There was a 'trick' to get a doll from the Rube. No game rules were broken to exploit this 'trick.' But a bunch of people knew it and have been doing it. It appears now to have been 'nerfed.'
-- No game rules were broken to exploit this 'trick.'
If it was a bug, then exploiting it DOES violate the TOS. Complaining that you did not get the chance to exploit the bug yourself is unlikely to generate much sympathy.
(And really, who cares what it cost someone to get an item... If they are selling it, and you want to buy it, well, don't pay more than you think it is worth to have the item.)
not the nerfing, that had to be done, but that people exploited the rube before the nerf to charge stupid amounts of money, forcing an early nerf before the doll base could be spread around enough to prevent ultra-rarity.
but when you've got sellers exploiting other players for 100 of thousands of currants, this is the sort of situation the sellers create.
now we have a situation that actually rewards the people who were abusing the exploit in the first place.
This was never a bug. Even Staff members said the Rube was handing out Dolls but it was rare to get one. Now the Rube has stopped handing out doll. Just the way he works :) Although, him handing out dolls may have been a part of us being back in beta.
I'm confused by this, I thought you needed 50+ Rubes until you found a doll but some people talk like there was a glitch which made you find a doll incredibly fast, what happened and are dolls being removed from Rube?
i guess now that it has been [apparently] nerfed, i'll just explain what the trick was.
so the trick was to make a rubeweed essence and buy a still [or presumably some other 2k+ valued item]. then you'd go to your house and drop everything in your inventory other than the rubeweed and the still. after that you'd go outside and call the rube with the essence. the rube would proceed to offer you cubimal boxes and dolls, to the exclusion of all other items.
If you try the above trick, he gets "confused" and refuses to trade you at all. Wasted an essence and $2k to test that, figuring I'd at least get SOME trades, if not dolls. Nope, nothing.
I am VERY sad to here all this. I too wondered how some people all the sudden had 3 dollls to sell for VERY high prices. The rube doesnt like me much- I have no idea why. Even when I go adventuring to new streets shortly after a new day - NOPE- still Rube doesnt show up for me. I've compared notes with friends and I seem to have very LOW results to theirs. I tried rube essence a few times but wasnt offered anything stellar.
LASTLY- I , of course, with my Rube "luck" had never been offered a doll- since I don't even get to SEE Rube often. So - am especially sad that others were using a "exploit" to get dolls and have now spoiled it for the rest of us who were trying to get a doll in an honest manner.
Parrow may have nerfed it by posting here; the bug, shown here, seemed to be happening randomly for the last couple of days. Plenty of dolls were obtained before and after the bug.
"If you try the above trick, he gets "confused" and refuses to trade you at all. Wasted an essence and $2k to test that, figuring I'd at least get SOME trades, if not dolls. Nope, nothing."
that's just a rube bug of some kind.
of the 6 times i tried it, i got 4 dolls and two bugs, but someone i knew had success in avoiding the bug by changing streets a few times before calling the rube. they reported going 7 for 7.
i just got a doll by having nothing in inventory but a single still.
so battersea is incorrect there, although looks like Parrow Groddle was incorrect about this having been "nerfed".
after discussing this with the group of us who tested this, it appears the way to avoid the "rube bug" is simply to change streets a bunch of times after changing your inventory but before calling the rube, presumably so that the game has time to save your true inventory to the database .. or something.
I was there when a friend got a doll from the Rube a few hours ago, so he is still giving them out. I've never gotten one, but I'm going to keep trying.
EDIT: got one for a crystamalyzing chamber just now.
No, I did not "nerf" it by posting here. I figured it out by reading the now deleted thread where there were clues. I couldn't try it out myself because I was away from a non-mobile device. But I called a friend on the phone and they did it successfully on both their accounts. By the time I got home to try it had been nerfed. I did not start this thread until after that.
I doubt if the dolls have completely stopped being given out, but they have coded a work around that prevents the "trick" from working. The thread with clues had been long deleted before I started this thread. The deleted thread was probably what clued the devs in to change the code and disable the "trick".
And the trick: the rube initiates a trade offer for something of more value for something you are carrying. If all you are were carrying is something like a still or cauldron and a rubeweed tincture, when you use the tincture all there is for you to trade is a high value item. So the rube offers a higher value item, a doll, in trade. They have changed it so if the rube encounters you with just that high value item he is 'confused' and won't trade. I expect glitches not being 'tricky' will still get doll trade offers some times.
