Stendhal Development Meeting 2009-11-22/Result Log

Contents 1 Mixed Things 2 Mute 3 Size of bag 4 Poison 5 Stackable item handling 6 Quest Contribution 7 Quest Log 8 City Welcome Messages 9 Training 10 Item availability 11 Client Performance 12 Random

Mixed Things

• /ignore currently only works for /tell but it should work for public chat, too - this is being worked on (#2872361)
• "Strongest player" on website should be sorted by karma as second sort criterion because of the max level limit (#2905264).
• It was suggested that animal masks from Fidorea in ados could stay longer than 2 hours, for example for 2 days. Perhaps with additional fees.
• blackfinix offered to update the StendhalManual and embed the referenced images by uploading them to the Wiki (#2892214 fixed by kiheru and kymara).
• Enabled and minimized keyring pops up on every zone change (#1815905 fixed)
• It was requested to have an npc to sell armors to which you can not sell to other npcs
• The black pearl image could be improved (done; a new image in CVS now)
• An NPC for offering items to other players in being worked on

Mute

• /mute should to be remembered across restarts (#2880973 fixed).
• the command could be more user friendly: /mute instead of the confusing "/sound mute on" and "/sound mute off" (#2905154 fixed).

Size of bag

• The bag is always too small.
• It may be a good idea to let players earn the right to get more storage, like the keyring.
• There is some work in progress on boxes and backpacks and so on

Poison

• Poisoning creatures are disliked by some players
  • well, that is the idea behind them
  • fit well into the world
• There should be poison arrows and weapons
  • currently only players can be poisoned, needs some moving of code blocks
  • those weapons should be created by the adventurers by applying poison to them (#1591445)
• there should be special antidotes for stronger poison

Stackable item handling

• ctrl+drag does not work if you take the item from a chest
• there should be the reverse of /drop 2 items to take 2 items from the chest
• even better a menu for that which pops up on ctrl drag

Quest Contribution

• Stendhal Quest Contribution explains how a quest is created. Starting with a very first rough idea and ending with an implemented and well tested quest that is fun to play.
• There are already some ideas at Stendhal Quest Ideas in various states of completion.
• It is a good idea to join #arianne and talk about your ideas, especially before you start to put lots of work into it.

Quest Log

• We want a quest log that records the progress of quests (#1716575).

• For example something like this: Helping Tad
  • I have met Tad in Semos Townhall
  • He asked me to buy a flask from Margaret in Semos Tavern.
  • I got a flask and will bring it to Tad soon.
  • Tad asked me to take the flask to Ilisa at Semos Temple.
  • Ilisa asked me to get a herb called Arandula which I can find north of Semos, near the tree grove.
  • Ilisa created a powerful potion to help Tad. She asked me to tell him that it is ready.
  • Tad thanked me.

• This feature is in development and already works partly: /listquests IntroducePlayers
• Starting with 0.80 /listquests without parameter will give you a list of all quests known to you
• Warning: On 0.79 /listquests without parameters might create such a long reply that the client crashes

• There should be a dialogue window in the long run
  • One part showing the list of known quests
  • The other part shows the log for the selected one
  • Window should be outside the world not like the bag, but like the minimap or the help window
• The log itself is something that everyone that knew the quests can help with. Even without knowing anything about coding computer programs.
  • blackfinix and humana volunteered to write some of the required texts. More volunteers are very welcomed.
  • The wiki page about quests may help because it often advises on the different states of the quests
  • The work that has already been done can be seen at quests.xml (right click on this link to download)

City Welcome Messages

• there could be a welcome message when you reach a city for the first time: Welcome in Fado
• perhaps this could appear when you reach other areas for the first time
• those text boxed may guide you
• or there may be a in world sign near the city entrance which points to the important locations

Training

• We still need to teach that it's now not necessary to train, with the new RP - that gaining xp improves your abilities faster
• Training is still allowed, and it has its advantages, but it's risky
• Ideas were suggested to make training 'easier' like:

• a training dagger which does a limited damage of 1 point per hit no matter the player's level and which gets used up when the player gets 1 point in both attack and defense experience. And the price is proportional to the player' level
• weapons with rate less than 1 (it was explained that rate 1 means one hit per 1 turn, so it's not possible to go faster - it was claimed that in some other servers this is possible)

• It would be good if there was a way to train by being active in game. The old camping system of gaining level by not playing but just being logged in is not good.

• if you train you have to answer question of a quiz (jokey suggestion)
• after a certain number of hits you have to reselect to attack your partner so it is less 'hands off'

• Some players train to be able to cope better alone, e.g. in deathmatch

Item availability

• It was requested that the very rare items like demon fire sword and soul dagger become less rare
• The best items are rare because it makes the game interesting and balanced
• Mithril armor was enquired about - the quest is still in development
• Mithril blade was mentioned but it is only an idea now
• It was suggested that new players should be able get some very good items with quests - again this would be unbalanced
• Amulets were mentioned but without any suggestion of what purpose they would have

Client Performance

• There had some performance problems in the drawing code of the client in the past which we think we fixed in 0.79
• If anyone still has problems like the chat bar not reacting to newly typed letters quickly enough, please contact /support and try to include information about your operating system and java version.
• We have three clients for you to test if you are still suffering client side lag. They use different ways to synchronize the drawing with the reset of the game.
• On some systems, the client gets a lot faster when starting it with java -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true -jar stendhal-0.79.jar
• Adding -Xmx200m may help, too.

Random

• there have been suggestions for a place for level 400 players
• it was suggested to only mark player killers if they kill multiple players
• training (camping), however, should not be without risk
• create apple juice out of apples with the help of a food mill
• being able to throw apples at annoying players
• apple schnapps, perhaps acting like poison to make it more difficult to walk when drunk
• it was suggested that mithril boots may have to low def