Any way to disable this new smart un-away system?

[kidvideo]

Is this to combat those thrice damned afk healing/auto pilot scholars?

[Ransu]

I still don't see what the big deal is. Don't wanna talk to anyone? Don't reply to them...Its that simple. Naturally people will assume you are just AFK. Why do you need some status to say so? If I walk away from the keyboard and don't respond? Guess what, I'm not there, get over it. I don't need to set myself to "away" just to make others feel better about being ignored (which if that's really an issue then there is more problems to be dealt with personally.)

[Souljacker]

I still don't see what the big deal is. Don't wanna talk to anyone? Don't reply to them...Its that simple.

You don't see a big deal with not being able to use a game feature? The /away mode is there so that your friends can see at a glance whether you are there or not. It's not there so we can decide not to use it because "well, if I just don't reply they will assume I'm afk anyway so who cares!" If it doesn't affect you, great. It affects other people who want to use the feature and can no longer do so. I don't see why it's such a big deal to YOU that we are asking for its original functionality to be returned.

[Ransu]

You don't see a big deal with not being able to use a game feature? The /away mode is there so that your friends can see at a glance whether you are there or not. It's not there so we can decide not to use it because "well, if I just don't reply they will assume I'm afk anyway so who cares!" If it doesn't affect you, great. It affects other people who want to use the feature and can no longer do so. I don't see why it's such a big deal to YOU that we are asking for its original functionality to be returned.

Its not a big deal. I just find it silly to complain about it. Most people that are complaining want to play while being afk. You're not actually afk at that point. It's just silly to me. If you truly don't want to be bothered then go /busy.

[yahhzoo]

I like this new feature. When I am actually away from keyboard I go away, when I get back I'm automatically back. Simple & easy. If you don't want to be bugged when you are there but not paying attention to in game just use /busy.

[Themis]

You don't see a big deal with not being able to use a game feature? The /away mode is there so that your friends can see at a glance whether you are there or not. It's not there so we can decide not to use it because "well, if I just don't reply they will assume I'm afk anyway so who cares!" If it doesn't affect you, great. It affects other people who want to use the feature and can no longer do so. I don't see why it's such a big deal to YOU that we are asking for its original functionality to be returned.

The way I see it, "away" means you are currently away and when you get back and do something you are no longer "away". If you are doing something else, and aren't currently able to play the game (but you're staying logged in for x reason), then you are "busy", so you should set yourself to "busy". I don't think it was ever intended that you use /away to mean you aren't actually away or busy, but just doing something else whilst waiting for x thing to happen.

Seems like a case of "what was actually intended" vs "what players actually did with it".

[Rex]

You don't even need to type /away, OP. Just let it do it on it's own. Are you that worried about people /telling you and you not responding?

I like this new feature. When I am actually away from keyboard I go away, when I get back I'm automatically back. Simple & easy. If you don't want to be bugged when you are there but not paying attention to in game just use /busy.

Those eyes in your sig. ,_,

[BLaCKnBLu3B3RRY]

i am surprised nobody mentioned to make macro. (i only skimmed through the posts. maybe it was over-looked.) it would solve the issue. maybe in-directly. but it certainly will work.

i play on the PS4. and when going AFK i like to hide the User Interface to help cut down on Image Retention. however manually typing /afk and then hiding the UI causes my status to be changed back to normal. i made a macro for /afk and use it after hiding the UI. works great. (actually on the PS4 with gamepad there seems to be a very small grace period before changing the status back. but i would rather not take the chance. not actually being able to see the UI n' all.)



what is happening is that the game is still in the foreground. so it is still detecting user input.

so for the PC you will to add a /wait timer. if your status is changed while the game is in the background. the game will no longer detect user input. and should also not automatically change your status. not till you come back to the game for real at least.

[Stigmar]

You know ffix had the right idea of manually setting this regardless of input invisible, away and online that's all you need but tbh why don't they run a poll or something instead of fucking around with the ui first then fixing it later or fix some of the other problems like yellow damage markers on yellow sand hint hint though the mind is boggled by how they are patching in standard features in that should on been done day one and before you say it I know they had a hell of development cycle but its almost a year old now how bout adding more important features like alliances pre made or even for fates

[Raaz-cc]

I like the system as it is, partially. If you advocate for "making busy let you still see tells", you really need to specify "from my LS or FC or friends list."

I would agree that this would ofc be the optimal thing, but I have a feeling that it might be difficult to integrate such an option, and hence is why I said it should be possible to toggle /tells "on" or "off" while busy. This way the ppl that wanne recieve tells must accept the negative side of it (gil seller-tells), and the ppl that don't wanne recieve tells must accept the "negative" side of not getting any tells from anyone.

When reading this discussion thread I feel ppl are not very objective. Having an option to show others that one is busy (either doing stuff in game or watching telly or whatever else, but not really afk per say) and then decide if one wants to receive tells or not while being busy should satisfy everyone's needs because:

1. those that used "afk" instead of "busy" will now be able to show ppl that they can't do stuff, but are not shut out of getting messages.
   
2. those that use "busy" to be shut off from everyone entirely will still be able to do so
   
3. "afk" will now actually mean that ppl are "afk" instead of "i don't wanne do stuff or be bothered, but I'm still here".

I really can't see the downside of having an "on/off"-option for /tells on "busy"-status. Everyone that like the new "afk"-situation will still have that, and those that don't like it will then have another option to use (which in reality would prolly be the status they would've used in the first place had the option of /tells been there from the beginning). An option like this won't affect ppl that like the statuses as they are now, but will benefit for those that are having issues with the new un-afk-situation.

As for the unintentional un-afk (by for example accidently moving your mouse/pushing a single button/etc), it could easily be avoided by putting in a 5 second delay before un-afk happens. If your mouse or keyboard is used more than 5 secs I'm pretty sure you're not afk anymore.