I spent the weekend in quite a few hunts (6 or so) and in some of them I saw a lot of alts that were AFK.
With that said, what your thoughts on these? I feel that Monumental has the stance that they should not be allowed as they have stated they are against AFK play and thus this would break TOS.
I’m a little jaded on this. The main reason people being their alts is simply to get 2-3x the loot thus giving them an advantage over other players. While I do realize bringing alts would allow for bigger meteors, but when the hunts are pretty full, they aren’t needed for this.
Just figured I’d see what people thoughts were on this.
@Tiggs think you can check on an official stance on this?
EDIT: I am asking this as I have done this in the past and brought my son’s account and I debated on bringing it again last night, but the mention of being AFK in this way by Monumental I chose not to do this.
There is a huge difference between AFK play as in the post you linked and being in the game but not participating. For example, the second one could easily be fixed by only letting mobs drop loot if you did some damage to them, the first one doesn’t have an easy fix.
But, I would really appreciate if they would ban multiboxing as multiboxing in any game just causes problems.
Lastly, if player optimize the fun out of the game, the game has a design flaw. Rather than punish people, they should fix the game. One problem is that hunts are too rewarding and the only source of Oort and forge ingredients. Add other options to obtain them.
This I agree with. If you have been in enough hunts, you know when someone brings 2-3 alts along and parks them at the edge of the hunt and they are AFK until the meteor is completed. Then the player will AFK their main character and collect loot and oort with each alt. The group will then move and the player will open a portal to the next meteor or take the portal to the next platform. This gives them an advantage over other players who are not using alts which was the point.
As far as AFK in general, I went AFK for a short period during 3 of my 6 hunts for phone calls (work stuff), granted I was only AFK for 2-3 mins.
I know some say they do it to boost up the meteors for bigger size but that’s just a cop out.
I don’t see why the community has to carry alts/afk so people can get extra loot for little to no effort. In the meantime people have to use more equipment etc to compensate for this. It’s more noticeable on the tougher higher tiered hunts not so much on say t3/t4s
It’s up to the hunt leaders at the end of the day and most are ok with it.
I run my own hunts with no alts or afk allowed. Going for efficiency and it works. Get through those meteors faster and efficiently
Hard enough to generate enough Oort, so if the ones running it decides to bring a few Alts for extra Oort to support their network etc. I can say looking at the costs for ULT network is eye watering…
Oh I totally agree @Huntsman, but looking at the flip side of the coin they are taking on that network and accepting that it is going to take a lot of Oort. I think the situation is much more difficult now than ever with a lower population.
TNT, GTG and PS and larger networks like this shouldn’t be tackled by 2-3 people it should be a group of people and when that group of people or the few that run it quit then things happen like GTG and it’s currently down portals (some due to it be on a Sov) but TNT has gone through some issues too and we saw the eventual failing of PS.
ULT network is a prime example too… I am glad these networks exist it makes all of our Boundless lives easier… but to the same token ULT knows the responsibility taken and the Oort required and in the end most likely a stance of players being AFK in hunts will be against TOS.
If you are looking to have the devs take some off the cuffs snap decisions prior to even getting the game going again, I guess now is the time to make that happen. Just won’t help us in the long run as it is atm.
@Huntsman I was in several hunts this weekend and was just leery about bringing my alts due to the stance of Monumental stating their stance on AFK play.
I do not want to break TOS or risk being banned so I figured I’d ask about it in hopes of getting some official word on it.
While I could have simply brought 4-5 alts into most of the hunts I was in I felt it safest to not to.
AFK meaning you don’t touch it at all for a long long time, but for hunts you still need to warp it, move through, equip loot totem, grapple ground perhaps, keep them alive, and then rinse and repeat. So obviously not, but if phrasing the topic as afk, and not providing context for our new overlords… well I will bet which way it would go right away
I really don’t think that’s what they meant and I doubt they’re wandering the game looking for loopholes they can use as gotchas. Regardless, I’d rather not have an official decision that might have unanticipated consequences on the game’s economy and playerbase right now. There isn’t anything to replace the resources (like enhancements or optimizations) if Monumental says they don’t like alts at hunts. And there is no way to enforce it, which turns enforcement into player reports and drama.
For context, I play on PS5 and although I have a character on PC I rarely load it up because my laptop can’t play Boundless without overheating and getting choppy. Edit to clarify: my point being I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who doesn’t use alts.
My overall experience has been that a few alts standing around hasn’t hurt the hunts I’ve been on. It’s a different story if people play only one character and no alts, and are present enough to trigger meteors and collect the rewards but not present enough to fight the enemies at each meteor. But we as peers can’t easily tell who is an alt and who isn’t and we don’t need a witch hunt. As long as it’s essentially functioning, and until game enhancements start coming from Monumental, I don’t want more decisions or official stances from them on this.
Depends on your outlook on it I suppose. As stated I’ve done it numerous times and brought an alt or two. Are they totally AFK 100% of the time? No. But as stated I guess that’s up to Monumental. To me it’s an unfair advantage in some ways, again how you look at it.
While I agree, but probably nice to know if I am breaking TOS rather than getting randomly banned for having an alt be AFK in a hunt.
There were several bans recently … I’d rather not be one and rather none of you be one either. We have lost enough people.
Agreed @truus and was also my point. There have been some bans recently (some were reversed) and I for one do not want myself or anyone else banned without warning. I (and I assume others) do not want to be breaking TOS.
This already affects the economy and could be viewed as positively or negatively.
There’s been several bans…?
I didn’t hear about this.
Honestly simply asking the hunt leader if they’re cool with alts would be best if you’re going too.
Also if you’re at least helping during the hunt with your main I wouldn’t care.
It’s more when people do absolutely nothing on a hunt that’s irritating.
Multi-boxing affects several areas of the game. I’ve struggled with some of my personal feeling about alts on hunts over time. However right now I notice that players are being openly invited to multi-box on some hunts specifically by the organizers.
In most other areas, the alts are idling for use or to affect player counts during summonings - not exactly something I would compare to botting or “afk play”. However there is at least one case where the two come very clearly together in game right now.
That specific case aside, I think it’s important to not try and separate this into multiple specific scenarios. Either multi-boxing is ok, or it’s not. It’s been a strongly argued (for both sides) issue on hunts for a while. Considered overalI I would suspect that from a publisher’s standpoint it’s undesirable.
It’s just that regarding “good for the game” it’s hard to make a call from the sidelines on this one.
Interesting side point, too.
I’ve been ducking social channels lately but this would help explain the surprising outrage over some simple/obvious questions recently
This is exactly me at the moment and why I am concerned. I think it’s up to the hunt leaders currently until the TOS is solidified. I even struggle with multi-boxing as it would require a purchase of the game which isn’t a bad thing.
Overall, just so I’m clear, I have nothing personally against people AFK in hunts as long as it is not breaking the TOS as I really don’t want to lose more players. Do I feel it is fair for everyone? No, because what if someone can’t afford another account or doesn’t have another PC to run another account on or their PC just can’t handle running 2 accounts on one computer.
A few.
No no! Thank you for hosting it was fun!
Agreed. It’s how I feel the stance of AFK play. Is it OK to have multiple accounts which are AFK for 95% of the hunts and who allow a specific player more loot over the other players not using alts during the hunts? As I stated I did it, so I just worry about it in the future and how it could affect the player base if people start getting banned for it.
