Drop & Quest Testing

I've updated Altimira to enable the "beta" version of the server-side drop system. Since the feature still needs testing, I've set up Sega's original drops and rates to make tracking potential bugs easier. Quests don't use the server-side drops at all yet, so if you want to help test, please use freeplay. Just use the "/sdrops" command before you make a Team to enable the server-side drops. The command stays active until you use "/sdrops off" or leave your current block.

I've also switched to the new quest system, which should hopefully work a little better and let BlueCrab start adding other quest features, such as seeing which quests people are playing from the lobby counter. The Tinkerbell's Dog 2 should now be hidden if you're not alone, and the quest list is correctly limited in Ver.1 Teams (so no more download failure messages from empty categories). If you notice any problems, you can report those, too.

Yay for new features.

So far i have tested 2 area's with the s/drops command enabled.Forest and caves found bugs all in the forest 1 n 2 as far as i could tell the caves were clear of bugs.Here are the bugs found in ult forest 1 n 2.forest 1 collasped items what i mean by this is items sitting ontop of one another in forest 1 these items were box drops 2 parasite wear negal,Db's saber and blade dance,difluids and monomates these were the box drop items.Now the monster drops bugs only came from the hidelt and tollows.Those items were club of loconium and scepter???? thats from the hidelt from the tollows droped trimate,trifluids.The last bug was at the dragon box items were stacked only one of them and it was shock frame perfect frame.I hope this helps i will add more bug reports as i find them.Keep up the good work ives!

We did some sdrops testing in freeplay too, leading IDs were Redria and Viridia. As fas as i can tell we found nothing odd, it seemed all to be normal. Could be, that the dragon di not drop an item bus spawned a box but could be that i was on the wtrong end of the dragon and someone else picked it up. Quests worked well after using the /qlang en command.

Stasher and Usagiiiii ran forest and caves. Usagiiiii leader (Pinkal) On ultimate. Found red sabre from gulgus,a nd an Angry fist in the caves. Some boxes had 2 items. Other than that it was fun... Would be moreso if Ives' dropchart was implemented though.

Thanks for testing and reporting. I've finally made contact with BlueCrab, who's been without electricity because of the storms in the Northeast. I had thought the fix for the double item drops was already in place, but he hadn't implemented it yet, so that problem should go away when he adds the code for it.

Aleron Ives wrote:Thanks for testing and reporting. I've finally made contact with BlueCrab, who's been without electricity because of the storms in the Northeast. I had thought the fix for the double item drops was already in place, but he hadn't implemented it yet, so that problem should go away when he adds the code for it.

Which should be done now (and everything should be up-to-date on Iselia and Altimira).

Little Vamp wrote:Quests worked well after using the /qlang en command.

That shouldn't be necessary anymore (feel free to set it to whatever language you want now, out of "en" (English), "de" (German), "es"(Spanish), "fr" (French), "jp" (Japanese), "ct" (Chinese, Traditional), "cs" (Chinese, Simplified), and "kr" (Korean) -- Those last 3 are only available for PC, not for DC or GC). Note that this setting does persist to the shipgate, so it will be in effect on any of the Sylverant ships. Thus, if you did change it to en, you might want to set it to whatever language you REALLY want now, as Iselia does have a bunch of quests in more than just English.

Note, if you never have set a language with /qlang, it will automatically pick the language that is set in your client. Thus, its not necessary to use it if you don't want to have a different language set of quests.

Before, only the quests themselves would fallback to English if they weren't available in a given language (so if someone picked a quest that wasn't available in whatever language you were using, you could still play it, albeit only in English). Now the lists will as well, as long as the ship's configuration is sane enough (but that's all a server administration task, so I won't bore you with the details).

Now that /sdrops is close to being finished, I've made a small change to Altimira to make testing more interesting: you can now find semi-rare items when playing quests. This means that items with yellow names that aren't tied to specific monsters will now drop in quests, such as Varista, Ultimate Frame, Divinity Barrier, and God/Power. Monster-specific rare drops such as Red Handgun and Imperial Pick (and anything else that would drop as a ?SPECIAL WEAPON) are still disabled for the time being, so that we can test this setting more thoroughly.

I know that /sdrops hasn't been getting much use, since it hasn't been all that exciting so far. After all, if the server-side drops are the same as the client-side drops, then why bother using /drops? I hope that this situation will change soon, though. If this test goes well, I will then allow quests to drop all rare items (including ?SPECIAL WEAPONs), and once we test that, I will implement the new drop chart. (Hopefully by that time BlueCrab will have been able to make your /sdrops preference save to the ShipGate so that you don't have to use the command over and over, too.)

