Wastelands Update: Phase 1

[Virtus]

Hey all, I've finished the first section of the wastelands update and would like to invite you all to test it out. You'll need a combat character between /41 - /45ish to get the most relevant testing as any higher and the rewards won't be scaled so well for you and lower cannot start the mission chain.

All Axx, Bxx, Cxx & Dxx zones updated and these include:
- All wasteland mob ranks increased (a chart will follow with suggested player ranks for each zone)
- The location and types of mobs that spawn are all updated (e.g. each sector is made up of areas and a particular mob type will occupy that area - some areas overlap and conflict between NPCs can break out at times)
- Some additional buildings, decorations, etc placed so please explore
- Removed random obstructions from the road - there are one or two deliberate NPC roadblocks though
- Wastelands should feel more dangerous to just run in a straight line through and using the roads / vehicles should feel more beneficial
- OP layouts changed

Additionally, a new group has been introduced call the "Pathfinders". This NPC group becomes a loosely structured mission path to guide progress through the wastes. The rewards for the missions give XP to your main skills (e.g. a Tank gets rank appropriate amounts of STR and CON XP from the missions) and a shiny weapon for your class.

Please begin your journey at OZ Station where some new NPCs are waiting to greet you!

In particular I'd find it very helpful for feedback relating to:
- Mob HP & dmg they inflict to you
- XP rewards from mission

Chart of wasteland difficulty: https://imgur.com/zuV0Ydv

Happy Hunting!

[brand]

I have created a new rifle pe on the testserver and checked out some sewers in the city and have done the pathfinder missions from crest village.
mob hp overall seem to be fine. and mobs finally do some dmg again. the outcasts in the wastelands and the preachers don t deal any dmg.
the A,B,C,D sectors in the wastelands aren t that scary yet. the Y.Commander replicants rang 120 are a joke. but i like the dmg from the Enforcer mutants. XP from the pathfinder mission seems to be fine.
with a new created char the easy sewers with the dogs and bigger rats are fine but i couldn t find lower lvl mobs(not that i needed them but just for other new players maybe). i rly dislike the sewers in pepper park with the spiders and dogs instead of the mutants. easy sewers from plaza seem to be harder than pepper park sewers. i think the low level/medium missions from the city term give too much xp and credits. but very hard wasteland mission seem to be fine.

now the question is what will the wasteland be there for. i mean lvling in cave will be most likley make more sense and drops from mobs are useless since there is no player economy and players don t need to farm for equipement/supplies after getting like 100 tech parts to trade them for some weapons.

[Virtus]

Thanks for taking the time to test and provide feedback, I really appriciate it.

Glad you like the mob HP, damage still needs to be finalised but I'll bare the ones in mind that you have covered when I do that.

Did you check Viarosso sewers as they are the Very Easy missions, or did you mean Easy targets that are a lower rank but still classes as Easy?

I found that the spiders in PP hit like a truck but don't always attack - will likely increase their frequency of attack. Mutants in PP have moved to the mainsewers under PP now.

The vision for the wastelands is to offer a more progressive and intuitive experience so the further you move from a start city the more predictably dangerous it is. Also offering an alternative to farming a dungeons as a more even spread of enemy ranks being distributed and these Pathfinder Settlements are the beginning of that. This patch will most likely only include those but there is room to expand other areas of the map new small bottle stories to make the world feel more alive.

One that comes to mind is A10 and the criminals vs mutants fight there around the building and some narrative around that - this is still just an idea though.

[brand]

ah no. i haven t checked out the sewers in viarosso. i assumed that they d be the same as in plaza. good to know.
spiders in pp sewer maybe also miss a lot. maybe they do a lot of dmg i don t know. wasn t there for too long. but i think the dogs there at least do less dmg than in the easy sewers. just did an aggi mission in pp. the spiders in that one oz sewr close to the gr seem to be okay. i just meant back then when i started nc the pp sewer with the mutants in the green light were bit scary back then. was for me the coolest zone in nc.

so i shouldn t expect any changes in mobs droptable for the wastelands etc. just some more mission.