Posted by Adolfus on 01/14
On other muds, they have what is called tweaks. This is where
eq is randomized. Ie where testring might be 2 dex 3 perc
-5 ac, one time, it might be 1 perc 4 dex and -3ac the next
This was mentioned before here as an idea, and someone
I think it was an imm, voiced the objection that all anyone
would do is try to get the best tweak for each piece of eq.
If you stop to think for a minute you realize that this is a
good thing, first ppl would take what they could get, then later
they would try to get a slightly better piece of eq. The better
tweaks would be worth more than others of course. This would
create a lot of activity I would think. Note not all
tweaks would have to be good tweaks, some would be worse
than what is loading now.
Also Im gonna mention on medievia eq has a lifespan, say
6 months or 12 months not sure just how long, where if its
not taken care of it eventually goes poof.
These same special items T-bone mentioned earlier, that are
used to get extra practices are also used to prolong the
life of eq. Naturally this wouldn't be considered the same
as a magically timed item, it would have to be looked at
a bit differently, just wanted to mention that in case
anyone had the urge to say, weve already got timed items.
Of course this would all require a lot of coding, such coding
that It would probably have to come after this mud got out
of beta period, but I thought it might be interesting to
discuss the benefits and detriments.
From: Adolfus
Wednesday, January 13, 03:20PM
Ma talked with me about how this could be bad since we have dt's
here and everyone would want to have the best eq.
The simple thing would be to not make the tweaks too strong.
Only small variations, nothing someone is gonna freak out over.
Secondly Dt's are always gonna be bad, whether youve worked on
your eq a long time or a short time, if you collect the spiffiest
stuff in the game its your responsibility to keep it.
As long as the bad tweaks werent too bad, noone could complain
about not getting the best tweak, and people wanting to get the
best tweak would only have more reason to play the game.
Id like to see someone try to argue why someone wanting the
best tweak on a piece of eq would be bad for the mud. I can
only really see it adding another dimension to things.
From: Rufus
Wednesday, January 13, 03:52PM
We already have the code to support this, it's just a matter of
implementing it (the random stats on objects). Needless to say,
all except for 2 areas were in when this code was created, so
updating them takes a while. Only one item uses this code in
the game.
From: Zeppelin
Wednesday, January 13, 04:05PM
Maybe instead of making the stats variant -- make the 'tweak'
be the ac of an item? That way you could eventually thru lots of mob
killing get a great armor class. Not sure what tweaks like +1damroll
or hitroll would do to rent...
Zep
From: Adolfus
Wednesday, January 13, 04:08PM
Wow, didnt have any idea this was already coded. I agree with
Zepp that it would be cool if the basic stats wouldn't vary,
but only ac and hitroll and damroll, +mana and +hp, the rent
on them would be very detrimental, and while it might be
hoping for too much for them not to affect rent, if they
were rare enuf maybe it would be possible to give them
a substantial break in rent cost. Also want to say that
this could fill in a bit of the lack of eq variety, and if the
basic 6 stats were unchanged, get past some of the problems
with needing variant eq, but stats being the main concern
with eq. Ie see prior post discussing, how eq choices are
determined by what stats you need, leaving no room for variety.
If you need 5 perc from certain dagger, thats only choice you got.
Now if the same dagger could possibly load with +20hp, or +20mana
or 3hitroll or 3 damroll, or gasp, -3save fire, then we would
really have just the sorta eq variety everyone is looking for.
From: Adolfus
Wednesday, January 13, 04:31PM
I could forsee a lot of objections from people, when they
go to kill a mob for a 5 dex item if it was 3 dex 2 spirit
Since its really impossible to tweak something above
+5 stat, and making a 5 dex wrist item all of sudden be
5 mind wouldn't fit in with builders idea they had for
making the eq in the first place. I would say the
primary 6 stats would need to not vary, unless the builder
specificly decided what other variants would be allowed.
Makes much more sense to just vary ac mana hp hr and dr.
