Several Issues with Kineory Strikes Quest

[Giwin]

• Bot will Escort someone else's 'Tag'
• Bot will stop due to Abandoned Quest if quest has failed ("Can Not Find Quest") results in a bot stopped
• (Singular/Questing) Bot doesn't protect Escort (Had to use plugin)
• Bot slow in turning in quest means someone else can pickup quest in which the bot will then follow the NPC trying to turnIn quest
• (Singular) Bot doesn't heal the Escort of low health resulting in a failed quest

<PickUp QuestName="Kinelory Strikes" QuestId="26116" GiverName="Kinelory" GiverId="2713" />
<While Condition="((HasQuest(26116)) &amp;&amp; (!IsQuestCompleted(26116)))">
<CustomBehavior File="UserSettings" PullDistance="8" />
<CustomBehavior File="Escort" QuestId="26116" MobId="2713" />
<CustomBehavior File="AbandonQuest" QuestId="26116" Type="Failed" />
</While>
<TurnIn QuestName="Kinelory Strikes" QuestId="26116" TurnInName="Quae" TurnInId="2712" />
<CustomBehavior File="UserSettings" PullDistance="35" />

 

[chinajade]

• Bot will Escort someone else's 'Tag'
• Bot will stop due to Abandoned Quest if quest has failed ("Can Not Find Quest") results in a bot stopped
• (Singular/Questing) Bot doesn't protect Escort (Had to use plugin)
• Bot slow in turning in quest means someone else can pickup quest in which the bot will then follow the NPC trying to turnIn quest
• (Singular) Bot doesn't heal the Escort of low health resulting in a failed quest

<PickUp QuestName="Kinelory Strikes" QuestId="26116" GiverName="Kinelory" GiverId="2713" />
<While Condition="((HasQuest(26116)) && (!IsQuestCompleted(26116)))">
<CustomBehavior File="UserSettings" PullDistance="8" />
<CustomBehavior File="Escort" QuestId="26116" MobId="2713" />
<CustomBehavior File="AbandonQuest" QuestId="26116" Type="Failed" />
</While>
<TurnIn QuestName="Kinelory Strikes" QuestId="26116" TurnInName="Quae" TurnInId="2712" />
<CustomBehavior File="UserSettings" PullDistance="35" />

Hi, Giwin,

Tthe author will have to get a toon into a testbed to fix those kinds of problems. Which profile file is this in?

Why isn't this being reported to the profile's thread?

cheers,
chinajade

 

[Giwin]

Hi, Giwin,

Tthe author will have to get a toon into a testbed to fix those kinds of problems. Which profile file is this in?

Why isn't this being reported to the profile's thread?

cheers,
chinajade

my own profiles 1-90 in progress, that's the snippet of the quest code.

 

[chinajade]

my own profiles 1-90 in progress, that's the snippet of the quest code.

Hi again, Giwin,

Ah, good answer.

Try switching Escort for EscortGroup. EscortGroup eliminates many of the problems you describe.

• When the escort starts, EscortGroup 'locks in' the GUID of the unit to be escorted, so it doesn't get confused wrt/other player escorts.
• If EscortGroup detects failure (NPC despawns or is killed without quest complete, quest gets marked as 'failed' in some other fashion), and runs back to try again automatically
• EscortGroup provides for NonCompeteDistance

I believe the 'escorted' Kinelory is not 'instanced' from the quest-giving Kinelory. This is going to cause some problems for TurnIns. I've thought about writing a WaitForPlayersToClear behavior to work around such issues. But, have always managed to derive a solution without such. Please let me know if you feel its needed. I *know* of only one quest in the DK starting area that really should have such a guard.

If you do try EscortGroup, be certain to specify the EscortCountMax="1" argument (if you're escorting 1 mob). The explanation as to why is in the comments at the top of EscortGroup.

cheers & much success on your project!
chinajade

 

[Giwin]

Turning In, I've never had a problem this but the escort dying because the mob isn't protecting it properly... if you tested the profile on a rogue you'd see what I meant.

Ironically, I believe it might have something to do with the "weak" classes and the fact that the bot doesn't attack the "main" mob in the quest which causes the deaths with the AoE sludge which you'd normally run out of.

I do believe these problems are isolated to this one quest, and EscortGroup I've tried but no luck (it wouldn't even abandon the failed quest or pickup but it did follow and protect).

I now have two characters, both a rogue and a warrior... I can ofcourse fix this with a plugin but i'd rather the bot be able to do it.

 

[chinajade]

Hi again, Giwin,

Its been a long time since I've done that quest and the details are fuzzy. I'll try to remember to give the quest a look next time we're through the area.

I *sure* don't recall any AoE sludges in the escort. But, if the toon is focusing on the wrong mobs, EscortGroup allows you to define priority targets with the PriorityTargetId attribute. Just pointing this out--you've probably already explored the ability.

It sounds like you may need a combination of things, a 'get out of the AoE' along with the 'escort', and without writing a plugin or specialized QB, there is just no way to do this at the moment.

Indeedy, Rogues have got to be the absolute most painful class to level for questing. Mages follow second, but the water elemental pet helps somewhat. Most of the time, we test mostly with mages because they are almost as squishie as rogues, and the pet causes additional considerations that must be handled in the profile.

Very sorry things aren't working out.

cheers,
chinajade

 

[Giwin]

best to test with the weakest class "rogue" when testing, as although you may find it harder to level at least you'll know that if you've got rogue covered then the rest of the classes will be fine.

 

[CodenameG]

best to test with the weakest class "rogue" when testing, as although you may find it harder to level at least you'll know that if you've got rogue covered then the rest of the classes will be fine.

the devs are going to test with whatever they wanna test with.
sorry.

 

[chinajade]

best to test with the weakest class "rogue" when testing, as although you may find it harder to level at least you'll know that if you've got rogue covered then the rest of the classes will be fine.

Hi again, Giwin,

I understand your reasoning. But, testing a quest profile with a Rogue only is not even close to 'done'.

Pets bring special challenges that have to be addressed:

• If the pet gets 'killing blow', you sometimes don't get the quest drop or quest credit.
  This is devastating if you are only going after one mob--sometimes the quest has to be dropped and re-acquired.
• Pets are particularly problematical in those quest that 'kill mobs to 20% then use item'.
  The pets must be withdrawn from combat early, if a pet-using class has any chance of actually doing this with reasonable repeatability.
• Pets can hold a mob's attention, preventing you from dragging the mob to a needed location.
• etc

Shape-shifting classes also present a lot of challenges. Many quest things cannot be done while shape-shifted. And, Combat Routines frequently like to do things like 'travel around in cat form'. Profiles must be aware of this, and force a 'shift to caster form' where needed.

Large-form classes (male taurens) and large mounts (kodos, elekks, and dragons) also bring their own set of challenges.

Needless to say, there is much much testing involved for questing profiles--as you *well* know from first-hand experience. There are some 'key classes' that should be used for initial testing. For me, its the mage (due to reasons previously stated), and usually a druid (shapeshifting can be a nightmare for some things).

Adding the Rogue to that list is very reasonable, but just increases the number of times to be tested. Testing is an ongoing battle in quest profiles. This is why it takes us so bloody long to get anything done properly, and we _still_ get bug reports.

cheers,
chinajade