The Ancient Cloak item in Naggy's Lair has brought to my attention a number of issues on camping which I would like some clarification on. 1) Does SOE recognise camps and what are its rules on them? 2) If someone camps the ancient cloak in the same spot for 3 or 4 days non stop, can they do that given the limited time the item is available for? The rarity of this item is leading to groups camping areas for long periods of time and limiting others chance of getting this ancient cloak given its limited availability. Working as intended?
The cloak is a Rare drop off trash, so it is likely that a kill team is keeping down an area where there are enough mobs to keep the kill count up without a serious risk of being overwhelmed. If a group is camping the same area steady for several days, I would expect that either, they are navy seals practicing their stay awake skills, or there are replacement players taking over while some sleep. In any case, the rule is first to damage the mob owns it, so you could sit your people at the edge of the other folk and whack a mob as it pops, but that will probably make for some harsh words and few kills for you, as you will be getting scraps. If you can't find a place to camp some trash of your own, then your options become, farm enough plat to buy the cloak, or wait a year until the next big thing comes along. The 17 point over haste is really a DPS/Tank melee item -yes sweet caster stats- but, the stats will be passed in a year or so.
Don't hold your breath on any kind of response to this. Due to the outcome of many petitions / tickets over the years (and posts from SOE that I would have no idea how to locate now) it has been generally accepted that the player concept of a "camp" is not supported from a support / customer service viewpoint. They usually refer to the "play nice" policy which could be widely interpreted by a CSR / GM. Also GM activity in-game for any reason is dramatically lower than it was "back in the day". That makes it more difficult and less likely that there would be any SOE response to anything other than egregious griefing / abuse - and even then it would require it to be well documented (/reports, screenshots, etc) by the reporting player - in-game support is not going to go sit in a "camp" and watch for bad / repeated behavior.
SOE does not recognize camps, however they are well aware that within the player base, they exist. Recognizing them would open a huge can of worms, a "camp" is a vague indeterminable area in which people feel entitled to each mob that spawns. Recognizing camps would probably lead to making the maps have each camp outlined, which would be another huge can of worms, since everyone seems to have their own opinion of what a "camp" consists of. The ancient cloak is a random drop, you have just as good of a chance as anyone else does. Yes some people camp areas with a larger amount of mobs that spawn, but that is all left to RNG, I went in for 4 hours and lost the roll on one, then I went in for an hour with a box, and got one for myself, and the area I was in had roughly 5 mobs I would kill, so that shows that quantity doesn't necessarily guarantee a drop. The only thing limiting your chances would be to not kill anything at all. Just find a spot and kill a few mobs for a while.
My camp is the area I can keep dead. Varies in size of course. When I'm after a named, I only care about phs.
And if you can get Piestro to personally respond, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. Honestly this is EQ. Nothing has changed.
Officially there is no such thing as camps, but GMs do respond to "camp" related petitions, generally with the suggestion to allow others to kill some mobs they grab (don't Kill Steal them) and other such crap. There is no encounter lock out like in some other games that make it clear, you do damage, lock the encounter, and it's your's until you die, run away, zone, whatever. The mob usually stays locked until it regens when it can become re-engaged again. Best advice has already been given, since it's a random drop from any trash or named, find a spot you can camp and stick to it. Don't try to impede on someone elses camp if they're keeping it well maintained (most mobs engaged as soon as they spawn with generally no more than 1 or 2 in waiting). That's not an official ruling, but it helps keep the peace and is how most people consider camps (that don't actually exist). But even following Sony's definitions, if you're keeping an area cleared and are the first to damage each mob, then they are rightfully yours, but GMs will insist on "playing nicely" with others. Personally I see the playing nicely working both directions, where if a group is keeping the majority of an area cleared, assume they will keep the entire area cleared themselves, 'cause coming in an picking off a few mobs in between their pulls is not really playing nicely and won't get you anywhere but people disliking you. When this has happened to me, I let the annoying person pick off a mob or two, and figure they'll leave after a short bit of little experience or loot, which is what usually happens. Sometimes it takes a while for really annoying / persistent people, but eventually they move on. Or they do something illegal like train or what not to try to bust up the camp. Then you can petition against them. Yther Ore.
We don't really recognize camps in a way that is meaningful to players. We do encourage players to work these issues out on their own. If we have to mediate we generally choose something equally bad for all parties involved. It's much better to come to an accommodation yourselves than get us involved. I would personally recommend recognizing the camp system as that is a widely accepted social norm in EverQuest. Were I involved in leading a guild I'd kick anyone in my guild out who violated others' camps more than once.
Do you mean if you also still had GM powers to verify the information or would you just remove someone because two people sent tells about camp stealing on different days about the same player?
Edit: Misunderstood. I wouldn't use any special privileges, I'd just wait till I received multiple credible complaints.
When I go to my local gym, it is understood that patrons will not use the same piece of equipment for more than 20 minutes at a time. It would be good player etiquette if players adopted the same attitude with regards to 3 million pp items which are only available for a limited period of time. Part of the blame for this has to go to the people who thought up putting the ancient cloak into the game with its current likelihood of dropping and limited time frame in which the item is going to drop.
I don't get it. It's a random zone wide drop, and you want people to move from their camp sites so you get what? Their camp site, but no more chance to get the drop than if you were killing at a different camp site? It just doesn't make any sense. Are you not able to get any camp site? Yther Ore.
False equivalency. If this remained true when using certain pieces of equipment at the gym had a chance to give you free membership or (insert other reward/incentive), then you'd have a useful comparison.
The equivalency my friend is the limited timeframe of both situations. I go the the gym to get stronger to work certain parts of my body, THATS the reward, same as I go to naggys lair to get an ancient cloak to drop, that's the rewards I am seeking. Do you see now?
Respect of camps is selective as much as it is subjective. Most of the time, when there isn't some chase scenario going on such as these revamps or the DSH MG event, people are good about being somewhat courteous and respectful. Players know that some guilds will not take complaints about members lightly (especially family guilds. Raid guilds, not so much). So, if there is no need to be in a hurry, than why risk having to deal with some stupid drama. Unfortunately, right now, all bets are off. People know that if they don't get what they want out of these special events in the few weeks they are live, then it is a wait until next year and doing without whatever perks the chase events bestowed. Armed with the stance that SoE does not see it as being their job to create policy or intervene in a space controlled by player interaction, than all you have is the Law of the Jungle.
Actually they purposely caused this situation so in truth, the entire blame goes to them. They know that when they limit this stuff to once a year and create chase items it causes this to happen. They are quite aware and seem fine with the drama it causes. If they weren't fine with it, they would stop putting players in these situations. Putting in the work to get something is something that most of us are quite used to. Competing with each other for limited time stuff is not since they moved away from this idea years ago with instances.
This situation is only made worse by what is perceived as a big reduction in the drop rate on the Ancient Cloak of Flames over the past week (starting say that last emergency patch).
