Izzy I applaud you for listening to the masses regarding BG caps but maybe I'm a bit too sceptical when I say this is not really going to do anything significant. If the highest BG number in game is 400 all people are going to do is BG up their people to 400BGs to keep the cap there.

Now what point would there be me complaining if I can't propose a remedy? Well I believe that you're against affecting current accounts so I have a few ideas to bounce off of you and whoever wants to discuss it:

1. Been suggested numerous times a reset - but as to not just spring it on players with big accounts you could have a vote for the date of the reset (1 month, 2 months, 3 months.... 6 months time). You could offer remedy in form of a guaranteed free HQ once they meet min requirement for HQ. Could offer something not so intrusive like dual answer set skills (that don't go together) e.g. Max Info & Max D or Max D and Max Stealth or Max Wack and Max Info. 
2. Another suggestion is that you could implement code so that say after 6 months all accounts with BGs will have effective 30BGs; this would be ample time for CLs to BG up their most trusted and build a fort around them. 
3. Or in order to counter the run away accounts how about every new account auto gets IWP since most (if not all) accounts that are IWP are well above the min requirements for IWP or if not IWP I see no reason why not OWP. 

At current time I can only think of those I pretty much just woke up saw the thread and felt obliged to post. Izzy I have nothing against you but the way in which the game is going I have to question. I've come to the conclusion that to acheive greatness in this game you have to be willing to shell out tons of money and play all day. For a student who is paying his own way through university how is that possible? As much as this is a business there must be some ethics involved, right?

Thank you Izzy, this will not be a fix all, but it is clearly a step in the right direction. 

It's not enough. It's a step, sure, but it's not enough. This is like opening the barn door, letting all the cows out, letting them buy 900 BGs, then saying "oh dang, the barn door is open, maybe I should close it."

Yes, it's something. But just because it's something doesn't mean it isn't just a change for the sake of making a change.

"If I wanted 300 bodyguards, I would simply put in the work needed for it. Don't punish those that work hard because not everyone is willing to."

Couldnt have said it better. I, like no doubt many others, don't have the free cash available to put money into the game. I wish I could, I really do, but quite simply can't. That being the case, if you listen to half the people around here you must wonder how I'm a Godfather with IWP status?? Oh that's right, it CAN be achieved through working hard in the game, not just swiping a card.

That isn't to say I don't agree the Bodyguards are out of control, they are, but lets not pretend that they got this way because people started buying them all with real money. We all have the same ability and chance as each other to get IWP, we can all work hard without spending our entire day online, but not everyone has the desire to do so.

My last boss bought me 400 bgs, exclusively with game cash, because he thought I had worked hard enough to earn that level of protection.  It was a silly amount, I will give you that, but we paid for it without a credit card. 

"I've come to the conclusion that to acheive greatness in this game you have to be willing to shell out tons of money and play all day. For a student who is paying his own way through university how is that possible? "

No doubt spending money makes it easier, but you have no idea the great lengths we go to make sure swiping a card doesn't give you crazy advantages. We reward hard work, and you will see how many people on the top have got there without spending mass amounts of money but instead, by doing a lot of work.

You are right though, there are ethics involved, which is why it's important to me that someone who only puts in 1 hour of work a day, won't have as good as a character as someone who puts in 2, versus someone who puts in 3, versus someone who puts in 4.

Izzy you're addressing my point as two separate things I said "shell out tons of money and play all day" because I'm not taking away the fact that to get to the top you need hard work but at the same time you need you tons of money. When buying MIAs can get you a better gun than if you was to rely on hunting "forgotten" MIAs. Yes it then spawns durdens after xxx number but you're still likely to get a few kills from the durden spawn. Then to add this you can then purchase location and name of BGs to get more "free kills" now how is that not buying stats?

And then about the time that people can put in - if someone is a student, works part time and only has the ability to play the game for say 3 hours a day should they fall so far behind the pack that it will be near impossible to catch up? As much as rewarding those who put in hard work is commendable but you have to look at things in perspective that not everyone can put in 24 hours a day or as close to it as many people do it is not just realistic for everyone and being effectively punished for that by not being able to keep up with the pack is - for a lack of a better word - unfair. And I'm still of the opinion that putting in a BG cap will not stop those who work hard from being rewarded.

If Crewleader A runs an efficient HQ he can BG up each member to 30BGs (example of a cap) and be a force but not a run away force. Where Crewleader B runs a lacklustre HQ and can only afford to BG up his hands he is going to be done away with. Crewleader C is a new up start but with their work ethic can build a HQ that could challenge Crewleader A.

