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robotbob

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Posts posted by robotbob


  1. That shows that if the lottery start

    with some seeding capital then more players will buy tickets

     

    The lottery was created, from what I understand, as a way to redistribute ingame wealth and to remove

    a portion during every lottery end. From Radu's Blog:

     

    01 December 2006

    EL Lottery

    [...]

    There are a few reasons for this lottery:

    1. Money sink; only 90% of the ticket price goes into the prize, 10% is lost.

    2. Redistribution of wealth; allows anyone to become very rich, so long as they participate and are very lucky.

    [...]

     

    If the game created gold coin via this method it would negate the original reason the lottery was implemented.

    Learner's seed gold coin already existed in the game, and was redistributed to the winner. Winners typically

    spend a large portion of their winnings on items, thereby causing a secondary distribution of the gold coin.

     

    There is no way this idea would be implemented unless a way to deal with the new gold coin is created.

     

    The idea as it currently stands, asks the virtual {invisible} government to mint new currency for the lottery. Perhaps if

    the other -tax- related ideas merged with this one, there would be a source of gold coin (without creating new)

     

    ---

     

    As to raytray's player run lottos, the blog also mentions:

    01 December 2006

    EL Lottery

    Next server update, which will be probably Monday, will bring a new feature to the game: a lottery.

    We had some player based lottery bots in the past, but the problem with them is the lack of trust from the players. They can't be sure the owner won't cheat.

     

    ---

     

    I think the most workable part is the 1st,2nd,3rd places.

    Also a cap on the number of tickets you can buy, since many people win the lotto via the 'all or nothing' method.


  2. Not that i know of.

     

    Yes, scaled damage messages are in the client, since: Tue Apr 1 16:13:11 2008

     

    Revision 1.234 - (view) (download) (annotate) - [select for diffs]

    Tue Apr 1 16:13:11 2008 UTC (12 months, 3 weeks ago) by superfloh

    Branch: MAIN

    Changes since 1.233: +2 -2 lines

    Diff to previous 1.233

    - applied Alberich's patch for scaled damage messages

    - get rid of compiler warnings

     

    Revision 1.232 - (view) (download) (annotate) - [select for diffs]

    Sun Mar 30 01:25:13 2008 UTC (13 months ago) by superfloh

    Branch: MAIN

    Changes since 1.231: +10 -4 lines

    Diff to previous 1.231

    scale floating damage message with the amount of damage taken, might need some fine tuning

     

     

    {

    float font_scale2 = font_scale*powf(1.0f+((float)abs(actor_id->damage)/2.0f)/1000.0f, 4.0);

    draw_ortho_ingame_string(hx-(((float)get_string_width(str) * (font_scale2*0.17*name_zoom)))*0.5f, a_bounce+hy+10.0f, 0, str, 1, font_scale2*.14, font_scale2*.21);

    } glDisable(GL_BLEND);


  3. Perhaps instead of one new item, maybe something that could affect combat across the board?

     

    STUN as a weapon feature not exclusive to one item.

     

    Therefore a weapon could, stun a target. (target cannot move) or attack for that duration.

    It would require a both a stun boolean and a stunned timer, so you could make a player or monster

    immune to another stun for a short duration and make a possible potion (Clear Mind?) to recover from it.

     

    So maybe:

     

    • special stunning arrows. (as Kirianthis suggested)
      BUT also:
    • stunning spell.
    • chance for a critical (large damage strike) to cause a stun.

     

    Still nothing new, rather D&D standard ideas, but common because they work.

     

    If you really just want to -pin- the monster, then increase the snare duration AND make it a AoE(Area of effect), or

    implement a companion item to the snare, a thrown net (gladitor style, wielded and missle)

     

    Edit: this would also require a floating message STUNNED to appear over the target, well maybe that opens up mesages

    I've always wanted like Critical! Evade! and so one 8)


  4. Running

    Running should be a basic feature of the game, one that should be boasted on the feature list page, available to new players and advanced players as well. How it could work:

     

    • start/stop running through a button in the toolbar or shortcut key
    • you can't run if you're carrying more than half of your carrying capacity
    • while running your food consumption doubles (or triples)
    • the speed hax potion would allow you to run irrespective of your carrying capacity
    • to keep balance, some aggressive (and non aggressive) creatures should be able to run too

     

    [Teh thr34d h1j4ck]

     

    Absolutely.

