Feedback talk:Joe Kimmes/Archive October 2009

Map travel

joe what limitations do you have when it comes to changing how map travel works?- Zesbeer 08:55, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

It really depends on what you'd like to see; I can't think of any map travel changes that would be easy, but tell me what you're thinking of and I can give you an idea of what the limitations are for a change like that. - Joe Kimmes 01:21, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

The most common suggestions to map travel have been adding more towns to the list and switching the world map without actually changing towns. The big question is are either of these options possible given the current map travel code.--Pyron Sy 01:42, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

yea either of thous. also adding it to the long in screen.- Zesbeer 03:04, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

If I may - here are two Feedback pages I dug up regarding map travel: Feedback:User/Poki/Improved campaign travel, Feedback:User/PheNaxKian/Add Capitals to map-travel bookmarks. — Poki#3 (talk) 14:05, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Adding more towns to the list is unlikely for design reasons, but not really hard. I like the idea of being able to switch maps without traveling, but off the top of my head I'm not sure whether the system can support it. I'll have to poke around a little on this and see if it can be done. - Joe Kimmes 20:55, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

thanks joe any improvement would be hugely welcome. also if adding more towns to the boat doesn't make since(ie not all towns are assessable by water) adding more towns to the Asuran portal kind of dose...- Zesbeer 21:30, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

You mean kind of reason too why you can teleport to more towns. The asura digged new subways. 84.80.151.136 20:03, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

My main issues with inter-region map travel are two:

• Having to visit overpopulated towns that will take a while to load when I just want to pass by. I want to visit Kamadan only when I want to be in Kamadan.
• Having to break parties when traveling between campaigns. It's not a problem with guildies, but with other people, specially whit people of other languages it may add extra nuisances or misunderstandings, like people thinking they have been kicked out. MithTalk 14:04, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

I think this would be a cool feature if Joe has the time, but fixing problems/big stuff should always come first. That said, I personally would rather it be a command, i.e.: /.move <AreaID#> <Nationality (optional, defaults to current)> <District (optional, defaults to active district, returns error message if that district is full)>. So to go to Russian D2 (haha, as if Russian districts get D2s) of Ascalon City, and assuming AC's internal ID# was 21102, you would type: /.move 21102 russian 2

And voila, you're there. It seems like that would take less work than implementing a new interface for intercontinental travel, but hey, what do I know. –Jette 14:36, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

I think they should just repurpose the code for Zaishen Representatives, Kurzick Recruiters, and Luxon Diplomats. No new interface, just some new NPCs scattered around (probably cities only), and some new dialogue menu options. -- FreedomBound 14:39, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be easier to merge the maps in 1, so we get all Tyria, and hey, finally know where each continent stands? Easier mechanics, expanded lore... what's not to like? -- Large 15:01, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Even marketing gets onboard as you get to remind people about the expansions they dont own MrPaladin talk 15:06, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

@Large & MrPaladin that is the most epic version of the dream i had for a map travel change, but Linsey said multiple times that she wont do that. because of how map travel was put into the game. that it would be a huge change apparently.- Zesbeer 06:29, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Party Search filter

Is there a chance of getting a search filter in the Party Search dialog? Just a simple strstr() type affair would help a lot when trying to find a trading partner in Kamadan. MortenB 16:07, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

I like this idea - it's unfortunately a little trickier to add than it sounds, but I'll take a look at this next time I have some free time (quite busy at the moment). I've certainly spent my share of time scouring the trade lists for specific items, this could speed that up a lot. - Joe Kimmes 01:24, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

a separation between wtb and wts and wtt would help a lot as well.- Zesbeer 04:12, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

If people would use wtb and not: Wtb WtB WTB wtb W tb w t b wt b Kaufe etc. But maybe people only use wtb if it is installed:P Death Sligher 18:47, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

This probably is not related at all with the prior suggestion, but how about a way to group completed and maxed titles in the Hero panel? That way scrollind down to the ones you don't have a tier for would be easier. -- Large 19:05, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Back to the "wtb" issue... I think that half the time, it's an issue of trying (and usually failing) to evade one of my favorite bits of code, the one that automatically moves trade messages to the trade channel. I know it was a long time ago, but thank you so much for implementing that, Joe. --RoyHarmon 17:38, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Time Emote

→ moved from Feedback talk:Linsey Murdock

Will you please add an emote so that we can check the time from inside the game??? This seems like it'd be easy and help out a lot! 152.3.153.40 19:46, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

The time of the game or your personal time zone's time? If you're talking about the latter, quit being lazy and just minimize the game :/ Karate Jesus 20:41, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

wot's a clock, m8? ··· Danny Pew Pew 20:42, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

I think it might come in handy when you're trying to figure out how much time is left in a weekend event or when other automated changes happen. --Silver Edge 20:57, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

if you only care about the instance servers, that would make sense - but even then, timezones involve extremely simple math, and server time is only going to vary as much as it would between instance servers anyway. ··· Danny Pew Pew 21:14, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

I can pre-map complex geometrical textures over poly divisions for 3dmodeling and program advanced game physics calculations over radians in c++... Not bragging here, just making the case than I can walk and chew gum at the same time. However; figuring out this GMT crap always trips me and takes too long. So yeah, for the sake of the OP's argument, It's a matter of convenience. --ilr 21:43, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

If you're using Windows Vista (or Windows 7) lookup about adding "Additional Clocks" to your task bar - I've added PDT to mine precisely so I can check for the start of events etc. --BramStoker (talk, contribs) 22:19, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

i have to agree about this but i must say i think this is more of a joe thing then a linsey thing.- Zesbeer 22:35, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

On another note, the default UTC clock on the top of each wiki page is an hour ahead. --Silver Edge 23:14, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

The UTC clock is displaying the accurate time to me. As for a "time emote", yes please (or at least some kind of in-game clock). Numerous members of my guild have been calling for this for a while now. -- WarBlade 23:34, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Could be useful, not only in order to know time spent in game precisely but also remaining time before a major event finale or end of event. Especially since some users on the wiki insist on putting only the US ingame announcement and schedules here which includes such things as PST time, AM/PM or other US or english based time that most people not within the US do not know about or are not familiar with (hint hint: this is the only official wiki currently available which means that even UK, AU, etc. citizens but also any other language-speaking people will end up here eventually). Jaxom 02:28, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

They could make the ping/fps button tell the time pretty easily. ~Shard 04:00, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Or at te event timer to the wikipages as I said before. It has been dont 1event but havent seen it after that event ones again. Was it wrong, or prolems to do it every event? Death Sligher 62.133.217.134 09:12, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

I'll go for insterting both the local and server time inthe ping panel too. It's faster than typing /time ery tim you want to know it, and goes with the kind of 'system info' that goes in there: FPS, IP, latency.MithTalk 12:04, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

zzz alt-tab —Jette 12:19, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Not everyone have high-end machines allowing them to alt-tab in less than one second. And your system clock won't show "server time" or UTC time. Putting the timers there is way better than having all users leaving the game to see such a simple piece of information. MithTalk 12:49, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

