Suggest fun layout of desert mobs & terrain props

[Mako]

Read through, but pretty tired (5am) so will respond fully tomorrow.

Just a three quick things.

1. How are quests going to work? Meaning if all mob are grouped individually does that mean someone would need to kill groups of 5 mob per Item required? Or will the adventuring areas still have mob bunched up for easier access?

2. Will you also be adding props? (Didn't see it mentioned in post) Like the WatchTowers that are currently planned in place of the random Blacksmith found in the desert.

3. Any plans of adding mini-bosses in these grounds or even further into the "Adventure" zone with some nice Normal/Rare gear.

Think you have done a great job here, and put a lot of thought into this (doesn't feel/look rushed).

Will bring in many factors/excitement throughout the "Levelling Grounds" and overall will be good not to see the same mob within the same area constantly.

1. When I say grouped, I don't mean that when you pull one you pull them all. I meant they will be nearby 4 or 5 similar type mobs instead of in masses of 20 like they are now. The leveling area mobs will all be able to be pulled individually. In addition at least 90% of mobs in the desert as a whole will be able to be pulled individually. Soloing is the primary goal here. There will still be a small handful of group oriented activities though where you will be dealing with more than one mob at a time.

2. Props will be added. Phase II will involve both implementing individual quests and creating mob camps with types you would expect to see in organized groups (gnolls, goblins, lizard people) in levels of complexity from a few mobs at an encampment up to 20 mobs defending a structure. In addition our two group dungeons will have defensive structures built around them (imagine a crumbling stone maze around cata leading to an inner graveyard where you'll find the portal). I plan to leave mostly aggroless paths for adventurers to discover and travel to get to individual adventures quicker as well as a few groups of leveling mobs peppered here and there. This should entirely fill the desert. Once Phase II is finished the desert should really come "alive" with props, mobs and quests, but we will be able to take a look around at that point and decide where further 'beautification' can take place.

3. Every group will have at least one "Stronger mob" wether its a prime mob/mini-boss or other. Lesser mobs drop inferior gear, "stronger mobs" drop normal gear. There will be very few opportunities to get rare gear and only in the most highly complex of adventures at the discretion of Admin.

[Mako]

@admin
Including a couple of clear pathways isn't a bad idea.
Now I need to ask where we want these so I can include this in the map?
I'll let others respond and then I'll add a couple of red scribbles to the map above in the morning and we'll see what people think.
Off the top of my head I see one going south from Camp C, Camp A and another south from closer to desert city. Also east of arch I see one heading north between the skeleton and 7 rocks (or if we want two, then one from by desert city and another west of the 7 rocks).

Having every 8th or 10th grinding mob as a "harder mob" is a perfect opportunity to include drops into the mix. If we make these mobs 1.5x scale with an HP bump at the same level as the normal mobs but with an inferior loot table, then suddenly players are challenging themselves to go after the harder choice (instead of sleep grinding). Not to mention if you wanted to you could go grind on the adventuring camps as well, it would just take longer.

As of right now I forsee at least 4 easy to conquer camps, two midrange and one hard for each level in adventure area. In addition to this there will be a couple of particularly complex camps (one for lvl 10-13 and one for lvl 14-16 groups of 3) with 20+ mobs at each camp. It will be something like kobolds will have 3 different levels of mobs and service lvl 11-12 players, maybe goblins will take the next 2 levels, and gnolls the next 2 (haven't thought about the details of this yet). Then unused races, (maybe saving them for jungle?) can be mixed in here and there to fill percieved gaps.

If easy to conquer camps have 3-5 mobs, mid have 7-10 and hard have 10-15 then thats alot of mobs dropping inferior loot tables with a % of those dropping normal loot tables. This doesnt include the two group camps, dungeons, and "harder" grinding mobs all with loot as well.

This might be a little optimistic we'll see, but I've spent many an hour in the desert and I really think we can pack alot of content in their with space to burn.

That being said, these are always only suggestions! I hope others have suggestions too

[BodMasta]

Sounding great! You jumped in straight at Phase I not explaining what each Phase would entail which threw me off a little with what I had mentioned. (Jumping in from what I could see missing)

Guessed that they would be soloable and not technically right next to each other but just wanted to keep in mind that certain mob/groups with quests item/part of killing quest etc would need to be closer to each. As even when they are right next to each other atm players get tiresome of running around for quests. (Just going by what I've heard previously)

Huge potential if pulled off correctly, really hoping this works out. Atm there is no structure to the Desert (still like it was when first added to beta, except more mob etc) with this it should as you say bring the whole thing to life.

The only reason I mentioned more props was because the people I have spoken to IG and Out have said that the long stretches of sand are to bare, no kind of terrain/flow, which should really be looked at. With this though seems you have mostly if not everything covered.

[ripsaw]

Sounds great, I was thinking maybe only humanoid mobs drop gear, and animal mobs drop something to collect or kill number for quest and quest giver gives reward gear. I just think its weird to get a chest piece from a scorpion. I love the mob camps with mini boss and group activities too can't wait to see what will look like.
Thanks

[admin]

@admin
Including a couple of clear pathways isn't a bad idea.
Now I need to ask where we want these so I can include this in the map?

