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Increasing Risk v. Reward in PvE low-level grinding.

PenguinosPenguinos Member, Alpha Two
in General Discussion
This mirrors a much older post that I read, but I didn't see my solution in there. So I made a new post rather than necroing the old post!

An example of the title:
Say that you're level 10, and you want to level up. Depending on your skill, you may be able to use CC on a large group of enemies, killing them one by one or simultaneously.

By the road, you have groups of 1-2 enemies, maybe three max.
Slightly further in might be an encampment. There would spawn a group of 8-9 mobs, whose AI tells them to surround the player. A newbie, even if they knew about the spot, likely wouldn't be able to time CCs and kill the mobs one by one. A veteran player, on the other hand, would have the skill to grind 3-4x as efficiently as the noobs by the road.

In both examples, the levels of mobs would be the same. The difference is just in the difficulty of the mobs.

Comments

  • PenguinosPenguinos Member, Alpha Two
    Regarding node progression affecting this, as a node would progress to a higher level, these encampments would send out groups of 4-5 mobs to the road maybe once an hour or so. These would be the same level as before the node advanced.

    However, the mobs in the encampments themselves would be of a higher level. This allows for, using the above example, level 10 groups of mobs attacking players by the road, while level 20 mobs are in the original encampment.

    For people to be able to find the encampments easier, the group of mobs attacking the road wouldn't just spawn on the road. They would actually travel to the road.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    That's what quests are for.
  • PenguinosPenguinos Member, Alpha Two
    Well, quests are more of an event-like occurrence. I believe that a quest could lead someone to this place, but that the location would still spawn mobs in the same way even when a quest isn't activated.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    The mechanical purpose of quests in MMORPGs (the non-lore purpose) is to speed up leveling so it's not just a grind of killing one mob at a time.
  • PenguinosPenguinos Member, Alpha Two
    There should be multiple avenues of leveling up imo. Strictly PvE leveling as well as quest-oriented leveling. They should both be viable for those who want to stay in one place grinding for an hour or so.
  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I mean most things give you exp but quests would be the most efficient in the early game
    nJ0vUSm.gif

    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • PenguinosPenguinos Member, Alpha Two
    Should they be? I definitely think that it should be difficult, but viable to get to max level without questing. Maybe 1.5x the amount of time sink?
  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Penguinos wrote: »
    Should they be? I definitely think that it should be difficult, but viable to get to max level without questing. Maybe 1.5x the amount of time sink?

    well we do learn form every action why should it be different in game?
    nJ0vUSm.gif

    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited November 2020
    In EQ2 and WoW, I can get to max level just exploring and harvesting.
    In Shadowlands, I gained a couple levels just with xp from exploring.
    Questing is just faster.
  • CaerylCaeryl Member, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Penguinos wrote: »
    Should they be? I definitely think that it should be difficult, but viable to get to max level without questing. Maybe 1.5x the amount of time sink?

    Given that the Intrepid team holds their lore in high regard (to the point they claim they won’t share it early out of fear of spoiling it), I can’t see them making questing entirely optional. Quests tend to be the easiest way of spreading basic lore information throughout the whole playerbase, while exp grinding is at its core purely meta gaming.
  • AtamaAtama Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Penguinos wrote: »
    Should they be? I definitely think that it should be difficult, but viable to get to max level without questing. Maybe 1.5x the amount of time sink?
    As long as you can get XP outside of questing it will be "viable". But it will probably suck.

    I guess it depends on what you mean by "viable". If you mean that it will be just as good as questing, then I'm sure that's a no. If you mean it's possible to get to max level, then that'll be a yes. It probably won't be anywhere near what you get from questing though.
     
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  • PenguinosPenguinos Member, Alpha Two
    Atama wrote: »
    Penguinos wrote: »
    Should they be? I definitely think that it should be difficult, but viable to get to max level without questing. Maybe 1.5x the amount of time sink?
    As long as you can get XP outside of questing it will be "viable". But it will probably suck.

    I guess it depends on what you mean by "viable". If you mean that it will be just as good as questing, then I'm sure that's a no. If you mean it's possible to get to max level, then that'll be a yes. It probably won't be anywhere near what you get from questing though.

    Yeah, I meant 1.5x-2x as slow to be "viable but unadvisable".

    This proposition is for those who, when given a quest "kill 20 orcs", know that there is an outpost with 2 sets of 10 orcs and can complete the quest 2-3x as fast as noobs. This would require not only game knowledge, but also skill in CC.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Well, there's a whole lot of stuff to do in Ashes besides questing.
    And players will be creating a lot of the lore on each server.
    Progressing nodes and erecting buildings should also provide xp...
    But, we have adventurer xp, crafting xp and node xp to work with.
    And we also have various standings with social and religious organizations.
    It's not all just about adventurer xp.
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