The problem with removing the chestcount from the public API, and why it needs to be returned

Recently the chestcount was removed from the public API. If you don't know what that means, it means that;
- Chest count leaderboards cannot exist.
- It is now much harder to track your dry streak.
- No one else can see your chest count anymore unless you show them the level 60 slaying tome slot on all your classes.

Why this is so detrimental to some of the game's core and most dedicated players

Lootrunning is one of the main replayable things in endgame wynncraft, it's not the best content, but it exists.
By removing chestcount from the API, one of the two main incentives to lootrun is also removed*, meaning this has (although it's relatively small) a direct negative impact the game's replayability. This means less long-term players, realistically it shouldn't be enough to genuinely hurt the game, but it does quite badly hurt a lot of the current core playerbase;

* It is a relatively small incentive compared to finding mythics/other items/emeralds, but it does provide a sense of gaining something every time you open a chest, as opposed to most chests where you open them and don't get much of value. This can help with motivation, and motivation is decently important when doing something as tedious as lootrunning.

A lot of players have spent hundreds or even thousands of hours lootrunning, and not just for the purpose of getting mythics. Many people in the lootrun community like chestcount as a way to show how invested they are in lootrunning, or in some cases how skilled they are, as stupid as it is watching a number go up can be very meaningful if you put a lot of time and effort into that number, with the removal of chestcount from the public API that number is mostly* gone. Additionally, competing for the highest chestcount across the server was also a fun thing to do for some people, and now that can't be done due to there being no concrete way to prove who has the most chests, and people who already did grind for that have effectively lost their leaderboard spot, which in some cases took them hundreds or even thousands of hours to achieve.

All of this is coming from the perspective of someone with 175k chests who has spent about 700 hours lootrunning, I have also spoken to other lootrunners and so far all of them have agreed this is a largely bad change.

* It still exists and is being tracked, but now can't be easily seen by other people.

Why this change was made in the first place

Up until now, there were many bots that used this API to track which worlds had been looted and which had not, and by what player(s). Salted and the developers saw this as an overpowered exploit (which to be fair, it was), so they removed chestcount from the public API to combat this.

https://imgur.com/I5EkF6V (image of salted saying this on discord, cant figure out how to embed images on the forums \: )

As explained above, while this is an effective fix to the problem of bots that abuse this API, it also severely hurts a lot of the dedicated playerbase. The devs decided to do this quick non-ideal fix because they want to prioritize 2.0 right now, and they don't think it will have a very detrimental effect on the server, and while this is mostly true, it does have a potentially very bad effect on a lot of the game's most dedicated players. I'm not a developer so I'm not entirely qualified to speak on this, but the easiest solution seems to be making the API update much slower (24+ hours per update), so this can't be abused. And an alternative although likely harder to implement fix would be to make chests per-person, and subsequently nerf the loot you get from them to balance that*

* This is a pretty complicated subject, but I do believe per-person chests could exist without making lootrunning extremely op, ruining it, or time-gating it, but I'd rather not go into it in this thread.

https://imgur.com/pCOv6dS (image of salted saying this on discord, cant figure out how to embed images on the forums \: )

Obviously there are viable alternative fixes that don't hurt the community, but the developers don't want to spend time implementing those because they don't think it's a high priority right now, but it very much is. I want to quickly say YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT HARASS SALTED, THE DEVS, OR THE MOD TEAM FOR THIS CHANGE, however, you should make sure to voice your opinions about this to salted and the developers (this thread would be a good place to do it), if enough people inform them that this is a change they want to see reverted, there is a chance they might fix it. again; do not harass them, just give them some constructive criticism about this. Yelling at them that they suck will not help anyone and I do not condone doing that.

please voice your opinions about this in the comments, it would help the devs get an idea of how urgently this needs to be fixed, or alternatively, give me an idea of how badly I'm overreacting.

(also tell me if I made any spelling or grammar mistakes in this so I can fix those)

-------------------------

@Salted @HeyZeer0 @Nepmia

 

Ok but I get to see lootrunners suffer and that makes me happy

 

remove lootrunners guild

 

Lootrunners be malding. Good

 

They could probably make the chest counts only visible to you, or have some type of access thing where you have to allow your chest count to be public in some settings

 

too bad removing lootrunning next

 

rip necron dot gg

 

I like the idea of them fixing the private bots, but this was a hasty fix and removing it altogether was probably a poor decision. Yay to lr tryhards being stuck on the same level as us who lack access to private bot, boo not being able to flex something you worked hundreds of hours on.

 

Fixing the bots was well needed ngl. But the leaderboard thing is a yikes. It is pretty fun competing for #1 chestcount say mage or assassin but it's a lot harder to prove that now. Unless they do come up with a way to view leaderboards say maybe similar to how prof leaderboards are.

 

thought they might work with the api as the web dev, I might be way off on that though

 

Its still trackable in wyntills and tome slot so all this does is level the playing field between those who have access to private bots that tell which worlds have been looted and which have not.

