Amundir
01-11-2014, 02:27 PM
*Note: periods added for spacing as forum loses whitespace
....I wanted to start a discussion for ideas concerning the possible inclusion of a character planner area on the live servers. This is similar to the Test Dojo on Lammania and referred to as a "sandbox" by at least one other poster I have read. I feel it would be very beneficial to the community to have such an area. Considering the number of character planners that have been developed and information duplicated onto external sources, such as ddowiki, this shows a strong desire by the community to have this information readily available to them.
....Should DDO provide a Character Planning Sandbox ("CPS" going forward) I feel this would help the players in multiple ways. First, DDO being the originator of the information, this would reduce the need to duplicate the information else where and increase accuracy. Secondly, as the CPS can directly reflect the game, any changes to character development can readily be applied to the CPS as it would be an implementation of the existing systems. This would not necessarily mean the end of external source references and character planners as a CPS would require the player to be on-line and DDO to be up. External sources could still be available in the event that either of these cases are not met.
....Ideally, I feel the inclusion of a CPS should have low impact on the developers. Ease of inclusion I feel increases the chance of such an addition. Coming from a development background I am aware that management loves what they call "quick wins". With this in mind I have thought of the following:
1) Character Names
2) CPS Location
3) CPS Amenities
4) CPS Entrance
5) Reincarnation
1) Character Names
....The first obstacle I see in regards to a CPS is the requirement that names be unique. Compared to live servers, Lammania's population is small and the chance of name collision is proportionally less. My first thought to resolve this issue was that CPS characters could have a special character appended to the beginning of their names, thus circumventing existing player names. This, however, I then felt might require a code change which would increase impact. In order to avoid this, I then thought that a better approach might simply be to make CPS names random. As the CPS characters are intended to be temporary, the names are not important.
....Going further with CPS characters being temporary I feel that CPS characters should be entirely temporary and only available until the user logs out of the character. A confirmation should be included upon entering the CPS which I will discuss under "CPS Entrance".
2) CPS Location
....The second obstacle I see is where the CPS should be located. The Test Dojo map could be reused, however some modifications would have to be made. Exits would need to be removed and teleport lock enforced to keep characters from accessing live content. My initial thought was against the Test Dojo map, but perhaps it could work.
....The CPS Location I thought of originally reused in part the veteran character ship. Accessing the veteran character ship though the CPS option could flip a boolean which then allows the passenger chick to level you to 20, reusing this logic. CPS Amenities I will write as if the ship choice is used, though much of it could be translated to the Test Dojo map.
3) CPS Amenities
....The CPS should not offer every thing. It should not have a banker nor a mailbox for obvious reasons. I am also not entirely sure that an items room, such as the one in the Test Dojo, is necessary. The purpose of the CPS is focused on skill and feat planning where as the item room is, I believe, there for quick access to equipment so players can test game content.
....I imagine the CPS as such. The veteran ship could be enlarged to one of the other models to provide more room (this could also serve as cross advertising to players as to what kind of guild ship they can eventually get). The passenger chick can be reused to facilitate leveling and Fred could be added as a passenger for feat swapping. Free access to feat swaps or items to pay Fred should also be available. An alternative to the passenger chick could be a NPC from each class. This would have the benefit that each NPC has their helpful information based on class for new players built in.
....Inside the ship, the belly could be divided into two areas. One area providing fodder targets for players to test spells on and another for PVP. Fodder targets should be varied such that they provide an example of different enemy types (ex. undead, construct, outsider, etc.)
4) CPS Entrance
....I initially thought the CPS could be an option off of the main character selection menu, however I then realized that the player would still have to chose their starting race/class/feat(s)/etc. This then led me to believe the best place for the CPS entrance would be another option off of the character name screen. The player has at that point chosen their starting build. Choosing the CPS option should present a confirmation message stating that a random name will be generated and informing the player that their character will be temporary and deleted upon logout. This allows the user to choose no if they clicked the option by mistake and also explicitly inform the player about the option they chose to decrease possible confusion.
5) Reincarnation
....I am not entirely sure how the introduction of temporary characters would integrate into the reincarnation system. As such I feel as a start reincarnation should not be allowed for CPS characters. This includes lesser reincarnations, in hopes of promoting low impact.
To summarize the preceding...
A) Add option to character name screen to enter CPS
........1) Explicit message informing that character will be temporary and a random name generated
........2) Confirmation to prevent accidental use
........3) Acceptance places character in CPS and meta-data kept on character to signify to the system that the character should be deleted upon logout or as part of a periodic cleanup process
B) CPS provides minimum amenities
........1) NPC for leveling
................a) Boolean added to passenger chick could optionally allow her to level character to 20 (Reused NPC)
................- OR -
................b) Single NPC from each class (Reused NPCs and instructional dialog)
........2) NPC for feat swapping (Reused NPC)
........3) Re-spawning fodder enemies of varying types(ex. undead, construct, outsider, etc.) for spell/skill testing
C) Concerns
........1) Banks and Mailboxes could break the sandbox. (Do not include)
........2) Teleport spell or items that teleport people to you could break the sandbox. (Teleport lock)
........3) Temporary characters might not initially play well with reincarnation. (Do not include Reincarnation NPCs)
Open for discussion!
