We've been implementing a few things to help make combat easier for players (firstaid, strategem, etc.). Is there more we can do?

Should firstaid be automatic? What other things can we do to help make combat more user friendly? Ideas welcome!

I posted this in the Ideas thread, but I might as well cross-post it to here as well: Add FIRSTAID CURE . This wouldn't necessarily be for pure newbies, but rather for those that are getting started writing their own systems. If added, the next step from a pure firstaid system wouldn't be a completely stand-alone system, but rather a system that keeps track of what afflictions you have, and it uses firstaid to cure them individually, allowing for priorities.

Another idea I posted some while back was a Firstaid for defenses, as the "other side" of combat. It would work the same way; you'd have to add a defense to it, and when performed, it would try to add that defense (given the balances are there), even if it's already up (much like Firstaid tries to cure your afflictions even if you don't have them).

Also, more aff-messages! They are severely lacking, to be honest. And a unified message for cures would be nice as well (such as "You are no longer afflicted with x" in addition to the current cure messages).

EDIT: Oh, and in response to automating FirstAid: It would depend on the level of automation, I think. Having it automatically add/remove afflictions as they come and go would probably be taking it too far. However, adding it to the auto-sip system where it tries to curequeue when you get balances back would be very nice.

Estarra:

Should firstaid be automatic?

I'm all for automating curing; I don't feel that players should have to either buy or code a system, outside of the cost of merely playing the game, in order to bash effectively, much less enter combat.

Systems can still do many things that first aid can't; this just relieves newbies of unnecessary pressure, and opens the game up to people new to MUDs.

Quote from Announce 1962:

The more astute of you may notice that the curing system's commands are laid out in a manner that suggest further expansion. I will confirm that this is intentional, although there are currently no plans to develop the system further: FirstAid alone will fill this role for the time being. The autosipper may or may not be developed to include sparkleberries, healing scrolls, and other general or tradeskill abilities.

Any of those, or extending Discipline Curing to take deepwounds into consideration would be a huge improvement.

I've always had a daydream about having an in game curing system so robust that most everyone would use it, and new players wouldn't face the "wall" that curing in Lusternia entails.

Anything that encourages newbies and nexus players to fight is a-okay with me.

Equalizing curing for people is a great idea.

Will help tremendously with being able to do skill balancing acts as well.

Indeed. A main problem in Achaea (which has NONE of these nice things that Lusternia has) I have when helping newbies is telling them that they will either have to spend ages gathering affliction lines or building their own system to do any sort of combat -- not even to kill anyone, just to SURVIVE raids or the like. Many of them get disappointed and leave the game.

This is why I think Lusternia's on the right path, and I definitely think the more automation the better. This also helps those of us not in North America, hehe. I've died in MMOs so many times because of weird 2-3 second lag spurts (could be my ISP, I suppose, but it happens at others' places as well) and the constant 0.4 second lag from being overseas.

tl;dr Anything to help lower the scripting-required curve is very much welcome. You shouldn't need a custom system that you've spent hours on just to bash. Maybe the top of the combat tiers, sure.

This idea doesn't even devalue combat systems, which will tend to cure better, more efficiently, faster, and are even more customizable than whatever Lusternia makes.

As a newbie, I can vouch that the curing system here is very complex, though I appreciate it for what it is. Having the FirstAid skill with autosipping has been an amazing help in the initial learning curve and has given me some leeway to get into the game. It allows me to focus more on the content than the survival mechanics, and I can add to the built-in system with my own triggers as I improve. In the future, I would love to see FirstAid expanded so that most "essential" functions of a standard combat system are implemented directly into the game in some way. Levelling the playing field so those who are observant and codedly-skilled can compete on the same level as someone who is currently semi- or fully-automated -- and, in the opposite way, making those who rely on the computer playing the game for them to expand their direct interaction with their own skill and reflexes -- is a step forward in the right direction, in my opinion.

I still think a middle point between FirstAid and a fully stand-alone system would be a good idea, to allow for people to grow their own curing system piece by piece, so to speak. FIRSTAID CURE would probably fill this function rather well, although other suggestions than my own would be very welcome.

I'm also curious what people think of the def-version of FirstAid? Yay or nay?

To be honest there are people with great systems that aren't great combatants, or tend to participate in conflict much, or tend to even like it. I've never seen the curing system as a hindrance as it is implied. I'm all for more help though! But I don't think this is what addresses the issues.

Of course the curing system doesn't make the fighter. But at the same time, without a curing system you simply cannot be a fighter; it's a prerequisite, but not what determines your success. For instance, even if I got the best curing system there is, I still wouldn't be able to kill people (nor have the inclination to). However, if I wanted to get into fighting, I would _have_ to have a curing system, there's no getting around that.

I don't mind paying for curing systems. This boils down to the fact that what I make hourly makes my time more valuable spent working/being with my family than sitting and trying to gather aff lines, figure out the queue, code the logic for it, etc. Imperian recently went the serverside curing route, and I've been dabbling over there a bit while my son has had his double ear infections. I have to say, I really, really like it. It's not AS good as having your client run a system (there are bits and pieces of it that CAN be taken advantage of if you're a smarter fighter than me) and it doesn't handle parrying or defenses (that I know of last I tinkered with it anyways) but it's there and I think it drastically lowers the bar for folks.

Its those types of convenience features that have me supporting them as opposed to plunking my dollars into Lusternia currently.

Estarra:

We've been implementing a few things to help make combat easier for players (firstaid, strategem, etc.). Is there more we can do?

Should firstaid be automatic? What other things can we do to help make combat more user friendly? Ideas welcome!

The syntax change in kata forms was an outright Godsend.... quite literally. Thanks Roark!

Some background: I started playing Lusternia on a MacBook and was originally dismayed by the lack of Mac friendly mud clients and complete lack of systems that would natively run on a Mac OS. At that time, all of my healing and curing was manual.

I really disliked feeling like I needed a system to play the game, and completely resented being told that I would need to run windows in Parallel / Bootcamp. It pained me because I was so drawn into Lusternia, but felt like coding was requisite to playing. I would have quit by now if it wasn't for Mudlet and M&M.

I still strongly believe Lusternia should be more widely accessible to those who play through Nexus and don't have a paid-for system. Otherwise the game will turn away potential customers. When people stay around, they populate the orgs and potentially purchase credits (thereby financially supporting the game).

It's a win-win scenario. The auto-sipper and FirstAid were sound first steps. I'd suggest giving some degree of automation to applying wounds, combat stances, rebounding, and streamlining syntax to be more user friendly.

I would like to take this opportunity to give tentative props for the changes made to Kata forms

Oh! One more suggestion regarding aff-messages: If you're hit with a random affliction, make it give an aff-message along the lines of "You are afflicted with something unknown". That way, they know they were hit with something, just not what.

Don't forget to put it deep in a system so that it costs lessons/credits to get.

Don't forget to put it deep in a system so that it costs lessons/credits to get.


Eh? You do know you get your lessons back for Firstaid as an achievement?

Estarra:


Eh? You do know you get your lessons back for Firstaid as an achievement?

I was omnitrans when it came out, so know, I didn't know.

You get a +1 and a like from me though for this.