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New System for Items that Save

Posted: 18 Sep 2018 00:27
by gorboth

Code: Select all

Esteemed fellow Genesis Enthusiasts,

A fairly major change has been implemented in the realms. We have
introduced a new system for items whereby when you quit, or when Army
strikes, all items in your inventory and in guild racks save. This
replaces the former mechanic in which only certain items would "glow."
Now, all items glow, always, and will save over logins or reboots.

The change is being made to address a critical issue. Many visitors who
found Genesis and gave it a try decided to quit and not return when
they discovered that gear does not save. It was a deal-breaker issue,
and one that has caused us to lose players that otherwise may have
stuck around long enough to discover that they loved the game and wanted
to remain part of the community.

We took a look at various ways to change the way items save in the game,
considering things like lockers, non-magical saving, worn/wielded saving,
etc. However, in the end we elected to go with what seemed the simplest
method, both easy to understand for a new player, and easy to implement.

This is going to change gameplay. The way gear is handled in the game will
need to be reconsidered by players on an individual and guild level. It
will be interesting to see what develops, and we are fairly certain that
issues will arise that necessitate further tweaks to get the system where
we want it for good gameplay. In that regard, we ask for patience and
help from the players who experience problems. Please mail me about the
issues you are experiencing so we can correct problems we feel must be
addressed.

For now, we are in a trial period. We hope this will make the game more
friendly for visitors, and that it will be a good change overall.

Many thanks to all who participated in forum discussions, and to Cotillion
who provided his usual code expertise.

G.

p.s. We are doing a maintenance Armageddon to finalize this update. It
     assures that all items in the game save, rather than just the ones
     that spawned since the update was made live. The change is to be
     considered live AFTER that Armageddon, which I am triggering
     as I post this note.


Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 18 Sep 2018 16:51
by Tulasi
Suggestions for things that should be adressed in this:

Items that are unbreakable:
-- Alternative 1: make nothing unbreakable (even FBB and crystal axe would dull)
-- Alternative 2: make unbreakable items follow the rules of the ogre equipment - Unbreakable = never save, ever.

Imagine seeing multiple people running around with imbued crystal axe or imbued flaming black broadsword for the forseable future...


Tulasi

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 01:10
by sylphan
Does this mean all gear is permagear? Am I understanding this correctly?

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 01:20
by Greneth
sylphan wrote:Does this mean all gear is permagear? Am I understanding this correctly?
In a sense yes, things will still dull and need to be replaced though. With the exception of non-dulling weapons which will most likely be addressed eventually.

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 09:32
by Zugzug
Invest into ironstones, never tank in your special imbued gear, and you are set with eq forever (or at least until this changes).

edit: oh, Tulasi, regarding this:

"-- Alternative 2: make unbreakable items follow the rules of the ogre equipment - Unbreakable = never save, ever."

Keep in mind that unlike ogres the rest of the populace actually has to kill certain npcs over and over and over and over again just for a chance for that gear to drop. I'd love to buy something like sledge, but in polearm version every arma that wouldn't dull.

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 12:43
by Tulasi
Zugzug wrote:Invest into ironstones, never tank in your special imbued gear, and you are set with eq forever (or at least until this changes).

edit: oh, Tulasi, regarding this:

"-- Alternative 2: make unbreakable items follow the rules of the ogre equipment - Unbreakable = never save, ever."

Keep in mind that unlike ogres the rest of the populace actually has to kill certain npcs over and over and over and over again just for a chance for that gear to drop. I'd love to buy something like sledge, but in polearm version every arma that wouldn't dull.
Question is, why do we need to have non-breaking weapons at all, with this change?

I can agree that there should be more degrees on dulling, that some weapons will dull slower than others (and some faster), but non-breakable isn't really needed. I do, however, believe that a weapon that today is non-dulling, like the serrated obsidian halberd, as an example, should, if given a slow dulling, not be able to break from a high level of "sharpness", like some weapons breaking from prime by shere bad luck, but they should dull down and eventually break like everything else, with this change.