     

    IMHO what is missing, is stamina, with regen rates (reasonably high) based on some particular stat.

    I expected when running was implemented the only use potions would have, to increase natural running

    duration and not THE requirement to run at all. There are certain base features that are so common amongst

    all games (First person shooters, RPG and so on) that running is nearly implemented without much variety.

     

    Now if some type of stamina was implemented, this could affect combat as well. Halberd consumes more stamina

    than a Rapier, a fighter with a higher stamina increasing stat could last longer in a battle. Therefore, if you run

    from enemies too long, you will lack the stamina to wield the Orc Slayer. Also you would need to -rest- at the ore,

    before mining, if you exhausted yourself in the run.

     

    The problem with running using food, any boost to running is prohibited, because it will affect mixing too greatly.

    ---

    On horses, I totally agree with stables. Here is my opinion why:

     

    Stables can both increase horse usage and make it a gold coin consumer (stable fees). How?

    currently they *poof* when you do anything but ride them, but if your horse persisted, there would be

    a psychological attachment to keep it alive. (stable fees and feed, horse gear). Just play any game that

    is based on maintain a pet, like a virtual aquarium, its bizarre how people become compelled to feed imaginary

    pets. But something reasonable, not 50k for an hour of stable time or some other overblown cost ensuring its never used either.

     

    --

    IMHO again the best money sinks are the small ones, 1-10 gc something trival and popular. The other key

    is the player should never know or notice that it IS a money sink. Really, if its declared a money sink and will consume

    1mill+ gc with little or no real benefit, its got to be damn fun or no one will ever use it.

     

    [sorry for the ontopic offtopic]


  5. I started to post, but Kaddy said the same thing I was typing, without my bullet-list-poolza :(

     

    But really EL is not a PK\PvP game, its a PvE \ Skiller leveling game with a Pk option.

    The pk option looks to be a rare event designed to allow PvEs to duel and blow off their

    excess gold coin, then return to farming\mixing\leveling. If you try to PvP\Pk on a daily basis,

    without the later, you have no choice but to buy gc with USD or mine 100ks of ores, for a

    few minutes of it. (Less now, due to the No Drop maps, making it low risk\no reward)

    I doubt it has any intention of ever leaving the pure sink status.

     

    (It was mentioned, the pk server is intended to be the main, someday. It makes EL a real PvP game.

    {I cannot for the life of me, find the post where Radu makes this statement, its there, I'm certain}

    Although I doubt this is the case any longer.)

     

    I stopped pking entirely, my gold coin needs dropped off dramatically.


  6. This idea is from another game, runescape.

    There are no rostos there. 3 Items are protected on death unless you attack

    someone (thereby 'skulled' and drop all) A prayer (like a persistant spell) can

    protect one more item than the normal 3 until the prayer points hit 0.

     

    Its not a bad idea. It works in that shitty game.

     

    However ideas like this will always get posted because a few in-game items

    should have never been created.

     

    Short overpowered List:

    • rostogols (protects ALL items on death, never fails)
    • no more tears capes (never breaks)
    • magic immunity (never broken)
    • brod (its really an rostogol effect item, imho, no point in breaking if people dropped)

    The No Drop maps(perma atm) IMHO, are temp fixes to a risk\drop\reward system that

    needs a rework.

     

    No insult intended, and not implying anyones work is faulty, or to degrade anyone's effort.

    But its sure looking like an item removal\adjustment is almost needed.


  7. increase gc drops from monsters and you will hurt goldfarmers, and increase pk activity a bit

     

    Exactly.

     

    Pure pvp games or others with constant pvp, have enough in drops to pay a fighters salary.

    A fighter now and always has to mine 100k+ silver\iron ore and dump it on the market to

    buy pk gear, or what most do (or do when they lack time to mine) buy gc from the farmers.

     

    If a fighter didn't need the farmers to pk, then they disappear (until we have cities and

    farmers get a resurgence from the gc needs for city maintenance).

     

    This has been posted countless times, make fighters self sufficient, so they don't have to

    be ore whores, and you get more fighting, and the other skills reap the benefits of a market that

    can actually buy their stuff at profit prices.