Not gonna lie when I complained about prof leaderboards being unfair with introduction of guild boosts many people who did not gather told me to "just deal with it. It doesn't effect everyone just the select few at the top of the leaderboard." I guess now the shoe is on the other foot and I would pass on the same advice.

 

honestly just making chest count update every 24 hours would work
anything really

im sure they dont want to keep it like it is
but 2.0 much higher priority than lr addicts thatll stick around anyways

shrug

 

Dislike button? How did you simultaneously claim that removing it is an effective fix for an “overpowered exploit,” and that it should be added back? You acknowledged that there is a reliable way to continue tracking your chestcount in game, but think that those couple extra steps are going to make dedicated lootrunners quit the game? You’ve generalized that “all [other lootrunners] agree” with your opinion, assumed “there are viable alternative fixes” without providing any examples or suggestions, and imply that increasing chestcount is an equally impactful incentive for lootrunning as obtaining emeralds and items. This seems like a very reactionary post for a change that is inconsequential at best and a minor inconvenience at worst. If you think this really is a massive issue, I implore you to give more flushed out reasoning that doesn’t boil down to “this change will make people quit trust me.”

 

i will not

 

Now that the chest count has been yeeted I'm more willing to get back into lootrunning. No longer will my brain be sad for not acquiring funny purple box when sad chest number is extremely high.

 

• How did you simultaneously claim that removing it is an effective fix for an “overpowered exploit,” and that it should be added back?

maybe I didn't clarify this super well, but I meant other changes should be made to fix the exploit and then add it back (such as making the api only update every day or two, or making chests per-person so choosing what world to loot wouldn't be an issue in the first place)

• You acknowledged that there is a reliable way to continue tracking your chestcount in game, but think that those couple extra steps are going to make dedicated lootrunners quit the game?

I think it could make some people quit lootrunning, which could lead to a lack of endgame content and eventually them quitting entirely (most wont, I might've implied alot would quit a bit too much and that wasn't really my intention, i'll fix that). also a lot of people like to flex their chestcount and go for leaderboards, and this is nolonger possible. it isn't just a matter of you being able to see your own chestcount

• You’ve generalized that “all [other lootrunners] agree” with your opinion

I didn't generalize that every lootrunner agrees with this, I only said that everyone I've talked to so far agrees that this is a bad change

• assumed “there are viable alternative fixes” without providing any examples or suggestions

see above, probably shouldve put those in the thread itself, my bad

• and imply that increasing chestcount is an equally impactful incentive for lootrunning as obtaining emeralds and items

personally for me it is, and I know atleast a couple others who would agree, though most of the community probably wouldn't tbf. I exaggerated that too much, will fix

 

Death to organized terrorism lootrunning!!!!

As a more serious response, I feel like this good outweighs the bad here. With the combat changes of 2.0 (I hope) endgame content in general should be much more replayable, countering the loss of organized lootrunning once the update is released soonTM. And the chest-tracking bots pretty much ruined lootrunning for the mid-tiers/non discorders like me. And making lootrunning more accesable to mid/non discord players will probably actuually atract more players than it would alienate anyway.

Not that I want the discorders to be alienated, because I know they like lootrunning, but I liked lootrunning before discord became mainstrem too.

The loss of the chest leaderboard does suck though.

 

i get the good intentions behind the disclaimer but most people who harass devs do so because they're convinced that constructive criticism won't help anyone either. i'm obviously not going to do any harassing but the way you say this irks me. on a separate note, triple-pinging devs is well beyond most "constructive criticism"; even people who yell at them saying they suck generally don't go that far.

 

I'm late to the party, but I'm here to voice my criticism.

For years, I have been a lootrunner. I have opened thousands of chests (no idea how many now), and gained 3 mythics from lootrunning (98% of the time without specific lq or lb gear on) over that time.

The fact there is so much outrage over the chestcount being removed is outrageous in itself. The idea that one number on a stats page could matter to someone that much, it's absolutely appalling.

That being said, the fact I've never yet met someone who prides themselves in the same way over the amount of mobs they've killed or dungeons they've completed to me says that it's not specifically about seeing the stat.
I've known of bots that track which players are opening chests on which servers for a while now, and as @sam2365427621 righfully said,

Look, if we in fact have players who are going to leave wynn because their life was dominated by a single number in it, that's probably best for both us and them. Same as if they leave because they were driven by in-game wealth, and their morally grey moneymaking methods dried up. Wynn doesn't need more lootrunners or wealthy players, and I can say from experience that long term lootrunning is not healthy physically, mentally, or socially.

On that note, I have no idea when this change specifically happened, but I can say over the past week or so, the chests I find have on average had more and higher quality loot in. So thanks DEVELOPERS :D

 

api stalkers are the hexagon nft owners of the wynncraft community

________________________________

100% endorse this statement