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 13:10
by Zugzug
Tulasi wrote:
Zugzug wrote:Invest into ironstones, never tank in your special imbued gear, and you are set with eq forever (or at least until this changes).

edit: oh, Tulasi, regarding this:

"-- Alternative 2: make unbreakable items follow the rules of the ogre equipment - Unbreakable = never save, ever."

Keep in mind that unlike ogres the rest of the populace actually has to kill certain npcs over and over and over and over again just for a chance for that gear to drop. I'd love to buy something like sledge, but in polearm version every arma that wouldn't dull.
Question is, why do we need to have non-breaking weapons at all, with this change?

I can agree that there should be more degrees on dulling, that some weapons will dull slower than others (and some faster), but non-breakable isn't really needed. I do, however, believe that a weapon that today is non-dulling, like the serrated obsidian halberd, as an example, should, if given a slow dulling, not be able to break from a high level of "sharpness", like some weapons breaking from prime by shere bad luck, but they should dull down and eventually break like everything else, with this change.
You have no problem with ever-lasting magic wands though, right? :D

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 13:11
by Dhez
Since the idle-triggers rules were changed and now idling with gear is permitted, can we also update 'help idle' to reflect it? Mainly for new players who may try one command instead of the other.

'help botting' says:

IDLE-BOTTING: Idle-botting occurs when a player uses timed automated
commands to prevent them from being logged out even if
they are idle longer than the idle time limit (See
<help idle>). Formerly, it was considered illegal to idle
bot with good gear in your inventory (back when items
did not automatically save at logout.) This is no longer
the case, and it is now permitted to idle-bot, even if you
have good gear. Stay in the game as long as you like! :-)
'help idle' currently states that:
WARNING
This 30 minute limit exists for a reason. We want to give other
people a chance to play this fine game, too. Using a client to
circumvent the limit can in certain situations be considered
abuse and violate the rules of the game.
But there is no such case of it at the moment, unless I missed something.

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 13:52
by Tulasi
Zugzug wrote:You have no problem with ever-lasting magic wands though, right? :D

Well, only wands that I know of that are ever-lasting are nonmagical items to hold in your hand... And I rarely use any wands at all, so for me, they can have a duration of 24 hours held for all I care. Especially the one from Urian's mage, right?

Re: New System for Items that Save

Posted: 19 Sep 2018 14:56
by Arman
Tulasi wrote:
Zugzug wrote:Invest into ironstones, never tank in your special imbued gear, and you are set with eq forever (or at least until this changes).

edit: oh, Tulasi, regarding this:

"-- Alternative 2: make unbreakable items follow the rules of the ogre equipment - Unbreakable = never save, ever."

Keep in mind that unlike ogres the rest of the populace actually has to kill certain npcs over and over and over and over again just for a chance for that gear to drop. I'd love to buy something like sledge, but in polearm version every arma that wouldn't dull.
Question is, why do we need to have non-breaking weapons at all, with this change?

I can agree that there should be more degrees on dulling, that some weapons will dull slower than others (and some faster), but non-breakable isn't really needed. I do, however, believe that a weapon that today is non-dulling, like the serrated obsidian halberd, as an example, should, if given a slow dulling, not be able to break from a high level of "sharpness", like some weapons breaking from prime by shere bad luck, but they should dull down and eventually break like everything else, with this change.
I am pretty sure weapons can't break from prime anymore, or even slightly damaged (unless it is a special of a npc or spell effect). Correct me if I am wrong!

And I would agree that with perma-save equipment there isn't a place for non-dulling/breaking equipment anymore. I think reviewing how items are repaired needs to be re-looked in to as well to have more allowance for people to repair items more than what we currently allow if they are prepared to spend an increasingly scaled amount of money. We need more money sinks!