Creature density on xanadu compared to servers

[bdew 2,462]

 

The data is taken as of a few minutes ago from MRTG.

 

As you can see aggro creatures on xanadu have ~4.5 times lower density than say Deli or Cele. Peaceful population is twice less dense than most servers but actually higher than indy.

 

The last change seems to have improved the situation but not that much, we need a much higher cap on animals.

 

Edited July 10, 2014 by bdew

[Marshlander 188]

As I understand it, the cap is almost 3x higher than the current aggro count (not going to look for a reference just now but this has been quoted a couple of times in similar threads) - whether that number is acceptable is debatable. Apparently the server just couldn't keep up with spawning creatures (perhaps a Xanadu-specific optimization to engage the spawn routine seldomly?).

 

As far as I can see, the spawns are slowly catching up again, but it will take a couple of weeks to arrive near the creature cap.

[Smilingcat 442]

Why do we even need more creatures on xanadu? If anyone needs great hunting, visit servers with higher density?

I think with all the new folks roaming Xanadu they are glad to not get eaten every second tile.

I am at least glad to travel relatively safe.

[Lycanthropic 523]

I think the new folks are starting to feel the problem if no fur-providing agros are around and hardly any pelt-agros to (there are dogs, true),

On the plus side, you have allot of "older" players who are rather helpfull in providing pelts and furs (that they shipped from the old servers), but for a more secluded newbie the lack of fur and pelt can seriosly mess with several core-newbie-elements of wurm (sleepbonus and blacksmithing).

[Zakerak 442]

Last time I saw aggressive animal in my local (on Xana) it was 7 days ago, one poor brown bear.

 

Yesterday I was fishing for hours more less AFK and most aggressive being there was catfish ... yes, any stronger aggressive animal can easily kill my poor noob toon, but this situation is ... ehm ... boring?

That 49k are hiding somewhere on sides of tall mountains or are in water in form of sharks.

 

We can call Xanadu "safe server", suitable for everyone, who do not like fighting now.

[Nachtmahr 96]

Why do we even need more creatures on xanadu? If anyone needs great hunting, visit servers with higher density?

I think with all the new folks roaming Xanadu they are glad to not get eaten every second tile.

I am at least glad to travel relatively safe.

 

With Xanadu being the size it is you have to travel multiple hours to just get to the server border if you are not exactly on the east/west coast.

Living inland makes that even worse... and Wurm without at least some aggros scaring the crap out of everyone is boring

[Steveleeb 1,067]

50,000 of those 100k passive mobs are unicorns.
 

only half as many aggro mobs?

 

well that's wrong isn't it, this is PvE

I know they're ramping up the numbers because we don't know what the servers can handle but why overbear the passive mobs?
and why are there so many god damned unicorns.
They're symbols maybe? due to the `virgin server` maybe.
nice, it's boring now, please replace them with hell hounds

Currently there's no reason for a templar. less money for rolf.
nonsensical

*shrug*

I guess he'll increase the count when the surge in profit abates. squeeze a little more milk out of the cow eh.
Maybe the plan is to wait a few months before doing a proper map dump and upping the creature count, wait till everyone's settled.
maybe we'll be the last to know.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Steveleeb

[Ecrir 887]

It doesn't really feel like a PvE server with such a low density, the way it is now it's more of a creative server. If the spawn system can't keep up then maybe a new system needs to be developed, which simulates the environment better than the current system. Just think of how many creatures are currently in spots that are rarely if ever visited, every single one of those creatures is a waste of resources, resulting in a reduced creature density around players.

[Cista 428]

With Xanadu being the size it is you have to travel multiple hours to just get to the server border if you are not exactly on the east/west coast.

Living inland makes that even worse... and Wurm without at least some aggros scaring the crap out of everyone is boring

 

If you don't like travelling, then why settle on Xanadu? The server is ginormous but maybe you had not heard that before you came?

 

If you just want to stay around your own deed and have tons of aggro mobs near you without having to move around, then what does Xanadu have for you that you could not already get on say, Exodus?

 

If it is pristine and desolate landscapes you are looking for, the chance to explore like no other server, then Xanadu is what you want.... but then don't whine when that is what you get.

 

There are plenty of aggro mobs around. For instance, try walking through the forest from Whitefey to the East Coast. North of Lormere, in one of the most heavily populated areas, I saw a lurking bear spawn with 5 bears today. And my alt got killed by a bear while standing at my token just the other day.