     

    The solution to inflation shouldn't require a massive grind for gc and ensuring

    the farmers paypal account is booming. I know nearly everyone I pk'd with in my guild,

    funded most of it, with buying gc from farmers. I didn't and I became a silver ore whore.

    I never mentioned this because it really seemed like el's dirty secret.


  8. Personally, I hate quests. I'd rather just hand Mortos some gc and get back to training. I can see the purpose in some quests, but I don't really see the purpose in quests for quests' sake.

     

    One of the reasons I love this game is because I don't feel like a trained monkey punching the same pedals as the monkey before me. If we add a bunch of new quests for new players, won't that give them the wrong impression about the game?

     

    Well for some, quests fulfill a role play need that some people enjoy in...role play games.

    Quests are more than, connect the dots, well done quests involve a story, and are not mere

    collection an item and return to the NPC. I started RPGS in the 1980s with D&D and pencil,

    so I remember the fun that could be had with a DM quest.

     

    Training, in this game means grinding, and for some people, that does not interest them.

    Other games, reaching the max is just a prereq for playing and not the entire reason to play.

    (Obviously I'm ok with the grind, or I would have left years ago)

     

    PK server probably highlights this, reaching its 100ad cap, does not mean game over.

    (It does for a grinder however)

     

    Well anyway, Quests help further the games lore and entice people to role play.

    (Means more people attracted to the game)

     

    But I do recall Radu\Roja saying (paraphrased) 'El will never be a quest game, if you want one

    with many quests, try WoW[insert quest heavy rpg].'


  9. WE DON'T NEED QUESTS WRITTEN. We need them programmed.

     

    The caps still does not fix the massive ambiguity of "need them programmed".

    Both bkc56, and fitzer hit the nail on the head. So AGAIN(caps ftw), what design

    specs does such a system require, what are its expectations. It needs to be made module

    so non-programmers can submit quests beyond the tenure of the 'approved writers epeenmanship'.

     

    Since a there will probably never be another server dev, what I suggested is:

    Someone post a design requirements for the quest system, so someone can submit

    something to be approved by the server devs (blind to the server code, someone

    can still make it, as long as a design\expectations is available)

     

    (FYI: to a programmer, 'need them programmed' is tantamount to; dear builder:

    We don't need interior decorating! we need a house)

     

    Again this is if, its actually desired. Personally I like "Kill them mighty dragon and get

    a cool dragon sword crap"

     

    (Yes 'someone' ends up being 2 people without a free moment to do this, anyway)


  10. omg..geeks! Seriously, just mix the damn helms already! you wasted how many mixing hours pressing calc buttons?!?!

     

    My thoughts exactly. Unfortunately you do not get any experience over analyzing

    a trivial thing in a game. Personally I did all my helms in a school, I hate walking to trik.

    If lhelms stacked...like summon stones do, then selling to the npc would be worthwhile.

     

    Honestly it sounds like you enjoy the analysis more than the actual skill, to each his own.

    I know I've bitched at several people for over-thinking a\d training, the best experience is

    actually doing it. A friend, former guildie, long lost el player (left for WallyOfWalrusCrap),

    used to spreadsheet (was a CPA) all this per exp an hour projections for his a/d leveling, I never calc'd

    a damn thing and ended up always ended up near even. (His advantage, he would do 8+ hour

    sessions while I never managed more than 6 on the weekend, tops, normally 2 hours max)

     

    So the best plan? the one you enjoy and act upon immediately.


  11. I think quests could be added in-game if a system was built to allow

    player quest (Module type) submissions. The base system is made once

    and all new quests can be designed by non-programmers, with good story

    telling skills and a understanding of the games lore.

     

    Since quest creation has been discounted due to time, this method would

    allow the boring aspect to be put into the hands of the enthusiastic player base.

     

    (granted, the system would be server side, but perhaps if the server devs

    posted a required criteria for its creation, another dev could get it 99% complete

    without access to the server code)


  12. Well my original post let you select the item you attempt to steal.

    The only percentage is, say you have 5k gc on you, success based on levels gives you

    35%? etc and not all 5k. (logic being, grab a handful) No thief would blindly grab anything

    out of a duffle\bag\sack why risk it against something with no value.

     

    Examining their inventory pops up an inv window with their items on it.

    Timer is ticking for you to pick an item, and try to steal, or fail.

     

    But again EL is 100% anti-rogue anyway.


