[Wish List] Actual Customization of Dungeons and Encounters

Please allow us to right-click on any mob and have a popup menu with these choices:

• Add to Encounter (numbers 1-99)
• Strength
  • +x Level
  • ^, ^^, ^^^
• Choose Buff #1
  • Buff -- pick list of ~50 different buff packages
• Choose Buff #2
  • Buff -- pick list of ~50 different buff packages
• Choose Buff #3
  • Buff -- pick list of ~50 different buff packages
• Choose Special Ability #1
  • Ability -- pick list of ~50 different abilities/spells
  • Target/Setting
  • Range (1-50m)
• Choose Special Ability #2
  • Ability -- pick list of ~50 different abilities/spells
  • Target/Setting
  • Range (1-50m)
• Choose Special Ability #3
  • Ability -- pick list of ~50 different abilities/spells
  • Target/Setting
  • Range (1-50m)
• Idle Animation -- pick list of all available animations (including dead/hidden)
• Agro Animation -- pick list of all available animations (including 'coming to life')
• Set Agro Range (0-50m)
• Set Leash Range (0-100m)
• Weakness (elemental, arcane, noxious, mage, scout, heals, fighter)
• On Death:
  • Timer: Must Complete Zone in X minutes
  • Screen Shaking
  • Red Text Message
  • Buff/Debuff
• Do Not Activate Until:
  • Encounter #x is Killed

Please allow us to place these in zones:

• Door
  • right-click in Design view: Highlight and Port Me to Mob with Key to this Door
  • Player Can Open Door? Yes/No
  • Door Opened by Defeating Encounter #x
• Trap
  • Effect: adds spawn, door opens, lift activates, players are ported, players are rooted, players get elemental debuff, crit chance debuff, players are feared, players are slowed, players run very fast
  • Target: encounter #x, door, lift, teleporter
• Lift
  • Activates When?
    • Encounter #x Killed
    • Proximity
    • Zone Clear
• Teleporter
  • Activates When?
    • Encounter #x Killed
    • Proximity
    • Zone Clear

Please allow us to place items that:

• Change Draw Distance: 5-100m
• Make the Floor Slippery
• Change the Lighting Color: R,G,B

This is by no means exhaustive but just what I could think of in about 20 minutes. I look forward to other suggestions. Think about some of your favorite or interesting zones. Now think about what tools/settings you would need to recreate those zones. Right now, Dungeon Maker does not allow a player to recreate even the simplest EQ2 zone.

Excellent list, Feldon. This would bring DM much closer to 'dungeon builder'. Right now it is much close to 'dungeon decorator', where some of the 'decorations' are mobs players kill

There are tons of musics in Eq2, from past expansions to recent Gu, i like them all!
My wish is to have the opportunity to customize the dongeon music with any file from eq2/music folder. So we could choose a music for the whole zone, a room or a special boss!...

Good idea. There should be a right-click menu on the Dungeon door with all kinds of customizations.

music is a fantastic idea...wish we could use our own...

You can.

In your EverQuest II folder (typically located in "C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest II\" ) create a sub-folder named "custom_music" (minus the quotes).

Inside of the custom_music folder, create another subfolder named "zones".

If you wanted to replace the Freeport Guild Hall music, then create a subfolder inside of zones called "Guildhalls". Then put your own mp3 file in there and name it "FREEPORT_GUILDHALL.mp3". The exact folder structure and filenames must match between the regular music folder and your custom_music folder. This way you can replace any and all music used in EQ2.

Or you can use this third party program:
EQ2 Music Manager

I did that before but I was sure that when i ran eq2 it did a file check and replaced it.
wait...that only changes the music WE hear not every1 else, right?

what about the battle music when we engage combat?

It shouldn't touch the custom_music folder.

Correct.

If you really don't like the current adaptive battle music, you can override that too using similar instructions to the above. Google "Eq2 custom battle music". There's even a Youtube vid.

hey thanks...and before i dont think made a custom folder, i think i just replaced it in the standard 1...thats probably why it fixed it when i ran eq

Hm I just found this board and I definitely am liking what I am seeing here. I would love to even design my own raids.

I hope people post more ideas. If you think of your favorite dungeons, think about what kind of customizations and features you'd need to be able to recreate that!

I think being able to put mobs into Encounter groups 1-99 would really kickstart a lot of storytelling and dynamics. You could link mobs together in different rooms that will join the fight. You could have mobs or bosses that spawn in a ring event fashion. You could add doors that open, lifts that activate, and teleporters (or auto-porting) to a different part of the zone all as a reaction to defeating an encounter. Red text or story dialogue could be displayed as well. There are a million possible things that could happen when agroing or killing an encounter.

And to facilitate the "teleporting players" feature, I'd like to see some layouts that, on their face, appear disjointed, but are like a palette of different ideas that allow us to "progress" players to different themed areas. Right now, players zone in and say "Oh look, it's Crushbone Layout 2" and know exactly what to expect. If we could set it up so that players who defeat one area are ported to another area which looks a bit different, that would break up the monotony and let us tell a story. I'm not saying Tower of Frozen Shadow complexity, or cutscenes, but allowing us to change it up would be great.

These are great suggestions, I'd love to see them continue to evolve the tool. It was a very promising start, pushing the storytelling capability farther than it currently goes would be a fantastic improvement.

