Is P99 "finished"?

[skarlorn]

and lets not forget the spellbook open during periods of meditation to simulate closed-eyes meditation


pras be to classic

[azeth]

Server needs revamped cazic Thule zone!

[Dolalin]

A casual browse through the Dev Watcher shows dev interest is all focused on small faction and quest issues. Absolutely awesome that those are getting attention, but the big meatier issues need love too.

[nilbog]

Not finished for sure.

Originally Posted by Dolalin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

dev interest is all focused on small faction and quest issues.

'Low hanging fruit' is the best way to describe this. Unless changes modify existing content, patch notes do not include changes we make.

i.e. Stonebrunt zone coming next patch; developmental changes aren't listed in notes because it hasn't existed as of yet.

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Dolalin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It seems like the momentum has really been lost in the past year as regards fixing non-classic mechanics issues.

Probably attributable to some developer burnout - Haynar and Kanras probably mustered most of what they had left in the tank for the Velious release and punched out after that, which is totally understandable. Even with a full staff it's been difficult to keep up with development, and now it's more or less just nilbog and Telin.

Originally Posted by Dolalin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Looking at this list by Daldaen, there are lots of well documented bug threads providing evidence for these fixes, yet it's a struggle to get them implemented. Why?

Finding things that need to be fixed is good, but that's the easy part. What would be nice is if people like Daldaen, Ele, and myself actually stepped up to the plate and submitted code changes for the things we'd like to see fixed. Doable, but it's a lot of work without compensation - the kind of work people are paid handsomely for when on a development team with a payroll.

Originally Posted by Dolalin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Does it have something to do with the agreement signed with Daybreak?

Nah, Daybreak's endorsement doesn't really affect anything - if anything it reinforces doing work since it ensures the project isn't going anywhere.

Originally Posted by Dolalin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If it's just resourcing, I'm sure lots of people here are willing to help and contribute patches to the EQEmu code. Just let us know and I'm sure the community can step up.

Probably not lots of people, but there are some. As far as I know, Secrets and Zaela are the only ones not on the dev team to actually submit code to P99. There are people here who certainly know how to code and could probably get some things accomplished, but most of them are gainfully employed and can't realistically invest that kind of time into something that's purely a hobbyist venture.

Originally Posted by Dolalin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

But if they're conscious decisions by staff not to fix some issues, I'm sure lots of people would appreciate communication on that as well, one way or the other. I know I would. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Agreed - although, I don't fault them at all for not being communicative. As a developer, every minute you spend explaining why something can or cannot be fixed to people is a minute you could spend doing something a hundred times more important, and when the questions literally never end it's usually better to just ignore them altogether and let someone else be the talking head. Unfortunately, they don't really have a talking head other than Rogean, who isn't involved in game development anymore. It would be nice if they had a liaison on the development team to keep tabs on everything and let people know where they're at, but that's just a luxury. Us knowing how things are coming along isn't going to speed up the process. Just let them do their thing and be patient.

[Zaela]

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

As far as I know, Secrets and Zaela are the only ones not on the dev team to actually submit code to P99.

I haven't? It's hard to submit small changes to a black box. The p99 server code probably resembles the open EQEmu code in a lot of places, but there have also definitely been major changes, plus the EQEmu code itself has continued to change since p99 forked off of it, and who knows whether the p99 devs pull in any upstream changes. Hard to say what any particular bit of the server code might look like. Best that could be done to "submit" something is to say "if you were a stock EQEmu server, what you would need to change is ...", which is basically just giving hints for some other coder to hopefully care enough about to interpret and apply to the actual code. Not a whole lot better than just making a post describing the bug in the first place.

Originally Posted by paulgiamatti [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

As a developer, every minute you spend explaining why something can or cannot be fixed to people is a minute you could spend doing something a hundred times more important

The act of explaining something is a great way to examine your own assumptions about it, and occasionally realize ways of solving a problem that you hadn't thought of before. Essential impulse for a developer to have! Although at the end of the day, just thinking about how to explain something is as good as actually doing it...

[paulgiamatti]

Originally Posted by Zaela [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Best that could be done to "submit" something is to say "if you were a stock EQEmu server, what you would need to change is ...", which is basically just giving hints for some other coder to hopefully care enough about to interpret and apply to the actual code. Not a whole lot better than just making a post describing the bug in the first place.

That falls under what I meant by submit, and I totally disagree here. Totally absurd to say that making a post like this isn't a whole lot better than just making a post describing a bug. One scratches the surface, the other is for all intents and purposes a code submission. And from what it looks like, every monk on P99 with an epic owes you their gratitude.

Originally Posted by Zaela [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The act of explaining something is a great way to examine your own assumptions about it, and occasionally realize ways of solving a problem that you hadn't thought of before. Essential impulse for a developer to have! Although at the end of the day, just thinking about how to explain something is as good as actually doing it...

Agreed, but that's assuming you're explaining something that needs to be explained, or is worth explaining. And there's a point of diminishing returns for the developer - answering a question about a specific mechanic might be hugely beneficial for both the developer and the layman asking the question, and anyone else reading the response, but answering that same question for the fifth or sixth time is only satisfying one person who didn't bother to do a little bit of research while completely wasting the developer's time.

[Triiz]

Beating a dead horse, I know, but don't see how anyone can make the argument for nerfing multiple chat boxes or some of the other shit on that list while simultaneously championing the AOE nerf. Either you want everything classic (not the "spirit of classic") or you don't. (Not directed at anyone in particular)

[RDawg816]

It's supposed to be a social game. Make friends. Roll alts together. Farm together. Get epics together. This is why EQ is so good. P99 is great for the same reasons. If you let something like /hidecorpse looted ruin that, I feel sorry for you. It's not perfect and it doesn't have to be. No one is forcing you to play.

[Triiz]

Originally Posted by RDawg816 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you let something like /hidecorpse looted ruin that, I feel sorry for you.

Second this. Maybe I don't take "classic" as serious as some others, but something like /hidecorpse looted that doesn't impact anyone that decides not to use it making people rage is just mind boggling to me. The fact OP in the original thread didn't realize it was a feature until watching a stream shows how insignificant it is.

Btw, where does streaming fit into the classic purists narrative? I've ended up on youtube several times grouping with people I later found out were live streaming/archiving after receiving "I seen you in suchandsuch's stream" tells. Back in 2001 "due to technological reasons" you actually had to play the game to enjoy it, not watch some stranger play