January 27th, 2000

Search Command Suggestion

Infidel says, 'Why not give all characters a 'search' command.. for starters being so you can go without detect hidden, only of course you have to search in each room, with a bit of skill lag on each attempt.'

'What would you be looking for?' LadyAce says.

Infidel says, 'That didn't come out right but it's 9am :].'

Infidel says, 'People..'

'Ie,' Infidel says. 'For pkill.'

'You should suggest that on idea, it does sound interesting,' LadyAce says.

'But can be expanded to include items, and items within containers in rooms..' Infidel says.

'Not so sure a pk-only skill would happen, but it might be combined with something else, or something,' LadyAce says.

'"search refuse", you find blah!' Infidel says.

The Newbie Experience

'Is it always difficult for newbies here?' UnLucky says. 'If so why aren't they givin maybe few items of clothing when they start.'

'Just seems really tough,' UnLucky says.

Mugwump says to UnLucky, 'What town did you start in?'

UnLucky says, 'In london.'

'I just was having at ough time.. which is fun but after i got some clothes i felt more confident,' UnLucky says.

An ancient and wise crone says, looking wise, 'And it doesn't have a lot of level 1 mobs.'

Ea! nods his agreement with an ancient and wise crone.

UnLucky poses attractively and models a canvas shirt.

UnLucky says, 'I found a few things but starting out naked with only a dagger was just weird to me.'

'Yeah, all muds have clothes to start with,' Infidel says.

Mugwump says, 'Not all.'

'We wander around naked yet we can no longer grope or fondle,' Infidel says.

'Crazy,' Infidel says.

Mugwump says, 'I've seen some where you don't even start with any cash or anything.'

'It's more of a 'blank slate' approach, I spose,' LadyAce says.

UnLucky says, 'This is the first mud i've played that didn't.. but there are alot of things here i.'

'Lazy approach :P,' Infidel says.

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'I like it.'

'It's trivial to add things to the newbie starting set, no laziness about it,' LadyAce says.

Zelda says, 'Perhaps the outfitter good sell some better ac items.'

Zelda says, 'Er could sell.'

Zelda peers at herself myopically.

'Can't buy much with 500 gold,' Infidel says.

Zelda says, 'London is a good place to get cash though.'

UnLucky says, 'Doesn't matter to me i was just thinking if someone was new they might stay longer if it weren't so naked and small .'

LadyAce says, 'I spose that can feel intimidating.'

UnLucky says, 'That's the word.'

'It's a good suggestion, something for us to look into,' LadyAce says.

Mugwump says, 'Well, in most other towns finding eq is a bit easier.'

Zelda says, 'I like having to get my own stuff, but I think each hometown should have a good range of newbie gear.'

An ancient and wise crone nods her agreement with Zelda.

Mugwump nods his agreement with Zelda.

Infidel says, 'Plus some mention of color being available too.. i'd quit if i didn't think a mud had color.'

Mugwump says, 'Hehe, i played for like 2 months before i realized there was color.'

Zelda says, 'I hate colour.'

UnLucky says, 'I found the help files on that right away.'

Spell Mana Refund

An ancient and wise crone nods her agreement with Zelda.

'Ooh, good question,' LadyAce says.

Ea! says, 'Just the way the spell system is designed.'

Zelda says, 'I lost 149 mana yesterday when I accidentally tried to cast animate.'

An ancient and wise crone comforts Zelda.

'Its very hard on low level mages without meditate or a chalice...you can forget how much mana a spell needs or accidentally cast the wrong spell and lose everything,' Zelda says.

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'My lowbie cause did that yesterday.'

Ea! says, 'I agree it's hard, but I'm not sure that that's necessarily bad...'

'It's bad when it happens to me,' Mugwump says.

Zelda says, 'I don't really see any point to it.'

'Had enough to dance a sword, but not to animate a corpse -- meant to dance a saebel, and mistyped the spell,' an ancient and wise crone says wisely.

Zelda says, 'So the losing all mana thing is not seen as a problem?'

'I can ask around the staff for opinions on it,' LadyAce says.

Zelda says, 'I don't really see what purpose it serves except to punish people for not rote learning the mana cost of all spells.'

Mugwump says, 'And mana costs change with level for some spells, so thats not even possible.'

Ea! says, 'Well, I'm not sure I'd call "help " very rote learning...'

LadyAce says, 'Well, I think you have a good point, but i'm not the one you have to sell to :).'

'Mana cost even vary from casting to casting, like flamestrike varies by a few points each time,' Mugwump says.

'I think the minimum is preset,' LadyAce says to Mugwump.

*NOTE* This code has been changed in accordance with Zelda's suggestion.

See Magic Spell

'Allows me to tell if an item is magical (and therefore needs tform to be fixed) or not,' an ancient and wise crone says, looking wise.

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'That's the only use I can find for it.'

LadyAce says, 'But then again tf doesn't take much more mana and tells the same thing plus fixes the item :).'

'But detect magic lasts longer,' Mugwump says.

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'But if I have several items to be fixed, I only need to use it once, and then look self.'

'But on the other hand, I have a fair idea of which is which, by now,' an ancient and wise crone says wisely.

'Maybe for its uses, its cost is too high?' an ancient and wise crone says wisely.

Magic and Trees

'Not that I know of,' LadyAce says. 'Skilltrees is all about skills, not redoing the magic system.'

