Sorry if this has been suggested before, but please give it a second though as I feel this will benefit all of us out there who faces disconnections in runs frequently. This suggestion is targeted specifically towards major runs; Zakum and Horntail. Let's face it. It is frustrating to disconnect from a boss run, be it you're in the main party or looter party. All time spent wasted, some of us players stayed up past wee hours just to compromise for the runs because of time zone differences. It is really disheartening that we disconnect even if we didn't want to, be it if you have a good or bad computer. Runs refunded for the occasional server crashes, fair enough. But why not have a rewarp NPC for us to be able to warp back inside the run? This would give players more incentive to go on boss runs, without having the worry of disconnections during the run. Boss runs are a huge factor in this server and I feel that everyone of us should be able to experience it smoothly. Also, with the recent Horntail fixed and requires at least 3 parties to take it down, it would cause some lag amongst the parties and I feel this might be a good approach to help cater to everyone's disconnection issues within the run. Below is a scenario of the possible suggestion. Assuming the rewarp function would be placed within the expedition NPC itself: > Player A disconnected from Zakum/Horntail. > Player A speaks to the relevant NPC. > Player A gets warped back into the relevant run. Timer can be limited to 1~3 minutes from the start of the disconnection, whichever seems fit, to give players allowance to log in quickly, but also not to abuse the system, for example repotting before warping back. C&C welcomed.
Not sure how an NPC let alone the server can determine whether someone DCs from Zakum or Horntail. Unless we have a sentient being behind the rewarping to bosses, I'm afraid that it might be as abused in someway. With that being said, I'm in full support for this and if this were a possibility, I'd like to suggest this as a high priority Developer issue. Perhaps instead of this being player reliant, we can have an NPC for the GMs to set the HP/Stage for those bosses and have the leaders of the party rewarp by talking to that specific NPC and have the entire team warp the boss whenever everyone is prepared. Another could be to try and get the whole server running smoothly or the Admin/GMs alert people of certain times where the server is bound to hiccup. All of these ideas seem like wishful thinking, but if any were possible, that would be great.
If the general consensus is that it's a DC, abuse via dying shouldn't be much of an issue if this were to implemented.
The only way I can see this being implemented would be to create a method that obtains the lastlogin or the LastLoginInMilliseconds queries from the database and even that wouldn't work because one can simply log out and log back in and make it appear as if it was a DC which is why it wouldn't probably work.
We can always think of alternatives that do the job just as well. LF>GM with lightning fast response time aka @Sila (except she's been kind of busy lately).
I meant that if someone died, they can just relog quickly and make it appear that they d/ced. I'm afraid I dont know the logistics behind coding or anything, so I'm not much help here in this thread.
Yeah but like I said before there aren't really any alternatives when it comes to something like this.
From the looks of it it seems quite impossible. I will try thinking for other alternatives if it comes to mind. Hopefully more will contribute!
As a warp in is only allowed before zak is spawned (unless server wide DC) I'd assume a 10min period after the 1st person enters the map to re-enter the map would be enough. People enter zak > person A dcs. He relogs and heads back to zak (or el nath using nearest town scroll, where ever the NPC would be suited best) and re-enters zakum. Said NPC would have to remember the squad, and would only warp people back in that are inside the squad. (Incase of abuse)
Seems fairly simple to make even with taking into account the possible exploits discussed above. The accounts table will need to have a last_seen column added that gets updated whenever someone disconnects, and the characters table will need a last_death column added whenever a character dies. Whenever you log back in, you can talk to the NPC which can check against the map the characters is on (so the NPC only works for bosses) and the last time they died (so they can't resurrect). If both check out, then it warps you back in. As an added bonus, you could add an NPC that tells you when you last died for bragging rights.
The main problem is that there is no way to differentiate between disconnecting and somebody quitting the game.
Imo that's why there should be a timer on it. 10mins and only when zak hasn't been spawned yet. This would pretty much follow the current rules GMs have to warp people in.
Is it possible making you stay in a map the same way as if you die in cpq? making you unable to do anything except go into the boss map or leave and have it on a low timer so even if you leave the game you cant go repot or start taking breaks. Like the zak altar room if you dc/leave you get into that room and you get the option to go back inside and new people cant enter since zak fight has started. Is it possible to put out a timer if a player disappear from map, timer on x min starts if not back player gets kicked and timer resets. All you need time for is enter website and character fix.
A possible solution could be to make it so that players who relog within the time window spawn in that map and then automatically die without exp loss. As far as I know, the only thing you can do when dead is using the chat or clicking ok and being warped back to the latest town. (If anyone glitches and revives they would die again without exp loss.) Clicking ok would make you exit the map. Players who want to warp back in would have to enter a command. This can only work of course if you could be revived and your hp/mp replenished before you spawn in the boss map, I think it's possible but I'm not sure. One problem with this idea is that it's not the most elegant solution I guess. Anyone who dcs in a boss for the first time would probably be really confused by the system. About the issue of not being able to differentiate between a DC and someone leaving voluntarily, why would anyone do that in the first place? Unless of course they could do anything else than warp back in after relogging.
Well there are ways to implement this but also I believe Matt is correct, there are plenty of exploits. Adding this feature into HT might be hider although it has its own little exit map. If we wanted to add something like this into Zak then we would have to create an exit map for it as well, but all in all I believe that although it MIGHT be possible to make it so people can't exploit it we are doing the right thing as of now.
How bad can the exploits get though? I mean the worst case scenario is someone dying and coming back. People rarely die and when they do there's almost always res available. Does a minor exploit like that justify lack of help towards people with d/c issues? These people constitute a large portion of the community, and in my opinion this idea should be AT LEAST re-considered. From how I see it, the pros rise above the cons in this case. Disconnecting from a boss run is one of the most irritating things that could happen to you in this game and one of the biggest problems on this server, so a solution is much needed.
Being able to abuse the bosses makes it no point even going if you can die and come back, and with all the zakum helm buyers they die quite often .
This is really only needed at HT. Make abusing it a bannable offense. High level people aren't stupid enough to try it. We have more than enough bishops and buccs to res people.
