needToZone() vs localVar for zone tracking

[claywar]

After reviewing some code recently, there's a lot of cases where a persistent and generic needToZone() function could potentially trigger cutscenes for other quests unintentionally.

From what I understand, there are some cases where a player must physically zone, as opposed to logging out, and this is the only case where this function has a benefit. The question is, is it worth it to keep using this, when the tradeoff is errant messages from other NPCs?

I would suggest we deprecate needToZone() in favor of localVars, until such point that it becomes necessary to implement a different solution. In this case, we'd have every item using it clearly marked with a specific local, making conversion relatively painless.

EDIT: Wren brought this up before, and I shot it down. Old me was dumb.

[Era-Lusiphur]

Bomb the living bejeebers out of needToZone().

[claywar]

I would suggest we adhere to a common format for these locals though, and potentially add it to interaction as well, something like
Quest[X][XX]needToZone and create a function to set/check from scripts

[TeoTwawki]

extant discussion on same subject: #141