IMPORTANT: How you talk to NPCs has changed!

[neko kyouran]

or simply scrap the time out altogether, and implement, "goodbye [npc name]" as the the way to end the session with the npc. granted there should be a fallback timeout in case the use forgets to end the session, but that could be based on the distance between the user and npc, (if they ran away wthout ending, take the difference of postions, if they are over a certain radius, session auto ends) or say a 3 minute timeout (in case they don't move, but forget to end the session)  3 minutes should be plenty of time, and the number scould be adjusted anyway.

and I'd say more like its 10,000-30,000 at least.  1,000 will only get you to Asia.

[Nikodemus]

I'd say the distance switch is the best option and was going to suggest it. Goodbye (bye) is good too. It all depend if you are near harnquist and you want to talk with other people instantly once you finish with NPC, or don't want to say anything and just walk away as you talked with random citizen somehere on the streets of Hydlaa.
Though there is still problem of NPC name being in sentence which isn't directed to him, really comlicated NPCs names which you dont like to type, (maybe only 3 letters of it if there are no NPCs with similiar name? But the somebody call it not realistic ) And the unrealistic magical way that you always know the NPCs name.

and the long pings aren't necessary because you are far away, but because your ISP is having problems or somethink in the beatwen (which is less likely). If your ISP is crap, you are on the end of loooong crappy thelephone line and you are on modem, then 90% of the problem is on the 20miles of your telephone line ;P

[Sisilam]

I agree a lot with the distance swith and maybe an addition high time timeout (10 minutes) .. at least we have a distance/moving implementation while you dig ore. If you dig ore and move your location you fail .. the same technology might be used while speaking to an NPC. If you move out of the listening distance of the NPC he won't recognize you anymore. Most of the time you won't move much if you talk to an NPC (as long as Harnquist hasn't the moving bug again)

[Sisilam]

there seem to be another BUG with the conversation bewteen NPC .. there is a questwhere you have to talk to different NPC standing close each other .. if you say 'tell me about [NPCNAME]' the conversation seems to toggle to the NPC [NPCNAME] and the converation to the first NPC is that way broken and teh quest can't be completed/started .. maybe I will try out if there is a workaround fort that but haven't found one yet ..

[Under the moon]

Punctuation after names does not work. Example: "Hello Nalri!"  "Nalri, hello." do not work. I also type slow, so anything that takes longer to type requires you to say the name for every question.

Recommendation: Toss the short timeout, as said above, and replace it with any movement command and a longer timeout of at least a minute or two.

[Bereror]

*** 2006-08-23 by Keith Fulton
- Converted tabs from "All" to "Main" and made "Chat" into a special tab just for
  talking to npc's.
- Took out npc naming system for talking with them.  Now it is back to the old targeting
  way, plus you must use the NPC chat tab on the chat window.

The old talking system is back as soon as the server is rebuilt and the next version is released.

I personally liked the new talking system once NPCs got fixed. I enjoyed talking to the Death Guardian: "Hi Death"

[Sisilam]

i start to like the new talking system as well !!! .. but I like working systems also

[Vengeance]

I don't understand why you guys continue to design a system that has already been taken out.  Those particular hours of my life doing that "improvement" are now evaporated, as are your hours of time here in this thread "improving my improvement."  :-)  I still like this way better but Talad and Karyuu wanted it reversed and the consensus in this thread was to take it out, so it is out.  Please quit posting improvements to it.

- Venge

[zanzibar]

I don't understand why you guys continue to design a system that has already been taken out.  Those particular hours of my life doing that "improvement" are now evaporated, as are your hours of time here in this thread "improving my improvement."  :-)  I still like this way better but Talad and Karyuu wanted it reversed and the consensus in this thread was to take it out, so it is out.  Please quit posting improvements to it.

- Venge

So let me get this straight.  There are people who (for whatever reason) actually liked your system, but they thought it was flawed, and you're telling them to stop talking about ways to improve it to the point of being viable?

