This was touched upon in Discord and I think it would do to voice opinions on the forums instead of having them lost to the Discord void.
As it stands, the issue with the dispensary seems to be that it's mostly a matter of being the sneaky invis person to get to the loot bag first and run off with it. Frequently, people who "win" the brawl do not end up with the spoils.
I would suggest a colored message whenever someone takes the package, and for it to be a heavy item that can only be used outside of combat to "open" the spoils. This would, ideally, make it more prominently clear who has the spoils and put a target on their back should they try to run off with it.
I should comment, being near the dispensary right now dispels you of invisibility. Maybe adding a second script to throw 'Sparks of Revelation' throwables?
A pick able lock and an area of effect trap on the dispensary like a moderate fire/sonic trap would probably go a long way. Alternatively having the box only open through a dialogue answering a series of randomized lore questions with the options being in random order so as to prevent people who've done it before opening it too hastily.
Dialogue option sounds good, as you can't do it in combat. Lore questions seems bad , as new players can easily get shafted on this part.
Quote from: Miscellanious on January 28, 2019, 03:32:29 AM
Dialogue option sounds good, as you can't do it in combat. Lore questions seems bad , as new players can easily get shafted on this part.
A new player won't be alone and if the dialogue is just mashing 1, it might as well not exist, since you only get into combat by being attacked or attacking someone recently, so somebody in stealth could easily stealth in, mash 1 on the num key and be done before anybody can stop them.
I personally like the free-for all nature of it. It gives a really chaotic feeding frenzy vibe and allows the little-guy solo players a chance at the pickings rather than reserving it for factions to fight over.
I love the idea of a dialogue box.
It can be scripted to break stealth/invis for sure, maybe play an uninterruptible full round "looting" animation in plain view of everyone else.
Maybe it could even be scripted so that if ANYONE immediately nearby is in combat, the lootable thing remains locked. (Not sure how I feel about that one though.)
I love the idea of a free-for-all smashfest, but consequence-free ninja looting is something that takes away from the experience for everyone else, for sure. But it should be clear who is taking the loot, always.
I'm all for a message popping up saying something along the line of "takes from the dispensary " over players heads when they loot it. Maybe even have a pickpocket check for stealthed players to avoid the message and being revealed?
Maybe it can be like a hold the point x rounds with overhead countdown before you can claim it?
This would give others time to intervene and would make organized attempts to take it more viable.
I kind of like the element that it can be swiped by someone though, especially considering the setting.
This would be the only time I would advocate for the spammy count down script.
Three persons not in combat standing in an area with the count down to unlock being 1 minute. Once unlocked the packaged would be a heavy crate that cast light and invisibility purge and spark of revelation on the carrier.
Obviously the people who are subdued in these areas should move out of it to avoid it unlocking.
Honestly, just have the dispensery do the following to avoid stealth scumming:
Break all stealth/invisibility
Dispell ALL buffs
That way you can really only take from it safely when the combat is OVER
Dispelling all buffs is rediculous - a lot of pvp is based /Around/ the dispenserary already.
Have a dialog box with a timed delay, dispel invisibility (it already does this) and Spark of revelation on the dispenserary (Dialog box) . Problem solved.
No lore questions, full dispel, whatever else needed.
Here you go.
Just shove this in the OnUsed() script of the dispensary, set it to be locked by default. With this script, no one can open it if anyone nearby is fighting.
Anyone who tries to open it will be unstealthed and dispelled of invis effects.
Ideally, stick a Timer variable on the dispensary when it spawns, so no one can unlock it for X seconds until it's been around for X seconds.
