Thugs and Skeletons in encounters

I don't believe they should be leashed. If I am in deep trouble I should be running for the edge, and not trying to pick them off one by one. This is a gang, there's an escape right there, lets take the encounter to a crescendo, not a long drawn out kill and retreat.

Or maybe you could just leash the couple to the box of junk, the rest will follow until dead or the player exits.

 

I agree.

 

It's like.... super.... immersion breaking.

 

I'd like to see some encounters where they actually engage you immediately, more like the old-school Ultima encounters. Some encounters could be aggressive and some less so, but when they chase you down on the screen and then sorta lollygag around, yeah doesn't feel right.

 

I completely agree. The leashing is the single most immersion breaking issue I have right now. I hate the way they actually leash back to their spot too, it's much faster, weird and jumpy. I would much rather get chased down and killed more often, than seeing this constantly.

I wouldnt have as big of a problem with the leashing if there was some way to make it look and happen more naturally, but the way it is now, it just looks horrible.

 

And completely agree about the OP issue with encounters. I was just speaking about all leashing in general in my last post cause I misunderstood at first. But I would love to see it completely removed from the roving encounters, it really makes no sense in those situations.

 

I watched big bulky bears yesterday bolting back to their lair as if channeling the "speed force" and I was thinking the exact same thing. It's a little comical.

 

Who said that bears AREN'T force sensitive?

 

No doubt it is meant to keep [low level]players from leading mobs away from a resource node(for example) so they can circle back and harvest it safely.

Maybe eventually the devs will code in some better AI. Like having some of the mobs stay at the base with guarding roles while others have pursuit roles.
And/or when a group chases after a player a new group spawns in to the base area rather quickly["We need back-up here!"].

 

agree, better AI needed, way too easy to kite them away. not a bad idea to have just some of the mobs teathered to a location, while the remainder of the group follow you indefinitely.

 

I have seen a couple of patrols in the Serpent Spine Foothills, but they are ruffians, which seem to be lower level than fighters and thugs.

 

or maybe mix a real person in there to spice it up, like a bunch of thugs and then a hospitallier in disguise as a boss.
The tethering is silly looking : look, bob is getting killed! Let's all run in there and get killed too! Why does he get to heaven first?
Logging off in a random encounter near desolis, you usually log back on and get three in a row. Pretty much breaks immersion too
the guys are easy to me, so it's just a time/exp sink at this point. The skeleton ring is the only one i can get killed in, get them OP archers first blah blah blah
fun game is to try to avoid killing the watcher in there
I like that the bandits have a whole chest they guard to the death that has one mandrake root in it. o.0

THE HENDOMAN

 

Yeah stone ring with the skeleton ambush has better reagent rewards - even better at night.

 

My main issue with encounters is that they don't scale with your character's level - skeletons are a good example. My mage (AL50) could just run through the entry level stone-circle encounter, while I have absolutely no chance in engaging the hardened skeletons on the plains. Before R36's HP boost and the improvements on group behaviour I had a chance to pick them one/two by one, but nowadays I can't manage.

It's ok that I cannot "win" all encounters but with only two levels of difficulty and two settings encounters are only a first step. Once level scaling is in place, creature AI is improved (allowing for picking patrolling mobs and tactical fights) and overland evasion / sneaking actually works encounters become more meaningful. There should be a range of scaling.

however, I agree that it is strange linking a skeleton encounter that chases you to "finding" inert skeletons in a scene. One way to improve this could be adding "hidden" encounters that can be discovered with the right (new) skill like "Perception". Discovering such an encounter (i.e. waylaying bandits, bridge troll etc) allows you to enter the encounter and sneak attack. Other encounters like roaming mobs should engage you but allow for players to escape and scale to player level within a certain range. This could take the form of an outer ring of wandering mobs and a "core" with a bigger group of mobs that is more challenging but must be actively engaged.