Kevin BoomCaster on Jun 4, 2018 wrote:

So I went to the wizard101 forums to see what they say about boosting and saw a post that reads:

"Brynn SilverHeartFeb 08, 2016

Boosting in PVP
I recently wrote Kings Isle asking them if boosting is a form of cheating in PVP. It is frowned upon amongst PVP players, that actually fight legit battles to win their rank. I feel it makes the Leader Boards obsolete. All the top spots are taken up by boosters. I am disheartened by their response. What are your thoughts on boosting in PVP? Kings Isle gave me this response:

Hello!

The method you refer to is a legal PvP tactic and is not cheating. Thus, it is not a reason for sanction. Please don't report these players, as they've done nothing wrong.

Regards,
KingsIsle Support

PS: Check out the big book of everything Wizard101! www.wizard101.com/guide"

and I would assume the same rule applies for pirate101 in terms of PvP tactics

Just because it's not a report-able offense doesn't mean it's right. You're trying to justify a wrong action by saying KI allows it, so it's ok.
Begging is a unreportable act, being rude is also unreportable, it comes down to morality.
The 5 minute penalty when dodging a match-up seems to indicate that KI doesn't want P101 Ranked PVP to go the "Wizard route".

Kevin BoomCaster on Jun 4, 2018 wrote:

So I went to the wizard101 forums to see what they say about boosting and saw a post that reads:

"Brynn SilverHeartFeb 08, 2016

Boosting in PVP
I recently wrote Kings Isle asking them if boosting is a form of cheating in PVP. It is frowned upon amongst PVP players, that actually fight legit battles to win their rank. I feel it makes the Leader Boards obsolete. All the top spots are taken up by boosters. I am disheartened by their response. What are your thoughts on boosting in PVP? Kings Isle gave me this response:

Hello!

The method you refer to is a legal PvP tactic and is not cheating. Thus, it is not a reason for sanction. Please don't report these players, as they've done nothing wrong.

Regards,
KingsIsle Support

PS: Check out the big book of everything Wizard101! www.wizard101.com/guide"

and I would assume the same rule applies for pirate101 in terms of PvP tactics

I don't get why you're still defending your thoughts. We already told you that KI has clearly started to be against Boosting. And it started to happen ever since Summer 2017 in Wizard101 when they brought the Infamous Wizard Boosters down from Overlord 3000 to Private 0. Again, Justifying Boosting and boosters isn't okay and still considered cheap. Nothing will change the reality of it. Champion Weapons were made for those who want them by Fighting legit players fair and square to earn their weapon and ranking fairly. They were made for Experienced PvP Players that are already in Champion and successfully made their way there and deserve it. These weapons weren't made for those who know nothing about PvP or how things work and they never PvP. These don't deserve their weapons by any chance.

okay if you guys are so dead set against boosting
(not illegal so I still agree it is legit until a penalty is released in the rule book)

a better solution may be to limit the amount of times you can fight a person within a short amount of time

say like with the smugglers arena where you have to wait 2 hours to be the starter of a run

why not make it where you have to wait 2 hours to be matched with the same person again

allows people to have more variety in opponents and slows the boosting process dramatically
of course this is not a permanent solution and could be extended to a higher time gap if seen fit

but my other idea was to allow people to see your most recent 3 match results (including who the opponent is) however I fear this would lead to people gloating and/or shaming players
and that would cause major mental issues for people who are already low on self-esteem so thus this is a bad idea

But honestly I don't see the problem with boosting it is not like it interferes with people who play seriously because if someone does not want to fight all they would do is flee and again that is no fun either
unless … "the reason people think boosting is bad is because they themselves want to boost off of these players"

but if that is not the case I say let them be and let's all stop worrying about how other players chose to play a game that is meant to be played differently by each individual and instead lets come together to focus on bring more players into the game to widen the queue

and remember this is just a game meant to be enjoyed by everyone in every aspect not meant to control what a person can and cannot do because someone chose a different path to reach the same satisfying goal

we are a community of supporting game lovers not a communistic society who shames one another because of work ethic and tactics

~peace & love

Isn't pvp just for fun? Everyone is so immature about a stupid ranking. All rank does is belittle others who aren't the same rank as them. If you feel pvp isn't fair do not pvp. As for boosting, this is a kids game. People boost for different reasons. Whether it's to make themselves look cool to their friends, or to get stuff that is limited to higher rank people, just let kids be kids. Boosting is not hurting anyone unless you are talking about peoples egos being hurt for the needing of being special. I am not encouraging boosting, all I am saying is that it is a non issue that does not not to be addressed. I think this post should just be closed down. While I am for free speech, this post is only leading to more arguments that is not contributing to making the game better at all.

