Messages

181

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: A newbs life in school, quest academy and after.

« on: October 05, 2011, 05:49:31 am »

Btw the rest will be up tommorrow night PROMISE. Was a pretty busy week but i cant complain.

Got hired into my company

Became an uncle

and bought a new car

I know im bad with giving exact due dates sorry

182

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: A newbs life in school, quest academy and after.

« on: October 05, 2011, 05:46:54 am »

@Molly

1. Changes casters starting item to an about item, Could call it {cb Mystical {cx cloak. Give it the same stat as the glasses make it an about.

Agreed and already done. Same vnum, different item.

Awesome

2. Start them all out with the standard issue vest, waterskin, note that is found in the backpack on the ground before lionel

Agreed, except for the part that would demand coding.
I propose that we instead reset the waterskin and vest in the chest at Lionel.

Something with the waterskin that bugs me is they are not shown about hunger till they enter the school and it doesnt even apply to them till what level 10 or 20?

Should we even keep the waterskin?

3. Remove the travelers backpack before Lionel

Agreed. Move some of the content to Lionel's chest.

Awesome

4. Remove the about item found in Lionel box.

Agreed.
So Lionel's chest should contain:
- a pair of deer skin trousers
- a pair of deer skin moccasins
- a sub issue vest (new)
- a lantern (new)
- a waterskin (new)

- remove the bearskin from reset

Great! But refer to Number 2

5. Have Lionel walk casters through manifesting an item, either he gives them an item
or start them out with an item to manifest.

Agreed.
I too prefer the second option.
So, Lionel gives them a weapon and walks them through the manifest. (Script needs changing)

Good

5. Remove the flint and moccasins found in prehistoric area.

Agreed.
And why not put something else that is useful there instead?
Suggestions?

Maybe something for arms or gloves? Maybe beer skin gloves considering theres a bear in the area?

6. Remove the sword from the squire and change his description in the medieval area

The idea with the squire was that Fighters and Rogues might like different weapons.

So, maybe make the sword a bit better and the squire a bit stronger (8d9 damage, to match the dagger)?
Or make a small quest for the squire instead, where he asks you to fetch something somewhere else in the castle, and in return gives you a better sword? (I prefer the second choice).
He should also tell you to talk to the cook and say that she has a better weapon if you are a rogue. (Script needs changing).

I agree with the second choice, I would say make it class dependent.

Squire gives a quest for fighters, cook gives one for rogues and Gandalf gives one for mages.

If you are the wrong class have them point you to who to see. The sign where the cook would need to be changed because it says to talk to the cook for a quest. Could maybe move the sign to the squire. Make it some kind of board with flyers up with people who could use a spare hand.

7. Give them a reward for the maze.(Money, Exp, Earring?)

Agreed. So:
- Add an earring, found somewhere in the maze. Perhaps in the grass, (visible container)?(new)
- Keep the spectacles

Make it in a visible container when they find their way out.

8. Move green banana to a neck slot so it doesn't interfere with the face mask slot.

Agreed.
- Change the bandana to neck
– or maybe make it a double wear_loc item, for those that may have missed the mask?

Agreed

9. Is olive branch adequate enough for casters? 1.44 multi. Seems more for melee fighters with the 10d10 and 25 max hit.

Perhaps give two other choice for the Olive branch, one for each class type?
Suggestions?  

Something else I noticed with casters recieving the olive branch is that they are forced to put a timer on their reward. And the timer expired i think around 4-5 days for me.

So Id say lets remove the olive branch as a whole, and replace it with 3 weapons, one for each class but make it have the same scripts the  branch had.

Let fighters get either an axe or a mace, lets start to go ahead and veer away a little with always using swords.
10d/10d
2 str
25 max hit

Rogues
Dagger or I was thinking more of something along the lines of sometype of gloves with claws?
2dex
5hitroll

Casters
Lets give them a staff, have it give the same ulti as a reg staff you can woodsing. Give it a decent timer(or can this be removed, Or can it change into another object and you can have one of the caster trainers embue magic back into it to put its timer back on it?)