[hide]
void Unstealth(object oObject)
{
SetActionMode(oObject, ACTION_MODE_STEALTH, 0); // simple unstealth
// now look for invisibility and dispel it with flair:
effect eEffect = GetFirstEffect(oObject);
while (GetEffectType(eEffect) != EFFECT_TYPE_INVALIDEFFECT)
{
if ((GetEffectType(eEffect) == EFFECT_TYPE_INVISIBILITY) | (GetEffectType(eEffect) == EFFECT_TYPE_IMPROVEDINVISIBILITY) )
{
RemoveEffect(oObject, eEffect);
ApplyEffectToObject(DURATION_TYPE_INSTANT, EffectVisualEffect(VFX_FNF_DISPEL), oObject);
// SendMessageToPC(oObject, "Debug. Dispelling INVIS!");
return;
}
eEffect = GetNextEffect(oObject);
}
}
void main()
{
object oPC = GetLastUsedBy();
object oCheck;
object oBox = OBJECT_SELF;
int nCombat = 0;
int nTimer = GetLocalInt(oBox, "nLockTimer");
if (nTimer >=1)
{
Unstealth(oPC);
SendMessageToPC(oPC, "The lid won't budge you just make a lot of noise.");
return;
}
//Check if we're locked. If we're locked, we check to see if anyone nearby is in combat.
// Anyone in combat, and the box stays locked. No ninja looters!
if (GetLocked(oBox) == TRUE)
{
oCheck = GetFirstObjectInShape(SHAPE_SPHERE, 10.0, GetLocation(oBox)) ;
while (oCheck != OBJECT_INVALID)
{
if (GetIsInCombat(oCheck) == TRUE)
{
nCombat = 1;
SendMessageToPC(oPC, "Someone is fighting, the lid won't budge and you make a lot of noise trying to open this.");// sub with better writing pls
Unstealth(oPC);
return; //No need to check for more dudes if someone is fighting. End script.
}
oCheck = GetNextObjectInShape(SHAPE_SPHERE, 10.0, GetLocation(oBox));
}
// if nobody tripped the combat check we should be good to open it.
//SendMessageToPC(oPC, "Debug. No one in Combat. Unlock!");
// INSERT TIMER CHECK HERE
SetLocked(oBox, 0);
SendMessageToPC(oPC, "With relative calm nearby, you make a lot of noise trying, but eventually move the lid");// sub with better writing pls
Unstealth(oPC);
return;
}
else
{
// SendMessageToPC(oPC, "Debug. Chest already unlocked.");
Unstealth(oPC);
SendMessageToPC(oPC, "With relative calm nearby, you make a lot of noise as the lid moves.");// sub with better writing pls
}
}[/hide]
I dislike EFU's constant anti-burglary vibe. Sneaking in while everyone is beating the shit out of each other is cool because if you do get caught you're gonna get slapped hard. It's a huge risk. That's why it's a FREE for ALL typically.
If it's changed to A PC who is trying to sneak in who gets debuffed or unbroken of stealth is going to get fucking demolished by the melee PC or the selfbuff caster PC or etc in 2 seconds. PCs who are dedicated to stealth have to invest a lot of feats, a lot of skills, and etc sacrificing mechanical benefits like saves, combat capabiltiies, etc. There's plenty of detection classes out there. Monk, ranger, bard, I mean even Barbarian gets listening as a class skill.
Not everything in EFU has to be catered towards the melee or caster buff up and crush. Sometimes there's merit to discretion, subterfuge, and sneaking around.
There's scarecly few chances to actually RP playing a scout because people rush ahead. There's few instances of open lock being of any use since PCs will either multiclass crossclass it or use stone summons. There's few chacnes to do disarming of traps because people will just crabstep around and metagame them or tell everyone to "stick to the walls".
One of my favorite dispensery events was a non stealthed, non buffed PC just walking up and swiping while everyone chased around a few casters.
Yet I don't think it's THE APOCALYPSE for a sneaking PC to act sneaky and swipe some of the free for all goods.
I am all for people going in swooping and taking the goods. However I feel like it should be an action that breaks stealth. As for dispelling buffs? I think that is a terrible idea. I don't see much harm in it breaking stealth it simply makes a stealthy person chose the correct timing and have his thugs/goons pose a distraction. Much like theft RL when you grab an item off a table. I would even go as far as to say that taking items from things like chests,crates,etc should immediatly break stealth.