Kevin BoomCaster on Jun 5, 2018 wrote:

okay if you guys are so dead set against boosting
(not illegal so I still agree it is legit until a penalty is released in the rule book)

a better solution may be to limit the amount of times you can fight a person within a short amount of time

say like with the smugglers arena where you have to wait 2 hours to be the starter of a run

why not make it where you have to wait 2 hours to be matched with the same person again

allows people to have more variety in opponents and slows the boosting process dramatically
of course this is not a permanent solution and could be extended to a higher time gap if seen fit

but my other idea was to allow people to see your most recent 3 match results (including who the opponent is) however I fear this would lead to people gloating and/or shaming players
and that would cause major mental issues for people who are already low on self-esteem so thus this is a bad idea

But honestly I don't see the problem with boosting it is not like it interferes with people who play seriously because if someone does not want to fight all they would do is flee and again that is no fun either
unless … "the reason people think boosting is bad is because they themselves want to boost off of these players"

but if that is not the case I say let them be and let's all stop worrying about how other players chose to play a game that is meant to be played differently by each individual and instead lets come together to focus on bring more players into the game to widen the queue

and remember this is just a game meant to be enjoyed by everyone in every aspect not meant to control what a person can and cannot do because someone chose a different path to reach the same satisfying goal

we are a community of supporting game lovers not a communistic society who shames one another because of work ethic and tactics

~peace & love

Alright, let me address some of your points

1. I agree, boosting is not EXPLICITLY illegal according to KI's Term's of Service. That doesn't mean it is legitimate, or moral, to do. As others have mentioned, begging for mounts, helping then shortly thereafter abandoning other players, etc are all things that are also not against TOS. That doesn't make it ok to do these things. In addition, KI has taken a very anti-boosting policy in wiz in the last year. I don't see why KI doesn't do the same in pirate
2. Increasing the amount of time between being able to fight the same player twice is probably your best idea, but I think it has some unforeseen consequences. True, it would make it very difficult to boost (People would still do it though). However, due to the small size of the legitimate pvp playerbase, it could also slow honest ranking down significantly. I think it's a solution that might be worth considering (maybe making it so you can't pull the same person in royale, the principal boosting venue, for a few hours)
3. I'd actually be fine with having everyone's record public. In wiz they do this (when clicking on a player, it's past their stat screen). Why not in pirate? No need to make specific results public, but I think it's a good idea to publish 1v1, royale, and overall record. That would make it so boosters are obvious to the general public (part of the reason why the problem is so rampant is because there's no 100% clear way to identify them, only indicators)
4. Boosters are not "choosing a different path" to reach the goal of champion. Cheating is not choosing a different path. Cheating is cheating, and should be treated as such imo. I absolutely think boosters should be shamed.
5. Being a kid is not an excuse for cheating either. It's not right to excuse or allow immoral actions just because the perpetrator is a kid. Also, these boosters are not 'young kids' for the most part. I know many of them. They are fully conscious of their actions.

anecorbie on Jun 5, 2018 wrote:

If you want to PVP for fun go to the Spar Chamber. When I consider that Ranked costs crowns ( whether by membership or by buying a pass for crowns ) that this is real money being spent to engage in a competitive activity, then true competitors aren't getting what they paid for( ie a match up with another player. )
Most of the Champions I've net don't "belittle" other lower ranked PVP players, I've had some good advice from them and some good matches.
Think about all the kinds of competitions kids engage in: music, sports, spelling bees - all these activities require them to be matched with another competitor; so using "it's a kids game" isn't a good enough excuse to allow boosting.
And what about the genuine competitors? Those rewards aren't going to be worth getting if all anyone has to do is fight themselves through an alt. account. This makes the idea of any competition ridiculous.
Suggesting fixes to an on-going problem is what this post is for, and frankly, your post is a prime example of someone trying to work up an argument.
I hope that Logan and Matthew ignores this post and will continue the discussion on how to stop boosting.

I personally think everyone has had a valid point, including the ideas I disagree with.

Kingsisle needs to consider everyone's opinion when making their decision on this because boosting isn't a small matter.

I think unfairly punishment for people just trying to have fun is something Kingsisle needs to consider if it could be perceived that way. The people that have said "boosting" is not against the current terms of use are absolutely correct. Before Kingsisle considers punishing boosters they need to edit the terms of use and let everyone know about the edits. The edits should be given a 3 week commenting period before they become the official terms of use and they should be clearly posted not only on these forums but on the Pirate 101 Facebook page as well.

One other thing to consider is what if Kingsisle does put a timer on people fighting the same person, I see 2 problems with this idea, 1. What if it is late at night and they are the only person in the queue and 2. Wouldn't a booster be able to switch to another pirate on their account and continue doing it. If a booster happened to have a full account with 6 max level pirates they could continue boosting even with each of their pirates getting a timer, because they would simply switch to the next one. I think Anecorbie would agree that trying to code it by account as opposed to by pirate would be really hard even if possible.