Your suggestions sound good I just need to see on map (hard just from text). I don't want to suggest to much to not limit creativity. I will try to limit my suggestion to mechanics like number of needed gear pieces and some small suggestion like clear paths.

[Mako]

@Ripsaw your right on target, the general idea is that equipment drops primarily from mobs you would expect to be carrying it (if you notice there are several 'races' represented that wear armor and swords other than humanoids). To spice things up a bit, there will be some 'harder' leveling mobs that will also drop a few pieces, but in general 'natural' type mobs wont drop gear.

@Bodmasta you make a particularly good point about preventing quests from just being a bunch of running. Personally I hate that and I hope we can make quests more interesting/rewarding in general. If there is any one quest that is proposed that seems like it is falling to this fate say something and we can figure out how to work it better. I haven't poured through all the proposed quests yet but I'm personally a huge fan of putting quest chains in so for any quest more complex than kill these mobs/collect these items if an NPC sends you somewhere far away, it will be generally to meet another NPC that will facilitate advancing the quest more local to where the quest is taking place (and at the end of chain return to original NPC).

Below are the clear paths I propose to reach the adventuring areas. The actual width of the paths will need manually determined by running characters of appropriate levels up the paths. For instance going south from Camp A a level 11-12 should be able to get through pulling 1 aggro at most. For the entrances on either side of the path from from Camp C we would test with a level 13-14 and closest to Desert City it should be appropriate for a level 15-16. Once your in the adventuring areas it will be your own responsibility for seeing the levels in a group and determining a good distance to keep (a level 12 might not want to sneak between two level 15-16 groups.. would need to find another way around or come back in a level or two):

Desertphase1_2.jpg (372.08 KiB) Viewed 188 times

Just an fyi I think the adventuring zone east of arch and on the North side of path will be for levels 14-16 thats why I choose to put the entrance further away from arch.
11-16 will all be represented on the south side of the path.
Also the red line around Camp B just indicates the mob free zone around it.

[admin]

Patch location look ok. I think player in the centre of the path should not pull any aggro if level is same.

So for level 11 players with level 11 mobs there should be no aggro in very center of the patch.

[Sillygirl]

Lots of good work here, but let's set milestones for action:
1) mob placement
2) loot tables
3) quests
4) beautification

Why? Devs won't get too bogged down and we can test incremental.

[Mako]

@Admin I will add in mobs to the grinding zone left of arch first in a bigger size map for you all to take a look at my plan before I do area east of arch. I will probably get to this later today or tomorrow depending on what my girl has planned for today.

@Sillygirl(exor) I see 1, 2, and 3 of your milestones happening simultaneously. The plan is for a group of mobs, linked to a quest and loot tables to go in all together. Then work on the next group.. etc. 4 will also be added with the others, but revisited as needed (new suggestions/FPS problems/area feels too plain).
Personally my milestones are:
1. Create the 'grinding zone'
2. Add the camps one at a time with quests and loot included
3. Beautification

Camp A

We all already know this spot. A group of NPCs just kind of hanging out for no particular reason..

CampA.jpg (83.27 KiB) Viewed 180 times

Behold the new Camp A (someone come up with names for these things!):

CampA_outside.jpg (163.48 KiB) Viewed 180 times

CampA_inside.jpg (29.69 KiB) Viewed 180 times

On the left side of the building you see I drew in a fence I was thinking something like this:

fence.jpg (53.91 KiB) Viewed 180 times

If we like this design and proceed the inside of the building is currently empty and would be filled with a few wooden tables and benches/chairs/stools. You might find drinks and a few food items on the tables. On one of the walls there would be a "bar" with various potions and drinks on it and behind it on the ground. Behind the bar we might see a few sacks of grain. One NPC would be back behind the bar "bartender" and the others would be found both inside and outside the building. Outside near the well could be some boxes and barrels against the wall of the building.
What we would still need: tables, benches/chairs/stools(just 1 type not all 3), bar, food items, drink items, grain bags, boxes/barrels. I'm sure all of this can be scavanged from available models(best place to find a table and chairs? don't remember seeing any off the top of my head). I havent looked through any of the creative common files yet but I might look for a nice metal beer stein, goblet, or jug of ale model their.
UPDATE: I found stools, and drink models in seavillage. We would just need a table. Perhaps we could just stretch the model of the tables against the wall in seavillage bar to make it less skinny. This would cover all needed props.

I chose this building model out of 4. Two of the others (one from desert city the other from tree village) already had a finished interior which would conflict with what I'm trying to accomplish here. The other was:

CampAotherchoice.jpg (45.68 KiB) Viewed 180 times

This building seems meant for greater purposes though, I'm sure we'll see it again sooner or later.

[BodMasta]

Looking good only skimmed through but on way back home now.

Also im in agreeance with Mako, didnt have time to post.

The devs (being mostly admin) will be even more bogged down if you think about it, they would need to add all Mob, then get discussion on Drops then go seperately add gear, then quest discussion go back to same mob add quest items etc. Best to do all 1+2+3 together straight off. Or at least 1 and 2.