HMD | May 2012

[these_balls]

EVALUATE MY BATTLING!

TRAINER TIPS:
→ This is encouraged, not mandatory. We will not penalize you for not using it.
→ Feel free to link your personal HMDs if you would like, just in case someone doesn't want to use the mass HMD post.
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→ MOD/GAME HMD

NOTE: we've seen and are discussing all the issues brought up on the HMD! Thanks for your input, guys. We won't be commenting until we have some kind of concrete solution lined up, just letting you know!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

sorry to say but i feel like you missed unlosing's point? this problem was brought up on the original post announcing this and was mostly ignored. i don't remember anyone particularly jumping for joy over it like the missions posts.

why is it required? please explain this. make doing a number of missions or something required like they said. it makes no sense to require something like this and it's this dumbness that is stopping me from apping in rockets. this isn't a cool thing to do for them, this is like unlosing said, things to make them sound like they matter again but don't do anything. when has a trainer had a poke stolen??? or rocket got to jail or been NOTICED for what they do EVERY WEEK?

look at hughes how has he been getting by stealing a loved poke every week? does he just not give a fuck?

[derpsaboutfamily]

I didn't make the rule, so I can't speak for why it was required, but it has recently been changed to requiring either a special/full-time mission or bringing in a Pokemon per week, which I think sounds like a fairly reasonable change.

As for Hughes, I'd been assuming he's been catching/buying/trading/training for the Pokemon that he's handing in rather than stealing them. He was also propositioned about a side-job way back when, which sadly got handwaved because I failed to follow up on it ICly.

EDIT: I'd like to add that everything that's been brought up is being discussed. These are huge topics, and we're definitely not ignoring them, but they'll take some time to create a plan of attack for. The things I've said thus far are just my thoughts as a player.

[(Anonymous)]

why though? could it not be better as once a month? every other week? what is a full time mission?

i really do not like that this means my character has to take time out of whatever they're doing and steal or catch a pokemon. for a lot of rockets stealing IS the go-to but I find it really godmodding of us to assume they never get caught, never get noticed, no one complains, or anything because we're handwaving it. and BECAUSE we're handwaving it then why do we have it at all?

it just seems completely pointless. either make us steal from actual player characters or tbh i think it should be gotten rid of and replaced with something we just don't assume.

+1

[(Anonymous)]

With Rockets being such an issue as they are, more things for them to do is great. More things for them to not do has been the problem ALL ALONG and they don't help anything.

Re: +1

[(Anonymous)]

exactly. missions are optional and people shouldn't sign up unless they plan on doing them. forcing this on all rockets with no leeway is ridiculous when it is never played out and playing it out would very likely mean hindering chars by forcing them to be arrested, yay jailtime, or being outed as a "bad guy"

because of a stupid requirement

da

[(Anonymous)]

I'm just curious, anon, so don't take this the wrong way, but...

If you're upset that things are being handwaved, what's stopping players from actually plotting with non-Rockets to steal Pokemon and start player plots that way?

The mods assigned missions and the theft requirement to give Rockets something to do should they want to use them as prompts, not just to waste space. I think the way Rockets are handled still leaves a lot to be desired and there are lots of things to be addressed, but ultimately it IS the player's job to actually RP things if they want to RP them.

The prompts are there, the players can use them- it's okay for them to be handwaved since obviously not everybody has the time or energy to play out every single little thing their character does, but that doesn't mean they HAVE to handwave them.

I'm not a Rocket player so I may be totally off-base, but I'm a little baffled at the people saying that the missions and theft requirements are pointless just because everybody handwaves them.

It's the player's choice to either handwave or actively play things out, whether it's plotting with other players or even deciding they want their character to get caught; the mods can't control that.

Re: da

[(Anonymous)]

because i would think no one wants their pokemon stolen and sent off to team rocket headquarters? and done WEEKLY for added measure?

monthly pokemon might be okay but weekly just seems way too over the top. no you don't have to play everything out chars do, but you still have to assume they were done. so i would have to play my char as he took time out to find someone, beat them or sneak up on them, take their pokemon, and get it away from them ALL without being noticed AND do this EVERY SINGLE WEEK.

handwaved or not that leaves very little room to actually do things without seriously abusing npcs and their nonexistence and nonability to report things imo. sure you could play it out but who would willingly offer a rare or high level pokemon to get stolen? you'd need people lining up to have enough for it to be weekly for every single rocket.

missions are good because those are things constantly forced on players/characters + they're optional. also they're a much easier prompt to play out than the situation i described above, esp since it would mean doing EVERY WEEK.

i get our team rocket wants loyalty but there is no way grunts in the games could pull this off. even some execs wouldn't be able to really.

Re: da

[(Anonymous)]

Pretty much this. Between how request it has to be and that it's forced, I just... eh...,

I'd rather it be tri-weekly or optional. How about a monthly check in where Rockets send a report of their activities along with the Pokemon they caught? It could all be on a log or something.

[derpsaboutfamily]

I believe the original intent of adding that was to give Rockets a plot device. Nobody ever said that it needed to be handwaved, just that if you don't feel like playing it out, you don't have to. But the way I saw it was that it was something for Rockets to do if they're stuck and want to thread something but don't have any ideas.

I don't think anyone can make anyone else steal from actual player characters. However, I do think that would definitely be a way to gain new CR or play with people you haven't before. I know I had a plot going with Tot-mun and Mamoru-mun before they dropped where Hughes was going to 'steal' from the two of them.

