.

Cheating exists and will probably always exist in all online games. Let us hope that as Vandelay said they don't start allowing open trades to make things worse. Still, I think game devs should be more aware of the issue and give it good thought when making or updating games to at least cut it as much as possible, even if removing it isn't reasonable.

I made this to help raise awareness of how it impacts this game and to create some discussion over how far macros can go before YOU think it is cheating. I enjoy seeing the different opinions of others. I'd even love to see the opinion of the person who was using them to power level to start with if they cared to add to this talk.

[Rob]

I would be suprised if people are using macros for this game. There is absolutely zero purpose. It is easy enough to level without it and with the cap of 40, there really is no reason. After a certain level (I will not spoil it for those that have not reached it yet), there are no more quests. If anyone really wants to level fast, the ability is there just by maxing kills at 100 rep points per. I always found it funny seeing people with 3k of kills when I wouldn't even be on the list and leveling daily at the high end.

There is also no purpose to farm gold as the cap is low. You will make that cap level many times over and end up doing what the rest of us do, buy ships and sell them right away to cut your gold down. Maybe, when there are more things to buy and more high end game content, macros will become a problem, but for now, I think they are wasting their time and prefer the devs spend time fixing bugs and adding more content than looking for cheaters. Just my opinion.

--Tristan