that last thread was getting long, and degrading into name calling
and flaming. if that is all your capable of adding to the
discussion, go post elsewhere.
ok, that being said... are there ANY Immorts that are in favor
of making 'some' of the weapons spec 'somewhat' known so that
players can submit, request and/or offer up ideas for new weapons?
there is zero reason that i personally see why there cannot be
30-40 Q5 weapons of each type to choose from, some obviously
better than others, but close enough that you can use either
and still be competitive. there are lots and lots of level 50
mobs in the game, and giving a level 50 mob a Q5 weapon and
weapon skills makes them that much harder.
when things like this have come up in the past, there has imo
been a general close-mindedness amoung the Immort staff about
letting people do things like this. i just don't see why. not
to bust anyone's bubble, but it is not exactly hard to think
up weapons and apply the spec for rent and whatnot. after the HOL
and Hell poofed you proved you can add stuff into the games on
current mobs easy enough...
-Ming
From: Sandra
Wednesday, February 07 2001, 05:41PM
It isn't up to any immort to make that known. It's up to me, or Kaige
since I'm the head of that department, and she's the Imp.
And no, we won't be giving out that info.
From: Davien
Wednesday, February 07 2001, 09:06PM
Not to be overly obtuse, but the 'gerneral specs' are currently
'somewhat known' and the information is pretty freely available.
Have a look at whats in the game currently and compare whats there
and I doubt you will have too much trouble getting said idea.
I do wonder why you actually need those specs though. If you have
a cool weapon idea, why not pick a mob you think would be cool
using it, and write some mudmail to the builder who runs the area.
They may think its cool as well and stick it in, and you can be
pretty sure they will keep it in spec. -shrug- They may also
completly disagree with you, but hey, wheres the harm in asking?
Davien Holyoake.
From: Ming
Thursday, February 08 2001, 11:58AM
Thanks for making my point about close-mindedness so well, Sandra.
From: Kendrik
Thursday, February 08 2001, 03:02PM
I don't think it is close mindedness at all
I think they consider it immort only info, Proprietary info as it were
It's kinda like asking Intel for the blueprint to their chips...
You can ask, but you aren't gonna get it.
Kendrik
From: Tybalt
Thursday, February 08 2001, 03:05PM
From: Ruby
Thursday, February 08 2001, 03:06PM
I aree with Davien. Why don't we just look at what's in the game
already and think up some neet ideas. All they would be is
idea's of corse unless a builder desides the item would work out well
for his/her area. The desisian is up to the builder as it
always has been. As I recall us morts were
never discuraged from giving our idea's to imms.
That being said I am going to make a new thread about weapon ideas.
Think of it just as a place for morts to share idea's with eachother
and with imms.
Ruby
From: Ming
Thursday, February 08 2001, 03:21PM
That is the poorest example i have ever heard, kendrik. I
am not asking for the source code, I am asking for the 'spec'
to offer more suggestions - to use your comparison its like
a PC manufacturer askign Intel for the 'spec's to be able to use
their chips, and they do get them.
And besides, WTF is Immort only info? Like 90% of the Immorts aren't
former/currently players? As if being an Immort somehow makes you
more trustworthy/intelligent?
From: Wraith
Saturday, February 10 2001, 11:33AM
Builders can only make a limited number of items with each area. Most
of these end up being non-stat items that add to the flavor of an area
and/or are used for quests. Also, if all we made were maxed items to put
on level 50 or level 50+ mobs, there wouldn't be any +stat gear for lower
level characters to use. In addition, the mobs and equipment have to be
logical for the area. Even more, the best items are supposed to be rare.
The end result is a mix of items with the best ones being difficult both
to find and obtain.
More weapons could be added, of course, but doing so would devalue them.
- Wraith
From: Zeppelin
Sunday, February 11 2001, 02:36PM
Eek! Sorry to burst anyone's bubble - but devalue them? ROLF!
Gold in this game has no value really as is - people can get any
weapon they want pretty much with minimal effort... its hard to
devalue zero. Least thats what I think.
Also, why can an area only have 'so many' +5 stat items and Q5 weapons?
That is the most obsurd thing I have ever heard, I don't mean to say that
that rule does not exist, but thats its a completely stupid rule. (IMO)
Who cares how many 'good' items are in one area and not another? This
is another example of the people in charge here stuck in this 'MOO' or
'MUSH' mentality, which is fine if thats how they want to run their game.
But, then, please don't 'talk' about releasing the code to the public
or talk about growing the game - its absurd. The game 'as is' cannot
support that many people. I agree whole-heartedly about items fitting
in the area, and only adding areas that are good content-wise, but to thin
(think) that many many players could not write these areas is simply naive
and incorrect. Now, would players submit areas if it did not require
immorting? Heall yah, I think so...
From: LadyAce
Sunday, February 11 2001, 03:05PM
About imm-only info:
We don't release a lot of specifics about the internal workings of the
game because of a few factors:
- releasing formulas feeds a tendency we oppose, i.e. an excessive focus
on numbers and hyper-optimizing. Why we oppose it could take many pages
to explain, but the general idea is that we'd rather have you focus on
playing in a variety of ways -- building a char, sure, but also doing
quests and interacting with others. It's a matter of design, of how
we want this place to be.
- item documentation is a guideline, not an absolute. Item guidelines used
to be available, and we got a lot of complaints from players that not
every item was maximized in every way, and we also misled people into
thinking that we had a mort builder program in the works when we did
Item specifications don't help you make better suggestions. You can
suggest an item that has a certain set of abilities without knowing how
those abilities might be accomplished or even whether they're possible.
-LA
From: LadyAce
Sunday, February 11 2001, 03:14PM
We have a fixed number of items per area. There isn't a fixed number of
+stat items/area, BUT we can't have a whole lot of +stat items in one
area and none in another, it's simply not balanced or fair. If one
builder goes and installs 100 +5 stat items in their area, that's
going to cause problems in all kinds of ways. So usually builders
self-limit themselves to only a small list of +stat items in their
area.
-LA
From: LadyAce
Sunday, February 11 2001, 03:17PM
Also, the areas wouldn't be a part of any code release, nor would the
items spec -- so the two don't have much to do with each other.
As for new areas, it comes down to what we believe the game needs. Do
we have so few rooms and mobs that players are tripping over each other?
No, I don't think so. That's a 'young mud' stage that we're past. Do
we have huge strings of single rooms all together linking far-flung
areas? No, we're not doing too badly there, that's an adolescent mud
stage that we're also pretty much past. What we do need are more areas
with deep history and all kinds of features and details and activities.
It's our opinion that the best way to get areas like that are to immort
people to build them -- giving them access to test and repair problems,
to hear about future changes and internal planning, as well as the
resources of the mud machine & staff.
-LA
From: Zeppelin
Sunday, February 11 2001, 06:33PM
Thanks for clearing some of that up, LA : )