The biggest thing for me would be custom scripting. For example:

When Trigger, If Condition(s), Do Action(s)

Triggers

• Combat begins
• Timer (after x seconds)
• NPC reaches x% health
• Player uses ability x
• NPC/Player enters zone x
• NPC dies

Conditions

• NPC/Player health is >/</= to x%
• NPC/Player is in zone x
• Time in combat is >/</= to x seconds
• NPC is alive/dead

Actions

• Add/remove buff/debuff A to/from NPC/Player
• Have NPC cast ability B
• Have NPC move to location C
• Have NPC emote
• Display red text
• Spawn NPC D at location

This would also go well with the ability to create custom abilities and buff packages, at least basic things like damage amount, damage type, base recast, status effects(stun, fear, etc), stat boosts, duration.

Personally, I was really excited when DM was originally anounced, because I like to think about encounter design and what I would consider 'fun'. I would much rather be able to be creative with the actual game part of the DM experience, instead of merely the look and feel of it as with now. And if it requires that any dungeons with custom scripts/abilities/NPCs would have all rewards turned off, so be it. I think the devs sort of designed themselves into a corner trying to balance a player customizable system with a set reward mechanic, because if you reward players with something they want, someone will find the most efficient way of getting that reward.

Kalanon,

Some interesting ideas. I was trying to think of things that could be done without C++ programming. If we could pick from a list of 50-70 buffs and effects on mobs, and maybe a parameter, we could come close to what you are talking about.

Feldon, this list rocks, thank you for taking the time.

I wonder if there are some quick ways the devs can fit some of this in that at least comes close to the full blown customization you talk about.

• Music - if a choice of all music cannot be quickly done, maybe just add music effect objects that play certain a musical queue. With the right selection we could still do a lot with that.
• Encounters - create some encounter spawners. We would be locked into what they spawn, but again, a great selection of spawners would give us more to work with, and let classes with lots of encounter spells have fun.
• Locked doors and keys - to make it easy, just make these objects available, the key does not have to actually drop from a mob, we can always physically place it in a way that ensures a fight is needed to get it.

For making fights more interesting

• Allow the placment of more effect objects on mobs, or at least on bosses
• New effect object that places a buff on the boss with a % chance to cast a powerful "dumb fire" pet spell. Not as awesome as summoning real adds, but better then nothing
• New effect object that places a buff on the boss that casts AOEs, maybe at different health %, or as a proc. The AOEs should include effects like fear. If a damage AOE, make it meaningfull.
• Make the current knock back buff effect Mercs
• Somehow balance the power of Mercs vs mobs. Right now a merc an any level insta kills the hardest mobs I can create (be careful, still have to be fun...)

I'd be glad if they could just get the current flavor text to work. Most of the time my custom texts for the mobs don't even show which has basically discouraged me from doing anything else with my dungeon. All these are good ideas.

Feldon, not sure if you were referring to the need to program the scrip editor in, or the If/Then style of the scripts themselves. I do agree that it would take a bit more effort to impliment than say, adding static buffs to a character, but I think a little bit would go a long way in terms of making the dungeons much more engaging, and move away from the "Run solo for 500 Tokens, Easy!" which is pretty much all that we get now. Until players can put some thought into the action in their dungeons, there will never be interest in them above the 'is the reward for doing this worth the time?' consideration.

I've heard the phrase 'Show, don't Tell' thrown around by some developers recently in the context of EQ2's storyline. Well, I would like to apply the same thing to the DM. What is more interesting, a mad scientist's lair that is decorated with chemistry sets and spinning gears that you slaughter your way through and attach the last enemy with random attacks for 30 seconds until he falls over, whereupon you get a red text popup saying that you have saved the world from a death ray, or having a final enounter where you have to frantically run around killing power transformers, then balance damaging the mad scientist with keeping the health of his shield generator low enough that it concentrates on self-repairing instead of giving him a damage reduction buff, then burning him from 25% to zero before he can run across the room and press the Self Destruct button?

When the Dev Picks list was released, I noticed that there was one on the list from my server. I dutifully went and looked through it. The area looked very visually striking, but unfortunately, that was about it. It essentially amounted to a self-guided tour of a well decorated house that happened to have a much of solo trash in it, some of which had custom names, and this is, by the developers' own admission, about as good as the DM got, at least at that point in time. Nobody would ever run a zone like this more than once, and most people would not even give it the first glance, knowing what was in store, unless they were a decorator.

Another random minor addition that could be made, since I am not a fan of the token system:

Let dungeon creators make custom loot tables for when a dungeon is completely cleared. The items themselves would be provided by the player, and would let them incentivize others to try out their new creation. For instance, a crafter could put in mastercrafted consumables, or maybe a small chance at a rare tradeskilling item such as a Refined Astral Material or a Prime component from SS. It wouldn't be anything groundbreaking, but just something to play around with if the creator thought that their dungeon was good enough to invest a bit themselves in rewards.

But where is the loot comin from? If 40 ppl do ur dungeon, do u have 40 weps, items, or armor pieces? what does the 41st person get?

Once everything you put in had been looted, there wouldn't be any more until the dungeon creator refilled it. It would be more for promotional purposes than to say 'this is the loot you will always get from this zone'.

Its not an idea that I would recommend they implement now anyway. There are far larger problems with DM that would need to addressed first that this does nothing to solve.