Well, to be fair I think the developers didn't have in mind someone like me who would be playing the game for the next decade when they made it. My first playthrough was fantastic and balance issues didn't really stand out that much to me but obviously everyone has a different experience. I guess I don't harbour any resentment toward the devs because they were employees of a business and a business has no obligation to do anything more than whatever it takes to make a dollar(and I guess not piss off too many people in the process.) It's an entirely different story with a project like Tamriel Rebuilt but I think, in theory, TR content takes longer to produce content since people actually aren't paid to put in hours so there are positives and negatives to both approaches. I think, as far as commercial games go, Morrowind was a good bargain for its day but I'm willing to accept that it wasn't the pinnacle of excellence and it's no surprise to me since, again, Bethesda only really needed to make a game that was good enough for a lot of people to buy it rather than a lot of people to buy it and continue to play it for years and years.

Meh, I'm just an angry person in general, so I'd rather take it out on Bethesda than the people around me.

Anyways, I'm closing in on the "Equipment" plugin update. Here's what I've got so far:

Looks good! I'm unfamiliar with many enchanted items, so the sole magnitude information doesn't tell me what the enchantment is about, however I see some interesting creativity like for the Dwemer Boots of Flying (added jump (20 for 10), added slowfall (1 for 10), removed levitate).
Good job.

Yeah, the history there is really more for my benefit (makes it easier to update the plugin) than it is for the end user. Honestly, though, the "Equipment" plugin is the one that still feels like a Goddamned mess no matter how much I try and clean it up. Every other plugin actually feels "finished" when I'm done with it... but not the "Equipment" plugin.

Anyways, it's all done now (above post has been edited). I'm off to look over the spell merchants.

FUN FACT: did you know that the "Spells"plugin adds or edits *exactly* 500 spells? That's a hell of a lot of variety when you think about it, especially considering that I've gone to great pains to ensure that all of those spells are actually worthwhile.

Sounds like a lot of man hours.

I think you're making good strides towards having a much more balanced array of gear.

Aw, thanks. It makes me all warm in what used to be my heart.

All righty, then, moving on. Looking at the "Spells" plugin and the new merchants, I'm carefully going over the availability of all spells (and not just making sure that at least *someone* sold everything like before). One thing I seriously did not consider before was that a lot of merchants tend to refuse service to non-members (particularly when combined with the Service Requirements), meaning that a lot of spells may not be available unless you advance through a faction that often may not favor the related spell skill in the first place.

I'm also paying special attention to low-level spells and making sure they have good, easy, early access. I'm not going whole-hog on this, as I do like the idea of having to travel around looking for them, but there are certain spells that are going to svck if you can't get them very early on.

So, yeah, this may take awhile. And I will likely be busy with real life stuff today.

*Takes away the Redhead with eyepatch that he had in the cellar* :flamethrower:

I didn't see any mention of Necromnacer's Amulet or the Sheogorath Signet Ring. Do you remember what I told you about a constant effect Fortify Magicka and the like?

Nice work though, I'm eager to test out those lovely damage health spells. :wink_smile:

Meh. I decided against making the changes, but now I'm trying to come up with a good reason as to why and I can't think of anything other than "I was lazy". I tend to get that way when working with the "Equipment" plugin... especially when it's the first change up for me to consider.

I suppose I can edit the Necromancer's Amulet at the very least. Aesliip's Ring might be a tougher call, since editing it might make it too similar to the Mentor's Ring. Toughest would be editing the Robe of the Horator in a way that keeps it consistent with the other Horator items, not to mention that another robe already has a fortify intelligence enchantment.

On the subject of spell merchants, I'm still going over them. Looks like there's going to be a bigger shake-up than I thought, again due to the stuff I had mentioned before. I'm comparing my plugin-in to the Service Requirements plugin and making sure that I'm not sticking spells onto merchants who you will probably never end up buying them from. Aldaril and Ervona Barys will both likely end up being removed from the plugin entirely.

:flamethrower:
Well if you don't do it, then I'll simply do it myself if I acquire such items. :whistling:

I still recommend 15pt Fortify Intelligence for that amulet.

Also for the Hortator items, why not have each one fortify that house's favored attributes by 1-3 points?

I also don't know about those rings, but I wouldn't go out of my way to make them unique.

Edit: By the way, you said you made edits to make it impossible to camp without being immediately attacked. How does that work?

Sorry, I've been IRLing for the last two days. Now that I've been once again reminded why it is that I hate going out to bars and drinking (just the first one, actually), I'm ready to sit down and finish this damn thing.



I was thinking more along the lines of 10.



I suppose I could do that. Good thinking outside the box.



The Mentor's Ring is pretty damn important, I'd say, given that it's probably the first acquisition of most players.



There are GMSTs that govern how long you can "safely" rest at a time before the probability of being attacked in your sleep occurs, and how likely you are to be attacked when that threshold is reached. Obviously, this is a really [censored] [censored] way to set it up, since you can just rest for an hour at a time under the default rules and never risk being attacked.

Anyways, I've set the threshold to one hour and the likelihood of attack to 100%

:sadvaultboy:

Can you still be attacked if there is nothing in the cell to attack you?

Yep.

If I clear an interior of all enemies, I think I should be able to rest there before moving on.

You get attacked in interiors?

I haven't yet. Can your rest not be interrupted while in an interior?

I don't believe so.

I'm pretty sure I've been attacked in an interior before, but now you people are making me second-guess myself.

Still working on the update... didn't get anything done yesterday since I ended up going out with my sister. I'm to the point where I've been working on this update for so long that it's drilled its way into my subconscious. I keep having dreams about going to strip clubs and balancing lap dances by lowering the cost and duration and raising the magnitude.

Definitely make that your next project.

I can't remember the last time I remembered a dream. That is so unusual that I would remember the event even if I didn't remember the dream.

Also, how's it going?

The code indicates that random enemies only spawn in exteriors and interiors acting as exteriors. However quest-related enemies can appear through scripts, and that happens anywhere.

I dream a lot. Then again, I sleep a lot.



It's going. Not really much else to say beside that. I lead a very boring and uneventful life.



Well, I'm kinda out of ideas at this point.

By the way... still working. It doesn't help that I've been really distracted and I'm trying to work with more variables at the moment than I can handle in my brain without writing it all down. Here is everything I'm having to consider:

*The new spell/soul gem vendors should have an even balance of distribution across the map

*The new spell/soul gem vendors should have a good mix of various factions, as well as at least several non-affiliated ones (especially close to the starting point of the game)

*Each new spell vendor should have at least a handful of good new spells that would make you want to seek them out and at least one new unique spell (excepting Arrille)

*The spells I add to each new vendor must be at least somewhat appropriate for the vendor in question, yet also avoid too much overlap since too many similar spells on a given vendor is usually a bad thing

*Certain low-level spells (Spirit Knife, Absorb Health, Resist Common Disease) need much easier access earlier in the game, and so must be given to Arrille or another non-affiliated vendor

*Certain high-level spells, including ones that aren't new, need to be given to spell vendors belonging to factions for which they will be available to characters who can use them (House Telvanni and/or the Mages Guild, mostly)

*Faction ranking of each new spell vendor must be taken into account, with the higher-end spells going to the higher-ranking merchants

*To minimize conflict potential, each new spell/soul gem vendor must not be attached to any quests or provide any unique information. Furthermore, I can't edit NPCs from any city that has an LGNPC module (which is why I'm sticking to the east/southeast)

So is distributing spells among vendors your last task before release?

I would divide the spells up by school and level. Distribute low level spells among people in the beginning areas that sell that type. Distribute high level stuff among high level Telvanni and Mages Guild people. And finally remaining mid-level stuff all around the map.

Yep.

Well, unless you count actually making the edits to the plugins, which is sort of my victory lap.



I'm starting with the non-affiliated vendors and working up from there. These are the ones that need to be given new low-level spells and existing low-level spells that need to be made more readily available. Here's what I have so far: