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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Leash Length of NPC's
Myboyfriend
Member, Alpha Two
In my experience of leash length variations in the MMORPG World of Warcraft, I discovered that I enjoyed a long and very long leash range to NPC's over a medium, and even more so over a short one. For immersion, it felt more realistic when an NPC was engaged and you couldn't remove the threat just by running a medium or even short distance. This increased, for me, the difficulty, the threat, and the respect I had over NPC's. This also opened up the challenges and/or opportunities to kite mobs in, what were for me at times, a rewarding and skill challenging kite game (memories of being a hunter in the first installment of World of Warcraft flash in my mind as I write that). Also, with long, or no leash distances at all, getting somewhere was more of an achievement as you'd have to work to get there, and not just cheese the experience by running past NPC's, the NPC's holding minute obstacle to your goal (how to make an NPC almost irrelevant?) and seemed to be, for me, another factor of the gaming experience that supported fast food like gaming experiences. What are your thoughts on the matter?
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Comments
And exciting! haha!
Steven Sharif is my James Halliday (Anorak)
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
-HPL
That made it possible to gather the mobs of an entire dungoun in a singel spot if you were good at it.
Usally in combo with AoE classes to get massive exp.
Would be nice if they did this in AoC as Well.
Not chasing over the entire world but all the way to the border between zones.
It would also pretty cool if mobs don't just go invulnerable upon reaching leash length but rather attack the person with the second most aggro atm.
If there is no player to hold the aggro, them the mob resets and gets insta full health while running back towards its spawn.
If it gets attacked while running back, then we are back to square 1 and it keeps chasing the attacker until death or end of zone.
The person who left leash length resets his/her own contribution on the mob.
So no loot or exp even if the mob was at 10%
If someone runs all the way to leash length then they should not get anything in return.
Just to counter the players who would cheese the system.
So probably not unlimited, perhaps not zone wide, but I could get behind some 200 to 300 "meter" leash distances. A concern to have with this is someone being able to leash powerful mobs that have mechanics that kill off any lowbies who wander too close.
Dont path into mobs then hehe.
I started a thread about this couple years ago. Personally I would like to see a random 30% that has no leash at all.
I agree it makes the world more dangerous and meaningful vs just running through stuff knowing in ten steps it will go back where it was.
You cant expect to traverse the map ignoring mobs.
This is why I dislike most mmos and their mounts these past 10 years.
Where is the adventure when combat engagement becomes optional?
I don't expect to traverse the map ignoring mobs. Don't recall ever typing that...
But similarly, I shouldn't expect a mob to chase me across the entire map if I'm running out ahead of it.
Also messing with monster pathing over long pathing routes while a ranged attacker is firing away the entire time as the mob runs up and down stairs to get at you also is somewhat game breaking.
Yea it is a little immersion breaking to have mobs give up after X meters every time, but this is a computer game and not real. Game design and mechanics can't truly emulate realistic behaviors for "threat" ranges. Finding that sweat spot of not too short and not too long depending on the mob and area will be tough and not everyone will ever be please.
I talked about how in this video Steven comments on how the underworld mobs leashes are long and he sounded surprised. Nah @StevenSharif , you step into the wrong neighborhood you gots to learn a lesson.
I can't tell you how much I hate doing PVE with people and they are yelling at me "just run through them Waffles! They dont mean anything..." But they should matter.
Lastly, my fondest memories in L2 is seeing people bite off more then they could chew and they runnin' past with 1% health, mobs in tow, screaming for help
(actual footage of what AoC should feel like)
Sir, what is this insanity that you speak of?!
Steven Sharif is my James Halliday (Anorak)
“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”
-HPL
I would like to see fauna have a more aggressive stance when defending their young, but their young being the leash “tether” that keeps them in check. Kill the young? No more leash.
Also, I hope there is some thought into more than just a turn on a dime and “forget about you” sort of leash. It would be nice to have some sort of pause, hold their ground and maybe even taunt before turning back to their “starting point.” Guards could jeer or laugh, and animals might make some sort of display or call of victory.
Additionally, if you keep aggroing the same mob(s), maybe there is a 3 strike system where the leash length increases each time until strike 3 = no leash.
That sort of dynamic immersion would really hold my interest.
How about creatures that focus on scent or hearing? I like the idea of an active “tracking” range that if you can escape that bubble, the aggro is lost. Or maybe certain mobs switch from “pursuit” mode to “hunt” mode if you evade them... that keeps them active in the vicinity for a period of time before they give up and leash back.
Ultimately, it should probably work by level: If you're level 50 and running through a level 10 zone, it feels like you're probably okay to run through it and lose aggro a small distance away - instead of having to slaughter several groups. In contrast, you probably should NOT be able to run through a max-level area with complete impunity to the enemies' aggro.
It's a tricky subject. Not the highest priority on my list, but it'd nonetheless to know what approach(es) Intrepid is planning, for this.
I think this is exploitable for the same reasons that people have previously mentioned: leading infinite mobs through a choke point somewhere on the map. You could have one team pulling mobs, and another team AOEing a choke point.
1) Get tired/bored of chasing after so long (depending on its type)
2) Stop at its territorial boundaries (depending on its type)
3) Get distracted by other "interesting" mobs/npcs/players
4) Lose track of its prey for a certain amount of time (depending on its type could be sense of smell, site, hearing. A person downwind would be very hard to follow by smell, a person hiding would be hard to follow by site, a person being totally still would be hard to follow by sound)
With different types of ways to lose a mob would create many different fun scenarios for the player and make evading a knowledge based skill. The distraction and tired/boredom will hinder kiting into bottlenecks, and they can add a "fear" factor to keep the mob from willingly rushing into a crowded area.