Put back original Skeleton encounter for noobs and relaxation: Add Liches as the new one

The upgrade actually removed a fun and vital part of the game.

We need low level areas that can be cleared out with a struggle for the new players.

Additionally, it's nice to sometimes go in there and do a quick run of mining.

You actually have 2 viable pieces of content on your hand. Just replace the new one with Liches on the world map (the surprise is out, so we all know, you're not spoiling it) and put skeletons back, and viola, 2x the content, 2x the happy players.

 

Yes, the road encounters for Soltown/Ardoris and Resolute/Middledowns should be the old Tier 2 ones so new players have something they can do and not get overwhelmed by hardcore mobs too early.

 

The road encounters should be of a similar difficulty to the surrounding areas imo. High level players don't want low level encounters and vice versa.

 

I genuinely don't follow. Difficulty of surrounding areas? Could you elaborate, you may have a sound idea but I'm not really aware of map areas of difficulty, instanced zones seem pretty evenly spread in terms of difficulty, but what they plan for hidden vale changes that.

 

A few problems:

1. While you'd think that, I've already seen at least middling characters complain about the changes because they liked to clear the scene and then collect the goods.
2. We don't (presently) level-gate areas. Maybe we should, but as a relatively low character I was all over the place on the world map, even if I wasn't actually going into the adventure areas in that part of the map.
3. We don't (presently) show when you're crossing regions (let alone what the intended level range for the region you're entering is). Again, maybe we should change that. I don't know though.

 

I already miss the old bandit encounter. The old thugs and bandits were all melee, had a chest, and once they were cleared you could actually collect the resources. Now, its in immediate mix of all three types (melee, ranged, and casters), the chest is gone, and as soon as they are dead the next wave immediately starts. You can't even loot the bodies, much less the resources. And it culminates with T6 wolves. Even if you manage to kill them, the whole scene repops in a couple minutes.

I love the scenes that gradually increase in challenge. But this is not gradual, there is no downtime, and there is no reward. So an encounter I didn't mind running into every once in a while is now a hard-pass to avoid.

 

^^ agree with browncoat

 

And I enjoy them, have time to loot and mine, so there we go.

 

The lower tier areas - 1 - 3 are usually closer to the major cities and the 4 - 5 are further out.

The names are color coded same as the mobs based on your adventure level.

 

Thank you

 

I like what they are trying to do with the encounters but the execution of them are a bit off. As mentioned earlier the respawn rate is too quick to loot or gather resources. If they allowed some reasonable time to loot the scene before a respawn that would be nice. I mean if there was a timer for when the last min is killed to gather the resources once the second spawn could be harder mobs with the resources respawning as well and then a third respawn. This way lower level players can clear the scene once and higher lever can try to do it again with harder mobs for a total of three waves.

 

Well i just ignore them as usual...places to go, things to do..that stuff

 

Some of my own thoughts. First, I tend to run Encounters of evenings when I don't have all evening to play for one reason or another mainly to gather resources to sell later on.

Old vs New: Personally, I like the addition of zombies and low level archers and mages into the mix. Also, the CONCEPT to having the encounter scale up as you clear it out adds a bit to the encounter.

Difficulty: I agree, however, that the ramp up in difficulty can be rather extreme between the Wolves in the Bandits and the liches in close proximity to each other. The scale upwards is rather steep. Instead, maybe there should be about 3 or 4 variations for each encounter theme from Low Level (old style) to a couple of mid level tiers to an upper level tier (noticeable by the Con color of the Encounter mob in the map). If resources need to be tweaked to lessen the lower level encounter vs the upper, then do that as well.

Chests: Chests are still in Bandit encounters, but I have noticed them to be random in both appearance and location (a couple times no chest, a time or two in their new "camp" area and a time or two at the original rock). I think the Chest need to remain part of an Encounter, however it should be LOCKED with the need to retrieve a key from one of the mobs (Bandit or Cultist accordingly) to open the chest. This can also allow for the future addition of Lockpicking to be involved. The Chest can even be scaled to the Tier level of the Encounter.

 

I love the new encounters!

 

There needs to be at least a 10 second delay between clearing the last of a wave and starting the next.

 

Addendum to my Encounter Ideas above:

"Boss" Announcement: This is mainly involving the Wolf encounter and the Obsidian Bear, but could apply to the higher level Trained Wolves as well. In a "wave" Encounter like we have now, specifically the Wolf and now Bandit encounters the higher level waves spawn fairly spread out whereas the Skeleton encounter has the Liches appear in the ruins. Also, with the WOlf encounter, the Obsidian Bear is not a 100% spawn chance. Sometimes you only have to deal with Elder Timber Wolves. With this in mind, it would add a bit to the scene to have the Obsidian Bear and/or the higher level wolves "announce" themselves as present via a scene-wide roar for the bear and howl for the wolf. Make it a sound effect that is heard at the same volume through the scene. Example in the Wolf Encounter: You've made the round of the area, killed the lower end wolves and bears when all of a sudden with nothing around you, you hear the giant roar of a bear. This tells you the Obsidian Bear is in the area and either go find it... or run.

 

I would just make more sense for all encounters to scale to level.

 

The old tier 2 random scenes were great relaxation whilst still doing something useful like harvesting mats, I like the new ones too but it was a shame we lost the tier 2s.