My initial comment about it was just me saying that I thought it was nice to be able to have something for my Rocket character to do if I was out of ideas, but it was also something I could handwave if I didn't have the time or had something else planned. I'm definitely not trying to dismiss all the concerns that have been made toward it, but I think the intent of having it there was just so the Rockets could have something to do should they choose to, and I think the mods originally chose this particular requirement because stealing is largely what Team Rocket had always been about, so it seemed fitting for the organization.

[(Anonymous)]

how does that work though? no players are going to start raising pokemons just so they can be stolen unless you make it mandatory for all players to have at least one pokemon on them at all times that can BE stolen so this can be a viable option. if you want to give them something for when theyre stuck, which is way too often, shouldn't they be given something to DO that doesn't involve forcing something or permanently taking something away from on other players' chars?

okay so it works if you fake it or "steal" or whatever but has it ever been done otherwise? i can't think of one time when players have willingly said okay steal this pokemon because no one would do that.

let's reword the requirement. once a week, as many rare or high lvl pokemon as there are rockets will be stolen and sent away. this is mandatory.

how does that sound now?

it might seem fitting for the organization but it is hardly fitting for an rp setting. players need something to do that will actually. be. done. make it optional with rewards or something, whatever. making it mandatory is just ridiculous and silly.

[forcefateshand]

make doing a number of missions or something required like they said

I'm a little confused here. Isn't this something that's already been done? According to the missions post, doing a full time mission replaces the capturing requirement, giving you an out. Is there an issue with the missions as well? I haven't seen one brought up, in fact I rather thought people liked those.

[(Anonymous)]

I believe the idea is to make missions required INSTEAD of stealing instead of just making it an alternative.

da

[(Anonymous)]

Why can't we just have both to choose from?

Re: da

[(Anonymous)]

That's a good question. Ask the mods.

ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

What? I'm confused. Don't we already have both as an option? You can either do required missions or capture required Pokemon.

Re: da

[(Anonymous)]

Um... we don't need to ask the mods, because that's what it IS right now.

We're asking YOU, because you seem to think that this isn't adequate and needs to be changed.

Re: da

[(Anonymous)]

I responded already below. That's not how it is now. If that's how players are treating it now, they're not following what the mods have said. Weekly Pokemon or full time missions.

nayrt

[(Anonymous)]

They also never specified what 'full time missions' were, exactly. I know they said 'like lab work' but I don't think it's restricted to only lab work. (And for the record, I don't think lab work needs to be someone sitting in a dark lab forever and not doing anything else.)

From the interactions I've had with the mods, they seem very willing to come up with custom missions as well if the current ones aren't doing it.

[forcefateshand]

But if you chose the missions, then you're making the choice to have them be the required thing for your character already, aren't you?

[(Anonymous)]

As things stand now you would have to do a LOT of missions to make up for the insane amount of Pokemon characters are supposed to be stealing.

anon from above

[(Anonymous)]

that wasn't how I took the change to mean. If you sign up for lab work, it's on-going. Your character will have a full-time job to do, so they won't have time to go steal Pokémon. You do not have to thread out every single thing they do in this full-time job, but it's assumed they have it and they're doing it. Just like the Pokémon stealing. I'm seeing them basically saying that stealing Pokémon per week is the default full time job you're given but you can opt out for another job if that doesn't suit your tastes. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Re: anon from above

[(Anonymous)]

But that is a FULL TIME mission. The regular missions are one thing but that way, forcing characters to constantly do that takes away all possible playing freedom. Doing all this just to not have to steal?

That's just as silly.

ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

How does it take away all possible playing freedom? There are so many different missions, and I'm sure you can arrange with the mods to have them do some small missions and steal once a month or once every few weeks, too. The point is that they're in an organization and they have duties. I think the mods are doing a good job of trying to give you a wide variety of duties to choose from. I'm pretty sure people can find ways of playing around their duties.

Re: ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

That sounds good but that's not what's listed. It's full time job like being cooped up in labs or mandatory weekly catching and to be honest neither are appealing OR allow for freedom. One would interrupt traveling and trying to anything constantly if players were even remotely decent with it instead of handwaving it and the other would mean they COULDN'T do any of that.

I'm almost starting to think the mods actually made things worse for the Rockets by putting all of these inane restrictions on them.

Re: ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

But... they're not restrictions.

Many, if not all, characters have picked up jobs and the like. Rockets are free to do whatever they want when they're not actively working. A character does not need unlimited free time in order to do what they want in this game.

The things the mods introduced for the Rockets aren't restrictions, they're PROMPTS which were in response to everyone complaining about the Rockets having nothing to do, nothing required for them. Players whose characters were previously forced to stagnate due to nothing being offered for the Rockets now have a variety of options for their characters to choose from and work with, in addition to whatever general Route-y things their characters would otherwise do.

I don't mean to sound dismissive of your concerns, but having watched your comments show up throughout this thread, I have to say that I think you're SERIOUSLY overthinking this.

Team Rocket right now is more active than it's been in MONTHS, because the players are plotting with each other, taking advantage of event activities and mission work. Many of them clearly do not have a problem with their characters having lots of options. That's not to say that there aren't still problems that need to be addressed by the mods, but based on the concerns you've been expressing here, it sounds like apping a Trainer or a Breeder, which do not share the same responsibilities as an organization, may be a better choice for you.