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Addition of completely new PvE system
Janaos
Member
So, I've had this idea for some time now regarding a new way enemies can appear/spawn in the game. This isn't as much of a new type of enemy as a completely new system. Basically, the game would have randomly spawning 'wandering' enemies, these could be single units or packs, the idea is that they would be random across the map and not be held back by zones or areas. Now, this might sound like a very player hostile system, and in a way it is. id say the closest thing I've seen in a mmorpg remotely similar to this is the 'beasts' in Path of Exile. I will be using the term 'Wanderer' to describe this sort of enemy, although they would in a sense be similar to the conventional 'Boss' mob in the sense of difficulty. This means waiting in a particular area would be inefficient as they would not have a clear spawn location, this would mean players need to travel in order to find these, creating an incentive to travel and explore the vast world. I imagine the enemies themselves could be very varied, differing in:
location- by this, I mean that they would still be random however, some would stick to a certain general location. e.g a rogue yeti boss may only wander polar areas, of course, many would also be able to appear across the entire map. note: this would have to be relevant to the identity/backstory of the given 'wanderer'.
backstories- backstories are key in creating interesting characters, places buildings and ruins could hint at the backstories of some of these, I feel it's important that each 'Wanderer' has its own enticing story, consequently adding depth to its character.
number- as mentioned before not everyone would be a singular unit, this may be a rogue group of dangerous parasites, seemingly weak alone but deadly in groups, a nightmare for all who are unlucky enough to meet them.
appearance- this may be obvious but each of them would need their own appearance, and by this I mean not just a re-skin of the same mob, but complete new bosses ranging in size, number, colour, and attacks.
time- Again, although the time is meant to be random, I imagine it would be good for some enemies to appear in a certain time range, e.g id imagine a werewolf to spawn at night. although there would be bosses that could spawn at any time. similarly, as for 'location' this would have to be relevant to the boss.
Clues- A bit of a smaller point, but since these are randomly spawning enemies, tracking would be necessary, clues could be given to the location of the bosses, e.g a dragon may leave burn marks or big footprints in different places. I feel like this would give Scout-style characters additional meaning, with builds being able to be concentrated on tracking these types of bosses. Parties looking to hunt these enemies would have to hire Trackers in order to help reveal the location of these.
Species- although one could argue this ties in with ' appearance' I have a bit more to say regarding this matter. I want to clarify that such a 'wanderer' DOES NOT have to be a beast, this might have been unclear from my description, but a 'wanderer' can essentially be anything, including a human, for example, an evil archmage or wanted criminal could very well be a 'wanderer'. Every race could be one.
There are many things that can be added when it comes to a mechanic like this, which is why I believe it is very good to have as an endgame mechanic. This brings me onto my second point, the 'wanderers' level range. Although I see that a few of these types of enemies could be added to the lower to mid level range, the 'wanders' would mostly be an endgame mechanic. Some of the harder ones, requiring entire high-level parties to take down, maybe even a few of them being raid difficulty. Of course, some could also be solo endeavors; rare creatures that you may just be lucky to run into on your endeavors, for example nearly extinct animals, possessing rare furs. Continuing on from the point about the impacts of these on lower levels, which unarguably would exist consequently to the free reign these 'wanderers' would be given. I realize this however also believe that this isn't a bad thing, these would be rare so the chances of getting repetitively killed by something like this would be small, In addition, some of these would be big others slow (not everyone) and hence easy to avoid. And even if a lower-level player were to be killed by one of these, I feel like it would do a good job at showing them the power ceiling in the game and motivating them to become stronger, to one day be able to hunt these. The randomness also would give a feeling of thrill and add to the excitement of the fight. Hunting some of these could also be implemented into quests, perhaps even town quests could be centered on helping kill the monster if one is spotted near the town. Moving onto the rewards, these would be some of the hardest enemies in the game, meaning that the rewards would need to be good. exclusive gear, crafting recipes would be common with enough contribution, as well as some form of special currency that could be used in an exclusive marketplace. I don't imagine this system as some half-wit thing that's gonna be added and forgotten, I'm talking about an entire infrastructure built around and in it, perhaps even comparable to something like dungeons. I realize this is ambitious, but it's original (as far as I'm concerned), and personally, something that I would pay to see. I think this is all I have to say for now xD, and thank you for reading this if you've gotten up to this point. I really hope you could at least consider this, and any feedback on the idea is welcome, in the end, it is only an idea for now.
location- by this, I mean that they would still be random however, some would stick to a certain general location. e.g a rogue yeti boss may only wander polar areas, of course, many would also be able to appear across the entire map. note: this would have to be relevant to the identity/backstory of the given 'wanderer'.
backstories- backstories are key in creating interesting characters, places buildings and ruins could hint at the backstories of some of these, I feel it's important that each 'Wanderer' has its own enticing story, consequently adding depth to its character.
number- as mentioned before not everyone would be a singular unit, this may be a rogue group of dangerous parasites, seemingly weak alone but deadly in groups, a nightmare for all who are unlucky enough to meet them.
appearance- this may be obvious but each of them would need their own appearance, and by this I mean not just a re-skin of the same mob, but complete new bosses ranging in size, number, colour, and attacks.
time- Again, although the time is meant to be random, I imagine it would be good for some enemies to appear in a certain time range, e.g id imagine a werewolf to spawn at night. although there would be bosses that could spawn at any time. similarly, as for 'location' this would have to be relevant to the boss.
Clues- A bit of a smaller point, but since these are randomly spawning enemies, tracking would be necessary, clues could be given to the location of the bosses, e.g a dragon may leave burn marks or big footprints in different places. I feel like this would give Scout-style characters additional meaning, with builds being able to be concentrated on tracking these types of bosses. Parties looking to hunt these enemies would have to hire Trackers in order to help reveal the location of these.
Species- although one could argue this ties in with ' appearance' I have a bit more to say regarding this matter. I want to clarify that such a 'wanderer' DOES NOT have to be a beast, this might have been unclear from my description, but a 'wanderer' can essentially be anything, including a human, for example, an evil archmage or wanted criminal could very well be a 'wanderer'. Every race could be one.
There are many things that can be added when it comes to a mechanic like this, which is why I believe it is very good to have as an endgame mechanic. This brings me onto my second point, the 'wanderers' level range. Although I see that a few of these types of enemies could be added to the lower to mid level range, the 'wanders' would mostly be an endgame mechanic. Some of the harder ones, requiring entire high-level parties to take down, maybe even a few of them being raid difficulty. Of course, some could also be solo endeavors; rare creatures that you may just be lucky to run into on your endeavors, for example nearly extinct animals, possessing rare furs. Continuing on from the point about the impacts of these on lower levels, which unarguably would exist consequently to the free reign these 'wanderers' would be given. I realize this however also believe that this isn't a bad thing, these would be rare so the chances of getting repetitively killed by something like this would be small, In addition, some of these would be big others slow (not everyone) and hence easy to avoid. And even if a lower-level player were to be killed by one of these, I feel like it would do a good job at showing them the power ceiling in the game and motivating them to become stronger, to one day be able to hunt these. The randomness also would give a feeling of thrill and add to the excitement of the fight. Hunting some of these could also be implemented into quests, perhaps even town quests could be centered on helping kill the monster if one is spotted near the town. Moving onto the rewards, these would be some of the hardest enemies in the game, meaning that the rewards would need to be good. exclusive gear, crafting recipes would be common with enough contribution, as well as some form of special currency that could be used in an exclusive marketplace. I don't imagine this system as some half-wit thing that's gonna be added and forgotten, I'm talking about an entire infrastructure built around and in it, perhaps even comparable to something like dungeons. I realize this is ambitious, but it's original (as far as I'm concerned), and personally, something that I would pay to see. I think this is all I have to say for now xD, and thank you for reading this if you've gotten up to this point. I really hope you could at least consider this, and any feedback on the idea is welcome, in the end, it is only an idea for now.
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Comments
In tests, 100 of us building made the server die and no matter how many changes were made it was never made stable.
In the end the project was ended and thr advanced features were shelved. The reason is due to technical limitations on the back end, synching it with client end and then updating both ends simultaneously (without any movement or action involved). It was impossible at a stand still and even less possible if you tried to move around a construction site.
Why would the Ashes design for mob spawning not be sufficient to satisfy the basic concept?
Ashes spawning is not completely random, but it also is not static - and will be different on each server (as different Nodes rise and fall and progress).
It's not pure PvE content as your thread title suggests.
Other than that, it's a cool idea.
I don't think these should be end game difficulty, however. That's what the Legendary World Bosses are for.
The current design already covers most of that.
(Ashes does not have an endgame.)
I would call something like this a possibility since herds will possibly migrate. To what extent I guess we don’t know and it might be a more defined kind of path.
