Request - Entropy!

[RYN227]

As most of you know, I like automation more than EQ at this point and I consider spending hours tinkering with configs as big a part of this hobby as the game itself. I added Entropy to my list of automation tools a month or two ago (sometime in early May?) and quickly became a very big fan. Exspes and team do great work, its an incredible system. Although it takes a good while to get used to the system and the learning curve is a little bit steeper in spots than other systems, the power and flexibility it provides you is amazing. I'd say that's the biggest selling point for me personally, flexibility. Once you get used to the system and where to find everything you need, then you can start to put together some pretty awesome configs and dial in your crew's performance. I am currently working Engine 2 configs and trying to get the most out of my crews performance. There's also some nice randomization options in there too if you worry about that sort of thing as I do, especially in the current climate where one might want to be as low key as possible. But since I would wager that the only people who will read this post are already interested in Entropy, y'all probably knew all that already lol.

eqplayer16 recently put together a pretty nice startup guide to help people get on their feet with the system. I was excited to see something like that on our forums. Entropy has its own discord where one can get quick help where Exspes has rewritten a line or two in the macro here and there to fix issues for people on the spot. Having a discord is really helpful for quick answers/fixes like that. Obviously, the problem with discord is things disappear into chat history as it is a dynamic thing. Sometimes its nice to casually browse through a forum or post something you just figured out that others might find useful. Its nice to just have a conversation about something and trade tips and experiences. I spend a lot of time reading older posts in forums to find hidden gems that I can roll into my configs, I can't do that for Entropy.

Exspes has his own site, wiki, and discord BUT would/could Exspes and Redbot provide a forum here for us to use? Maybe someday a resource section to share exported classes? It doesn't even have to be official or put Exspes on the hook to answer threads personally here unless he wants to, just a place for Entropy users on RG to hang out and discuss, help each other, or whatever. There was some word a while ago that perhaps someday that Entropy would have a presence at RG, any updates on that? A lot of really smart people here use Entropy, I am eager to get their input/suggestions on a whole array of Entropy topics I'd also be eager to share my own experiences and have great discussions that I can read and participate in a forum that we can all browse when convenient.

Thoughts?

 

[Eltai86]

I’d be in support of this. Things like how people attack different tagging attributes etc would be nice. Search on discord is workable and exspes/others are usually fairly quick to respond. I know core had one here but it was mostly a dead space.

 

[Many_Whelps]

There was one for Core already. No one used it so it went away. Discord is their thing, so yeah.

 

[eqplayer16]

Hoping we get a version of MQNext for Test soon so that I can try running entropy on my level 60 raid.

It would be nice to see a forum section, or maybe even just a tag for entropy posts. I don't think it would be super active though. Maybe we just need to start threads in the Macros section until there gets to be enough that they warrant their own area. I haven't been using it much since making that noob group since active development is only happening on MQNext now. Definitely plan to jump back in once I can use it on Test

 

[RYN227]

Maybe you guys are right and a forum wouldn't be the most popular. I feel like Entropy has an intermediate MQ knowledge prerequisite to get started so there wouldn't be a lot of random questions/banter like you see in other system's forums, just really targeted specific questions that need really specific targeted answers as most people who use it mostly know what they are doing in the first place. Its not usually a question of what I need to do but how to do it with Entropy. The Entropy discord goes like that, you don't see a lot of MQ 101 questions asked. My goal was more for Entropy enthusiasts to discuss and share knowledge, tips, and such. I definitely didn't envision a support forum where people get upset or demand features be added and Exspes feels obligated to answer every post. Yeah, you are probably right, nobody wants that.

Maybe my request is self serving, I often come up with theoretical scenarios and questions that are better suited for forum discussion instead of live discord. I also find value in reading others posts, questions, and issues as I learn things myself. So I like the idea of an Entropy tag and we just post in Macro Mania. If that becomes a thing then more people will participate in Entropy discussion.

 

[Branson24]

Maybe you guys are right and a forum wouldn't be the most popular. I feel like Entropy has an intermediate MQ knowledge prerequisite to get started so there wouldn't be a lot of random questions/banter like you see in other system's forums, just really targeted specific questions that need really specific targeted answers as most people who use it mostly know what they are doing in the first place. Its not usually a question of what I need to do but how to do it with Entropy. The Entropy discord goes like that, you don't see a lot of MQ 101 questions asked. My goal was more for Entropy enthusiasts to discuss and share knowledge, tips, and such. I definitely didn't envision a support forum where people get upset or demand features be added and Exspes feels obligated to answer every post. Yeah, you are probably right, nobody wants that.

