Effects Frme Please

[Maldrak]

So, I frequently use the "wall o' effects" that populate the chat window to find conflicting bonuses in gear/etc. However, lately that wall o' text has gotten so long that it scrolls off the text history (which is insane, but it's happening). Also, if any other chat comes in, it can make you lose your place, and is just generally difficult/awkward to use, so I was wondering... Could we maybe get a tab on the inventory page (or wherever) that just duplicates all this text in one easy to read scroll box? It should be easy to implement (the same code that creates the wall of text at login can be used), all you need to do is make it spit it out into a textbox that clears before running the code, add a couple of UI elements to get the box (I'd even be fine if it was just a /command that popped up the window something like "/effects" or whatever). For ease of development a simple frame with "clear" and "list effects" buttons (or just "list effects" even, it could clear then list, heck it doesn't even need a button, opening the window could clear and populate it - though I'd prefer a button, in case I had some list I wanted to hold on to, but as long as I can copy from it and paste into notepad, I can work around that - the key thing is that it doesn't update automatically as buffs/gear change - or I guess there could be a "real time" option to allow it to update constantly that could be checked/unchecked), and a big ol' text box with a scrollbar to hold the text, would be quite a nice start. For me, it'd even be enough, but honestly I think people will find it so useful, that it'll probably see further integration and development over time. Which would be fine with me too.

Anyways, I just thought it'd make finding gear/buff/etc conflicts easier, and that'd be nice!

EDIT: The more I thought about it, a "/effects" command that brought up and populated a simple text box frame with a snapshot of all effects at the time of the command would be more than sufficient, and should be super easy to implement. Plus all the work would be done client side, and so shouldn't put any/much extra burden on the servers. I'd also be fine with the interface locking up while it populated the textbox, I don't need it to be threaded or anything, it shouldn't be too easy to accidentally type "/effects" in the chat window in the middle of a fight, soo....

[EllisDee37]

You can create this yourself using chat windows. Create a new one, and turn off all incoming chat except Effects. Now remove Effects from all other chat windows. Whenever you want to see effects, you now have a dedicated chat window just for that.

This is how I set up my chat windows when the Effects functionality went live.

[Maldrak]

Unfortunately not true, for the following reasons (and these reasons are why I started the thread/made the request)

1) I have an effects only tab - ALOT of effects scroll off the top at login. So no - even a dedicated window (or tab) isn't enough to implement this functionality.

2) Removing & replacing items, buffing, etc only shows the recent ADDED changes (and if some other effect came to prominence due to conflict loss) - often this is enough, but sometimes it's not.
a) Changing equipment only shows the recent change's ADDED effects, not lost effects, so you can easily lose track of which effects you still have (and no, not all effects are shown on the character/inventory sheets). For instance, if you replace your goggles of Deathblock with some Deadly Goggles, you'll know you've acquired Deadly (and if any gear conflicts), but you won't know you no longer have Deathblock...
b) Buffs that expire don't show lost abilities, so this "chat window solution" is not a good means of getting a "snap shot" of current state.
c) It can get VERY difficult with the chat window to see what is ACTUALLy currently taking effect - especially when moving alot of equipment (put one item on, then a different one, then the first, then another and tell me, if you can - what's currently affecting you?)

3) It is my SINCERE hope that this fairly easy to implement improvement will also serve as a foundation for future improvements to the window - until at some point we end up with a much needed "Here's all your effects and where they come from" window.


IDEALLY I'd like to eventually see it grow into a window that looked like this (with a collapsible tree view):

- Strength Bonus (Total +8)
| - Enhancement +6
| |- (+4) from Boots of Strength +4
| |- +6 from Gloves of Strength +6
| - Insight +2
| |- +2 from Divine Strength buff
| + Inherent +1
| + Penalty -1

+ Dexterity (Total +4)

+ Intelligence (Total +2)

- Immunity to Death Effects
|- from Ring of Deathblock
|- from Death Ward buff

(Etc...)

But I figured I'd start small and work my way up over time, to reduce programming load.

Dear developers, if you'd prefer to jump straight to the Ideal form, please feel free.

[EllisDee37]

1) I have an effects only tab - ALOT of effects scroll off the top at login. So no - even a dedicated window (or tab) isn't enough to implement this functionality.

I guess I was confused when you said this:

if any other chat comes in, it can make you lose your place

[Maldrak]

Oh - yeah - even if the chat comes in in another window, it jumps ALL my windows to the bottom. Does it not do this for you? Is there maybe a setting I could do something about?

[EllisDee37]

Oh - yeah - even if the chat comes in in another window, it jumps ALL my windows to the bottom. Does it not do this for you? Is there maybe a setting I could do something about?

Oh, gotcha. It probably does the same to me; I haven't noticed since I direct both party and guild to general and just stay in general 99% of the time.