Lets face it, pick pocketing is a waste of time. I know it, you know it, everybody knows it. What do you get for it? Possible 50k a day, and a few giggles when you get someone who thought they where untouchable, but you aren't doing anything for your fam,ily. No gun to speak off, no well developed info skill, no amazing stealth... nada, diddley squat, fuck all squared.

In fact, to complete the final leg of the pick pocket achievemnet you will have to have picked over 1000 pockets, a minimum of 1000 days work, and closer to 200. Its pretty unachievable unless you dedicate your life to picking pockets... something I have done, and a few before me have done, but few others would ever contemplate.

So what i suggest is rewards for picking pockets... either from the start, or after you reach a certain milestone... 500 pockets for instance. What i'd like to see is the ability to lift someones gun... not all the time, but some of the time. Maybe only 2-3% chance each time you try.

This would increase the value of picking pockets, and also increae the value of PPs in times of war... Sure you may not be able to kill that Don with 200 BGs, but if you can pick his pocket and steal his gun, it would effectively take him out of the war (I suggest 250 crimes to replace the gun the same as donating it to your family HQ), and the stolen weapon would go to the PPer or if he has a weapon straight to his families armoury. If it is full, then it could just be disguarded.

So what do you think guys? Good idea or am I just barking up the wrong tree?

Incidentally, I'd like to see a few more PP achievements, similar to the wack achievements:


PP 25 NPCs
PP 5 Gangsters
PP 5 Goombas
PP 5 Earners
PP 5 Wise Guys
PP 5 Made Men
PP 5 Capos
PP 5 Bosses
PP 5 Consiglieres
PP 5 Dons
PP A Godfather

etc

If you could PP someones gun from them, you could bet your last dollar PPing would be a killable offence in the cities.

I can see your point my friend, however there has to be some way to improve Pick pocketing without it being banned wholesale. As i said, at the moment its worth fuck all squared on a wet weekend in Brighton.

At the moment it is a completely useless skill, with an equally useless answer set.

I think that it would make the game a million times funner if you could steal peoples gun. What about the ability to take drugs. that would be pretty sweet.

Pickpocketing is rarely used for money in my opinion. If im correct, PP'ing trains you, and raised your prowess, which increases a more chance of a stealthed wack/PP.

If you could pickpocket anything over 50k, I can only assume what kind of troubles it would cause the 8 cities. There would most likely be either a 'no PP'ing or a PP with consent only' rule for just about every city. And if that's the case, most people wouldn't give anybody their consent to steal 100k out of their pockets. I know I wouldnt.


I think the way Pickpocketing is right now is perfect.


*KoNvIcT*

Pickpocketing is rarely used for money in my opinion. If im correct, PP'ing trains you, and raised your prowess, which increases a more chance of a stealthed wack/PP.

If you could pickpocket anything over 50k, I can only assume what kind of troubles it would cause the 8 cities. There would most likely be either a 'no PP'ing or a PP with consent only' rule for just about every city. And if that's the case, most people wouldn't give anybody their consent to steal 100k out of their pockets. I know I wouldnt.

I think the way Pickpocketing is right now is perfect.

*KoNvIcT*

I don't think anyone ever said increasing the money, please read this as you look kind've (scratch that) stupid...

I agree with you Judge, the PP system is worth nothing other then a few laughes here and there when a goomba threatens you. I think this gun thing would be a nice addition, it would cause a few more problems with a consent issue, but I think with the new armoury system it wouldn't cause too much problems. Kudo's to you.

Also I think the ability to steal someone's units may be a nice alternative if the gun is ruled out.

~M~akavelli.

A very interesting idea Death. And certainly one i like. This brings some sort of prestige to being a pp by trade. As for all the people who debate the gun being taken.. I believe Judge said that a 2-3% chance should be implemented. Is this not the same sort of chance that a hitter could suffer a wb of sorts? Two thumbs up from me Mr.Death.

Thank you for your feedback Makavelli and Neville, glad to see some people actually read what I wrote and didn't assume i wrote something else entirely :D

I believe that PP`ing just isn`t sexy enough as it is. I agree with JudgeDeath, why bother with something that can fuck up other things you may want to be doing because of the timer, and rewards you with up to $5k (might as well be $5). Whats the point? I`m sure many others besides myself find it a waste of time and forget it, stick a no PP label on their suit and say fuck it.

The xp issues aside, I for one think it should have a bigger part to play within the crime level tier system that we currently have. I`m a big believer in rewards for the type of crime committed and let`s face it, if you`re gonna stick your hand in the big guys breeches, the reward level should be something that at least mirrors the sentence handed out should you fail. It doesn`t, and in my eyes, $5k aint worth going to jail for, or getting beaten up for and up to whatever random figure the victim wishes to remove from the assaillant`s pockets.

My mind is wandering now...Brighton.......yes, you`re right....mmmm anyway, it should have more appeal than it`s currently got, and while I think gun removal may be something that would need a thorough thinking over, a major overhaul of the rewarding system currently applied to this activity is something that would increase its popularity, and give it a larger role in the day to day business we are all involved in.

For this new PP system to actually work and be effective in wars, there would need to be a negative side. I am sure PPers wouldn't mind a slight chance of WB?

WB PP 1- Beaten toa pulp earn enough funds to recover and be able to PP again (50 petties like gun)

WB PP 2- As you grab the victim a patrol comes around and catches you (locked up for 20 minutes)

WB PP 3- As you sneak your hands into his pockets all incognito like, his bodyguard raises from the shadows and puts a bullet in your eye (Death)

I think the same percentages for gun WBs could be used for this PP WBs.

For your suggestion to work the percentage of taking a weapon would have to be increased, especially if you risk death by wack back. After all there wouldn't be too many hitters if you only had 2-3% chance of hitting. There is chance of dying as is, afterall if you pp a consigliere of his gun it's gonna be seen as a hostile action.

I think the only way to improve PPing is buy taking drugs like so:

1- you have to have 1 free unit (you can ether buy drugs with that unit or take it from someone else)

2- at gangster you can pp marijuana and the higher you get in rank the higher the value of drugs you can pp (to avoide adding the potential to pp more units as you grow in levels)

3- instead of a 1 hr delay till next pp it would double to 2 hrs

That would work too --Auset-- however I would be against expanding the PP time by an extra hour, as this would effect shooting time... and less face it, murder and killing is more important and valuable than picking pockets without increasing the void further. The whole idea here is to increase the value of PPing and make it less derided as an activity by the general populace.

Another great idea, as a Pick Pocketer myself, I'd love to see some way I could contribute more to the success of the family in times of need.

If these changes where introduced far more people will become unfriendly to pick pocketing and pick pockets will be shot at rather than mugged.