I started school this semester so development has slowed down a bit. I am still working on it though and I'll release some information soon regarding the targeted deadline for beta.
We're probably going to start off beta with less "custom heroes" and simply eq classes just to get this on the roll. Then, as we move on - custom "heroes/champions" will begin to release. The following caveats are what I face in development which are not done:
Mini-Map (Achievable through the Underfoot Client Only)
- THis will be done using the in-game underfoot browser which will include fog of war, player location, pinging, etc. More information will be released soon regarding this.
Bushes
- Bushes are almost in. There just needs to be some codework and the model needs to be imported.
Smarter AI (Mob Aggro is very "EQ-ish" and needs more work)
- To elaborate, ranged minions per each lane do keep at a distance and chunk fire balls as a primary attack however; the aggro pattern isn't so great. They still tend to stand on each other and don't respond like they should in a moba. This can be accomplished but it's taking more time than anticipated.
Winning Sequence
- There is no code written to handle team wins, etc.
Building the match queue
- No code has been written to handle match queues.
Item Shop/Currency
- The item shop has yet to be populated in each base.
Death
- Handling player death in a match without forcing them to zone has yet to be written.
Player Ranking / Hero/Champ Purchasing
- A match win and loss results in some form of reward which will be currency used to purchase new champs/heroes. This has yet to be written in.
Bots
- Given the playerbase of eqemu as a whole, there isn't enough to support consistent 5v5 & 3v3 matches at a constant rate. Actually, there's quite a few players but I don't expect the kind of traffic P99 receives on this server. Plus, who wants to sit in a queue for 2+ hours? We need bots to fill the gap when no one is online. This is in progress. We'll release before bots are in but this is a 'must have' to offset lack of players at non-peak times. There will also need to be some bot ai to take on their own lane depending on the role you choose in the queue. Some champs/heroes do better solo at the top lane whereas some 'support' champions do best at bottom with a ranged carry.
Once these items have been addressed, we'll be ready for beta. Speaking of which, if anyone is interested in helping with this project - I am looking for capable developers. Postings listed below. I can do all of the work but this would release so much faster with some help.
Coder
- Help with source & perl or lua scripting and often times database changes/additions.
Database/Content Developer
- Help with content such as items, spells, etc.
Champion Specialist
- Help with development and implementation of champions which include database & some script work (mostly database using front-ends).