Paragon Chat Development Roadmap and Wishlist

[Codewalker]

Not to play devil's advocate

You just know I look for any excuse to pull this out...

https://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/q795/campweezer/forum/devils_advocate_zpscjr6nbpo.jpg~original

But seriously it sounds like we're both on the same page: that if badging is done it'll mostly be as a 'I want to challenge myself to see how many I can get honestly' system rather than a means to unlock things or show off.

- I can't ever "Leave" a channel and have it stick.  Some channels I joined when I first started eternally come up on my channel list, even after I click LEAVE upon the next login.

Known issue. I was silly and assumed that the client would be sensible, so Paragon Chat automatically rejoins any channels that the client has saved in the chat settings it sends. But it turns out the client doesn't actually clean those up when you leave a channel. It probably depended on the global chat server to tell it what channels it's a member of and to actually use.

I'll need to devise a new way of saving that information. Probably using the XMPP bookmark mechanism similar to other XMPP clients. That will make channel membership account-wide instead of per-character, but that's similar to how it worked in the live game anyway, so it shouldn't come as too much of a shock.

As far as I'm aware, there's no way to /benpc a car, because the cars weren't NPCs.  /benpc allowed you to convert your visual model to an npc, but not all things were npcs.  You couldn't /benpc a Steel Canyon building, for example, or /benpc the Atlas tram station.  I think the cars were also not npcs.  For that matter, I don't think the pedestrians were npcs either.

Hey, cars are people, too! Errr, NPCs.

Car_Compact[1-5]
Car_Lux[1-5]
Car_Lux2[1-5]
Car_Sport[1-5]
Car_Sport2[1-5]
Car_Truck[1-5]
Cars_PPD
Car_Monorail
Car_Blimp

Anything that can move independently (i.e. follow a non-static path like pedestrians), or react to the world (like doors) is an NPC.

Even the gravity geysers in the Shadow Shard and Pocket D are NPCs, and non-static ones at that. Without the server-side spawndefs referenced by the map files, it's hard to say exactly what NPC should spawn at each location and what properties to assign it.

Now those aren't combat NPCs. They lack the attributes structure giving them things like hit points. They're more like contacts and trainers in that regard.

[Golden Aurora]

This all caused me to start thinking about what everyone is working on.
The main issue with badging and other persistent data is that anybody can edit anything on their local db to generate what they want.
The solution which seems appropriate to me is per XMPP Zone, Server, or Whatever, have a list available of trusted Bots which are able to retrieve and provide persistent data on who has what.

Example workflow:
1. Log into XMPP Server Foo.
2. Message Bot with same name as Server ("Foo-BotList") asking for list of bots hosting functions for this domain.
3. Per bot on the list provided, query the state of the character in question ("/t Foo-BadgeBot@FooBots, Query DynamicMan").
4. Update character data in local db from result of callback.

[Eoraptor]

Hey, cars are people, too! Errr, NPCs.

Car_Compact[1-5]
Car_Lux[1-5]
Car_Lux2[1-5]
Car_Sport[1-5]
Car_Sport2[1-5]
Car_Truck[1-5]
Cars_PPD
Car_Monorail
Car_Blimp

Anything that can move independently (i.e. follow a non-static path like pedestrians), or react to the world (like doors) is an NPC.

Even the gravity geysers in the Shadow Shard and Pocket D are NPCs, and non-static ones at that. Without the server-side spawndefs referenced by the map files, it's hard to say exactly what NPC should spawn at each location and what properties to assign it.

Now those aren't combat NPCs. They lack the attributes structure giving them things like hit points. They're more like contacts and trainers in that regard.

That's actually a really interesting and critical point. And yes, that is how Vehicles work in CO... you literally transform into a new skin which is just non-humanoid and has different move points and hit points. I didn't realize that CoX was that sophisticated back in the day; I figured that it treated most, if not all NPCs as animated map objects rather than NPC spawns.

[Arcana]

Hey, cars are people, too! Errr, NPCs.

I seem to recall having issues trying to /benpc cars and the Atlas blimp on the beta server, but I don't recall what the problem actually was.  I've never tried to do anything that weird in Icon, so I just assumed (incorrectly) that wouldn't work.

[Tipsy]

I seem to recall having issues trying to /benpc cars and the Atlas blimp on the beta server, but I don't recall what the problem actually was.  I've never tried to do anything that weird in Icon, so I just assumed (incorrectly) that wouldn't work.

https://i.imgur.com/9WqrSuU.png

[Rejolt]

Tipsy Tipsy Bang Bang?

(Aka, I'm old)

[Valtyr]

Tipsy Tipsy Bang Bang?

(Aka, I'm old)

If Fly could hit 88 miles per hour, you'd see some serious stuff.

[MomentaryGrace]

Tipsy Tipsy Bang Bang?

(Aka, I'm old)

My Mother, the Car!

(not old, venerable... ;D)

[Eoraptor]

"Bus stops? Where we're going we don't need bus stops."

[Pengy]

If Fly could hit 88 miles per hour, you'd see some serious stuff.

It struck me not long after CoH began that, given the approximate speed you could reach with Super Speed, the visual effect must have been an homage to Back to the Future.

Also, "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed."

[Azrael]

Completed Items
Estimated Completion: Yesterday

Persistence of keybinds in the database

Persistence of window positions in the database

Auto-update

Dice rolling command

Prompt for closing main window while client is running

Some decent work completed there already.  Already release 1.0 is looming.  ...with 1.1 and travel powers not that far away.  That will be a pretty big release for me.

Swift progress so far.

One request I wish added to the 'wish list' is 'be npc' to be timed with the 'pvp' handover.  That way.  The players themselves could be 'npc' spawns and 'pvp' in the red zones of any given map?  (Obviously 'big' grief' monsters like hamidon would be excluded...but mobs like Outcasts, Trolls and Tsoo...could be 'be_npc' and allow for pvp to bring the map zones back to life...?)

Azrael.

[AmberOfDzu]

Something I'd like to be able to do is be able to save a few locations and jump to them. Maybe after we have travel-ish powers it would be redundant.

[Tipsy]

Something I'd like to be able to do is be able to save a few locations and jump to them. Maybe after we have travel-ish powers it would be redundant.

Do you mean 'bookmark' a specific /loc position in a particular zone? (doesn't Second Life do that? I didn't spend much time there but I recall such a feature.)

The whole notion of spawn points versus 'appearing at any place on a map' is very nebulous to me, not being a programmer or particularly familiar with the under-the-hood technical side of CoH.  Would be an awesome feature, though, if it were possible.  I love anything that enables more cinematic options for RP, which is why having all the maps available for setting is such a treat.

To be honest, as things are right now, the biggest anti-RP bottleneck is the lack of Teaming.  People can't use a reticle to find each other on maps, so we're relegated to out-of-Pocket-D RP to be relatively easy to find locations.  It reminds me of a young kid who hasn't yet learned to swim, huddling around the edges of the pool for fear of drowning :D

-Tipsy

[AmberOfDzu]

People can't use a reticle to find each other on maps, so we're relegated to out-of-Pocket-D RP to be relatively easy to find locations.

This is bothersome, and probably could be solved with a /jumpto <player> style command, but I can imagine lots of ways that would get old fast. Perhaps only if it was a friend. Or maybe a person could use a command to allow people to jump to them for the next few minutes, or something. Like, putting a "[Here]" marker in chat that someone could use to jump to. That's probably not readily doable (I'm imaging that the linkable items in chat have to be known to the client) and having travel powers will make lots of things easier later on.

[Golden Aurora]

After the memorial to ascendent added, thought I'd add this.
Seemed funny and a bit appropriate to me.
(He's the short guy in the back!)
Taken ‎Saturday, ‎September ‎01, ‎2012, ‏‎12:11:08 AM

https://i.imgur.com/EWEvXx7.jpg

[TheFlea]

If only I had the transcripts, if only I had them.

Long story short - Ascendant once promised a date to Rose Maiden. (Also known as the sane one who tagged along with Nurse White and was friends with Flea).

He stood her up. Got cornered. Was getting chewed out. He literally had a lynch mob of Quinton Vance, Nursie and Flea all standing there giving him the evils. And his final defence when Rosie mercilessly destroyed his reasons?

'I must go...uh...to the Moon!'

And he went to the moon.

It was hilarious. The panic ditch made it all worth it in the end.

[AmberOfDzu]

https://i.imgur.com/XP3gPf2.jpg

It was 2010-2011-ish, I don't have the original dates anymore. My character, Talitha Laurent, had been at a social event with her VG in the D, and after a few too many drinks, they spoke a bit loudly about some plans to discredit a blue-side group. Ascendant overheard, and took my character aside to read her the riot act. We had a good, hours long, discussion that spanned right and wrong, good and evil, our personal histories, 'powered' culture, possible cosmic futures for humanity, and so forth. Through it all, he had that aura of innocence about him, and despite being flustered a time or two, he was a perfect gentleman, even to an arachnos widow.

I met him a few times on other characters, including a time when my reporter-character Kherianda interviewed him in (Incarnate) Astoria after one of the Virtue RP events there. Unfortunately, I lost most all my screenshots and chat logs later in 2012. But I still have my memories of the many good and great roleplayers I've interacted with, and these few with Ascendant are ones I cherish.



