Official VQuest thread - Everquest-themed open RPG

Welcome to VQuest!

VQuest is an Everquest-based modification for Warcraft 3. It is an open-rpg in the sense that you choose a class of hero from the 10 that are available, each of which sports skills and spells taken straight from Everquest and each of which can be levelled up to 65.

As is with Everquest, you need to be in a team if you are going to survive. I recommend at least 6. There are plenty of Diablo-style mods out there if the
'one man army' thing is your cup of tea, but don't even try to do that sort of thing here.

As the author of VQuest I thought I'd start an 'official' thread containing update information and such towards the next version - as I've noticed others seem to do with their own maps. Any suggestions and/or comments you might have, feel free to voice them in here. Constructively, of course. Alternatively if you wish to do so in private I can be reached at [email protected].

At time of writing the current release version of VQuest is v1.4. It can be downloaded from either of the two locations below:

http://maps.worldofwar.net/maps.php?id=5487
http://www.wc3sear.ch/index.php?p=Maps&ID=704

If all goes well I should be able to release v1.5 this coming weekend. I will soon post again here with a list of the changes that have been made.

Well, glad to see you Venturai. I've played VQuest several times, and several times with you if I remember right. I'm just a little curious about something. I've seen two different versions of VQuest floating around. One is supposed to be a higher version than the other. The problem with this is both of them use the same title picture, displaying the same version and image, so when users try and create a game, they have trouble picking the correct version. I hope that in future updates the image displays the correct version.

Thanks for posting.

When I first did VQuest I chose not to protect the map because I wanted to inspire more Everquest-themed stuff for Warcraft 3. The thought of other people taking what I'd done and improving on it excited me.

Of course in hindsight I should have made this clear, but a couple of fellas chose to release their own versions of VQuest without really changing things like that. Instead of naming it "HexenLordX's VQuest v1.0" on the loading screen, or something like that, they continued in such a way that it made it look like an official, proper version of the mod. I really didn't see this coming. There's now a VQuest v1.7 out there, even a VQuest v2.0... and to think I'm still working on v1.5.

When I released v1.4 I added in the aforementioned map protection, so that the map cannot really be modified, and I added in the title that its the "official" version, but still, I don't think its made a lot of difference. I can only really do the same with v1.5, which will be out shortly, and hope that it helps to alleviate some of these problems. I guess in a way I got what I wanted, and I'm still glad I was able to inspire others to improve on what I'd done. Its just a shame it sorta turned out like it did :(

Yeah, that clears up a lot of questions I had about this map. I was under the impression that you protected your maps to keep you as the only creator of the VQuest maps. I was a little suspicious of why you were just around to releasing 1.5 when I've seen later versions out for download. Thanks, that clears up a lot of my questions.

Btw, it is a shame it turned out the way it did, if everything turned out the way people wanted it to, map protecting would be nearly obsolete. Your case is a perfect example of why map protection was invented, not only to keep others from stealing credit, but from modifying your maps under your name in a way you may not desire. Sorry for the trouble.

Yeah before this all happened I would have been very much against map protection. It used to shit me loading up someone elses map in the editor just to get that error message. And I wasn't about to steal anyone else's work, or anything like that... it was just to learn how something was done.

I can understand it now though, but it is a shame. Perhaps if I'd stated if people were to modify it they were to name it an unofficial modification, but like I said before, I didn't see it coming. Oh well, shit happens, as they say.

When v1.5 comes out, if anyone here wants to play, I'll definitely be up for a few games. It's hard finding people to play with, I haven't had very much luck atall on bnet. If anyone wants to, let me know. I'll play any class :)

One last thing. I haven't looked much at the changes between your official releases and other releases, so I'm not sure of the changes made. But... I was just wondering if there was any changes you seen in other released version that you liked, and may be implementing into your next version. The reason for me asking is: people may have taken your original map and edited it, and added in features that many users like very well and wish to see in newer versions of the map. If you release another official release, people may have trouble deciding which version to play because of the variation in features, and another version may have many more custom features than your own. So I was wondering if you may be implementing features that you liked from other versions into your own.

For example: there are other several other versions of VQuest up for download. One or two of them have added characters to choose from, and many people out there really like these new units to choose from. If your version uses the original units, others may still enjoy the new features in your newest version, but play the other becuase it includes there favorite character. This may have thrown you off a little, but I hope you understand what I mean.

To be honest if I added other classes, I would do them myself from scratch. While I appreciated others adding new classes (and I certainly enjoyed trying them out), there were things about them I didn't quite think were up to par. Missing tooltips, vasty overpowered, that sort of thing. While you're actually the first to mention this, I must admit I've given the idea some thought.

