Expedition: Forgotten Halls

[Greyhelm]

This will be my first try at this type of test.. It will be a work in progress as I run this trial and error. I have only laid down the begining groundwork but will devote some time to it's completion. In essence what I want this to do is;
When you talk with Eldros Danmor and get his blessing to talk to Nideno she will spawn for a short time in the back of the Bear Caves in Nedaria's landing. If oyu reach her in time you will be able to be transported to the Forgotten Halls. Nideno is not part of the spawn in Nedaria so she will need to be added. Also I never played this game live but as I traversed The Forgotten Halls it seemed to be weak zone for the level of NPC's offerning it. So I am going ot tweak the zone a bit to be a bit more challenging. I am reading through lua scripting and pl scripting as I go so this may take a bit as I have to see how to go about spawning and timers so bare with me. So far just the begining ground work has been laid out as follows..

##############
# Quest: Expedition: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998)
# Involved: #Eldros_Danmor (npcID: 182138) Loc: 300, 1600, 50 (south dock)
#              #Nideno_Eliagy (npcID: 182136) Loc: (spawned at -948, 1815, 32 Deepest part of bear cave)
# Zone: Nedaria's Landing (zoneID: 182)
# Author: Greyhelm
# Related Zones: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998)
# Related Creatures: (11 in all - will add before submission)
# Related Classes: All
# Description: Expedition for 1-6 players.
# Extra Considerations: Nideno added to Nedaria as a scripted spawn.
##############
sub EVENT_SAY {
     if($text=~/Hail/i){
         quest::say("Well met, $name. I've recently been appointed as an ambassador of sorts to Taelosians who wish to visit our bountiful shores. It is my duty to ensure that visiting Taelosians are looked after and kept safely away from the greedy intentions of our less savory Norrathian cousins. It's not expected that many will undertake the journey, but we have had one [" . quest::saylink("Taelosian") . "] visit our shores recently.");}
     elsif($text=~/Taelosian/i){
         quest::say("Her name is Nideno Eliagy. She is an elder within her community, an Undari as they are known. Nideno has come to our shores in the hopes that she can teach us more about her people. She has brought with her the means to transport others to a [" . quest::saylink("temple") . "] deep in the mountains of Taelosia.");}
     elsif($text=~/intrested in visiting/i){
         quest::say("Nideno is staying in the cave on the other side of the river. The many wooden structures near here made her nervous and she thought she would feel more at home surrounded by the earth. Go to her with my blessing and may your journey to The Forgotten Halls prove enlightening.");
         quest::spawn("182136","0","0","-948","1815","32");}
}

This is a seperate dialogue in fhalls to return to Nedaria via a_harindi_guide.

##############
# Quest: Expedition: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998)
# Involved: a_harindi_guide (npcID: 998036)
# Zone: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998)
# Author: Greyhelm
# Related Zones: Nedaria's Landing (ZoneID: 182)
# Related Creatures: None
# Related Classes: All
# Reward(s): None
# Description: Allows players to return to Nedaria's Landing
##############
sub EVENT_SAY{
   if($text=~/Hail/i){
     quest::say("Welcome to the Forgotten Halls. Many Taelosians make pilgrimages to these ancestoral halls to learn the secrets of geomancy or simply to bask in the splendor of the ancient architecture. Enjoy your stay here and please be respectful of your surroundings. When you are [" . quest::saylink("ready to leave") . "], let me know and I will return you to where you came from.");}
   if($text=~/ready to leave/i){
     quest::say("$name, come close.");
     quest::movegrp(182,1606,301,51); #Nedaria's Landing south dock
     }
}

This is Nidenos lexicon which must be added to Nedaria's Landing as a perl file #Nideno_Eliagy