All I can say is, please let stealth characters have their own chance to try things their own way, even if it's just a chance. Same as it's just a chance that the majority characters who'd rather just beef up and flail away will actually win their combats.
Maybe we could change the dispensary loot to be an on-click loot toggle with less and less reward the more people have clicked it - until you get nothing. Idk. Just brainstorming here.
Personally, I'm all for giving stealthers/thieves a chance to shine. Is the dispensary the best place for that, though? I don't think so.
The design of event, by its nature is meant to start brawls and a conflict over the loot. (I assume.) The people who take the risk to participate do so with the expectation that performing well in these fights will be rewarding. So, let's think about that.
This brawl is an event that engages a group of players in a risk vs reward dynamic. The expectation is that if you perform well, you 'win' the reward. A battle is fun for a lot of people, win or lose. The reward is what makes that risk enticing. Players form bonds and enemies, and the server benefits from these conflicts. In my opinion, only the people taking that risk and engaging their fellow players should have a chance at that reward.
Ninja-Looting is not fun for anyone involved.
If someone completely uninvolved just comes up and ninjaloots, is this fun? Does it promote conflict or engage anyone in interesting interactions, if the reward for this brawl is silently stolen without any indication of a culprit? How does the server and roleplay environment benefit from it? If someone stealths up and loots a box, then visibly makes away with the goods, that's not as bad but it's still kind of lame from an OOC standpoint. People in the brawl can find the person, trade, or simply beat him up for being a theif. But not if they don't know who it is. All it fosters is an OOC bitterness.
I am fond of the dispensary dropping a placeable containing the loot that when opened does not only break stealth but also "paints" the character model yellow (it fits thematically with the dispensary and why wouldn't the King want the one who proudly totes his table scraps known?).
This means that melee and mage characters hold a chance at identifying and addressing the thief, and allows the thief to still employ his own craft but in a cunning manner. If the yellow tag on the PCs lasts for awhile, it would also mean that thief type PCs can't simply pluck from the placeable and then hide-in-plain-sight without any meaningful or obvious engagement to the scenario - and I imagine that being the "painted" one, thief or not, may not always be a pleasant experience and may nurture some unease in carelessly participating in the dispensary brawls.
-
Knave; "Nay, ain't worth a scrap under the King's eye. Just hunt down the Painted, they light up the whole alleyway like a fat pile of groat."
Peer; "I'll pay five hundred groat to the man who drags the Painted to me! I don't take insults upon my House by bloody thieves lightly!"
While we're on the dispensary subject, can we minimize the amount of VFX/sparkles?
It's a major FPS eater ..
Dear god please I've been enhanced so many times by those vfx even when I'm just passing by
Any chud can take an invis potion, but actually investing in a stealth-based concept should be rewarded. Perhaps a short delayed message indicating that the goods have been taken, allowing a stealth character the benefit of their investments while also giving the brawlers the opportunity to search out the area for their competitor.
Siding with RWG on this one. Bring your own sparks of revelation, or a VERY high listen/ms PC "guard". Even dedicated stealthers struggle to hit values higher than 30 (and that's with feats, equipment, spells) which is very easily countered by something like a cleric and clairvoyance.
Additionally, it's horribly risky. You could technically steal the entire thing, but if you are caught there are very good chances to be FD'd over what's in the end a bunch of scraps.
- Set the dispensary drop to appear in one of three drop zones set back a bit from the monolith in one of three corners of that area
- Have the dispensary drop randomly between 1-3 bags in the 3 zones at each dispensary (I've only seen a few but doesn't seem like this would be over powered given the number of players getting involved)
- Change the drop to a clickable placeable that takes 1 round to "collect up" putting your character in a prone position and emotes "Collects up the royal treasure" (or whatever). This action should also dispel invis and remove stealth
- Remove the current Invisibility removal / stealth removal.
With three potentially opposing big hubs (possibly smaller factions too) this would also allow for some politics/opportunity to be greedy and try and claim the whole dispensary drops or keep to your own territories etc.