I should probably point out at some point that this is very much a game suggestion, and as such really belongs in the Game suggestion area. The OP should register an account and go to Feedback:Getting started and post this as an actual suggestion. Linsey's page is not for this sort of thing. -- Wyn talk 15:28, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

@mith:then play in a window zzz >.> - Wuhy 16:46, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

TBH, I don't particularly feel like this would be a good use of development resources, but I don't have any idea how hard/fast it would be to put something like this in. If it's super easy, maybe Joe could do it as a side project, but I really don't think it's worth taking up time on the schedule when wearing a watch could easily achieve the same thing... but you can ask Joe about it! - Linsey talk 17:12, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

A command like this would be theoretically very trivial to add, which makes me wonder if there's a good reason it's not currently available. I'll ask around and see if this was a design decision from way back or something; my guess is that if Linsey says it's ok, I could add this pretty easily when I have free time. - Joe Kimmes 01:29, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

just a suggestion if you do end up adding this if you could have it display Local time and the servers time would be awesome! - Zesbeer 03:07, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

And UTC ;p -- WarBlade 03:20, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) I've been using C for like 3 days and I can already do this, so it should take him about 15 seconds to make it work properly. I would like to request, however, that this be bundled with another more important update so I don't have to mess with all the memory addresses again.  :/ Every time the game gets updated, the camera angle gets reset. —Jette 03:22, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Well It could also be just a count down timer to the start of a event, instead of a watch with server time etc, and since the start of the events is now auto start I can be better trickered then before maybe. That could be the reason why there was no timer till now. Since everything was done by hand and the servers didn't know when the update would come. Death Sligher 06:21, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Knowing the time of the server would be nice, since that's the time the festivals and weekends are based off (?), trying to work it out can be confusing. And yes, I have additional clocks for Windows 7 so it's all at my fingers tips but have you ever been at the festivals and had people going: When's it start? When's the next one? etc and so on. Going "type /time" would be nice. Convenience is always a nice thing, or even just adding it to the /age command. But, I ramble. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 06:46, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

I can't believe what a bunch of cry babies there are in this game! You can't convert your time zone to UTC, you can't alt-tab to see your system clock, you can't be satisfied with the event timer on the wiki page (that we added because of the aforementioned), so now you want this put in the game..... I give up. -- Wyn talk 08:12, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, that's basically my opinion on the matter as well. —Jette 08:20, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

calm down wyn 1 this dosnt even effect you. 2 joe said it was ""very trivial"". and "I could add this pretty easily when I have free time."- Zesbeer 08:33, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

@wyn: soon they're gonna want GW to be able to read your mind and have a clock pop up whenever you want to know the time. ~Shard 08:53, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

^^ Inorite :P -- Wyn talk 10:15, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

-.- You can't convert your time zone to UTC <--- you'd be surprised at how many people can't, or just can't be bothered, considering a very simple sounding solution could address it for server time. But, I'm sure you're leet and can do that though, convert all the timezones like some sort of effin calculator. That's what I like about you, your ability to convert time in an instant. ^_^ you can't be satisfied with the event timer on the wiki page <---- yes, like absolutely every hardcore player (suggestive tone optional) uses the wiki, or even the bulk of the player base for that matter... or even knows that there's an event timer on the wiki. But, that's what I like about you. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 13:35, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Converting UCT annoys me because DST is retarded. It's like something out of 1984 or some other political horror novel, the government can just sign a paper and all of a sudden it's a completely different time. —Jette 13:51, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) Most cell phones have the capability to display various world times, so if you're really lazy (can't calculate UTC), have a slow pc (can't alt-tab), or whatever, you've got other options, if Joe can't program this in. Heck, you can even buy little desk clocks for five bucks that'll tell you 15 different times. It would be interesting to know if there was a design/traffic consideration that nixed it, though. -- FreedomBound 13:54, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

I donno why people are fussing so much, its a helpful little tool to put in... shoot I'd even go for an automated reminder like you get when you have been online for to long to count down to an event... a message already comes up close to an event to let players know to get to a particular zone... its not like were asking for an outlook calendar... just a message or a command that those who like to use can use and those who don't don't need to complain... 192.203.160.241 15:00, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

I dont complain about it, but someone asks it again. And it isnt hard to make, and people only got profit from it. Other games already got something like this too. So why not at it. (ingame,officiel site,wikipage whatever) Example from other games: [1] Death Sligher 18:13, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Anyone that knows a little bit about resource management and programming would see that its difficulty isn't anything compared to its benefits. The last thing you want to do while playing is making calculations about time and such. Games are supposed to be for relaxing, aren't they? I like to limit my calculations in GW to the numbers in skills. We already have event messages, but its usefulness won't be events only. If you play with people from many regions, having an unique time helps a lot. One player may have a clock near the computer, but not all, and how many of them will easily convert all those times to an unique time standard. If it is easier to have it in a little box in the corner, and it doesn't really take much time, it doesn't hurt anybody! ... well... maybe if the standard chose is Internet Time. It may be decimal and way better than the thing we have now, but some people find it quite difficult to get use to it. MithTalk 19:49, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but there's probably a whole heap of small, low resource additions they could add that though, not ground breaking, could be useful, even heavily so. Something to add a little bit of convenience for the players (this is an internationally played game, after all) wouldn't go amiss, but I personally don't want to push the idea because people might cry, I mean ... lol... it's not like Arenanet is really done much lately to fix real issues /cough. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 20:58, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

"which makes me wonder if there's a good reason it's not currently available" - this confuses me a bit. I mean Guild Wars is a game that is played from all over the world, and there is no "standard" or in-game time for the game. So why should such a command actually exist? Why are you even asking if it was a design decision that it was not added? In my opinion it absolutely makes no sense to implement it, because it has absolutely no relation to the game (and really everbody should be able to have a clock anywhere around). I mean I wouldn't have a problem with having it added, and I actually don't care about it at all, I'm just surprised how you think about this :S

Also about UTC conversion at the rest of you guys; if you don't know about UTC, don't care about it. You don't need it for anything, all official news/event times/whatever are most likely announced in your local time anyway. As a general site for all players, we use UTC as it's the most neutral way to display the time and offer the easiest conversion to other timezones (it's a standard after all). If you see some announcement here, look at the timer at the top, that's the reason it is there. Then you can easily say for example in how many hours an event starts (subtraction is part of maths in the first grade in school). Having a time command in-game, that displays UTC or your local time or PST/PDT doesn't help you either, because at least two of three of those times are not compatible with the listed event time you are looking at so you need to calculate anyway.. poke | talk 12:40, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Spirit Range Bubble

Hello, Joe.

