This was posted in the theif folder but I think it pertains to us a lot because these are
survival skills that are gettin changed
Likay

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Category Thieves -- Den of Thieves (20)
Topic Guild Guru Announcements (2)
Message Read "ALL" of this (126)
By DR-ROYCE@PLAY.NET
On Sep 1, 1999 at 01:13

As the title states, Please....read this entire post before going off on a tangent.

These things are going to happen withing 7 days if all goes well.

You might have guessed, something I think you all might think is "THE WORST THING SINCE THE GUILD WAS FORMED" was being
put into existance.

It's not.

But, There are going to be ALOT of changes in the way some systems work. Most good, a couple...iffy. Since this is going
to be some big changes, I am going to explain them in a detail your not use to so you can have the chance to know exactly
what is coming and comment before it is released.

STEAL: First, let me start with the STEAL change that is going to be released in about a week or so. How many of you have
ever wondered why you can steal from a person right when they walk into a room and all you have is a 3 second roundtime?
It's instant. They walk into the room and BAM, you steal. This has caused alot of problems with players going into Zmud
and making these trigger scripts which just trap for certain things that happen in the game. Thieves have been going AFK
(not all, I know most of you are some great thieves and for that, I respect you). But, I'm putting an end to trigger
scripts. You will now have an approach time, This is not going to be a Roundtime where you are stuck in one spot. You can
do whatever you wish during this approach time. If your mark isn't in the room when your time is up though, You miss your
chance. This approach time is a ONE time thing. Once you approach a player, there is no need to approach a second time,
your already there. Also, if you happen to be stalking your mark (see stalk changes below as well)...The approach time is
NOT a factor, Your already considered close enough to steal from them and it does not come into play in any way. The
approach time will vary from 4 to 8 seconds depending on your stealing skill. If you make a succesful grab at the end of
the time, the RT will be 2 seconds and not 3 like it was. If you fail to get something, the RT will be 5 seconds and not
10 like it was. It always struck me as dumb that a thief getting caught doing something bad would freeze like a deer in
headlights for 10 seconds. Also, added into the steal code is now a check for stalking, If you are stalking, you get a
bonus to steal and not get caught. It wasn't like that before. In fact, as some of you older thieves know, being hidden
made it harder to steal and harder to get caught. Stalking will offset the hidden stealing part and lower you chance to
get caught even more. (Once again, see the stalk change below when you are ready). Since most younger thieves learn
stealing mainly by this menthod of stealing, the EXP for NPC stealing has been increased some to compensate for the loss
incured from the approach time. I will probably increase the ammount of times you can steal from the begger (We'll see
though, that's not set in stone like the rest). The approach time only affects player vs player stealing, NPC and
shoplifting are indentical to what they were. And for the older folks (You'll love this) We are currently working on
making more (if not dern near all) of the Shard shops stealable. This change is not totaly ready but is being worked on.
So bear with us.

STALK: Ok, the STALKING change. Stalking also has an approach time...but (keep reading). The approach time, when it ends,
you will be moved automaticly to where your your mark is. It's a true stalk. You hang back for a moment to give your
target a small lead time them BAM, your on them. If your mark goes into places you should not follow (private guild rooms,
homes, an inn...etc..etc) You won't be able to follow though. Privacy was a big concern here. This approach time only
happens once, after that it is all like it was basicly. Please continue to read, there is more important stuff later one
for this you'll love.

SNEAK: Ok, this is what I was hinting to on the boards a couple weeks ago. Thieves AND Rangers, if they are in thier
type of terrain and have ALOT of stalking, will get thier SNEAK roundtime lowered from 3 seconds to a minimum of 1 second.
You must be in the right type of terrain and must have a really really decent ammount of stalking though.

AMBUSH: Ambush was, as you all know, Kinda buggy. The ability to ambush without a weapon in your hand was not meant to be
there. That has been fixed. Alsom some other things less inmportant have been added (Lying down, kneeling stuff). BUT,
everyone of you know how AMBUSH removes the hide timer right? Well, it will now also remove the STALK timer too.

Backstab: Like ambush, this also now removes the STALK timer as well as the hiding timer.

STOP: This verb has been changed to let a player..............Ready for it? "STOP STALKING". If you are stalking a critter
or player, you can stop stalking by just typing it.

KHRI: The next khri called SENSES. (No description, but don't think bad thoughts like it is like number 2 or something..it
ain't) will be released for a premium preview this coming Monday about noonish or whenever I wake up. ;)

Password: Everyone remember where to get your password? I didn't think so since some of you never found it, it was given
to you. Well, that's all going to change very very soon. All thieves passwords will be totaly different once the change
goes into effect. This will not affect those thieves who have access to the alternate way in. but it is still going to
take place. I may even change WHERE the enterance is, but that isn't set in stone yet.

That is it from me. For those of you going to Simucon we can discuss this in more detail in two weeks, For those of you
not going, Only post questions and replies under "Responses to Guild Guru Announcments". Please keep in mind though, If
you just rant and rave, I tend to not respond. Things can not be worked out or debated in that way. You all also know I'm
an easy guy "Yes I am a man" to get along with. I'll listen to all your resonable replies. I'm not sure how much, if any,
the above items will be changed, but let me hear your thoughts.

As of 2 minutes ago. the SNEAK change was intro'ed and is live. I will be adding the rest over the next week or so and
will post here when it is.

GM Royce