Makeable items

[Wamphryi]

Have a help quest entry that lists all of the current in game quests and a "small" clue where to begin(for example ephod clue, you overhear a local adventurer whispering about the ramblings of a local shopkeeper about a magnificant item), and with all the shopkeepers you have no idea which one it could even possibly be, but it gets you to adventure to different areas and to different shops and maybe even find some old eq you forgot about or some eq you didnt even know about. Really who would ever know what quests are going on if someone who knows about them tells you or clues you in. Or even when new quests are started(hell i still to this day wouldnt know about things like ephod/avenger/singing sword if friends wouldnt have clued me into that they were even in the game. For example how many people really know u can make a raft, or a cheese sandwich? Help quest would get people to explore more possibly.
Or instead of a help entry have a "Questmaster" who hands out said clues.

[Pink]

I personally love the idea of the questmaster who blabs on and on about quests in the game... and maybe eventually he could be expanded to actually be able to hand out quests (see the other quest post regarding in game quests).

Maybe with pamphlets or "newspaper clippings" about sighted clues to give those who really want to traipse around the mud and figure the quest out for themselves. Honestly, many people have no idea where to begin and to those people the clues aren't as obvious as they were when the clues first went in?

I'm totally not saying the whole quest clues, but to say "that bloke in soandso won't shut up about this stupid _insert quest item here_" or "oh boy, i'm hankering for a cheese sandwich".

Might also give an avenue for those quest items that don't have any clues and aren't as obvious to figure out... feel free to set me straight if every single quest item in the game actually has clues because I've never seen any for at least 4 or 5 of the most basic items.

[Wamphryi]

But would you really know about what quests are there today if someone hadnt told you about it. And where did the telling start? Either the person who made it or a high level immortal who had access to it and decided to run it after the "scouting" period. And then it trickled down from friend to friend to friend. How many makeable items are out there we dont know about.
I dont want all the clues to say an ephod but I would like to know that the quest is there and a hint at where to start my journey. The randomness of looking for a shopkeeper and standing to see if he talks is part of the adventure. I mean how many shopkeepers are there in the game?

[Pink]

I don't think making cheese sandwiches or the other "smaller" items is for only experienced mudders. I'm not talking making the swords, etc... When do they pass the threshold of being "newbie" to "experienced"?

And not everyone wants to be told how to do things... but they don't want it thrown down their throats either. How did I find about some of these quests? I had them shoved down my throat by people who decided when I asked what that was told me all the pieces and essentially ruined the quest for me. (No, i can't forget the items because I have an obscenely good memory)

I know I certainly don't lack the skills for figuring things out on my own but let's face it, it might be a ton easier walking into a brand new mob than every single mob in the game as people who weren't here when the quest began.

Never said anything about paying money, but I also didn't say he was giving them the actual clues. I said he'd give them a good place to start. Sending them to where the actual clues are, or giving them an idea of what kind of mob has a good starting point. Let's face it, most of us have big mouths and it's hard not to want to share everything in an attempt to be helpful, but I don't see the point of telling them where to get all the parts.

[pixie]

In game quests are cool, I have been trying to make a garland for ever! When scipio was in I spent most of my time in there and reading the bible trying to make that..

My cool idea for these is to simply put them in, let ppl make say 10 or so, change the pieces, or remove and put in another, or change who loads what, maybe the grandmaster could load linens for a while.. I know this is a pain, but from what i have seen on worldbuilder not too teribly hard.

<DISCLAIMER>

I have never coded and have about 0 clue to possible daisy chain loading and the possible endless coding required.

</DISCLAIMER>

Would also be cool to apply to DOOM eq as mentioned in the posts under DOOM in areas, maybe not change the area, but put in a new ring same as causes, with new name, number, making the old ones cooler as they would denote you as a fosil...

[Arizhel]

The problems are:

1) Finding someone to do this. That would be Ciara, as the world files aren't given out. Ciara already has a lot to do, and would throttle you if you made more work for her. If the pieces change, someone has to write new pieces, and then write the new assembly object. Then Ciara would have to make it load somewhere new. Again, I think Ciara would throttle you.

