Random Encounters

Okay so after having played Reset 13 and had "fun" with "random" (I'm convinced these encounters are less random and more if you walk in the right tile, you get thrown into them) encounters I have come upon the following conclusion: random encounters are not fun.

I don't mind if the game forces me into a combat scenario but making that scenario stand out is far more important to me than having it exist. Look, if I'm walking from Kingsport to Braemar and some skeletons ambush me...then it needs to be worth my time or it really is just making me waste five minutes before I do what I really want to do.

If I wanted to skill skeletons, there's a lot of areas in the game with skeletons I can visit. Now I'm not against random encounters. In fact, I think they can add to my experience but...if they are to exist, they really do need to be encounters, no "skeletons stand around and wait for me to attack them because that's how you design MMOs." I already get that with the pre-existing maps.

Random encounters should be more dynamic.

(1) Random Encounters should feature unique creatures or unique versions of creatures. I shouldn't be killing normal skeletons-I should be killing the skeletons of fallen avatars. This means giving them better equipment and better stats. Random Encounters can be the only way to face a legendary monster like...well I don't know, half-pandas, half-scorpions, with some octopus tentacles.
(2) Random Encounters should have some sort of scripted story to them. Okay, so you're walking along the road when the skeletons of fallen avatars attack you! You defend yourself but you realize in the field that there is a tent...go towards the tent and you encounter a necromancer! Can you kill him even as he summons more skeletons? Or, that legendary monster creature I made up earlier. Maybe he's guarding an injured baby and it's up to you on whether to heal it or end it's misery...
(3) Random Encounters can finish/continue/start quests. This might already be in place (not sure, I have yet to try to actually do a quest in the game) but I feel like making these encounters a part of the stories of the world then they will be less annoying and more...what does this encounter have in store for me? Like, will I find a message in a bottle that will lead me into Ravenswood so that I can rescue a damsel in distress? Or maybe this random encounter finally has that treehouse where the bandits terrorizing the local village are hiding by? Or maybe you're hunting for a special kind of monster...that only comes in random encounters.
(4) I don't plan to be Open PVP but PVP random encounters can be fun for those who are. Simple, the game finds PVP players within the same area of the world map and draws them into...well let's say a farm house. Their mission: one side is asked by the farmer to defend the farm house while the other side is asked to raid the farm house because he's stolen a piece of art from a local lord.

Yes I know some random encounters will be more for crafters (yay loading screens to get to an empty map?) but they likewise should hold stories. For instance, a buried treasure or signs of a battle you can investigate.

 

Random encounters are a placeholder right now. There will be many other encounters in release besides combat. And many of them will be visible on the overland map, so you can avoid them if you want.

 

I'm aware they're still working on them: hence why I'm giving my feedback on what I'd like to see. The rest of your post suggests you either skimmed my post or didn't read it.

 

Well, I read it. The tl;dr version was "Random encounters should be more dynamic." I can't assume you know what the plans were for encounters, so I was just sharing.