 

Again, if you want the aggro mobs available *right at your deed*, you can always settle on Deli or Exodus or Cele. 

 

The density of mobs will never be as large on Xanadu as on the smaller servers, just like the density was never as high on Inde as on the small servers. This is just one of the thigs that makes Xanadu more challenging.

 

First-world problems, tsk.

[Cista 428]

 Just think of how many creatures are currently in spots that are rarely if ever visited, every single one of those creatures is a waste of resources, resulting in a reduced creature density around players.

 

True hunters go to those difficult places where the mobs are found. Others get their furs shipped over from Celebration where mobs jump in your lap. 

I am baffled as to where the problem lies, except whiners will whine.

[Rauros 232]

devs already said that the ratio will be tweaked more and more until they feel it's enough. Just wait a bit more, i  think the aggro count will raise as they say.
Anyway, i don't mind "a bit" of lower cap of aggro around...

[Nachtmahr 96]

If you don't like travelling, then why settle on Xanadu? The server is ginormous but maybe you had not heard that before you came?

 

Did I somewhere say that I don't like traveling? Don't think so.

 

If you just want to stay around your own deed and have tons of aggro mobs near you without having to move around, then what does Xanadu have for you that you could not already get on say, Exodus?

 

I don't need tons of mobs around, but trying to get a decent pelt for all my villagers(10+) is really a pain in the ass

 

If it is pristine and desolate landscapes you are looking for, the chance to explore like no other server, then Xanadu is what you want.... but then don't whine when that is what you get.

 

That's why I chose to move, I like the exploring, I like the awesome feeling of that huge server. But all those "wild" and "untamed" lands are kinda barren without some animal population.

When we started @ Vrock on server opening and worked our way to our current position, there were countless mobs around. Plains full of Trolls and Scorpions, forests with tons of spiders and wolves.

Tbh.. that's what I expected it to be, of course the counts would decrease because people kill them, but as low as it is now is just boring!

[belthize 438]

Nice job Bdew, I'd been thinking about posting a graph since saying it in text didn't seem to get the point across.

 

When Xanadu launched there was a random distribution of animals.  This meant there were some areas of low mob count and some areas of high mob count.   Players are essentially  driving entropy, over time as they range further and further afield to hunt the increasingly more rare blobs of high mob count the distribution across the server will become more uniform.   Once the animals are more or less evenly distributed it will look very barren.

 

People have the sense that mobs are hanging out on mountain sides, steppe and desert because that's where they can see a long way.

[Cista 428]

 

hmmm yea actually has anyone posted screenshots from Xanadu with crowded mountainsides? I haven't seen such photos, but I remember them from Inde half a year ago when they fidgeted with the AI and dispersal. 

 

I travel all around Xanadu from all the server spawn points for my roads project, and I never see more than 1-2 mobs on the mountainsides. On the north coast cliffs there seems to be some higher densities, but to me the AI in that respect seems to work pretty well these days.

[Nachtmahr 96]

 

[junkkmann 82]

myself, worrying about running out of meat, already ran out of furs.  would appreciate stuff to kill.  maybe theres some code pushing the mobs away from deeds.  theres nothing moving around my deed at all mob wise, its a ghost town, and we can see pretty far.

 

dont want to have to eat our horses instead of breed them.

[Ecrir 887]

myself, worrying about running out of meat, already ran out of furs.  would appreciate stuff to kill.  maybe theres some code pushing the mobs away from deeds.  theres nothing moving around my deed at all mob wise, its a ghost town, and we can see pretty far.

 

dont want to have to eat our horses instead of breed them.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Ecrir

[Ruger 610]

Ive been out hunting for the last 2 days now, admittedly I am probably a bit lost but I think I am somewhere around central Xanadu. I have come a across a lot of passive mobs and a handful of aggro mobs. In the woods I am running into passive. The only place I run into aggro's is on deserts or tundra and even then the passive:aggro count on those areas is probably 3:1. 

[Zeno 67]

The only people who don't think this is a problem are the people who have literally no fight skill, which is extremely short sighted because things like meat, fur, pelts. are all very necessary items that must come from animals which makes the current low counts fairly crippling for many people (what about ANYONE who wants to raise their fighting? clearly the only option currently is to find another server to hunt).