Just a question, currently there's a mod that gives your radar the spirit range bubble, requires tex-mod, it's a nefty little feature, but then again it's still a mod which in itself causes a lot of concerns. I was wondering if Arenanet, with the explosion of spirit spammers from the update to Ritualists, considered allowing for a spirit range bubble to be added to the radar? Again, like above it's one of these little things, but it's something that I've had decisions with friends, random pug members over, that some believe could be quite useful for anyone with a spirit on them that doesn't have an effect icon, especially when you're co-ordinating in a multi-spammer environment, where casting a duplicate within range will cancel the other out, which might not be the best thing to do. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 21:12, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree that this would be an insanely useful little tool (maybe it could be turned on and off like the concise descriptions in the f11 window?). Would make spirit placement a lot easier with less guesswork involved. -- Timeoffire45 rawr 22:44, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

I am also inclined to support this suggestion. Don't even bother putting an option to turn it off. Heck, I could give you a modded .dds of the texture that would need to be replaced if you want. —Jette 22:49, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

This isn't a suggestion, this is more trying to see if they'd even considered adding something such as this, you know, the decision making side. For a lot of people it seems quite a good idea (or obvious) but perhaps there's something we, as the outsiders, don't see. /shrugs ~~000.00.00.00~~ 03:49, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Virtually every player I know has at least once complained about how they can't tell where spirits start/end (and don't know how I can). Unless part of the idea is to keep players from knowing exactly where spirits start/end, then it's just common sense. —Jette 05:30, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

This does sound useful. I'm a little wary of making this sort of change to the UI though, because there are a lot of similar changes that it would open the door for - a 50% health marker on all the displayed health bars, etcetera. I'd like the UI to be as clean as possible as well. Still, this is a good idea, so I'll see how feasible it is - I'd definitely want it to be a toggled option, so it's not quite as simple as changing out the art on the compass. - Joe Kimmes 16:28, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Even the stuff you mentioned are mods (and stuff you didn't like the 'hi-res' mod that lets you see the fully rendered version of armor in outposts) that a lot of people use, but a lot of people don't because it's a mod. Giving players the toggled option for such useful features would be nice, there are many such small features, that appear to be non-high-resource projects, that would be awesome to have. It is nice to know that we don't see such things are for a reason though. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 20:11, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

This would be useful on the order of, say, being able to click effects to target their source. I mean, tabbing through 12 people or holding ctrl+alt and spinning the camera to find NR is cool and everything, but making it a little easier wouldn't suck, either. ♥ is for Raine, etc. 14:54, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

New henchman bars

You mentioned that there might be some AI changes for bars that are implemented to become viable, are you able to comment on what kind of changes might be made due to the bars that were chosen? If you want some examples, AI tends to be bad with Frenzy, which is on a lot of the warrior bars, spams wild blow and Hammer Bash, making it difficult to use any other adrenaline skills on the bar, cannot correctly chain hammer and assassin skills that involve knockdowns, uses Death's Charge as a heal, tends to spam low recharge prots and uses Infuse Health very badly. Misery 08:31, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I believe Frenzy is actually used fairly well - the AI has some special logic for stance-canceling to drop the effect if they take too much damage. But yes, we're definitely taking a careful look at the various bars to make sure they're used at least moderately competently by the AI, and there will probably be a number of tweaks/improvements made.

Even if the AI isn't perfect initially it's one of the easier things to tweak, so it can be continually improved once the henchman are released and players have a chance to try them out. ArenaNet_talk:AI_bugs#Skill_Usage_Issues is very frequently checked by QA and converted to bug reports that are sent to me, so feel free to report any issues you have there. Heroes and Henchmen share the same AI, as well, so if you're concerned about a particular bar you could try setting up a hero with it and see how they handle the various skills. - Joe Kimmes 16:51, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

And infuse? The drawback to this skill is similar to Frenzy's - you die if you use it at the wrong time, and you put yourself in great danger unnecessarily if you use it on the wrong target. Heroes (and henchmen who have infuse) have a thing for infusing early and often. The skill will not be viable without some tweaks to AI. Some of the bars will simply not be viable at all, but that's another discussion for another page :p -Auron 16:54, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I actually consider once they "take too much damage" to be too late, especially in an environment where spike builds are common, but thanks for the answers. As far as I know the assassin issues are already reported. I may check the others when I have time. Misery 17:02, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Joe, that AI bug report page, is locked now, the one you want is Feedback:Bug reports/AI bugs. -- Wyn talk 17:07, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Ahh, silly me, I grabbed an old bookmark. Anyway, Infuse is definitely due for AI work, and if Frenzy isn't being canceled early enough that can easily be tweaked. Compared to a lot of things in the game, skill AI is often easy to update, so please rest assured that we'll be making sure that the new henchmen can run their bars competently. - Joe Kimmes 17:22, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I'd be especially interested in hearing about Adrenaline management, since you've earlier said that it would impractical to give the AI an understanding of it, but several of the bars relies on just that. Backsword 14:36, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

well if they fixed how heroes used adrenaline then i think all thous war heroes would be useful...- Zesbeer 20:47, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

The most frequent problem with adrenaline management is when the AI uses a lose-all-adrenaline effect while it has other adrenaline skills charged - this is something that I'm actually already looking into. I can't promise that adrenaline issues will be resolved across the board, but I'll be keeping a close eye on the bars that are at risk for problems to see how the henchmen handle them and making changes as needed. - Joe Kimmes 16:12, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

(Reset indent) This is on a slightly related note, some of the winning builds seem to have been posted prior to some of the more recent skill updates. The most glaring example to me is Unfaithful Servant, which uses both Charm Animal and Comfort Animal, which is now redundant and means that the henchman wastes a skill slot. I know you guys said that you reserve the right to change some of the skill bars in the future, I just thought I should point out that this one, at least, is already a prime candidate. (Satanael | talk) 21:50, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

We're talking PvP, not PvE. --66.81.178.238 22:00, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

... I think my brain just imploded... sigh... nevermind Joe, I apologize for being an idiot. (Satanael | talk) 22:17, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

How should these issues be reported?

Joe, I'm a little confused as to how you would like this stuff reported, there are several issues here, specific to the bars that were chosen as winners. Do you want a list on a bar by bar basis, which doesn't really work well with the current layout of the AI feedback page, or do you just want a giant, unrelated list of every problem on a skill by skill basis? If you would prefer to have a list on a bar by bar basis with the problems specific to these choices, how should I do that? Should I just post them on the general AI feedback page, maybe under a separate header, should I make my own feedback section and make it as a suggestion page which I can link you and/or QA staff to or should I just post all the information here, completely cluttering your talk page. I will point out, if I make my own feedback page, no one else will be permitted to edit it, which is less than ideal. Another option could be for a new feedback page to be made, endorsed by ArenaNet, specifically for reporting issues with the new henchmen bars, to keep everything nicely in one place. I was under the impression that these AI issues with the new henchmen may be prioritised higher than general AI problems, is this the case, or will they just be added to the general pile of issues to be resolved? Misery 09:05, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Oh and while I am in a questioning mood, is it possible to have different AI for PvP and PvE? As an example, you use Flail quite differently in the two formats. It's fine to Flaillock yourself in PvE, you should basically maintain it in combat, it's very bad in PvP and you should only use Flail when someone is knocked down or snared. At the moment I'm assuming it is not possible. Misery 14:26, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

It is more or less, by PvX-splitting it ^^° Ɲoɕʈɋɽɕɧ 14:48, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Well that made me chuckle. Exactly true. Possible it is, so I will bear that in mind if I make any suggestions for separate behaviour. ArenaNet willing to do it is another matter entirely, but that is on their shoulders. Misery 14:53, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

For now, I suggest reporting problems as issues with individual skills on the AI feedback page, and I'll let QA know to place extra priority on getting skill AI issues tested. Usually, AI problems are fixed via changing the individual skill AI, not by changing how heroes/hench handle a specific bar. However, if the problem is a specific skill interaction (ie, Skill A needs to be used before Skill B) then list that.

