Change Picklocking and Hotwiring Difficulty

[Puzzling]

Ever since the minigame has been fixed and more reliable (going from a server-side script to a client-side script) I think the pick locking and hotwire minigame should be less tries but more difficult.

The only way for you to really fail is if you aren't paying attention because currently, all of the cars you hotwire and pick are super slow and easy, you just have to do it 50 times in a row give or take. I think that the bar should move faster and maybe have the green zone be a bit smaller, but you have to do it in half the amount of attempts (25 maybe?). This way you actually have sometimes to fail rather than your only chance of being caught is spending 5 minutes in a stationary car just waiting for a cop to drive by.

I haven't used a lockpicking kit in a while, so I don't know if that lowers the amount of attempts, I have been kind of lazy, but regardless I still think this would be a positive addition to the game.

(I think the same about dismantling the entire chop setup with how slow it is, you can't really fail because of how easy it is, maybe speed that up and have it take fewer attempts as well)

[SquirtleSquad]

1 hour ago, Puzzling said:

The only way for you to really fail is if you aren't paying attention because currently, all of the cars you hotwire and pick are super slow and easy, you just have to do it 50 times in a row give or take. I think that the bar should move faster and maybe have the green zone be a bit smaller, but you have to do it in half the amount of attempts (25 maybe?). This way you actually have sometimes to fail rather than your only chance of being caught is spending 5 minutes in a stationary car just waiting for a cop to drive by.

The more "expensive" or high performance of a vehicle, the harder it is to get into. 50 clicks doesn't exist on a Scout, Jugular, Paragon R, Drag, Shinobi. Issi Sport is a little slower, but still faster than 50 clicks, sitting at 45 clicks.

There is a varying level of speed depending on the vehicle. Like the first bar to click on a Jugular is about half the green zone of a 45 or 50 click, and the speed is at least 30-50% faster than the aforementioned.

That is, unless I'm misunderstanding the mechanic you're referring to.

Edited September 28, 2023 by SquirtleSquad

[Puzzling]

That is the mechanic I am talking about. For NPC cars it's slow regardless of the class of the vehicle from what I did over the past month or so.

I couldn't remember if it was 50-45, but it's 45 for every class of vehicle from a shitty utility van to a jugular, etc.

Unless I just can't tell the speed difference, it all seems the same for me. I know the player owned cars are harder to break in to, they also give pennies on the dollar compared to chopping NPC cars

[SquirtleSquad]

1 hour ago, Puzzling said:

That is the mechanic I am talking about. For NPC cars it's slow regardless of the class of the vehicle from what I did over the past month or so.

I couldn't remember if it was 50-45, but it's 45 for every class of vehicle from a shitty utility van to a jugular, etc.

Unless I just can't tell the speed difference, it all seems the same for me. I know the player owned cars are harder to break in to, they also give pennies on the dollar compared to chopping NPC cars

Ah, I will be honest then, I thought the same rules for Player Cars applied to NPC cars as well. My mistake.

[Quietthecutie]

-1

honestly from a RP perspective the difference in how long it takes to pick varying cars makes little sense. Older, cheaper cars should be far quicker to break into than the latest luxury supercar.

But from a gameplay perspective having NPC cars take the longest makes sense. as these are the ones that will most likely get chopped, generating money etc. so the slow pick time is important to add an extra layer of risk and exposure that a passing LEO might otherwise miss. i have had it happen to me a few times where im nearly done picking an NPC car only for a cruiser to turn the corner and all hell breaks loose.

TLDR; The long pick times are to do with more than just previous buggy minigame.

Edited September 30, 2023 by Quietthecutie

[Puzzling]

It was suggested because it is so boring with no level of skill required to do either of the events. I am cool with leaving the hotwiring slow because at least that requires some skill. I think the only way of being caught because you are "slow" at picking the lock isn't valid, I'd much rather fail and have the alarm blaring because I am less skilled rather than an RNG chance of getting pulled up on.

As for the risk, every officer knows the instant they scan your plate it is a stolen car, there is no way around it, so driving it to your place is a massive risk. 

[Bala]

I disagree with the OP.
As someone with an interest in development, you want to weight something in favour of giving the user a favourable outcome, for it to be a "good" gameplay mechanic.

For me personally, I can't do the hardest difficulty lockpicking. It's not one of those where I'm not quite getting it, I'm literally miles off, so I don't bother.
For some, that might be "git gud Bala" but to me, if I don't really have a chance, I'm not going to even attempt it.

At that point, it's not my character's skill, it's my OOC skill.

The old system of lockpicking was RNG, you either successfully pick-locked or you didn't, the server basically rolled the dice for you. In terms of mechanics, that's not engaging at all so it's a "poor" mechanic.

For me, I think the basics of the mechanic doesn't need to change but I think you can alter the difficulty by adding gameplay elements to improve it / make it easier.

• The more times you successfully lock pick a vehicle, the less repetitions you should need to do when lock picking a vehicle.
  This would imply that your character gains experience and skill over time. A rookie new lock picker would have to do a lot more than a veteran.
   
• We use drug effects to alter the difficulty of the lock picking.
  Uppers like Cocaine, Ecstasy and Meth would reduce the amount of repetitions needed for pick locking.
  Downers like Marijuana, Nicotine, Painkillers and Alcohol would increase the amount of time you have to successfully complete a repetition.

Ultimately, that rewards repetition of task and IC learning, it adds extra use/value to our various narcotics beyond just being something to sell and most importantly, puts the difficulty more in the hands of the player. Maybe not by much, but enough where it feels like you are more in control of what happens.

[Puzzling]

40 minutes ago, Bala said:

I can't do the hardest difficulty lockpicking

NPC cars have the same exact speed, there is no different difficulty for those, that is the main point

[TheGrinch]

-1

[AtlasOLimbo]

Player cars are 100% more difficult than NPC cars and I have witnessed this myself.

[Quietthecutie]

On 10/21/2023 at 1:20 AM, AtlasOLimbo said:

Player cars are 100% more difficult than NPC cars and I have witnessed this myself.

ive felt this too, but again, i feel this is a good thing, if youre jacking cars to chop em, ok fair thats just you making bread. but if youre picking player cars thats you doing it for the thrill/itsacoolcar/you have a beef with the player. therefore it should be a challenge to get into that car.

 

[WakeUpFilthy]

-1