From: Chimera
Wednesday, January 13, 06:07PM
I'm not a builder, I like the idea of tweaking, but I don't think
that by any means should every item be tweaked. I think that there's
a lot of possibilities out there to make these changes worthwhile,
but basically we're just getting back into the idea of having
super gear in the game.
I think that if I, personally, ever was to use tweaking on an item,
it would be an item specifically made for the tweak. Keep in mind
that contrary to what Adolfus said (or how I interpreted it),
there are plenty of good + stat items out there. If you need that 5
dex, and only have your wield slot open, sure one choice is to
use that certain dagger. But you could also fiddle with your eq
setup. There's a LOT of possible eq combinations out there. But
you rarely see people use certain pieces of gear. Yes, some gear is
NOT worth wearing (I can think of a few pieces right off the bat)
but there's a great variety of gear here already. If you can't get
certain stats with certain gear, use other gear.
(I speak from experience. I always try to get certain pieces of
gear on all my morts, before I even start working towards their
final stats...)
Chimera
From: Adolfus
Wednesday, January 13, 06:23PM
Just to clarify, I was trying to illustrate the lack of variety in
eq in the game. If you need a piece of eq with 5 of a certain
stat there isnt a lot of options, if you need it in one slot that
is. Of course you can change your whole eq setup around.
Considering to get all the use out of an item your stats
need to end on even 10's this is extremely difficult.
Some slots there are only a handful of choices of good
eq to wear, there already are quite a few ppl using eq
just because its the only decent thing in that slot id
imagine whether it helps them that much or not.
There are a great number of eq combinations out there,
but most realize theres only a few eq combinations
that fit perfectly. Now most of the time ppl spend is
getting eq that make their stats line up pefectly.
If someone needs a 5 dex dagger, and theyve played the
game a while, they probably know what other 5 dex items
are in the game, and if they really need that dagger
they are either already using the other eq, or there
is a problem with using it. Ie they have to take off a
1 mind 2 perc 3 dex item, that just barely gave them enuf
mind for spells and perc for hunt. Theres always choices, but not
always good ones. Personally I wouldn't like to see the basic 6
stats on items be tweaked, except maybe as a negative tweak.
You know that same 5 dex dagger loading as 4 dex 90 percent of the
time or something, I dont think anyone would be happy with
that same dagger loading 4 spirit 1 str ever.
As for most eq not being tweaked, as long as its not the basic
stats,(the 6 primary, dex str con etc) that are tweaked then
I see know problem with the majority of the eq being tweaked.
Ie, cloak of midnight being +20 hp, or 2dr or +20 mana or an extra
-5 ac, 1 percent of the time it loads, or whatever percentage
deemed appropriate.
Making it so that 5 items in the game varied just a bit, would
have a bit of novelty value but little else imo, but thats
worth something I reckon. I think this would bring a lot of
excitement into mobkill, specially if there were some
1 in 1000 or 1 in 5000 tweaks. Where you couldnt just kill a mob
all day till you got the one you wanted. Now that would add
a bit of mystery to things.
From: Mo
Thursday, January 14, 12:02AM
I don't think tweaks that go beyond the limit is a good idea, nor
items that introduce tweaks that weren't there originally.
What i mean by this is that a + item with no -'s should not change
due to tweak, whereas items with both + and - might be susceptible
to tweak. For example, a veil would always be what it is regardless
of tweaks cuz it's only + one stat, whereas the Fith fath's lucky
coin could get more of one than the other depending on tweaks, and
non-quest stat items could have variations in its +/-, such as the
bloody gloves, which could go from one extreme (where it is now) to
the other extreme in terms of stats.
Generally, the idea has merit cuz it is a very simple way of introducing
a lot more eq in terms of variety, and also because such extra variety
would both introduce new problems for "planned chars" and also cure
some problems. And by not having them change anyway above or below their
restrictions, i can't see it causing in-game harm.
(Well, maybe a +9dex +1per -5spi pair of shoes could be somewhat
unbalancing... a tweaked possibility)
Mo!
From: Mo
Thursday, January 14, 12:09AM
mmm. forgot that rent takes into account how much absolute + it
gives too, but such diffs could probably be tweaked as well.
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