Excelsior

First off: I see the topic regarding this section is closed due to lack of manpower to code existing ideas. If this idea is approved, I would do the legwork and even host the service if needed. Minimal staff involvement would be required for some options and absolutely none for others.


Problem Summary:
Trying to find a champ to take out is a frustrating task, especially as a new player. You run from spawn to spawn to find nothing and no indication of when it was killed or when it will be back up. I would like to create a solution to help with that. I have come up with a few options to solve this.

These options are loosely ordered by how much work the players need to put into this to get it to work.

Option 1:
Web service that has access to data generated by the server that shows when a champ was last killed and possibly when it will next spawn. Similar to how vendor.uoex.net has access to all the vendors.

Option 2:
Information at the site of the spawn that shows when it was last killed.

Option 3:
Forensic Eval at a spawn site gives basic information like when it was last killed and with GM skill shows when it will next spawn (+/- 30 minutes)

Option 4:
In game item that a player can purchase and then carry around that they can use at the site of a spawn that will update a remote server with the current state of that spawn. Possible GM Forensic Evaluation bonus that would also provide next spawn estimate, again +/- 30 minutes.

Option 5:
Host an external website that a user could register on and manually add spawn information. This would have a stackoverflow like system in place for other users to up and downvote inputs to help avoid trolls. Without any server involvement, this would have to be on a manual whitelisting basis however with server involvement, I could either integrate with the servers API system or create a server side script to help with account verification.

A couple of the problems you will run into are:
1: Too many stronger players can solo it and thus do not like to share.
Possibly because of number 2
2: Too many newbies are being led to champs they are not geared for, PLUS the weaker you are/less damage you do.. the better chance of multiple/better power scrolls.

IMHO the champs should be more equitably governed. All of the Master of the Arts champs should be available/programmed to give preference to newbies. And progressively give access/preference to stronger, more capable players.

But at the very least, they could have Heralds announce the champ spawns automatically. IIRC that is how it was with the introduction of the champs at OSI.

Kinda ties this thread in with http://www.uoex.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9354 With the heralds announcing the stages of the champs, it would kill 2 birds with one stone.

That's a nice array of options that would make champs different, it's nice to see a motivated coder The champs as they are, are actually like that by design. Perhaps the simplest option would be to make a room with moongates to each champ, or I have already thought about the idea of there being some special item where for a let's say 10k gold fee it would tell you when some champ will spawn next time, but I've scrapped that idea. They are intended so that there's some walking to them, to put some effort in going to a champ, since recalling around (possible to everyone because of no skill cap) is already making some things too simple. And perhaps to promote cooperation - you can often see someone announcing that a certain champ spawn is active.

TribalInstincts: have you checked out our scripting co-op thread?
http://uoex.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9317&p=54754

+Colibri wrote:Perhaps the simplest option would be to make a room with moongates to each champ

Personally, Gate rooms always felt cheap and lazy to me

+Colibri wrote:I have already thought about the idea of there being some special item where for a let's say 10k gold fee it would tell you when some champ will spawn next time, but I've scrapped that idea.

This would only be a limiting factor for new players. You pick up that much money on a champs death anyways. You have already scrapped the idea so I expect you came to similar conclusions.

+Colibri wrote:They are intended so that there's some walking to them, to put some effort in going to a champ, since recalling around (possible to everyone because of no skill cap) is already making some things too simple. And perhaps to promote cooperation - you can often see someone announcing that a certain champ spawn is active.

Option 4 and 5 would actually increase cooperation I would think. Instead of simply showing when a champ was killed, it can show who killed it, and who took the effort to update the log by way of either manual submission or an in game object/command.

+Colibri wrote:TribalInstincts: have you checked out our scripting co-op thread?
http://uoex.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9317&p=54754

It seems I don't have access to PM you so i'll add this here. Feel free to delete after reading since it is not really on topic.

I have. The entry request has already been submitted and accepted actually

I am anxiously waiting on something I can reliably code against. Having some bare-bones Excelsior specific runuo would be a huge gain here. I would rather not spend time coding something only to find out its not compatible with the server instance you are running.

If you could use a less abstract form of help than what the secrecy of what your working on forces on the group in to, I would have no issues with a non-compete/non-disclosure agreement.

More about me: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jesse-dupree/10/687/910
References available upon request

Essentially what coli was conveying is that we're not going to implement or approve of a system that tracks champs or in any way makes them easier. They're already quite easy, and if we do anything to make access to them easier or spawn times easily trackable, then either the rewards will be lowered, the champ difficulty drastically changed, or the spawn times drastically reduced. It is already balanced the way we wanted - as +C said, they're that way by design.

As for the scripting group, I'd relayed your prior concerns about participation to +C, and perhaps he will consider allowing you to coordinate privately with the staff rather than as part of the forum group, which would allow for a bit more disclosure. But I think the essence of your concern was that you wanted more creative control, more wiggle-room for adding things you think a script needs, and that's not something that will really be feasible for these facet scripting projects. As I'd mentioned in my email to you previously, you'd of course be able to communicate with us "hey, I think this script could benefit from x", but you would have to get approval for it before doing it. These scripts are to become part of two facets that have been very specifically envisioned by myself and +V, so changes to them can easily change the way we're intending to use them or how they function as part of the facets. Further, they'll be implemented on +C's shard, so they have to be in line with his own desires for the shard itself. Since you don't know any of us, and we don't know you, it's an area where there would have to be a lot of discussion and approval of changes and it seemed like this did not work for you. If that's not the case, though, that's great. I would love to work with you if +C is amenable to a compromise.

Also, we're running runuo 1.0, +C hasn't had a chance to provide a zip of the base install, but you can find it pretty easily on the web. The version he would provide you would not include any of our shard-specific scripts, it would just be essentially the same install as you can find elsewhere, so you're free to hunt one up if you'd like

Sorry, I must have misinterpreted his response. I did not read it as a firm statement that no changes would be made or allowed. I only read it that the current state is intentional. Intentions some times change over time, especially when potentially new concepts are put forth.

As to the other points, the comments and concerns we discussed via email were resolved in the email, I have no intention of pressing them further. In my mind, the offer made above is very different to what was in the email and so I again apologize if you felt I was trying to work around your previous responses.

While my offers stand, I will consider all topics closed unless yall say otherwise. Thanks for your time.

*goes back to hacking up vile monsters*

Nope, didn't feel that way at all. I was just explaining to you what's likely and why.

TribalInstincts wrote:Sorry, I must have misinterpreted his response. I did not read it as a firm statement that no changes would be made or allowed. I only read it that the current state is intentional. Intentions some times change over time, especially when potentially new concepts are put forth.

I think they mean that they are looking for someone who is willing to script, not create. The idea is already there, they just need the code for it. Coli is already up to the moon with scripts he has to do. We just need people to build with the blue prints already in place.