10-02-2003, 09:14 PM
Quote:The countess chest doesn't seem any better in its drops than what is already lying around on the level (chests, raw gold) so this doesn't seem like an "exploit" to pay any attention to.
The countess chest uses the same TC and ilvl as the rest of the containers and gold piles on the level, so I would not expect a lot of difference. In fact the other random chests might be a little better in that you can get your gf% and mf% on them when you open them. You are not actually opening the chest, it is triggered as a part of the quest code. The drop is some preset potions several piles of gold an some number of cycles through dropping the chest TC for the area. This can be very apparent if you mod the TC for the area to have a NoDrop=0 and 1 item drop of say r03 (Tir Rune).
From my experience the chest fountain will account for about 40% of the items and gold that can be obtained from that level. Nice if you get it and are wanting the gold (most items are not worth more than selling for more gold if that); and no great loss if you do not get it.
The requirements to get the drop are that the character that made the game has not completed the countess quest. They need not be in act 1 or even in the game at the time of the countess being killed to get the fountain. I have been aware of this for quite some time as I could regularly count on seeing the fountain when doing rune runs in a game that I knew had been created by one of the all too numerous rushees that currently exist on the realms. To my knowledge this aspect of the countess quest has been in place and unchanged from one of the earliest versions of the game (v1.00?). It is just that prior to the mass rushings and the countess being given a TC that was doing runs for, not many would have really noticed it.
Quote:It isn't necessary for the countess runner (who, of course, has done the countess before) to be partied with an eligible player.This is highly preferable that they not be partied in case where you are having one of your mules to make the game. Then you will be able to get the extra gold for gambling time and again. B)
As for the rest of the disscussion, i am not sure what you are trying to get at. It sounds like a minor rehash of the character save file information. And how the game uses the creating character as the templet model for setting up the games quest data structure.
http://phrozenkeep.it-point.com/forum/view...opic.php?t=9011
You can skim the technical details, but you will probably want to check a couple of the links for what they list about what is saved with the character (WPs, Quest statuses, etc.).