Their is just to much open terrain with nothing. We use to have alot more monsters to fight before we got the catacombs. I wonder if the NPC servers could be cranked up without straining them....
there does seem to be a limit in place for the number of npc spawns available, but i doubt its at its limit yet. more then likey NC is trying to keep a certain % of cpu open for additional spawns in new territorys in future updates. just my thoughts
There have been a couple of chronicles where mob spawn locations were specifically reduced. (I don't remember which ones off the top of my head) It does seem to me that all these large open expanses of land that once had a lot of mobs should be repopulated.
I wonder if NC can turn up the amount of monster spawn points?
The reason they did this was because of the catas and necros. Apparently there are only "so many" monsters you can have spawning until it strains the system.
I remember running from Gludio to the Dark elf lands and it was so thick with mobs that I almost didn't make it.
I think it was c3 where the mobs were reduced thanks to the catacombs. Lots of mobs were moved in the newbie lands at least, LEV is huge areas with NOTHING.
I think it was c4 where the mobs were reduced thanks to the catacombs. Lots of mobs were moved in the newbie lands at least, LEV is huge areas with NOTHING.
Those areas used to be exciting back in Prelude. I remember having to PK just to do the spider & mushroom quests!
Anyway, now that the L2 world has evolved maybe they should put farmers or something roaming and tending to the fields just to have something to look at.
Just in a past few weeks one spot went from a thriving mob spawn to a ghost town for me.
We are half way in the life of updates for lineage and have already taken a huge decline in monsters in C4 with the cats... And now with the new land masses it has went down even more. It has to stand to reason that a future update involving more land mass, the spawn points will go down even further.
At the rate we are going, we won't have any monsters left :)
We have 64 bit servers surely they can handle more spawns?
I think it was c4 where the mobs were reduced thanks to the catacombs. Lots of mobs were moved in the newbie lands at least, LEV is huge areas with NOTHING.
Those areas used to be exciting back in Prelude. I remember having to PK just to do the spider & mushroom quests!
Anyway, now that the L2 world has evolved maybe they should put farmers or something roaming and tending to the fields just to have something to look at.
What they should do is revitalize the areas that are already in the game. I understand that they are adding another new area to the game. Lovely. But what about the potential that resides in all the other areas of the game?
What about revitalizing TOI? Cruma? SODA?
New undiscovered places that have now been revealed! Draw some of the older blood there.
I've never liked the idea of having areas that catered to just one lvl range. new players should be able to see Old, established players. It would be easier for them to become "plugged in" to the community and easier for clans to recruit people to their Academies.
Cruma? Core is only the tip of the iceberg. It's been revealed that the real power of Cruma Tower resides much deeper, in the tower depths!
School of Dark Arts? Those Dark elves didn't become magic powerhouses by consorting with low lvl demons. The secret Academy has been discovered where the darkest and most malevolent of Demons were summoned. Gather your group and enter into the preternatural depths... if you dare!
Tower of Isolation is suppose to have 100 floors too.
I agree. there should be a reason for the starter villages to be around. It would also do alot for the Clan Halls in the lower villages to become involved in the server again.
I think it is sad that there isn't more in the Elven villages. Especially when you could have Dark Elf groups looking for Light Elfs and vice versa along with the other things going on there.
Maybe a new mine in the dwarf are where they have awakened some deep evil.
Not sure about the orcs, but I could see skirmishes between them and the puny **-mans that infest our lands!!!!
Maybe a new mine in the dwarf are where they have awakened some deep evil.
Or just have Trasken's egg start waking up and spawning mobs around it that require a decent group to kill?
I'd like to see the increase in racial tensions again. That always makes for fun hunting. I still recall that event that we ran on lionna a while back: Assault on the Light Elven village.
If it hadn't been for a few people outside the level range, we could have had quite a bit of fun that just kept going.
LE starter area is a complete disaster now. Go south of the newbie dungeon - there is nothing AT ALL anymore. The whole lower half of the LE area is completely empty of any mobs. If somebody joins the game now, he can run around for a whole buff round without seeing any mobs...
cruma was once my favorite hunting spot, now its barren, even of unmentionables. mostly do to the overpowered skills the mobs get (mp drain anyone?) and the fact that it has a very low lvl range 40-52, the 3rd floor isn't even for hunting. the 3rd floor could atlest range to 61+
Eathquake and famine I be thinking.
Could be a bad harvest up in Rune and the mops there are forced to migrate down for new hunting and fishing areas.
Actually, what they may want to look at is people in an area and raise the spawn rates a bit where people are and reduce them where people are not hunting. That way, the whole server woudl seem full, but the areas people are, would be fuller.
Either that, or get the yelping dogs out of TI and use those mop slots in the world.
Actually, what they may want to look at is people in an area and raise the spawn rates a bit where people are and reduce them where people are not hunting. That way, the whole server woudl seem full, but the areas people are, would be fuller.