  13. I think its a great idea. I've try to help them, whenever I encounter them.

    I have found giving them free items can be a challenge, they tend to run :icon13:

    (I end up giving the freebies to Annatira)

     

    I'm an all-rounder, so I can make their starting gear. I also buy animal related

    stuffs, so I could help them with early finance. The only problem is, a person needs

    to be patient to buy in quantities of say 50-100, while most expect 500-1k mins.

     

    (Getting started with magic has to be the most difficult to explain)

     

    The only downside I can see, I would only want to help real noobs, and not

    get someones alt, all geared up. Thereby wasting 30-1hr of my time for their benefit.


  14. Well I don't know about spice, but maybe butter and potatoes. :icon13:

     

    I agree. There have been countless tweak the leprechauns threads however.

    And who doesn't want their leprechaun tweaked, whatever that means :P

     

    On the day of anarchy, from past experience EL is 50/50 fight/peace. So

    a day where everyone must fight will not go over very well. People complain

    about invasions, even though they have wonderful Role play value.


  15. Well, you can only steal from inventories, not from equipped items.

    The idea was to force people to plan ahead in inventories instead of bringing multiple kits with them.

    Also, snooze fests with people spending long times camping one spawn would be eliminated,

    hit storages often, etc And keep leveling ad, a bit more exciting.

     

    So if someone has a JSoC equipped its safe, but their BroD in inventory could be stolen.

    It would force the addition of a special team member, using true sight, to route and reveal thieves.

     

    (Yes, rostos should be immune, but not tele rings,etc, one solution for people fleeing pk maps is to

    pre-steal their means of escaping)

     

    The are probably tons of reasons people will quit a game, and probably post multiple good-bye threads.

    And yes, this probably won't work, it changes the game dynamics, afk'r chat people could still do nothing

    just chat for hours with an empty inventory.

     

    I know this would never happen, -bag jumping- thread alone highlight Els opposition to

    anything Rogue.


  16. (I searched :P, every thread I found was about bag jumpers lol)

     

    {welcome to bullet list mania, sorry }

     

    Right off, I never expected such a skill in this game, but perhaps it would be

    an addition that ends up as a solution. I also expect this has a snowballs chance in hell.

     

    New skill: Thief. thievery

     

    How:

    • Spell like tools: (Examine inventory, Remove 1 item from inventory)
    • Chances of fail or success, based on your thief skill and perhaps their thief\perception.
    • dependent on dex levels. require a build that isn't a natural pker.
    • not able to steal from monsters, would only make farming easier.
    • must be done from invisible state, so 50 magic is a requirement.

    Success:

    • You gain the item or a percentage of the gold coins based on level.
    • You gain experience in the skill.

    Failure:

    • You are tagged pk-able (red) for [insert time here] minutes.
    • Suffer instant health damage. (Run! OO)
    • When and if you die, character is stuck in a cage or pillory for some time in [map]
    • (logging off has no effect)

    Where:

    • Not just Pk areas, but NOT at storage. (or thieves would camp storages only)
    • Helps change hands of ingame items and resources beyond pking (no drops in pk anyway)

    Yes, eek. but how is this a solution to what?

    • Farmers can't afk'd farm yetis etc without being alert.
    • No one will bring every special armor, every potion, ever sword they own to pk anymore.
    • It would make equip item selection more important, since there is no penalty for hitting max emu.
    • Gives people that wish to play a evil aligned character an alternative to bag jumping.
    • Makes teamwork outside of pk exist beyond bag mixing, Find a binding? find out it was stolen too

    I know "omfg no wai :) ", but add it to the anti famer spice up the game list something something list :/


  17. Is it possible to get Turin to respond to this Muppet? Turin can pawn this n44b in teh forumz. I bet he never comes back after Turin FK's (forum kills) this Joker

     

    After reading the first post this was my thought. I now want to see a Tirun vs Spike

    flameforum duel troll extravangza e-peen-off. I'm certain tirun will win.

     

    You have cast nerd rage, you are now immune to intellectual inferiors for 90 seconds, enjoy :)


  18. I voted yes.

     

    (there are two debates in this thread, One is RWT (real world trading, the other is financial

    support for the game) )

     

    Nothing is free, Free Lunch? Someone paid for it, even if you did not. (time = money)

    As a softdev, I fully understand the agony of trying to get paid for your work.