 

When I go out "hunting" for meat now, I'm killing 95% passive mobs, and that is clearing a desert and 3 different patches of steppe that almost nobody but our group ever touches.

 

It really is a problem and all the people who are saying it isn't clearly don't know how to read graphs and/or understand numbers, nor posses any kind of reading comprehension as the Dev team has openly said they are tweaking it up because it's a problem.

 

Too many people in wurm just love to be smug and anecdotal about things they don't "think" is a problem (usually people who have played maybe a year or two max and have a very limited scope of how the game has functioned from past to present) instead of considering the larger picture.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Zeno

[ShadowRonin 407]

The first mountainside I encountered going into Xanadu.

 

[Teksan 22]

Too many people in wurm just love to be smug and anecdotal about things they don't "think" is a problem (usually people who have played maybe a year or two max and have a very limited scope of how the game has functioned from past to present) instead of considering the larger picture.

 

Or, maybe, some people have a different but equally valid point of view from your own.  I did look up the definition of the word smug to confirm my suspicion after reading what you wrote, and you do a very good impression of the very thing you're accusing others of.

 

About the topic...

It's nice to see some numbers.  While it certainly wouldn't bother me to see more mobs out there, I do very much like the idea of different servers/continents offering different experiences.  It makes it more worthwhile to even have different servers in my opinion.

I've had much more reason to use my tracking skill, as low as it is, on Xanadu than I ever had before and I've enjoyed that.  To me, sitting in a blind with a 12-pack of Budweiser picking off an abundance of animals as they happen to walk by is not hunting.  Every definition of hunt involves searching, pursuing, scouring, chasing, etc.

 

Again, by all means, more mobs is fine, but please don't demand your experience on Xanadu be just like the experiences you've had on every other server in the many decades you've been playing Wurm. 

 

So far, the experience I've had on Xanadu has felt more authentic (in some ways) than what I've experienced on other servers.  It's a nice change of pace.  No doubt the experiences I've had in the past are still very much available in the places I had them to begin with.

 

• I've never valued a few simple pelts as much as I do now.

I've never had the kind of satisfaction tracking bison, then catching bison, while avoiding the bear tracks I found, before Xanadu.

No, I won't be frying up hundreds of meals in an attempt to synthetically raise my cooking skill.  Meat is at a premium.  My cooking skill will rise organically.

No, I won't grind my way through an abundance of animals to raise my fighting skill as quickly as possible.  I do have the option of travelling, adventuring, my way over to a more dangerous continent if I decide I must raise my fighting skill faster.  I even have the option of travelling all the way to Chaos if I feel my dying skill needs a grind.

It's okay for something to be different than what you've always known, particularly since what you've always known is still very much available.  It's also okay for people to enjoy adapting to something new, even if you don't.

[Kuwani 16]

Personally I think it needs to rise a lot, at least to be in the middle of the pack for ratios. We've been told it will move in that direction and hopefully that proves true because the spawns do need to go up compared to what they are now.

 

Ideally I would like to see creatures not able to climb crazy slopes and caps per creature type rather than just a simple passive/hostile divide

[joedobo 1,187]

Hey Wurm!   Can I pay you 2s a month to spawn peaceful creatures around my deed?

 

For me, wurm doesn't need aggro's to be fun. I'd love a combat toggle that lets me disable being attacked. 

 

I'm a long term veteran, with 90's skill, 80's fs, high body stats. I'm not saying this because I can't kill stuff, its because I think its dumb.

[Cista 428]

 (usually people who have played maybe a year or two max and have a very limited scope 

 

They are giving us more mobs already so everyone should be happy

 

Still, it puzzles me that anyone could have played for several years and never realised that the big servers have much fewer animals per area, given that it has been debated intensely over the years http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/93576-double-the-creature-count-on-chaos-and-possibly-independence/

 

I am here to save you from much future crying on forums if you would only read my (quite simple) message:

Xanadu will never be like the small servers you are used to - mobs will always be harder to come by here, and travelling will be arduous, because umm, it is a larger server.

But luckily for everyone, the old servers still exist, with their superior hunting opportunities.

[Bucket 131]

The first mountainside I encountered going into Xanadu.

 

 

That's alot of creatures who doesn't give a damn about gravity.

Regarding the topic, I can say the guys here are aware of the distribution/density-issues and are looking in to it.