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View Full Version : Mob and Loot Distribution - A Proposal (



\\Fényx//
22-10-12, 15:42
Hi All,

It's been a long time since I made a post in the brainport ;) Anyway, with the fresh start on a new server, one thing has become apparent due to the amount of levelling teams around. Having to vary the places we hunt more often to find an area to quietly level or hunt for techs has shown how much of a disparity there are between the loot tables for each type of mob. This in turn basically makes the only viable way to grind for techs being fire mobs or level 3 DOY tunnels. There are so much more options for mobs then just these two, and one of those options (tunnels) is only really viable with a full team (or bending a few rules...)

What happened to warbots and hoverbots, their loot is atrocious now, maybe 1 tech in 10-12 kills and most of them are 100/100+ in rank, yet majority of 76/76 doomreapers go down in 1/5 of the shots and drop a tech much more often.

DOY bot MK2's etc, with their rank, and the fact you have to work to kill them as their mostly in teams themselves that aggro easily, their loot is also pathetic in comparison.

Brutes, their spawn is so rare, yet always loved to hunt these... shame their another useless mob now...

Overall, back in NC1, any mob that was 80/80+ had a chance of dropping a tech, the higher the mobs level, the higher the chance to drop multiple per mob.

I would like to make the proposal that things are reverted back to this way. The only area where i dont think it is required would be regants, that place is already far and away the top place to go just for XP, dont make it a requirement to go there for techs too, either one or the other... cave mobs shouldnt drop techs imo as they are there for tecm levelling and grinding, thats what the boss is there for as a brucey bonus with the item they usually drop too.

Boost the tech drop rates on Warbots/Hoverbots to something similar to the way they were. Put the warbot spawns back around MB and battledome and make it a bot hunting ground again.

Increase the spawns of brutes around the mid map's desert area's, malstrond etc up towards the zones outside DOY as an alternative to firemobs. (as this is no longer a starting city there is no reason for those zones to be kept for lowbie levellers now...) This would mean reducing the incredibly stupid amount of useless DOY cybrogs and bots etc that just screws the mob spawns up in the majority of zones.

Put Hoverbombers around the mountains around Techhaven and Foster, there are platforms there that used to be used for hunting these years ago, lets use those spots again, there is also very few tree's in those zones for these to get stuck in when they die, thus losing the opportunity to even hack and loot them ...

Bring the Anarchy Breed to the table properly, populate them around crest and the eastern zones. there are alot more of them now then used to spawn in the wastelands, take this opportunity to give hunters something new and worthwhile to hunt, put some ringleaders in amongs the /60 /70 spawns that have say 90/90 ranks with a chance to drop techs too, or even say a small increase in faction symp per kill (Or adding missions for killing x number of them)

Sandworms back in the northern deserts, around tescom and the surrounding zones, these were nice to hunt back in the day due to the terrain and the way things used to spawn up there, you had to be careful... now their such a rare spawn in amongst a shedload of arachnids, it just makes more sense saying feck it and heading a few zones south and hunting firemobs.

Swamp mobs across the western zones, there are so many types there that are around the /40 range, its a nice area for levelling a lowbie i guess, but that never gets used that way as it is much more prolific levelling by other means... Introduce some mobs that have higher ranks and populate the area's around regants over to gravis with these, there are a few zones around there that have nothing too them other then a road going through, some dont even have that. Give people a reason to visit these zones and experience something new... The tentacle spawners for example, their already around the /75 mark, why not give them a boost, and get them to spawn a whole load of higher rank tentacles for the challenge. Unlike NC1, Poison armour is widely available now which means you can push these swamp mobs a little further in their levels.

Variety is not a bad thing at all, the problem however is when something is that much better then everything else, it makes everything else redundant. That is how i see things now with firemobs vs everything else out there.

William Antrim
22-10-12, 16:23
Love every idea.

My only addition make doy like what regants is now. Another high end levelling place. Possibly have a third one in tech haven.

\\Fényx//
22-10-12, 16:28
Love every idea.

My only addition make doy like what regants is now. Another high end levelling place. Possibly have a third one in tech haven.


I dont think techhaven suits that idea at the moment, I would like to see it re used for the fallen angels to be honest. They dont have a HQ in the city, neither do TG, Both should be sent 'home' CM still start in the Military Base, so why did FA and TG get sent to NC ?

as far as I am aware, there are plans for DOY already along those lines.

Maybe making that unusable door in TH just around from the GR's link to a clone of the TH newbie cores with higher level turrents and spiderbots etc in them, that would be a nice change from the likes of CRP etc

BlueRobot
22-10-12, 18:11
Also put some stuff into the Mainsewer. Would love to hunt techs down there.

Disturbed21
22-10-12, 19:14
Yes, yes and YES! Having spent a good bit of the weekend killing hoverbots/bombers and Warbots, I completely agree with that, the drop rate is terrible. And the other suggestions, populating the zones with mobs that fit the area, that's just fantastic. The designs of those zones are perfect for certain mob spawns and it looks like the spawns just got a little "tweaked" over the years....

While we are making suggestions, can something be done with the million Y troopers around the south eastern zones? Not sure if they are just in one zone or mutiple, c-11 maybe? I think that's the zone but don't think they drop anything so I've pretty much avoided them for years.

Also, would love to see an MB style bunker building near Jeriko where the mutants/launchers spawn - would love for some fighting right outside the city gates! Hell, fill outzone station with them mutants if you want! Would love to see a big group of x/5's running through there just barely making it to the exit doors :)

Dribble Joy
22-10-12, 20:09
Wastelands mobs lvl 80 and over should drop techs, though not dungeon ones.

The other question is positioning. I think the roads should in general be safe. Especially if TG were to be moved back to the canyon, getting out of that zone without hitting a firemob is near impossible.

I'd also feel that mob difficulty should increase away from NC. I wouldn't have high level stuff too nearby. I'd also say that you should not be able to get techs within the city, certainly not on a meaningful farming degree. We need more reasons other than simple loot to get people moving around.
Making missions and runs more integral to runner life and using them to get people going places will make the game world more 'real'.

DER_julu
22-10-12, 20:19
i agree with everything being said, except for the swampmobs - honestly, just leave them there, if all the other things are put in, that would be one of the midlevel spots to level in the open...

Ivan Eres
22-10-12, 21:35
I agree with everything you wrote. This is the best suggestion on this subject yet. Very well thought out and written.

Having DoY as a ruin where the maddest and wildest radioactive monsters live would be the icing on the cake maybe.

\\Fényx//
22-10-12, 21:38
I agree with everything you wrote. This is the best suggestion on this subject yet. Very well thought out and written.

Having DoY as a ruin where the maddest and wildest radioactive monsters live would be the icing on the cake maybe.

Personally seeing as its an abandoned city, i thought it would be a good setting for a mass invasion of anarchy breed squatters :D

dWintermut3
22-10-12, 22:19
I think adding a high-level grinding area to TH would be great since it's so unused now, it would give a reason for players to congregate there again and it has the best apartments and atmosphere in the game.

I would also say that in conjunction with this mobs need to be sorely rebalanced along a smoother level and difficulty curve.

Right now what is there to grind from say /20 or so when you can handle cyclops to the point at which you can handle fire mobs? Nothing, really. Almost any mobs in the 60/60 range will wipe the floor with you if you don't cheat like a bastard: graves, chaos caves, all of them have mobs that will drop a solo spy long before they can do any appreciable damage.

This is where the temptation to exploit comes from, the fact you're treading water in cyclops hell for 40 levels.

Kanedax
22-10-12, 22:31
Making missions and runs more integral to runner life and using them to get people going places will make the game world more 'real'.

Hell, in line with this why not make a mission that can be done once per day that gives a part, only available to like /45 and up. It wouldn't be crazy abusable and you could utilize one of the under used areas for the mission.

DER_julu
23-10-12, 08:12
I think adding a high-level grinding area to TH would be great since it's so unused now, it would give a reason for players to congregate there again and it has the best apartments and atmosphere in the game.

I would also say that in conjunction with this mobs need to be sorely rebalanced along a smoother level and difficulty curve.