2 int
4 cha

Stats dont have to be what I suggested but i figured somewhere along the lines of stats would be useful for damage.

10. Discussion of adding a identify script on to the seeker feather.

I'd rather we add a small quest in Future for an item with a script to cast identify, restricted for first remort.
(The feather already has too many scripts on it).

Also I have my doubts about the grenade in future, since grenades don't seem to work in the present code.
(Either remove the grenade or fix the code).

How about we change the remote you get off the captain into an item that you can use to identify.

Call it a tricorder for anyone that never watched star trek

In Star Trek, “tricorders” are handheld devices used for sensor scanning, data analysis and recording data. Or maybe move it to the diploma.

11. Removing all of the drop outs in school except one at the start, and telling them how to recall out if they wish to leave the school and return later.

Agreed. I'm all for this.
- Remove all exits down  except the first one.
- Add some info about Recall command and Feather in the rooms between each Dimension

12. The newbie donation pit. Is it needed?

- Remove the Newbie donation pit. (It probably doesn't work anyhow).

One thing about this is the quest for the tradepoints will need to be moved. Honestly he didnt feel right there to me, to me he does feel like he was thrown in. I will have to think about maybe where to move him to.

I assume that the general plan would be to have all wear_loc slots filled after they leave Mudschool and the Newbie Areas, including the Arena.
Not necessarily first class objects, but something good enough to start them out.

Ill explain further shortly

183

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: A newbs life in school, quest academy and after.

« on: September 29, 2011, 12:18:45 am »

Can we please stick to just the school at the moment and not move on to the quest line before I post on it. So we dont get ahead of ourselves. Ill try to get it up soon, and answer some of the questions.

184

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Gypsys and Rangers getting a battle skill.

« on: September 27, 2011, 01:49:12 pm »

Im assuming the skills are just going to be temp fixes?

185

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Woodsing?

« on: September 27, 2011, 01:47:41 pm »

Also it was suppose to be a chance to be able to woodsing an uber ulti. It was bugged. Was it ever fixed?

Also I think I remember there being a problem with how the stats turned up on some of the staves. I remember I use to get staves that greatly reduced your speed as a stat.. And I some what recall, the help files on trees wasnt correct as far as what the stats each tree gave you.

186

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: A newbs life in school, quest academy and after.

« on: September 27, 2011, 01:11:09 pm »

Reserved

187

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: A newbs life in school, quest academy and after.

« on: September 27, 2011, 01:10:31 pm »

Reserved for newbie zones

188

Suggestions & Ideas / A newbs life in school, quest academy and after.

« on: September 27, 2011, 01:10:16 pm »

Its taken me a bit longer to get the ball rolling on this thread then I anticipated but here it is. I still have more work to do on fully gathering up everything but we can at least have a thread dedicated to this and at least get the general goals discussed more thoroughly..


Some of the points I want to bring up is :

1. What kind of equipment is in the School, Quest Academy, and the 8 Newbie Zones?
2. Is this equipment well balanced for all 3 types of classes (Rogues, Fighters, and Casters) found throughout the starting areas?
3. After the school, academy, and newbie areas are newbies really ready to face the 4D world?
4. How can we better help prepare the newbies to make it easier on them to find a massive world as 4D fun and enjoyable at a lower level?


Upon starting off you are given a sub issue helmet a weapon and one special item that is fitted towards your class, a backpack and some letters with information on them.

Fighters get the red cape of the squire and a longsword
Casters get the magical glasses and no weapon.(the magical glasses needs to be changed to an about item I will bring up why further in the post.)
Rogues get the thiefs cloak and a dagger


As they continue to go down they run into another backpack that has a few more items in them :

a sub issue dagger
a sub issue vest
a sub issue helmet
a lantern
a buffalo waterskin
a letter with some information

Now there is no information in this room to tell you to pick up the backpack and get the items from the backpack. So why is it even there? Another point is why give them another helmet they already have in the first place and give them another weapon so early in the game? Which one should they use?

I personally feel this backpack just needs to be removed. We can add waterskin and the letter to items they receive when they first login.
 
