Hello!
>Time for a new topic. One of the most lamentable losses for the Minstrel
>Bard is the lack of an effective way to "sing". Many people like to spam
>using socials (as a cheap way to learn languages), but there is truly no
>efficient way to do this with songs. So, currently, we Minstrels are stuck
>with hand-typing if we want to sing, and it's just not all that effective.
From the perspective of a bard who has perhaps sang more than any other in
Norrath (probably more than twenty hours real time doing concerts and
songs), let me tell you that I have been feedbacking a request for
something like this for a LONG time (since P3). Granted, there is limited
utility for this, in that it only helps those who RP mostly, and after that
fact, a /sing command would only help RPers who play bards.
Leading The Soerbaird, I've witnessed many others struggle through this
process, and I can honestly say it is only our passion from barding that
keeps our hands attached to our wrists sometimes. (After a hour-long
concert, let me give you a NEW definition of cramp!)
After MUCH thought on this dilemma, I have come to a couple of conclusions:
1) I like the process being somewhat manual. Typing each line does a couple
of things: it helps to simulate some of the difficulties of live
performance (typos as missed notes) and keeps every kewldood and their
brother from spamming us with Marilyn Manson lyrics.
2) If we're going to solicit a command from Verant, we need to do something
that benefits more than just a niche of bards. My proposal (which I
feedback nearly daily now) is that a new chat command box be added to the
chat command window (where you select languages and such). This new command
would be an emote verb, and would work kind of like the /tell does there
now. Here's how it works: in the box you would type a verb (sings, mutters,
whispers, muses, etc...) and then, you could check a box next to it to turn
it on. Then, when using normal speech, rather than 'says' you would see the
verb you entered. For example, I type 'sings' in the box. Then I type 'Mary
had a little lamb', just like I would normally say that to you. What you
see is...
Jythri sings, 'Mary had a little lamb'
This allows the singer to focus on the core text, without having to type
'/em sings, ''. That gets old very quickly.
As far as the script idea goes, it bears some consideration. Coming from a
MUD background I found myself almost debilitated by the lack of a good
macro or scripting system. ( I used to have no less than 100 emotes queued
up to keyboard shortcuts to help with RPing my characters. Just call me the
PuppetMaster.) But like I said earlier, for barding, I really like the
manual input. Hehe. I have to be able to sing on the spot? How else would I
sufficiently taunt dwarves? *grins*
Welcoming your feedbac...
Jythri, Pencerdd of The Soerbaird
http://www.soerbaird.com