Edward Edgemenace
Honorable Pirate
In Pirates of the Caribbean Online, people often complain about "rep-stealing."
While the term seems perfectly descriptive at first blush, many people misinterpret it and consequently misuse it.
Now, I certainly have stolen rep. There have even been occasions where I could accurately be called a "rep-stealer" myself. Fortunately, those occasions are increasingly rare.
When I refer to "rep-stealers" I am talking about people who actively seek out enemies others are using to level, and defeat them as hard and fast as possible with the intent of making the game miserable for someone else.
The most frequent misuse of the term I see, is talking about someone who is attacking your enemies because they don't yet understand the POTCO reputation system. Invariably, this is a person who has not yet tried to master grenades. Therefore, they don't yet understand that weaker hits give more reputation points.
Attitude is key.
When a situation occurs, being polite wins the day. Sometimes it is a kid who is very excited to be able to kill an urchinfist while they are only level 30 (albeit, with a lot of unintended "help.") Someone entering POTCO will think of themselves (correctly) as a pirate, and delightfully get wrapped up in their piratey ways. It is a rude awakening from that state of mind, to be reminded that you are actually playing the game with other people, who genuinely don't appreciate your being unkind.
Disney's recommendation is to simply switch servers. With half as many servers, that is quite a difficult thing to do these days. Furthermore, that penalizes only the "nice" people in the game, making them, for example, take a minute to switch servers, 30 seconds to relaunch from Cuba, a minute to sail to Tormenta, 30 seconds to land, 10 seconds to re-enter cursed caverns and another minute to fight their way back to Thrall lake.
My recommendation, instead, is to take 5 minutes to be nice to them and explain the problem. Teaching them that they can get MORE rep from yellow enemies, is often well received if approached tactfully. With the new weapons, it is harder for people to understand why level-appropriate enemies give more rep. And everyone new to the game, has trouble understanding that they get the most rep from their WEAKEST weapons and WEAKEST attacks. Heck, even seasoned veterans don't often think about rep-per-minute for leveling, instead focus on getting max rep from each enemy.
I started at level 1.
Someone pointed out to me, that I was quite the noob, when I was new. It was quite an eye-opener to have several people classify me as "a really cute noob" back in my accidental rep-stealing days. Fortunately, they were kind enough to explain to me, what I was doing so wrong, before I got too strong (strong enough to actually steal significant rep.)
With the reputation calculation changes from Spring/Summer 2010, rep-stealing is less of a problem than it was in the past. But it certainly does still exist.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing on an ideal server? In my opinion, there is not. A prerequisite for rep-stealing, is that someone is being harassed on a quiet server. Obviously, on an ideal server, you are going to be sharing enemies wherever you go. You can be polite and use weak attacks (and thereby get more rep, yourself) or you can blast away enemies as fast as possible on an ideal server. You (and others) will get decent rep either way - you just get more rep when you use weaker attacks.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing at Darkhart on Abassa? In my opinion, there is not. People can sometimes get really good rep from Darkhart during lulls in the activity...but when so many people are there for loot, it is unreasonable to expect good reputation points.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing at Darkhart on a quiet server? In my opinion, yes. Someone who has taken the trouble to GET to Darkhart on a quiet server, has a reasonable expectation that they will be able to use that enemy for a while. If someone comes along, they can either cooperate or rep-steal. If both people are there for loot - no problem. If both people are there for leveling - no problem. If one wants to level and the other wants loot, it's a problem. (Sidenote: I never use Darkhart for leveling weapons, myself...he gives very poor rep-per-minute.) In this case, attitude is everything.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing on Kingshead? In my opinion, sometimes yes. If there is a group of people using the mob for ranking, I myself have no qualms about stepping in with a cutlass sweep. In that case, I'm not stealing any rep at all, merely getting in on the loot drops. If there is a person leveling their grenades on the mob, and I want to level staff? I'll switch servers if they were there first. Jumping in, in that case, is just not cool.
Everyone has their opinion.
There are many varying opinions about rep-stealing. From what I can tell, it is no indication about how nice or mean a person is. What it is, is an indication of how much someone understands the reputation-points system.
Someone who says rep-stealing simply doesn't exist, in my opinion, is a troll. It is a well-known phenomenon that has no significance at all, below notoriety 40. Someone that hasn't encountered the problem YET, has no basis to form a valid opinion on the topic.
Someone who says rep-stealing is sometimes ok, may often go "looting" with friends in Tormenta, with no intention of ever mastering any weapon other than cutlass. FOR THEM, it is a perfectly valid opinion. Their opinion will probably change later when they try to master other weapons.
Someone who says rep-stealing is ok against rude people, hmmm, ooops, that's me. It's a healthy reminder to MYSELF that this is counter-productive. When I practice what I preach, I get better results. But I make mistakes sometimes, too.
Basketball
The best analogy on this topic I've ever heard, is the "basketball court" analogy. Yes, enemies are open to the "public." If someone is using a basketball court, can you reasonably expect to just take over the entire court?
Summary
Please don't allow this thread to deteriorate into a flame war. The purpose of spelling it out here, is to encourage discussion and learn better methods for dealing with it. This isn't here to lambaste people who don't yet understand the problem - it is here to inform, discuss and educate us all. Don't jump down anyone's throat on this sensitive subject - other forums force this to be flamebait only. Please do not let that happen here...respect other's opinions on this topic, and watch as people learn more.
While the term seems perfectly descriptive at first blush, many people misinterpret it and consequently misuse it.
Now, I certainly have stolen rep. There have even been occasions where I could accurately be called a "rep-stealer" myself. Fortunately, those occasions are increasingly rare.
When I refer to "rep-stealers" I am talking about people who actively seek out enemies others are using to level, and defeat them as hard and fast as possible with the intent of making the game miserable for someone else.
The most frequent misuse of the term I see, is talking about someone who is attacking your enemies because they don't yet understand the POTCO reputation system. Invariably, this is a person who has not yet tried to master grenades. Therefore, they don't yet understand that weaker hits give more reputation points.
Attitude is key.
When a situation occurs, being polite wins the day. Sometimes it is a kid who is very excited to be able to kill an urchinfist while they are only level 30 (albeit, with a lot of unintended "help.") Someone entering POTCO will think of themselves (correctly) as a pirate, and delightfully get wrapped up in their piratey ways. It is a rude awakening from that state of mind, to be reminded that you are actually playing the game with other people, who genuinely don't appreciate your being unkind.
Disney's recommendation is to simply switch servers. With half as many servers, that is quite a difficult thing to do these days. Furthermore, that penalizes only the "nice" people in the game, making them, for example, take a minute to switch servers, 30 seconds to relaunch from Cuba, a minute to sail to Tormenta, 30 seconds to land, 10 seconds to re-enter cursed caverns and another minute to fight their way back to Thrall lake.
My recommendation, instead, is to take 5 minutes to be nice to them and explain the problem. Teaching them that they can get MORE rep from yellow enemies, is often well received if approached tactfully. With the new weapons, it is harder for people to understand why level-appropriate enemies give more rep. And everyone new to the game, has trouble understanding that they get the most rep from their WEAKEST weapons and WEAKEST attacks. Heck, even seasoned veterans don't often think about rep-per-minute for leveling, instead focus on getting max rep from each enemy.
I started at level 1.
Someone pointed out to me, that I was quite the noob, when I was new. It was quite an eye-opener to have several people classify me as "a really cute noob" back in my accidental rep-stealing days. Fortunately, they were kind enough to explain to me, what I was doing so wrong, before I got too strong (strong enough to actually steal significant rep.)
With the reputation calculation changes from Spring/Summer 2010, rep-stealing is less of a problem than it was in the past. But it certainly does still exist.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing on an ideal server? In my opinion, there is not. A prerequisite for rep-stealing, is that someone is being harassed on a quiet server. Obviously, on an ideal server, you are going to be sharing enemies wherever you go. You can be polite and use weak attacks (and thereby get more rep, yourself) or you can blast away enemies as fast as possible on an ideal server. You (and others) will get decent rep either way - you just get more rep when you use weaker attacks.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing at Darkhart on Abassa? In my opinion, there is not. People can sometimes get really good rep from Darkhart during lulls in the activity...but when so many people are there for loot, it is unreasonable to expect good reputation points.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing at Darkhart on a quiet server? In my opinion, yes. Someone who has taken the trouble to GET to Darkhart on a quiet server, has a reasonable expectation that they will be able to use that enemy for a while. If someone comes along, they can either cooperate or rep-steal. If both people are there for loot - no problem. If both people are there for leveling - no problem. If one wants to level and the other wants loot, it's a problem. (Sidenote: I never use Darkhart for leveling weapons, myself...he gives very poor rep-per-minute.) In this case, attitude is everything.
Is there such a thing, as rep-stealing on Kingshead? In my opinion, sometimes yes. If there is a group of people using the mob for ranking, I myself have no qualms about stepping in with a cutlass sweep. In that case, I'm not stealing any rep at all, merely getting in on the loot drops. If there is a person leveling their grenades on the mob, and I want to level staff? I'll switch servers if they were there first. Jumping in, in that case, is just not cool.
Everyone has their opinion.
There are many varying opinions about rep-stealing. From what I can tell, it is no indication about how nice or mean a person is. What it is, is an indication of how much someone understands the reputation-points system.
Someone who says rep-stealing simply doesn't exist, in my opinion, is a troll. It is a well-known phenomenon that has no significance at all, below notoriety 40. Someone that hasn't encountered the problem YET, has no basis to form a valid opinion on the topic.
Someone who says rep-stealing is sometimes ok, may often go "looting" with friends in Tormenta, with no intention of ever mastering any weapon other than cutlass. FOR THEM, it is a perfectly valid opinion. Their opinion will probably change later when they try to master other weapons.
Someone who says rep-stealing is ok against rude people, hmmm, ooops, that's me. It's a healthy reminder to MYSELF that this is counter-productive. When I practice what I preach, I get better results. But I make mistakes sometimes, too.
Basketball
The best analogy on this topic I've ever heard, is the "basketball court" analogy. Yes, enemies are open to the "public." If someone is using a basketball court, can you reasonably expect to just take over the entire court?
Summary
Please don't allow this thread to deteriorate into a flame war. The purpose of spelling it out here, is to encourage discussion and learn better methods for dealing with it. This isn't here to lambaste people who don't yet understand the problem - it is here to inform, discuss and educate us all. Don't jump down anyone's throat on this sensitive subject - other forums force this to be flamebait only. Please do not let that happen here...respect other's opinions on this topic, and watch as people learn more.