On Haunting and Wickerbottom's Books

[Scoundreya]

So, it has recently come to my attention that ghosts (any ghost player - not just Wickerbottom ghosts) Can haunt Wickerbottoms books for repeated/infinite results in Survival/Endless mode (the two modes that have player ghosts). From the Wiki [http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Ghost_Players], it states that there is a 25% chance of a successful cast on haunting a book. This seems to be about right from my experience.

 

I tested each of the books on my own and found that ALL 5 of them can be haunted by any players.

 

This opens the door for many exploit/trolling opportunities. To name a few (Of which I have done on various servers and on my own private testing one)

 

1.) Repeatedly haunting the "Herbalism" book at a base to make Farms/Berry Bushes/Grass/Trees/Saplings grow instantly without hardly any drawback..

 

2.) Repeated use of "Birds of the World" + "Sleepytime Stories" to mass farm birds for feathers/morsels without again, hardly any drawback.

 

3.) Haunting the "End is Nigh" (the lightning book) to use as an actual weapon against players to set them on fire (that is, until they just pick up or burn the book) or for the mass burning of forests - although this one is Less effective than........

 

IMO, the biggest problem - although, a guilty pleasure of mine at the moment 

 

4.) Repeated haunting of her "On Tentacles" book to spam tentacles in an area. This can be done all over someone's bases - effectively making the entire base unusable once enough casts have been succesfuly achieved from haunting - all over the spawn portal, in areas where players would want to explore, or anywhere really. 

 

The first time I tested this in a real situation, I crafted the "On Tentacles" book on a public survival server (SanFran Survival to be exact), walked back to spawn, and then purposely died to darkness and then proceeded to spam haunt the book to see how ridiculous it would be. And holy mother of god - while it was disgustingly beautiful in a way - it was insane. There were probably about 50 tentacles completely surrounding the spawn portal after I was finished. The little bubbly graphics were everywhere. As soon as ANYONE joined, a literal WAVE of about 20 tentacles rose up around the portal and slapped down on them, killing them instantly - without them having anytime to react at all.

 

I had tried to do the same thing with just Casting the book normally at the spawn prior to this, and the results were not NEAR as drastic, although it did kill some of the less quick-reacting players sometimes. Generally, people were still able to escape the tentacles if they were fast enough but when I did the haunting of the book at spawn, it was inescapable and a huge trolling exploit.

 

 

 

I think the main problem is that when you haunt a book, it doesn't use up one of the limited number of casts tied to that book. Each of her books has a limited number of uses before disappearing, requiring the player to find the necessary materials to craft another one. The other thing is that casting the books drain sanity but, well, ghosts don't have sanity to worry about so they are free to haunt/cast away.

 

My suggestions are as follows - in order of:

 

1.) Keep the ability for ghosts to haunt books, but whenever a cast is successfully made from haunting a book, one of the casts of that particular book should be used up - thus disallowing the endless casting of books by ghosts. This would allow ghosts to help their teammates out by giving them free food  for no "burst" sanity loss of the player casting the book (Wickerbottom's books cost a hefty amount of sanity when cast by a living Wickerbottom Player) and also would allow players to use the Tentacles and End Is Night book in pvp situations as a ghost to possibly help their friends/teammates.

edit: to add to the above - suggested by Imsomony (accidentally incorrectly credited Rezecib with that - sorry Imsomony!! No idea where my head was at the time) and I actually meant to suggest this as a part of the above too, I'd just forgotten - Disallow any characters that can't cast books to begin with (i.e. anyone Other than Wickerbottom or Maxwell) from being able to haunt the books as well.

 

2.) Remove the ability for ghosts to haunt books altogether. This one is not as preferable, as I think the ability to haunt books adds a layer of depth to surviving and strategy but if the #1 suggestion is implemented then:

 

3.) Remove the ability to haunt books in a certain radius around the spawn portal. The same honestly goes with laying down spider eggs, as I've seen that before too, but it's not near as devastating as the mass tentacle spam.

 

Thank you for your time.

[The Letter W]

I agree on the Spider Eggs. I use a mod that allows Webber to be played in my server and there's been a few times they've come in, plopped Eggs on the portal and rushed to the nearby camp to burn it down. (Thank you rollback!) I have having to breathe down the necks of newcomers, but it seems like it's necessary.