....I wanted to start a discussion for ideas concerning the possible inclusion of a character planner area on the live servers. This is similar to the Test Dojo on Lammania and referred to as a "sandbox" by at least one other poster I have read. I feel it would be very beneficial to the community to have such an area. Considering the number of character planners that have been developed and information duplicated onto external sources, such as ddowiki, this shows a strong desire by the community to have this information readily available to them.
....Should DDO provide a Character Planning Sandbox ("CPS" going forward) I feel this would help the players in multiple ways. First, DDO being the originator of the information, this would reduce the need to duplicate the information else where and increase accuracy. Secondly, as the CPS can directly reflect the game, any changes to character development can readily be applied to the CPS as it would be an implementation of the existing systems. This would not necessarily mean the end of external source references and character planners as a CPS would require the player to be on-line and DDO to be up. External sources could still be available in the event that either of these cases are not met.
....Ideally, I feel the inclusion of a CPS should have low impact on the developers. Ease of inclusion I feel increases the chance of such an addition. Coming from a development background I am aware that management loves what they call "quick wins". With this in mind I have thought of the following:
1) Character Names
2) CPS Location
3) CPS Amenities
4) CPS Entrance
5) Reincarnation
1) Character Names
....The first obstacle I see in regards to a CPS is the requirement that names be unique. Compared to live servers, Lammania's population is small and the chance of name collision is proportionally less. My first thought to resolve this issue was that CPS characters could have a special character appended to the beginning of their names, thus circumventing existing player names. This, however, I then felt might require a code change which would increase impact. In order to avoid this, I then thought that a better approach might simply be to make CPS names random. As the CPS characters are intended to be temporary, the names are not important.
....Going further with CPS characters being temporary I feel that CPS characters should be entirely temporary and only available until the user logs out of the character. A confirmation should be included upon entering the CPS which I will discuss under "CPS Entrance".
2) CPS Location
....The second obstacle I see is where the CPS should be located. The Test Dojo map could be reused, however some modifications would have to be made. Exits would need to be removed and teleport lock enforced to keep characters from accessing live content. My initial thought was against the Test Dojo map, but perhaps it could work.
....The CPS Location I thought of originally reused in part the veteran character ship. Accessing the veteran character ship though the CPS option could flip a boolean which then allows the passenger chick to level you to 20, reusing this logic. CPS Amenities I will write as if the ship choice is used, though much of it could be translated to the Test Dojo map.
3) CPS Amenities
....The CPS should not offer every thing. It should not have a banker nor a mailbox for obvious reasons. I am also not entirely sure that an items room, such as the one in the Test Dojo, is necessary. The purpose of the CPS is focused on skill and feat planning where as the item room is, I believe, there for quick access to equipment so players can test game content.
....I imagine the CPS as such. The veteran ship could be enlarged to one of the other models to provide more room (this could also serve as cross advertising to players as to what kind of guild ship they can eventually get). The passenger chick can be reused to facilitate leveling and Fred could be added as a passenger for feat swapping. Free access to feat swaps or items to pay Fred should also be available. An alternative to the passenger chick could be a NPC from each class. This would have the benefit that each NPC has their helpful information based on class for new players built in.
....Inside the ship, the belly could be divided into two areas. One area providing fodder targets for players to test spells on and another for PVP. Fodder targets should be varied such that they provide an example of different enemy types (ex. undead, construct, outsider, etc.)
4) CPS Entrance
....I initially thought the CPS could be an option off of the main character selection menu, however I then realized that the player would still have to chose their starting race/class/feat(s)/etc. This then led me to believe the best place for the CPS entrance would be another option off of the character name screen. The player has at that point chosen their starting build. Choosing the CPS option should present a confirmation message stating that a random name will be generated and informing the player that their character will be temporary and deleted upon logout. This allows the user to choose no if they clicked the option by mistake and also explicitly inform the player about the option they chose to decrease possible confusion.
5) Reincarnation
....I am not entirely sure how the introduction of temporary characters would integrate into the reincarnation system. As such I feel as a start reincarnation should not be allowed for CPS characters. This includes lesser reincarnations, in hopes of promoting low impact.
To summarize the preceding...
A) Add option to character name screen to enter CPS
........1) Explicit message informing that character will be temporary and a random name generated
........2) Confirmation to prevent accidental use
........3) Acceptance places character in CPS and meta-data kept on character to signify to the system that the character should be deleted upon logout or as part of a periodic cleanup process
B) CPS provides minimum amenities
........1) NPC for leveling
................a) Boolean added to passenger chick could optionally allow her to level character to 20 (Reused NPC)
................- OR -
................b) Single NPC from each class (Reused NPCs and instructional dialog)
........2) NPC for feat swapping (Reused NPC)
........3) Re-spawning fodder enemies of varying types(ex. undead, construct, outsider, etc.) for spell/skill testing
C) Concerns
........1) Banks and Mailboxes could break the sandbox. (Do not include)
........2) Teleport spell or items that teleport people to you could break the sandbox. (Teleport lock)
........3) Temporary characters might not initially play well with reincarnation. (Do not include Reincarnation NPCs)
Open for discussion!