Feel free to discuss if you disagree, or think something should be added/changed.
TL;DR beforehand: Don't attack before lvl 4, don't join more than 4:30 before lvl 4. Sneaking NPCs with a private group prior to that is fine (though you should do it closer to the lvl 3 end), rejoining fights repeatedly is fine.
I'll start with a few basics of NPCs so everyone is aware.
Duke - Also has other functions in torn involving loans and missions - Highlight loot - Rheinmetall (currently 7.5b-12b varying based on quality)
Scrooge - Time-limited (December only) highlight loot - Snow Cannon (3.25b)
Leslie - Year-round - Highlight loot - Nock (3.5-6b) (thanks Paul for value)
Jimmy - Year-round - Highlight loot - Bread Knife (2.5-5b?) will definitely lower with him being consistently attacked now.
You can search them by adding their names to the end of this link: https://www.torn.com/profiles.php?NID=
They level up when not defeated from lvl 1-5. Each level provides 1 additional loot. Group attacks distribute this loot to some of the attackers with different odds based on total attacks, basically, you're gambling when hitting more hits=better.
Edit: Admin posts thanks to KingLouisCLXXII
https://www.torn.com/forums.php#/p=threads&f=19&t=16197833&b=0&a=0&start=0&to=20982807
https://www.torn.com/forums.php#/p=threads&f=19&t=16110754&b=0&a=0&start=0&to=19537169
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Etiquette
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With that out of the way, some people have recently been showing really poor etiquette when attacking them.
- People hit at lvl 4 instead of 5, that's okay, this is accepted. Though 5 would be preferable, it's impossible to control the mass that is Torn. Sometimes we get 5 during attacking events though.
- Sneaking NPCs with a private group - This is fine, it's Torn, you should always try to get ahead, but you should do it soon after 3 so the timer can reset for others. People that catch you and join in will catch you no matter when you do it (and there are a lot of us that watch for it) so no need to try to be any sneakier than that.
- Attacks time out at 5 minutes, jumping in before 4:30ish is poor etiquette as you can't unload 25 attacks before you time out, this means you plan to attack before the NPC is lvl 4, don't do it.
- Throwing a smoke etc. early is poor etiquette, this adds to distraction levels which cause others to start hitting early. Any form of attack regardless of your strength runs up the distraction and causes a chain reaction of attacks.
- Attacking before lvl 4 is poor etiquette, especially long before lvl 4, please stop. Some people try to sneak some in early to get a few extra hits for their odds, this causes distraction, then others do, then the NPC dies BEFORE lvl 4. So all that waiting for 4 just got wasted with worse loot, and less loot, those highlighted items listed above are already rare at lvl 4, getting them at 3 is extremely low odds at best. You'd think attacking 10s before lvl 4 is fine, but this has slowly crept back more and more due to greed to where NPCs are dying literally 2 minutes before lvl 4 and even the greedy people are much much worse off despite having made extra hits. Stop. If you join 4:30 or less, there's no reason to just not wait fully until 4. Creeping backward and joining earlier just gets worse and worse until we get where we are now. In addition, because torn is an uncontrollable mass, some don't take into account NPCs like Jimmy can drop in almost 10s while Scrooge can take 5* that.
- Rejoining fights after having made 25 hits, that's fine, get yours if you can. The key is to do everything you can to get your loot without kneecapping both yourself and others.
In short, stop attacking early, it's really harming yourself if you do, and annoying pretty much everyone in Torn that does NPCs. If you're strong enough to attack a bit and take hits without distraction, you're strong enough to outhit others anyway by spam attacking once the NPC is level 4. If you're triggering early level 3 deaths, you're harming yourself, not just others no matter how many attacks you managed to get in.
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This post brought to you by a lot of people that have been complaining across multiple channels.
-----
As an additional note, this isn't saying you HAVE to follow this, this is saying you're a dick if you don't.
TL;DR beforehand: Don't attack before lvl 4, don't join more than 4:30 before lvl 4. Sneaking NPCs with a private group prior to that is fine (though you should do it closer to the lvl 3 end), rejoining fights repeatedly is fine.
I'll start with a few basics of NPCs so everyone is aware.
Duke - Also has other functions in torn involving loans and missions - Highlight loot - Rheinmetall (currently 7.5b-12b varying based on quality)
Scrooge - Time-limited (December only) highlight loot - Snow Cannon (3.25b)
Leslie - Year-round - Highlight loot - Nock (3.5-6b) (thanks Paul for value)
Jimmy - Year-round - Highlight loot - Bread Knife (2.5-5b?) will definitely lower with him being consistently attacked now.
You can search them by adding their names to the end of this link: https://www.torn.com/profiles.php?NID=
They level up when not defeated from lvl 1-5. Each level provides 1 additional loot. Group attacks distribute this loot to some of the attackers with different odds based on total attacks, basically, you're gambling when hitting more hits=better.
Edit: Admin posts thanks to KingLouisCLXXII
https://www.torn.com/forums.php#/p=threads&f=19&t=16197833&b=0&a=0&start=0&to=20982807
https://www.torn.com/forums.php#/p=threads&f=19&t=16110754&b=0&a=0&start=0&to=19537169
---------------
Etiquette
---------------
With that out of the way, some people have recently been showing really poor etiquette when attacking them.
- People hit at lvl 4 instead of 5, that's okay, this is accepted. Though 5 would be preferable, it's impossible to control the mass that is Torn. Sometimes we get 5 during attacking events though.
- Sneaking NPCs with a private group - This is fine, it's Torn, you should always try to get ahead, but you should do it soon after 3 so the timer can reset for others. People that catch you and join in will catch you no matter when you do it (and there are a lot of us that watch for it) so no need to try to be any sneakier than that.
- Attacks time out at 5 minutes, jumping in before 4:30ish is poor etiquette as you can't unload 25 attacks before you time out, this means you plan to attack before the NPC is lvl 4, don't do it.
- Throwing a smoke etc. early is poor etiquette, this adds to distraction levels which cause others to start hitting early. Any form of attack regardless of your strength runs up the distraction and causes a chain reaction of attacks.
- Attacking before lvl 4 is poor etiquette, especially long before lvl 4, please stop. Some people try to sneak some in early to get a few extra hits for their odds, this causes distraction, then others do, then the NPC dies BEFORE lvl 4. So all that waiting for 4 just got wasted with worse loot, and less loot, those highlighted items listed above are already rare at lvl 4, getting them at 3 is extremely low odds at best. You'd think attacking 10s before lvl 4 is fine, but this has slowly crept back more and more due to greed to where NPCs are dying literally 2 minutes before lvl 4 and even the greedy people are much much worse off despite having made extra hits. Stop. If you join 4:30 or less, there's no reason to just not wait fully until 4. Creeping backward and joining earlier just gets worse and worse until we get where we are now. In addition, because torn is an uncontrollable mass, some don't take into account NPCs like Jimmy can drop in almost 10s while Scrooge can take 5* that.
- Rejoining fights after having made 25 hits, that's fine, get yours if you can. The key is to do everything you can to get your loot without kneecapping both yourself and others.
In short, stop attacking early, it's really harming yourself if you do, and annoying pretty much everyone in Torn that does NPCs. If you're strong enough to attack a bit and take hits without distraction, you're strong enough to outhit others anyway by spam attacking once the NPC is level 4. If you're triggering early level 3 deaths, you're harming yourself, not just others no matter how many attacks you managed to get in.
-----
This post brought to you by a lot of people that have been complaining across multiple channels.
-----
As an additional note, this isn't saying you HAVE to follow this, this is saying you're a dick if you don't.