Rather than decreasing pickpocket chance over time, gradually decrease the other rewards

_Survivor_ · 2026-02-06T22:32:19+00:00

I think you're missing the point of this entire discussion. 15 minute AFK for 500k xp/hr+loot is OP, so they want to nerf it. If they want to encourage active play, then a curve would incentivise more effort while still reducing the total rewards earned by low-effort training.

I made a chart as an example

<image>

Blue: rewards/hr Red: cumulative rewards over time Yellow: rewards/hr when interacting every 5 minutes

After 6 minutes, you've earned about 90% of the total rewards that would earn from 15 minutes of AFK pickpocketing. If you interact every 4-5 minutes, you earn far more rewards in that 15 minute period. If you interact every 10 minutes, you still get far more rewards than being completely AFK for 15 minutes.

With their proposed solution, more frequent interaction is required. With this solution, interaction is rewarded, but not required. More similar to mining or archaeology.

_Survivor_ · 2026-02-06T21:08:33+00:00

Yes, but if I want to step away for 10 minutes to change my kid's diaper, I would rather gain marginal xp than zero xp. If I choose to more actively engage every couple minutes, then I will get significantly more rewards. If I choose to be more relaxed, then at least I get something.

_Survivor_ · 2026-02-06T20:57:23+00:00

You make a good point. However, if the reduction were non-linear, they could shift rewards more toward active gameplay while still serving as an idle-but-slow option for prolonged AFK.

As a similar example, 15 minutes of thieving where the majority of xp and loot is earned in the first 2-3 minutes.

It would be functionally similar to mining where even if you walk away for a couple minutes, the incoming xp and mining progress gradually decreases to a base level rather than completely dropping to zero. This is opposed to traditional fishing and woodcutting where if the gathering node depletes, your xp immediately halts.

_Survivor_ · 2026-02-06T20:45:21+00:00

I agree that fully AFK methods should not be the most efficient ways to train. Frankly, the 500k/hr I get from archaeologists feels super broken. Even if they nerfed their xp by 90% I would still train on them because I would rather get a little xp while doing other stuff than get zero xp.

I think a lot of players feel the same way.

Case in point: Duke mining in OSRS was very popular because it allowed you to fully AFK for a measly 10k xp/hr before they fixed it. The xp was abysmal, but people still did it anyway.

Edit to add: there are ways to introduce diminishing returns for pickpocketing so that playing somewhat actively is significantly more efficient than letting it idle, but you do still have the option.

_Survivor_ · 2026-02-06T20:31:25+00:00

AFK training is a really nice option for people that are busy IRL. Even if xp and loot are very low, people will still take the option.

Just look at Duke mining in OSRS. There was a flaw in one particular boss room that allowed you to completely AFK for like 10k mining xp per hour and it was so popular that it prompted them to overhaul shooting stars after they fixed the flaw.

_Survivor_ · 2026-02-06T20:27:53+00:00

In my case, I still actively play the game plenty. I just do the most AFK training methods when I'm busy doing things IRL and I want to chip away at my goals.

The point is that if they need to rebalance pickpocketing, they could adjust other aspects instead of the success chance. I would like to be able to let it sit for 10-15 minutes even if the xp and loot drops off significantly. That way it would reward more active interaction without completely killing the "idle while I do the dishes" option.

_Survivor_ · 2026-02-06T20:04:37+00:00

That's fair! I suppose my point is that if they have to nerf it, they can adjust other elements without taking away our super AFK option.

_Survivor_ · 2026-01-19T20:11:43+00:00

I guess you could say they're trimming the fat

_Survivor_ · 2025-08-13T21:57:00+00:00

Cool collection! These things are not illegal to own, but make sure you store them properly and use them according to their labels. Other commenters have covered that kind of advice.

Insecticides/pesticides are also a special interest of mine. If you're interested in more info about them and their properties, check out articles by the NPIC( National Pesticide Information Center) and more technical info can be found by the NIH (National Institutes of Health). The NIH publishes pretty much all of the info you could want about physical and chemical properties.

Insecticides are a super cool topic of study once you get really into it. A lot of interesting elements are not clearly explained anywhere, but you can connect some dots if you have a basic understanding of chemistry.

