Shields, are they worth it?

Is it worth spending the money to buy a good shield? I was looking around at some the other day and found the good ones go for a good bit of L$ (at least for me), and when looking at weapons I have found many that claim to break any shield in the game. Some of these weapons are much cheaper than the shields are. Does anyone have a shield that works well, or should I save my cash to spend on other stuff?

Save your money.

There's no point in buying a shield unless you are some kind of assassination target or deal with high-risk areas where you really want that protection. Even then, most shields are breakable.

No offense, but most of us average joes just aren't important enough to get more than a passing push from a griefer, and they aren't worth the expense. Search out a free non-phys movement script or item and use that. I borrowed the code from one on the scripting forums and stuck it in a helmet, and that works for most occasions.

Also, non-phys vehicles are fun and hard to grief. Two birds with one lonesome, cost-effective stone.

Edit: Also, if those weapons say they can break any shield, they are probably not lying, or are close enough. Orbiters and glitchers are worse, too, and those were really common last I checked. Nonphys movement works pretty well in most cases, since it can't really be pushed or jammed.

Shields are useless. The first shot always gets through, they do nothing against non-physical objects, and they kill sims. Best bet, stay out of damage, and use a non-physical vehicle.

Shields are pretty and have uses when people have combat and play by rules.

For protection from griefers?

Use a standard .5x.5x.5 playwood cube and sit on it.

Non-phys is fine if you really need to move around in the area, but simply sitting (on anything really. Even the ground) prevents all but the annoyance facter effects from weapons and griefers.

Sit, fill out Abuse Reports (yes they work, though slowly due to the size of SL right now), and if the griefing persists, contact Help Request to see if a Linden is availible. Contacting HR for a "hit and run" is unneeded. LL saves reports on every sim as to what script was used by who and when, what was said, etc etc. LL has all the information, but since that is a lot of data, Abuse Reports need to be filed ASAP so LL knows to save logs from that region.

Shield systems still work agaisnt 90% of the griefers out there though. That's because 90% of them are very stupid (well, all are really). 9% of them have the tech ability to use weapons in SL well enough to bypass most shields and be a real pain. 1% of them are the true problems. The hackers and "cyber terrorists".

So a shield system will prolly protect you from a vast majority of idiots. So will a plywood box.

~Jessy

P.S. Sorry for the disposition there, but it was things I hope new Residents can find useful if they read it.

Cheap shields are useless against nearly everything except some (but not all )cage guns and some of the older, low-velocity weapons.

Sitting on a cube only works if you happen to know in advance that you're going to be attacked, which is less than 10% of the time.

Unfortunately, the only shields worth a sniff are the high-end ones costing L$900 and up. The ProTec shields are very good, PowerShield is good, and one or two others. And even these will often fail under heavy fire, because there's no such thing as a perfect shield in SL because of imbalances built into the scripting language.

All that having been said, about 90% (my experience matches yours, Jessica) of the time what you'll be up against is the "army surplus" the noobies pick up from the various freebie sites within SL, and if you're not in a combat zone - a damage-enabled area - these shields are effective against the kinds of weapons you're most likely to encounter, most of the time.

And I will also second what Jessica said about filing AR's. They do pile up, they do have a cummulative effect. You don't hear about the permanent bans on the police blotter, but I recently stumbled across a web site chat forum where a bunch of these little twits calling themselves /b/tards, who were going through all kinds of contortions trying to figure out how to get their machines unblocked from the client side after having been permanently banned from SL. So I know that abuse reports do actually do something, given enough time.

I was greifed by a group of 'people' for a while, so I bought a sheild costing 1,000L$, the advert said it was the best sheild in SL, and cannot be broken!!!... having paid out my hard earned cash, I browsed and found the same creator selling a weapon 'Breaks ANY sheild in SL' <sigh> and the point being, for parting with 1k? Pity there is no trades description act in sl.. or the ability to sue someone for misrepresentation of goods.

I IM'd the creator who said, they released the sheild the week before the weapon, so both statements are correct.. have a great day... So I bought this gun.... flew about sl looking for the creator......

Fortunately, most griefers have to switch alts on a fairly regular basis, and aren't using paid accounts because they're underage kids - they don't have the ability to purchase the big shield-breaker guns for the most part, so while your shield is vulnerable to the heaviest guns, it should still be proof against most of the rest of them. Not quite so bad as all that, then.

Of course, it's still disappointing that the manufacturer of the shield is playing both sides. The only people who win wars are the arms dealers, and there's the sad proof.

Shields are just about useless unless you're facing the kids w/ Freebie weapons.

There are people in SL who have been "playing" (cause they just see it as a game) for over a year...and they drop thier RL money on the top guns & gadgets, which (a FEW), for under L$2000, can break ANY shield. When the makers' new shield comes out the top weapons usually give free updates so the guns can break 'em.

Folks who use the best weapons normally don't get caught too much, and usually end up just workin Security down the line.

There is a way.... remove from the source code the ability to fire any sort of weapon in SL, except within designated SIMs (see I'm not a party pooper). Or.... when someone buys a gun in SL... they automatically get transfered to LineageII or WoW Client lol..

Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a way to parse through a system of scripts and determine that the script was intended to drive a weapon! Sadly, weapons are built of common functions - there are no special "weapons fuctions", so there's no way to disable weapons without also disabling most of Second Life.

It's a lovely thought, though.

Don't waste a penny on a shield. The people who claim to build the best ones really are scamming you. My nice PRDefeat round pierced a "ProTec" shield and offed the guy 300 meters into the air in a no push zone before he was slung across the SIM. So much for guarenteed protection.

If you want a good defense, you need a good offense, so get a gun. Get a good gun. Be the aggressor. Shields are silly, aesthetic responses to the most basic of attacks. If you aren't interested in packing heat, hire a body guard. Seriously though. Arsenal up.

Edit- I can't believe the ignorance and judgemental behavoir of people in this thread who want guns out of SL. We gunslingers reserve the right to preserve our culture and relive its values in SL like everybody else relives theirs. So, please, leave us alone. There are many gun enthusiasts in this game who would stand with me.

Edit 2- If anyone wants a shieldbreaking, ****-kicking, Push Restriction Defeat weapon, IM me or Berlin Smagulov, and we'll give you an awesome gun with these features as a free promotional gift! Support the gun movement in SL and make sure everybody you know is armed. Spread the word. Here is the birth of the Belgian Armament Gun Movement Act! I will make these firearms available on SLexchange shortly for easier access at the same price- $0!

Disclaimer- Please do not use these firearms for intentions against the TOS. We cannot be held responsible for slinger's actions.

Unfortunately this puts you in the unenviable position of being a provider of weapons to griefers, and will make you an exceedingly unpopular person. Your freedoms to use firearms on me in SL stop an inch from the end of my nose.

I have a shield system that i use when Venturing into Certain Sims where people of Low self restraint Congregate. I've had the system for a year now, and as yet, Nothing has Gotten through it.

I wouldn't say Shield systems are Useless, you just need to find the right one.

Angel.

Its just boggles the mind why people shoot others in friendly areas Since LLabs abuse system is almost ZERO and they can give you any help. Had One brainless linden reply to me after i was hit inthe sandbox. If was like a person without a brain cell in his head head his reply....Then again You get what you pay for when LLabs hires lindens these days.

I hop on a non physical vehicle (I keep it on my HUD and just click at a sign of trouble). My friend bought a shield and weapons system costing many many many thousands of Lindens. He can't trap me; he can't orbit me; it's all useless seemingly Then again, I am totally inexperienced with any combat/protection tools so I may know nothing at all.

I'd have to say that shields, at this point in time, are next to useless.

With the current system, fate favors the spam. No shield can 100% deflect all bullets, especially the high RPM guns that can spew bullets like nobody's business.

But I guess it depends on the purpose. If its to protect against pushes, most sims have native push off anyway. And push-restrict defeat isnt nearly as potent as previous orbiting methods.

If you're on damage enabled land, shields are pretty good and deflect a good lot of damage, but since most guns are designed to kill in one shot, the one bullet that gets through your shield will kill you outright anyway.

Plus phantom bullets made shields all but useless now.

Still, I feel a bit safer with my Psitec shield since it also detects attacks and gives you retaliatory options.


Bottom line, I'd say the best offense is a good defense. Know the type of attacks that are coming at you, get around them. (sit on box or use a movelocker) And Psitec's attack systems are niiiiice. ^^

Isn't defeating push restrictions a TOS violation? If not, it certainly ought to be.

Here's the thing. If you understand what bypassed it, you would know that it's legal. However, the pushing/orbitting part is illegal because regardless if you do it in an area thats safe but allows pushing or in a secured sandbox, as long as the victims cries foul play, you are breaking TOS.

Some of this has been mentioned already by other posters, but I'm just adding my 2c.

"Shields, are they worth it?" - the answer depends on what you do/where you go/whether you're clued up about SL functions in general - it's a complicated answer and you can argue both ways...


COMBAT SIMS - DAMAGE ATTACKS - if you're a keen PvP player

For instance, if you frequent combat sims (damage enabled land) in one sense you would be foolish not to have some kind of shield as you're a sitting duck. However just any old shield will not do - this is where the big expensive names in shield technology make their advantages clear, they institute layers of shielding and different methods of missile detection/dynamic shielding and retaliation to minimise the chance of damage which a basic shield will simply not cover.

HOWEVER that said there is NO shield in SL that can stop all attacks in a combat/damage parcel since there are bullets that can go through shields or even rez inside a shield or an avatar...and it takes just one bullet to kill instantly. If a shield claims to be 100% invincible, the makers are lying or referring to only part of the truth - see below. It's actually very easy to break through a shield in damage land so that's why I said "in a sense it would be foolish not to have some kind of shield" because even having a shield is easily bypassed by people with the right gear/know-how.