Right now what is there to grind from say /20 or so when you can handle cyclops to the point at which you can handle fire mobs? Nothing, really. Almost any mobs in the 60/60 range will wipe the floor with you if you don't cheat like a bastard: graves, chaos caves, all of them have mobs that will drop a solo spy long before they can do any appreciable damage.

This is where the temptation to exploit comes from, the fact you're treading water in cyclops hell for 40 levels.

i tink those SHOULD be left to parties. i mean, the rest of the world is sloable, let people group if they want some caveaction...

\\Fényx//
23-10-12, 08:50
i tink those SHOULD be left to parties. i mean, the rest of the world is sloable, let people group if they want some caveaction...

Glad im not the only one that thinks its daft a solo spy should be able to solo a cave.
Put spies back in their place, as a long range sniper, a stealth&pistol impact attacker or tradeskiller, no more superdroners soloing the world please ... (Yes, i know i have a spy, and believe me, the speed ive levelled it at, solo, was sickening, and majority of that was as a rifle user)

All caves should be a team experience, not somewhere you go solo, and just team to avoid soul light losses when you dont know how to control your own AOE. They should be places that, like they used to pre 2.2, all classes can make a contribution towards completion of them.

Ascension
23-10-12, 09:40
Glad im not the only one that thinks its daft a solo spy should be able to solo a cave.
Put spies back in their place, as a long range sniper, a stealth&pistol impact attacker or tradeskiller, no more superdroners soloing the world please ... (Yes, i know i have a spy, and believe me, the speed ive levelled it at, solo, was sickening, and majority of that was as a rifle user)

All caves should be a team experience, not somewhere you go solo, and just team to avoid soul light losses when you dont know how to control your own AOE. They should be places that, like they used to pre 2.2, all classes can make a contribution towards completion of them.

I couldn't agree more, I've never been to regents legacy before, but for saying its an end game dungeon, why can I walk to the boss room 9/10 without getting injured!? Granted you may bump into some sluggers and meet a gruesome end but often you can walk on by!

Satan2k2
23-10-12, 09:51
Yeah, more mobs on the way to the boss room!

CMaster
23-10-12, 13:50
Just to say that a few things mentioned here are already in game:

DoY as a high level hunting ground - it's already full of leveling areas with high level mobs, for the mission run around there.
I don't want to see the streets turned into this too, partly because I think that the complexity of the main zones could lead to safespot heaven, more importantly because I think that I would rather see the DoY faction zones become the long-discussed "super ops" than just another space with mobs spammed around.

Sympathy from killing high-level anarchy breed: Said high level AB, and missions to gain symp from them already exist - check out Tech Haven for them.

In general, I don't actually think that mob spawns need to be messed with that much. A few more decayed beasts and hazard worms would be good. What needs doing is a decent reward structure for what is already there. Back in the days of TFC, we would do things like go out and hunt Y-Replicants, or do some of the more unusual caves (and other, stranger things, like killing as many of the monk guards in the OZ-9 Church as possible). The thing is, the only reward for doing this was doing it - the XP and especially the loot was pretty dire. Make there be some purpose to killing Y-reps, surface DoY bots, etc and I think a lot will improve (that said, most players will still lack the interest to do anything other than run a prescribed "max efficiency" route through the game).

Torg
23-10-12, 17:17
it appears theres some inequality in mob loot drop. but i dont think the answer is putting more techs and rewards into the monster's bellies, but to cap the drop. preferably not more than one tech part per mob, and only for "cave bosses", and for open area mobs rank 80 and up. firemobs (and reptiles) dont need to be hacked, so they should receive some drop probability malus. i think this could easily be fixed with the next patch.

William Antrim
23-10-12, 18:51
There are half implemented parts of these in game yes Cmaster. However they need to be overhauled in many cases. We need "some" Voice of the resistance networks out in the wastelands in order for us to do the Anarchy Breed missions. Nobody wants to gr out to an op - kill the anarchy breed and then gr back at mission complete - to get a new mission do they?