It's possible to have different AI for PvP and PvE; I'd prefer that this never be the case, but with the upcoming removal of heroes in PvP it may be less of an issue for the AI to handle a skill differently in PvP. If you think it would be best for a skill to be used differently, feel free to suggest that, but bear in mind that I'd prefer to find a solution that works across both, even if it's a little less optimal than it could be. - Joe Kimmes 16:09, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

>removal of heroes in PvP

I didn't know they were doing that. Anyway, my advice on AI issues is to make them not interrupt instantly. They should be capable of missing, and I don't think capable of interrupting skills with a cast time of less than 1 second. I also think they should be a bit less omniscient; right now heroes know exactly which enchantments and hexes are on which players at all times, meaning they never make "human errors" like casting Discord on a target without the requisites, or casting a hex on a player with that hex already on them, etc. Moreover, their omniscience combined with ungodly targeting AI and reflexes means that enchantments/hexes/conditions/what have you disappear instantly the moment they're cast if a removal is available. Have you ever hit somebody with Eviscerate when they have a hero with smite condition? The deep wound is gone before your next hit. FPS bots aren't allowed to turn around instantly, fire without error and always hit the head; why should GW bots be able to do the same? Right now GW AI is closer to perfection than it is to uselessness.

tl;dr there should always be at least a 0.75¾ second delay before a hero does can react to something, and that means that they should be capable of screwing up. Right now, playing with heroes is a better option than playing with humans, in both PvE and PvP. That seems like a problem in an MMO. —Jette 16:46, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Jette, that was the whole point in the Henchman contest to begin with... And it's hard to define and program "Human Error", "Vision and hearing" ( yes, humans can only target and see the skills of 1 person, but the game has a free camera and skills can be identified by sound and graphics) and "reflexes" (adding a hard delay breaks skill combos use for instance by Assassins, Warriors and Elementalists. Sometimes you just use a few skills one after another, or just use them - not as a reaction to your enemy). There's only so much that can be done to make the AI more human, until they start becoming "crappy" ("Darn it, remove that condition you stupid Dunkoro!"). There's a lot to consider here. A lot more then in FPSs. — Poki#3 (talk) 20:06, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Joe, I posted my findings on the GvG skill bars here. I'm not a big fan of the new AI issues page seeing how everything just gets mashed together in one big list. --Draikin 23:03, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Draikin, I would recommend taking the time to use the feedback page. I know it's a pain in the butt compared to GWGuru, but it would probably help out Joe if we could keep all these things in one place. Thanks. Karate Jesus 23:09, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Re: The AI being too good: I'm wary of this, believe me. Ideally, I would like the henchmen to be slightly less effective than a human running their build, but still a viable option when you don't have quite enough players to fill your team.

Excellent notes, Draikin, although I agree that it would be nice to have them on the feedback page. For what it's worth, I've been working on the assassin AI in particular the last few days and have it reliably executing the knockdown string, although it needs a little more polish to be as good as I'd like. - Joe Kimmes 23:49, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

I spend a lot of time cleaning up and maintaining the old AI page so it's a bit disappointing to see it revert to the old format, if we're allowed to categorize items on the new pages it would help, I'm not sure if that's the intention though. I'll see about posting the new issues there, to be honest I'm not exactly motivated to spend that much time on the AI issues page as I used to now that HB is being deleted. It's a shame the format has to be removed while there's still room for new AI updates, especially seeing how a lack of time for AI updates was said to be one of the reasons Anet couldn't fix HB. --Draikin 00:10, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

This is probably more for anyone else who is watching this rather than Joe, but I did upload my notes in this edit. Some of the bugs are from quite some time ago and I admit I have not retested them recently, so it is possible they are resolved, so if you know better, please feel free to discuss and update. I have already had someone questioning my note about Coward!, but last I knew that was the case. Misery 12:01, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Your "Coward!" note is indeed incorrect, I often used the skill on heroes in HB. They do use the skill but on moving targets only, which makes perfect sense since it means they'll rarely fail to KD when using the skill. It's not used often enough, perhaps this could be resolved by increasing priority with the skill. I've read a few of your notes but it seems like you're really pushing for advanced "hardcoded" AI that forces the henches to "recognize" certain combo's and only use them in one particular way. That's fine it they give that "special" AI to the GvG and HA henches only since they only use one skill bar, but for heroes it would probably be an impossible task to make it work. And even if they code specific AI for the henches it's probably going to be a waste of time. The reality is that none of these henches are supposed to see play outside of replacing disconnected players, otherwise you'll end up in the exact same situation as before. --Draikin 17:57, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I accept some of your points, but if true, they shouldn't have chosen non-functional bars. Henchmen will not ever use their elite hammer KD if they have Hammer Bash on their bar and Flail is a liability in PvP if not used correctly. That's one example which I assume you would refer to as advanced play, it's actually the most basic acceptable level of effectiveness and it will still be much worse than a player as they will knockdown off-spike and probably knockdown the wrong target. Misery 18:49, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree actually. The Warrior henches for example could have just been given a Warrior's Endurance skill bar where they could just spam everything on their skill bar and be done with it. It wouldn't be terribly amazing but the AI would run it somewhat reliably compared to more adrenaline based skill bars which have more potential but are unreliable when you can't micro the hench. What's done is done though, the skills bars are there and it seems unlikely they'll be changed dramatically to fit the current AI so it's up to Anet to decide what to do next (update AI globally, give specific AI to the henches, use the henches without updates,...). All I can say is that releasing AI updates for HB made sense, but it's a very different matter for HA and GvG. --Draikin 21:29, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm not trying to separate my suggestions into things that are "doable", I'm just listing everything that is wrong. ArenaNet can decide what they do. I'm not even actively playing the game any more and when I do play I won't use henchmen, so I don't particularly care what they fix or how they fix it. Misery 06:38, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Chat chanels

Hi Joe, I have a question for you if you have some spare time ^_^. is this idea [[2]] something possible to be seen in GW ? I mean is there any free chanels left ? Thanks for your input :) M3G 07:11, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Well, it's not like there's a channel limit per se, but the UI space to show all the channels is limited, so I'm wary of adding more channels. The channel system itself is pretty old, too, so any adding any features to it could end up being more work than it might seem.