Dynamic spawning. I like it. I've seen this utilized in MUDs I play, and it works quite well. As soon as someone crosses the zone border it adds "x" to the spawn rate. The more that cross, the more that spawn.
Maybe a new mine in the dwarf are where they have awakened some deep evil.
Yeah, now you are talking!
But with each new area they pull mobs from other spots. Thats my big beef.
I lost a nice mob spawn point because of this. Whats next?
Well, the issue here is that unless they add more capacity they are going to continue to move (remove) mobs. However, a larger issue is that if you have "barely" anyone going through these lower lvl areas then there really isn't a reason to keep them.
If we have these areas then they should be used. Heck... even if you don't add extra dungeons you can add areas that are for higher lvl players but that lower lvl players can bypass (if they are careful ;) )
One of my favorite L2 memories is being asked to be part of a party to take down one of the Trees in the Dark Elf Swamp. Back then, they weren't "quest mobs" and therefore people could "try" to take them down.
Our party was wiped but it was great. I always loved being there (seemed to me that the fog was thicker back then too.. I know they changed the area a bit for a variety of other reasons) because there was a sense of danger. You KNEW to stay away from that Evil Tree.
Same thing with Devils Pass (that is what it's called right?) by Dragon valley. Those Fettered Souls were always something to approach with caution.
But if they ARE going to add new areas I say utilize the space they have already made.
Because, quite frankly, to my thinking, it just seems like a dead world.
I'd like to see more mobs, but strategically placed and with respawn rates that increase in direct relationship to the activity in the area.
By the same token, for those areas where there is little to no activity, maybe they can reduce the number to a scant representation, albeit with a warning light on all of our dashboards that reads, "Warning: you are now entering the wilds. Nearby monsters sense your presence and will increase in population." How they balance this out in order to keep the servors functioning smoothly is completely up to them.
It doesn't bother me so much that I can run across most of Aden without seeing mobs at all. What bothers me is going to places like Forsaken Plains where there aren't enough mobs to hunt. The mobs that are there are spread out across vast stretches of land, and they don't respawn nearly fast enough to make the hunt worthwhile in terms of XP and entertainment value. In cases like that, not more than 2 or 3 people can hunt in those areas before you consider it "full." A shame, really.
As for Catas and Necros, I've never spent any length of time hunting there. If they opted to close one or two and shift the mobs back to the fields, I'd sign on to that.
One of my favorite L2 memories is being asked to be part of a party to take down one of the Trees in the Dark Elf Swamp. Back then, they weren't "quest mobs" and therefore people could "try" to take them down.
The best part is that you would hear the thunder of something approaching before you could see them. Out of the dense fog you'd finally make out someone hauling -_-, running for their lives. And then you'd see a phalanx of the Lurkers hot on his trail, headed straight toward you! Good stuff, back then.
I like the whole discussion about mob populations and spawning rates. In a related topic, am I the only one experiencing lower drop rates on the weekends, and even more so during seiges? I am wondering if the servers are configured in a "zero-sum" manner?
I'd rather opt in for more interesting and dynamic mobs. Let a cata worth (what is it, 100 of them?) of social monsters/monster tribe build up a base of operations somewhere in an otherwise "empty" land every now and then and let the players tear it down ... if they dare. No respawn. If one of such bases goes down, a new one pops up somewhere else a few days later.
Raid targets, not raid bosses. Add in some interesting (and partially destructible) terrain features that have interesting synergy effects with the particular monster type's skills to each base to make each one unique and requiring some thought. Make every mob drop something, not just the "boss" to make it worthwhile. And, finally, loosen the level zoning a bit for them - yes, a level 50-60 mob base can appear in the southern Elf lands.
... and finally, get them some RTS-like AI, so whoever tries to take them down, better brings a lot of people with them or need to use tactics.
I miss how the mobs were back in OB and Prelude. They were all over the place, and they weren't mix-matched. Mushrooms were X Here. Dryads were X here. Orcs were X here. If you needed to fight a certain mob for a quest, you didn't have to needlessly kill anything else.
Probably was the same for all the other areas, but I don't remember them :p
I think it's understandable that the newbie areas are not that packed with mobs anymore, as not so many players hunt there (at least not for long, most ppl. leave after a few days anyway and move on).
But Sov's idea with re-doing existing landscapes is a very good one indeed! I would love to see some new dungeons or hunting spots in old areas.
Another point is that there are quite some wonderful places that are full of mobs, but noone is hunting there for different reasons.
For example SWAMP OF SCREAMS: A deadly place, impossible to lvl there efficiently, XP isn't any better than in nearby FOD (easy hunting), no special drops force you to go there. A wonderful designed place that is totally barren most of the time.
Same with some old dungeons like DEVILS ISLE. One of the most atmospheric places in game! A great place to make a tourist-trip to, but noone is hunting there, it takes forever to get there and than the XP plain and simple sucks.