Doy has high end mobs in there for the woc run yes. I am aware of that as that is what gave me the idea. I mean we should have more than just this. There should be something akin to Regants - IN DOY! Possibly not something that easy but certainly more than just a mission to get a rifle that only 3 people on the server will ever bother with. I admit fully we would see more people up there farming if there were more viable setups to incorporate the weapon but how about we make the area attractive to people NOT just wanting to get that weapon. DoY is a wonderful city when you get to know the way around it. I love the place.

\\Fényx//
23-10-12, 19:43
In general, I don't actually think that mob spawns need to be messed with that much. A few more decayed beasts and hazard worms would be good. What needs doing is a decent reward structure for what is already there. Back in the days of TFC, we would do things like go out and hunt Y-Replicants, or do some of the more unusual caves (and other, stranger things, like killing as many of the monk guards in the OZ-9 Church as possible). The thing is, the only reward for doing this was doing it - the XP and especially the loot was pretty dire. Make there be some purpose to killing Y-reps, surface DoY bots, etc and I think a lot will improve (that said, most players will still lack the interest to do anything other than run a prescribed "max efficiency" route through the game).

So you dont see there being an issue with the way that so many zones are filled with a daft amount of hoverbots above you, and swarms of doy cyborgs and jonny5's on the ground.

Makes the zone useless to hunt at. You dont have the space to kill the doybots, due to the amount on the floor around you. and their all 40/40 to 90/90 mobs that dont drop even worthwhile junk for the likes of 80/xx rifle spies ...

Then theres whole zones with practically nothing in them.

It's this mess out in the wasteland and so many zones that arent worth the hassle for the returns in comparison to the other options that makes it so much more desirable to just go level in a controlled environment like regants, because you know whats there already and the same with the doy tunnels for when you want techs.

I have made a point since the new start, I havent gone into regants once yet since titan opened on any of my characters.



Sympathy from killing high-level anarchy breed: Said high level AB, and missions to gain symp from them already exist - check out Tech Haven for them.

Yeah ? Now tell me when was the last time you picked up a very hard mission to kill 5 Decayed horrors from the citycom ? Because they are in there too. Just the whole kill 5, return to HQ, hand in reward for 1% of the xp you would have gained just staying where you were and shooting another horror, once, makes those missions oh so redundant that people just dont give them a second look or thought anymore.

dWintermut3
23-10-12, 22:54
I agree regarding spies, but as it stands not even a tank can handle a cave without a PPU or LoS games.

\\Fényx//
23-10-12, 23:32
I agree regarding spies, but as it stands not even a tank can handle a cave without a PPU or LoS games.

No Class at all should be able to solo a cave, defeats the purpose of them...

dWintermut3
23-10-12, 23:45
No Class at all should be able to solo a cave, defeats the purpose of them...

The problem is the high reward/time ratio just encourages exploiting.

Team-only content is a bust, they need to realize that.

Doc Holliday
24-10-12, 09:24
Make the caves for teams and make viable alternatives for solo levelling. then Team only content isnt a bust. Said alternatives are all the things Fenix has posted as i think its a brilliant idea. Spread the rares out so its not turn up at a zone and pray a rhino doesnt turn up. :)

\\Fényx//
25-10-12, 19:46
Right,

Thinking outside the box a bit here considering how things have been the last decade.

Would cave instancing be such a bad thing ? Only a team can enter them. This makes them a team only experience. And also stops the whole bitching about there not being enough places etc as a team would have access to any cave at any time. Boost XP for a team relative to the size of a team, while inside a cave.

It would also stop the bitching about different people's approaches. The people that farm the Elfarid Queen then cry bitch moan and cry some more for a reset even though theres a great spawn of spawners etc...

Also i think it would require say 30 seconds for a team to enter it, to avoid people using it like a safezone for pvp fights around CRP etc. That would avoid it being abused for that.

Give a small across the board boost to solo XP, making it less painful to level a character slowly for those that chose not to team up, while fighting anything that isnt in an instanced cave.

To stop a possible work around to this of someone leaving a team once already inside the cave, it would ofcourse remove the team bonus xp, and reduce them to the current rate




comments ? This is just an idea... havent thought it through too much...