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View Full Version : New Aggro System & Other Changes



tarrith_dourden
12-28-2016, 11:07 AM
First let me say, I do not like posting to forums. It's like setting some goats across a troll bridge with a marching band and a neon signs saying "TRIP TRAPPING GOAT!" So I tend not to use them.

This is one of my very few times I have posted. Don't get used to it :P

But I have to say I like the new aggro mechanic changes it's a lot more realistic. Yay for that :)

Onthe other hand I also feel it has had unintended consequences, mostly for new players. New groups/players are getting smashed when a mob group activates and it has a couple if not more champs in them, I know personally a few players that have given up due to the difficulty of champs at low level with no gear. Also new players have less attachment to the game so they are more likely to give up and uninstall in sheer frustration and less likely to complain about it.

While I'm on the topic of champs, I think there's certain quests that would be near impossible to complete at level with a new group, such as the boss fight in Lord of Eyes with the respawning truckload of beholders and mind flayers. It was a challenging quest BEFORE champs. Now I bet it's on many peoples "forget that!" list.

Other quests that suck are the babysit the NPC quests, such as The Rescue in Threnal where the NPC get's two shotted and the quest fails. Cannith Crystal - BOOM, there goes the shard, quest fail. There are many others I could mention, but I'm sure you know the one's I'm talking about.

"Oh, but I solo them blah blah blah"

Hey yeah, that's great, good for you. But I'm not talking about you Mr/Mrs Elite Soloist. I'm talking about noobs that have crappy builds and don't know what they are doing. This game should not be just for elitists.

"But noobs shouldn't play on elite if they can't handle it"

Actually, what I'm really getting at is noobs need time to learn and not get smashed up by champs, especially now with entire mob aggro. So I think champs turning up should be dependant on how many past lives party members have.

Ok next and probably even more controversial is what quests are available to noobs. It's hard enough for noobs to level and build a decent toon as well as get to know what the heck they are supposed to do in a quest. I have found myself leading noob groups because they can't tell what they can and can't do. There's nothing in the quest list that seperates the FTP with the PTP quests without having to consult an outside source. Thats a big fail. I would also suggest that ALL level seven and lower packs become FREE. Let them get a good taste of the game before using the stick, there's plenty of content for noobs to buy in the upper levels.

"But I PAID for those packs!"

Yeah...how many years ago now? :P Anyway so did I, so what? I'm sure you've got your mony's worth out of them and have moved on to bigger and better things like VIP. Let the noobs have them for pete sake :P

"You lead noob goups? LOL U noob!"

Go home troll, I ignore people like you due to the miniscule size of your cerebral cortex.

Well that's enough from me.
T.D.

Oh and Devs. Fix the damned deception, mobs no longer turn around for sneak attacks :P

Amundir
12-28-2016, 11:22 AM
"But noobs shouldn't play on elite if they can't handle it"

Actually, what I'm really getting at is noobs need time to learn and not get smashed up by champs, especially now with entire mob aggro. So I think champs turning up should be dependant on how many past lives party members have.


Right, they need time to learn... by not playing on elite. It's already a mechanic which you clearly understand.

And side note, I don't understand why you don't post on the board more. The anger you seem to have in your post, man, you'd fit right in.

cpw_acc
12-28-2016, 11:31 AM
I don't often post either, but at least this is a thread where the OP didn't start shouting and screaming and sobbing because the aggro fix "broke their build". I've noticed this a lot; some players seem to think the devs intentionally examined their characters and purposefully thought up ways of screwing them over while rubbing their hands together and going "Bwa-ha-ha-haaaa" in an evil tone. Guess that's just a consequence of the number of people who think the universe somehow revolves around them!

Back to reality.

Yes, the aggro mechanic was obviously flawed before and now it has been fixed.

In the long run I think this is for the best, but I agree with a few other (more rational) posters out there who have pointed out that this has had unintentional side-effects. A lot of people, including myself, exploited this bug either consciously or unknowingly. After all, with a ranged character why wouldn't you keep your distance and ping things with arrows (or spells)? The fact that this didn't send every nearby enemy charging towards me was just a useful fact that I'm not sure I even thought about that much before.

The unintended side-effect has, I think, come about because of even the devs not quite considering the original bug in their new quest design combined with the number of people screaming in the forums about DDO being "too easy" (of course it's mostly the veterans who tend to post on the forums, so I hope the devs realise the bias in forum opinions :) ). The result? Quests with more and more numbers of large mobs.

Now that the original bug has been fixed, this has "broken" the design of these newer quests. Perhaps in a group they are still fine, but with solo they because extremely difficult, so maybe the scaling logic can be adjusted to take this into account? (Plus there may still be an issue with the "area of effect" of the aggro-grabbing mechanic if it effects an entire dungeon at once, but I admit I haven't experimented that much)