Making Lore in eq2 an integral part of the game.

[Picpus]

<p>i was looking wondering if it could be possible to revised the lore system in the game. In part, because the lore is what makes a mmorpg and eq2 in particular, what it is. Having books who can put in your house is great, because i whixh there were some kind of lore book interface that would update and have all the lore you've discovered until now. Honestly, who read their bools once there are in the house.</p><p>i feel too that the huge lore in eq2 is badly used. Who knows now that there are a bunch a lore books to buy in the mage tower in queynos and elsewhere. Not sure the new players do...and let face it, having to kill 30-40 mob in a row to update a all book which give a grey quest by the time you bought it is WAY NOT fun...So What....you devellopers have to find a way to put the lore back into the world of the game, may be by having to rely more on clickable objet and less on killing stuff. the lore give a meaning to the eq2 and it is a great thing about this game.</p><p>Make the lore more present and more fun to discover!</p>

[Aurel]

<p>I read my books.  d:  I have to.  It takes me thrice as long to remember things as my beloved lore dorks and I have to learn what each book is about so I can pretend to contribute in befallen.lore discussions!</p>

[Picpus]

<p>So i guess that if there were a lore book in the interface where you could find all your lore, it would make it easier on you, no  ?</p>

[Cusashorn]

<p>That was one of the serious mistakes they made when they made this game: The quest journal in EQlive is capable of recording NPC dialogue so you can read it back whenever you like. EQ2's quest journal just gives a brief summary of what you actually did during the quest, but doesn't record what actually happened. They missed a big opportunity for lore fans for this one.</p>

[Seidhkona]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>That was one of the serious mistakes they made when they made this game: The quest journal in EQlive is capable of recording NPC dialogue so you can read it back whenever you like. EQ2's quest journal just gives a brief summary of what you actually did during the quest, but doesn't record what actually happened. They missed a big opportunity for lore fans for this one.</p></blockquote><p>I keep my /log running so I can go back and review dialogue. I realize this isn't as easy as the in-game method, but the world is so large it seems like it would take TONS of storage to keep the dialogue in-game per character. If I have it local in my logfiles, I can search it in a number of ways, edit, copy, and so on.</p><p>If you want a place to read books that is a little easier, and are willing to pop a /browser window, <a href="http://www.lorelibrary.com/" target="_blank">The Athenaeum</a> has a great collection of the texts, plus some interesting player dialogue.</p>

[Picpus]

<p>Yes The Athenaeum really did a great job. They have all the lore, nice ! Still...not the same thing when you update the lore as you play and reading it on a website.</p>

[Aurel]

<p><cite>Khaleej@Storms wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>So i guess that if there were a lore book in the interface where you could find all your lore, it would make it easier on you, no  ?</p></blockquote><p>Well, I spend most of my time in my guild hall, decorating, redecorating, growling about this and that, or just standing around like a dork, so I have easy access to all of my books already.  My guild hall is my interface.  d:  I think it'd be a neat addition; maybe the first page(s) be table of contents; click on a subject and go to a page full of what you know.  It'd be a <em>ton</em> of work, though, and I dunno if they have the time!</p>

[DukeOccam]

<p>Actually the EQ1 dialogue journal is separate from the Quest Journal. Most people have it turned off anyway, since it records even stuff like "Mob_name01 has been slain by Player_name01" and the mobs' dying cries promising revenge from their comrades. What this adds up to is unbelievable lag, especially on raids.</p><p>I just started playing Dragon Age: Origins, and I love their Codex feature. Any time you find a book or inspect an item with some lore behind it, an entry is added to your Codex. It's like an encyclopedia you can refer to at any time (and you really do need to if you wanna keep up with the lore...it's a very dense game).</p><p>It would definitely be a very cool addition to the game. They could also give you an in-home item that you can click on to access any book you own, so you don't have to go searching through your library.</p>

[lostsandman]

<p><cite>Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>That was one of the serious mistakes they made when they made this game: The quest journal in EQlive is capable of recording NPC dialogue so you can read it back whenever you like. EQ2's quest journal just gives a brief summary of what you actually did during the quest, but doesn't record what actually happened. They missed a big opportunity for lore fans for this one.</p></blockquote><p> but the world is so large it seems like it would take TONS of storage to keep the dialogue in-game per character. </p></blockquote><p><p>All the quest text, books and stuff are in your local computer. They are not stored or pulled from the EQ2 server when you access them. So storage is not an issue. </p><p>What is stored on the server is what quest you have completed, what stage you are at etc. </p><p>However one issue I can see is that, some quest have branching dialogue option and the text you get is different per dialogue  option. So to customise the text they will need to store some additional stuff on the server as to which dialogue  option you selected.</p><p>Having said that multiple branching dialogue are very tiny minority. Most quest there is only one dialogue tree.</p><p>So moral of the story is they need some UI changes to get this working.</p></p>

[Cusashorn]

