The Notoriety System

I’m hesitant most of all to talk about this new feature. I
have a feeling that the numbers and workings of the new Notoriety System will
be changing before it hits live, in response to the many vocal testers the
server has seen. That said, we can at least cover the basics so that you all get an idea of what awaits you when the PvP System goes live.

The Notoriety System is only going to apply to PvP servers
and RPvP servers, and on these a player will be flagged in one of three
different ways at any given time: as either an innocent, a criminal, and of
course as a murderer. Criminals will have two crossed swords over their heads
to denote their status, and Murderers will be pointed out by the large skull
hovering over theirs. There’s no way you’ll mistake that violent and cunning
assassin as merely some sexy role-player in her skivvies.

As an innocent, no one will be able to perform hostile
actions on you without first flagging themselves as Criminals which is to say
if someone’s feeling particularly vile, they can simply attack you to become a
Criminal. When you attack an Innocent, you will be flagged for five minutes as
a Criminal, at which point you are fair game for anyone. They won’t be flagged
as Criminals for attacking you, and if you initiate any other attacks on
innocents while flagged, it will refresh the timer. What’s worse for criminally
flagged players is that no one can get flagged for a Criminal action when
killing a criminal. So good luck out there, if you’ve got a penchant for
mayhem.

There’s one more aspect to Notoriety that I nearly forgot to
mention… the Murderer flag. You’ll be pleased (or oddly displeased) to know
that to become a Murderer you’ll have to work at it. You’ll need to kill or
attack enough Innocents to generate 100 or more points, and killing lower
levels players (greater than 3 levels between you two at the time of
publication) will generate more points towards the Murderer title.

You might be wondering how a murderer can redeem his or
herself. Well, for every other hour of real time that passes (whether you’re
logged in or not), you’ll lose 1 murder point. You’ll also lose 3 murder
points should you be killed in PvP. Lastly, you can slowly reduce your murder
score by murdering innocent NPCs. Killing mobs that give experience in PvE
will reduce your murder score, albeit on a very small scale.

There are some great reasons to avoid ever becoming a Murderer,
too. A Murderer cannot access vendors or traders. So no potions, food, or
sweet gear for you! Also, Guard NPCs throughout Hyboria will attack a Murderer
on sight, so even if you wanted to get close to a vendor to just say hi, you’d
likely be impaled before you got the chance. What’s more is that you lose 100%
more PvP experience if you’re killed in PvP, while your attacker finds themselves
getting a 100% gain on the PvP experience they’re given, and you have a 100%
increased chance of dropping an item. So that skull above your head is pretty
much a big old “Kick Me” sign.

Lastly, do you have a friend who’s managed to make
themselves a Murderer? Well, time to send him a tell and let him know things
between you guys just aren’t what they used to be. Anyone interacting with a
Murderer (or even just a lowly Criminal) will be flagged as a Criminal themselves.
Grouping or trading with the Murderer will do this, so don’t listen to the
stranger with the skull over his head when he says he has some tasty candy on
his horse.

Stay far away, lest you find yourself hacked to pieces by some
bloodthirsty players. What’s more is that if you’re in a group with a player
who commits a criminal act, the whole group becomes flagged as Criminals. You’ll
be guilty by association, as it were.

What did we learn today, kids? Well with Part One and Part
Two combined, we learned that there are a ton of perks to fighting your fellow
players in Hyboria. We also learned that there are some serious drawbacks if
you go about abusing the system. But then, maybe some of you want that kind of
danger. If so, good luck to you… I’ll be looking for the little hovering skull
that tells me it’s a good idea to cleave yours.

Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff.