Getting sucked into "encounter" scenes on the world map...

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Barugon, Apr 14, 2018.

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  1. gtesser

    gtesser Avatar

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    They aren't that bad anymore, now that you can get virtue armor pieces from them.
     
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  2. Tulmar the Barbarian

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    Personally I like the encounter, but in general this idea in my opinion should be developed to be less "identical" every time.
     
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  3. Tiki Pirate

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    They are easy to avoid, and sometimes I even seek them out.

    Somewhere in the distant past there was a different thread on this where many of the same ideas floated around now were presented. LB, and I believe some of the other devs aknowledged many of the current issues at that time. Some improvements were made and I believe that more are coming eventually.

    Still waiting for:
    - In scene mini quests w/vendors/kidnapped victims/guard patols etc .
    -More variation in map/terrain
    -Easter eggs, rares, witches, and swamp creatures
     
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  4. uosylence

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    They are not easy to avoid unless they are off the main road.
     
  5. Deadly Habit

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    I don't get why before we had the indicators of enemies on the map we had random encounters with vendors and dragons, yet somehow lost those along the way.
     
  6. Tiki Pirate

    Tiki Pirate Avatar

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    I know they had issues with people kiting/luring the MOBs on the overland map to outside cites when first implemented. This hijinx caused some interesting times with multiple MOBs waiting just outside cites for unsuspecting avatars!

    The whole system could use work, but, I do like bandits on the roads - not in the forest randomly. All the bandits waiting for travelers in the forest starved to death... now there is an idea. Lost cannibal bandits!
     
  7. Barugon

    Barugon Avatar

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    When they made the world encounters visible, I was actually hoping that there would be a dragon or two flying around the world map.
     
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  8. Kara Brae

    Kara Brae Avatar

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    It‘s useful for me to know that the coconuts don‘t give a speed boost any more because I deposited mine in some local bank and was intending to take a trip back just to retrieve them. I did some quest that told me not to bring coconuts with me so I ditched them before entering the scene I was supposed to go to. Does anyone know what quest that was? I don‘t remember.
     
  9. Lars vonDrachental

    Lars vonDrachental Avatar

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    Of course a quite personal point of view even if I have to admit that there are some funnier things to do in SotA.;)

    I know that scaling is in some MMOs the way to create a lot of content that fits the player level…but I’m not that convinced that this is something good. Out of my perspective this would water down the concept of a random encounter as you shouldn’t know the difficulty of such an encounter because…well it is a random one. :p

    But if there really is an adjustment needed I would instead suggest some visual differences between the roaming encounters that match their difficulty.
    E.g. by using color indicators to make visible what range of difficulty you might have to expect in this encounter

    T1-T2 wandering bandits wear white gear
    T1-T4 wandering bandits wear yellow gear
    T1-T5+ wandering bandits wear red gear

    Or by using different models (if moving NPC looks like a dangerous one the encounter might be a dangerous one too)

    T1-T2 wandering skeletons are simple ones
    T3-T4 wandering skeletons are hardened skeletons (I think they wear additional shoulder plates)
    T5+ wandering skeletons are elite skeletons (I think they wear some additional gear)

    Also I would suggest that maybe rational beings like bandits try to avoid a fight against a to strong avatar and instead of running toward you they try to flee with half movement speed. Maybe even with the possibility to “level up” e.g. by reaching a specific spot on the overworld map… so to say they lure you back to their hideout where some stronger enemies are waiting.
    (But dumb animals and skeletons should never flee.)

    Indeed. In the T5 skeleton encounter is a sarcophagus with I think 5 candles and I would find it interesting if by using the candles you could summon some stronger enemies. E.g. after fighting all skeleton enemies you can activate the first candle and some guards appear shouting “Stop it!” and start to fight you…and if you fought all 5 waves (increasing difficulty) of guards you resurrect some lich that is resurrecting all killed guards to undead live and you have bring them eternal rest again. :D
     
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  10. Kara Brae

    Kara Brae Avatar

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    Can you tell me how this works? When I am on the overworld map, I am unable to go into combat mode to use any skill locked to my combat bar. I also cannot access the Dash skill on my non-combat bar.
     
  11. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    in this case he's using "first" to mean "before". if you cast a charged sprint or dash before exiting the previous scene and you have a fast load, you may still have it running for a while on the overworld.

    i've done this too, though i didn't think to charge it. i will now!
     
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  12. oplek

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    I find encounters fun, and often go out of my way to do them. I wish they'd add more variety.
     
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  13. Nelzie

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    I find them to be a fun and interesting challenge. There's some decent XP to be had in them too, with the Stag encounter, a crazy powerful Obsidian Bear showed up and... if I hadn't been able to run fast with my Wolf's Speed Potions... there's no way that I would have been able to heal up enough to survive the encounter and I STILL had to use three of my Corpion Poisons on my blades to take it down with adequate speed!

    I do with it dropped a chest or something else when I killed it though. Some gear or gems or gold. Skinning it was... provided a less than exciting reward.
     
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  14. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Unfortunately, we don't have any tech that allows for automatic adjustment of enemy difficulty.

    What've done instead in some random encounters is have two waves of enemies, where the second wave is much, much harder than the first. For example, some people have wondered about the dragon. The dragon actually comes in wave 2 of some stag encounters. (Think of it as your killing a few stags has reduced the dragon's food source, so now you're dinner.) So for those players who want a tougher fight, kill a few of the low-challenge (which will be Tier 2 or 3) beasts and see if a higher challenge (tier 10 or higher) enemy shows up.

    Oh, and stick around after you defeat the higher enemies, because there's a chance a friendly NPC might show and give you a simple repeatable quest.
     
  15. Nelzie

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    How long would be to long to wait? I whacked an Obsidian Bear in a Stag forest encounter and went about killing a few obsidian stags and grabbing a few more resource nodes and nobody showed up. Should I have given it almost ten minutes?
     
  16. Curt

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    Only time recently I got annoyed by the roaming encounters is when I finish one and when I leave for worldmap I instantly get dragged into another.
     
  17. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    I'm all for adding more variation to random encounters, and I do try to slip in something new every couple of releases. Multi-wave encounters, quest-givers after the waves are over, and the new Hills Encounter are examples. I'd like to convert the skeleton and bandit encounters to multi-wave battles but that's not on the schedule yet.

    It would be great to have quests that are self-contained within an encounter, but that's not on the schedule yet. Still, that's an option I try to keep in mind when I'm creating side quests, so who knows.
     
  18. Daigoji Gai

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    I like them to... as for the recommendation "Give them a purpose, or a reason and something other than just run to other side. "

    That is already being done slowly. e.g. The "mobs" and encounters that spawn when you clear out an area. They said they will be adding more content and quests and their focus on adding those two additions to encounters shows they are aware and are working on it.
     
  19. Sannio

    Sannio Lead Quest and Level Designer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Immediately after the "boss wave" is defeated, there's a chance the quest-giver NPC will show up. He or she will show up immediately and run toward the center of the scene (the same location where you originally entered the scene). They'll hang out there forever waiting for you to talk to them. I've seen that these NPCs will delay running to the center for some unknown reason, so if you don't seem them right away maybe make a wide loop around the scene before you leave. However, I wouldn't waste more than a minute looking for them. If you don't seem them very soon after that "boss wave," they're probably not coming.
     
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  20. Nelzie

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    Thanks! I appreciate this info!

    I'm going to start clearing more of these, for kicks!
     
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