Hardcore PK Mode

Hardcore PK Mode:
There is a new feature in the game called (HARDCORE) which is a survival type game for mid-high tiers. This is part experimental and part something fun to put in the game to see where it leads.

At tier 5 or higher you can toggle hardcore one time only per remort between levels 1 and 5. Once you toggle hardcore, you can be killed by anyone in the game without level limits. This does mean everyone regardless of PK or clan status. That means they can kill you, it does not mean you can kill them unless you would normally be able to. It probably also means you can be shot at by hunters from 3 rooms away and not even be able to retaliate. Hardcore life is tough and unfair.

While you are in Hardcore mode you will enjoy the following bonuses:

• You will receive a 20% exp bonus from all mob kills. If you have ‘exprate’ set to show separate exp, the number in red is the bonus from hardcore.
• A player in hardcore mode will average around 5qp more per campaign, twice the gold, and have increased chance for other bonuses. Note that rewards are set at the time the campaign is requested so it’s worth it even if you don’t survive through the campaign itself.
• Your first death will remove the hardcore flag but will not be counted as a real death or a PK death. Equipment will stay with you and no corpse will be created. The kill does count as a PK win for whoever kills you, but not as a loss for you.
• A hardcore player cannot be setwanted (redundant), but cannot use setwanted either.

As you can see, there is no real downside to setting hardcore other than being chased around the MUD and the eventual death message.

During development and running this on the test port we tried a split at SH / pre-SH levels and preventing scry but then I backed away from that and removed it. It is called Hardcore for a reason and it’s ok to have something in the game that is actually difficult and even a little unfair. Run around, expect to die, nothing to lose from it, see how far you can get.

A few other commands and housekeeping items related to this:

• There is a ‘who hardcore’ option.
• Hardcore flag will show in Who, whois and scan.
• There is a new ‘info hardcore’ channel which defaults to OFF so make sure you toggle ‘info hardcore’ if you want to see these messages.
• For PK players, ‘pkstats’ will show your hardcore kills and hardcore deaths – the deaths do not count towards your visible total, for your information only.

There are a few limitations on when you can kill a hardcore player – mostly so that they can still take part in groups and other areas of the game. There are also some scenarios in which death does not remove the flag. See ‘ help hardcore’ for more details on both of these.

Over the years we’ve had lots of ideas for things that sounded like fun but could never quite design them into a full feature so did nothing with them. I think we’ve probably missed out some good opportunities because of that. With this one, I’m going with put the basic feature live then see where it leads as people use it and the feedback and ideas come in.

I will add though that right now we’re really not interested in feedback that gives any kind of support or protections to help hardcore players stay alive longer. It’s brutal and unfair and it’s meant to be. While this is a new feature you should expect to die quickly. We’ll see how it goes longer term as interest fades a little then make changes if needed.