What is the progress on this. I have enabled Sdrops while playing, but I have two questions.

1. Once enabled, do I have ever have to reenable it again? As in, do I have to enable it everytime I log on.

2. If this is finished, will it have the same droprates as the EP disc?

You must type /sdrops every time you join a block, as the setting only persists as long as you are on the same block.

The new drop chart is totally different from the EP, and I posted a tentative one over here. I was kind of waiting to implement it until the ability to save your /sdrops preference was available, as well as the ability to define /sdrops only for freeplay or quests, so you could use the EP drops in freeplay and /sdrops in quests automatically without having to make a new team to switch your settings before starting a quest.

I checked out the old thread on this. Server side drops is an amazing development (thanks everyone involved.) The thread about that was a bit old. Whats the current state of affairs these days, any idea when you could implement such a feature completely? This server is already the best place for PSO DC/PC, but having drops obtainable for everyone (especially for those playing with the original disc) is a great option indeed.

I have two main goals left unfulfilled for /sdrops:

1. The ability to set when you want /sdrops to activate
   
2. The ability to save your /sdrops preference to your account

Right now, you only have the option of turning /sdrops on or off, with off being the default. This is great for quests, since quest drops normally suck, but it kind of sucks for EP users, because it means you can't use the EP drops in freeplay unless you make a new team to enable /sdrops before you start a quest. My hope is to update the command with more options, namely:

1. /sdrops off (default): always use client drops
   
2. /sdrops on: always use server drops
   
3. /sdrops quest: use server drops in quests and client drops in freeplay
   
4. /sdrops free: use server drops in freeplay and client drops in quests

The first two options are what we have now. The third option would be desirable for EP users, as you could continue to use the EP drops in freeplay, but since the client can't drop rares in quests, you could use the server's chart in quests. The fourth option would be desirable to people without the EP who want to use the new chart in freeplay but don't want to have rares in quests.

You also have to type the /sdrops command every time you enter a block right now, so the end goal would be for you to be able to use /login, set your /sdrops preference, and then use /logout to have the server remember which setting you want to use. Then you wouldn't have to type /sdrops over and over, just as you can use /trackkills or /enablebk only once to enable that feature.

In an ideal world, I'd also like the ability to configure rate boosts during events, but that's less of a priority. Unfortunately, BlueCrab hasn't had time for much Sylverant stuff lately.

Well it all sounds quite awesome. I myself switched back to the non EP disc due to everyone else I have come across online not using it. Its was a great development, but oh well I guess. I do miss using it though, for at least the droprate changes.

I really want to see the new drop charts implemented, segas droprates are atrocious and impossible. Its nice to at least see Semirares dropping in quests currently.

That's too bad. I would never go back, as Ultimate is just too easy and boring to entertain me.

You're probably one of the very few to actually legitimately hit LVL 200 in v2 TBH.  I dont blame you . The upgraded ULT mode was a blast when I remember playing it in full parties back when you first released it.  But at this point, I have no use just doing it alone

I've never hit level 200. I always split my time between characters so that none of them get that far. Being 200 means your character is sort of "dead" in a way, so I have no great desire to reach that point (especially since there's such a stigma attached to being 200 from all of the trainer users who reached it instantly).

On the plus side. I just found my first SPECIAL WEAPON in an online quest.  I picked it up in Triad Max attack 1.  I was playing on VH since I was solo, so it was just a Photon Claw.  But it feels really good to see Rares dropping in quests!  I am really looking forward to some updated drop chats being implemented!

Nico0020 wrote:I am really looking forward to some updated drop chats being implemented!

I'd like to see drop chats, too. If rares could talk, they could congratulate you on finding them.

So your drop charts are active as of now? I did not know that. So maybe more people will take on quests now!

Nico, it doesn't matter what disc anyone else is using. As long as you lead, on EP, you will get the EP drops. Everyone else will still experience non-EP, with the exception of the EP drops. So go right ahead back to EP! Ives and I love it!.

The new chart isn't active yet. You can get rares in quests but only with Sega's (terrible) rates.

I do wish more people used the EP so we could have more Ludicrous runs, but I guess there's always Insanity mode.

Except if I am the only one with EP, there are some weird enemy/boss desyncs. Other people were unable to damage the dragon, and lillies / mothnests seemed to have problems where they were dead on other ends but not mine. I've yet to come across anyone else using the EP disc since I came back to PSO :/

Desync is a part of the PSO experience, regardless of whether you're using the EP. It's quite common for Bulclaws to split on one player's screen but not the other's, so you see your teammate battling invisible Claws and dying for no reason. Battling invisible Mothmants is pretty common as well, as the Monest may have time to spit out some extra flies on one client but not on the other.