[Research] Scripted Content

[blizzhackerd]

I've recently began the massive undertaking of write C++ plugins for scripted content. These scripts, contrary to Lua, and formerly GameMonkey, are platform-independent, substantially faster, and will never become out-dated due to changes in the Ascent core, save for the possible minor fixes that may be necessary.

While these scripts will be publicly available at no cost, this is a massive amount of work, even beyond purely scripting the content. As a single person, especially one without an active World of Warcraft account for the time being, collecting data as to what content is scripted, and how it is scripted is out of my scope of abilities.

What I Need:

If anyone is looking to contribute to my efforts, the following information applies to you.

I am looking for any creatures, quests, outdoor bosses, game objects, anything of that nature, that has special properties on Blizzard servers. Escort quests, Outdoor World Bosses, Skeletons in Tirisfal Glades that cast Frostbolts, anything and everything. What I am looking for is who/what, where, and how.

• Who: Who or What the Enemy, GameObject, Quest, or whatever is. (I.E. World Boss Eranikus)
• Where: Where this thing is found. (I.E. Moonglade during the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj Event)
• How: What this thing does. (In the case of monsters, what spells do they cast, how do they decide when to cast them, or for game objects, what actions it causes, anything like that.)

There are certain kinds of content I'm looking for. For the most part, anything that requires extra work on the server-side that is not inside an instance. I have both Dungeon Companion books released by Brady Games, and the only dungeon that I'm not familiar with and lack the theoretical knowledge for is Zul'Aman (which isn't due, according to my current release timeline, until after every other instance, both old world and expansion, is completed.)

• Holidays - Midsummer Fire Festival, Lunar Festival, Brewfest, Hallow's End
• World Encounters - Eranikus, Azuregos, The Hive Collosi
• Scripted Quests - Escorts, Quests with unique objects (such as the quest in the Plaguelands where you mark each of the Scourge towers with a flare), Etc.

I am DESPERATELY seeking as much information regarding ANY aspect of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj World Event. Anything from quests, NPCs, events, aspects affecting all players, etc. The majority of the Event is completely untouched in the Dungeon Companion, and information is, to my knowledge, incredibly sparse, since the event is no longer live on any server. I fully plan on releasing a fully scripted version of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj World Event with Milestone 0.4, which will likely be the LARGEST release.

I DO NOT need information about anything inside instances EXCEPT Zul'Aman. I'll be ignoring any information about things inside instances, as the entirety of the instances for my script pack will be designed according to the Dungeon Companion books. They are the compilation of the knowledge of some of the best raiding guilds in the World of Warcraft universe, including Death and Taxes, Buck-n-Uber, Dovrani, and Pacifist.

This is not a project due to be released within the near future. The releases will be as follows, and will not be released until EVERY aspect of the release is completed and refined. I believe in high-quality and well-designed scripting, even if I am to be the only one reading it, so releases will be made when I believe they are ready, and not until then, no matter how much pressure is placed on me.

Milestone 0.1 - The Corruption of Lordaeron / The False Warcheif
    Major Marker - Completion: Teir 0.5 Dungeons
        Encounters:    The Abyssal High Council
        NPCs:        City Guards
        Instances:     Scholomance
                              Stratholme
                              Blackrock Spire



Milestone 0.2 - The Fire Lord
    Major Marker - Completion: The Molten Core
        Encounters:    Azuregos / Eranikus
        PvP:        Arathi Basin (Battleground)
        NPCs:        Battle Masters / Class Trainers
        Instances:     Blackrock Depths
                              Uldaman
                              Ragefire Chasm
                              Stormwind Stockades



Milestone 0.3 - The Brood of the Black Dragonflight
    Major Marker - Completion: Onyxia's Lair / Zul'Gurub
        Encounters:    Highlord Kruul / Anachronos
        PvP:        Warsong Gulch (Battleground)
        NPCs:        Town Guards
        Instances:    Zul'Farrak
                             Razorfen Downs
                             Wailing Caverns
                             The Deadmines



Milestone 0.4 - The Chromatic Dragonflight
    Major Marker - Completion: Blackwing Lair
        Events:        The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj Event
        Encounters:    Thunderaan / The Hive Collosi
        PvP:        Silithyst (Silithus World PvP)/ Plagueland Towers (Eastern Plaguelands World PvP)
        Instances:    Sunken Temple
                             Maraudon
                             Gnomeregan
                             Blackfathom Deeps



Milestone 0.5 - The War of the Shifting Sands
    Major Marker - Completion: The Temple of Ahn'Qiraj / The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj
        Encounters:    Omen / The Dragons of Nightmare
        PvP:        Alterac Valley (Battleground)
        Instances:    Dire Maul
                             Razorfen Kraul
                             Scarlet Monastery
                             Shadowfang Keep



Milestone 0.6 - The Dread Citadel
    Major Marker - Completion: Naxxramas
        Events:        The Darkmoon Faire
        Encounters:    Doom Lord Kazzak
        PvP:        Eye of the Storm (Battleground)
        NPCs:        L70ETC
        Instances:    Hellfire Citadel: Hellfire Ramparts
                             Coilfang Reservoir: The Underbog
                             Tempest Keep: The Botanica
                             Auchindoun: The Shadow Labyrinth




Milestone 0.7 - Beyond the Dark Portal
    Major Marker - Completion: Magtheridon's Lair / Gruul's Lair / Karazhan
        PvP:        Hellfire Fortifications (Hellfire Peninsula World PvP)
        Instances:    Coilfang Reservoir: The Slave Pens
                             Caverns of Time: Escape from Durnholde Keep
                             Caverns of Time: The Black Morass



Milestone 0.8 - Illidan's Lieutenants
    Major Marker - Completion: Serpentshrine Cavern / Tempest Keep: The Eye
        Encounters:    Doomwalker
        PvP:        The Twin Spires (Zangarmarsh World PvP)
        Instances:    Hellfire Citadel: The Blood Furnance
                             Auchindoun: The Mana-Tombs
                             Auchindoun: The Auchenai Crypts
                             Tempest Keep: The Arcatraz



Milestone 0.9 - The World Tree
    Major Marker - Completion: The Battle for Mount Hyjal
        PvP:        The Spirit Towers (Terokkar Forest World PvP)
        Instances:    Auchindoun: The Sethekk Halls
                             Tempest Keep: The Mechanar
                             Coilfang Reservoir: The Steamvault
                             Hellfire Citadel: The Shattered Halls



Milestone 1.0 - The Fall of The Betrayer
    Major Marker - Completion: The Black Temple
        PvP:        Halaa (Nagrand World PvP)



Milestone 1.1 - Zul'jin Lives
    Major Marker - Completion: Zul'Aman

As you can see, I will begin releasing scripted expansion instances with the Milestone 0.5 - The Dread Citadel. Milestones are based around completion of each raiding tier, with the exception of Zul'Aman, Karazhan, The Battle For Mount Hyjal, and The Black Temple. ZA is considered part of the 5th raiding tier, but it is designated to be last. BMH and BT are both considered part of the 6th raiding tier, but will be released consecutively, as releasing the two in the same release would increase the time between the releases of 0.8 and 0.9 greatly.

The outdoor creatures, quests, and holidays are yet to be distributed, as I still await your help in collecting the information.

[MentaL]

[SDH2007]

Good luck mate. I've started yesterday to code some minor bosses and stuff for moonplusplus, and after checking the code and doing some stuff for Emerald Dragons I can say it's not a minor deal to be a perfectionist in what comes to simulating blizzlike behaviour for events, bosses, etc.

Why not join forces with mpp ? Just a thought.

[blizzhackerd]

Moon++ is writing in Lua, which isn't the best way to code encounters and content, since the C++ plugin option is the most powerful and efficient.

I've also found that when you join scripting teams like this, most members only code/script as cleanly as they have to, which, depending on the leader, isn't readable at all.

I am fully aware of the level of difficulty and amount of effort involved in what I'm doing, which is why I said that releases will be when I am ready, since I'm in no position at all to make judgment that far ahead. Between real life, my other major project (coding my own new MMORPG), and other things of that nature, I can't say for sure how long each release will take me.

[SDH2007]

Actually Moon++ is mostly C++ based. It has ~ 54k C++ SLOC, covering dungeon and 25/40 raid fights from VanCleef to Illidan, and there are templates for script writing, meaning everyone can easily read what's being coded.

The Ahn'Qiraj event.. well, that's a special one. It is shrouded in mistery, the same shroud that shadows all the Black Qiraji Resonant Crystal owners, making them invisible to everyone. I managed to see one long time ago, yay !

[blizzhackerd]

I don't so much think that they are invisible, I think they all just wised up to Blizzard's policy of leaving old content to rot, and most have left the game. Considering that most servers only had one or two Black Resonating Crystal owners anyway, it wouldn't take much for the game to lose them.

[deadkingg]

If your still working on it, keep it up.