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World mobs - static with short reset distance?
Pvp player
Member
In the last Gameplay Update I noticed that the Tidebreaker mob had a very short reset distance, as in 25 meters or something?
I wonder if that's just because it's Pre-Alpha or a conscious design choice.
This has of course been the standard in many MMORPGs since their inception but I mean, technology has come a long way.
I would like to see some progress on this part - a more living world.
Here's some ideas that may or may not be viable. Just throwing it out there.
Dynamic reset and engagement distance
Aggressive animals and creatures chasing you for longer distances before they reset, from further away, compared to docile critters.
Varying speed between types of mobs
Many MMOs have a rather samey and slow chase speed for their world mobs, even though a cheetah is much faster than a crab.
Dynamic foraging behaviour
When they do reset, please don't let them just beeline to where they're supposed to "patrol" but for example have them pause, turn, look around and then do something, like sniff or dig for food (or stalk).
As it is (in most MMOs) they seem to just be in a hurry to do nothing again.
Migration
I'm not sure if there's supposed to be seasons but that would just be one reason for animals to be moving greater distances than their tiny 10 meter patrol circle.
Amphibious animals (like otters (Tidebreakers)) ought to move between water and land, in my humble opinion.
Herd/pack or solitary behaviour
Grazing animals tend to sit in one spot for a long time, then move. But roving predators are usually not so static (unless recently fed). Otters also live in rafts by the way
Mob interaction
All of the above naturally leads to random encounters between prey and hunter. This will definitely be a huge step in making the world seem more alive and immersive but might be asking for too much with current technology.
Even some of the above would greatly aid immersion. I apologise if this sentiment has been posted before.
I wonder if that's just because it's Pre-Alpha or a conscious design choice.
This has of course been the standard in many MMORPGs since their inception but I mean, technology has come a long way.
I would like to see some progress on this part - a more living world.
Here's some ideas that may or may not be viable. Just throwing it out there.
Dynamic reset and engagement distance
Aggressive animals and creatures chasing you for longer distances before they reset, from further away, compared to docile critters.
Varying speed between types of mobs
Many MMOs have a rather samey and slow chase speed for their world mobs, even though a cheetah is much faster than a crab.
Dynamic foraging behaviour
When they do reset, please don't let them just beeline to where they're supposed to "patrol" but for example have them pause, turn, look around and then do something, like sniff or dig for food (or stalk).
As it is (in most MMOs) they seem to just be in a hurry to do nothing again.
Migration
I'm not sure if there's supposed to be seasons but that would just be one reason for animals to be moving greater distances than their tiny 10 meter patrol circle.
Amphibious animals (like otters (Tidebreakers)) ought to move between water and land, in my humble opinion.
Herd/pack or solitary behaviour
Grazing animals tend to sit in one spot for a long time, then move. But roving predators are usually not so static (unless recently fed). Otters also live in rafts by the way
Mob interaction
All of the above naturally leads to random encounters between prey and hunter. This will definitely be a huge step in making the world seem more alive and immersive but might be asking for too much with current technology.
Even some of the above would greatly aid immersion. I apologise if this sentiment has been posted before.
4
Comments
Fight or flight
Some creatures should be wary of people and shy away when approached. They would try to flee when taking any damage. Predators on the other hand should have a long aggro range and seek potential preys. Once engaged they would not try to get away until seriously hurt. These behaviours could be on a scale within one type or even very different depending if the creature is alone or in a herd/pack.
Intelligent mob interaction
Intelligent NPCs should have a role inside their group. More than simply being a fighter, mage, healer or any other class. There should be spotters to alert of incoming enemies; a leader to boost moral and order changes in tactics (forcing those under his command to change target, move somewhere else or sound the retreat); runners to get reinforcement. Moral, individual courage or devotion could influence when a intelligent mob decide to flee.
Night time vs day time behaviours.
Mobs should have different behaviours during the day than during the night. Some more active and others slower to react, even the intelligent ones. It could give some Kithicor Forest* vibes to places, different ecosystems depending of the time of the day.
*Kithicor Forest was a zone in EverQuest that was low level during they day and spawned very high level undeads during the night. If you entered the zone during the night there were players of all levels sitting at the entrance waiting for the sun to come up before crossing the forest. 1 EQ day lasted 72 real minutes.
I'd prefer them to be alive too. A lot of wolves get killed here, they better migrate. Which means the Wolves would have under the hood tags, so that quest text can also change dynamically. Anything you can do to have people pay a little bit of attention I'd suppose.
Alternatively you can implement the above suggestions for non-quest related mobs only.
Yea, I proposed a solution in the same post you quoted. I really dislike quest markers too.
I heard spell with terrain and player collision is where it's at. This is, comparably, peanuts.
Most of the above suggestion rely almost completely on preprogrammed routes and whether they are 10 meters or 200 doesn't really matter that much. It's just A to B over a navmesh.
It only becomes resource heavy when there's mob interaction (such as a wolf attacking a rabbit).
The real problem is the planning. You gotta sit down and try to time everything (I think) so that it doesn't become a clusterfuck. But even if everything moves in tandem, in circles, it'll still feel more alive than static.
Level related aggro
One annoying aspect about late game MMOs is being dismounted by trash mobs that are 50 levels below you and die by breathing in their general direction.
If mobs had no leash, any player would be able to crash the servers at will.
Look up some developer informaiton on AI pathing.
There are a number of methods used, and all of them are resource intensive. They get even more resource intensive if the target location is mobile, and exponentially more intensive if access along the way is able to shift (by, say, full player collision).
The way seasons are likely going to work in Ashes is that we will have a week of summer, then the server will go down for scheduled maintenance, come back up and we will have autumn. Then it will go down again the next week, and we will have winter when it comes back up again.
Based on this, if there are migratory animals in the game, it is likely that the "migration" would happen during downtime.
I agree it would be cool to see it all happen, but I wouldn't expect it.
If a season in a node lasts only a week i think ill be kind of upset..
They cant have it last too long, as there will be some crops not available in some seasons and such.
Last I heard, 1 week was the plan.