> -----Original Message-----
> From: Renaissance Man [mailto:cossettb@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 8:31 AM
> To: EQ_Necromancer@onelist.com
> Subject: Re: [EQ_Necromancer] Just a thought..
>
>
> From: "Renaissance Man" <cossettb@...>
>
> From: Shadow Panther [mailto:shdwpanther@...]
> Sent: Monday, May 10, 1999 9:30 AM
> Subject: Re: [EQ_Necromancer] Just a thought..
>
> >>Another annoying thing that peeved me off was not being
> able to attack
> things in water. Sure, you can cast your spells at them,
> but it has no
> effect at all.<<
>
> This I can understand. In Nek Forrest there are piranhas in a
> river that
> runs under a bridge (first hand experience here) that'll wipe
> out any of the
> newbies in the area should they fall in. If you could kill
> those piranhas
> without going into the water, every newbie would be taking mages and
> leveling up to 12 in 2 days. While I can see your point about
> realism, I
> think that this is better as it prevents cheap and easy experience.
>
The problem inherent in the system is you can still hurt them.
Slowly move into the water, crouching, till your head is under water.
Target a piranha. Walk out. Stand there and cast, following the spell
effects if it runs away. I didn't actually think about this till I saw
someone doing it to crocs in Oasis, but it isn't that difficult at all, I've
tried and done it. Bugged it as well, but I doubt if we'll get a fix for
that anytime soon because it seems to be a very deep game engine type of
thing. What I'd like to see is if a monster CAN'T reach a person through
pathfinding would be to RUN AWAY. Say there's this maximal chase time,
where if they don't close the distance after say one minute or two minutes
or they don't change location after about fifteen seconds (this part would
fix the "Getting Monsters Stuck On Walls" Cheat) they immediately run in the
opposite direction for at least one minute or until they get hit again.
This is still subject to cheating (a SOWed person could run back hit them
again, then run to the safe area) but it would be MORE difficult to do so.
No more could spellcasters run to the safe location and cast spells till the
cows come home. And if the monster ran full tilt away it would be quite
difficult for the spellcaster to catch up and continue. The other benefit
is if it runs across the zone its "monster regeneration" would bring it back
to acceptable levels soon so that all the cheater's work was for naught
(plus the risk involved in hauling across the zone to get that stupid
monster).
Its not a perfect solution, I'm just drawing at straws. I just
don't see walking talking mobs (like elementals) continue to chase down
someone if they can't reach him.
> >>Something else is their apparent psychic connection with
> the planet. I
> mean, seriously, you're completely across the zone from the
> thing and it
> will still know where you're at, even if you're far under
> ground and it's
> top side _and_ all the way on the other side of the zone make
> its way to you
> through maze or 'high water' and begin pounding the snot out of you<<
>
> If there's one thing that does need to be fixed, it is this.
> You can't run
> away from anyone unless you've cast some spell that slows
> your enemy down.
> On top of that, they don't stop unless you zone or they're killed by
> somebody. It'd be nice if the game had a LOS variable for
> monsters that
> figured whether or not they knew where you were at any given point.
>
>
I think you can keep track of a monster from across the zone, then
so can they. I don't see a problem with this since it helps avoid cheating.
Rangers can track any monster or player they want in a zone from anywhere
regardless of if they actually passed by there or not. If the monsters
didn't know where everything was it would lead to a lot of AI problems and
issues. AI just isn't that good yet in games. I think Verant has done an
alright job so far. There's obvious bugs, but at least monsters help each
other out, cast spells right, and do a myriad of other things. In just
about every other game the computer ALWAYS has a complete knowledge base of
the area to work with (like RTS games) but it just "pretends" it doesn't.
Those of you who played Red Alert saw this alot when your secret assault
force of tanks that were going to flank the base while the AI opponent
attacked yours was suddenly attacked BY the enemy force.
Again, if I had to choose between more realism and more gameplay, I
would always choose more gameplay. You want realism? Go play Close Combat
III.
Malark on Karana