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Taillteann Farmland: Make it accessable for all!

GiegueGiegue
Mabinogi Rep: 2,975
Posts: 215
Member
edited January 11, 2018 in Feedback and Suggestions
IGN: Giegue
Server: Mari
I know some of you saw this title and are about to attempt to explain to me that Taillteann's farms used to be free and it's "not even worth it anymore" before you read,
so let me cut you short:
I know, and I know.
Focus on the Bold Text for TL:DR

In Taillteann there are farmland plots and an NPC named Blatt who, if you have VIP service, would lease you a plot of land that you would maintain for a week via timed tasks, and at the end of the week you would be given a nice sum of gold depending on how well you looked after it!
Originally, this didn't require VIP service. It was free to all players, costing 30,000 gold and only one character per server, per account could have a farm.
However a mixture of extreme bot abuse (like, EXTREME bot abuse) and alt abuse meant that farms were inaccessible by normal players, while bots lined up at Blatt to purchase a plot of land. There are 630 plots of land per server. (90 per channel, each channel has their own farmland.) At least 600 of those at any one time were owned by bots during Taillteann farm's last free weeks. Bots had an easy access to large amounts of gold, and gold sellering bots made a big comeback.

Nexon's answer to this was to make Farming exclusive to players with VIP Service, which has left Taillteann's farms very empty... Players wont purchase VIP exclusively for a farm, and players who have VIP tend to make money in other (better) ways.
Farms were a good option for newer characters and just added to the fantasy life feel, it was actually one of my favorite memories of the game back in g12.
Farms being locked behind VIP is not making Nexon any money at all, and it's prevented a good chunk of the player base, especially the newbies, from accessing a feature of the game, in a nutshell. (It also hasn't actually stopped the bots, since now they're just selling reforges in Belvast)

So the point of this is to make alternative suggestions on how to prevent bot/alt abuse of the farms while giving back the ability for free to play players to own farms again. I do have suggestions on how to make the entire system worthwhile again, but that's not really my focus. Instead I'm going to list off a few alternatives to the VIP lockout below.


Scenario clear requirement: Characters have to have cleared a story quest in order to lease a plot. Any quest line between g9 and g12 would make sense.
Pros:
-Massively slows the inflow of bot abuse. Bots can't clear Scenario quests without manual assistance, and it prevents a massive autonomously respawning hoard of bots from swarming Blatt.
-Alts will have to clear the quests too, which would deter players from making 20 disposable accounts to claim farmland for themselves.
-Extra reward for clearing scenario quest is nice.
Cons:
-Botters and Alts that have cleared the Scenario would gradually increase over time, although it might take a while, the problem could creep back if botters/players are diligent enough.

Cumulative Level Requirement: Players need to be above a certain total level in order to lease a plot.
Pros:
-Using Cumulative Level 3000 as an example, If a player reaches an average of level 50, and rebirths every day until level 1000, then the player averages level 70 every rebirth, and rebirths once every week, it would take a player less than 6 real time Months to reach this level from a Fresh character not created using an Ace Character Card.
This will undoubtedly deter bot accounts and alt abuse due to the amount of time and effort spent raising a character to this level.
Cons:
-As with the Scenario Method, Botters and Alts can creep back once they've met the requirement.
-Newbie characters are locked out of the content until they're high enough level.
-Purchasing an Ace Character Card (that starts you at total 2000) can bypass a chunk of the work, and bots will go far enough to purchase NX, though it's good for Nexon's wallet I guess.

Homestead Requirement: Players need to have a high level Homestead in order to lease a plot.
Pros:
-The amount of time and effort spent managing and leveling a homestead would massively deter bots and alts, since it's much more difficult to do autonomously.
-The potential for homestead stones to have another use is here. They could be used as a payment alternative or replacement for players who have them in excess.
-Blatt is the NPC that manages homesteads as well, so it kinda makes sense I guess...
Cons:
-Newbies are completely locked out, as leveling a Homestead past a certain point takes an incredible amount of time and effort.
-Bots and Alts still risk creeping back, though this is probably the most time and energy used on a bot, however there are methods that can be used to rapidly level a homestead.

Daily Quest/Daily Shadow Mission/Adventure Seal Requirement: Similar to how the Echostone tab requires 1 run per week of Sidhe Finnachaid in order to remain active. Alternatively, using Adventure Seals as payment.
Pros:
-The extra work required will slow/deter alt abuse significantly, especially as Adventure Seals cannot be traded to another account.
-Bots may not be able to complete the daily quest autonomously.
-Unlike the other methods, alts and bots cannot "creep" into a position where they can comfortably be abused, as this status must be maintained.
-Accessible to all players!
Cons
-Completing a daily quest/daily shadow mission is pretty easy. Good for newbies, bad for stopping bots/alts.
-Adventure seals are valuable for other things.
-Potentially risks encouraging Adventure Seal botting.

Dungeon/Shadow Mission/Theater Mission chest reward: Introduce a stackable item that drops from Basic dungeon/Intermediate mission and higher difficulties that allows lease of a farm.
Pros:
-More work for Bots and Alts, more so for Alts, slowing the influx of abuse.
-Dungeon/Mission running incentives.
-Something for other players to sell should they acquire the item and not want it.
Cons:
-RNG makes for a sad time, potentially making the worth of the item more than the profit gained from the farm.
-Who even runs Theater missions anymore.
-Bots can probably run Alby basic autonomously, players who use alts and bots can grind and buy the item to abuse later.
-Potential Event reward filler that no one wants.

Suggestion from Kokoro - Make the tasks more interactive: Revamp the system to require more attention than a simple click of a button.
Pros:
-Bots may not be able to reliably complete the Minigames, the forced interactivity may deter some alt abuse.
-Minigames can be fun, and it would make a nice change if the farm system was redone. The interactivity would be nice.
Cons:
-If the Minigames are too simple and mindless, macros could potentially allow botters to abuse the system.
-If the Minigames are too complex or tedious, it can make farming even more of a chore for what it's worth for the average player.
-Either way, it doesn't really stop alt abuse.

PLEASE Add your own suggestions or point out additional pros and cons to these suggested methods below! I'll even add them to this post.
If you want to complain about how all of this is pointless because Farming is an outdated method that is overshadowed by shadow mission spam and commerce, feel free to bump the thread for me, because you're right! However the point of this thread is to shine light on this old and forgotten part of the game and make suggestions on how to bring it back.

Comments

  • GiegueGiegue
    Mabinogi Rep: 2,975
    Posts: 215
    Member
    Thanks for the thread bump! Your feedback is delicious.
  • KokoroKokoro
    Mabinogi Rep: 3,155
    Posts: 289
    Member
    When we had the free VIP month a couple of years ago I remember I took out a lease on some farmland. I thought it was quite fun though a little tedious having to keep going back and forth to the farm. After 2-3 weeks 'work' the payoff was only like 200k haha.

    I don't know how sophisticated bots can be made to be but maybe add in a minigame for each of the farming actions? For example something like the Wine Making minigame but with insects that pop up or weeds to be pulled. It will improve player interactivity as well (though it may make it even more of a chore).
    Giegue
  • GiegueGiegue
    Mabinogi Rep: 2,975
    Posts: 215
    Member
    Thanks for your insight Kokoro. I've made a little edit to my post for you.

    I agree that 200k for a weeks worth of farming is kinda laughable nowadays, though back during g9-12 days it was actually quite a bit of money. You CAN make 1 million Gold via a week of farming. Strawberries, diligent work, supply and demand fluctuations that work in a similar way to commerce (the more players farming, the more it fluctuates) can result in a very big profit. My favorite memories of the farms being populated was running into familiar faces while farming, since everyone used to have one.

    However due to the inactivity of the farm due to the VIP lockout, that system is kinda forgotten about. I do think the rewards could do with a little buffing to pair up to the economic inflation, but that'll also only add to the inflation problem. Aye... dilemmas...

    A minigame more like Blacksmithing/Tailoring Finishing or Fishing manually might avoid the tediousness issue but who knows... I just hated the Wine Making Minigame.
  • EraleaEralea
    Mabinogi Rep: 9,890
    Posts: 779
    Member
    I used to farm quite often back when it was free. It was something I could semi-afk at while doing homework/assignments.

    The mainstream quest completion sounds like a good enough pre-requisite. Open the farms after completion of chapter 3. If the bots can get brionac and demigod, they can go ahead and hold a farm lol. No reason Nexon can't still ban them like they ban all the other gold bots.

    It would be a huge waste of time to complete the quests only to get banned for doing dodgy stuff. If we can't stop them, slowing them down to the point it's too inefficient/risky for a throwaway bot works too.
    Giegue
  • GiegueGiegue
    Mabinogi Rep: 2,975
    Posts: 215
    Member
    Yes! Theres no way to stop bots other than to make the time/cost/risk ineffective for making large amounts of gold. People will find a way to try and cheat the systems no matter what. Like hardmuscle said, even high end players used macros and autoclickers. But what's that to 600 bots daily being reduced to 6?

    I prefer the idea of mainstream quest completion over the rest as its probably the least work to implement and the most rewarding for the players. I'd call it a win.