I'm well aware that trading is a hassle right now though, so I'll keep this in mind as a possible improvement. - Joe Kimmes 17:45, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Thank you Joe :) It's really nice to have your point of view. Keep up the good work! M3G 09:04, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Mission Map

Was wondering if you could enlighten me: is it possible to have the PvE Mission Map function in a similar fashion as the PvP Mission Map, and if so why such thing wasn't implimented on the PvE side of things? The PvP mission map shows friend/foe dots, and there's been numerous times where in PvE having the ability to see where your allies are on the map would be quite helpful, such of in the cases of people going afk and asking where people are. Creatures not showing up I could understand, but allies would have been a nice function. Just me wondering again. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 12:13, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and say A) PvE maps were implemented before obs, B) there are loooots of things in PvE whereas in PvP there's a maximum of 16 give or take a few pets and NPCs, and C) you don't start out with the entire mission map explored in PvE, so seeing stuff you're not supposed to would be kinda dumb. Could be wrong though. —Jette 12:18, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't expect a PvE Mission Map to show anything more than your party members/allies or discovered NPCs, thus limiting the clutter. But that's just me, showing everything would obviously be a bit over-the-top. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 12:32, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

I can think of a few things that might have gotten this functionality cut from PvE, but it might be possible to get at least your party members on the mission map, which would be handy. - Joe Kimmes 16:01, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Bugs with Light of Deldrimor/Hidden Treasure

→ moved from Feedback talk:Linsey Murdock

Every dungeon I've ever been to (all of them, multiple times) has problems with the Light of Deldrimor and the Hidden Treasure or Dwarven Ghosts. Sometimes, I will cast LoD and I will receive the message that I have uncovered hidden treasures, but nothing will appear. Other times, after casting LoD and getting the ping on my compass, I will approach the area that contains the secret and there will be no glowing blue dot on the ground or anywhere. I will then give it enough time to reset, recast the skill, and now, nothing appears. The place that pinged previously doesn't ping again, the secret is just gone. Is this a known issue and is it being worked on? --MushaTalk 00:12, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

The glow goes away after a while, but it should appear again if you recast the spell. MithTalk 00:20, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it should, and that's what I'm talking about. It doesn't reappear after recasting, it goes away completely. --MushaTalk 00:23, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Like the lvl 2 treasure of CoF?

(ri)this is a better question for joe.- Zesbeer 04:37, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Could you provide a link to Joe's page? --MushaTalk 07:55, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

sure User:Joe_Kimmes- Zesbeer 11:25, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Coulda just moved this section for him, since that's what'll happen to it anyway...
I'll move it l8r on if no one else does --ilr 20:17, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

they didnt ask for a move they asked for a link....- Zesbeer 08:11, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

(Reset indent) just FYI, Musha, I reported this issue (at least in CoF) quite a while ago and QA said they would add it to their massive list of bugs to fix. My guess is, if it were a really easy bug to fix, it would have been fixed by now, we may just have to live with it for a while. (Satanael | talk) 21:35, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Basically correct, it's in the to-do list but we've actually had difficulty figuring out the exact cause of this bug, so it's been slow going. - Joe Kimmes 15:59, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Excellent! Thank you very much for answering this for me, Joe and Satanael! --MushaTalk 01:34, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

If I give you

a klondike bar, would you e-mail me the GW source code? I wont' do anything bad with it, honest. –Jette 17:11, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

LOL Jette, you are incorrigible! -- Wyn talk 06:04, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Summonable Merchant

What's the deal with his wander and follow package? It's actually quite annoying how far he wanders around, and his follow package: he takes 5 steps, stops, 5 steps, stops etc, and can often get 'lost' by falling behind. Question: What's the deal with the Merchant? ~~000.00.00.00~~ 05:35, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

I have more issues with the fact he wanders well outside the aggro bubble and then runs over to any hostile group and starts banging on them with his hammer, and when they fight back, he comes running back to the group. -- Wyn talk 06:05, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Why is that an issue? That seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do for a guy with a hammer, no armor, no magic and no training. I fully encourage him to take on any number of foes and bring them running back to me. I mean, afterall, why else bring him along at all? (Satanael | talk) 06:54, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

I put a suggestion up a while ago to fix him. I think this was his intended behavior (seeing as how I'm pretty sure he's the only NPC with that script in the game), but it's a very odd one. –Jette 11:06, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

what are you talking about jette? have you forgotten about are fan favorite Prince Rurik? i seem to remember him tarchargeing in every chance he got.- Zesbeer 11:29, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, but he doesn't wander around aimlessly while he isn't killing himself. –Jette 11:48, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

"Rurik Summoning Stone" – sounds fun :P Best way would to make him simply stay where you summon him. Following is always bad for a helpful NPC :P poke | talk 15:44, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

I want an everlasting Black Beast of Aaaaaaauuugggggghhhhh summoning stone. Or everlasting stones in general... I don't know why they haven't introduced those yet. Everlasting stones for each specific monster type would be nice. –Jette 16:01, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, his aggro-loving tendency if you haven't killed everything out around him can get on the annoying side. Yet, his AI packages function in a way that makes me think, as Jette said, that he is acting as intended, but the behaviour seems very unnecessary considering he's the only summonable with those kinds of packages and one has to question why. And also: Why couldn't Arenanet foresee this as an annoyance factor? Is it some loose attempt at balancing the fact that you have a summonable merchant: 'Yes, we'll give you a merchant, but don't clear everything out "ooohhhh hoooo" he'll aggro you to death!'? ~~000.00.00.00~~ 19:59, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Jette: Igneous Summoning Stone? poke | talk 20:43, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

LLevel 20. Ɲoɕʈɋɽɕɧ 20:44, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

It stops when you hit level 20.  ;,; Also, that's probably the weakest summon. Kinda cute though. –Jette 20:45, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

The merchant wandering around is unintentional and was noted when he was first added, but the team decided that having a summonable merchant outweighed the annoyance of him being a little confused following-wise. The problem here is basically that the years-old merchant code isn't easily combined with the follow-the-group-properly code that the other summoned allies have, so he needs some extra code love to be perfect. Thanks for reminding me about this though, I hadn't realized it was such a hassle. - Joe Kimmes 16:04, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm not exactly gewd at proogramman, but maybe it'd be possible to have him switch scripts? It's possible to talk to an NPC and get access to merchant services, that one guy at Doomlore Shrine has a quest, a merchant, a dungeon and I think one other thing all rolled into one. Maybe you could set him to summon using a stationary merchant script that lets you talk to him, and you can either say goodbye, ask for the merchant window, or tell him to pack up and move along. If you tell him that last one, he stops acting as a merchant and just follows you as normal, but if you speak to him again outside of combat, he switches back to stationary merchant mode. It sounds more complicated than it is, I think, but correct me if I'm wrong. –Jette 16:38, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Haha, Gron Fierceclaw is pretty epic. That's a story for another time, but the basic trick with him is that he doesn't 'alternate' - Quest/Dungeon NPC and Merchant are compatible, but Merchant and Good Follower aren't. Merchant and Bad Follower are compatible, so for now that's the solution; hopefully this can be changed once I have the time. - Joe Kimmes 22:44, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

UI Compass Question

Can you shed some insight into the initial decision to show even non line-of-sight enemies on the compass? While it is very helpful in PvE, it seems like it removes some of the strategy from PvP.

