Transitions, PVP and you

[Raposa_Fox]

Not often I experience PVP issues with transitions, sometimes abused, sometimes just used once, as the rule tells to, but still unbalancing the PVP, for mechanical matters. For instance, what has happened recently with the awesome Vilain attack, followed by his hunt, that brought him down. ICly, it was all good, The Vilain's IG strategy was to come hidden, attack, lure some characters to the other area, make the others use their supplies, only to go stealth after transitioning, and sneaking upon the couple of brave ones who decided to follow him. Well, great IC and OOC strategy, but mechanicaly, that gives him the free ability to hide in plain site. If his machine and conection are faster than the one who is pursuing him, he definetely gets the HIPS for free, and that, is unfair in the IC come out. On the other hand, if the one pursuing him has a fater loading, he will be waiting for him on the other side to strike him, so, the odds can turn to both sides, and the OOC reasons will aftect the IG results. After noticing that pattern, I decided to tell a DM about it, only to have the DM angry at me because that was legal, and I was bitching OOCly, which made me feel very embarassed. So, I want to know the opinions of all in this matter, and how far do Transition rules go, also, if that could be considered abuse or not. If so, suggestions to solve that, which bothers, at least myself, too often for my taste.

[SN]

IMO one should usually stay in one area anyway when PvPing, unless he/she/it decides to give it a runner.

[Vlaid]

I think if you already spoke to a DM about it, you would have been better served talking to another DM to get a better perspective on the situation.

Also, it probably would have been in better taste to not try and pin blame on anyone by mentioning the incident, players, and characters specifically.

[Gwydion]

IMO,

PvP should not take place near a transition, especially if stealth is being employed.  My machine is very slow, and if one of my character ever runs to a new transition, the other PC will be there waiting for me.

Several times I've "detected" a character at a transition - and have been OOCly told that its a bug/mechanical issue and that we are supposed to ignore it.  Right?  So as players, mebbe we should keep that same discipline and self-police this.  

My solution would be to keep PvP away from transitions as best we can, and even then, if there is a chase, for the person with the faster computer to let the slower PC regain the same lead they had into the transition.

And yes, specific situations that hack you off should be kept private.  Otherwise, bad blood is sure to follow.

A good thing to discuss though.

[Raposa_Fox]

I did not talk to any DM about this, I simply pointed him out that the player was abusing. And got the answer that he was not. But no discussions about the whole spectrum of the situation took place, that is why I posted it here.

Alright, players, characters and DMs identities hidden. Just couldn't explain that without describe some parts of the event though, and I'm not blaming anyone.

[Drakill Tannan]

If i were a sneaker i'd do something similar -only- if i had roleplayed planning my strategy before and i would never do so with a sinlge transition twice. It makes sence to me, the sneaky rogue finds good spots where he can inmediatly disapear and ambush, but once he/she does the spot is already discovered and should not work anymore.

I've done something similar to this, when Isendel was being followed i would sltealth just before a transition and then go straght back. But never for PvP.

I think this strategies are good, as long as they are used with moderation. In this case, if the villan did it like 12 times with the same transition then i'd call it abusing and warn him not to do it again.

[Letsplayforfun]

Transitions are supposed to be longggggg treks, so the same one should only be used in PvP once, imo, unless the pvp is prolonged for some reason. But that's just my 2c.

Get a DM for this kinda thing, but ask them nicely, or better: try to tell the player on a friendly tone. That works well too: he might just reconsider because he didn't think much about it in the heat of things.

[Random_White_Guy]

This is one of the big reasons why we ask DMs to be present at PvP.

During the heart of the event there were not one, not two, not three, but four DMs present and overseeing the chaos since it occured in different areas.

I cannot speak for everyone but I personally saw no problem with what the PC was doing. There were certainly some grey areas but that's at times the nature of the beast. If scathing rule-breaking was going on it would have been dealt with.

[The Beggar]

DMs can be wrong and mistaken, just like us as players. Of course often we don't see the DM following along with the PvP however, and they often have the birds eye view of the whole situation. PvP is intensely entertaining for DMs to watch. It's one of the more fun things actually (IMO).

If you have a disagreement with an on the fly ruling, email the DMs or post your question and description of what happened in the confidential DM questions section. Often they take some of these things into discussion.

I will say I have seen a lot of transition abuse in watching past PvPs. There are a multitude of ways to do it mechanically, none of which I will go into. Honestly, and IMO only, one should try and keep the PvP to one area. Drawing people across a transition to me is metagaming the fact that the transition is a mechanical break in line of sight that would not occur otherwise, allowing for rehiding with no chance for an opposed roll for someone actively chasing them.

Granted also, if the opposing team is balls slow, that's on them.

[Mort]

I didn't reprimand you for complaining. I reprimanded you for doing it in public.

If you have a doubt that something is not kosher, ask a DM, we were watching and everything here was kosher for all I saw.

It's just a bit heart-breaking to have a really tense/cool IC situation that is really awesome getting peppered with "//OMG transition abuse" and other OOC accusations or comments.

You can use dm-chat for these kind of things without tainting the picture or scene for everyone else.

[Sternhund]

If you feel someone is transition abusing during PVP, please contact a DM. We'll monitor the situation and worry about those technicalities for you!