I'd like to see a mix of everything. Unpredictable until you've spent time investigating or researching.
Some mobs will have to maintain a somewhat static spawn if they are like a king on a throne, but others should spawn randomly throughout an area. For static spawns, you could even have the guards that patrol the area spawn more randomly to keep players on their toes. Not entirely random to make it impossible to gauge spawn times or when and where you can rest, but enough that it does make it more challenging.
I also think having mobs spawn or path less predictably will make the ability to track more important. Often tracker usefulness was mostly only in outdoor zones, but I'd like to see that become of greater importance everywhere. Every class should have important abilities that make them valuable both in and out of combat. In the past, those abilities were left as unfinished ideas like disarming traps in EQ, but it would be great to provides different perks for each class. It would go a long way to making each play session unique, even in an area you've been to many times.
Sometimes it is fun to just sit and camp at a static position where it is nice and safe but when doing a dungeon the spawns and pathing should be somewhat random in order to up the skill required to kill there. There will be some mobs that are static but there should be some that walk all over the place in a random fashion so that pullers and groups will always have to be on the look out for potentional danger. This would increase the fun of XP grinding for me as it won't just be sit there semi-AFK while the XP comes in.
I beleive they explained a little of this in the FAQ's section. From the way things sound, enemy AI should be very dynamic and freeflowing, changing based on various conditions such as time of day, weather and the like. I've been wanting advanced aggro detection and AI for quite some time. The older MMO's used to have such amazing mechanics, which honestly had me fearing for my life at times when my invisible potion began to wear off... Or I forget that an enemy detects by smell, and it follows me back to my campsite and murders me. It was thrilling to say the least.
Burnsmh said: I am curious how PvE grind camping will be. As per the title I will explain what I mean. Static: The mobs in this camp are on a set path to always follow along with mobs that do not move from their position Semi-Dynamic: There are spots where mobs will not move position. There are a few on a strict path to walk once spawned each time. And a few on a fairly random path. Free Roam: Mobs stick to a general area but do not wander far outside the area. However their paths are totally random. Personally I prefer Semi-Dynamic. I like to know there are places to camp static Mobs and patched Mobs but there is danger in that a random could jump in my pull. What are your thoughts on this?
I like the semi dynamic mode myself. Camps spawn at frequent intervals and some mobs wander and some do not. However after watching the streams it seems that either the mobs the group were fighting were either
a- a few levels higher than the team.
b- a little tougher than normal
c- not very soloable for a weaker class
If you are taking on one of those type mobs solo and cannot get a spot where you are sure is not in the path of a new spawning mob it may be a long afternoon to get your corpse back. Adds definately s---.
Would you consider this free roam?
Maybe more like the bully sprinkler mob type lol
Burnsmh said: I am curious how PvE grind camping will be. As per the title I will explain what I mean. Static: The mobs in this camp are on a set path to always follow along with mobs that do not move from their position Semi-Dynamic: There are spots where mobs will not move position. There are a few on a strict path to walk once spawned each time. And a few on a fairly random path. Free Roam: Mobs stick to a general area but do not wander far outside the area. However their paths are totally random. Personally I prefer Semi-Dynamic. I like to know there are places to camp static Mobs and patched Mobs but there is danger in that a random could jump in my pull. What are your thoughts on this?
Honestly, all of them should exist and should exist everywhere and overlap. Nowhere should I be able to predict completely what mobs will be in/around a given area. Sure, after a time I should be able to identify the static mobs but to keep things interesting, to keep players on their toes, there must be that chance where just by happenstance you get extra roamers that show up. Add to this spawn times with some random element and safety will never be guaranteed.
Fun topic.
I would like to see all of those systems OP mentioned. But the one type of system I have always wanted to see done well would be the following.
Tag the world with identifiers.
This is a Tree, Road, Mountain range, Forest
now Tag mroe data into it
This is a palm tree, that is an apple tree. This is a rainforest, that is a jungle. etc
Now take a handful of mobs, lets say a few goblins, and set their spawn location and spawn interval up on a complicated algorithm. When they enter the world these types of mobs don't have a home ... yet.
These mobs are programed to stay away from the things they don't like and to seek out things they do like.
Thats it in a nutshell.
And yes this is a feature EQN was going to have in it ... but then all that nonsense happened *sigh*
There's just a lot of things that could be done with randomised pathing and randomised spawn locations. Too much can make a bad experience, but sometimes it can add a degree of randomness that is exciting.
-Todd