D&D 5E No Magic Shops!

[cbwjm]

One of the best functions of the current block system is that when I start a thread, people I've blocked can't see it or join in, I think that's a great feature.

 

[CapnZapp]

5e has been out for a while, and it's been a bit since I last wrote about the cash/power economy. Are you guys happy with the lack of magic shops in 5th?

No, not since it is possibly the greatest flaw or deficit of the edition.

The rarity system is horribly broken and best scrapped entirely. The mountains of gold heaped onto adventurers have no use in official adventures which do not accomodate any downtime to speak of.

So even if you discount the great fun of customizing your character with purchased magic items, the D&D system depends on it to function.

Do you ever miss them?

Every time I prepare an adventure!

Even if I do use d20 and PF guidelines, it is still much more work to convert from other editions. Items have changed (most significantly with the introduction of attunement). Expected gold per level have changed. Bounded accuracy and how items are not to be expected is a factor. The lack of lootable NPCs as well. And so on...

Do you find yourself itching to homebrew systems for turning gold pieces into magic items, or do you prefer to play it as written, thank-you-very-much?

Neither.

The only satisfying solution is a official first-party supplement which bases item cost on actual adventuring utility, and is taken into account by first-party adventure modules.

 

[Maxperson]

Cool. I was responding to max’s insistence on going back to the ignore function.

Until such time as they fix the broken links, they should go back to the way it was. You have no right to harm my interactions with others just to avoid me responding to your posts, which you won't know about or affect you anyway.

 

[Maxperson]

What does it matter? Why should you or anyone else have any say in why I can or can’t block someone?

This isn't about why you can or cannot block someone else. That doesn't matter. This is about you harming my ability to talk to [MENTION=6779196]Charlaquin[/MENTION] if you block me, which you absolutely should not be able to do.

 

[Maxperson]

Because 1-way ignore puts the ignorer at a disadvantage. The ignoree becomes free to respond to the ignorer’s posts at will, without any possibility of rebuttal. They could, absent moderator action, ridicule the ignorer without the ignorer’s knowledge. Ignoring someone under that system is just handing them carte blanche to talk about you behind your back.

I find this argument to be weak. If you block me and I respond to you and you don't rebut, so what. It's not much different than when I quote someone who hasn't blocked me and they don't respond. If I go beyond a normal response and actually ridicule someone, the post is going to be reported. There are lots of people on this site who like to go running to teacher whenever site rules are broken. That's a large enough part of human nature that you will get lots of people like that on any site with a good number of folks. That means that the mods will know about it, even if they aren't patrolling the thread.

Being able to respond to someone who has blocked me is a nothing burger.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I find this argument to be weak. If you block me and I respond to you and you don't rebut, so what. It's not much different than when I quote someone who hasn't blocked me and they don't respond. If I go beyond a normal response and actually ridicule someone, the post is going to be reported. There are lots of people on this site who like to go running to teacher whenever site rules are broken. That's a large enough part of human nature that you will get lots of people like that on any site with a good number of folks. That means that the mods will know about it, even if they aren't patrolling the thread.

Being able to respond to someone who has blocked me is a nothing burger.

You may find it weak, but it's subjective. It's pretty common human nature to dislike people talking behind your back, and individuals will have a greater or lesser tolerance.

What I'd be interested in is an argument that says the above is sufficiently strong to justify the bad implementation.

The arguments that you can use block to control who sees what on a public discussion forum or to enforce getting the last word are about using block to control others, not to protect. Again, this reflects much more on them than whomever they've blocked.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It’s not the reasons someone blocks someone else I’m decrying, it’s the fact that block (in its current functionality) can be used as a tool for “teaching lessons.” If you want to block someone, you should be able to block them, for any reason. But, blocking them should not make the forums more difficult for them to use. Then it stops being a peacekeeping tool and starts being a weapon. Instead of being used to keep posters who can’t get along from interacting with each other, it can be used to spite someone you don’t like and make their quality of life a little worse. That’s what I take issue with.

Ok, that’s fair, as long as the fix still allows me to prevent someone from quoting me, @‘ing me, or seeing my posts, in addition to preventing their posts from showing up on my screen.

IMO, if we have to choose for some reason between block as is, and ignore as it was, I’m gonna choose block, but I agree that if it can be fixed to not screw up thread counting and thus quote linking, and not block someone from whole threads, it should be. I just view those problems as less of a problem than not being able to fully block someone was.

IME, The ignore function didn’t work, while the block function does, with some bugs. I still sometimes see arguments form people I’ve blocked or who’ve blocked me, but that’s it. If someone wants to log out to see my posts, i will never know. No one is going to constantly log in and out in order to see my posts and shadow reply to them, like they could do without effort before.

 

[Mistwell]

I've got [MENTION=44144]cbwjm[/MENTION] blocked temporarily just to demonstrate the issue. And yet, I am talking about him "behind his back". How does the current block feature stop me from doing that exactly?

 

[FrogReaver]

Ok, that’s fair, as long as the fix still allows me to prevent someone from quoting me, @‘ing me, or seeing my posts, in addition to preventing their posts from showing up on my screen.

I think what we keep trying to ask is: Why should something you do as a user prevent another user from doing anything? Why is preventing them from quoting you or reading your posts a good thing?

The only semblance of sense I can make from that line of thinking is that human nature pushes us all to get the last word in. Which means that ignoring someone and ending communication with them still allows them to get the last word in which doesn't really feel good. It's not a logical dislike, it's an emotional one. But still an emotional response that causes someone not to want to use an ignore feature may be enough to greatly minimize the times users will use the feature and cause longer, nastier arguments between posters that ultimately require more mod interjection.

If that's the argument I get it. But if that's not then I have no idea why any of those things matter.

IME, The ignore function didn’t work, while the block function does, with some bugs. I still sometimes see arguments form people I’ve blocked or who’ve blocked me, but that’s it. If someone wants to log out to see my posts, i will never know. No one is going to constantly log in and out in order to see my posts and shadow reply to them, like they could do without effort before.

I think the ignore feature works fine for those with self control that actually have made a reasoned decision to stop interacting with another poster. It doesn't work so well for those who would rather have the last word in than simply avoiding a another user that irritates them.

 

[FrogReaver]

I've got [MENTION=44144]cbwjm[/MENTION] blocked temporarily just to demonstrate the issue. And yet, I am talking about him "behind his back". How does the current block feature stop me from doing that exactly?

Another great point. Although I do want to add the block feature does make it more difficult to constantly do that to another poster, but still a determined user can do that nonetheless.