I would like to see an XP bonus for places that are hard or time-consuming to reach, it would make sense. With all the catas that you can access in 2 min. from priest, why should anyone go to places like GARDEN OF EVA, DEVILS ISLE, CRUMA TOWER etc etc that take you 1 or 2 buffrounds to reach, and when you get there, the XP isn't even as good as on any regular field-hunting spot or cata. So its no wonder these places are lifeless and barren.
I dont understand why the 15% XP bonus was given to easy accessible field-mobs, and why there's no advantage given to places that require some time/effort to reach in first place, rendering those wonderful areas into next-to-useless eye-candy :eek:
I know, but still it takes forever to reach the core of them both. When unlucky in GoE you even feel like you got a red light wave in citytraffic - when every door closes right before your eyes and you have to sit and wait all the time.
I think it's understandable that the newbie areas are not that packed with mobs anymore, as not so many players hunt there
Yes, it is understandable, i mean the decrease in total number of mobs in lowby areas is ok, but why they had to space the mobs out so much? It takes a hell of a time to run from one mob to another one on the other side of the map. I`d say they should, like, cluster the mobs together, but that would obviously leave the whole other area unpopulated and bearing the impression of dead grounds...
I was reading a compilation of things on this a while ago, there was a promo that NCsoft did with microsoft about moving to 64bit and saying they did it to increase the ammount of mob spawns and items in the game (was a promo for MSSQL 2005 or something). That was a change they made in C4, im not exactly sure what limit they have on it but i can see the amount of mobs being a tremendous strain on resources, not really on processor power but on RAM alone would put a limit on things. How many mobs are in L2? 4 or 5 thousand different types? and then there are multiples of each of those mobs...... yer, that would limit things a fair bit :P
The spawn points have decreasing over the past few weeks and should be addressed. We need more monsters in this game.
I passed tanor canyon the other day and it looked kind of barren. I thought someone was doing aoe. Then I passed it another time and it looked the same. I guess they got culled. Watch out, the wraiths are coming for your mobs.
One thing that would work well would be some kind of revamp of the old zones like mentioned earlier but in a different way:
SODA could have all it's current mobs placed on the top floor and have higher level mobs placed in it's lower floors. You could make a short story like bigger demons have taken over SODA or maybe something more global that whatever next epic RB gets added might have strongholds in many dungeons now.
Having dynamic mob spawning could help a lot too. There are a lot of zones that aren't frequently visited. Maybe do something like leave a few of each mob-type in the zones (extremely scathered) and when you kill 'em it activates a massive spawn. If after 30 mins no mobs have been killed, unspawn the extra mobs. A little bit like the timak orc troops, except not having them set-up as group mobs but solo mobs. This would enable you to put *some* mobs everywhere, and enough mobs so people could hunt everywhere.
On a side-note, having some (usually aggro) higher level mobs in every zone could add a definite sense of danger. In a level 20 zone you could have a level 30 2x or 4x hp mob that ran around. Have it's aggro range pretty low and make it big enough that you can see it coming if you pay attention, so you always have to watch over your shoulder.
cruma was once my favorite hunting spot, now its barren, even of unmentionables. mostly do to the overpowered skills the mobs get (mp drain anyone?) and the fact that it has a very low lvl range 40-52, the 3rd floor isn't even for hunting. the 3rd floor could atlest range to 61+
Yeah. Cruma is ridiculous. I brought my SE (level 73) into Cruma to buff and the Liangma mobs that are dark, dark blue (by about 25 levels) were able to drain MP successfully every single time! What a joke.
Those I had to kill with a quickness when hunting in Cruma or they would drain me to nothing in about 5 seconds. They are worse than when snipes were OMG stop everything we have snipes
In such a case, if NO ONE has been in the zone where mobs are, start despawning mobs, the moment someone steps in, spawn mobs within line of sight. The moment another approaches this same area, double up the spawn. If the mobs are being killed quicker then they are spawned and none are up, spawn more. At which point, the number of mobs spawn in that area should not exceed 150% of the normal.
This way, currently dead areas will remain mobless until someone is around it, and when they leave, they'll despawn again. And that in populated areas, that the extra capacity available due to despawning no current players zones, you can increase spawn amount or spawn rates.
Hm... can anybody answer my question? I`m new to the game, but I have already seen a thread (on a latest event) where they say that a group that maintains NA servers cannot do any updates of the actual gameplay, even the events are to be implemented first on korean servers and only then transfered to NA servers. In that case, what is the point of user suggestions on a gameplay? NA group cannot implement them and Korean team will never read these threads. Am I right?
Not entirely. At least, that is not what we have been told.
We have been told that the feedback from NA has had influence on some of the updates that have occurred. Though, a majority of the L2 that we see first showed up in Korea. Also, not everything that pops up in Korea comes here (Which can be both bad and good).
Over all, it's really hard to say how much power our suggestions have, but the NA Devs still encourage it, and want it, and clan they use it so I figure that it can't hurt to keep giving feedback. We do want to show them that we care about the game we play, if we didn't care enough to give feedback, what would the point even be of keeping this thing up and running?