Matthew525011 on Jun 6, 2018 wrote:

Boosting never even became against the wizard101 terms of service. It was merely something that Friendly Necro and the KI team rightfully declared was unacceptable. I don't think they banned any of the perpetrators from the game, rightfully so, but they did nuke their rank down to 0, and iirc, made it impossible for them to return to the boards for at least the rest of that age. If they make this their policy in pirate101, as they should, I don't think a 3 week window is necessary. I can't imagine there is a single booster who actually believes that what they are engaging in is a legitimate way of earning rank. They know, somewhere, maybe deep down, that what they are doing is not how pvp was supposed to work (even if they may attempt to deny it). They either just don't care that they're acting wrongfully, or they think they can hide it and avoid getting caught (since it's difficult to definitively prove someone is boosting).

Let me remind you Pirate 101 is rated for everyone 10 years and up. A 10 Year Old might not realize boosting is wrong as it is not against the terms or service as of now. You can't know what everyone else is thinking.

anecorbie on Jun 6, 2018 wrote:

Bet you that even a 10 year old knows what cheating is and if you did it to them, how outraged they would be...

If that particular 10 year old didn't consider boosting cheating they would probably help you boost your pirate if you asked them to.

Willowydream on May 27, 2018 wrote:

How exactly would you "fix" this? The population of PvP players is very small, so there isn't a huge pool to match from at all. If you inflict some sort of harsh penalty, then even fewer people would play.

New pirates find it difficult to join PvP because there is such a huge learning curve between fighting Troggies and fighting an established player.

I don't know what would be fair, which is why I almost never PvP.

Same, in both wiz and pirate ;-;

Amber hawksong on Jul 18, 2018 wrote:

I know this is the unpopular opinion but I agree with Kevin for the most part, until TOS says you can't boost, it's a viable option.

I also like the idea of being able to get the pvp items in another way, maybe like a super rare drop in fishing chests if fishing gets added.

Kingsisle has implemented a very strong anti-boosting policy in wizard101, even removing the rank and leaderboard status of the most notorious boosters. In addition, they have implemented fixes to make it harder, albeit still possible, to boost in pvp. Correct, it doesn't say that boosting is banned in the TOS, but based on company policy, we can easily see that Kingsisle does not approve of boosting in their games.

As for getting the PvP items in another way, I have 2 words: git. gud.

Everyone who earned their champ weapons legitimately had to face people who had them when they did not (unless they champed in the first and most competitive season, which would mean they were among the best in the game).

Matthew525011 on Jul 19, 2018 wrote:

Kingsisle has implemented a very strong anti-boosting policy in wizard101, even removing the rank and leaderboard status of the most notorious boosters. In addition, they have implemented fixes to make it harder, albeit still possible, to boost in pvp. Correct, it doesn't say that boosting is banned in the TOS, but based on company policy, we can easily see that Kingsisle does not approve of boosting in their games.

As for getting the PvP items in another way, I have 2 words: git. gud.

Everyone who earned their champ weapons legitimately had to face people who had them when they did not (unless they champed in the first and most competitive season, which would mean they were among the best in the game).

I can't yar this reply enough, but that first season of Ranked PVP was the "season of the Moo Robe", I don't consider those who made it to champ with this item as "among the best in the game". If they made champ without this item and against those who had it - yes, they are the best.
There will always be those who see something they want and try to find a short cut, but if you can't earn something in the way that it was designed to be earned, then learn to do without it.
Fortunately, there are many weapons just as good as the champ weapons, everyone can get the "Contender" level pets without competing & morph with other pets for those desired talents/powers.
How anyone would want to display that "Champion" badge, weapon or mount without actually earning it, knowing that they didn't earn it and that true competitors KNOW they don't deserve it, is beyond my understanding - wouldn't they feel like a fake?

anecorbie on Jul 20, 2018 wrote:

I can't yar this reply enough, but that first season of Ranked PVP was the "season of the Moo Robe", I don't consider those who made it to champ with this item as "among the best in the game". If they made champ without this item and against those who had it - yes, they are the best.
There will always be those who see something they want and try to find a short cut, but if you can't earn something in the way that it was designed to be earned, then learn to do without it.
Fortunately, there are many weapons just as good as the champ weapons, everyone can get the "Contender" level pets without competing & morph with other pets for those desired talents/powers.
How anyone would want to display that "Champion" badge, weapon or mount without actually earning it, knowing that they didn't earn it and that true competitors KNOW they don't deserve it, is beyond my understanding - wouldn't they feel like a fake?

I would say anyone who didn't boost that season is among the best in the game, regardless of whether or not they had moo robe. Yes moo robe was op, but by the time you reached higher ranks (200-300+), you would probably be fighting exclusively people with their own cottas to match yours or players who were skillful enough to beat them consistently. I don't see how that makes them any less deserving. Take Deathflame for example. He used cottas. He went undefeated on his buck. There's no doubt in my mind he's elite.

There might be some people who were "carried" to champ by their moo robe, but I doubt those people are large in number. The amount of players who were legitimately skillfull, with and without moo robe, that season would have prevented so called "moo noobs" from reaching champion undeservingly.