Why should I be able to see someone sneaking up behind me? It also eliminates the possibility of ambushes since you can already see the group of dots hiding around the corner? In some games, you can't see your opponent on the UI until he makes a move to attack you or ventures into the open.

Not really a request for a change of any kind, I'm just curious about the thought process that went into it. Thanks (needs to be said more often IMO.) Terryn Deathward 17:04, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

If you're interested in the "thought process that went into it", then Joe is not the person to ask this question to, since he wasn't on the team during the initial design of the game, and I don't think the code comments have a write up about that :P — Poki#3 (talk) 19:41, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I can't vouch for the design reason, although it's worth noting that making those sorts of line-of-sight checks could get computationally expensive, since it would need to be on the server (a client check would just invite maphack style mods). - Joe Kimmes 22:46, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

You guys already have like ninety billion floating point operations running in any given instance, it couldn't be that hard... not that I think this is a good idea, of course; it seems like it'd be frivolous. Either way, you'd want to ask James or Izzy, not Joe. They don't frequent the wiki, but I only charge $14.99 to dig up personal information like home e-mail. :D –Jette 23:10, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

lol, I'm sure they would love to hear that you are selling their personal e-mail addresses on the internet :P (Satanael | talk) 23:20, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

i has a kwestchun

Why is it that Infuse Condition and Cultist's Fervor can cause conditions on creatures immune to them? If I hit a bone horror with poison arrow or something, it says "creature immune to poison (no flesh)" or whatever. But if I hit the MM and he has Infuse Condition on him, it goes onto a minion with no trouble. Similarly, Cultist's Fervor can cause bleeding on anything using it, even if it's supposed to be immune to bleeding. Is there a reason for this, other than it being a bug? Is there a "hard" condition application function similar to the "hard" interrupts experienced when your Avatar ends, or something? –Jette 15:22, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

It's a bug. - Joe Kimmes 22:08, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Targeting, Cast Priority, etc, based on equipment

I've been wondering for a good period of time why the AI in Guild Wars is programmed to choose targets for hexes and other such debuffery (and in the case of Heroes and Henchman, formation positioning) based on what weapon a character is currently holding, rather than based on their class and/or skill usage. Example: the AI will not cast Shroud of Silence on casters if they are wielding a martial weapon, but will maintain it to the best of their ability of said caster is rocking a staff or wand. Might you be able to shed any light on this matter for me? -Faer 21:39, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

It's probably to cover the instances of Hundred Blades/Barbs necromancers and the like. It would be great if they'd base it off of skill bar composition, however. ··· Danny Pew Pew 21:45, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

I've heard similar reasoning from various people when I muse about it, but I don't see any reason to have the AI more effective against Eviscerate Monks than it is against Word of Healing Monks. :x -Faer 23:59, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Well, Backfire on an Eviscerate monk doesn't make much sense, does it? Likely, the choice in how the AI determines what skills to use on which targets was either likely to avoid giving them as much omniscience as possible, or because the coding to do so would've been more intensive than would be desirable. ··· Danny Pew Pew 17:44, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

If I had to take a guess, I'd say it's computational and programming simplicity. It's way easier for a computer to calculate what weapon a target is holding than it is for it to make an intelligent assumption about what build an enemy or ally is running -- at the very least, it takes 7 less checks to decide.

If it's simply a matter of simplicity, basing it on the player's Elite or highest attribute rather than the player's weapon would be more effective in most cases. This is why I posed the question - I don't understand why the AI would be reacting to something relatively insignificant rather than something that tends to be important to the success of the team. -Faer 21:16, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

I'd like to point out the Journey to the North "buff" that you get that forces you to wield a staff or wand over caster spear/shield set. It uses the same idea, and probably for a programmatic reason. ··· Danny Pew Pew 21:52, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

This is actually an interesting part of the AI with regards to future improvements. The reason that many skills base their targeting on equipped weapons is simple - when the game was expanding with new professions and skills, it wasn't easy to predict which classes would fill which roles. For example, imagine if Dervishes had ended up being commonly used as healers - Backfire would start to look pretty good against them, and if its AI was coded to just be used against Prophecies caster-classes, it would need to be updated. But with weapons staying fairly predictable (melee, caster, ranged), basing the AI on them was relatively safe.

Since the game is largely static now, though, the AI can be revisited to improve its targeting recognition. Many newer skills, or older skills that have been revisited, use a significantly better check based on more than the target's weapon, including their professions. Watch for a few skills to be updated in this way soon with the new PvP Henchmen - I encourage you to submit any other skills you feel could be improved as well. - Joe Kimmes 22:18, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Ah, I understand now, thanks Joe. I suppose it does make sense when looking at it from a perspective of foresight rather than hindsight - coding based on weapon would certainly catch more than having to code for specifics as they were implemented, avoiding many hours of double-checking at the expense of the AI being slightly trickable. I am also happy (and a bit excited) to hear about these improvements you are mentioning, and hope that said improvements apply to more than just the new henchman; PvE could use a dose of difficulty! -Faer 00:39, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Regarding PvE difficulty, generally when the AI is improved it affects heroes, henchmen and Hard Mode mobs. Non-Hard Mode monsters generally use older AI, since buffing them could accidentally make sections of the game that are supposed to be easier, like the tutorial areas, much tougher. - Joe Kimmes 22:00, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Is that necessarily a bad thing? IMO, those areas are already such a breeze that it's entirely possible to complete the "tutorials" without really learning much. What comes to mind immediately are the swarms of Frenzied low-level warriors in early Factions; they're just so amazingly easy to deal with (usually by killing them all, quickly) that things such as positioning can be ignored without much noticeable loss. =\ is for Raine, etc. 23:06, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Quick Question

How easy would it be to add an Advanced Option that makes your Skill List window also display all the skills you are missing from your current Primary & Secondary class (and possibly PvE skills if you're a PvE character). They wouldn't be usable, but it would be a lot easier to just hit K and see what Elites you are missing on a PvE character for example than to have to bust out a 3rd party program/have to write it all down manually, etc. DarkNecrid 14:14, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

In general, the skill list window is a tricky piece of code to make changes to, so I'd say it wouldn't be easy. That said, I definitely see the utility of being able to see what skills you're missing - actually the same goes for some other stuff like quests. Hypothetically, how would you feel about an NPC who could list your missing elites? - Joe Kimmes 16:31, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I'd demand your address so I could send you cookies, flowers, and a large stuffed bear. -- FreedomBound 16:33, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

+1 the cookies, bears, and possibly strippers. Karate Jesus 16:36, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

I would definitely love something like that, it's really annoying to have to jot down what elites you don't have or have to DL programs JUST for that purpose when you're going after Elite Skill Hunter. DarkNecrid 16:59, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