If there's a particular class that you preferred playing, either bard, ranger, monk or beastlord, now would be a good time to say so. If you're going to, I'd appreciate a good explanation of why you preferred that class too, and any skills and abilities that you would like to see brought over. Obviously I'm going to balance their skills in-line with all the others, so depending on which you chose, they might not be quite as you remembered them...

*cough* maul effect *cough*

You're talking about the Beastlord's pet ability, right?

I've had a real good look at that class and you can bet I would be making SERIOUS modifications to it if I added it into the official version. The Beastlord is so WAY overpowered it's beyond a joke. And I thought the Monk was bad.

Be very afraid. If you like the Beastlord or Monk because they kick so much arse, you're probably better off sticking with that unofficial version of VQuest. And I haven't even looked at the Bard, Ranger or Rogue yet...

The new version v1.5 of VQuest has been released and is available right now at http://www.wc3sear.ch/index.php?p=Maps&ID=902

It will soon also be available at http://maps.worldofwar.net/maps.php?id=5487

Here's a list of what's new...

V1.5 UPDATES
------------

- Certain spells that the mobs cast were broken, and have been fixed.
- A modification to the way pets are summoned has been made to prevent problems from occuring. They should also now be removed properly from the game when the owner hero has been killed.
- Messages are now displayed in different colours. Green is for positive, red is for negative, etc. A new message has also been added (in yellow) for when experience is gained, and another (in blue) for when a player has chosen a class.
- Spellcasting sounds are now properly played in 3d, so spells cast from outside a character's range are no longer heard.
- Armour no longer absorbs quite as much damage as before. This has increased the difficulty of VQuest across the board.
- Rare spawns can now spawn in most zones in the game. Yes, they drop epic-level loot, but yes they are very much undercons. Approach with caution if you see one; they are designed to be taken out by a well-balanced group...
- A 'hero board' has been added to the game showing the class and level of the currently active characters. This can be hidden and reshown with the commands -hide and -show, respectively.
- Typing -help now opens up a window with a list of the commands available to use.


Feel free to post any suggestions/comments/bug reports etc to this thread. Enjoy!

v1.51 is about to be released, primarily to combat issues related to multiplayer exploits. The list of changes is as follows:

V1.51 UPDATES
-------------
- Fixed a couple of exploits related to the gaining of experience. Because of this, save codes are not compatible with v1.5.
- Items classed as belonging to someone else are not saved with your character. Items are classed as belonging to whoever -load's with them in on their character, aswell as those who -save with them in their inventory.
- Fixed problems reported with the hero board displaying incorrectly during various player configurations, and not updating for players who have left the game.
- Shared vision is now enabled. Will disable it for the next version if very many state they preferred it being off.
- If you become the only remaining player in a multiplayer game after someone leaves, the game will automatically generate a save code for your hero in 20 seconds. Please also see the point below...
- Successful generation of a character's save code now removes that character from the game, returning you to the class selection area with a new wisp.
- Save codes now remain on screen for 5 minutes.
- Fixed a bug with the Shadow Knight's Harm Touch ability.
- Units belonging to players that have just left the game are now removed from the map.

v1.53 is going to be released shortly. The changes have been made primarily to combat issues that have cropped up over bnet. I will update this message when it is available with the list of changes...

-----------------------------------------

V1.53 UPDATES
-------------
- Saving your character no longer removes them, returning you to the wisp selection area. It became obvious during a few long games that people may wish to save rather frequently.
- Made a number of changes to the Bash ability to combat issues brought up that it was not working at lower levels. While the chance to bash has been increased, a slight damage bonus is also now applied to successful bashes (which also increases at higher levels). Bash duration and cooldown remain the same for now. At this time I am not convinced that changes to the Warrior criticals ability need to be made.
- You can now no longer mesmerise fellow heroes (!!)
- Neutral passive mobs (ie. those at Freeport) should now be hit by the Wizard AE spells if in range.
- Players can no longer give gold to one another.
- The return rate you get on selling items has been lowered.
- Items you load in with on your character CANNOT be sold to the shops.
- The level 21 Skeletal sorcerer's nuke has been downgraded.

** Special thanks go to Darkwyrm on USWest for his assistance with identifying some of the problems that have cropped up. **

V1.52 UPDATES
-------------
- Fixed a nasty bug introduced into the load code in v1.51 where only one item in your inventory was being restored. Characters you have saved with more than one item should find they are loading up with all items intact in v1.52+


v1.53 is already available here:
http://www.wc3sear.ch/index.php?p=Maps&ID=902

Enjoy!