Do you use the Combat Messages system?

Oleis

About a year and a half ago, we rolled out a system for concise combat messages and an accompanying GMCP event. While not all of Aetolia's skills are converted to using that system, all new classes support it, so adoption is pretty high. Let us know how you use the system and how you'd recommend to change it.

Valingar

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit dubious for a while before I started using combat messages. The idea seemed tacky and jarring - as if I needed more mechanical messages on my screen to ruin my immersion. But I've learned to love them to bits since starting to use them. Really convinient, would recommend that people use them nine days out of ten.

Areka

Need a, "I have no idea what I have turned on and I don't know what would impact my existing system because I am a derp." option, paired with a, "What the heck I'll turn it on and pray I don't break something." sub-option.

But for srs, I haven't used them because I wasn't certain if it would impact anything with Citadel, but have just done so to see.

Ilyon

Neither of the presented options - I use the combat messages and also gag them. Crazy, huh?

(it's because I have too many old-style triggers and whatnot, and also some tracking based on the new messages)

Ishin

I use combat messages and the old ones both. I really like the combat logs for ease of tracking.

Ishin uses Adder(kalmia) on Ilyon.

Super easy vs having to comb through the normal flavor line. BUT, I also really like the flavor line because some of them are super cool. I mean, the image of a guy flinging a sun tarot at someone and then this adder thing rising up next to/behind him(or a devil!) and doing work is really badass.

Same for all the other class skills!

They're also really easy for me to visually track, vs the flavor messages. I don't know about you guys, but mine show up a bright red, so it's like 'k that happened, that happened' etc.

Zsadist

When it was first released, I had my doubts about using the Combat Messages, but now that I've gotten a fair bit more into the PK realm, I have to say it has made tracking whispers a whole lot easier.

Angwe

I see the point of them, and I don't dislike them at all, but I've never felt like I needed them.

I like the vanilla messages for the imagery, and it seems counter-productive to use both, you see, as the point for me would have been to reduce character lag.

Ezalor

I would go fully to combat messages and gag the normal ones if so much of my system wasn't already built on the long messages. I'm too lazy to redo them but everything new I've created uses exclusively combat messages.

As far as immersion and flavour and imagery and all that, in PvP that's really the last thing on my mind.

Aryanne

Not... that I bash or PVP... hardly ever.

HOWEVER! I have at least a quarter of a chance to notice what is happening with the new combat messages, because they're short, sucint and BAM IN MY FACE unlike the old ones... no way in hell was I gonna be able to read the flavour bits fast enough to absorb the flavour, let alone the actual information.

Moirean

The colors make them nice and easy to succinctly read and digest.

Nalor

Ezalor said:

I would go fully to combat messages and gag the normal ones if so much of my system wasn't already built on the long messages. I'm too lazy to redo them but everything new I've created uses exclusively combat messages.

^^ But some classes really dont have combat messages otherwise Id switch the old messages to combat messages so at present I use the combat messages for third person tracking mainly.

Gwenith

I've never known anything but the combat messages.

That said as a new player I did, and still do, find them extremely helpful. There was a mention before about making combat logs easier to read. For a nub it helps as it tells you in no uncertain terms what has just happened so you don't have to stop and decode the long emotes and asking question after question of "what's this? What's that skill? How the f-? What was that?"

Ishin

Gwenith said:

I've never known anything but the combat messages.

That said as a new player I did, and still do, find them extremely helpful. There was a mention before about making combat logs easier to read. For a nub it helps as it tells you in no uncertain terms what has just happened so you don't have to stop and decode the long emotes and asking question after question of "what's this? What's that skill? How the f-? What was that?"

That's really the best part of it. It's easily visible and it tells you in no uncertain terms what was used and on whom. Even with stuff like shrivel chest, if I'm not in the room, I still see when it wears off.

Ianea

I decided to turn this on since I had no idea it existed. But unfortunately it's weird. Instead of the bright red it shows in config colour it's showing up black on black. So all I see is, You use (a lot of black space) .

I use cmud and even with my system turned off it's doing this. Anyone else have this problem?

Oleis

That's very strange! Have you tried reconfiguring the color using CONFIG COLOR? The default may not be applying for some reason.

Areka

What determines what things have messages and what don't? Like, gripping has no shortened message. I turned it on just to see what all popped up when I deffed up. Righteousness stuff also doesn't, but scent does.

Ishin

Try CONFIG XTERM OFF, @Ianea. That might be what it is too!

Ianea

I tried both of those. I changed the colour to something else with Config colour and turned it back, plus tried turning the xterm off. Which I had off in any case. Tried both things once again, no difference.

I fixed it, sort of, by setting a trigger on my end to colour the whole line.

Ishin

...that's really weird. If you have mudlet, @Ianea, maybe try loading it up and logging in real quick, and using something that gives a combat message? Just to see if it's *mud acting silly?

Oleis

Areka said:

What determines what things have messages and what don't? Like, gripping has no shortened message. I turned it on just to see what all popped up when I deffed up. Righteousness stuff also doesn't, but scent does.

We have to go back and convert the old messages one by one, which is a tedious and mistake-prone process (hi there, return of misgendered messages). I'm making a commitment to go back and do more of them now that we've shelved revamps (as converting a class and then revamping it would be a total bummer).

Denira

I would love to use this, but I'm scurred I will break my system. If I was sure it wouldn't I would use it in a heartbeat. I heard Dask gives out Citadel to lighties but I don't have a copy and I use Mudlet, and was watching development for the Mudlet version. I love flavor text but I'm really interested in not -lagging- in fights. I mean I like them, but not enough to consistently throw fights over because my system commits tiny suicides every time I fight in groups.

Zsadist

Honestly @Denira, running on a semi-decent TW version, the Combat Messages don't affect me at all. In fact, it ENHANCES my pk ability. Reason being, I can track what whispers (insert random vamp name here) is whispering, what wisp attack is being hit with, I can track which of the damn assmonkey is trying to BBT me, etc etc.... and it gives no lag at all.

Personally, just turn them on for a day or two and give it a shot. If you don't like em, turn em back off. But for me, they have been a huge game changer.

Draiman

Be careful about using combat messages to track whispers, it only shows those that give a 3p message to begin with (which is a few, but not all of them).

Oleis

I thought we changed that. If not, I will change that. When I first added Combat Messages to Mentis, it was clunky to do caster-only messages. Now it's just fine.

Draiman

I should of prolly tested before I spoke, I was just going off of what Ezalor said a few days ago. I know when combat messages was first introduced that's how it worked.

Lim

Yeah it only shows certain mentis whisper combat messages to 3P. If it should show all, then it is bugged right now.

Oleis

The issue was that certain whispers (which never have 3ps) don't use combat messages.

Zsadist

That issue has been fixed Oleis. The whisperer sees all whispers via combat messages, but he won't see what another whisperer uses 100% of the time, which is be design.

Oleis

Zsadist said:

That issue has been fixed Oleis. The whisperer sees all whispers via combat messages, but he won't see what another whisperer uses 100% of the time, which is be design.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions before I could! Case settled, then.

Ishin

Oleis said:

Zsadist said:

That issue has been fixed Oleis. The whisperer sees all whispers via combat messages, but he won't see what another whisperer uses 100% of the time, which is be design.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions before I could! Case settled, then.

Are all whispers going to get 3p Combat messages, then??

Oleis

Ishin said:

Oleis said:

Zsadist said:

That issue has been fixed Oleis. The whisperer sees all whispers via combat messages, but he won't see what another whisperer uses 100% of the time, which is be design.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions before I could! Case settled, then.

Are all whispers going to get 3p Combat messages, then??

No. The only issue was that 1p-only messages did not display the Combat Message portion to the Mentis user: You use Mentis Whisper (blah) on Target. That has no bearing on which abilities do or don't show 3p messages. It was entirely about the little header line.