2) The world files can only be updated on reboot.

3) Please refer to #1.

[Dank]

THE TINKER, dammit.

i love him. we all used to love him. we traded items there. we sold crap there. we could kill him. he'd cheerily greet us and send us on our way with a wave.

the little bit o' parchment spam on the ground in his room in midgaard addresses the contruction clues that you seek. i think a new player would simply have to wander in there by mistake (where's the apothecary?) to discover the glory that is make.

personally, i'm still trying to figure out the elven village, where all the ephod clues are, not to mention the parts, and why i haven't been able to load a scarlet wool for three years.

anyway, the tinker is your man. perhaps his procs could be expanded so that he builds special items once given the correct parts, or repairs stuff.

gimme his proc snippet and i'll just toss in some code. gig.

[Arizhel]

Dude, you didn't know?

The Tinker repairs busted phasers from the Bardic College, and makes them into honest to God Mark IV Phaser Rifles.

Okay, so it's a little late for an April Fool's joke.

[ching]

wamphryi said:

Have a help quest entry that lists all of the current in game quests and a "small" clue where to begin(for example ephod clue, you overhear a local adventurer whispering about the ramblings of a local shopkeeper about a magnificant item), and with all the shopkeepers you have no idea which one it could even possibly be, but it gets you to adventure to different areas and to different shops and maybe even find some old eq you forgot about or some eq you didnt even know about. Really who would ever know what quests are going on if someone who knows about them tells you or clues you in. Or even when new quests are started(hell i still to this day wouldnt know about things like ephod/avenger/singing sword if friends wouldnt have clued me into that they were even in the game. For example how many people really know u can make a raft, or a cheese sandwich? Help quest would get people to explore more possibly.
Or instead of a help entry have a "Questmaster" who hands out said clues.

ARG! and Snitzel friken braken rash! What does a person have to do. You guys want clues to walk up and hit you upside the head. The ephod clues are scattered about the mud, with one in each city on mobs which talk. I even put one where i figured Everybody goes to buy ornate wedding rings. Of course, making the clues easy to notice but needing some far flung knowlege to figure out was the trick.

This is just so frustrating. Besides the wankers who post the ephod 'answers' on the web for anybody to just use like a vending machine. Now there are people who say they can't find the clues. If people did some exploring instead of just looping on the same mobs for XP and Au you guys might learn something.

[pixie]

I dunno my 1st piece to an assembly item found was accidental, I like dazzling sapphire rings, since no one uses em, cus they are not as good as dwarvens, and a pain to get too... so i stumbled on a piece in the caves... took me weeks to find what it was, and i did regenning at the right mob, which led to my 1st construction

[Tarbal]

honestly...i am one of the schmucks who found a LOT of quest pieces on the web...but that is only part of the quest...to me the fun part is actually running some of these mobs again and again and again and again and again trying to get something to pop...it can be pure **edited out***


so yeah...while i cheated to get the parts list...to me most of the fun is running the crap

ps WOOT WOOT my first post ;D

[Arizhel]

If I had any say in it, every single assembly quest that makes something aside from the basics (food, raft) would be rewritten, and the pieces re-distributed across the mud.

If I had any say in it, the people who post quest clues to websites would be hung up by their toes and .. well, let's just say it wouldn't be pretty.

You want a quest item, you go figure out the quest. It's not all that difficult most of the time. They're -made- to be solved, though only through the judicious application of just a little bit of common sense.

Call me an elitist, but I personally believe that someone that doesn't have the gumption to go explore and figure the quest out for themselves has absolutely no right to even own a piece of assembly quest gear. (The sale of quest gear makes me similarly sad -- there was a time when that happened so rarely that you just didn't count on it. These days, everything is for sale, it seems.)

Then again, this isn't a perfect world, nor a perfect mud.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions stated here belong to me alone, and do not reflect on the general attitude of the administration. They're big boys and girls, and are quite capable of speaking up for themselves. I'm also not aiming to offend any one person and/or group of people in any way, shape, or form. I'm simply stating my opinion on the matter. So don't read too much into this post, kids.

[Soul]

Here are my 2 cents on makeables if anyone cares to listen

If we had a dynamic OLC system in place (yes I know admins you dread the thought and I know why also but hear me out) we could change the mobs location, items, and even clues for quests for makeables. Which would allow for a whole new meaning on difficulty for running quest items. Also it could mean anyone who had the info blabbed to them about the various quest items that they wanted to learn on their own time and not given a hand out of knowledge would be solved.

Dynamic OLC would also allow builders to design zones that can change not only from uptime to uptime but on a hourly, weekly or monthly etc etc basis. It adds a whole new level of functionality to the mud as things are no longer "predictable".

A few years back Unicorn Implemented a few static quest changes as I'm sure most of you remember when laurels didn't only come in the same old boring "a laurel crown" form. If dynamic OLC was in place it would be easier for the admin to accept modifcationsto zones that could be put in to increase the entrtainment factors of the mud. It could be removed also without having a reboot of the mud also. Let's face it... the place can get dull after you have been around for awhile and expansion is the only real way to solve this problem.

Static zones have merit. I have written a few and I enjoy them, but real creativity is unleashed when you allow dynamic changes. I'm curious to see other thoughts on this matter from everyone. And with that... I'll be quiet again.

[pixie]

Here is an Idea based on the boredom sometimes encountered sitting imm for hours on end.

all IMM+ can switch into quest mobs, and have a cool quest pack vending machine, 5x heal potions, 5x peaceful potions, 1x sanc potion, 5x wand of mobility, ann in a beltpack.

when a quest loading mob is hit, he could echo in the imm channel help help some silly mort is a tryin to kill me!

imms could then switch in and with ye olde beltpack, and make the fights a little more interesting.

Also allowing messing with these certain mobs would cause them to loos 'static' ness, as good ol drudg might show up in arctic because some imm was bored.

usual rules on imm scouting rules would ofcourse still apply, but it would make them a hell of a lot less 'static'

[Arizhel]

IMM+ do not have switch. Nor should they.

AVTR+ have switch, iirc.

[Ciara]

Arizhel said:

IMM+ do not have switch. Nor should they.

AVTR+ have switch, iirc.

Correct on both counts.

[Silverking]

Actually, I believe QSTR's have the switch command too...

[Arizhel]

Right, I forgot that we, in our divine wisdom, gave them switch.

Or perhaps I was testing you.

Muahahahahaha!

[pixie]

I was suggesting a limited switch, only to said quest mobs, or not, just make it a standard that anyone with the power can switch into them at any time 0 warning, and kick some butt. Might make it more interesting...

kinda hard to pet spam the ol keeper when he keeps quaffing dem peacefuls!

[Pink]

Sorry, QSTR doesn't have switch. At least I don't

[Ciara]

Switch is one of those commands that can be granted for limited periods of time. I do not forsee *any* future giving that command to IMMs unsupervised.

[Arizhel]

Vote said:

I was suggesting a limited switch, only to said quest mobs, or not, just make it a standard that anyone with the power can switch into them at any time 0 warning, and kick some butt. Might make it more interesting...

People with the power to do so can already switch into quest mobs. So what exactly would we be changing?

[Cordelia]

ARG! and Snitzel friken braken rash! What does a person have to do. You guys want clues to walk up and hit you upside the head. The ephod clues are scattered about the mud, with one in each city on mobs which talk. I even put one where i figured Everybody goes to buy ornate wedding rings. Of course, making the clues easy to notice but needing some far flung knowlege to figure out was the trick.

This is just so frustrating. Besides the wankers who post the ephod 'answers' on the web for anybody to just use like a vending machine. Now there are people who say they can't find the clues. If people did some exploring instead of just looping on the same mobs for XP and Au you guys might learn something.

<bold annotations are my own>

Have to agree with Ching 100%. The whole purpose of quest EQ is to quest for it - it ought to be challenging because the equipment is extremely rare and and desirable. I've found quite a few mobs - especially in cities - that have given me clues to items, although I'm not entirely sure what the items are yet. But I will, through my own endevour.

The mob that Ching refers to even gives you a rather large clue on the zone (read through 'Help Areas' to find the specific zone).