And no, your hours weren't completely wasted.  Can't you look at it as a learning experience or something?  Why does it have to be so black and white?

[Datruth]

I totally agree,

I mean this needed to happen, there needed to be a discussion, and we learned alot.

Your system was good in theory but was also flawed.

We haven't lost anything though, we've only gained from all this, we're all better off now that we went through this stage.

Remember, planeshift is still in it's infancy, we have plenty of time to make changes, till then let's enjoy the experience.

~~Datruth

[zanzibar]

Well, it's Vengeance's time... technically...

[Kerol]

I also don't think it was wasted time.
As I think a hybrid system would work out best, your first attempt could be recycled later for a better thought out system.. *points to the improvements thought about in that thread*
And besides that I think experiences never are for nought

[Sisilam]

@Vengeance:

Your improvement wasn't a waste of time!!! .. indeed it was a good idea and the time will show that it is overall a good thing .. maybe it was just a bad time/way to switch it while not fully working .. but what is needed to get it fully working? .. there are only three small lacks left .. one is that the handling of quest items was a bit broken and the other point was that the timeout may be to short which could easy been managed by using the movemnet stuff used at digging (if you dig and move you fail) and as third the problem of NPC nearby another NPC triggering an existing conversation to stop (which may be solved by not stopping the existing conversation but why not let 2 NPCs listen to a conversation) .. so yes .. it is working in the basics and it will surely work very well and fine in the future!

So don't let your head hang down .. you made a good job!

[Vengeance]

It took a couple of hours to implement at the time and it took 30 minutes to change it back.  I am disappointed that we changed it back instead of just improving it because I do think it would have ended up better, but in the end it doesn't really matter.  I'm sure you guys will hate the new chat changes too, so you'll just have to get used to it all. :-)  What is mystifying to me is why you keep making suggestions about that system when it is already announced to have been taken out.  I keep thinking of locking the thread but as a behavioral experiment I leave it open to see when people will run out of ideas for improving something that doesn't exist. :-)

As far as the learning experience goes, I didn't learn a thing from implementing this feature.  It has been a while since something radically "new" was added to the game.  I did it only to improve the player experience.  People didn't like it so it came out.

- Vengeance

[Sisilam]

...I am disappointed that we changed it back instead of just improving it...

Me and I guess all the other people are sad that it was reverted instead improved as well

...because I do think it would have ended up better...

definitly!

...What is mystifying to me is why you keep making suggestions about that system when it is already announced to have been taken out.  I keep thinking of locking the thread but as a behavioral experiment I leave it open to see when people will run out of ideas for improving something that doesn't exist. :-)

just simple .. because it is NOT DEAD for US .. we liked the idea, the concept behind .. maybe the implementation lacked a bit .. but thats just another point and is something that could be improved. THATs why we still post .. because we WISH IT .. we wish it in a functional working way that was discussed through all steps to get rid of all eventual failures and lacks .. we WANT IT .. so it isn't dead for us .. we saw it was working and possible to implement.

The thing is .. we wheren't happy that it happend from one day to another without discussion and wasn't working on the first try .. but that DOES NOT MEAN in all cases that we don't want it!

As far as the learning experience goes, I didn't learn a thing from implementing this feature.  It has been a while since something radically "new" was added to the game.  I did it only to improve the player experience.

I don't agree with you .. maybe you even at least learned that some new nice stuff needs the right time to be implemented ...

People didn't like it so it came out.

that is DEFINITLY WRONG or a at least a MISSUNDERSTANDING! .. we said it is a good idea and nice .. but it is clear that if people can't solve a quest anymore or have timeout difficulty that they aren't amuzed about that .. but the thing is that they wasn't happy about the stuff that wasn't working correctly .. but this is not the same thing to not like your improvement! I guess if your improvement will work without a timeout problem and will work the way that still quests could be solved we all would be glad to have such a solution!!!

so don't crucify yourself or get overall disapointed!