[DarkXero]

I see no problem here. Keep books away from spawn, and keep them in chests or your pocket, if it bothers you so much.

 

Then again I made the old bell playable on haunt, so...

[Rellin]

All are issues that should be addressed.   Opinions such as the above should be disregarded outright.

[Michi01]

3.) Remove the ability to haunt books in a certain radius around the spawn portal. The same honestly goes with laying down spider eggs, as I've seen that before too, but it's not near as devastating as the mass tentacle spam.

Who remembers what Flare did with the SanFran community server?

[imsomony]

Aaaaaaand this is why I no longer join the dedicated servers. Sorry Klei, "community" isn't exactly working out on them

 

@Michi01, the entire post gave me flashbacks. At least OP is using this as means of discussion/suggestion/change, props for that.

 

I like both #1 and #3. I'd take #1 a step further: not only does haunting actually use up the books durability, but the books can only be haunted by ghosts with the "reader" tag (Wickerbottom and Maxwell). If certain characters can't use the books while they're alive, there's no reason their ghosts should have the special ability to use them either. For #3, a tweak: don't bother limiting specific items that can/cannot be used. Instead, create some sort of safety buffer around the portal where nothing can occur at all. No planting, no crafting, no magic... nothing. It's a dead zone. That said, even with the zone, the same sort of griefing lockdown can occur... it's just a bigger area for it to occur around now.

[Scoundreya]

Aaaaaaand this is why I no longer join the dedicated servers. Sorry Klei, "community" isn't exactly working out on them

 

@Michi01, the entire post gave me flashbacks. At least OP is using this as means of discussion/suggestion/change, props for that.

 

I like both #1 and #3. I'd take #1 a step further: not only does haunting actually use up the books durability, but the books can only be haunted by ghosts with the "reader" tag (Wickerbottom and Maxwell). If certain characters can't use the books while they're alive, there's no reason their ghosts should have the special ability to use them either. For #3, a tweak: don't bother limiting specific items that can/cannot be used. Instead, create some sort of safety buffer around the portal where nothing can occur at all. No planting, no crafting, no magic... nothing. It's a dead zone. That said, even with the zone, the same sort of griefing lockdown can occur... it's just a bigger area for it to occur around now.

 

I would like to point out although I did spam up the portal with tentacles, I only did so once on a server with other players. It was mostly a test for myself to see how ridiculous it would be in a real situation once I discovered you could haunt books endlessly. The only thing I do now with it is haunt the tentacles book at people's bases or all over a small area to make my own "Reed Field" type area hahaha.

 

Sometimes, someone deserves The Kraken (That's what I call it hahahaha) to be unleashed upon them! I once had someone continue to steal my resources in my area on sanfran. I warned him not to steal from me (as I don't actively go out and kill players in pvp. I think it's kind of a joke in its current state tbh). He was all "What are you gonna do? I'm wendy. I have Abigail." I played along "Damn you....!!! Ya got meh!!! I am a helpless old woman. Please stop stealing from a poor old lady...!" He was like "Nah, I think I'll keep doing it."

 

A while later, I got the book and ruined his base, killing him and his little party. Before I did it, I ran into their base and shouted "RELEASE THE KRAKEN" (Smite Reference hahah). He was so pissed but I feel in that case it was justified and I used a unique aspect of my character to my advantage

Who remembers what Flare did with the SanFran community server?

 

Who is Flare an what did he do to the SanFran server? lol

[rezecib]

Who is Flare an what did he do to the SanFran server? lol

 Flare2V, a popular Don't Starve streamer who summoned tentacles as you described around the San Fran portal.

[tetrified]

4.) Repeated haunting of her "On Tentacles" book to spam tentacles in an area. This can be done all over someone's bases - effectively making the entire base unusable once enough casts have been succesfuly achieved from haunting - all over the spawn portal, in areas where players would want to explore, or anywhere really. 

 

The first time I tested this in a real situation, I crafted the "On Tentacles" book on a public survival server (SanFran Survival to be exact), walked back to spawn, and then purposely died to darkness and then proceeded to spam haunt the book to see how ridiculous it would be. And holy mother of god - while it was disgustingly beautiful in a way - it was insane. There were probably about 50 tentacles completely surrounding the spawn portal after I was finished. The little bubbly graphics were everywhere. As soon as ANYONE joined, a literal WAVE of about 20 tentacles rose up around the portal and slapped down on them, killing them instantly - without them having anytime to react at all.

