This is a highly informative thread and so you deserve much credit for putting it all together.
The /details command will show you your own details so you don't have to do the rightclick another player and target yourself workaraound any more.
A serious error is your comment that with clothing macros you can change your attributes at any time. Changing your clothes doesn't affect the stats on your buffs. The buffs on your stats are set when you apply the buff. After that, no matter how much you change your clothes the stats on your buffs, upgrades and styles won't change until you reset the buffs upgrades and styles them selves.
So what this means conversely is you can set your buffs with specific sets of clothing macros and then change to an outfit that has max dmg resistance without concern for the bonuses that affect the already applied buffs, upgrades and styles.
To do this is an EXPLOIT. Regardless of how outdated you think the manual is, 9mmFu has already publicly stated this is an exploit in another thread. This is a real problem because anytime you change your clothes, whether it be by macro or manually, your buffs, upgrade and style still have stats that are affected by clothing bonuses you no longer have equipped.
So basically this means changing your clothes is an exploit as defined by the developers of this game.
For example, I'm in PvP and I have on clothing gear that gives ballistic defense and ballistic accuracy bonuses. An MKT interlocks me so I switch to gear that has thrown defense bonuses and change my defense from Hyperdodge to to Hypersense. No problem right? Wrong. I still have my same style and upgrade on. They both give me ballistic defense and accuracy stats that are now being affected by clothing buffs I now longer have equipped. Furthermore while I could reset my style by switching to self defense style and back, you can't apply an upgrade in the combat state. So if you didn't want to be exploiting you'd have to literally unequip your upgrade by shift+rightclicking it the first time you changed your clothes and then you wouldn't be able to re-equip the upgrade until you were out of the combat state. Additiona;;y you'd have to reapply your style and every buff you are using such as HyperSpeed and HyperDeflect. This is simply not a feasable function unless you make a macro for it all and give up your upgrade the first time you change clothing. Macros are not required knowledge to play this game without exploiting. If they are, they need to be put into the tutorial with an explanation that all players must use macros and give up their upgrade to change any single piece of clothing in combat.
Now the MKT doesn't like what's going on so he rolls out and starts running away. I switch to my max speed buff gear to chase him. Again all my buffs, upgrade and style are still being affected by clothing I no longer have equipped. Anyone firing on me is trying to hit me with higher ballistic defense bonus from my upgrade and style than I should have. When I fire on the MKT I am using ballistic accuracy from my upgrade and style that are higher than they should be given the current gear.
I'd really like 9mmFU to explain how this exploit can be avoided. He's flat out said it is an exploit to do this. Yet any intelligent player who analyzes how clothing bonuses affect their upgrade, style and buffs is going to conclude the most efficient thing to do is make clothing macros for each buff as it is applied and then have another clotjhing macro for the actual combat gear. You don't even have to change clothes in combat.
There is a real problem in the way exploits are handled in this game.
Style stacking was never officialy declared an exploit and even in Walrus' famous OSOFTLG that he dedicated to discussing the issue of exploits, the topic of why style stacking was never declared an exploit was conspicuously avoided.
And here something that is unavoidable is declared an exploit without any explanation of how you can not exploit. I'll just say it one more time to be real clear about. The developers of this game have clearly stated it is the intended design of the game that the bonuses affect stats on your active buffs in this way. And they also clearly stated that to change clothes and leave buffs, styles and upgrades on that are affected by clothing bonuses you no longer have equipped is an EXPLOIT. There is no explanation of how to avoid this. So by definition everyone in this game is exploiting when they change their clothes.
Can you please clear this up in a responsible and public way 9MMFU?. I'd really like to stop having exploit issues left hanging out to dry because I don't exploit but now you've put me in a position where I don't see how it can be avoided.
I'm not going to play dumb either and act like changing my clothing is changing my stats on my active buffs, upgrades and styles when the intended design of game mechanics simply don't work that way. I could switch to high defense gear for setting a new hyper defense then switch back to the high reistance gear, but that is an exploit. The only thing changing your clothes in combat is real good for, is shifting your resistances around.
Others have argued that everyone can do it so it can't be an exploit because it's not an unfair advantage and you've said that doesn't matter. That's not my issue here 9mmFu. The issue is, you called it an exploit in a thread where experienced players were discussing it and offered no explanation of how it can be avoided or any level at which you would consider it not to be exploiting. That is a hardline statement in an obscure place the majority of players never saw because scouring the forums to find out about exploits is not a mandatory part of the game. You have the power to let everyone know this is an exploit and how to avoid it and it is your responsibility to do so. To not do so allows new players to discover this intended design of the game and become hardcore unknowing exploiters simply from intelligently concluding how best to set their buffs.
You haven't clarified it in an MOTD or anywhere else where it is knowledge for all to have. So if I want to pvp I have to deal with people who do this because they simply figured out it was the most efficient way to build their PvP load. It's like steroids at this point. If I don't do it, they have an advantage. But I'm not goiing to ccr anyone for doing this because many simply don't know, nor can they be blamed for concluding it is an efficient thing to do. It leaves me with a real resentful feeling about my scruples over not exploiting.
Please clarify what you mean and tell us what to do. Or simply take it back and let it be until you find a way to make it work the way you want it to.
Thank you
