'Stop and smell the roses' (was RE: [MUD-Dev] Winnable MMO)

[Alex Kay]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 20:46:57 -0400, Threshold RPG wrote:

> Dark Age of Camelot made an effort in this direction with their
> "camp bonuses." The problem was that it was not user/group
> dependent. Thus, if one group camped an area for a long time, the
> camp bonus was gone no matter who fought there. I'd consider that
> a step in the right direction, but the needed destination has not
> yet been reached.
 
> In Threshold, the last 100 kills a player participates in is kept
> track of. Whenever they participate in a kill, various xp factors
> are applied based on how many of that exact same NPC are in their
> last 100, as well as how many of the last 100 are in the same
> general category. It doesn't prevent camping, but it is definitely
> a disincentive, or more importantly an incentive to move around.
 
> Another possible way to reduce camping is to have long "respawn"
> times. If it takes 30-60 minutes for something to respawn, you
> won't have people camping it for long. Of course, this means you
> need a LOT of areas for people to fight in if things respawn this
> slowly.

The problem with this whole scenario is it's completely artificial
foundation. Sitting in a spot popping off NPC's while their buddies
stand idly by because they're just out of agro or not "BAF" is
ludicrous. I'm odd like that though, I thought the "trains" in EQ
were great, I liked to think it was as if the denizens of a lair had
had enough and decided to run the invaders out. It's just a pity
they didn't go nuts on everyone more often!

Why not have proper camps/spawns that grow over time? If you pick
off enough outlying scouts, the whole camp becomes alerted and
reacts.  Obliterate the camp and it's gone and can spawn somewhere
else. Make friendly/player towns similar and you have the dynamics
for some very real npc to npc and player interaction over
territory. I think SWG is doing something along these lines, and
maybe even DAoC...

Then again, I'd like to see levels and experience go the way of the
Dodo, along with whack-a-mole repetitiveness.



_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev