[MUD-Dev] Spawning and quests (was Sony ban)

[Jeff Freeman]

At 04:33 PM 4/17/00 -0400, Paul Schwanz - Enterprise Services wrote:
>
>> >Jeff said:
>> But I don't think its a good idea for EQ to do that for a couple of
reasons:
>> 
>> 1. The dungeons are still designed so that there's the "everything ahead is
>> too hard and everything behind is too easy".  So you spend 45 minutes

>> 2. People are jerks.  Or rather, some are, and allowing them to turn off a

[and add to this the point from a previous post:  3) Some people are
clueless.]

>I would differentiate between a system in which mobs spawn only _when_
heroes 
>are not present and one in which mobs spawn only _where_ heroes are not
present.

If there are a finite number of locations where a particular mob (in EQ,
THE mob that has THE magicthingie), then I think it will take players a
matter of minutes to figure out where those locations are.  So instead of
camping in one spot for the mob, they'll move back and forth.  Or five of
them will camp five spots (to prevent the critter spawning there), just
running to the sixth spot periodically to see if the critter has spawned
yet (and to politely run off any other players that may have stumbled in
there).

If there are not a finite number of locations where THE mob with THE
magicthingie spawns, then EQ would need to redesign all their dungeons, I
think... because that's sort of the way they have them setup.

But that's in regard to camping for kewl lewt.

With regard to the dungeon design in which the mobs spawn like this:

area one:  mega wimp.
area  two:  slight wimp.
area  three: a mob "just right" for you.
area four and beyond:  Instant death.

(I'm being generous and calling them "areas", but don't get the impression
they're large.  "Room" would be more accurate).

Having the stuff from room four and beyond spawn in (say) room one, two or
three, wouldn't make the game more fun for you.  If room one has Instant
Death in it then you'll never make it to room three, and that particular
mob might be in room nineteen this time anyway.

The dungeons just aren't big enough (for 1500 to 2000 players) for you
spawn mega-wimps in random spots through rooms one through ten, "just
right" mobs in rooms 10 through 15, then you're done, because there are no
more room.

Issue being, there's one mob or one VERY small area in this entire dungeon
that has a mob you can kill, and that you'll actually get xp for killing.
It can't be spawned somewhere else because there's no where else to spawn it.

Ideally, as a player, I'd like to be able to travel to a remote dungeon,
explore the thing from top to bottom fighting various critters all the way
down.  This just isn't possible in EQ (unless you're so high level that you
can kill everything in the dungeon, in which case you might as well trot
down to the bottom and kill the bossmonster over and over - which is what
happens).

If the dungeon could be explored from top to bottom by a person/party of
(say) level X, then it wouldn't really matter too much where or how the
things spawn.  I think most people would rather move through the dungeon
when they're ready to kill something else than to sit and wait for the
thing they just killed to respawn.

Rather, the problem is you have no choice.  There's one mob (or one small
area - say eight mobs) you can kill.  Then you can either pack it up and go
home, or wait for them to respawn.  If they're not going to respawn where
you are, then your option has been reduced to packing it up and going home.
 You can't move ahead - the next area is too hard for you.  You can't move
back - that area is too easy.  And highly likely that the areas "ahead" and
"behind" are all wiped-out already by other players anyway.

I think the problems that need to be addressed all need to be addressed at
the same time:  Fixed mobs spawning in fixed locations (and with fixed
loot, because you have static quests), dungeons with mobs ranging in levels
from way too easy to way too hard - greatly encouraging the practice of
sitting on or near a zone border so that when the inevitable train of way
too hard mobs comes through, you can escape.  Aand no room to put more mobs
which prevents you from spawning the mob "sometimes here, and sometimes
there" - there is no "there" to spawn the mob

And maybe the overcrowding is too, I think, a part of the issue.  You can't
spawn the mob where people are not in EQ.  There are people *everywhere*.

--
 http://dundee.uong.com/




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