EQ Never

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Abefroman

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
12,594
11,937
Dude, this shit is 100x better than tobasco.

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WRONG!

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Farmer Jim is spawned from a template:

I call it the "Spreading the Wizard class around template"

-It can spawn anywhere in the world that's nearby a potential Threat (orc warband, etc) to trigger the conflict _AND_ a player that needs the Wizard class.
-The NPCs name is "Farmer [RANDOM NAME GENERATED]". He has 0 to 2 children, 0 to 1 wife. Sometimes they are kidnapped and need to be retrieved, sometimes they are killed and need to be avenged, sometimes they are left alone but some other thing is taken from Farmer Whatever that prompts him to ask the user to wipe out the Orc warband's camp after the player repeals the initial attack on the farm.
-His farm is procedurally generated so its not always exactly the same every time.
-After the player saves the day, Farmer Whatever teaches Wizard to the player, and then states "I'm done with this farming thing, we're moving back to Qeynos!". The entire place disappears and is replaced by normal "woodlands" once the server detects that no players are present to see the area revert to its neutral state.
 

tad10

Elisha Dushku
5,533
595
You have no taste dude. Come down to Louisiana where we have real food and you will change your mind.
Venezuela has a hot sauce made with fire ants. Been a while, but I remember it as pretty good. Also Tabasco + real Spanish chorizo is better than LA hot sauce + chorizo.
 

Grumpus

Molten Core Raider
1,927
223
Farmer Jim is spawned from a template:

I call it the "Spreading the Wizard class around template"

-It can spawn anywhere in the world that's nearby a potential Threat (orc warband, etc) to trigger the conflict _AND_ a player that needs the Wizard class.
-The NPCs name is "Farmer [RANDOM NAME GENERATED]". He has 0 to 2 children, 0 to 1 wife. Sometimes they are kidnapped and need to be retrieved, sometimes they are killed and need to be avenged, sometimes they are left alone but some other thing is taken from Farmer Whatever that prompts him to ask the user to wipe out the Orc warband's camp after the player repeals the initial attack on the farm.
-His farm is procedurally generated so its not always exactly the same every time.
-After the player saves the day, Farmer Whatever teaches Wizard to the player, and then states "I'm done with this farming thing, we're moving back to Qeynos!". The entire place disappears and is replaced by normal "woodlands" once the server detects that no players are present to see the area revert to its neutral state.
That would be amazing
 
I didn't hear anything like this but I guess it's not impossible. Seemed more like Wizard class guy was in world and there were several different ways to get him to give it to you.
It just does'nt make sense to me that you would put in all that effort developing a working procedural system for the underground and then neglect using that for the rest of the world.
 

Rod-138

Trakanon Raider
1,183
966
i have lived here for 28 years, cant find another good thing but the food.
I got you by 2 years and I have a few things

Fishing - inshore / offshore fishing proximity offers some of the most diverse fishing options in the world

People - kind of related to the food, I find people here focus on getting together to make meals and spend time with each other, moreso than other places. Last week we had 8 people from around the world in my cousin's kitchen cooking a turtle soup - and they couldn't believe we get together every sunday and cook / drink beer for 4-5 hours. You could call it lazy/gluttonous in a sense, to get together for so long and just drink/talk about the food we're about to eat, but I really enjoy it and I think most people would.

cultures - While each State has their own interesting cultures and histories, in Louisiana we have many - from coastal Cajun communities to old aristocratic style new orleanian, the differences between communities are vast if you travel 30 miles in any direction. Baton Rouge and New Orleans are barely related in a family sense.


Anyway - we really shouldn't derail a thread already travelling at ludicrous speed, so, back to Farmer Jim. I wonder if people can kill the class providing NPCs?
 

Mr Creed

Too old for this shit
2,385
277
Which is something that worries me. They have an idea, could not do it themselves, looked for ways to help implement it. But we are now left with just how much the SOE devs are able to draw from storybricks to match their vision (I assume that TB was given a fairly similar pitch, even though he might not have seen so much graphical flare).

It seems as it fits scenario one of my post. They are holding back on releasing information about storybricks because as a pure middleware product, it will not perform as they specify, but they are working on making it so. We have been told their vision and goal, end result will most likely be much narrower in scope than what they have planned. Will not be the first game to promise and not deliver. As long as EQN landmark delivers somewhat ok (no need for fancy AI building stuff), EQN will be a success even if their world events are as limited as GW2s. Just will not be a revolution, just a slight progress towards an idea that maybe someone down the line will figure out how to do properly. If they have not done it yet, it will not magically happen in the next year.

