Hard to kill at level 1?

[bheam]

Hi,

Just started with eqemu.

Something seems off the the default distribution of peq database.

In greater faydark, there's a lvl 7 KOS elven skeleton roaming the noob pod lift area, this can't possibly be correct.

Also trying to kill any mobs as a level 1 druid is impossible, as the NPCs hit every single time. I did change Combat:NPCBonusHitChance from default 26 to 0 which helped some, but won't this ruin the math down the line? Isn't an NPC supposed to hit you more at lvl 50 (vs 50) than at lvl1 (vs 1)?

Also a couple bug fixes i added:

1) At around line 1386 in common/database.cpp, correct code should be:

bool Database::MoveCharacterToZone(uint32 iCharID, const char* iZonename) {
        std::string query = StringFormat("UPDATE `character_data` SET `zone_id` = %i, `x` = -1, `y` = -1, `z` = -1 WHERE `id` = %i", GetZoneID(iZonename), iCharID);

2) in zone/client_packet.cpp, some code needs to be moved like 50 lines down regarding "CanBeInZone" check like this. Not sure this is correct location, but it has to come after "client_data_loaded = true" or the new zone location can't be saved with Save():

        /* This needs to be set, this determines whether or not data was loaded properly before a save */
        client_data_loaded = true;

        //enforce some rules..
        if (!CanBeInZone()) {
                Log.Out(Logs::Detail, Logs::None, "[CLIENT] Kicking char from zone, not allowed here");
                GoToSafeCoords(database.GetZoneID("arena"), 0);
                return;
        }

        CalcItemScale();
        DoItemEnterZone();

Thanks in advance for any input.

[Shendare]

As far as the non-code portions, the elven skeleton was indeed part of the Kelethin newbie lift experience for a number of years. I think it went away when they revamped GFay to add the treants, sometime around or after DoD.

It also is indeed hard to kill yellows and, depending on your class, can be occasionally challenging to kill certain types of whites at level 1, even on Live.

[Shendare]

Elven skeleton entry on Zam:

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=9872

[joligario]

@bheam: Good catch on the first one. That will be fixed shortly. As for the second piece, I'm not sure I'm tracking what you are trying to say. When is it that Save() is being called that it can't?

[bheam]

@joligario GoToSafeCoords() tries to Save() (at around line 363 in zoning.cpp) the character data after it sets the new zone, but Save() fails since client_data_loaded = false

[bheam]

Regarding the hit chance formula, i'm pretty confident it must be way off p99 and live. I tried, as a wood elf druid, to kill 5-6 white cons ranging from skeletons, to bees and wolves and failed every time. the mob would hit me for 4-6 damage 5 times and i'd be dead.

Are you sure the hit chance isn't suppose to scale on a level basis for even fights? ie. lvl 1 hitting lvl 1 should have 50% chance, but lvl 50 hitting lvl 50 should have 90% base chance, since at that time you already have +agi and +ac to mitigate? (Numbers are just examples)

Also it might be that the damage formula is off, as almost every single hit was a full hit (making the cracking of bones noise instead of the ugh noise)

I'm open to discuss this and do some research/testing if someone is willing to support skype or irc

[bheam]

And regarding the Elven Skeleton How can i tell the chance it will be up at any given time? How does spawn chance (in spawn group entry table) work? Is it only used for chance between multiple npcs in the same group, or can it be used to make an npc not spawn so often?

I suppose i can put a bee and a wolf in the same spawn group for 33/33/34% to reduce the chance of the elven skeleton?

[provocating]

If you want a classic experience remove it. It is a newbie killer, was added past Luclin. If you look on the old Allakhazam you will notice he is not there.

http://web.archive.org/web/200106192....shtml?zone=56

[chrsschb]

Originally Posted by provocating

If you want a classic experience remove it. It is a newbie killer, was added past Luclin. If you look on the old Allakhazam you will notice he is not there.

http://web.archive.org/web/200106192....shtml?zone=56

We call those Death Taxes

[bheam]

I noticed something else... the elven skeleton, as well as no "orc pawn" / "orc centurion" in gfay/crushbone have level variance as far as i can tell from npc_types (maxlevel isn't set) - is this correct? classic didn't have level variance?

[bheam]

Right, I've looked further into the problem of lvl 1 difficulty by parsing eqemu (NPCHitBonusChance=0), p1999, ragefire and vox (live)

I've only parsed actual incoming damage values and not dps, hope that doesn't skew the results too much.

		Hit rate		Avg dmg		Effective damage
Vox		72,00 %		3,833333333	2,76
Ragefire		70,00 %		2,028571429	1,42
p1999		88,00 %		1,181818182	1,04
eqemu		69,57 %		4,535714286	3,239130435

So eqemu has 3x higher dmg on mobs than ragefire and p1999. Only slightly more dmg than Vox - but on vox you don't get killed in 4 hits - must be the hp regen and player damage.

Any and all input appreciated.

[Maze_EQ]

You're totally shmelcome to go thru and edit every single mob .