Tracking

[LANS]

Yesterday I discovered that I can no longer track inside the city. Asking a staff member, they had no idea until I checked 'help news' and found out that:

* Bug that allowed tracking in city rooms resolved.

This was unpleasant to read. Tracking is a major part of my effectiveness as a knight, and I've caught several mages by tracking them in town. Hell, I took the skill mainly to track inside the city, as the wilderness is practically empty of RP most of the time save for hunters and foragers.
Not only I can't track under any circumstances in city rooms, but the change wasn't notified to the pbase: not even staff was aware. Respectfully: why does this keep happening? Why are critical changes still implemented without notice?

[Taunya]

It was too easy to track on city streets, But I agree it oughta be possible.
I didn't realize it was a bug that made it possible to track in the city, but that does explain a little.

Perhaps priority should be given for implementing tracking that makes more sense in the city, and the fix be reverted until then?

[Starstarfish]

This seems potentially problematic as it's going to allow the use of certain spells with zero risk, as the inherit risk was the tracks it left.

[LANS]

Precisely my point.

[Geras]

I really don't think it's realistic to track someone through the city. Too many hard surfaces on the roads and too many confounding variables.

[Dreams]

I feel that it should be harder, but not impossible. Instead of it going back 10, only go back five, or something. Make it imperative that it is handled quickly, because the high traffic would make any signs vanish quickly. But... I mean, dirty/muddy shoeprints? Bloody shoeprints? All of these things make perfect sense as for why something should remain for at least a little while.

[Starstarfish]

The thing is "it's not realistic" only goes so far in a reality where magic is indeed, real.

[plague]

It goes pretty far when you're not using magic to track. Is it Batman-style detective vision?

[LANS]

Respectfully: there is such a thing as internal consistency, Star.
It is not inconsistent to have city tracking if we have to leave moods after breaking into homes, or have the Order receive alerts when a witch is casting in public. Mage hunting is tremendously difficult when players possess even a grain of caution. This just made it even harder.
Kitty's proposal makes sense, and I had been thinking of it. Perhaps limit tracking to a maximum of, say, seven or five entries and not ten. Or raise the skill difficulty threshold so that you get much less information even on more recent tracks. Or a combination of both ideas.

[Dreams]

Kitty's proposal makes sense, and I had been thinking of it. Perhaps limit tracking to a maximum of, say, seven or five entries and not ten. Or raise the skill difficulty threshold so that you get much less information even on more recent tracks. Or a combination of both ideas.

+1