Now they continue to the next room and Lionel is waiting for them to tell them to get items from the box, practice their first skills, and tells casters to look up manifest and orb. Now, what exactly is a caster suppose to manifest when they receive no weapon to start out with? So I personally feel that

A. They need to receive a weapon they can manifest when they first login
or
B. Have Lionel give them a weapon and walk them through the manifest.(I like this choice better)

Now moving onto the chest that is in the room with Lionel.

Inside you find :
a bear skin(an about)
a pair of deer skin trousers
a pair of deer skin moccasins

Now the trousers and moccasins I'm fine with but not the bear skin. Fighters and Rogues already start out with an about item. Why give them another one? We are forcing them to choose already when they have no idea which is better. Lets change this to the sub issue vest that is found in the backpack in the room before.

Now lets move onto the the 4dimenions of the school, They provide great information and I'm happy and content with what they provide. My only objections to these zones is what some of the zone offers as rewards for doing small quests

Prehistoric upon doing a quest you receive a great face item.

a face mask, striped in red and white is a type of armor made from base-material
It is from the dimension Old West
It can be taken and worn on TAKE FACE
Its weight is 1 and its valued at 0 coins.
If worn it will give you --
     2 to your Strength
     2 to your Constitution
    25 to your Maxmove

AC-apply is 2
Also applies innate armor

Great item, for starting out. No complaints. We also run into a piece of flint and another pair of shoes. Once again we are wanting them to choose which is better. I think they should just be removed considering how many weapons they will run into during the school.

Now lets move onto the medieval zone. Here you learn about tiers, how to talk on all channels, how to greet people, how to; post,mail and notes, potions, pills, wands, rules, mortals and immortals. We also run across a few items id like to mention. A short sword from killing the squire and 2 quest items. A small dagger and a ring

a thin gold ring is a type of armor made from base-material
It can be taken and worn on TAKE FINGER
It is glowing
Its weight is 1 and its valued at 50 coins.
If worn it will give you --
     1 to your Constitution

AC-apply is 2

a small dagger is a type of weapon made from base-material
It can be taken and worn on TAKE WIELD
It is undonateable melt-on-drop
Its weight is 3 and its valued at 50 coins.

Wanted Weapon Balance: (base)-=======0=================-(tip)
Actual Weapon Balance: (base)-=======0=================-(tip)
This balance gives the weapon 20 speed, 40 accuracy and 5 evasion.
The one handed weapon is a 35cm Dagger that can pierce at 8D9 damage.

This weapon gives a chance of landing attacks to
                (Head)
                ( 9%)
            (Upper)-(Upper)  
  (18%)(Left)   (Torso)   (Right)(36%)
                (18%)
            (Lower)-(Lower)
         (Left )       (Right)
          ( 9%)         ( 9%)

a short sword is a type of weapon made from base-material
It can be taken and worn on TAKE WIELD
It is undonateable melt-on-drop
Its weight is 6 and its valued at 100 coins.

Wanted Weapon Balance: (base)-=====0===================-(tip)
Actual Weapon Balance: (base)-=====0===================-(tip)
This balance gives the weapon 14 speed, 43 accuracy and 9 evasion.
The one handed weapon is a 60cm Shortsword that can slash at 4D7 damage.

This weapon gives a chance of landing attacks to
                (Head)
                (10%)
            (Upper)-(Upper)  
  (20%)(Left)   (Torso)   (Right)(20%)
                (10%)
            (Lower)-(Lower)
         (Left )       (Right)
          (20%)         (20%)

Love the ring and the dagger is good. Now I dont know what I think about the squire. Upon looking at him and the note left in the room hes made out to be bad ass. Hes pretty weak and easily killed just like the bear. Personally I feel like we should and want to make sure they find this dagger with telling you to talk to the cook.. So maybe get rid of the sword because its weaker then the dagger and change the squire description.



Lets move onto the old west. Here they learn about mounts, range weapons(which sucks atm), tokens, mazes(no reward), timetraps, and they get 2 quest items.

I feel like they should earn something for the maze. Even if its just experience or maybe an earring. There's only one other earring found in the newbie area and its in the old west newbie zone.

