How does the tracking window work?

[Ooloo]

Originally Posted by mcoy [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

2. The tracking window is actively tracking everything in the area (radius) you "pinged" when you used the skill. It only updates with new spawns (or new area) when you re-use the skill.

Right, so if the server is just constantly sending out a signal of whether a mob is dead or not within a specific area, why doesn't it also insert newly spawned mobs who appeared within that same area? It's constantly checking, so why can it only depopulate the list?

Also why can you continue to get tracking updates on a target you began tracking even if you've moved way outside of your trackable range, as long as you don't re-engage the tracking skill? You can get tracking updates every tick all day long even as the target moves in and out of your range.

I mean I know there's tons of stuff in original eq that is crappily designed, but the tracking skill just seems like such a simple thing to implement coding wise.

[PabloEdvardo]

Originally Posted by Ooloo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Right, so if the server is just constantly sending out a signal of whether a mob is dead or not within a specific area, why doesn't it also insert newly spawned mobs who appeared within that same area? It's constantly checking, so why can it only depopulate the list?

Also why can you continue to get tracking updates on a target you began tracking even if you've moved way outside of your trackable range, as long as you don't re-engage the tracking skill? You can get tracking updates every tick all day long even as the target moves in and out of your range.

I mean I know there's tons of stuff in original eq that is crappily designed, but the tracking skill just seems like such a simple thing to implement coding wise.

Likely for the same reason that sense heading was eventually replaced with the compass. Skilling up tracking required hitting the button, so the results you got in your track button were based on your current skill at the time. If it was automatically firing all the time then it would also need to automatically skill up, which didn't align with the early design of the game.

We already know because of cheat programs that the client is already aware of all the spawns in the zone at all times, so it wasn't like they didn't have the information available -- it was a design decision.