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trollson

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Posts posted by trollson

  1. Posted · Report reply

    The FPV is looking nice. Really need that over-the-shoulder perspective though; it gives about the right information for a game, giving you a sense of peripheral vision.

     

    With a far-field view, it looks odd that there are no actors in the distance, but they appear from no where at quite a short range. How much information would be needed to send a "distant actor" message vector?

     

    On the clouds -- their appearance is okay overhead clouds, but not for clouds towards the horizon; it looks more like smoke/fog. Clouds occupy one or more plains with perspective, and do not appear homogeneous on the sky sphere.

  2. Posted · Edited by trollson · Report reply

    We've had the same problem with Richery, who is placed in a RPG-appropriate setting (Portland Bank, behind the desk).

     

    Would such an increase apply to trading between normal characters as well? An increased range for normal characters may allow them to pass goods over barriers where this is not currently possible. If it only applies to 'bots, then the server needs to distinguish between trades which include a 'bot, and those which do not.

     

    Neither of these things are necessarily a problem though.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    Ah, it depends on where the storage window is.

     

    When its up against the top of the EL window, the tooltips are aligned below the mouse position, and are hidden by the cursor.

     

    Move the storage window off the top of the EL window, even slightly, and the tooltips are placed above the mouse position.

     

    This seems unnecessary to me, given the amount of border above the item slots. But maybe its a problem with other set-ups?

     

    Anyway, there is a workaround, so its not a priority.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    Just noticed this, and can't recall/find it being mentioned before:

     

    When you hover over entries in the Storage dialog, the quantity is shown as a tooltip. For me at least, this text is hidden by the mouse cursor.

     

    It appears to align the centre-top of the text to the mouse position. It would be more useful to align the centre-bottom, as I expect most regular arrow mouse cursors point NW.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    In reply to The Comet:

     

    It'd be nice to see Hero points gained...say....every 5 OAs or every 5 of a certain skill?

    Hero Points (HP) couldn't be set against OA levels, as that would be exploited by reset -- if you need a HP to create certain items, then characters with the necessary skills could reset to boost production. Awarding HP against skill level increases would avoid this.

     

    However I don't think associating with any skill level would give the right effect for this feature -- a character's supply of HPs would diminish as they level, but their "heroic deeds" should not. Remember also that HPs are consumed on use, and have transient effects, whereas PPs are allocated and have a perminant effect.

     

    How you get HPs should be independant of levelling; we already have enough gains from that path.

    The ability to have some kind of "Epic Moment"...

    Yes that could be one use for them; spend them to get a boost to your effective skill for the next action. If a few pennies will get you a +8 level blessing, then a definite finite resource such as spending a HP should be worth more.

    What are you thinking for the value of the points?

    Their value depends on their uses and their supply, but consider the following specification:
    • Compared to PPs -- worth more than PPs at low level, less at high.

    • HPs are used individually, one for a heroic deed, not in quantity (though you can have a number on "standby", which could get used rapidly).

    • They come gradually through play,

    • The is a limit to the number you can have cached (say 6 for sake of argument). You need to use some before you can earn more.

    • It should not be possible to "grind" to get Hero Points.

    There should be a number of different ways to acquire Hero Points, to allow for varied styles of play. These may include:
    • Quest rewards.

    • Heroic deeds (done without using a Hero Point).

    • Random finds (exploration).

    • ...?

    I would avoid awarding Hero Points for level gains though; people need no encouragement for that!

  8. Posted · Report reply

    If this is following my suggestion:

    What if it only works when equipped and it equips to (maybe) the torso.
    It doesn't prevent people equipping the item during combat -- back to the same problem as drop/attack/pickup that Ghandi described.

     

    I rather like the idea of using a Rostogol Stone to make a medallion to activate its effects though.

  11. Posted · Edited by trollson · Report reply

    Why not have a guild ranking placed after your Guild Tag? Or would that be too much like Stratego? :)
    The problem is knowing the guild rank of characters who are not online. We can already find out the rank of online characters with the '#rank' command.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Another option (which I mentioned some time ago):

     

    If you want to discourage PK'ers from using Rostogol Stones, don't disadvantage its use by non-PK'ers. Consider implementing the following rule:

    Carrying a Rostogol Stone
    prevents you
    initiating combat.

    If you carry a stone, you cannot be the aggressor in a fight -- you cannot attack another character or creature. You can be attacked, in which case you fight back as normal.

     

    So if you are going out with hostile intent, then you cannot take a Rostogol Stone, and you risk your goods.

     

    A PK'er can take a stone, and rely on other player's to attack them (which is bad Sun Tzu); but if all the PK'ers are carrying, then it will be a quiet day.

