Feature Request: descriptive messages

[Venny]

It would be pretty cool if you could create your own descriptive messages for a zone...like how in the Nexus you hear the mystic voice going off every 15 mins or so, or messages that are triggered by proximity, like the one in the cave in western wastes or the texts in the Netherbian Lair. Could have plenty of fun with this one =)

Another cool idea would be to have descriptive messages triggered in combat or when a NPC dies (this is currently on all SoL mobs on eqlive) so you could have something like "an orc pawn snarls ferociously at you" when the orc is at 50% health and then have "an orc pawn falls to the floor dead under the hail of attacks" etc etc.

[Drawde]

You can do messages for NPC deaths via scripting with the TRIGGER_DEATH command. It'd be a bit tedious to set up a script for every single NPC type though.

From looking at spawn logs, I think the messages that appear at certain points are actually NPCs. Maybe they use a special "trigger" race value and when you get near them, the text (which is the NPC's name) is displayed?

[Malevolent]

The scripting engine currently could do text triggers when a NPC dies. As for the former, that's something I've been thinking about putting into the scripting engine.

When a client loads the motd, then they would also checkquests(). Then, you could set off triggered quests and other events based on various qualifications of the PC who just zoned in. I also have random guard sayings, which do something like this too. I'll be posting random guard sayings in the dev forum here in a bit.

[Trumpcard]

Drawde,
Your right, most special messages in the zones are randomly moving invisible NPC's.

I remember when pain and suffering (message when you die of posion) started attacking me while running out of Najena on Test once due to a bug..

This guys show up on showeq as lvl1 or lvl60 mobs..

[Baron Sprite]

Pain and Suffering used to be fun to kill in lavastorm, I knew exactly where he was, would get a couple friends and fight him, was fun because you couldn't see him ;) The Ghostly Voice in TOFS casts spells too, I've heard you can AE him.

[Hmm]

pain and suffering currently resides in middle of Nife lake in qeynos. i used to keep giving it weapons to show up :)

Pain and suffering slashes YOU for 523 dmg
You has been slain by pain and suffering!

[Hmm]

oh yeah some notes... it stands on top of water on special tiny invisiable palform so its nearly impossible to give it a item.

you have to initate trade when youre not inside water lev will do trick.

[Lurker_005]

Mal, I saw some random messages on your server. I felt like I was in EC there were so many auction messages :) But I couldn't talk any down to trading a newbie sword ;)

[Trumpcard]

That is so cool.. I zoned into Oggrok and starting seeing a bunch of auction messages.. I thought I had mistakenly logged into production in my evening haze..

It adds a feeling of life to the server! Are those actual merchants randomly hawking items in their merchant list, or are they just random messages period?

Having merchants shout some of their wares in a bazaar type environment is really a neat idea..

[Malevolent]

Thanks :o)

If you have any item on a WTT message, then you might trade it in. You have a pretty good chance of either getting experience or some "relative" uber item (this might consist of patchwork or righteous armor).

You can't deal directly with the merchants, yet. I've been sketching out some new design changes in my notebook, some of them should allow you to do this.

They don't pull off their own internal merchant list for either WTT or WTS, I want to do that in the near future. They DO pull off their own money list when one merchant attempts to buy from another.

I also have some sly little code in there to make bankers do various small emotes. E.g., MT_Emote, %s double folds the leather bag tied to their hip. :)

--MV

[Drawde]

Another EQLive feature that would be a good addition (to the standard EQEmu as well as Malevolent's) is merchants saying "Hello (name), you look like you could use a (random item from their inventory)" when you interact with them. It's quite funny when they say something like "you look like you could use a Rusty Short Sword" to a high-level character, or one of the silliest, "you look like you could use a Jade Inlaid Coffin" (although if you were in skeleton form, maybe that wouldn't be so silly!)

[Hmm]

heh yeah it should check classes. if enc checks the mech shouldnt say "you could use ( some 2h weapon )" but "You look like you can use ( random gem if any, or random stuff thats all all or enc useable )