Priorities (Jan '09)

[John Adams]

Scat and I have talked a bit about what we think is the next big thing we need as far as server functionality. As you know, finishing the Items revamp/support is critical since we really to know how items are going to work since they integrate with so much of the player experience. This includes getting all item appearances and stats to work (and I think appearances are fine for the most part), getting items to "proc" (passive) and click (active) for effects - ie., cast spells, and interacting with Items that provide questing or other progression.

Teaching merchants to accept Status Points (SP) for items may need to be considered during this phase of design.


Bug Fixes:
tSO broke a few things that I feel should be brought up to working order before we get too much further. If it is at all possible, and within your interest, can we get the quest Journal stuff worked out again? Scat has one post here about that (what he deems "The Silent Ding"). The journal (in general) is behaving oddly. Things not showing up on the right tab, or the selectable boxes/sorting/display options showing unexpected results. We can go through every detailed issue if you need - I am just not sure what is broke now vs what was never implemented before tSO.

You mentioned before that Combat needed help. Since this is one of the first systems ever implemented, maybe we can revisit this and shake the bugs out? Spells appear to be behaving normally, but we haven't really gone into too much detail beyond Level 1, Tier 1 spells. The Content guys should probably give spells a good hammering before too long. I know Zcoretri was looking into spells last week.

Guys, anything else "buggy" that you think is a top issue?


And of course, LE - you have your own priorities of what you wish to work on. So by no means should this be considered a job list Just letting you know what we're looking for as of now. Thanks!


Btw, I will start Stickying the current Priorities threads so we do not get them confused.


Edit: Here's LE's list from his post below, I will cross off things as we complete them (blue ones are partial/unknown).

• Quest Enhancements/Fixes
  Transporters
  Collection Quests
  Item enhancement/Fixes
  Spells (More options/types)
  Pets
  AI Enhancements
  Combat revisit
  In-game Maps/Fog data
  Groups Still need Group Settings/Rules/Shared XP
  Instancing
  Mounts Still need Transportation Mounts
  Guilds Still need Banking/Levels
  Tradeskills
  In-game email Still need Send Item/Coin
  Zone access flags
  AA/Achievements
  Create a better way of implementing commands.
  Recompile commands into DLL file that can be replaced and reloaded without shutting down server.

[Zcoretri]

I think spells should be up there on the priority list.

I have been heavily into the spells the past few days and one thing stands out. There needs to be 'Friend' option for the target type.

Also are we gonna support Apprentice III spells? They have been removed from the game for over a year now so finding information on ALL Apprentice III spells may not be possible.

Target can be any ONE of the following values (as far as examining a spell is concerned)

* Self
* Caster's Pet
* Friend
* Group Friend
* Raid or Group Friend
* Enemy
* Group (AE)
* Friend's Corpse
* Raid or Group Friend's Corpse

I will comment on lua's soon, as far as spells are concerned.

[LethalEncounter]

I really do think I need to finish the priority list I created so long ago before I start working on too many new things. I could revise the list a little, but I think we need to focus on one area at a time to avoid all the problems that have been plaguing us the last couple of months. Jumping back and forth leaving things half finished causes quite a few issues that wouldn't have been caused if I worked on one thing at a time. Not blaming anyone but myself for my lack of focus

That said, I'll revive my priority list and merge your list with my own. Before I work on item effects I think I need to finish the spell effects first (DOTs, Maintained effects, etc). I do want to have a release in January if for nothing else because it has been SOO long since the last release and we have added so many features since then.

[John Adams]

I definitely agree, LE. Focus is your friend. We have been all over the board, and though some problems have come up in doing things that way, it's been fun trying out new things every few weeks/months. This thread is the previously discussed 0.7 priority list. While every one of these things are not necessary (imo) for a 0.7 release, fixing things broken by tSO or other implementations probably is a good idea.

I only mention Items because we are in mid-revamp, and I figured you wanted to finish that. We do not need to have item passive/active effects in 0.7, but we should plan for them if continuing the items work (which I am sure you have already done). Items are only important to me because nearly everything I work on now is tied to them. Quests, Loot, Merchants, etc. Without Items being "done", I hesitate doing any work in that area.

You've always been great at spot-fixing stuff I cry about mid-cycle, and I will do my best to NOT do that during 0.8

[LethalEncounter]

OK, here is the order in which I will work:

• Quest Enhancements/Fixes
  Transporters
  Collection Quests
  Item enhancement/Fixes
  Spells (More options/types)
  Pets
  AI Enhancements
  Combat revisit
  In-game Maps/Fog data
  Groups
  Instancing
  Mounts
  Guilds
  Tradeskills
  In-game email
  Zone access flags
  AA/Achievements
  Create a better way of implementing commands.
  Recompile commands into DLL file that can be replaced and reloaded without shutting down server.

If you think of something to add to this list let me know. I will release 0.7 after the spell enhancements have been completed.

[Scatman]

Couldn't have said it better myself boss!

[Scatman]

I have one thing to add actually. I'm not sure if this goes with quest enhancements or not, but there is a definite bug with /repop. Sometimes, when we do a /repop, the NPCs will say the first conversation, but will not continue until we /kill them (we usually /kill them and do a /repop). Once you /kill them, you can even hail their corpse to get the rest of the conversation out of them.

So basically, when a /repop is done, an NPC sometimes will not give their full conversation to you until we /kill (and /repop out of convenience) and re-hail them. What I mean by a full conversation is, that an NPC will say something with conversation choices, then you'll have a dialog to choose. Once you choose a dialog, no response from the NPC will occur. They will say their first conversation, but once you click a conversation option, nothing will show up after that, untill a /kill.

I know this might sound confusing but let me know if you need re-clarification.

[alfa]

* Group (AE)

You can add Raid (AE) too, some spells are Raid (AE) like Guardian's def buff

[John Adams]

If you think of something to add to this list let me know. I will release 0.7 after the spell enhancements have been completed.

I just thought of something else, trivial as we have a work-around for now... but if you could slip Mariner Bells (teleporters in general) in there, before 0.8 anyway, I'd like to have those for the open Beta. Not critical for 0.7 release, but you once said they would be easy so I am testing your resolve

[LethalEncounter]

If you think of something to add to this list let me know. I will release 0.7 after the spell enhancements have been completed.

I just thought of something else, trivial as we have a work-around for now... but if you could slip Mariner Bells (teleporters in general) in there, before 0.8 anyway, I'd like to have those for the open Beta. Not critical for 0.7 release, but you once said they would be easy so I am testing your resolve

lol, OK I'll add them to the list

[LethalEncounter]

I just checked in several quest fixes. Could you verify that I got all the problems you were having fixed?

[John Adams]

I will grab the code and get it up for Scat and the gang. I am trying to kill my cold bugs with booze... so I will talk to y'all tomorrow.

[LethalEncounter]

heh, good luck

[Scatman]

Booze..good...quest fixes..good...testing out quest fixes with booze tonight..bad.. I'm excited, thanks LE I'll let ya know how it goes tomorrow!

[Scatman]

Woohoo! silent updates are gone! There is only one problem that I could find with quests. Every time you receive or update a quest, the quest gets marked as hidden. You can click the "-" box to make it unhidden but you would have to do that every time you update your quest to see it. Other than that, can't find a thing wrong!