Slightly off-topic, I quite like the various Bards, Minstrels, Troubadours of all descriptions in the cities - some are there to add 'flavour' and a bit of colour through their verse, but some should perhaps report snippets of local knowledge, and maybe rumour of far off places (whose veracity may not entirely be accurate).

Regards,
Cordelia

P.s. My current mini-quest is to find the rope to allow me to tie Bevgul to my arms to use as 'arm-wear'. Do NOT shoot me tells informing me of where to find the rope, please! It's a personal quest.

[elveron]

I have to agree with Ciara on switch, that can get out of hand in a hurry, my favorite was a mud where one of the Cimps use to like to switch and hand out weapons from loaded mobs, of course only to his friends.

A proper questmaster could be set to travel the entire mud (well a set number of locations) that he travels on his path. You have to find him on that path to talk to him. If you talk to him he stops and gives out clues, minor items, or even loads something nice to kill him for. You can make his destination rooms no mort, so we can't find him when he is resting at his private rooms. I remember the long endless searches for a questmaster. You could also use a LoreMaster this way. He wanders the mud giving out the starting clues for all the assemble items in the game. So if you want to find out you can just travel with him for a bit, and when I say the basic clue I mean the basis to find the first clue for assemble and that's it. He puts you on the right track and then its all up to you after that. I mean as a returning player with already 1 remort I have no idea what assembles except 2 items and no idea how to assemble them. Then again I haven't taken the time or desire to assemble them for a character that can't use them. So that is my choice.

[Cordelia]

I mean as a returning player with already 1 remort I have no idea what assembles except 2 items and no idea how to assemble them. Then again I haven't taken the time or desire to assemble them for a character that can't use them. So that is my choice.

I think Ching's initial point was that there were already mobs within the game who fulfil this function. Yes, you have to find them and yes, each mob only provides a clue to a particular item, but there are a number of easily findable mobs that provide clues to several makeable items.

I suspect people either don't take the time to listen to talking mobs (I love listening to the troubadour in Skara Brae -- have a sneaking suspicion that Kailyn is the author of that particular mob, but I could be wrong), or don't follow up on their clues. Since reading this thread, I've made mental notes of the mobs that provide clues and guesswork at what item these clues refer to.

The lightsaber is an example of a makeable item that most players find out about pretty quickly -- hopefully by then, through keeping an ear out on gossip, stopping to listen to the talking mobs and reading 'changes' (big hint!), players will get the urge to follow up on makeable items.

Of course, these are long term quests as players often have more immediate goals like obtaining x item or remorting (I plan to remort Bard, for instance). I share your sentiment re: not taking the time to make such an item, because at present, it's not an immediate goal of mine. Longer term, it will be. Also, just a personal idiosyncracy, I would never buy a makeable item because for me that would spoil the quest in finding out what the parts are (talking mobs) and trying to obtain those parts.

The choice is there for players if they want it: personal quests (or more commonly, obtaining information from other players) and obtaining item parts and/or just buying the item from auction.

Elveron, just want to pick up on this point:

I mean as a returning player with already 1 remort ..<SNIP!>

Congratulations on remorting! It's often an immediate goal - a personal milestone for players. Someone made the comment that if you really wanted to, you could just remort in the Shire. Obviously, Dank was being facetious but his point was well made in that exp grinding by itself does not confer knowledge. Again, it's personal choice: grind and remort, or explore a little. Depends on what floats your boat -- you can also get off the exp treadmill and pick an area from 'Help Areas' and explore! Or if you do explore, always find an area that isn't Straight Path or Star Wars () to use as an exp grind. Or help new players, remorted players level a little, etc etc.

Whilst I'm sure you indulge in all of these activities, one's playing time is probably tilted predominantly to grinding than other activities, which is understandable. Now that you have remorted, and the exp grind is that much more of a grind, your priorities may shift towards another activity. My tip would be to choose an area that you've always meant to explore from 'Help Areas' and explore it methodically and thoroughly. I have a bundle of areas that I still wish to explore either for the first time or in greater depth.

Regards,
Cordelia