<p>The problem with the computer storing everything itself is that I've got a document file that is *TOO BIG* to open with any word document. Most of it is just combat spam, and you would need to know exactly when you engaged the NPC to read what they said. It might be a little more data intensive, but being able to just "repeat" the dialogue (and it's branch dialogues, which most of the more important lore happens to be found from) by clicking the bubbles again from the quest journal in the completed quests tab.</p>

[Mixxit]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>That was one of the serious mistakes they made when they made this game: The quest journal in EQlive is capable of recording NPC dialogue so you can read it back whenever you like. EQ2's quest journal just gives a brief summary of what you actually did during the quest, but doesn't record what actually happened. They missed a big opportunity for lore fans for this one.</p></blockquote><p>I agree with this, it was a great feature that is missed. Also, the on going storyline was also in another window, i'd like that back too!</p>

[lostsandman]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The problem with the computer storing everything itself is that I've got a document file that is *TOO BIG* to open with any word document. Most of it is just combat spam, and you would need to know exactly when you engaged the NPC to read what they said. It might be a little more data intensive, but being able to just "repeat" the dialogue (and it's branch dialogues, which most of the more important lore happens to be found from) by clicking the bubbles again from the quest journal in the completed quests tab.</p></blockquote><p>The log files are huge due to combat spam however you can easily filter out chat using some very simple regular expression and grep.</p><p>However like I said in my previous post it does not have to be this way. They need to change the ui to be able to pull in all the dialage for given quest.</p><p>The functionality is already there. When you click an NPC they are going to a DB (stored in your local box) and pulling in the relevant text. They just need to let us do this via the quest journal or some other ui mod.</p>

[Seidhkona]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The problem with the computer storing everything itself is that I've got a document file that is *TOO BIG* to open with any word document. Most of it is just combat spam, and you would need to know exactly when you engaged the NPC to read what they said. It might be a little more data intensive, but being able to just "repeat" the dialogue (and it's branch dialogues, which most of the more important lore happens to be found from) by clicking the bubbles again from the quest journal in the completed quests tab.</p></blockquote><p>This is one nice reason to run ACT. ACT chops the logfile into manageable chunks and adds a date to the filename, then starts a new one.</p><p>Rename the old logfile and let it start a new one, then every so often, do that again and you won't get such a gigantic behemoth document.</p>

[Morghus]

<p>I would definitely like a codex that updated with relevant information. Like say if you visited Emerald Halls it would tell you about it, and update itself with more detailed information the further you went into the zone or something like that. A history of the place, what's going on currently, and any major individuals that live there and their history and current business.</p><p>Aside from that I honestly wish there were some way the game could cinematically or otherwise present to you relevant information from other character's point of views, or even from a third person more often like what was done with the recent claymore replica quest.</p><p>My main issue is the blandess and inconsistency Lore centric NPCs gain when they are made into bosses heroic or otherwise. Players are given little to no real context as to what they are doing when you plunder their domain really.</p><p>I mean with Gynok Moltor at least, he and his cronies appear to have their minds stuck in the past as they all refer to you as gnoll lovers and intruders of befallen. Nothing else is really said, the encounter is even activated by the use of a lever in the area for some odd reason.</p><p>The really important raid bosses tend to say 1 - 3 sentences worth of text that typically explains little about their current activity or plans really as well.</p><p>Ykesha, the legendary warlord just sics his minions on you for entertainment and from what I have seen, says little beyond 'let the games begin.' Virtually all of the bosses before him say one line or so and that is it.</p><p>Wuoshi had some good build up with the pre-EoF lore hinting that he may be plotting against Tunare, but in-game you only ever speak to him if you do the Tunare deity quest line, and when you go to kill him he spouts some self-righteous things about us defiling the Emerald Halls. He even fights players using one of the Avatar of Growth's abilities.</p><p>Trakanon babbles on a bit about the Leviathan and the final part of the puzzle of ages end, and then states that the ring of scale would avenge him when he dies, and does not appear to realize that you slaughter the entire ring of scale just to get access to him. Obviously, he won't have anyone to 'avenge' him.</p><p>Those are just a few examples that stuck out to me but they generally speak quite a bit of some weird inconsistencies. In the end the only raid boss I can remember saying anything really relevant was Anashti Sul who even then says only 3 or so sentences max.</p><p>Most of the time we don't even know the lore status of a character, in regards to whether they are really dead or not. Unless the character in question is really important like Lucan/Antonia, Mayong, or a god of some sort, they appear to be completely forgotten and underdeveloped especially if they are a raid boss.</p><p>My guild hasn't gotten far enough to actually challenge Miragul in his planar shard, but I would not be surprised if he is treated the same as the others.</p>

[Saihung23]

<p>I read the title as Making Love in EQ2, an integral part of the game.</p><p>And to not make it a total derail, I just want to say that is a good idea OP, a central repository of all our known lore from books and such.</p><p>I think it is a fine idea in essence.  Maybe they can come up with something a bit different, but the core of what you suggest is awesome.</p><p>gj<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>