>>If Ishuli forgets, I'll nag him.
>>
>>That said, I used a few extra tools and checked on a number
>of
>>these items. There's a *lot* of these that I'd be
>>uncomfortable or unable to change due to one (or more) of
>the
>>following reasons.
>>
>>1) Progs or quests involving the items which for whatever
>>reason might require duplicate items.
>
>I figured some of these might be true. Say, ballista bolts
>from Hamsah use VNUM for the progs for each gate. That seems
>like particularly bad un-lazy coding... Does it matter if one
>pulls a bolt from one gate and fires it from another? I can't
>imagine it does, but without looking at the prog, I wouldn't
>know.

Probably, but I'm not harassing a coder about an existing, presumably working setup. I'm doubly not stepping on an area who's author is an existing IMP.

>>2) Some of these are duplicate items, but within different
>>(though often nearby) areas. There's not really a safe way
>to
>>do this without just duplicating the item within the new
>area,
>>otherwise it risks the game crashing if you're not careful.
>>Think...random Udgaardian patrolman who happens to be
>visiting
>>Seantryn Modan or something, vs. being on the trails.
>
>That's understandable, but also fixable. Just add a word to
>the description. For instance, for dark elf long sword...
>Why not have the Teth Azeleth be a "high quality" dark elf
>long sword?

Because presumably they want the item to appear exactly the same
as the gear from elsewhere for in-game consistency. Yes, it'll double up on the item search, but it'll be truly accurate. There *are* two items which can be found in two different locations.

>>3) Many of these are *truly* different items, just writer A
>>and writer B both decided they wanted a pair of blue
>leggings
>>in their area, or a steel sword, for example. Particularly
>>with simple gear, it's not surprising that four different
>>areas have "a steel sword" in them.
>
>I think this is fixable as well. Generic blue leggings, Light
>blue leggings, Dark blue leggings, Torn blue leggings, etc.

It's also an extra step to ask someone to check any incoming items
against *every* other item in the game for duplicate short
descriptions. I also don't want to reach a point where short
descriptions have to look like this to be acceptable:

"A three-foot, dull, worn sword made from Galadonian steel with a braided leather hilt"

Sorta negates the point of "short". If it's generic, cool, it's generic. There's a reason we don't run into these problems with Defiance :P

>>4) The classic example of the pitch-black ring. These are
>>three different items of different mobs, and it's sorta the
>>treasure hunt/prize that the tougher mob has an upgraded
>>version of the item. Any area written today probably
>wouldn't
>>let this fly, but I'm loathe to suddenly change decades-old
>>areas and muck around in someone else's creative works.
>
>A low quality pitch black ring, A generic pitch black ring, A
>well made pitch black ring. I don't think that puzzle is
>giving anyone any enjoyment... just frustration. If CF owns
>the material, then current CF staff can make changes.

We *CAN*, yes. Hence why changes and upgrades have been made to
areas such as FoN, Battlefields, etc over the years. I merely
would prefer not to. Someone took the time, effort, and
dedication to write the area. Unless there's some dire need to
remove/alter those efforts, I'd prefer not to. This just doesn't
strike me, personally, as needful enough to alter someone else's
creative work. (As an aside, I've totally loved that pitch-black
game for like 20 years. Feels like you've won the lottery finding
one of those good rings :P)

>>Finally, there *are* the cases where it does appear that the
>>writer used copy/paste to create individual vnum gear for
>each
>>NPC, and those I wouldn't mind clearing up. I'll check back
>>when I have a little more time myself, and/or check in with
>>Ishuli, but sofar there's been maybe...two that appear to
>>truly be duplicated gear.
>
>I don't have all of the information you do, but as a co-worker
>likes to say, "If there isn't enough difference to make a
>difference, then there isn't a difference."

So yes, there's a few spots that I wouldn't mind tweaking for general efficiency, but after a quick glance, there's not a ton that I'd feel comfortable about changing. Not that it *couldn't* be, but just...time, effort, personal belief, mechanical reasons, etc.

Also...that whole treasure thing I'll bring up. Look will tell you wear-slot, but also shorts out when it comes to treasure. Clothing works, so dunno.