To stay sort-of on topic, I think it would be great if the Paragon Chat team managed to put in more little easter eggs for memorable elements of player-made history.

[TheFlea]

To stay sort-of on topic, I think it would be great if the Paragon Chat team managed to put in more little easter eggs for memorable elements of player-made history.

I've always found the problem with that being the fact that who exactly decides this history?

Sure, Ascendant was big on Virtue. On Freedom? Unknown. On Victory? Unknown. On the EU servers? Unknown. All due respect to him, Virtue was very fortunate to get dev-attention on a fairly regular basis due to its unique nature...but it was one server of many. And I really don't think it's respectful to the other servers to demand personal bits of history to be stuck here and there.

Hell, pretty sure those who resided on Victory at one point or another could easily ask for Satanic Hamster to be stuck next to Positron and Freedom could ask for a pile of dead bodies under Atlas following all those confuse bug instances.

I have all respect for people, but I do feel that to some extent we need to avoid filling it up with tributes to X, Y and Z from one server or another simply because it starts to lose meaning if that happens as the number of people who could potentially go 'who?' gets larger and the memory diminishes because of it.

Null's a fairly good example of an Easter Egg - he was there on all servers and to be fair his bit of text actually reflects the situation rather well.

Ascendant...as someone who's resided on both Virtue and Victory? Well, the Virtue part of me appreciates it but the Victory can understand full well why some people might just be going 'And who the hell is this?'. Heck, the RP and PvP communities were different animals altogether and to be fair, used the game a lot of the time as a similar thing - a method of social interaction.

I'd say not so many 'tribute' Easter Eggs, please - simply because not everyone will know who this or that person actually was.

Because, heck, when you get down to it the definition of what actually had meaning on each individual server varied. You kind of have to give props to everyone for their own parts - on Virtue you could easily credit any SG of your choice - whether everyone else felt they were relevant or not was an individual choice.

[Ohioknight]

I've always found the problem with that being the fact that who exactly decides this history?

Sure, Ascendant was big on Virtue. On Freedom? Unknown. On Victory? Unknown. On the EU servers? Unknown. All due respect to him, Virtue was very fortunate to get dev-attention on a fairly regular basis due to its unique nature...but it was one server of many. And I really don't think it's respectful to the other servers to demand personal bits of history to be stuck here and there.
...

I'd say not so many 'tribute' Easter Eggs, please - simply because not everyone will know who this or that person actually was.

I'd personally suggest that tributes include, and be limited to, whatever the heck CW, Leandro and the rest of the crew feel like doing.  Since  they're the ones doing the work and we're contributing nothing but (hopefully) appreciation.

And, for that matter anybody with the chops is perfectly welcome to do whatever they like on their own versions. 

And I have to note I'm a bit surprised... aren't there billboards  or signs advertising "Ascendant-Os" on the city maps?  I would think those were in Victory as well as Virtue

[WildFire15]

I've always found the problem with that being the fact that who exactly decides this history?

Sure, Ascendant was big on Virtue. On Freedom? Unknown. On Victory? Unknown. On the EU servers? Unknown. All due respect to him, Virtue was very fortunate to get dev-attention on a fairly regular basis due to its unique nature...but it was one server of many. And I really don't think it's respectful to the other servers to demand personal bits of history to be stuck here and there.

Hell, pretty sure those who resided on Victory at one point or another could easily ask for Satanic Hamster to be stuck next to Positron and Freedom could ask for a pile of dead bodies under Atlas following all those confuse bug instances.

I have all respect for people, but I do feel that to some extent we need to avoid filling it up with tributes to X, Y and Z from one server or another simply because it starts to lose meaning if that happens as the number of people who could potentially go 'who?' gets larger and the memory diminishes because of it.

Null's a fairly good example of an Easter Egg - he was there on all servers and to be fair his bit of text actually reflects the situation rather well.

Ascendant...as someone who's resided on both Virtue and Victory? Well, the Virtue part of me appreciates it but the Victory can understand full well why some people might just be going 'And who the hell is this?'. Heck, the RP and PvP communities were different animals altogether and to be fair, used the game a lot of the time as a similar thing - a method of social interaction.

I'd say not so many 'tribute' Easter Eggs, please - simply because not everyone will know who this or that person actually was.

Because, heck, when you get down to it the definition of what actually had meaning on each individual server varied. You kind of have to give props to everyone for their own parts - on Virtue you could easily credit any SG of your choice - whether everyone else felt they were relevant or not was an individual choice.

I do agree, even if an invasion of Elflings (themed Defiant group that was fairly well known for a while) would be entertaining.