This would be linked to this system that should be read first:
https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/47517/how-the-game-handles-loot-a-suggestion-and-personal-thoughts#latest
PvE should include risk and not reward, but the bigger the risk the higher the reward. My previous thread would give this, but this thread is about something else that would be linked to mobs being able to build a loot-table based on player interaction with it.
Big data often follows MMO's, and developers often look at it to balance things out, but what about adding procedural systems that does this on its own? AI systems that analyze big data from the entire game to evolve mobs and monsters.
Crafting is a big part of this game, and that means that players will run around gathering, harvesting, picking and chopping stuff down all over the place. What if the devs involve creatures that needs the same resources to survive them selves? Think of it as a mini node system, linked between resources and mobs.
Example:
Some creatures eats a specific type of flower or a bush to survive, and if players run around in his spawning area picking up and despawning all of that resource, then the creature needs to react, as they can't survive in the same area as the players if they pick his food all day long. They are removing his way of life, and after a while the AI system adjusts its aggro from "Neutral" to "Aggressive", attacking players on sight for that area only, on a specific server only.
1: A resource is farmed to a point it is despawned as fast as it is spawned in an area.
2. The mob that is linked to this resource gets adjusted by the AI "Big data" analyzer on the server to adjust its aggro range.
3. The resource is still being farmed, thus the mob gets adjusted to evolve another skill (call it area specific evolution).
4. The resource is still being farmed, meaning players have no problem dealing with them yet. This adjustment can trigger them to work better together. They attack in packs.
5. Still the same thing, and now a boss is spawned.
This type of evolution should not happen over a period of a day, so farming should still be possible for players, but the evolution could happen over a couple of days or a week, resulting in players having to move if they don't bring more and more players towards the same favorite spot. At the end, you need a small raid to deal with the problem before you have to leave it alone, and let the system "de-evolve" back again to its normal state.
Often in MMO's we find such spots that is easy to farm. Easy money grabs and exploits. Having a system to add risk where mobs gets bigger and bigger search radios for their Aggro, and bigger and bigger "leash" areas could make the world even more immersive and evolving. Players would be forced to travel and explore more for X resource, and with the PvE Loot table discussed in previous thread, the world would be even more dangerous and exciting.
Ideas on how Big Data can be analyzed and utilized is endless, and they've already implemented systems for this in other areas of the game. Tweaking aggro states, and "leash" stats plus spawn ratio and single/group spawns etc should not be that hard to implement imo. And this means that creature X in Y location may behave and act completely differently than in Z location. It may even have a charge skill to use, or something else - thus we the players would never be sure on creatures and how big of a threat they are, if they have been farmed for a while by another group a few days before etc.
If this is added to a dungeon, a farmed dungeon could evolve from day to day making it harder and harder for it to be farmed, stopping the benefits of guilds who have found exploits for it etc. as this is often a big problem in open world MMO's with free PvP. People will try to find the best way of farming, and advantages will come out of it. A counter argument is that mercenary guilds also often knows of the exploitable farm areas, or dungeons etc. But this could also be used to ruin a guilds day if you are at war against them. If you know they farm X location, then utilize the system and make mobs harder and bigger threats there, and return to your own farm-land to try and get an advantage. It would be a way of starving a guild, just like good old times where this was a medieval tactic.
