Feedback talk:User/Tennessee Ernie Ford/Unsummoning stones

Timing

Actually, I think it would be appropriate to make these impossible to use unless the party has been in the zone for 60 minutes or longer. But I suspect that's harder to code than it sounds. - Wouldn't be that complicated. /age returns time in zone, so it's already stored somewhere. I can't imagine it's stored in such a way as to be inaccessible when using an item. Also, for a cleaner solution to this problem, why not just have an item which creates a quest marker to the nearest enemy? Less potential for abuse, so no need to worry about restrictions. Then no need to worry if the final group has 4+ enemies. Not sure if this would be difficult to code, but if the quest and vanquisher parts work like I think, it shouldn't be too involved. Or, just add this function into the daily ZVs quests. ¬ «Ðêjh» (talk) 05:16, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Erm, perhaps I should have rephrased. I'm sure it's easy for the game to determine how long you have been in zone; I don't know how difficult it would be to make a consumable recognize that duration. (An alternate mechanism would be to invoke the stone when you enter. It sets up an effect — perhaps: vanquishing sickness — that lasts 60 minutes; after the effect wears off, you can invoke a second stone to remove the foes)

Quest markers are out because I'm reasonably sure that the game makes that hard (we can see that in several quests, where the target moves, but the quest marker only moves if you trigger something else, e.g. going after the banquet Moa; the quest marker only moves when the quest updates). Also: I'm pretty sure if it was easy to show final-foe locations, ANet would be all over it; lots of people have asked for stuff like this for ages.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 05:30, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, for having a consumable check against time, it shouldn't be too hard. There's already a check when using an item to see if you can use it-for example, summoning stones check the presence of summoning sickness. It should be possible to replace that check for one with the current time in zone vs 60 minutes. I don't know where the data for time in zone is stored, but I doubt it's anywhere that can't be reached for something like this. I still think it should be possible to use a quest marker to locate enemies though-at least for the last few. ¬ «Ðêjh» (talk) 16:03, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

If it were easy for quest markers to update the location without some other event triggering, I am 99.999% convinced that ANet would be using it in any number of existing quests.

The summoning sickness check is different from an /age check; it checks to see whether the character is under a specific effect (that's standard for almost any skill). So, while I'm sure it's easy to check /age, I'm not sure how easy it is to program a differential response based on that.

However, all that said, I'm reasonably sure that ANet doesn't worry about how when they look at our formal suggestions. They look at why are ppl asking for this? I'm sure the conversation around Mercs went something like:

"Hey, people keep asking for more heroes. Should we add a Mez and a Rit to make them three each?"

"I dunno, man: some people want like 6 elementalists, so they don't have to swap equipment."

"Indeed, there are also players who want to run six Necromancers. (Borrrrrrrring!)"

"Well, mebbe we should find a way to allow folks to add whatever heroes they like, up to the limits of the database."

"Totally, dude. Oh! You know, ppls have offered suggestions for miniatures or tonics or summoning stones based on their toons. So what if..."

"Of course! Two great tastes that go great together! More heroes and people get to base them off their own toons."

"How cool is that! And, you know what, I'd bet folks would pay US$10 per hero, no?"

Erm, but I think I just completely digressed. The point is: I'm sure that ANet has enough info about this idea so that if it's easy enough, they'll find some way to implement the core concept (eliminate the 60 minute Hunt for Red Dots) before September. — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 17:05, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

More like 60 minute Hunt for Red October; otherwise interesting idea. --98.119.198.79 04:26, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 17:08, 24 February 2012 (UTC)