From that example it is possible to build a good HQ and stand at the top but it wont take all the time in the world to mount a successful attack. Let's be real that is what the outrageous amounts of BGs in game do they make going up against the powerhouse an almost guaranteed suicide ride.

Now someone is going to mention Deimne surely people need to get that dream out of their mind. Deimne was IA, Sherminator had suffered WB in the days prior, his ally - Sayyid has been dealt a cruel fate in the month prior his other ally - Crazynyne had also been killed. With such severe weakening of the empire through sheer bad luck and a well-planned takedown its not hard to see why what followed was so predictable. He was turned on by his own auth during the war and Deimne due to outside reasons didn't show up throughout the war. So to continually cite this war as an example of bringing down a powerhouse it's not a great one so many factors made it easier to do - not to say it was an easy feat but it was easier than if Sherminator would of been alive, Deimne active and the whole site didn't turn on them.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION TIME.

http://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/186650

"How to Fix BGs" by CM_Punk

Well at least the issue is being addressed. And I have to agree with some of CM_Punk's solutions.

must admit was hoping for more of an mrevilman solution with limiting and possible redistribution of bgs but i guess the concern then would be recoding defence/mia's/ria's etc

Sorry but I just dont see this as being a solution. This is like an olive branch being given out for appearance sake to keep the rabble quiet for a bit longer. This is not in any way a solution. The problem at hand here is not so much about the AMOUNT of bodyguards people have, its about the ridiculous notion that people can be demoted in order to bodyguard up. Even from a roleplay point of view, what gangster runs around with 400+ BGs guarding him.

Until the whole issue of demotion for bodyguards is SERIOUSLY looked at and tackled, then in my opinion nothing is being done to tackle the crazy direction this game is going in. I could say an awful lot more but Ive found of late that its too dangerous to say too much around here and rock the proverbial boat. So I will leave it at that for now thank you.

To Asphyxia (and everybody else in a similar position), I respect you being a student and not having more than 3 hours to play, but why should we put a limit on the progress of a guy willing to spend 14 hours on here?

You can question, if you want, in private, why the hell does he spend 14 hours on an online game. But if it's his choice, then his account *should* be much stronger than yours.

And as Alabama put it, you don't need RL cash to get far in the game. I have only donated a few times, mainly to get the added perks like DFP bribe stacking, but like Squishy said, being able to keep up with the 48 hour window is the same as that. Axe's BGs were all paid by myself. I slowly bought credits, yes, some even from past charactars, but I'm still the same person playing.

If you have only 3 hours to play, among these people, then you don't play to be Alpha Dog. So what? You only enjoy a game if you are the absolute most powerful person?

I will evaluate the math, and see if it needs to be brought down to the current highest bg owner), or raised up if the current situation calls for it.

Raise it up? if you raise it up, doesnt that completely defeat the purpose of capping it in the first place?

If you have a different training fee per rank, which gradually gets higher the more you rank. For instance

Gangster -40k per day per BG
Goomba -80k per day per BG
Earner-120k per day per BG

Etc

This could essentially mean (if you crunch the numbers right) that by the time someone reached the same rank again after being demoted, they would have ended up paying just as much if not more for the Bodyguards than if they had just bought them at their current rank. This might be a step in stopping people demoting for bodyguards.

This would also ensure that you are still earning money for the site as those with a lot of bodyguards would have to keep paying for the training.

On my last account as Tarbh, I had like 60 Bodyguards and I found it near impossible to keep them trained up without reaching for my credit card every week or two. I was offered the chance at IWP along the way (twice actually) but I refused because I just didnt have the financial resources to upkeep so many. But I wasnt really here a lot so that didnt help. It might have been a lot different if I was putting in more hours.

I still believe a tiered system like mentioned above though would at least discourage people to demote for BGs if they had to pay just as much for them in the long run, while still generating revenue for the site at the same time.

-Kev

I Agree on the fact that its not fare for ppl who put in alot of work to look like they arent doing a good job because other's can swipe a card and thay cant.I think thats maybe making a max of of bg's you can buy would be a good idea ...So it would be like the max bg's you can buy is 200 that way if you go to battle its more strategic and more about the power of your family as a whole.But im not no one important just throwing an idea out there.

well I see how we cant sell credits  to the game, instead, people buy them off you. That is an excellent way to make sure people cant get too much advantage by using their own real money. Ys, I may buy 10,000,000 credits, and plan to sell them for 300k each, but the problem is even if one were to play this for 10years and not sleep at all and run drugs whole day,  it still cannot be bought, jsut impossible.

so yeah I guess that credit market style should be maintained :)