I don't really want the dolls, personally. I just can't sit here watching people trading away their pickle or GNG block or hundreds of thousands of currants for dolls that others got by being tricky, and that are becoming more and more common by the hour. If that makes me a spoilsport so be it.
Edit ~ I got me a doll now. <3 <3 <3 Thank you for everyone who put info in this thread that let me get one. I've wanted one for ages. Now I'm going to get one for my best friend if I can. <3 <3 <3
It's fascinating watching first Essence of Rubeweed then Rubeweed itself dry up on the auctions. (I tried it but messed up by carring an orb, not a cauldron, so all I got was a lousy chick cubimal.)
I really hope he's still giving out dolls!!... I have been spending/traveling a lot trying to get him to trade them to me (or even a cubimal box for that matter). He's been trying to trade me the lamest stuff! After reading this I emptied a lot of stuff out of my inventory. Leaving only a few things (rubeweed among them). All he wanted to trade for was the rubeweed but it was still kinda lame stuff. The best being a High-Class Hoe which is better then anything he has offered in quite a while. Hmmm...
argh now to just find some rubeweed / essence. x_x
I hope the devs don't kill this before I can get my bestie a doll.... >_< I have a terrible terrible feeling that's what will happen tho...... this is toooo good to last I bet... :: le sigh ::
Awww hehe thanks guys. ^_^
Well hopefully they don't kill this feature for at least the next 5 game days >_> for er... no reason in particular lol. >_>
I 'wandered around a bit' (actually quite more than a bit) and still got the message about a confused rube.
I have never seen the 'confused rube' message before today. Has anybody else? Granted, probably nobody has fiddled with their inventory this way before this 'feature' was discovered.
Anyone want a single Rubeweed for free? I'm not participating in this price craziness with the auctions... I'm still curious though to see how this will pan out.. I'll keep walking around to trade to Rube and hope for the best XD
The confusion bug was reported a couple of days ago. It's not new and doesn't seem to have anything to do with the dolls. The method of obtaining the dolls detailed above will soon be removed from the game, according to staff.
I want to get at least three dolls before it's fixed, so I don't have to worry about the dolls ever again. Rube used to be a net gain for me. When the (possibility) of dolls came up, Rube became a net loss.
@Eleanor - was your inventory completely empty except for a still?
i am also one who has been looking into what i call "rube mechanics" , long before the dolls were reintroduced. Why wouldnt you try to narro down your possible offers by not carry items he trades junk for? its logic people!
As far as rube giving the confused message, my theory is there are 2 reasons for this:
1 - when he entered the street, he formulates his offers based on your inventory - if inventory changes, ie dropping/consuming things, he bugs out because he cant offer you his programmed trades.
2 - If all you are carrying is a still, sometimes he wont trade because rube is programmed to not ALWAYS offer great trades/rare items. So if he didnt intend on trading you rares, you cant force him to.
3 - you will know if he is confused if the speech bubble asking you to talk to him does not appear. BUT IF YOU WAIT it usually appears after a while, but you start on trade 2/5 or 4/5. Again i theorise on predetermined trades.
i got a set of dolls doing this, and made some money - considering im not ingame that much it helps me out. Finding glitches in the matrix interests me, and my next mission is the SB1!
If by some miracle i figure out SB1, would selling it for a huge amount be wrong? no. because i would have invested the time, currants and energy into it!
You're all just griefers and you should be ashamed of yourselves taking advantage of the poor Rube. I mean how can you sleep at night? Spending all your time analysing and figuring out the quirks of the game and using it to meet your goals in the game instead of just accepting the information given to you by the devs is just despicable!
Taking advantage of the rube is INEXCUSABLE. Everyone know he's challenged. He probably has to account for all those missing dolls at the end of his shift. I can see him curled up in his little firebog hut, crying himself to sleep after what the devs must be saying to him.
" 2 - If all you are carrying is a still, sometimes he wont trade because rube is programmed to not ALWAYS offer great trades/rare items. So if he didnt intend on trading you rares, you cant force him to."
@ Dr Zeuss - so perhaps if we carry several items of varying values - a still, a firefly jar (I have gotten a still for a jar), junk - we can keep Rube from bugging out and still have a very good chance to get a doll?
The Rube is a Rube. Taking advantage of him might be okay. Getting an item because of an exploit, then selling that item to another player is a bad move and a crappy thing to do to another person.