Maybe my request is self serving, I often come up with theoretical scenarios and questions that are better suited for forum discussion instead of live discord. I also find value in reading others posts, questions, and issues as I learn things myself. So I like the idea of an Entropy tag and we just post in Macro Mania. If that becomes a thing then more people will participate in Entropy discussion.

I’m still a basic KA user without a clue about entropy but I really like your thoughtfulness on the subject. Your posts were good reading

 

[RYN227]

Thank you, I am glad you got something out of the posts!

I’m still a basic KA user without a clue about entropy

For me, I started with RGMercs, then I bought some CWTN plugins, then I tried KissAssist, then MuleAssist... I went back and played with RGMercs custom classmodes, then I was invited to try the MuleAssist Beta, then I discovered Entropy. It was all about getting on my feet with MQ at first. My only need at the time was being able to play more than one character successfully instead of Alt + Tab boxing. RGMercs did this for me and it is a great MQ entry point to accomplish the initial goal of playing a group of characters at once but also for teaching you the fundamentals of MQ. I know everyone looks at it as an out of the box, easy, low maintenance system but its a really well written, high performance system and if you want to spend the time, you can create custom classmodes and rotations to make your group do what you want the way you want it, you can add conditions in there as well. Morisato has been a huge help to me with understanding how to do that. As I learned more and became more comfortable, needs started to emerge. I wanted my characters to perform a certain way or do things the way I wanted to do them and sometimes the system I was using at that moment didn't do what I wanted or maybe it did but not how I wanted it. This led to other systems. I found that I liked the automation aspect of the hobby too and I have just as much fun researching/testing conditions or creating ini files and configs as I do playing the game. I realize that I might be in the minority with that, a lot of people just want to play EQ.

Fast forward a bit and I still dabble in all the systems but I use MuleAssist Beta and Entropy most of all. I really like working on those system configurations and optimizing my groups around them. They are both quality systems and both Lemons and Exspes are super helpful whenever I need something, I appreciate their support. Entropy allows you to customize just about everything you'd ever want to customize about how your characters play, its awesome. Want to dictate what order your character checks for things or what they do in downtime versus combat? You can do that. The healing macro is pretty rad as well. I especially love the tagging system where I enter a condition once, it goes into a shared database, and I can call that tag from all of my characters. No need to keep entering the same condition repeatedly. Entropy is designed to be run as a crew with all of your characters using it. I'd recommend it to everyone.

 

[Knightly]

I enjoy the tinkering aspect as well, it’s nice to have several hobbies rolled up into one. For some, that’s a chore, but I’m in the same camp as you: I enjoy it.

 

[Sum1]

I enjoy the tinkering aspect as well, it’s nice to have several hobbies rolled up into one. For some, that’s a chore, but I’m in the same camp as you: I enjoy it.

You think Entropy would be a better mechanism to use for boxing large numbers of toons for raids? Since I know you do this with a custom mac, I'm curious what your thoughts are about Entropy doing something similar.

 

[Knightly]

I don't generally box more than 6 characters, but entropy is what I mostly use. I like to try out other stuff too though, just to see how everything works.

 

[exspes007]

Every now and then the discord channel gets its share of 101 questions, but it's not too common.

Core never took off too well here. Could have been for any number of reasons. DB driven systems tend to turn people off a bit I suppose. And Entropy really is nothing like any of the other macros.

I've spoken with RedBot about a little corner here. Nothings ever come ov that either. And that's fine. I'm not sure I'd be able to keep up with it all and maintain my sanity.

As for the question about boxing questions on raids. I start from the raid level and work my way back. I've been raiding in EQ as long as there have been raids and normally raid 3-4 times a week on Live. So, yah its meant for raids. I also run a 6 to 11 man team regularly.

 

[Eltai86]

I've been tinkering with entropy mostly at the look of mass box raids. CWTN plugins don't allow a lot of the tweaking I may want to do, kissassist is a slow mf in comparison, so been working on learning entropy. Next options just custom coding my entire own scripts for everything which to put it mildly is a long term project either way.

 

[RYN227]

If you want total control then check out Engine 2 in Entropy: Engines - Entropy (exspes.com)

Maybe even Engine 3 if you want to write it all yourself.