Dev Notes #19 - Item Dropping Changes The recent VU 15.18.0 release notes included the following: It is now only possible to drop items in your own estates This change sparked a lot of discussion in community channels, along with much speculation (some of it wild yet entertaining) as to the reasons for the change. The main purpose of removing the ability of dropping items on the ground in "public" places was to improve performance. Having a large number of low-value items scattered across busy servers was negatively impacting performance for everyone on the server. On some busy servers the effect of "item art" and random litter was very detrimental to performance. Another concern was security, since we receive quite a few support cases each month where participants (especially new ones) inadvertently drop items on the ground (despite the warning dialog). We are of course open to creating exceptions for special cases where placing items in the universe is desirable and unlikely to be abused, and we welcome your feedback. Continue reading...
Thank you for this communication. The ideal solution is probably to set an item limit per server. Otherwise, I make these suggestions: Please allow screenshot lights to be dropped. They're dropped only one or two at a time, not left on the terrain for long, and should not impact performance. The same is probably true for other furniture too. I also recommend allowing one stackable item (an obvious choice is Gold Ingot), to be dropped for use in player-run treasure hunts. They're high enough TT they won't be left on the ground in significant numbers, can be stacked for any amount of reward, and they aren't normally found in new players' inventories. Or maybe better idea is to introduced a brand new item called "Treasure", a stackable with value 1 ped, max ~50 per stack, which has no purpose in game other than to be used as a reward in treasure hunts. Could be crafted from Arkadian treasures or even refined straight from peds, but I wouldn't make it purchasable from the TT. Should be colored/sized so that it's neither too obvious nor too difficult to see in a typical hiding place.
I really like this. Leaving a bit of treasure around would be suitable for almost all of the common activities that players will miss with this feature. Refined no MV required over common components, but maybe a couple of recipes that can affect color, shape, or TT value. I'll still miss my chair though lol. Same for those using the lights I think. Maybe if a per-user dropped items cap isn't enough a higher TT limit would curb abusive behavior. I see this as a critical feature of a "persistent world" MMO and I hope the book is not closed on this one.
If a party is organised its quite often wanted to drop low value items like beer kegs for people to pick up how can this be accommodated? if it can be that is. Also will this affect oil drops at the rig?
just up the TT value of what can be dropped from one pec to 10 ped. problem solved. Looking at Mccormick's thread on ep, it looks like long standing exploits are main reason for the change... using furniture to trap mobs bigger than you can solo so you can heal, etc.,
This was in effect fixed a long time ago, if the mob cannot reach you either because of terrain (cliffs or trees or large rocks) the mob becomes unavailable and you have to get back to it and take a hit before it can be damaged further. Most vehicles, possibly all, are also ignored by a mob these days they simply plow straight through them While the use of a generic treasure or token system is better than nothing it is I feel still lacking in fun, if all treasure is in effect the same. Part of the fun of leaving random items was imagining the recipients reaction when it was found. Finding items in scavenger or treasure hunts is much more fun if a variety of items and values. Anyone else remember the fun scavenger endings to the old TP running sessions done by CRT and other socs ? As for multiple items causing lag.. we can't do fun stuff but we can still annoy people by spawning 20 vehicles to show off (often not even for sale) lag. So an item limit per person on what is dropped could perhaps be a solution as societies running an event or scavenger hunts on Monria could then just have a few people work cooperatively. So please MA think this through, consult with players to seek alternatives and run checks to see if lag has truly lessened now we cant drop stuff or was that just a false assumption ? Because lag has seemed far worse on both Caly and Ark for me this week.
100% agreed this is a "better than nothing" solution. It would also be a nice "in addition to" system, which is maybe why i sound a little enthusiastic. "Sandbox" and "Persistent World" were two of the biggest things that brought me to EU. This change really impinges on both of those concepts.
take one hit as it's trapped, hit it 5 or 6, let it go unreachable again, rinse and repeat... nice way to kill 1 million hp mob over a while.