“There will be moving resources such as herds of animals that are constantly moving around the world.[25]”
I think that the current system is plenty good at what it’s supposed to do, but this isn’t a rework of the current system but rather the addition of a completely new one. Now why? I believe I’ve gone through this in my main idea para but I think it essentially boils down to: why do we have dungeons? Well because they’re and extra feature that people enjoy and this (similarly) is an extra feature that myself and I believe many other people would also enjoy. I have in part explained why, the way it’s random can build up anticipation as well as excitement and the rarity of these encounters would build a sense of exclusivity around the loot. I think it also serves the purpose of world building, teasing newer players (in a good way) of the games expansive world. Imagine this, your a level 5 that just started to play the game, your hunting down some mushroom monsters in a big forest, suddenly you come across a massive flock of monster rats, of course you get killed, but the knowledge of just how annihilated you got makes you realise of the power ceiling of the game and provides another incentive to get stronger, and perhaps someday be a match for these monsters…
The content in dungeons is not static. Different NPCs and mobs appear there depending on the Stages of various Nodes across the map; not merely changes to the local Nodes. The content there will also change based on the different racial governments.
It's not strictly random, but it's way closer to random than to being static.
Encounters can already feel rare and unpredictable with the current system.
Would building and teasing newer players with the game's expansive world is already a part of the current design.
Your example of being a Level 5 and running into a massive flock of monster rats that didn't exist there previously is already a part of the current game design.
It's not just about the power ceiling, rather it's also about how the world changes dynamically and unexpectedly as Nodes rise and fall and progress differently due to player interactions.
If so then that’s awesome, I couldn’t be happier. But I do think that this mechanic should extend to bosses as well, though I’m not too familiar with what it extends to right now
I like it and it gave me some thoughts and ideas while reading it. I hope you don't mind if I share them.
Why not have these 'wanderers' limited to be something that is really rare, unique and mysterious? I think that could add more to the excitement about finding them, since the encounter itself is extremely rare due to its unpredictable wandering mechanics and random respawn places and hopefully, really rare drops. They could still be different kinds of beings, each one with their own stories, habitats for those with such limitations and the time they spawn, like a nocturnal one will obviously only be found during night (but the 'clues' could still be on during the day) and some could even be bound to to only spawn during a specific season.
I also don't think it's necessary to make these 'wanderers' to be like raid bosses and big boss fights. I think there will already be a healthy amount of bosses that require a big team to defeat.
To actually be lucky enough to encounter one or the 'clues' from one should be challenging and exciting enough and not to forget that the surroundings might be challenging depending on where the 'wanderer' is located when someone finds it.
Rarity tiers could be determined by the size of the area where the 'wanderer' can be found and its requirements for being able to spawn. The lower tiers are those with smaller area and no spawn requirements and the highest rarity tier is obviously those with largest area and specific requirements for spawning and also rarer loot.
And to make it a bit more challenging to spot some of them it would be really interesting if they didn't have a visible name tag and some could even have really good camouflage that blends well into the surroundings for example a moss covered creature wandering deep in the woods, making it a risk to run past and miss it if the player isn't observant or maybe not skilled enough in tracking.
To keep the whole existence of 'wanderers' just as rare and mysterious as they are to find, the first knowledge that the player get about the 'wanderers' existence in the game is through the 'clues' and also as local myths, rumors and stories among those npc's that are close to the area where the 'wanderer' has recently been passing by. This could be implemented as a part of the 'clues' section.
For example, a player is running around and doing its thing and then stumbles upon some ncp's sitting by a campfire in the woods, then if the 'wanderer' is somewhere in the area or recently has been passing by, the npc's could be telling stories and rumors about a mysterious being that has been seen wandering around in the dark, deep into the woods. When a certain time has passed after the 'Wanderer' has left the area, the whispers and rumors about it would stop. That imo would add a lot of immersion.
To add a bit more diversity on difficulty levels and ways to "defeat" a 'wanderer' and simply because the thought of always killing rare and unique creatures is sad, a 'wanderer' could also be a quest giver if it's a non aggressive being. In some cases the player could have the options to either kill it or take the quest.
The options could also have different difficulty levels (that is not visible for the players) and/or have an impact on the reward or the outcome. As an example, killing it could be faster or give a higher drop rate but comes with a penalty since it's a rare and unique creature, the penalty could be a reasonable (for the "crime") portion of corruption or something else that's unpleasant. Or taking the quest could be more rewarding in the way of adventure or lore or maybe give different rewards than the drops from killing it. There can be so many variations on how to do this and the 'wanderers' doesn't always have to be hostile being.
Maybe I got carried away too much in my ideas but it was fun thinking of it x)