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[babs]

i suggest that in addition to the current actions of recall,  that recall used in ones apartment would return you to the last place you used recall outside apartment  (don't know if this is possible)

[Mamoru]

It is currently not available yet, but such a system already exists as "Town Portal". Basically you use it in one place (e.g. town) and again when you're at the other (e.g. hunting ground or other town). Then you (and your party) can move through the portals. Is this what you're suggesting?
~Kiana~

[Cleo]

But town portals offers an exploit, where you can easily use it to kill monsters by setting up 2 portals and having the monster run between them... word of recall would at least have a timer...

It is an interesting suggestion.

[Mamoru]

Now that you mention it, maybe Town Portal should not be possible to use on a map or any map adjacent to it where you've just set the first portal.
~Kiana~

[Floozy]

Just a suggestion - wouldn't it be much easier (and save potential problems such as the one Cleo mentioned) if casting Town Portal (if you want to keep the name) acted in the same way as Word of Recall, i.e. took you back to your "save bed" after a delay *without* actually creating a visible portal in the dungeon - then created a visible portal next to the save bed (pro'lly better to be useable only by that player if the bed was in a public place) which could take you back to the same location, but if you didn't portal back and cast Town Portal again at a different location the portal would take you back to the last place (i.e. forgetting any previous ones).

imho that would achieve what Babs suggested and be kind to the mobs as well!

Love Floozy

P.S. Of course, there could be problems if the dungeon map changed meantime - I leave it up to you clever people to think of ways to handle that!

[ddhanna]

I can understand teleporting with word of recall (town), but i dont think it is a good idea to be able to teleport right back to where you were before using it. Being able to teleport back to a place that you were at would take away from the game play. I am not against being able to teleport from town to town, but i am against teleporting other places.

  Only option that makes since to me is to have it teleport you back to the start of the map you want to go back to..... that would save travel time. And yes, you would have to make your way back to where you were at, but the point isnt to make it easy, it is to keep a balance of the game play value Atrinik has to offer. I have found that if it is to easy, people lose interest fast. Our goal here should be to keep players involved in an interactive enviroment that Atrinik gives.

[vinhi]

Adding my $0.02...

I agree with DDhanna - by opening a portal back to the bowels of a dungeon, it poses a problem with creating challenging dungeon maps.  This certainly makes sense for maps where a player is being challenged (e.g. a level 40 player trying to make his/her way through UC II).

Where this becomes tedious is when mobs on UC I and UC II are mostly green/gray and players have to navigate to UC III or UC IV to find challenging mobs worth fighting.  My suggestion would be to locate hidden keys on those levels and create a hidden elevator system that players can access if they have the proper keys.

A good hiding spot for this would be that odd "two ghoul" room on UC I -- protect the portal or stairway with a check_inv and a locked door.   That portal would take you to a similar hidden spot on UC II.  A similar type of room could be placed near there that would bring the player from II to III provided the player has the appropriate key.

Keys could either be protected by a complex puzzle or a significantly difficult boss with a moderate drop rate...

[Floozy]

Nice strategy Agreeing with Ddhanna

[vinhi]

It's rare but it does happen from time to time... 

[NiteStar]

I agree with Vinhi. One of the problems faced with getting to higher levels/more difficult areas of a dungeon, when a dungeon such as the UC has such a wide range of mobs where players might be found fighting, is that higher-level players, attempting to reach the areas of the dungeon they'd like to explore, usually run through the easier/lower-level parts of the dungeon. If there are lower-level players in these parts, this could cause quite a problem for them, especially if the higher-level player is running past gobs of mobs, causing such mobs to give chase & run after them.

These lured mobs often, upon realizing that they aren't going to catch up to the higher-level player, happen upon the lower-level players en masse and cause these poor, lower-level players an unnecessary death.

Having a system such as Vinhi proposes would eliminate this scenario and improve overall game play. It also would allow for more flexible dungeons to be created, where the range of level of players that can have "fun" such dungeons/mapsets would be quite wide, indeed.

[Cleo]

UC already has a similar system... There are various "shortcuts" around the general area of UC entrance that lead to deeper levels, *if* you have first found the needed key in UC first. For example, Ogre Guard (east of Brynknot, two entrances next to those two ogres) is a one-way shortcut to UC II, if you have the key that drops nearby. Abandoned Mine has a two-way shortcut to UC III, again, if you have found the needed key. Ddhanna is currently working on a new extension to UC IV, which could also have another shortcut.

There have been thoughts about something similar for Moroch Temple, perhaps involving secret portals around the entrance that need keys, but that was just a rough idea...

[ddhanna]

well, i wasnt going to say anything.... i didnt want to give anything away, but the way cleo put it, i guess that would not really be giving anything away. so now you have a chance to see if you can find these other areas that are talked about. 

[vinhi]

Suggestion:  How about adding an NPC or a book that hints at the connection of the Abandoned Mine/Ogre cave and UC?

1)
By paying a small "tip" (i.e. fee) at the Brynknot tavern, you can here the rumor:

"It was rumored that John Smith was seen leaving the Underground City after entering the ogre cave"...

2)
Book in Brynknot library:

"There once was a player named Nitestar
 Whose skills allowed him to travel far.
 He entered a mine one day,
 emerged from a city okay,
 and helped with an orc-human war..."

[ddhanna]

thanks Vinhi, that is a good suggestion. I am trying to get things finished up for UC, that would help fill a hole... thank you

[NiteStar]

1)
By paying a small "tip" (i.e. fee) at the Brynknot tavern, you can here the rumor:

"It was rumored that John Smith was seen leaving the Underground City after entering the ogre cave"...

2)
Book in Brynknot library:

"There once was a player named Nitestar
 Whose skills allowed him to travel far.
 He entered a mine one day,
 emerged from a city okay,
 and helped with an orc-human war..."

I can't remember what game it was (Maybe Ultima V) where players would tip the bartenders of towns to hear rumours that were clues throughout the game....