All Players are Raid Suspended Until Further Notice

[baalzy]

Originally Posted by Hitpoint [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Variance is absolutely necessary, it DOES stop spawn camping. Once again, the only mob that gets socked is VS and even then it's not nearly as bad as it could be. Variance is just too long right now, especially with extended windows. I'm sure the GMs will tone it down. +- 8 hours with 30% chance of 4 hour extensions. Something like that. I didn't put much thought into these numbers, just an example. People need to be unsure of when a mob will spawn, and the spawn time needs to be long enough that people are unwilling to wait for it.

I kinda think FFXI's way of doing dragons would work.

The ruleset was basically FTE, although the mechanics of the game worked a bit different. When someone attacked a mob it would become claimed and the game prevented anyone outside the group/alliance from being able to perform any action on the mob. People still did stuff to screw with this, all of which were bannable if caught, but it stopped a lot of monopolization from happening. Some guilds would get on hot-streaks and end up claiming 5-6 of the good mobs in a row, but it never lasted for months on end. There was also a random 2-4 second or so period where the mob was untouchable when it spawned (japanese peeps used to have a huge advantage cause of lower ping, this was introduced to give other geographical areas a fighting chance)

Additionally, they had variance but it was limited. Respawns were 21-24 hours after mob death (most raid mobs, not all. Some were 48-72 hour windows if i recall, those were rarely actively camped and people would rush to mobilize for them on pop) and happened in 30 minute 'windows'. 21 hours after the dragon died, it had a chance to pop. If it didn't pop exactly 21 hours later it would have another window in 30 minutes (so 21.5 hours after death) and if it didnt pop then, another chances 30 minutes later. Finally if it hadn't popped prior it would be guaranteed to pop exactly 24 hours after death.

This did multiple things. It allowed casuals opportunities at these mobs because the potential spawn windows were easily tracked and people could do them during the times they played. The FTE system would reward people who had more at the spawn by giving them more chances at getting first engage, but smaller groups still had an opportunity. The window was constantly rotating allowing guilds in different parts of the worlds opportunities (holding the mob to keep its window within a certain time-zone was against the rules, programmed in with a 'rage' mode where the mob went super saiyan if it wasn't dead within 60minutes of being engaged) and it was pretty clear who had the mob. If the people attempting the fight wiped then whoever picked it up after it became 'unclaimed' got to continue the fight.

This could be implemented fairly easily, FTE code would just have to make the mob immune to any additional agro techniques for 5-10 seconds after FTE (still fastest javelin in the west, but at least it keeps people from being added to the hatelist because they were only 1ms slower than someone else). It would also mean there'd be times that mobs had overlapping windows and most guilds would have to pick their more desired target and then race to the next if it hadn't popped yet.

Sure, it's not-classic, but it keeps poopsocks from lasting more than 3 hours in one location. It makes alt-armies less of a requirement for smaller groups of people to attempt to participate and it. It ensures windows occur at least on occasion for people in ALL time zones.

The hardcores who can have kill squads on 24 hrs/day will be getting their large majority of mobs, but you're still competing to get it. Nothing is handed to you. Your opportunity to engage the mob is determined by your 'skill' in clicking throw at the right time coupled with your presence at the target.

This is definitely more hardcore of a solution and I can see many of the casuals not wanting it, but it does prevent monopolization and after the Devs put in a bit of work to set it up it doesn't require much of a hands on approach. A couple seconds of the mob being untouchable (meaning noone gets added to the hate list) after FTE to ensure everyone sees the message and no confusion about which guild has control of the mob should prevent most 'whoops' from happening.

Cries of snipes are lessened because the mob doesn't ping about killing 5-10 other people and never reset because they were added to the hate list milliseconds after FTE was engaged. Meaning if you get FTE but don't have sufficient force to stay alive, FTE will reset when they all die.