Now move onto the quest items

We get :

a green bandana is a type of armor made from base-material
It can be taken and worn on TAKE FACE
Its weight is 1 and its valued at 3 coins.
If worn it will give you --
     5 to your Strength
    -1 to your Armor

AC-apply is 1

and

a pair of wire framed spectacles is a type of armor made from base-material
It can be taken and worn on TAKE EYES
It is undonateable unsellable
Its weight is 1 and its valued at 4000 coins.
If worn it will give you --
    25 to your Maxmove
     4 to your Constitution

AC-apply is 2 applies inn infra

Now, they already have a great face item if they did the quest in pre historic. So why are we giving them another one. I think this should be moved to maybe neck? It would make sense to have a bandana around your neck. The wire framed spectacles, awesome item I love infravision in the dark. Now this is where I bring up why I think casters starting item of magical glasses needs to be moved to an about. Because their starting item they are already having to give up because the spectacles and glasses are both face items.

As we move onto the future I really don't see anything wrong here. We get another weapon 16d4 its alright again we are making them decide which is better.

As they move forward they go through the quest academy upon finish it and turning in all vouchers they receive an olive branch, and (gold?). I personally feel the olive branch is more suited for melee fighters, because you don't obtain all that great of an ulti. This is something we can debate.


Now if we was going to keep some of the items I asked to be removed to help them not get confused on what to use how about we give them some more help on deciding which is better. Compare is crap I personally think and once they get a few levels under their belt and understand the game more its never used again because of how cheap scrolls of identify are. I was discussing this with Loria about maybe adding a script to the feather that allows them to cast identify with it(making sure they don't have to hold it so it doesn't send them to the clan hall) but as long as they are say below level 20? maybe 30 and still in seekers let them use script as much as their heart pleases.

I also dislike how many chances you are given to drop out in school, its like hey this is to hard or to boring go ahead and drop out. I think we should maybe only give the chance at the start then tell them if they wish to leave to just use recall, instead of having school drop outs everywhere.

As far as stats concerned starting out, I personally believe they are fine. Everything seems to be Move, Con , And str. Something that can help all classes early out. I believe once they leave the school the balance of stats should be talked about and discussed in the newbie areas and then out. But that will be in my next post.

Last but not least something I want to bring up is the donation pit in the starting area, what decides if an item goes there? I personally dont feel like we should 2 donation pits. Just causes more of what is better then what.

So im going to go ahead and recap some changes I think need to be done in the school and starting out in general. :

1. Changes casters starting item to an about item, Could call it {cb Mystical {cx cloak. Give it the same stat as the glasses make it an about.

2. Start them all out with the standard issue vest, waterskin, note that is found in the backpack on the ground before lionel

3. Remove the travelers backpack before Lionel.

4. Remove the about item found in Lionel box.

5. Have Lionel walk casters through manifesting an item, either he gives them an item or start them out with an item to manifest.

5. Remove the flint and moccasins found in prehistoric area.

6. Remove the sword from the squire and change his description in the medieval area

7. Give them a reward for the maze.(Money, Exp, Earring?)

8. Move green banana to a neck slot so it doesn't interfere with the face mask slot.

9. Is olive branch adequate enough for casters? 1.44 multi. Seems more for melee fighters with the 10d10 and 25 max hit. reg stats are :

an olive branch is a type of weapon made from base-material
It can be taken and worn on TAKE WIELD
It is undonateable unsellable
Its weight is 4 and its valued at 0 coins.
If worn it will give you --
     2 to your Strength
    25 to your Maxhit
Wanted Weapon Balance: (base)-===0=====================-(tip)
Actual Weapon Balance: (base)-====0====================-(tip)
This balance gives the weapon 0 speed, -1 accuracy and 0 evasion.
The one handed weapon is a 40cm Whip that can stab at 10D10 damage.
This weapon gives a chance of landing attacks to
                (Head)
                (12%)
            (Upper)-(Upper)  
  (24%)(Left)   (Torso)   (Right)(24%)
                (24%)
            (Lower)-(Lower)
         (Left )       (Right)
          ( 7%)         ( 7%)

10. Discussion of adding a identify script on to the seeker feather.

11. Removing all of the drop outs in school except one at the start, and telling them how to recall out if they wish to leave the school and return later.


