April 6th, 2014 began Round 8, and in one of the few posts in the Game Forum BSF2000 left for us all, he informed us of the changes that were implemented since the previous round regarding the new backfire feature, and the new requirements to wiping a crew. Over time, his post was moved to the Information Topic Mika generously keeps updated with useful information previously posted. BSF2000's exact post read as follows:
With kill being released soon I wanted to give some information regarding the changes to it. As mentioned in the Round 8 topic, shooting now does backfire. This means if the person you are shooting has a gun and bullets, they will fire back (and potentially kill you).
In regards to crews, you can only kill members if they are in the bottom layer of the crew OR if >50% of the members in the layer(s) below them have been killed. So you will need to start from the bottom layers and work your way up. If you attempt to kill a member without doing this first, you will instantly be killed by the member (so long as they have a gun and a minimal amount of bullets). You need to research the crew structure using a Private Investigator to determine which members you can start shooting (the crew structure will then be displayed in the crew profile once researched). When a crew member has been killed, no changes can be made to the crew members for 3 hours (meaning kicking/promoting/demoting/accepting members as well as leaving your crew).
The +10% health item in the gold store is limited to 5 uses every 24 hours.
Happy killing at noon
June 4th it was moved from an important stickied forum post to the Information Topic, and so quickly it was forgotten by some, but most assuredly not by those that shot this week!
Quick to assume were some players, and a few members of the reincarnated Death Valley crew that were shot in the wipe that the backfire feature wasn't correctly functioning, such as FredroStar2, but just as quickly were other players, such as JDM, to point out what was unknown, and the information provided thus far about the new feature. Many assumed it wasn't as easily possible to see such a highly coordinated group of individuals in large enough number take down the giant so swiftly and efficiently. In previous wipes, as crews cannot kick or accept members during a shooting, we witnessed breaks of action and moments where shooters took pause to heal, and with the wipe being finished and the crew dropping from the stats within ten minutes from the first death, many assumed there was a bug and demanded a roll back. Many guessed five individuals couldn't do it, many guessed it'd take ten or more, and many were correct about their (believed to be) wild accusations of the numbers of shooters. Regarding the twenty-three pages of text it ended up being, Barki summed it up when he said, "I just wasted 15 minutes of my time reading all those previous posts. All of them are about the 'Broken Backfire.' Short story, TS made the impossible possible." to which WildBunny responded with, "Actually, past that. To the place where the possible and the impossible meet, to become... the possimpible." And to no one's surprise, it wasn't long before Caboose became involved, but fortunately, with the exception of Mason blaming him, an overall welcome appearance he began with, "It'll be interesting to look into this and see if everything is working like it's supposed to. First family wipe, first s/n don kills of the round. Did backfire work like it was supposed to? Lots to discover. Thanks a lot, jerks, I've now got a lot of work to do!"
The Buzz contacted Caboose to extract all information he was willing and able to divulge about the matter, and he responded very appropriately with, "As far as I know, BSF didn't plan on sharing the specifics of backfire, but rather to let the players discover through trial and error how it works." As anyone could have expect a moderator to say, a very limited and vague response, at first, but he continued on, luckily, "Things I can share are that it is not guaranteed to happen for any given kill, and any single backfire is not meant to be incapacitating. I think today showed that a large, highly coordinated team of shooters can overcome it. That being said, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't comb through and make sure everything is operating as intended, and I plan on doing just that." And without further word from the big man before publication, it is somewhat up to assumption as without any bans, rollbacks, boosts or any other mod intervention, that everything did go as it should have.
Of course, as The Syndicate was responsible for most of the shootings, there wasn't much information given to the Buzz to share regarding the backfire they experienced during their adventures. Rumors, and let it be repeated that they were strictly just that, and in no way confirmed to be valid at all, were overheard informing the buzz that when State Don of NY and former boss of The Reckoning and now current member of DR, Zey, shot The Sacred Empire, he targeted and killed Friction, former State Don of Nevada, and received no backfire at all. It was also overheard that he then proceeded to shoot at HertogJan, and was crippled with 88% of his health taken.
It was shrouded in secrecy per TS expectations, but as anyone can see from his profile, KawhiLeonard shot fourteen members of Death Valley with his participation in the wipe, and the order of his kills start off with four Respectable Dons, then two State Dons separated by a three minute pause, and finishing with four Dons, two more RDons, and two RBosses. It was speculated by many that is an impossible feat by one player, but as Goosy of The Syndicate further explains in the DV wipe article, "it's all about tactical healing."
After multiple crew wipes, The Syndicate has proven themselves quite ahead of the rest with their understanding of the new backfire feature, and they're not keen to share their secrets any time soon. However, they not only proved their understanding and ability to work with that feature, but that whether by mistake, or simply from the chances you take with every kill, a death from backfire is still quite possible as the boss of the gang, Mr. Chow Chow's Cheese Wheel, Cohesion, died during the DV wipe.
It is obviously not anymore apparent to be anything more than just a random event with certain probabilities favoring certain outcomes, that are as well easily believed to be influenced by many other factors. It can be easily inferred that the shooter's and victim's guns, bullet counts, protection all affect the outcome, but the question remains how much so, and what other variables also contribute to the equation. It is going to be very interesting to see who is next to master the feature, how soon before everything comes out to the public and becomes general knowledge, and how this will continue to either hinder, or help some to reign as a more powerful party. Let's not only hope everyone's fears don't become a reality and this round ends up to be a repeat of the last, but let's prevent that from happening by joining together as an entire community and proactively shaping this game to the mold that we wish it to be. Let's make this feature work for us, and let's learn how to have a good time during our short lives in this beautiful world.