From me, strippers would be reserved for the outstanding quests NPC. Just FYI. -- FreedomBound 17:05, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't see what is so hard about learning to use a Priest of Balthazar. (Skill Hunter on multiple chars can get annoying because of duplicates, but still...) Vili 点 17:42, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Skill packs, pvp chars, actually playing the game for more than a year, etc. Karate Jesus 17:47, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Priest of Balthazar only shows you what you've unlocked on your account, not what your Elites your current PvE character currently needs to earn. You could write down what Elites you're missing from that but the whole point of this pseudo-suggestion was that having to write down what Elites each of your PvE Skill Hunters need to get or using 3rd Party Programs is really just long winded and annoying IMO. DarkNecrid 18:16, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

How about a book that records captured elites? I know storage issues are a concern, but it'd be a lot easier if you had something you could take with you. ··· Danny Pew Pew 20:15, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

I think an NPC for listing the skills would be awesome and possibly a book for keeping track of available but unfinished quests. Although there are no real rewards (ahem...titles) for doing all of the quests, it is nice for those of us perfectionists that want to complete the WHOLE game. Terryn Deathward 20:41, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

IDK, books have storage issues which they had trouble dealing with already and it seems more intuitive if it lists what you're missing instead of what you have. Personally for me, I don't capture Elites, I have all of my Elites unlocked via Balthazar Faction and I currently use my PvE Gold to buy Elite Tomes, which you typically buy in big cities. If there was an NPC in all the big cities, like say Kamadan then see I am currently missing 3 Warrior Elites, 4 Ranger Elites, 15 Monk Elites, 1 Elementalist Elite, etc, and then buying the Elite Tomes based off that would be incredibly awesome. DarkNecrid 21:10, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Good point. I should've clarified in my suggestion that I'd like to see it done Priest of Balthazar-style, where it displays all the elites and grays-out ones your character currently has. The problem I see with an NPC is that, unless it were in every town, you'd probably end up writing down the elites you need anyway, so it wouldn't really solve the issue. ··· Danny Pew Pew 21:14, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Crazy-idea-born-in-1/2-second: Make a new summoning stone so you can take the NPC with you. O_o -- Large 21:37, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

That doesn't solve the storage space issue, unless you're suggesting that they be non-everlasting, in which case we now have a case of bad-AI-pulling-stuff-to-you. ··· Danny Pew Pew 23:01, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

No, it doesn't. What it addresses is the NPC suggestion, which would be pointless, as someone already pointed out, will accomplish nothing if in th eend you are gonna have to write down what you are missing. Also, I did say it was a crazy idea that popped out in a split second after reading briefly into the section. -- Large 23:05, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

It could be in every town or whatever. I don't think you need to write it down per se, even if you're capturing Elites it's not like you capture every single Elite in one setting, y'know? DarkNecrid 23:23, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Given, but something you can bring with you would seem to be a better idea, imo. ··· Danny Pew Pew 17:49, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

One book on one character who's going for elite skill hunter hardly seems like an issue. You can pick up one less bad drop; amgsobad.

I have all of 11 free inventory spaces on my monk (5 slots are shield swaps, 5 are healing prayers staff, 40/40, and high set, 5 are the same for prot, 5 for smiting, and 5 for DF; 1 is a +health spear for my defensive set, which is usually +armor, 1 is a negative energy swap for my defensive set, 1 is an enchanting weapon for my defensive set, 1 is a negative energy enchanting weapon for my defensive set; 1 is an alternate staff for 600ing, 2 are headpieces for 600ing; 1 is chaos gloves, 1 is obby shoes; 2 minis, 1 salvage kit, 1 id kit, 1 HM dungeon book, 1 slot for lockpicks, 2 for cons (lolPvEcheats), and 1 keg of alcohol for that amazingly fun title), and, honestly, it's more than I typically use.

I have a grand total of 0 mule characters because all of them have similar situations (weapon sets r srs bsns), and I can't say that I ever feel at a loss for storage space; what are YOU picking up? is for Raine, etc. 18:23, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I get 25 VS drops everytime I go skill hunting. ··· Danny Pew Pew 18:29, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Raine, by storage issues I mean that the book type would strain the servers very hard if it had to collect Elite skill info. From what I can gather from stuff Linsey etc has hinted at, books are basically mini-Storage containers that contain little mini items that it automatically gets when it beats a Mission. Having to track how every many elites there are combined by how many characters are trying to capture an Elite = omgomgomgomg server's having a heart attack IMO. It's less stressful to just have an NPC who can do a single check whenever you talk to them or w/e spread across many towns, and it won't hurt the servers as much. DarkNecrid 18:42, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

It wouldn't be any more strain than a Priest of Balthazar, tbh. ··· Danny Pew Pew 18:55, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Priest of Balthazar is way less complex imo, he isn't actually a dude storing a thousand items (altho for Elites only, several hundred). Either way, I guess Joe knows the idea and he can figure something out that works down the road, should prolly stop spamming it up with WoT lol. DarkNecrid 19:31, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm sure they could use the PoB system and incorporate that into a book. Just because most books use storage-based systems doesn't mean they all have to. ··· Danny Pew Pew 19:37, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Guys, I solved the problem by renaming my PvP character I Am A Clock. You can PM me whenever to get the time. Vili 点 19:53, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Vili, I think I just fell in love with you. ··· Danny Pew Pew 19:59, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

But, this is the wrong topic. Now, if you want to keep track of all of my elite skills... You might need to change your name, though. -- FreedomBound 20:05, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Rule 25? ··· Danny Pew Pew 20:15, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

login screen questions

can the log in screen announcements be links? and could they also be shown in the character selection screen?- Zesbeer 01:19, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

There are links in the current login screen information, yes. ~~000.00.00.00~~ 01:35, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

lol i guess there are i never see them -password ftw and hence my other question.- Zesbeer 01:38, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Where would you put them? I have no idea what the technical side is, but from a design standpoint the character selection screen is already pretty full. If anything is going to be added to the character selection screen, rather than the announcements, I would prefer a box that let's us choose what dist. and/or town to log into. (Satanael | talk) 15:24, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm with Salome Satanel on this, except that I really don't want to see anything else on it. It's already incredibly cluttered. ··· Danny Pew Pew 19:23, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

That's funny, because Salome hasn't voiced an opinion on the matter. :3 elix Omni 19:25, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Now the question is; did Danny mistake Zesbeer or Satanael for Salome? ^^ Ɲoɕʈɋɽɕɧ 19:27, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

I think he meant Satanael (with all the Salome drama, people are seeing him everywhere!). And the character selection screen would be a bad place for this. Just slow down on your log-in and read the log-in announcements (not that they're ever important. "Don't get hacked!" Thanks, log-in screen....). Karate Jesus 19:28, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Salome and Satanel have extremely similar signatures when you're reading paragraph by paragraph versus word by word. =/ ··· Danny Pew Pew 19:39, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

We do? I don't see it, mine's a darker color and he has a leaf next to his name, I don't have a picture at all. Also, I have really cool parentheses around my name :P (Satanael | talk) 20:25, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

When I'm scanning, I usually only pick up on the general color/first letter, or so it seems. :> ··· Danny Pew Pew 20:43, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Easy to tell the difference. One averages 5k characters per post, one does not. -- FreedomBound 21:48, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Verbose? Moi? -- Salome 13:20, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