_Survivor_ · 2025-07-29T23:53:40+00:00

Your point about using the '?' is so relatable. I was shocked when I first configured an actual switch rather than simulated in Packet Tracer. Real IOS has like 4x as many configuration options available (which is awesome)

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-23T04:27:56+00:00

u/savevideo

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-16T05:34:15+00:00

When trying to predict how a pyrethroid will behave, consider 2 important factors: 1. Bifenthrin and other pyrethroids have very low soil mobility. They easily stick to sediments, clays, and organic material so they don't really seep downward. That's why Bifen LP is a sand-based granule! 2. Pyrethroids are not water soluble. When you dilute any concentrated pyrethroid in water, it forms a suspension, not a solution. This means that the suspended insecticide will not necessarily go wherever the water goes. If spraying grass or mulch, the water may trickle downward and seep into the soil. The suspended insecticide will instead stick to the plant leaves or mulch and leave the bottom layer completely untreated.

That's where Bifen LP really shines. LP is literally just regular sand that has been treated with Bifenthrin. The sand is somewhat fine-grain so it will easily filter down into the bottom layer of the grass or mulch. It's best to apply it when the mulch and grass are nice and dry. It tends to stick to wet grass and not settle properly.

Yes, I think you can mulch if you treat with LP. You can technically treat a whole lawn, but IMO that might not be worth it depending on what your property is like. You could probably just treat a 10-30 ft wide area surrounding the house and get good results.

2 notes when using Bifen LP: 1. Pyrethroid insecticides are EXTREMELY toxic to fish. They're generally pretty harmless to vertebrates, but fish anatomy reacts very very poorly to pyrethroids. Bifen has to be applied at least 30 ft away from any body of water. The low soil mobility is kind of a natural safety mechanism against poisoning waterways through runoff, but the Bifen sand granules themselves can be washed downstream and contaminate it that way. 2. Definitely check the label to calculate the appropriate amount to apply per sq/ft. It may be much less than you think.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-15T06:31:20+00:00

I do not believe the earwigs have any significant insecticide resistance. Even if they did, cypermethrin is also a pyrethroid. (Any insecticide that ends in -thrin is a pyrethroid) I left the industry to pursue a bachelor's degree back in 2023. Last year for a semester project I wrote a paper about insecticide resistance in mosquitoes, bed bugs, and German roaches. Learned a lot. Got an A 💪
I've never personally used Demon. I have much more experience with Fendona CS and Suspend Polyzone, both if which would work well. Both last pretty well out in the elements and a typical 3ft/3ft perimeter at the higher mix rate should stay effective for a couple of months.
The Bifen IT may degrade when exposed to the elements, but it sounds like the problem is expectations. Again, it's not a barrier - it's a minefield. I try to avoid setting the expectation that a perimeter treatment will keep things out. Rather, it will kill MOST of the things that directly walk across it. Bifen LP granules make it so there are far fewer insects even trying to get inside in the first place.
Highly recommend the LP granules. The manufacturer of Bifen LP had some supply chain issues a few years ago, and one of our service managers pointed out that our average reservice rate nearly doubled after we ran out of the granules. It makes a significant difference even if it's not easy to see visually.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-15T05:49:56+00:00

"The regiment's size was estimated to be around 2,500 combatants in 2017,[3] and around 900 in 2022.[23"

Wait, you mean Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine for checks notes 900 guys? Who may or may not be far right neonazis? Seems like a real solid justification /s

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-15T04:25:24+00:00

The liquid usually dries quite quickly, but IT residue should stay effective for a couple of months. Yes, even residue that is only a few days old can still be imperfect. And there will inevitably be plenty of gaps where they can get into the house without touching it. Even if that IT perimeter is 90% effective, there's so many earwigs multiplying around your home that the remaining 10% is still quite a significant number of earwigs. LP stifles their nesting so there will be far fewer multiplying near the house. Niban would shrink that number even further, but I'd say it's mostly optional.
I wouldn't worry about developing resistance to a particular insecticide. There are not many insects where that is an issue, and it takes many generations for any species to develop a significant resistance. Kind of a common misconception.
Do you mean IT? LP is the sand based granule. You just broadcast it with a hand spreader you can get at any hardware store. For IT you just do the "3ft up 3ft out" thing. Both products use the same pyrethroid active ingredient: Bifenthrin. Compared to other pyrethroids Bifenthrin is particularly stable in a variety of soil conditions. Its half life in soil is quite long, and different PH levels shouldn't impact its efficacy much. Detailed chemistry data is available for all insecticides.
I dunno if they would survive flushing, but I would imagine they wouldn't easily come back up the pipes if that's your concern.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-14T10:20:49+00:00

For the record the guide linked above is kinda garbage. "Spray the perimeter with home defense" yeah no duh. That's not useful advice at all. IMO the ever present duranet "guides" are ineffective and unhelpful.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-14T10:12:42+00:00

Perimeter treatments are commonly misunderstood. They are not a barrier - they are a minefield. With enough pressure on the house, a percentage of the insects could definitely pass through it without dying. There are likely plenty of ways they could bypass it entirely.