'Will some of the non-impd spells go in, since mages will become weaker fighters,' an ancient and wise crone says sagely.

'If mages end up needing a boost, they'll get it,' LadyAce says. 'Whether that's with beefing up old spells, or writing new ones, or making certain skills available to them, is up to Rufus really.'

Walls & Dispel Magic

'Why am I not surprised?' an ancient and wise crone says wisely.

'I can't say I have a lot of answers about walls, but you can ask...' LadyAce says. 'It's a topic in discussion on the coder list, I think Huginn will be doing any coding on it.'

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard says, 'Any chance we could make dispel illusion have to specify a target?'

'That would be very very good ,' Mugwump says.

'I've poofed swords and flame shields trying to get rid of a doppel or wall,' Mugwump says.

'Or alternatively, wipe dispel illusion and replace it with dispel magic,' a brutal, dark-skinned wizard says.

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'I use dispel illusion to dispel some of the ickier illusions people leave laying around -- and sometimes I've poofed the wrong thing.'

An ancient and wise crone says, looking wise, 'Would illusions on the ground (such as the saving ... rent O types) need to have keywords assigned then?'

'They'd be a problem for dispel requiring a target,' LadyAce says to an ancient and wise crone.

'The bunny illusions you see at the bunny trans, and the saving overrent types,' an ancient and wise crone says sagely.

'They don't acquire any keywords as part of the spell, that's part of the illusion,' LadyAce says.

'Good point,' a brutal, dark-skinned wizard says to an ancient and wise crone.

'The ones that are designed to irritate people,' an ancient and wise crone says sagely.

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'They irritate me, so I get rid of them.'

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard says, 'Well, major illusion is pretty buggy to begin with.'

Teacher Locations

LadyAce says to UnLucky, 'There are so many skills :) you have to go other places to learn them.'

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'Nice to see he's making an effort to learn, and not demanding someone drag him everywhere.'

PK Interference Rules

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'There are rules about interference, but they only work one way.'

'Untrue,' a brutal, dark-skinned wizard says to an ancient and wise crone.

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'A pkiller can kill trans mobs, buy all the carrots, etc, to annoy his opponents.'

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'And that affects everyone, pk or not.'

'A non pkiller can do the same things to be annoying, too...' LadyAce says.

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'Or they can put walls in the vicinity of a mob that flees as a pk trap, and that affects someone who relies on the mob fleeing to kill it.'

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'Lower levels rely on the mob fleeing to be able to kill it. When they are death will thank you -- it helps. Especially if you have low HP's.'

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard says, 'Heh, xp is too easy at those levels for that to matter, IMO. But you do have a good point, regardless. Which is why walls can never work right, IMO.'

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'Walls DO interfere with non-pk, and if someone takes them down for THAT reason, are they interfering with pk, or not?'

LadyAce says, 'Nope, not interference at all.'

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard says to an ancient and wise crone, 'No, they aren't.'

'Look at it from a pk perspective, tho,' a brutal, dark-skinned wizard says to an ancient and wise crone.

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'But I've run with some pkers who buy all the carrots when they only need one, so they don't get followed. Which I've not seen non-pkers do.'

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard says to an ancient and wise crone, 'I spend 400+ mana making and preserving a wall, setting a trap, to have some newbie dispel it.'

'I've seen people do similar things to be a jerk, tho,' LadyAce says.

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'And I don't know who it was who moved all the bunnies to Lindisfarne, but that was annoying.'

'I have a habit of taking all the rivets, for that very reason,' a brutal, dark-skinned wizard says to an ancient and wise crone.

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard chuckles politely.

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard says, 'I missed that.'

'But there's other, easy transes,' LadyAce says.

'Not sure what my point is, but it'd be nice if there was some way around these annoyances for people who aren't in the middle of a duel,' an ancient and wise crone says wisely.

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'I said people - pk or non-pk.'

LadyAce says, 'The difference is, I guess, that pkers have some motivation to do so, other than being mean. The best way around those annoyances is to know your other options.'

'I'm rarely rude on purpose,' a brutal, dark-skinned wizard says.

An ancient and wise crone says wisely, 'My alt with the lindisfarne bunnies just wanted to go to RB to learn a skill, then log off.'

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'Only my pk-ers play str chars.'

'Is it all that hard to go buy one, then drop it though?' a brutal, dark-skinned wizard says.

'My non-pk's don't,' an ancient and wise crone says, looking wise.

An ancient and wise crone says sagely, 'My surgeon carries close to her weight limit in bandages, and the rest are mages with str last.'

An ancient and wise crone says, looking wise, 'Sorry for my rant, I've just a bad week in RL, and it's been irritating to find things aren't running as smoothly as they should here, because some people are being obstructing.'

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard says to an ancient and wise crone, 'I've spent the last week in pouring rain and snow, shooting an M16, I don't wanna hear it :P.'

'Is there a trans into medieval that doesn't require holding an item?' an ancient and wise crone says sagely.

A brutal, dark-skinned wizard looks up into the sky and ponders.

An ancient and wise crone says, looking wise, 'My cause can get swords and skellies from med to ancient, and from ancient to indus.'

'But I haven't worked out how to get them into med,' an ancient and wise crone says sagely.

'Can we have some more transes for cause mages with charmies that can't hold items,' an ancient and wise crone says wisely.

'Or changes to existing transes?' an ancient and wise crone says wisely.

'I can suggest it to the builders, certainly,' LadyAce says.

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