Hello,
First, the game rules are cristal clear today : multiboxing is allowed up to 4 toons, boting is not. Cheaters don't belong here and should be banned. But as long as it's not proven that people cheat (and it doesn't belong to players to prove things, if they want to be part of "the hunt" they should do it privately through tickets), debating about them and specifically saying their name publicly should not be allowed. This has been done for weeks now especially on French Uni. I think this was extremely disrespectful to the players that were targeted by these improvised trials.
Using alts hurts the game? in a way, yes. I see new players training with an alts; why would they bother playing with a real player that will have to leave at some point, may be bothered if he die and may do mistakes? Let's rely on my second self instead! Sure, but by doing so you're going to play the game in a very slow and stationary way. Grinding against aggro mobs, using enchants and switching roles on the go as needed (heal/ele/tank) is in my opinion a much more interesting and enjoyable experience, but it's also more demanding and it doesn't fit everyone. Some just play Ryzom to relax, or are online all day long On and Off. Do these people still belong in the game? I think so, we need people in the game, even if everyone's not able to kill a kitin with a blindfold and a hand tied in his back!
Almost everyone I know have one and use it more or less. I personally have a FTP alt that I use one to CP while diging, or to help me grind my last lvls (~240-250), which is very tedious in a team as experience gets very low. On the other hand I know some players that always play with their subscribed alt, checking for bosses with them, grinding, coming to Opwar; some even have their own guild with this only alt in it. In my opinion, these players evolve in a parallel Atys and should be encouraged to play with others. Which is not what we're doing here.
Instead, we're targeting the visible bit of the iceberg. I know very well Beef, Zauza and Generallee that all have been using 3 alts On and Off over the past few years. They are not lonely players; I've teamed with them more than often, and each of them is a pillar of their guild. For players that are On when no one is around, I think multiboxing is a good way to boost numbers up and allow them and their guild to play every aspect of the game. If there was thousands of players around, it wouldn't make sense, but that's unfortunately not the case on Atys today. Truth is, the heads you're shaving off are pillars of the community, and if they leave the game many will follow. That's not a threat, just the simple truth.
About the effect these players have on OpWar, I'm convinced that it's very marginal. They make heal pods stronger and can deal some ele damage to the opponent, but dying to ele on OpWar in the first place shouldn't happen nowadays will all the supmats around. PvP jewels cut pretty much all the damage. What really win or loose a battle is the ability to move the pod, the good situation awareness of tanks (killing enemy artillery...) and pure damage coming from artillery. Pure number can counterbalance that, but it's not enough (as maras have proven over the last few battles that they handled beautifully).
So to conclude, I think that this decision won't have any positive effect on the game. Instead, it would be wiser to promote collaboration through other incentives. For example there could be some team missions/tutorials on Silan to learn to new players how to heal in team, how to use enchants and switch roles. If some people have no clue about what I'm talking about, I'd be very happy to organize some ingame trainings on how to be switch roles and be more effective with small team of players.
First, the game rules are cristal clear today : multiboxing is allowed up to 4 toons, boting is not. Cheaters don't belong here and should be banned. But as long as it's not proven that people cheat (and it doesn't belong to players to prove things, if they want to be part of "the hunt" they should do it privately through tickets), debating about them and specifically saying their name publicly should not be allowed. This has been done for weeks now especially on French Uni. I think this was extremely disrespectful to the players that were targeted by these improvised trials.
Using alts hurts the game? in a way, yes. I see new players training with an alts; why would they bother playing with a real player that will have to leave at some point, may be bothered if he die and may do mistakes? Let's rely on my second self instead! Sure, but by doing so you're going to play the game in a very slow and stationary way. Grinding against aggro mobs, using enchants and switching roles on the go as needed (heal/ele/tank) is in my opinion a much more interesting and enjoyable experience, but it's also more demanding and it doesn't fit everyone. Some just play Ryzom to relax, or are online all day long On and Off. Do these people still belong in the game? I think so, we need people in the game, even if everyone's not able to kill a kitin with a blindfold and a hand tied in his back!
Almost everyone I know have one and use it more or less. I personally have a FTP alt that I use one to CP while diging, or to help me grind my last lvls (~240-250), which is very tedious in a team as experience gets very low. On the other hand I know some players that always play with their subscribed alt, checking for bosses with them, grinding, coming to Opwar; some even have their own guild with this only alt in it. In my opinion, these players evolve in a parallel Atys and should be encouraged to play with others. Which is not what we're doing here.
Instead, we're targeting the visible bit of the iceberg. I know very well Beef, Zauza and Generallee that all have been using 3 alts On and Off over the past few years. They are not lonely players; I've teamed with them more than often, and each of them is a pillar of their guild. For players that are On when no one is around, I think multiboxing is a good way to boost numbers up and allow them and their guild to play every aspect of the game. If there was thousands of players around, it wouldn't make sense, but that's unfortunately not the case on Atys today. Truth is, the heads you're shaving off are pillars of the community, and if they leave the game many will follow. That's not a threat, just the simple truth.
About the effect these players have on OpWar, I'm convinced that it's very marginal. They make heal pods stronger and can deal some ele damage to the opponent, but dying to ele on OpWar in the first place shouldn't happen nowadays will all the supmats around. PvP jewels cut pretty much all the damage. What really win or loose a battle is the ability to move the pod, the good situation awareness of tanks (killing enemy artillery...) and pure damage coming from artillery. Pure number can counterbalance that, but it's not enough (as maras have proven over the last few battles that they handled beautifully).
So to conclude, I think that this decision won't have any positive effect on the game. Instead, it would be wiser to promote collaboration through other incentives. For example there could be some team missions/tutorials on Silan to learn to new players how to heal in team, how to use enchants and switch roles. If some people have no clue about what I'm talking about, I'd be very happy to organize some ingame trainings on how to be switch roles and be more effective with small team of players.