##############
# Quest: Expedition: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998)
# Involved: a_harindi_guide (npcID: 998036)
# Zone: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998)
# Author: Greyhelm
# Related Zones: Nedaria's Landing (ZoneID: 182)
# Related Creatures: None
# Related Classes: All
# Reward(s): None
# Description: Allows players to return to Nedaria's Landing
##############
sub EVENT_SAY{
     if($text=~/Hail/i){
         quest::say("Greetings, traveler. This is a beautiful land you have here. . .very different from [" . quest::saylink("what I am used to") . "]. You must thank the gods daily for the bounty they have bestowed upon you.");}
     elsif($text=~/what I am used to/i){
         quest::say("Since the coming of the Muramites, my land has been broken and defiled. Taelosia was never a lush land. It could be hostile to the unwary, but it was once [" . quest::saylink("beautiful") . "] in its own way.");}
     elsif($text=~/beautiful/i){
         quest::say("Although the army of Mata Muram has defiled our cities, there are still places that their claws do not yet reach. . .places they do not know exist. If the Wayfarers hadn't come to Taelosia when they did, I'm sure the Muramites would have found these hidden locations as well, but thankfully they are too busy with their own defense now to worry about enslaving the last of my people. One of these places is an old temple that we refer to as the [" . quest::saylink("Forgotten Halls") . "]. The elders have decided to allow outsiders into the Forgotten Halls in the hopes that you will understand better the plight of the Taelosian people once you see the unblemished beauty of an ancient Taelosian temple.");}
     elsif($text=~/Forgotten Halls/i){
         quest::say("I sense that you come with the blessing of Eldros Danmos. I will ask the stones to open a passage to the Forgotten Halls.");
         quest::emote("turns to the nearby stones and places her hands on them begins to chant. She speaks in soft tones, calling upon the spirit of the stone for the abilities to open a doorway to the hidden lands of Taelosia. As she chants, the stone begins to glow softly and for a moment a low grumbling can be heard from within the rock as it answers Nideno in its own way.");
         quest::say("The stones have spoken and they favor your passage and have given me their consent to show you the way. When you are [" . quest::saylink("ready") . "] let me know.");}
     elsif($text=~/ready/i){
         quest::emote("holds up her hand.");
         quest::movegrp(998,-74,-843,-11.68);}
}
#End sequence

[Greyhelm]

I need to see how LDON's are instanced to group level average.. As it stands Forgotten Halls mobs are all level 3 aside from the guide. Also how to make this zone instanced instead of static.. Yay more reading for me..

[vsab]

FH was scaled to the level of the characters that requested it. It was notorious for afk macro xp'ing because it had infinite repop. Just some info ��

[Greyhelm]

Appreciate the info, since I have never seen the game live.. Only thing I have to go off is ZAMs and whatever else I can gleen off message boards. Going to look over the Expeditions global and see what I can get off that since this is supposed to be an Expedition.

[Greyhelm]

May have jumped in too deep on this one.. Has a lot more to it then just adding quests.. Custom tables, additions to global_player.pl .. Though Akkadius lays it out pretty well. Have a lot of homework to do..

[Drajor]

Originally Posted by vsab

FH was scaled to the level of the characters that requested it. It was notorious for afk macro xp'ing because it had infinite repop. Just some info ��

This. Great zone

[Greyhelm]

