GM Policy Update

[Seyrr]

GM Policy of FINAL FANTASY XI was updated and the new category was added.

Following is the GM policy that was added.
For more details, please refer to GM Policy under Rules & Policies.

-Addition of new category "About Monster Holding"
As stated on About Monster Holding, it has been decided that GM will no longer interfere with the holding of monsters that are listed in the category.
Along with the update, section on monster holding has been removed from Inappropriate Behavior and became an individual category.

Please visit the below pages for GM Policy.

PlayOnline Viewer

FINAL FANTASY XI Top Page -> Rules & Policies -> GM Policy

FINAL FANTASY XI Official Site

https://secure.playonline.com/ff11us/rule/policy.shtml

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnew ... 1740.shtml

The actual sections:

At what point do you consider someone to be monster holding?

For example, some Notorious Monsters need a few hours and a large number of players to be taken down. Starting the battle at once is best, but sometimes due to several reasons, such as login timing etc, it might take time before all members arrive and actually start fighting the monster. In such case, we do not consider this monster holding.

Monster holding refers to an instance where a player or players hold a monster so that they continue to maintain claim on the monster. This is especially prevalent with monsters that a large amount of players are interested in, such as a notorious monster. In the cases where there are no signs of effort to defeat the monster, and instead the player(s) are simply holding claim over the monster for a long period of time with the aim of keeping control of it; this is considered a grief tactic.

Monster holding can also be defined as a player or group of players attempting to regulate the time that a monster appears by keeping it claimed with the intention to shift its spawn time by delaying its defeat.. Another example of monster holding would be a player or group of players holding a monster until their friends came to help. In these types of situations, the GM staff will perceive this as monster holding if it continues over an excessive amount of time. In an effort to maintain an enjoyable game environment, the GM staff will intervene and take the appropriate action as necessary in these types of situations.

Once a GM confirms whether monster holding is occurring or not, the GM will instruct the player to either engage the monster in combat in an attempt to defeat it or release the claim on the monster in question. Players that do not follow a GM's instructions will become subject to account disciplinary actions.

However, in August 2005 we introduced a counter-measure to excessive monster holding by making specific monsters more powerful after a certain amount of time has passed. GMs will no longer interfere with these particular monsters. Some examples of monsters like this are as follows:

King Arthro / Simurgh / Roc / Serket / Capricious Cassie / Lord of Onzozo / Behemoth / King Behemoth / Adamantoise / Aspidochelone / Fafnir / Nidhogg

[spooky]

Cool.

[Ryko]

So basically nothing's really changed except a GM can be slightly bitchier when you say you have friends otw?

[Seyrr]

I think it's saying the opposite, actually - friends on the way is okay, as long as it's not taking an excessive amount of time.

Also, the list of "We will not respond to calls about these NMs" is new.

[spooky]

So basically nothing's really changed except a GM can be slightly bitchier when you say you have friends otw?

Way I read is that they are now slightly more lenient, in that if you have people on the way they will give you a bit more time.
Seems they are only going to focus on people holding to try and change window times.

[spooky]

Also, the list of "We will not respond to calls about these NMs" is new.

GMs are probably getting sick of the endless calls about Kings.

[Khamsin]

It just says that GMs will no longer interfere on complaints of holding (insert list of monsters here).

So if someone calls a GM and says 3 people have been continuously holding Fafnir for 30 min without causing any damage, the GM can say "Fafnir... Fafnir.... oh, he's on the list. It's allowed. Is there anything else I can do for you today, because it sure as hell isn't going to be busting those guys for holding?"

[Fhqwghads]

I think there's going to be wild differentiation between each GMs interpretation of what's "too long." One GM may allow half an hour for a LS to get ready, while another GM might tell the people who have claim to start fighting it after only 5 minutes or disengage. I'm sure we'll see some posts about this in the future as the disparate situations surface.

[Tomiko]

So basically nothing's really changed except a GM can be slightly bitchier when you say you have friends otw?

Found something of interest for you:

Re: Character Names

You should report Jesus for that time he reported you.

[MaachaQ]

So basically nothing's really changed except a GM can be slightly bitchier when you say you have friends otw?

Found something of interest for you:

Re: Character Names

You should report Jesus for that time he reported you.

No idea where my husband found this, but I found it an appropriate addition the that last comment... ^^

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...I/000428tz.png

[terraflarex]

GM Policy of FINAL FANTASY XI was updated and the new category was added:

We do not care if you hold NMs, so please stop sending us GM calls about it.

Fixed.

[Ryko]

Called a GM on Jesus, results incoming.
Ryko vs Jesus Part 2: The second coming. "This time, it's personal."
Victor: Ryko

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5...dcomingzt1.jpg

[Suiram]

So basically nothing's really changed except a GM can be slightly bitchier when you say you have friends otw?

Way I read is that they are now slightly more lenient, in that if you have people on the way they will give you a bit more time.
Seems they are only going to focus on people holding to try and change window times.

I think Ryko's right, they're less lenient now. The quoted section that reads, "For example, some Notorious Monsters need a few hours and a large number...." isn't new. It's updated from a previous version, and in fact changed to broaden the number of cases that could be considered holding. The original section used to have the additional line, "If the holders mean to hold monsters to deliberately adjust the next spawn window or intentionally delay killing them, GMs will take action against them," which implied that holding to adjust future spawn times was the only type of behavior that constituted a violation of the policy, and that line was removed in the newest version. Then additionally they added that entire section that included the line saying essentially "you can't hold it forever until your friends get there, even if it's not just to adjust the spawn time."

[Kaisha]

So they basically decided to add all the rage-able mobs to the ignore list?

[Lordwafik]

Yep. That's how I read it, as anything with a rage timer, youl'l get an autoreply from GM instead of a real GM.

[Daahan]

Adding one single grain of sugar to your coffee doesn't make it any sweeter.

There is going to be no noticeable difference. Besides, even if you call a GM for holding it takes them 30 minutes to respond anyway, and by that time the LS in question has enough people to kill the NM.

[Afrohatch]

Incoming 5 hour rage timer to Tiamat/Jorm/Vrtra/Cerb/Khim/Hydra, then the GMs will have more time to focus on what they usually do when they respond to holding calls, nothing!

[Spekkio]

actually, i think it will go quite the other way. you'll notice that they do not list grand wyrms, khim, etc. GMs can easily interpret this to mean that mobs exempted from said list are fair game for holding claims if you sleep for so much as 90 seconds since they're not on "the list."

[ringly]

So basically nothing's really changed except a GM can be slightly bitchier when you say you have friends otw?

Way I read is that they are now slightly more lenient, in that if you have people on the way they will give you a bit more time.
Seems they are only going to focus on people holding to try and change window times.

seems like they have revamped a way to tell the player base to fuck off

[layoneil]

Lord of Onzozo

definitely going to hold that for as long as i can to change the pop window.

people who call GMs for holding on mobs with rage timers are morons, the only one that remotely makes sense is KB cause you can hold it through rage.