Player bounties - absurd for solo players. Do DEVs know?

[zPhoenix]

I was thinking of how I respond when a player bounty is put against me:

 

• If I'm in a posse, we hole up and are pretty much indestructible, we just farm the poor sap coming after us until he gets frustrated or his clock runs out. 
• And if I am solo... I just start running like crazy, to keep my distance until the clock runs out.
• Either way... the hunter is SOL, he is not going to complete his mission.

 

Looking at it from the other end, I simply don't even bother with player bounties if I'm a solo player... as I expect others to do the same thing as above.  The one or two times I thought of trying it my theory got confirmed as I got sniped before even seeing the enemy on the map.

 

So, what's the point of such missions and daily challenges for solo players?   Logic dictates that most solo players shouldn't even be included in such types of bounties / daily challenges as they will do their best to avoid them, by either running or not joining them.

 

And yet, they are in the game.  I have to wonder if the DEVs are even aware of the issue, or if they are oblivious and simply assume that players are going to follow the broken mechanics/design that they put in place.

 

What are your thoughts?

[kcole4001]

Whether it's player bounty or player assassination, I never take the mission.

 

I have been a target of an assassination once. I rode for quite a distance, then came across the train at Emerald St. so hid in a boxcar.

The other player was not far behind and caught up quickly, we had a short gun vs bow fight (i was using bow to make it a challenge) and he headshot me. It was a level 32 player, so I was impressed at how good he was.

Then we both went on our separate ways.

 

For the bounty I understand that you spend the dollar amount of your bounty as time in seconds in the jail or pay to get released early, either way it's not a huge chunk of your time wasted.

 

I guess I just see it as someone doing a mission for the daily or to advance their progress in the related award, nothing personal either way.

You can either make it a challenge to be as hard a target as possible if you like the adversarial nature of it, or just let them get you and get the mission over with so you can go back to what you were doing, or switch sessions and be done with it, which ever makes the most sense to you at the time.

 

As far as I'm concerned, posse assassinations are ridiculous and should be removed.

Edited January 25, 2021 by kcole4001
details

[zPhoenix]

I play as a nice guy so I hardly ever earn a bounty against myself, and when I do it is pennies which I pay right away.  The only things put against me are missions (assassinations?) . 

 

But once I started with the philosophy of ambushing if in posse and running if not... I have not lost a single one.  The person with the mission simply wastes his time, which seems fair to me as I never asked to participate in such contests.

[1898]

Speaking of absurd, isn't one of the options to bring the player in alive? The chances of that happening are what...

[netnow66]

2 minutes ago, 1898 said:

Speaking of absurd, isn't one of the options to bring the player in alive? The chances of that happening are what...

A friend and I took turns and did it to one another, just to see how it worked (those cops in Saint Denis are still so killable). Since there was no gold in the payout, only XP and a little cash, it's really not worth it to me. We only did it the two times.

[aaronBLUEeyes]

 

Player Bounty Notifications and UX should change to allow for a more balanced gameplay by doing the following:

• Bounty Target and only the Bounty Target gets a notification saying there are Bounty Hunters in their area to at least give them notice — but they have to communicate that to their posse
• Bounty Target is not informed whether it’s NPCs or Players so they have to consider all possibilities
• Bounty Target and their posse cannot see Bounty Hunter player(s) nor their posse on mini map until directly engaged by player Bounty Hunters, offering an opportunity for the element of surprise if the BH posse can sneak up on the Bounty Target’s position
• Bounty Target posse respawns are pushed further away if posse members defending Bounty Target are killed, thus taking them out of the immediate fight because they could not defend themselves which provides BH posse a better chance of apprehension

Edited January 25, 2021 by aaronBLUEeyes

[*Lola]

5 hours ago, 1898 said:

Speaking of absurd, isn't one of the options to bring the player in alive? The chances of that happening are what...

I got one earlier in a three player posse.