     

    For players of more peaceful intent, the Rostogol Stone protects their assets as it has done. The cost of the stone being the price of this insurance.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    Perhaps a player could be given a certain amount of Hero Points per day
    Way way too many! In their RPG form a character might have at most six (6). With so few people would be foolish to waste them by having points on "standby" while mixing; certainly not when saving stones would be available. But there is no reason to take away the option -- its simpler to say that a standby point causes a re-roll on fumble or critical-against in all situations.

  16. Posted · Edited by trollson · Report reply

    I was recently reminded of a mechanism we use to use in RPGs; namely Hero Points, and thought they may have some relevance to this game...

    Hero Points

     

    Most players want their characters to be heros, performing heroic deeds and making a name from themselves. Its rather frustrating when your story ends with a fumble or a critical from a passing Goblin, or under a random avalanche. That is not how the story of your character is suppose to go.

     

    To counter this, the concept of "Hero Points" was developed. A character can earn, through play, a limited number of hero points, which can be spent in critical times to keep your character on the road to fame, and off the garden path of obscurity.

     

    You don't have many hero points, so the player needs to be careful how they spend them. They cannot be traded between characters, or bought. You have to earn them somehow.

     

    No Do-Overs in MMORPGs

     

    In their original and most common usage, a hero point was spent to "do-over" a bad roll of the dice.

    That critical fumble coming at a particularly bad time -- got a hero point to spare? Then take that roll again!

    MMORPGs don't support do-overs like this; you can't rewind the game! So if hero points are to be applicable here, then we need to find new ways to use them that fit into this architecture.

     

    Hero point on standby

     

    If we can't spend them retrospectively, then we need to commit them up front. So put one or more hero points onto "critical standby":

    • If your character fumbles or critically fails a task, including combat, then a point on standby is used and the roll re-done.
    • If your opponent critical succeeds in a task against you, then a standby hero point is used and their roll is re-done.
    • You can choose to move hero points in and out of a stand-by allocation, when not otherwise occupied.
    • The hero point(s) on standby are used automatically for any fumble / critical against you; even if its tying your shoelace!
    • This does not prevent normal failures or successes against you.
    • This does not prevent the re-roll from also being a critical; if you have another hero point committed then it can trigger successive re-rolls.

    This isn't a "do-over" as described in the previous section; the re-roll is made immediately by the server if conditions apply.

     

    Hero points as exotic ingredients

     

    Eternal Lands tries to limit production of "high end" items by requiring exotic ingredients (such as EFEs) which are only obtained by chance (or from the shop). As discussed in "Disclosure of rate change...", it is hard to balance the supply and demand of these items.

     

    Creating a high end item is a heroic deed. So include a hero point in its ingredient list and you have a definite restricted supply.

    Imagine, if we didn't have reset, a high end item which required a pick point to be spent in its construction!

    Other uses?

     

    We still have to consider their effects on Magic and Summoning, and on other interactions and outcomes. Should they be allowed to increase the chance of a critical success (but not guarentee of course)?

    Earning Hero Points

     

    How should characters' earn their hero points? There are several options, not limited to:

    • If we have more quests, then that is an ideal place to earn hero points as rewards.
    • They could be earned along with experience and OA levels. However, we must ensure that resetting does not result in more points being earned.
    • Heroic deeds give hero points (unless you spent any in the process): Killing a big beast with a critical hit (killing blow), finding a very rare stone, creating an enhanced form of an item?

    It is probably best to limit the number of hero points a character can have at any time.

     

     

    Does this make sense to anyone?

  17. Posted · Edited by trollson · Report reply

    to pan for gold in water dont you have to use a sieve which has holes in it :confused:
    No. You use a shallow pan, preferably with a V-profile, and "swirl" around the water and dirt. The heavier gold grains stay in the bottom, as you swill the water and lighter dirt out. It wouldn't work with holes.

     

    I suppose you could use a frying pan for this, but only in the same way as you could use a screwdriver as a hammer.

     

    Panning for gold could be a good newby pastime, but this may be hampered by rivers not being "selectable" objects.

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Freezing the game while this is played would not be possible.

     

    However, if the "cut scene" is played within its own window, it could be treated in the same way as an online book -- consider it in response to "using" a crystal ball, or "use keyhole" during a quest.

     

    The form of the playback could be EL scenes, or an actual movie (with subtitles) if an appropriate player library was added to the client. In either case though, this additional data should be pulled from a secondary server, not the game server.

     

    I can see this as being another tool in the EL scenario building toolbox (but lets get instance maps first!).

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