 

Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend.

 

[duhacinamufi]

that's crazy. its really need to cost durability though

[Scoundreya]

Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend.

 

 

Oh god.... haha. Just don't forget to CTRL+Left Click.....!

 

seriously though, it is a good laugh and feels AMAZING when you are able to pull it off on "That One Guy's'" base and ruin him (like in the situation I mentioned in my second post in this thread) but it really is pretty broken. I guess you might as well enjoy it while it lasts because I don't really think it's gonna stay how it is in its current state lol.

 

edit: Yeah as GoodKnife above me brought back a good point I mentioned in my original post, if they made each haunt use a cast (each tentacles book only has 5) that would really limit the ability for people to exploit it in such devious ways.

[duhacinamufi]

i think the best (or worst?) way to do this is build some room around yourself with rock wall (to prevent interuption) then die in the room and repeated haunting

 

also, this way you can build an ultimate fortress of tentacle near your base to kill any bosses/hounds

 

ps. actually, if you want to troll the new player, you don't really need to haunt a book. just place some stone wall around the portal would kill him eventually (willow will die from starve, other character will die from darkness)

[tetrified]

i think the best (or worst?) way to do this is build some room around yourself with rock wall (to prevent interuption) then die in the room and repeated haunting

 

also, this way you can build an ultimate fortress of tentacle near your base to kill any bosses/hounds

 

ps. actually, if you want to troll the new player, you don't really need to haunt a book. just place some stone wall around the portal would kill him eventually (willow will die from starve, other character will die from darkness)

 

the problem here is, they can force attack the walls, if a series of players does it enough, eventually the walls will break and they can walk through

 

Granted, they did just waste their first day punching stone walls.

[imsomony]

I would like to point out although I did spam up the portal with tentacles, I only did so once on a server with other players. It was mostly a test for myself to see how ridiculous it would be in a real situation once I discovered you could haunt books endlessly. The only thing I do now with it is haunt the tentacles book at people's bases or all over a small area to make my own "Reed Field" type area hahaha.

 

Sometimes, someone deserves The Kraken (That's what I call it hahahaha) to be unleashed upon them! I once had someone continue to steal my resources in my area on sanfran. I warned him not to steal from me (as I don't actively go out and kill players in pvp. I think it's kind of a joke in its current state tbh). He was all "What are you gonna do? I'm wendy. I have Abigail." I played along "Damn you....!!! Ya got meh!!! I am a helpless old woman. Please stop stealing from a poor old lady...!" He was like "Nah, I think I'll keep doing it."

 

A while later, I got the book and ruined his base, killing him and his little party. Before I did it, I ran into their base and shouted "RELEASE THE KRAKEN" (Smite Reference hahah). He was so pissed but I feel in that case it was justified and I used a unique aspect of my character to my advantage

 

Who is Flare an what did he do to the SanFran server? lol

 

No worries man... although you did a negative thing, you are now using that experience in a constructive manner to further the game and community development. I can both forgive and respect that, no hatin' here

 

And I agree with you completely, that other guy deserved the Kraken. He was asking for it.

 

[duhacinamufi]

test in private server (after 2 day of non-stop haunting) http://snag.gy/khOLK.jpg and then use command to spawn all boss monster one by one, only deerclop can destroyed this due to his freezing attack (all other bosses just die in 5 sec.)

[Scoundreya]

i think the best (or worst?) way to do this is build some room around yourself with rock wall (to prevent interuption) then die in the room and repeated haunting

 

also, this way you can build an ultimate fortress of tentacle near your base to kill any bosses/hounds

 

ps. actually, if you want to troll the new player, you don't really need to haunt a book. just place some stone wall around the portal would kill him eventually (willow will die from starve, other character will die from darkness)

 

Well, I'm pretty sure Willows with Willow's Lighter equipped are able to break down walls. I played on a Wilderness server once and I was able to break down stone walls with a Willows lighter equipped LOL so that actually wouldn't even work against people just joining the server as Willow.

 

Just pointing it out