EDIT: Calling it now. If we do not get any more detail about Storybricks in the next two gameshows (I think there are two major ones left this year right?), then I doubt the tech is finished. At which point, from at the latest early nest year, we will start to get leaks about minor adjustments and pulling back expectations in regards to mob behavior and the social AI until SOE Live 2014. Things like "There needs to be some rudamentary pathing of NPCs" "npcs do need to have a fixed basis on who you are based on some things" "quests can never be quite random, so it is possible to predetermine where the class NPC will spawn next" "Mobs in different tiers of course also have higher hp and more and harder hitting abilities, not just a fancy AI script." All logical statements (based on current ideas on how mmo worlds work) and not saying anything about Storybricks not working. Just lowering the expecations gotten from their original pitch ideas that they were unable to implement fully.
We have too little information to set realistic expectations at this time. So given that I think some expect too much from it. Here's what I expect: The core of your standings to all npcs are faction standings just like EVE has. You have a starting value depending character creation, and all your actions modify that. NPCs react based on it. You DO have standings towards groups/organizations and individuals and the actual reaction depends on both: Say all guards in Halas hate you because you opposed the founding of Halas during the rally call. There is that one guard that personally considers you a friend for saving him from some bear during the rally call despite opposing his side's general goal. So he doesnt give you the quest that needs his highest faction grade, but he also doesnt KoS you like the other Halas guards.

Maybe I miss-understood some details about the interaction of handcrafted and random content but my impression is that quests are hand-crafted, just wether they are offered to you depends on how the SB AI views your character based on those standings. Although having randomly created tasks would be easy compared to the other challenges in this, so maybe there's a mix. They do need to have several ways leading to most classes because otherwise you would have to follow a specific path from creation on, and I doubt that is what they have in mind. So anyone with some standing or arcane knowledge can easily learn geomancer in the academy of magic, but your rogue isnt welcome there. however there's an old caster type in the underground market that wants some books from said academy and would teach him the basics for stealing them (unlock the class) ... the rogue cannot learn more from him though and is even less welcome with the academy now, so he has to set out and find other mage teachers, yadda yadda x1000. Most if this is handcrafted, probably about the same effort that the whole quest layout in WoW takes. But the underlying faction/SB/AI turns it into so much more because its not quests to fetch bear asses for xp, instead you try to advance your character based on your past actions and what they allow you, and if you closed some doors in the past you need to find other ways to reach the same goal. If they have all this I already consider SB a huge success. I would settle for less, really.

Awesome afterthought: You are KoS to all grobb guards but know that one of them knows the secret password to a cave you want to enter. Now you can work your facion up in the eyes of everyone in grobb by killing dwarves and frokgloks and helping their caravans and shit, standard faction fare, and eventually that guard talks to you - but the dorfs hate you now. BUT, with what was said so far you could also with some help lure that guard into a situation where he is overwhelmed by mobs and come in to save him, and get a huge boost to his personal faction while grobb still hates your guts thus saving your dorf standings and still getting the password. That's the kinda stuff that might be possible and would be hitting the ball out of the park.


Edit: neither of this is even adressing the removal of static spawns, pathing or in-combat behaviour, I'm not building expectations for that until we get more info. You could throw the above into EQ1 with some work. But again consider what you think of my examples above, and how much better that would become if the combat AI and the non-static spawn behaviour AI actually work out.
 

Bellringer_sl

shitlord
387
0
I got you by 2 years and I have a few things

Fishing - inshore / offshore fishing proximity offers some of the most diverse fishing options in the world

People - kind of related to the food, I find people here focus on getting together to make meals and spend time with each other, moreso than other places. Last week we had 8 people from around the world in my cousin's kitchen cooking a turtle soup - and they couldn't believe we get together every sunday and cook / drink beer for 4-5 hours. You could call it lazy/gluttonous in a sense, to get together for so long and just drink/talk about the food we're about to eat, but I really enjoy it and I think most people would.

cultures - While each State has their own interesting cultures and histories, in Louisiana we have many - from coastal Cajun communities to old aristocratic style new orleanian, the differences between communities are vast if you travel 30 miles in any direction. Baton Rouge and New Orleans are barely related in a family sense.


Anyway - we really shouldn't derail a thread already travelling at ludicrous speed, so, back to Farmer Jim. I wonder if people can kill the class providing NPCs?
I live in BR. Moving out of state in a couple months, couldn't be happier about it. I may return later in my life, but for now - enough louisiana for me.


Agreed, back on topic. If being a dedicated tank in the game is not an option, I guess I will roll and enchanter/support type class. Ah well. So much for the red haired human warrior named Bellringer shouting obscenities across the world. =(
 

tad10

Elisha Dushku
5,533
595
I live in BR. Moving out of state in a couple months, couldn't be happier about it. I may return later in my life, but for now - enough louisiana for me.


Agreed, back on topic. If being a dedicated tank in the game is not an option, I guess I will roll and enchanter/support type class. Ah well. So much for the red haired human warrior named Bellringer shouting obscenities across the world. =(
The bird entrails are clear you can play a dedicated tank for all practical purposes.

The only difference is you will need to substitute either a leash mechanism or a massive threat mechanism or (if they exist in EQN) a rescue mechanism for taunt.

For example:

On your bar you will have various damage causing abilities additionally you will need

Leash Mechanisms (CC or Movement): Stuns (Bash), ShadowStep, Ice Wall, Etc; or
Threat Mechanism: (DPS abilities) "Backstab"-equivalent utra-high damage attack; or
Rescue Mechanism: (CC or Defensive): Example would be ability to cast a defensive barrier around a Mage, forcing Mob to target you.

In all cases you're still the plate armor wearing, hammer/2HS/S+B wielding tank. All that's gone is you don't get to taunt.