The mentioned precedent discussions have produced a few points which were aknowledged by players and the development staff both as more or less important to be retweaked.
1.) Due to the new proper intelligence of creatures, the general difficulty of the worldmap has increased
2.) Loot & Maps have been recognized as imbalanced before, and more so now
3.) Astray strong creatures as well as a high monster density can make it difficult for new players to even stay alive, leading to their frustation
I will address all the mentioned points and hope for a productive discussion, as well as for a success of the proposal at a whole.
MAP and CREATURE DENSITY
I propose to impose the following areas when it comes to which type of creatures (lvl) are spawned.
BLUE - No creatures / no hostile creatures at all.
GREEN - Newbie friendly zone, only up to lvl 2 hostile creatures. Very sparse spawnpoints. Generally, monsters should be able to be fought one by one.
YELLOW - Advanced areas. Only up to lvl 5 creatures. A normal (but lower than the current) monster density. Generally, no more than three creatures should charge the characters at once.
RED - Advanced areas. All levels of creatures spawned, with a possible higher density. (No more than currently)
Dungeons should begin with green, or yellow levels, and upon advancing through them, continue to red areas.
The thoughts behind the idea.
1.) The worldmap is a basically more or less friendly place. Very difficult areas can not be run by accidently, because they are mainly in dungeons.
2.) Having very strong creatures far away from cities will reduce the number of strong creatures lured in front of cities. (see Son of Mountain in front of Cadomyr today, bad overall, no fun, not newbie friendly at all, not lore friendly at all - situation should not occur by accident, but only during quests.)
3.) Large areas with no creatures at all, allowing players to gather most of their materials / craft in peace. (With the game concept idea in mind that not every character has to be a fighter to get along.)
LOOT and TREASURE MAPS
One of the big mishaps that has sneaked into the game is a total imbalance of risk and reward while fighting monsters. When crafting, outcomes are predictable. Math can be done (get material x, y, z -> get item q). Buying as well as selling prices are known. The loot while fighting creatures as it is right now is more or less frustrating, compared to crafting. Unholy Acolytes for example are rather difficult foes, and only sometimes drop a Nightplate, which can be sold for a decent amount of money.
I am not proposing to have all creatures drop the same kind of items, but to have them drop a comparable amount of money in coin or items, depending on creature level and their overall difficulty.
Monster drops should at least pay for repairing armor and weapons, making is possible for fighters to not lose money while learning. Crafters have the choice to buy raw materials, or to gather them. Meaning, they are able to learn their craft while not losing a lot of money in the process.
However, creatures should not drop top level equipment. Even the best creatures should only drop <80% armors and weapons, and no better than very good quality. Monster loot should be mainly focussed on coin (while dropping only coin would rid looters of emcumberance, which would be unfair again), so fighters actually have to buy armor and weapons from crafters more often than not.
Better armors and weapons, as well as higher quiality should be reserved to maps.
Maps have to get a complete overhaul as well. A giant treasure map, possibly spawning a Son of Mountain, or multiple dragons and high level creatures only yielding 15-20 gold coins of worth is a bad joke. Small and average treasures should yield equipment and coin making them worth digging up, while one to three players should suffice for lifting those treasures.
Big and giant maps (spawn might have to be adjusted as well) should require groups between three and eight players to be lifted, and drop large amounts of money, as well as a predictable amount of rare and magical equipment, and possibly gems.
Proposed priority of different points in the proposal, on a scale from 1 to 10.
Map and creature density - 8
Creature drop / loot overhaul - 5
Retweaking treasure-maps - 2
I hope this summarizes all the discussions of the past days correctly.
Regards