NON-DAMAGE LAND - i.e. just going about your day to day SL

A shield (especially a good one) will give you some level of protection against random attacks that you can't anticipate. Again, this is not total - if someone tries to orbit you out of the blue, you will probably still be orbitted. However shields are likely to protect you against physical bullets and maybe pushes also - especially to newbie/free weapons that a lot of griefers (being newbies) use.

If you anticipate an attack, most quality shields offer a non-physical vehicle which you can SIT on and you can be then 100% safe to all push/collision/orbitting etc attacks. The only people who can bypass that are people with land powers of the land you're on or a Linden (and they'd be using different and legitimate powers). Which is neat.

However they key word here is SIT. You can sit on ANYTHING to give this protection. A cube prim, anything already rezzed, the ground. The non-phys vehicle only allows you to move whilst being protected and maybe to escape from cages by ghosting through them. And it cannot be activated in parcels with no build enabled. Additionally as people have stated there are free non-phys spheres etc which work just as well....although they can be hard to rez if you're already in the middle of the air because you're being attacked whereas a shield can rez one easily.

TIPS

If you do buy a shield, get a reputable one; not necessarily the most expensive...I have both proTEC from aubreTEC labs (which is excellent, my #1 recommendation) and Force Prophecies (which includes a good shield too and is cheaper) as well as a couple of others (you only need one good one but it took me a while to find out about them). Bear in mind the limitations above apply to even the best shields. Above all make sure it has a sit/non-physical function (both the above do). Other traditional "names" in shield technology are Sion and Powershield, although I have less experience with these and they *may* be slightly outdated and other newer shields I haven't mentioned may also be better.

If you don't want to spend money on a shield that's ok too - there are free/cheap ones that will provide LOW level protection against basic weapons. You can get inexpensive/free movelock attachments which aim to anchor you to prevent you being pushed (limited protection again). More important though is to be aware of your surroundings and to SIT at the first sign of threat (assuming you're not in a damage-enabled sim where it won't help you much) to give yourself protection, use a free non-phys sphere is best, REPORT the offender rather than try to fight back (use the Report Abuse tool or even Ask for live help - I've called several helpful Lindens that way). If you do fight back you are probably breaking ToS yourself and many griefers get off on reporting people they goad into attacking them. If you're caged, you can try to sit on the cage and then stand up out of them (works with cheap cages not with "good" ones) or use your non-phys to ghost out. Remember your ultimate defence is to TP away. Finally, if you are on your own land, use the ban/eject/freeze tools - they will defeat any shield the griefer may have (although one can grief from outside the parcel too).

It's not total protection, but as I've stated, even with the best shield systems there's no total protection. I hope that helped and didn't send too many people to sleep!

we get another sheild, they get another gun, then get another sheild, they get..........

Why not simply ban, without reservation, any weapons and the need for sheilds everywhere, except sims where people like playing with guns?

Just because it is... doesn't mean it's right!!!

Force prophesies is a good starter system to see if you like the feel of pvp aside from standard guns. I use it as a tool, but others use it as a rp system as well.. Recommended even if you don't do combat, because of the building tools, particles, flight script, hover seat, tp..loaded with features.

Even a drivable lawn mower

/1/ mow

Which sounds great in principle, but only the people who follow rules would follow that rule. Weapons are already banned in all sims except where people like playing with guns, and you can see how effective that is.

Thats just because, thats all they are 'Rules'. Code written can be unwritten, change is good!

Sigh. What an obnoxious paragraph.

Nobody is objecting to you having guns. They are objecting to people using guns against them. The people who've suggested disabling guns altogether have only suggested it for non-combat areas.

There are areas in SL for people who want to play with guns. There are areas where you can shoot each other, play PvP games, etc. What people are objecting to is when you go through the world randomly shooting the populace.

In real life, you don't put on your camo and deer hunting outfit. load up your rifle, and go shooting in a crowded urban subway, do you? No, that would be extremely anti-social, and you'd find yourself rightfully arrested pretty quickly.

Apply the same reasoning to SL, and don't be such a knee-jerk reactionary. If you gun-lovers really did stay where that was accepted, and weren't causing grief for people who don't want to have to deal with it, nobody would be complaining.

People are going to keep complaining as well unless you adjust your "everybody should ammo up" and "every jerk has the right to shoot anybody they want" attitude. If you really know of a large group of gun-owners who are going to back you up, consider trying to put together a community that does its best to keep SL guns in the hands of responsible people and out of the hands of stupid griefers.

-Rob

I'm a little confused by this comment, AWM, not because I disagree with it, but because I'm not completely sure what point you're trying to make.

One thing's for sure, though, and that's that the rule only works as well as there is incentive to follow the rule. Most people have this incentive built in - you follow the rules if you want to get along with everyone else. But for people who don't have any interest in getting along with everyone else to start with won't care what rules we might make, if there are no particular consequences. Since the only real tools we have are peer pressure, ban/eject and the abuse report system, these people cannot be counted upon to act on their own recognizance to behave themselves. Many, in fact, think there is literally nothing interesting to do in SL besides griefing.

While I think this just points out how desperately in need of parental direction these people usually are, the social problem they represent remains, unfortunately, our problem.