Took out the bounty then the other that was closest

to him.

Grabbed the bounty with my lasso and dragged it

to the Blackwater jail.

Picked up the bounty to drop it, it then says deliver

to Strawberry jail.

Killing the bounty at Beecher's Hope made me think 

Blackwater was closest jail.

Turned off the game after that. Wasn't worth my time taking it

to Strawberry.

Edited January 25, 2021 by *Lola

[IamCourtney]

People who rack up enough of a bounty to warrant triggering a mission are either noobs who don't understand the system or someone deliberately looking for a fight; there's fun to be had either way. The payout is a pittance so if you aren't in it for kicks why bother?

[Ragnar Stalheim]

If it's just a two or three man posse and they don't run, I just kill them all with explosives. My main problem is that the bounty target will respawn and come back and attack, sometimes preventing me from taking his body to the sheriff's office. Dead bounty targets should respawn in a different session (along with their posse if applicable), much like they would if the left a free roam event.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Ragnar Stalheim
typo

[StyxTx]

1 hour ago, Ragnar Stalheim said:

My main problem is that they bounty target will respawn and come back and attack, sometimes preventing me from taking his body to the sheriff's office. Dead bounty targets should respawn in a different session (along with their posse if applicable), much like they would if the left a free roam event.

No kidding? That is totally stupid. You're right, in the bounty things they should respawn in a different session ........ or have an automatic parlay for 10 minutes or so. Wow.

 

R*....what a bunch of Einsteins. Just when I think they can't possibly come up with something more stupid, they do it.

Edited January 26, 2021 by StyxTx

[GrungeNinja]

This would all make sense if there were NO PLAYER BLIPS! 

[Krommer]

18 hours ago, zPhoenix said:

So, what's the point of such missions and daily challenges for solo players?   Logic dictates that most solo players shouldn't even be included in such types of bounties / daily challenges as they will do their best to avoid them, by either running or not joining them.

 

I think they assumed people would be "cooler" about it? Like when it is a daily, they (Rockstar) might assume that people would try to passively get the bounty target (who would then wholeheartedly not "resist"), then deliver

it making it a success.

 

Is that even possible, to do that while not killing the player bounty? I suppose it would require some cooperation from the bounty, to perhaps get an achievement for being "in jail? "

 

Or it would be cool of the bounty to just ride along, waving and tipping hat, as you brought his dead body in 

 

 

10 hours ago, IamCourtney said:

People who rack up enough of a bounty to warrant triggering a mission are either noobs who don't understand the system or someone deliberately looking for a fight

 

I've been thinking about doing that, to be a "passive live bounty" and then be put in jail alive; my guess is that someone would just come and kill me, no matter how obvious I tried to make it that I was not resisting.

[TCA]

You’ll spend more time fighting for it and you won’t have any time to get it to the drop off. I dumped their body in the river and went about my business. Being realistically honest? It’s simply never worth doing them. Then after that Someone had one over 10...I was omw to a bounty location from Blackwater, the idiot literally kills me simply because I was riding by doing some else and they ended up leaving the session. So yeah player bounties just need to go. They serve no purpose at all.

 

[RyuNova]

Bola's are your friend when it comes to taking Bounties alive.

[AmyStone]

On 1/25/2021 at 2:35 PM, zPhoenix said:

I was thinking of how I respond when a player bounty is put against me:

 

• If I'm in a posse, we hole up and are pretty much indestructible, we just farm the poor sap coming after us until he gets frustrated or his clock runs out. 
• And if I am solo... I just start running like crazy, to keep my distance until the clock runs out.
• Either way... the hunter is SOL, he is not going to complete his mission.

 

Looking at it from the other end, I simply don't even bother with player bounties if I'm a solo player... as I expect others to do the same thing as above.  The one or two times I thought of trying it my theory got confirmed as I got sniped before even seeing the enemy on the map.

 

So, what's the point of such missions and daily challenges for solo players?   Logic dictates that most solo players shouldn't even be included in such types of bounties / daily challenges as they will do their best to avoid them, by either running or not joining them.

 

And yet, they are in the game.  I have to wonder if the DEVs are even aware of the issue, or if they are oblivious and simply assume that players are going to follow the broken mechanics/design that they put in place.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Totally different from yours. Player bounties are usually very easy to kill. I've rarely encountered any that try to run either. I've managed to take in around 95% of all the ones I accept. It's one of the few legit bits of PvP in the game and I think it's been done quite well. But like anything, you can choose not to participate. Either don't accept the bounty when it's offered to you and don't get a bounty of over $5 if you don't want to be hunted.

[Direwrath]

21 hours ago, TCA said:

You’ll spend more time fighting for it and you won’t have any time to get it to the drop off. I dumped their body in the river and went about my business. Being realistically honest? It’s simply never worth doing them. Then after that Someone had one over 10...I was omw to a bounty location from Blackwater, the idiot literally kills me simply because I was riding by doing some else and they ended up leaving the session. So yeah player bounties just need to go. They serve no purpose at all.

 

When they come after me I play fair.

I'll give them a little fight before I suicide run at them so that they can claim the bounty, it's a good excuse for me to have a reason to engage another player. But I'm not going to stop them from gaining the benefits if they find me. 

[CB33]

I enjoy the player bounty aspect. It adds another element to free roam. The issue I’ve had is player bounties turned in not registering for buckle achievement. So far I’ve done around a dozen, but only one has actually registered. 

[djb204]

Strange. It’s the opposite for me. Out of approximately 20 player bounty offers I accepted, less then 5 have managed to evade me. I’m playing solo too. Maybe the problem is that this is the common player mentality regarding these missions, so people avoid them?
 

Maybe the devs could change things up a bit though. For example....

 

Solo bounty hunters going after a target with a posse is far from easy. So maybe if all members on both sides (outlaw posse & bounty hunter posse) were only given 1 life during them time limit? So If any player on either side dies, upon respawn they can’t join back in the fight. They would be placed in a parlay with those still involved.

 

This could give solo players a chance. Solo bounty hunters could eliminate members of the targets back up once, and not have to worry about those extra guns any more.

 

Alternatively, solo outlaws that are being perused by a bounty hunter with a posse could do the same thing. If any member of the bounty hunters are killed during the exchange, they are parlayed from rejoining the battle upon respawn.

 

The entire player bounty becomes a “once chance” type deal. I thing that could be fun and also address a lot of issues included being outnumbered.

 

[StyxTx]

1 hour ago, djb204 said:

Strange. It’s the opposite for me. Out of approximately 20 player bounty offers I accepted, less then 5 have managed to evade me. I’m playing solo too. Maybe the problem is that this is the common player mentality regarding these missions, so people avoid them?
 

Maybe the devs could change things up a bit though. For example....

 

Solo bounty hunters going after a target with a posse is far from easy. So maybe if all members on both sides (outlaw posse & bounty hunter posse) were only given 1 life during them time limit? So If any player on either side dies, upon respawn they can’t join back in the fight. They would be placed in a parlay with those still involved.

 

This could give solo players a chance. Solo bounty hunters could eliminate members of the targets back up once, and not have to worry about those extra guns any more.

 

Alternatively, solo outlaws that are being perused by a bounty hunter with a posse could do the same thing. If any member of the bounty hunters are killed during the exchange, they are parlayed from rejoining the battle upon respawn.

 

The entire player bounty becomes a “once chance” type deal. I thing that could be fun and also address a lot of issues included being outnumbered.

 

I've never done those but your idea is really a good one.

[KingpinRCR]

The player bounty thing is broken for me.  I did 3 player bounties, All when it was a daily.  The First I delivered alive to the bountywagon near emerald station, didn’t check off the daily,  nor did I receive the gold for it.  The second kicked my ass .  The third I delivered dead to the Valentine sheriff and it didn’t check off the daily either and again, NO gold.   Went to the award section and it still says 0 player bounties brought in...   can’t be bothered with that pos again.

Edited February 1, 2021 by KingpinRCR

[AmyStone]

12 hours ago, KingpinRCR said:

The player bounty thing is broken for me.  I did 3 player bounties, All when it was a daily.  The First I delivered alive to the bountywagon near emerald station, didn’t check off the daily,  nor did I receive the gold for it.  The second kicked my ass .  The third I delivered dead to the Valentine sheriff and it didn’t check off the daily either and again, NO gold.   Went to the award section and it still says 0 player bounties brought in...   can’t be bothered with that pos again.

 

There are some problems with it. I was on my way to deliver a bounty to the wagon and when I was almost there a message came up saying they had escaped. Odd since they were dead on the back of my horse. What I actually think happened was that the player switched sessions or disconnected.

 

One huge problem with player bounties right now is that while the bounty is dead and before the countdown reaches zero they are no longer on the map. A couple of times I've been picking up a dead bounty or riding back to the jail and had the player returned off the radar and killed me.

[éX-Driver]

I’ve always just let them kill me. Far quicker and easier than trying to fight when I’m undoubtedly in the middle of something. If I wanted PvP I’d hop into a showdown or something

[zPhoenix]

3 hours ago, éX-Driver said:

I’ve always just let them kill me. Far quicker and easier than trying to fight when I’m undoubtedly in the middle of something. If I wanted PvP I’d hop into a showdown or something

 

That is the crux of the matter:  It is stupid to try to force people into PvP when they are not interested in it.   If it is not fun or not the right time for them, they will look for the best way out of PvP (suicide, run away, blow your own cart up, change session, etc) often ruining the fun of those who actually do want PvP.

 

The best for PvP in mixed mode games is for it to be accepted by both sides, always giving an option to PvP or not.  But R* doesn't get it, so PvP will remain flawed in RDO.

Edited February 2, 2021 by zPhoenix

[éX-Driver]

8 hours ago, zPhoenix said:

 

That is the crux of the matter:  It is stupid to try to force people into PvP when they are not interested in it.   If it is not fun or not the right time for them, they will look for the best way out of PvP (suicide, run away, blow your own cart up, change session, etc) often ruining the fun of those who actually do want PvP.

 

The best for PvP in mixed mode games is for it to be accepted by both sides, always giving an option to PvP or not.  But R* doesn't get it, so PvP will remain flawed in RDO.

The worst part is it would be incredibly fun IF I were in the mood for it. It’s like the perfect idea for a dynamic old west MMO. It’s just I’m almost never in the mood for it, or when I am there’s nobody targeting me. 
Such is the conundrum of these sorts of games. Everyone wants some dynamic cinematic cowboy shootin’ spaghetti western gaming experience, but the reality is it’s simply impossible to be able to orchestrate that stuff to happen when you want it. They should’ve focused more on the survivalist aspects, methinks. Focused more on being an isolated gunman out on the open prairie, trying to scrape out a living in an actual living breathing RPG, rather than the ‘jack of all trades’ RPG-lite they made. The game just doesn’t have the gameplay focus it deserves.

[zPhoenix]

6 hours ago, éX-Driver said:

The worst part is it would be incredibly fun IF I were in the mood for it. It’s like the perfect idea for a dynamic old west MMO. It’s just I’m almost never in the mood for it, or when I am there’s nobody targeting me. 
Such is the conundrum of these sorts of games. Everyone wants some dynamic cinematic cowboy shootin’ spaghetti western gaming experience, but the reality is it’s simply impossible to be able to orchestrate that stuff to happen when you want it. They should’ve focused more on the survivalist aspects, methinks. Focused more on being an isolated gunman out on the open prairie, trying to scrape out a living in an actual living breathing RPG, rather than the ‘jack of all trades’ RPG-lite they made. The game just doesn’t have the gameplay focus it deserves.

 

Story mode does that fairly well.   They could have simply added COOP to it.

[Krommer]

21 hours ago, AmyStone said:

I was on my way to deliver a bounty to the wagon and when I was almost there a message came up saying they had escaped. Odd since they were dead on the back of my horse. What I actually think happened was that the player switched sessions or disconnected.

 

Wow, that is really lame that it works that way.

 

Even if they switch, or log/disconnect, it should still give you credit.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Krommer

[zPhoenix]

5 hours ago, Krommer said:

 

Wow, that is really lame that it works that way.

 

Even if they switch, or log/disconnect, it should still give you credit.

 

Another option... A simple popup would solve most PvP problems:  "A PvP activity against you will start in 15 seconds.  <Accept> <Decline>". 

 

If they decline... it would get reassigned to someone else.   Who it gets assigned to would be partially random and partially based on a priority by the target's Accept/Decline ratio.

 

So simple, and yet it would make everybody happy:  PvP fans, PvP haters and R*.

Edited February 3, 2021 by zPhoenix

[CosmicBuffalo]

I found a guy with a 33 dollar bounty.  Used the bolas but he was in his camp and Cripps killed me as I was right near my bounty wagon and then he escaped.  I finally just killed the guy and delivered him dead.  But the game didnt register it towards the 100 players turned in, the game is such a joke.

Edited February 7, 2021 by CosmicBuffalo

[Nerfgoth]

On 2/1/2021 at 10:58 PM, KingpinRCR said:

The player bounty thing is broken for me.  I did 3 player bounties, All when it was a daily.  The First I delivered alive to the bountywagon near emerald station, didn’t check off the daily,  nor did I receive the gold for it.  The second kicked my ass .  The third I delivered dead to the Valentine sheriff and it didn’t check off the daily either and again, NO gold.   Went to the award section and it still says 0 player bounties brought in...   can’t be bothered with that pos again.

 

4 hours ago, CosmicBuffalo said:

I found a guy with a 33 dollar bounty.  Used the bolas but he was in his camp and Cripps killed me as I was right near my bounty wagon and then he escaped.  I finally just killed the guy and delivered him dead.  But the game didnt register it towards the 100 players turned in, the game is such a joke.

 

The two of you explained why I don´t do players bounty! It is just to much work for a petty payout!

[No Homing]

Player bounties are completely broken. In many ways.

Sometimes when you get an invite to a player bounty and you accept it, it may look like nothing happened.

But what actually happened is, you were close enough to receive the invite but not close enough to properly trigger it, for YOU.

The player with the bounty will still get a 5 minute timer, but they won't actually know who's hunting them as you don't show up to them.

While their timer runs down or they just ride away, you basically have to guess where they might be, and ride around till you get close enough to trigger the hunt for you.

But by then there's probably not enough time left anyway.

 

Another thing, there's supposed to be an area marked in red where the player with the bounty is supposed to hide and if they keep moving they won't show up on the map. They can choose to leave the area but become blipped on the map, if they managed to ride far enough away from you, they will escape.

Most of the time this red area won't appear at all, which is very confusing. It makes surviving a bounty also much harder, as you can't hide off the radar.

 

And when it comes to the award and daily, any 'lesser' player bounty (less than $20) won't count towards the award and daily.

Any bounty of over $20 needs to be taken in alive WITHOUT the player choosing to surrender (it's a prompt they get after being hogtied)

if they choose to surrender they get sent to a random jail and they turn into a NPC.

Basically, you turn in a NPC which causes issues with the award and daily I think.

If they are dead, it's just a dead body, which causes similair issues.

But that's just my guess.

 

Also when you kill a player bounty they will be off radar for you while you try to take their body to the sheriff's office.

I don't know if that's intentional or not.