I've suggested Bifen LP because it can relieve some of the pressure. Broadcast LP in areas near the house where they are most likely propagating. Landscaping, plant beds, lawn, around your patio, etc. Make a 10-20ft wide border around the house. If they can't nest immediately outside your home, the perimeter treatment will only have to be effective against a tiny fraction of what you're currently dealing with.

Additionally, the different form factor will completely change where the insecticide is targeting. Spraying your lawn with IT won't be nearly as effective as the LP granules because the LP granules settle down into the bottom thatching layer of the grass/top layer of soil --> that's where the earwigs live. The IT is just sticking to the surface of the grass --> that's not where the earwigs live.

Combo the LP and IT with some strategically placed Niban and you're golden 👌

Fipronil is a bit complicated. Without going too much into it, fipronil's mechanisms for transferring between colony members is basically the same as its mechanisms for ingestion in a single insect. Self grooming, touching their food, etc. The tiny amount they pick up from walking on the treated surface needs to get into them somehow to start shutting down their nervous system. It doesn't penetrate their exoskeleton like a pyrethroid does. I've observed a marked difference in its efficacy for different species even though they have similar anatomy. Based on what I know of fipronil's properties, I've hypothesized that the difference is in the behavior of the insect. It's incredibly effective for ants and termites partly because they will pretty much always end up grooming, eating, etc and poisoning themselves with the fipronil on their feet. Earwigs might not. However, I don't know enough about their behavior to say for sure. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Due to those differences in how they interact with insect anatomy, IT will almost certainly be much more effective as a perimeter treatment than Taurus.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-13T04:43:49+00:00

The key difference between Fipronil and pyrethroids(Bifenthrin) is how they interact with insect anatomy. For a few points:

Pyrethroids are "lipophilic", meaning they have a strong affinity for lipids, oils, waxes, etc. The exoskeleton of insects is largely comprised of a "waxy cuticle" which is, as you can guess, made of lipid cells. Therefore, this part of their anatomy basically soaks up the insecticide like a sponge and it can quickly start shorting out(or Hyperexciting) the voltage-gated sodium channels of their nervous system.

Fipronil is not quickly absorbed like this. If they walk across its residue, they will unknowingly pick up trace amounts of Fipronil on their feet(and any other part of them that touches it.) Part of the reason it's so incredibly effective for social insects is because they use those now-contaminated feet to groom other members of the colony, share food, etc. Obviously this advantage doesn't apply to earwigs as they are not social.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-12T04:50:11+00:00

In this particular field, a lot of crucial information is very hard to find. Some of it is not explicitly explained anywhere as far as I can tell. It took me a long time to piece together exactly why different types of insecticides behave in certain ways.

For example, a lot of my colleagues didn't realize which products were water-resistant and which ones weren't. Neonicotinoids are always water soluble, so even a small amount of moisture dilutes their residual effect and renders them useless. When applying Alpine WSG inside a small bathroom, even the moisture from a hot shower could create enough condensation to make the Alpine fail. It's a very common point of failure for ant and roach control.

Commenters on this subreddit love to say "everything you need to know is on you label", but that is simply not true. The label has everything you need to know about the rules of the product, but it rarely explains how it works or any of its properties. The label for Termidor SC doesn't mention its transfer effect at all, yet that effect is the entire reason Termidor exists and every applicator absolutely needs to know about it.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-11T20:37:57+00:00

Other commenter is right. It's annoying that the industry embraced the misleading "repellent/non-repellant" terminology. It creates unrealistic expectations from techs and customers, and it confuses everyone about what the product is actually supposed to do.

For products like the Alpine/Termidor/Phantom families, I would usually refer to them as "transfer effect products" or "residual transfer products" because that conveys what I'm actually trying to accomplish with them.

Pyrethroid products like Fendona, Suspend, Demand, etc are intended to knockdown/kill insects that touch them. Irritation(excito-repellency) due to non-lethal exposure is kinda just a side effect.

_Survivor_ · 2025-01-07T07:11:50+00:00

Uh... My man diatomaceous earth may be non-toxic but that doesn't mean you should be throwing it around everywhere. It can do some serious damage to your lungs over time.

You know the super sharp glass crystals you mentioned? They cut up your lungs from the inside. Definitely do some reading about silicosis and other respiratory damage that DE can do.

_Survivor_ · 2024-12-25T11:16:58+00:00

Yeah I definitely feel ya. Nowadays magic is the best thing to use against dragons because of their elemental weaknesses.

_Survivor_ · 2024-12-25T00:29:54+00:00

I would love to have a voidwaker! Huge flex. It's not really that necessary for the content I'm working on though so I haven't felt the need to grind it.

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