I'd love to fight something other than wolves and bears

I'm trying. I'm not putting on platemail. I'm not whacking a gustball for 24 hours. I'm not going out to kill things in groups. But I'm trying.

I really can't fight anything but low level bears and wolves. It's pretty frustrating.

As the AI has improved and areas of the map have gotten much better at beating up solo players (simply for being solo players), I think it's time to experiment with scaling areas of the map to fit the players fighting in it.

The Moors of Northshore are a perfect example of what I'm talking about. It's filled with Grizzly Bears, Large Wolves, and Wolf Spiders. For me, it's really hard to fight ANYTHING. Not because I can't kill any single mob with patience, I can. But because they come in combinations of 2 or 3, and sometimes 5 or 6.

Now forget about the fact that Bears standing next to Wolves standing next to Giant Spiders makes no sense. And nevermind the fact that there's apparently zero point to this scene other than to look cool (which it does) and give players something to kill. This place is just really hard, if you're 1: solo 2: relatively low level, I'm 22. 3: not wearing platemail and spamming heal, or 4: trying to just play the game and have some fun.

I love the opening path where the spiders ambush you. I love that they really can't be kited out of their advantageous position. But what I hate is that this acts as a level gate, and I quickly realize that I have to go back to the same old areas I've been grinding away at until I get to a point where I'm a TANK and can just come back and stand there (like other players) and ignore all the AI logic because I'm just too good for it to matter.

Progression is one thing. But Level Gates and punishing people not power gaming is another thing.

I hope we can start to scale scenes appropriately for solo players soon. And I think that means that if someone that is level 70 walks back into a low level scene, I hope everything suddenly gets a little more challenging for them. Because I don't think power gaming (min/maxing) should be rewarded, it should just be accounted for.

 

I'd say you are in the minority on this, general opinion seems to be that non-optimal play should be punished.

 

Rats, wolves, and bears are amongst the most boring MMO enemies to fight. They seem to be a staple in your average online fantasy game. What makes them even worse is they don't even behave like those animals would anyway - they don't engage in wolf-like behavior or fight like a wolf or anything. It is like they are the go-to mob to shove randomly into a "zone" so that there is something for people to kill.

But do you know what is even worse than fighting rats, wolves and bears early game? Fighting some higher level adjective-noun rat, wolf, or bear much later on in the game that isn't any different except for the hit points and damage.

 

I don't think the developers feel this way. I think they'd like a balance.

 

Some of the AI in R21 behaves pretty well (for the small scenes). The wolves are starting to fight in packs, for example.

 

I don't want this. A lot of people don't play just for challenging combat. Whwn I am high level I want some easy places to go to just to collect resources and chill without levelling up.

 

Right, well I want places like that when I'm low level. I hate grinding, with a passion. Grinding is grinding, it's not fun.

What I'm not asking for is to have some kind of solo chill zone where I get phat loot without any type of challenge or risk. But what I don't enjoy is having an artificial barrier between me and what you're looking for. My playstyle, roleplaying, isn't well suited for the power gaming nirvana this is currently.

 

Can we fight a minotaur!?!

Siiiiick!

 

I agree. Through all releases, I have been one of those guys who have played through the whole month, enjoying and testing the game. This release, I started off really enjoying the new use base system, still do, but after a week of killing Timber Wolves and only just now starting to be able to kill Large Timber Wolves, it is getting quite boring.

 

I hope they just make levels matter less. See thread.

Yep, more of this. I'm all for wolves and spiders, I think more unusual monsters should be rarer. They need to behave more interesting though.

 

Let's get a stretch goal for Predators being implemented.

 

I'm still in the process of understanding and coming to terms with the changes in skill gain that R21 has brought. Most of it makes sense when I consider the whole picture of what's happening.
But, I've never felt like there was any kind of barrier or "Level Gate" in the skill gain process.
What are you referring to as a "Level Gate" ?

Oh, if I were you I'd go somewhere where you can stand and fight and win. You may have to set your sights a bit lower until your skills are appropriate for "higher" level mobs... But you will begin gaining levels again.

Before R20 was replaced by R21, I could go to Deep Ravenswood and own the place.

Like this:



I always suspected that I shouldn't be able to do that in 2 months, and the dev's agreed.

Skill gains will be slower than we've been accustomed to, but they'll be more meaningful and realistic... IMO

Go fight stuff that you can stand and kill and you'll still gain in whatever you're using and the related innates...

 

I mean exactly what you just said here:

 

Sorry, I edited while you were responding... my bad.

So, where's the "Level Gate" ?
I still don't know what you're referring to.

 

Excellent point... but i don't like level scaling either. In my opinion, the big problem here is that every scene is severely overpopulated with monsters. What we need is not level scaling, but alternative ways of hunting so scenes can be explored without having to fight against 3 different mobs for every step you take (without taking respawn in consideration).

I understand the "level gate" statement as "if your level is not this high, you can't explore this, sorry go back to where you came from". I don't want that either, being limited because of a number... some zones may be populated by powerful monsters, but having all the scene like that feels like an unreal restriction. I like redfish suggestions for fixing that.

I hope that as random encounters iterate and roving monsters are in, the amount of enemies in the scenes will go down, which will help avoiding this kind of situations. It's my understanding that scenes are so overly populated because people hunting in groups are able to exhaust a zone pretty quickly, and i'm ok with that, but that's why that kind of repetitive behavior should be displaced to the overland map (after all that's why we have it) and keep scenes for exploration or specific purposes. That way, if a group want to kill bandits they can stay in the overland map looking for roving monsters, and triggering random events. Now if a group wants to explore Spectral Mines dungeon, they enter in a depopulated version of the spectral mines, and head towards the fun, finding some animals and fighting some obsidian patrols... but they don't need to fight a tide of wolves and bears and cultists and then they respawn and you're surrounded so you go back and fight the wolves and bears again...

I think my expectations will bring a better experience for both groups and solo players.

 

It is simple...Hunt Wabbits!

Editors note: The author died 100 times to zombie rot to bring you this post.

 

I'm going to start by assuming that "other than wolves and bears" isn't a commentary on insufficient types of monsters in an unfinished game, but means "something easier/harder than wolves and bears".

Maybe not so much in Novia, but I've seen that in parts of Hidden Vale. In particular, if you go to Owl's Keep, there are bears, spiders, and wolves that rush you en-masse on the way to the cave, which is not far from the entrance. The very first time I wandered around Hidden Vale (which was after two weeks of Novia because I started in R20, which starts you in Novia), that was one of the first areas I wandered in to, and within five seconds I was all NOPE NOPE NOPE and didn't go back there until I heard about that cave. A cave full of bandits who don't attack you.

You should at least be able to stand at the entrance to an area and look around a bit before being rushed by ten monsters all at once.

But even in Novia, where things aren't usually quite that close (though Solace Bridge is really bad about it with all those damn spiders huddled together) some areas have things placed so close that you are literally moving from aggro to aggro as you wander around. Like those damn crocs in West Veiled Swamp and some of the other swampy zones. Just as you can barely see a monster, it makes a beeline for you, along with two of its friends, plus another that sneaked up on you from behind.

If you're playing solo (which would be the situation in single-player mode), you can't fight three or more monsters (that you could kill one-on-one) attacking you at the same time, you just take too much damage. And because of the rubber-band distance limits, you can't just pull a single one away to kill it to get xp, because they all turn around at roughly the same time. This is much worse with the increase in monster movement speed in R21. And xp is still primarily dependent on killing monsters, which you can't do if they keep teaming up and ripping you to shreds.

I think that may be the biggest problem people are having. It's hard to find a place where you can fight just one monster at a time, even if you make an effort to try separating them. On top of that, the xp that you get is the same whether or not that monster's friends joined in. Monsters become much more difficult when they team up. And you can't always team up yourself, because single-player mode, or because everybody else is trying (and failing) to fight them solo, and won't stay still long enough to party up. Which, again, you can't do if you're in a single-player mode!

You don't even have to formally make a party. If you see someone being attacked by two or three monsters, and you attack one of the adds, surprise!, you both get to kill something. However, the system apparently only awards xp from the kill to one player/party, so (and I don't really know the details of the claim rules) if it thought the other guy was first to do damage, you might not get the xp, he will. Or inversely, if you even accidentally do the last damage to what he was fighting, he might not get any xp, you get it all.

Monster density (and teaming up) is a big problem, especially in areas where few people go.

 

I think you misunderstood my affirmation, because you seem to disagree with me but then you take the same approach i did... Maybe i didn't expressed myself well (English is not my mother language and i usually make mistakes) but what i tried to express with the part of my post that you quoted was

Probably because of that i agree with you and i still think that if my expectations become true, this will get better

 

i've soloed my way back to packs of elves while wearing light armor, it's not that bad, but i do hate the level vs level issue

 

There are plenty of places to agro a single monster in most all Hidden Vale areas. Go grab the maps for them and explore. That's what I did and my Adventurer Level has passed 40 in 7 days.

Oh, and before you ask, don't bother looking for maps for any areas in Novia. They don't exist, yet.