What is the '#'?

[mfau]

Couldn't find it answered in any of the FAQs; I was wondering what the '#' in front of a mob's name means (in the spawn window)? Seems to screw up the filters, unfortunately.

[high_jeeves]

Its the name the server is actually sending to the client... generally they use the '#' to denote something of interest to them... hidden timers, rare mobs... sometimes for seemingly no particular reason...

--Jeeves

[Zaphod]

mfau, the '#' at the beginning of spawn names, like high_jeeves mentioned, seems to be a way of indicating that something is of interest to them (wouldn't be suprised if it just makes it appear earlier in some combobox or listview in their zone editor ;)). The '#' will only cause a problem for filters iff it is used as the 1'st character of a line, just use the following form of filter command and it should work:

Name:#funky mob name here

or if that doesn't work:


Name:[^:]*funky mob name without hash character[^:]*:


This basically matches the Name field of the filter string, followed by a colon, and then 0 or more non-colons, followed by your mob name, followed 0 or more non-colons, followed by a colon. Read the filters.conf.dist file for more details of the different fields of the filter string.

Enjoy,
Zaphod (dohpaZ)

[Pigeon]

I *think* the hash mark denotes that a second identical mob will not spawn anywhere else in the zone. For instance, in GD, Shardtooth will always show up as #Shardtooth in SEQ, and you will never have 2 shardtooth's up at the same time. Same with the drakkal blood wolf and a few other GD mobs, and the named kobolds in Velks. (remember RM in the GM quests last october?)

However, there are some static spawns that are hashed- you wouldn't ever have more than one mob up at the same time regardless, because there is only a single spawn point. In these cases, it's probably just to denote that yes, it's a special mob that verant pays attention to.

[Morannon]

I think its pretty random.

In ssra temple, one of the commanders is 'Commander' the other is '#Commander'.

Both can spawn in multiple places, but you can only have one of each up.

[Mr Guy]

I have NOT seen a SINGLE instance where the # does either A) indicate a place holder, or B) occur in a zone where there is a yet undiscovered PH cycle (ie South Ro, ToFS for Tsarrina, South Karana).


My thought is that they add spawns out of a database, with various power ranges. Perhaps saying:

Zone X:MOBNAME:Classes Possible:Level Range:Loot table ID lookup

Then, to add spawn cycles they need a NEW mob with the same name, but their table structure doesn't allow for it, so instead they add mobs with the same table entry EXCEPT they add a # to make the line unique. The client simply filters the # and suddenly it looks the same to the player.

If you are looking for a rare mob in a busy zone filter on [#] and see what blinks at you, or sort alphabetically and start popping off mobs. Works well...

Hmm now I'm going to have to go to South Karana and South Ro and see what flashes at me. Maybe we'll get the Quill thing nailed down after all...

*Edit* Yes, I know PH's don't always have the #, but near as I can tell, PH's that HAVE THE SAME NAME as other mobs in the same zone always seem to.

[high_jeeves]

I think we're speculating a bit far with this one.. run around luclin sometimes... half of some of the zones have # in front of them.. i'm pretty sure i've seen duplicates as well (not 100% sure on that tho).. sometimes timers have them, sometimes the unusual named invis mobs (tom, bob, etc)...

--Jeeves

[Mr Guy]

Actually, I made that speculation IN the Luclin zones then tested against the old world and it seemed to pan out.

Luclin zones try to be dynamic by making HEAVY use of timer mobs, that's why there are so many invisible mobs. Most zones also have 20 or so traps, many of which have #. And a trap is just an invisible PH that despawns to trigger the spawn.

[pinzmon]

The Keyholders in Tower of Frozen Shadow always have the '#' in the name.

[Mr. Suspicious]

Well, just went through Kael and each and every guard had a "#" in front of their name, and I mean Everyone of them.

[linux_user_01]

Specificly the Kromzek guards around the bank are all place holders for the ones that can drop Thurg quest armour (Lieutenants) so that may be why they have #s.

[Mr Guy]

I think you are all missing the beauty of my theory. Its true power and glory are only realized when you understand the full scape of the claim!

Not only is it completely untestable, it appeals to you humanity, and your strong desire for it to be true! With my theory you can control your destiny and force the odds to your whim! Should it not work, that doesn't refute the theory, it simply means there is a longer spawn time on that particular mob, or the PH cycle is longer than anticipated; the theory holds! I think I have fairly effectively established a theory that CAN be demonstrated to be true (specifically in places where it is ALREADY known to be true), and yet CANNOT be disproven with counter examples.

The only way to disprove it is to get official Verant word, and I doubt that's likely.

[high_jeeves]

It works for everything EXCEPT an actual reason from their end. Why would they mark PH with a # infront of their name? I'm sure its not actionable (IE the server doesnt actually check for the # when its doing to spawning). It is just to bring them to the top of the list for some reason. Would they ONLY, specifically bring PH to the top of their list? Or would they use if for just about anything they wanted to bring to the top of their list?

--Jeeves

[sauron]

Possibly, the '#' represents that there is cookie associated with the MOB. Take the Broodmother in GD. She has a '#' in front of her name. Now when she was messed up a month or 2 ago, she had a '!' in front instead, which means she was broken.

I ooc'ed to the zone asking if broodmother quest was fixed, and the guy said -- "Nope, she has a '!' in front of her name. this means no nookie for your cookie".

[FuddRucker]

"!" is to tell players that the mob has been "Perma killed" by a GM due to a bug until the EQ Live team has a chance to check out the problem and find a fix for it.

YOu can kill the mob if you want and give the mob stuff, but you won't get anything from it.

The # I can only guess is for some development purpose. Since Verant filters out the # in the client. We've all seen what It does in ToFS, but it doesn't seem to mean the same thing from zone to zone. No idea why they do it, and I have no idea why they don't remove it either. (logic behind some kind of cookie makes sense I guess)

[Mr Guy]

I've already given a potential reason on their end: They designed their database structure poorly.


A second reason could be they want those mobs to show up on the top of THEIR ShowEQ client, too. (Even if they throw in a few to distract us, they know what they are looking for, so it's easier to see whether it's up if it's at the top of the list.)

Third reason: Debugging.
Programmer Joe says, is that spawn cycle working?
Tester Janet says, hmm
/kill #.* waits for pops.
/kill #.* Hmmmmm How many rounds should it take?
Programmer Joe says, Enough to drive them insane.
Tester Janet says, hmmm
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
/kill #.*
Pop
Tester Janet says, Yep, it's working.



PS The Lone gunmen aren't really dead, it just LOOKS that way.

[RSB]

The #'s where added when Kunark came out.
The old world was not retrofited with them.
When it first came out is did mess up SEQ.

On a similar note. Why does the spawn list have 2 orderings?
Even if the mobs don't have #'s infront of them all the interesting/unique mobs (not all but 99%) float to the top when sorted by name even though there are groups of mobs with names that should show before them.

NRo now has a mob named "Trees have no need for money" or something like that now 8)

[clh01]

I'm going to agree with Pigeon till I see someone post the zone and mob names of where multiple #?'s are up,
my main reason for this is, yes, I noticed that every damn guard in kael has one.. yet they spawn randomly.. yet there's never two of the same name :)
Mr Guy's idea has some good ground too though