New Nideno script adding use of sendto

##############
# Quest: Expedition: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998)
# Involved: #Nideno_Eliagy (npcID: 182136)
# Zone: The Forgotten Halls (ZoneID: 998 Instance: 0)
# Author: Greyhelm
# Related Zones: Nedaria's Landing (ZoneID: 182)
# Related Creatures: None
# Related Classes: All
# Reward(s): None
# Description: Allows players to return to Nedaria's Landing
##############
sub EVENT_SAY{
     if($text=~/Hail/i){
         quest::say("Greetings, traveler. This is a beautiful land you have here. . .very different from [" . quest::saylink("what I am used to") . "]. You must thank the gods daily for the bounty they have bestowed upon you.");}
     elsif($text=~/what I am used to/i){
         quest::say("Since the coming of the Muramites, my land has been broken and defiled. Taelosia was never a lush land. It could be hostile to the unwary, but it was once [" . quest::saylink("beautiful") . "] in its own way.");}
     elsif($text=~/beautiful/i){
         quest::say("Although the army of Mata Muram has defiled our cities, there are still places that their claws do not yet reach. . .places they do not know exist. If the Wayfarers hadn't come to Taelosia when they did, I'm sure the Muramites would have found these hidden locations as well, but thankfully they are too busy with their own defense now to worry about enslaving the last of my people. One of these places is an old temple that we refer to as the [" . quest::saylink("Forgotten Halls") . "]. The elders have decided to allow outsiders into the Forgotten Halls in the hopes that you will understand better the plight of the Taelosian people once you see the unblemished beauty of an ancient Taelosian temple.");}
     elsif($text=~/Forgotten Halls/i){
         quest::say("I sense that you come with the blessing of Eldros Danmos. I will ask the stones to open a passage to the Forgotten Halls.");
         quest::emote("turns to the nearby stones and places her hands on them begins to chant. She speaks in soft tones, calling upon the spirit of the stone for the abilities to open a doorway to the hidden lands of Taelosia. As she chants, the stone begins to glow softly and for a moment a low grumbling can be heard from within the rock as it answers Nideno in its own way.");
         quest::say("The stones have spoken and they favor your passage and have given me their consent to show you the way. When you are [" . quest::saylink("ready") . "] let me know.");}
     elsif($text=~/ready/i){
         quest::emote("holds up her hand.");
         plugin::SendToInstance("public", "fhalls", 0, -74, -843, -11.68, "fhalls", 21600);}
}
#End sequence

Still wokring on zone scaling...

[demonstar55]

The zone was nothing more than showing off some new graphics stuff and expeditions. It's relatively pointless :P

[Greyhelm]

Pointless? Maybe.. But you could also say that about any zone really couldn't you? I mean unless if you are not running your own server that is. With the portent ability to use #giveitem, #level, or whatever custom commands you may have the whole game is pointless. I am assuming EQEMU and all it's incarnations came about because, someone just wanted to see if it could be done, people like to tinker, or they liked something about the game. From my understanding MMO's is all about the community not the content really. But I am drawing off no knowledge of the game "live" as I have not played it that capacity. I am learning albeit slowly how to code and put things together. I will stop posting what I am working on if this is what you are getting to. Or am I using the wrong forums to post what I have? Because to me nothing is pointless as long as one person is willing or has the desire to do it.

[jdoran]

There is a difference between saying a zone is pointless, and your work is pointless. I hate to put words in Demonstar55's mouth, but I read that as 'the zone, as SOE released it, was relatively pointless'. And I think I'll agree with that.

It was a great demo zone, and useful for people wanting to afk. But there wasn't much in the way of fun/content there. The mobs scaled with level, but quickly became more trouble than they were worth to kill.

So Grey, you have a blank slate and can't really do worse with the zone than SOE did.

[Greyhelm]

Understood. I am just learning pretty much from ground up. This was my try at an instanced zone. Once I get the basics down then I will expand on what I have learned. What better way to know if you have used the right scripting and have the mechanics down than to make it like it was.

But, some of the ideas I had were to have a ring type event in the Gladiator arena. That the players can enter, and choose a type of battle, wether to test your spell abilities against opponents that cannot be harmed physically, or melee abilities with opponents that cannot be harmed by spells. One on one battle, one Vs more, group vs group... So on an so forth.

The area when not being used by PC's would spawn it's own events and you could spectate if wanted.

Then replace the rest with vendors, place ovens, furnaces, etc.. in the area and what not, the whole quest script was to visit and enjoy the forgotten temple.. There really is nothing to enjoy when I ran through the zone. And ultimately I wanted this area to open a new land... But I have a lot to learn and getting the mechanics working in the first place is my priority. So there is a method to the madness.