12. The newbie donation pit. Is it needed?


Now, I still have 2 more posts to come with after this, talking about the newbie zones then the discussion of how to direct them further in game. So if you respond as of right now keep it to starting out and school only till i have the other posts up which should be either later tonight or tomorrow.

189

Suggestions & Ideas / Re: Gypsys and Rangers getting a battle skill.

« on: September 24, 2011, 07:09:05 am »

You know I had suggested Gypsy get a new skill a while back ago and was told they didnt need it -.-. Virisin awesome response was they had trample.

190

General Discussions / Re: Is 4D dying? And if so, how can we save our beloved Mud?

« on: September 24, 2011, 04:36:19 am »

    I really think alot of the problems that keep new players from staying is for the simple fact after mud school they are just throw into this huge world and they have no idea where to go.  They start to explore and its easy to find death. Also the lack of equipment, and how hard it is to find when you are new. I remember how aggravating it was to look around for equipment and die going to a new zone.

After the quest school I think more emphasizes should be put on them exploring the newbie zones then have them seek out their guildmaster in old yorke that will send them on quests in areas where they can find equipment, and places to level.

I dont know how many times i look at a new person who has some levels under their belt and how naked they are, and when they look at you they see this full set of equipment. Now I know people say its easy to find equipment by looking around. This is coming from olbies whos been around for a while. I personally remember finding alot of the races unique spots some of the hardest things to find.

So i really like the idea of giving them the ability to be lead into a direction from their classes guild master to areas they can find equipment best suited for their class. These quest that their guild master gives them I think should also give them a decent ammount of experience also add a few more pieces of equipment to help them level up and fill up their equipment slots.

These quest shouldn't be overly to difficult but it at least will put them in this zone and close to direction of them being able to find this equipment with a little bit of hard work. I think its best to make them work for it then having olbies point them in this direction of just always give handouts.

A few examples would be

1. The Mage Guild master wife has is attending a banquet dinner at the Blue Dragon Inn and she wants to make sure she looks her best.So he asks you to take her dress to Marguerite at the Silk and Satin shop to have it tailored. Now they will be rewarded with some experience and also the store provides some equipment that has stats suited for their needs as a mage.(A good suggestion from Loria duplicate the items he sells but for a male)

Now lets not forget that with a fancy dress you also need some fancy jewelry, but his wife has recently broken her diamond bracelet and She needs it deliver to Janet at the jewelery store so she can fix the link. This will give them the ability to know where to buy some shiny rings that will help their charisma.


2. The Warriors Guildsmaster is in need of a personal guard to escort his family to Dragon Islands. There's a few pieces of equipment that they can buy at the store there that will help melee fighters.

3. After you finish the quest for the Mages Guildnaster he will ask you to help gather some fresh seafood for the banquet dinner and asks you to explorer the Agean sea and gather him up a list of fish. This will point casters towards the magical fishhook.


Now as they continue with quests from these guildmasters their guildmasters will lead them directly into new mobs that will give them new small quests that will lead them elsewhere for a bit till they are a bit more prepared to take on the 4d world completely  on their own.

Now I also think that beginners should also earn more then just gold for reaching certain levels. They should also be rewarded with equipment based on their class and race. Just because some slots with stats that help their specific class are harder to find than others.
Ex - Tails. I remember it took me forever to find a tail slot. Low stats items are not gonna hurt the game play and it will help give the players a full equipment set and make it a little easier to help them level with the added stats and armor.

The olive branch, If i remember correctly you can only use it till level 20. Raise this limit or slowly make the item get weaker as they go on, but letting them keep it a bit longer help them level a bit more quickly. There is also a pair of glasses in the old west, i cant remember if its the quest school or the newbie old west zone. Gives them inn infravision but it also has a level limit.


If you like my ideas, I will continue and start gathering all the items I can find it in the easier zones and give ideas of quests that can put them in the general location of where these items are; along with finding out which slots for mages/melee are the hardest to find for newbies to make for rewards for hitting a certain levels.