Dueling Etiquette

[Jaq]

So what's the deal with duels? Is there any limit to which levels can attack which levels? Seems a bit unfair to me, because I think I remember attacking a level 1 when I was like level 6. Are there unwritten rules players follow? What's bad and what's ok?

For example, I'm having a slight dilemma:
I read the heroes page, and saw the person with the highest amount of gold on hand (prince yoda), saw where he was residing, went there, dueled him (he was 5 or 6 levels lower than me) won, and got money. He still has a ton of cash, so I'm waiting 5 mins, then dueling him again. Is this frowned upon haha, or what?

I can sort of understand why it's ok - he's carrying way too much gold, makes him a target. But what if he's so dang rich that he's carrying the minimum he's allowed to? Then he's punished because he can't put the gold in the bank, and maybe he doesn't want to spend it, so he's forced to keep it on hand.

To wrap up:
Are there protections in place to prevent high level players from going around owning noobs? Or are we depending on player's honor? If there aren't, why aren't there?

[King Richard]

Yes, there are direct and indirect checks in place that stop someone, say, level 50, from robbing someone level 10. I'm not sure what the exact cut off point is, but if you duel someone too low, it will say, "You win, but you are compelled to take no money" or something like that. The indirect consequences are you don't get as much exp the farther you go down in level, and I think you can actually lose ji if you go too far. Not 100% sure on the last bit.

As far as Etiquette, I can't speak for all the veterans, but for most of us in SL, we each do have our own set of rules and things we find annoying. Some of us build characters meant for mainly dueling, and some for NPCs, and therefore care about different things. It's all about what's fun to you. Personally, I try not to attack anyone less than 5 levels lower than me, (10 during clan battles) and no more than a few times a day, unless you're in a city we're going after, if you have a ton of cash out, or if there is a clan battle going on. In return, I find it, not so much rude as it is annoying if someone does it to me for any other reason than those. Unless I win most of them that is, then you can hit me all you want. I don't really get angry at it though if it does happen. I just like to see all my defense logs, not just the last 30 (max amount it saves while you're offline) someone did while I was at work or asleep. Especially the first few, to see how I held up before I was weakened.

Whatever gold you leave out is 100% fair game, cause there are ways to dump it/protect it if you don't want it stolen. Some people leave it out on purpose so you will attack them.

During clan battles though, if you park in or stray into the battlefield, expect to get pummeled. Nothing offensive about that. Again, just annoying.

There are exceptions to every rule though, and definitely a different set of rules for every person, so my advice is play how you want to, but be considerate. As long as both sides are having fun, the game remains awesome.

[Tim]

There are no restrictions on who can duel who. However, there are things in place to discourage strong players from beating up on weaker ones.

Experience earned from duels is partially based on the difference in level with you opponent. The higher above your opponent you are, the less experience you earn. Once you hit about 15 levels higher, you basically earn nothing but you will always earn at least 1 xp. If you are more than 15 levels higher than your opponent, it will be treated the same as 15. If you opponent is more than 5 levels higher than you, it will be treated the same as 5 (to stop high level players from throwing fights to let weaker players win, or really low level players from throwing themselves at players 50 levels above them to rack up high xp for loses).

Also, the amount of gold you steal from an opponent decreases by 10% for every level higher than you are from your opponent after the first 5. So after 15 levels of difference, you earn nothing.

[Tim]

This time you beat me KR.

[King Richard]

Btw, just so you know, Prince Yoda is our dear Creator's alt. One of these days, I just know he's gonna snap and smite somebody. ;D

[King Richard]

LOL

[Tim]

Yeah, he had so much gold out because I was testing the "Roads" upgrades in Estates and needed to go buy some and just brought out a load of cash to make sure I had enough for what I needed. Meant to keep testing other things, but got distracted (probably by the kids or lack of sleep).

I left it out though, so in my book it's fair game. My own mistake for leaving it out. On the test site I don't care who hits me. At least... not that much.

[Jaq]

Oh crap, I didn't realize I was attacking the Creator! Haha sorry, but the cash was just too tempting.

So I guess people don't really care about their dueling Win/loss ratio in this game? It seems way too easy to get it up, but also really easy to have it be lowered if you piss off a higher level player.

Since you mentioned roads, is there a page that explains all the estate upgrades? For example, what's the estate tax business? I don't understand it.

[Edvar al'Given]

The Creator, luckily, is a nice guy. I've never known him to seek vengeance for anything. The Dark One, however, has been known to smite people from time to time

[King Richard]

I wouldn't say we don't care about the win/loss ratio, but as you say, it's easy lose control of it. I've never known anybody to spam duel someone lower than them, and sacrifice exp, just to take revenge though. Not saying it doesn't happen, just haven't heard about it.

As far as the estate stuff, here's a pretty good table of what's what.

gosos.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=cdv9&action=display&thread=1327

If you want more details, you can check out the rest of the countdown posts in the Announcement/countdown to v9 section. There are quite a few about estates.

[alSeen]

i remember earlier versions where a group spamed a player, but then again, that player did betray an alliance and caused two clans to go to war.......and he was a jerk. so yeah, just dont be a jerk haha

[dahllia]

I don't usually duel much, but I will retaliate if someone attacks me too much.

think it was last real version where I started as usual with NPCs, but I got attacked so much I started dueling and ended up close to the top on wins.

but I don't usually mind much unless people are 10+ levels above me and are just wailing on me to get cheap wins.

but like KR said. if it's a clan battle everyone is a target

[Jenlyn]

I am probably guilty of being a bit abusive with the PvP from time to time. I try not to beat on folks that are a lot lower of a level than I am, though. If I am trying to take or defend a town, with or without a clan battle in progress though, I will hit any enemy that gives me clan gold. I figure those battles must count if a coins were taken from the clan, right?

I get annoyed when I see people in my logs a lot, but I don't say anything because I am probably the wort offender I know. If I can beat you, I'll take cheap wins for gold, win %, and XP. I'll take them again and again and again and again.