@ stanael i have more then enough room for them on my log.... i also agree with the letting you choose what town you want to go to from log in also a log in offline or away or dnd would be epic. also if there is such a room constant maybe make it a option of displaying it like how the hide ui mode is now.- Zesbeer 06:40, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

NPCs, Skills, and the Codex Arena

Would it be possible to create an NPC that lists all of the day's available skills in the Codex Arena? Sort of like a skill trainer? -- FreedomBound 12:15, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, an "at a glance" list of the current Codex would greatly help in planing team composition... — Poki#3 (talk) 15:34, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

It's a pretty large burden to lay that on the wiki every single day. We know people are going to want it, and it's going to get tiresome doing it every day w/o a list in-game. Karate Jesus 15:36, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I know this is a greatly needed feature. It's unfortunately a little tricky to get it in a nice format, like the skill trainer. Once things are a little less rushed around here, I'll be looking into some solutions - one example that should be easy is to allow you to see all the skills at once in your Skill window via a toggle. - Joe Kimmes 17:11, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Even if you could just see the elites for your secondary (but still locked of course) would be a great help. - Tanetris 17:16, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

I got you

a new icon, just re-upload it where your sig image is if you like it. It touches up the edges a bit. –Jette 19:32, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! - Joe Kimmes 23:06, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Oh, btw, I think I broke your invincibility script. ups –Jette 04:42, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

i thought images for sigs need to be 19x19 as seen here - Zesbeer 05:29, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Just add |19px in the pic link. ---Chaos- (talk) -- 17:02, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Weird skill use error in CB & CA

Quite a few players in my alliance are having problems in both of these formats with using skills. Here's the tricky part: it doesn't affect all skills. From what I can gather, SOME skills in some campaigns you don't own, won't work. A couple examples are Crushing Blow won't work in CB if you don't own Prophecies and a few attack skills in CA won't either (I couldn't get one of the Hammer attacks to work a day ago, yet on the same account that was missing Nightfall I could use a few Paragon abilities...). It seems like some of the Costume Brawl and Codex Arena versions of the skills are still disallowing usage based on campaign, unfortunately I don't have a list for you, it seems very hit and miss, but it seems like a lot of the skills that break are Attack Skills. I'm sure this has been reported in some way, so here's a little bit of extra info and wondering if there will be a fix any time soon? :) DarkNecrid 00:14, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, this should be fixed now. - Joe Kimmes 00:22, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Syncing in Costume Brawl

I dont think it's possible to fix syncing in Costume Brawl like how was fixed in RA before the end of Halloween, but at least can you fix it for next year and maybe fix syncing in Snowball Arena if is not already?--Sharkinucontribs 21:13, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes it would be nice to have that fixed at some point... I ma kindof getting tired of encountering teams with 3~5 members of the same guild, all A... it hurts... Jaxom 10:53, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

PS: Dragon Arena too! Jaxom 10:54, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Syncing is still possible after the fix, just slightly harder. :P I like playing with my friends and family during these minigames tho :(. DarkNecrid 12:24, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

The fix for syncing is via the matchmaking servers that I don't handle, but I'll ask the responsible programmers if this can be fixed, thanks for reporting the problem! - Joe Kimmes 17:47, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Update: QA is checking out a fix for this on our test servers right now, hopefully the fix will be live later today. - Joe Kimmes 18:53, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm honestly almost saddened that the team responded so quickly. Syncing is just about the only thing that makes CB bearable for those of us that don't enjoy playing with people who stand in RoJ for its entire duration. That said, at least Six will have a harder time syncing his 5-man Sin team now. ··· Danny Pew Pew 19:04, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

The sync fix was, for all intents and purposes, a combining of districts. Right now, in CB, players are selected from only the district they're currently in, making syncing much, much easier. ··· Danny Pew Pew 18:49, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

And more fun! Karate Jesus 18:54, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Enemy DP

I've wondered this ever since Eye of the North came out and introduced us to Slavers' Exile. When an enemy is killed and resurrected, do they suffer death penalty? What about NPCs like Vael who die frequently? Thanks! --RoyHarmon 17:19, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Vael at least suffers from DP. You can see this by having him die repeatedly and then making him stand next to a burning tree in Sacnoth Valley, for example. He'll die from degen in like five seconds. Vili 点 02:45, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that they do, given this. That would be my best guess, though. -- Timeoffire45 rawr 04:50, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I can confirm some monsters get death penalty, or if not, their health is lower after being ressed for some reason. I don't know if they all do, or which ones do/don't. –Jette 17:30, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

The talk page of that skill seems to favor the idea that not all mobs have that skills, especially Prophecies mobs. ··· Danny Pew Pew 17:51, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

So it looks like you like Guilty Gear and Blazeblue

At least enough to slip song titles from these game's soundtracks into just about every PvP henchman's dialogue. Assuming you wrote their dialogue of course. --Ckal Ktak 11:07, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

You can thank Robert for that, actually, although I'm a huge fan of both games. - Joe Kimmes 16:32, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure if it's worse that he decided to put in such an obscure reference in such a bizarre way, or that I noticed it on the first henchman I talked to in the guild hall. Damn soundtrack's addictive. Temptation to go to robert's page and start his discussion page with "so i herd u liek gg an bb" --Ckal Ktak 17:00, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Our Hero!

Come on Joe! Be the hero to every PvE guild in the game and give us our heroes back in our guild hall! I have faith! -- Wyn talk 18:07, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Me too! :D--Unendingfear 18:08, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

You can do it Joe!--Pyron Sy 19:04, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

You guys removed functionality from PvE'ers... what a surprise, I would say I'm shocked but forward thinking is something you guys... meh, why bother... ~~000.00.00.00~~ 19:10, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

We're rooting for ya Joe. Show us your Ninja Skillz! — Poki#3 (talk) 20:42, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

You can do it! --MushaTalk 21:17, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

And remember, you'll be a villain if you don't succeed. ;D elix Omni 22:16, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

its either he will be able to or not but i think he will seeing as i seem to remember having it that way right when heroes came out.- Zesbeer 22:19, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Awesome work at awesome speed! Thank you muchly!   — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 23:46, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, Joe :D -- pling 23:51, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

THanks :D--Unendingfear 00:22, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

I knew my faith wasn't misplaced :D -- Wyn talk 06:16, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, Joe!! --MushaTalk 09:46, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Would it at all be possible to give us back heroes for scrimmages? This update effectively removed all options to have heroes play against each other or human opponents, which is how I got most of the feedback on the AI I've submitted over the past years. --Draikin 14:01, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

This is still something we want to do - the priority was to get heroes available in Guild Halls again though, and allowing them just for scrimmages is a little trickier. Once I have more time I'll be looking into making this; I can't promise a fix, but it's definitely something I want to make possible. - Joe Kimmes 15:56, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for working on it Joe, good luck! Shadow Runner 15:58, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks Joe, good to hear it's being considered. --Draikin 18:30, 31 October 2009 (UTC)