    Anyone remember the shareware years? ...

     

    I can't imagine spending time to implement new things and content on a project

    that was approaching the red. Its hard enough to worry about new content, let alone

    forced to worry about project finance at the same time.

     

    So I say, separate the issue, help the game be profitable to the point that

    Radu could hire a new content team and not worry about the games finance (hire someone

    for that :( ) and deal with RWT trading issues later, if it becomes a massive issue for the player

    base. Also, complaining that someone will have an advantage over you is complete horseshit. Whether

    its a game or real life, you will have an advantage over some, and not others.

     

    Main issue is: Social Mobility; everyone has equal options to reach the same goals, via alternate

    means. Its going to be impossible to remove Time VS Money. Its life, get used to it.

     

    ------

    [Options for members]

    As for options, more p2ps that are member dependant are good. Minotaur 8) It was mentioned before

    and I still forsee my tanky-ness as a mino. Vampire :D , and so on.

     

    If the player base was larger, then of course, a p2p server would be perfect. (With the ability to

    log on both servers for members, and one for f2ps.)

     

    -----

    [RWT issues]

    One mmo example of real world trading going crazy is ruinedcrap, when primary resources (game has

    limited resource areas) are covered with 20+ farming bots, so no -real player- can access it. If left

    unchecked completely, parts of the game are inaccesible to anything but farmer teams. I don't believe

    in ELs current player base size this would be an issue very soon. Just don't implement a

    chinese character font set and we are safe for a while.

     

    ----

    In closing, probably the biggest advantage membership could give is this:

     

    The game will still exist and Radu would not be forced to end this project due to funds.

    (Really why would he want to dump his own money to keep el alive so he can listen to

    forum bitchers on a daily basis, sounds like pure joy)


  19. From Radu's blog:

    Roadmap for the next update

    We are planning to have the next client in November, but this is, by no means, any promise. It's just what I would like.

    If all goes well, we'll have the following things:

    1. Working landmines/proximity mines.

    2. Missiles (mainly arrows, but hopefully also stuff like 'medieval hand grenades' and smokebombs).

    3. 3D terrain.

    4. New special effects.

    5. Speed improvements.

    6. Normal maps.

     

    So I'm guessing all new missiles are todos, awaiting time to implement them.


  20. (opinion. don't confuse it with anything else)

    Newest post from that search list is 3 years old, oldest 6 years old.

     

    Perhaps if an idea keeps returning, its a sound idea that old and new players

    apparently agree on. This indefinite moratorium on any ideas, ever, in any form, to be repeated,

    is silly. Anything anyone post here, is not required to be fielded by any developer, just

    wishful thinking from some excited players. (several things have been repeated, and implemented as a

    result, take -no drop map- for instance)

     

    The name of this section is just that, suggestions, not demands or imperatives. I believe this section

    should only serve as 'food for thought', if any developer associated with the game, wants to read it.

     

    Remove this section, replace it with a idea system that has improved searching,

    and can tag ideas (*daggers *new capes *etc), categorize things. Or outline a presentation

    system, some template, that all future idea posters can follow. Or require a person to complete

    a application to to be allowed to post ideas, an advocate system.


  21. I quick glanced (30 seconds) at the actor struct and saw this:

     

    #ifdef VARIABLE_SPEED

    int step_duration;

    #endif // VARIABLE_SPEED

     

    At first guess, you can check this if an actor is

    using 'speed hax'. I need to really look further, but there

    will definitely be a way to detect it.

     

    I expect trying to determine rate by (current xy, previous xy, time elapsed), to fail horribly due to lag.

     

    Now whether detecting it helps, I am not sure at the moment.

    But a killbots teleport to range ability is nothing short of w1ck3d s1ck.


  22. Redirecting the spam, is a workaround.

    Checking if a condition is true before you attempt it, is a solution.

     

    Don't get me wrong, I love the addition of StoAll, very handy and

    should have been day one. I'll never understand how asking Radu to redirect

    stoalls spam, to avoid checking a condition is negating a workaround.

     

    Well anyway, debate all day, really up to the owner. :)

    (Forgive me if I come across aggressive, personality quirk,in RL I'm a tank too 8D)

     

    edit: was typing while you double post, so reply does not apply to the above text.

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