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Seriphina

Beyond Rifts

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Since apparently we are taking a look at the whole mission system, let's take it a step farther.  We need more PVE content.  You can only kill so many bears and scorpions before you feel like you've seen it all.  Stagnation is death.

 

Rifts are a good idea on the surface, and they're fun.  But, they're over quick, destroy an area, and take a ton of travel in some cases (looking at you, Xanadu).  I have two ideas/suggestions, and please chime in and add on ideas and thoughts so we might be able to help the dev team turn this into a workable update that breathes new life into our beloved game.

 

This first one is rather straightforward.  Let's get some new lairs spawning on the maps with new and interesting creatures.  Allow them to spawn within 1 tile of a deed perimeter to distribute well across the map, but keep their range from lair limited.  Some lair ideas:

1. Polar bears lair in winter (with maybe a new rug to match with a low fur drop rate)

2. Termite mounds that would damage wooden and timber framed construction (away from deeds, faster than off deed standard decay would destroy unattended structures within 2 months, fairly easy to kill so as to not punish new players, drop something to create yellow dye)

3. Bandits within 10 tiles of a road that is at least 2 tiles wide and extends no less than 20 tiles long (have a few irons to loot, burying gives alignment, killing a certain number of bandits gives title "Defender of Justice" title)

4. Wild magic - Treants and creeping vines (give small uncommon logs such as lavender, oleander or rosewood)

5. Salamander dens in deserts or something that's not scorpions and a bit easier on new players

6. Grey or Brown wolves in forests (more rug colors?)

 

 

The second, and more difficult would be to take the current rift system, and make it a portaled instance event.  The lore is already fleshed out pretty well for Valrei, but what about Seris and Jackal?

Take the current Valrei mission items that pop up, and allow a certain number to be sacrificed at a special portal to give the Gods power to activate a portal to Valrei to battle the Rift... Changing the lore instead of them coming to us, an army is being formed and needs to be stopped before it reaches blah blah blah...  Magranon urges you to stop the army, gather these items so a portal can be opened....  Then a group of x people are able to go through the portal and do battle.  Only allow a player to travel once every week or two weeks through a portal (You have been empowered by the Gods too recently and must allow your soul rest).

Now let's make it better! 

Seris, Haven for the Dead.  As we already have Spirit Templars, how about other spirits?  Stop them from breaching the veil between worlds... 

Jackal, flowing with the blood of the damned.  The undead pay allegiance to Libila have activated portal from the underworld.  Assemble the pieces in a mine x tiles away from the surface or entrance and confront them...

 

Where are the portals?  The can be built and enchanted like epic portals, or available in each starter town.  Activation requires x players chanting together at a portal calls the attention of the Gods to the sacrifice and asks for their favor.  If there are too few players, the portal fails.  This solves a few things. One, it makes alliances much more useful, especially regional.  Two, most players are within a reasonable distance to a starter town and can travel there regularly.  Third, the loot can be limited based on whatever the number of x players is, so the market for certain things (seryll, possibly a new metal or two, other rift items) is based on participation on a population scale, not just on a per server scale.

Mission items can be obtained from mobs that spawn from special lairs, such as open graves (zombies and ghosts), or found in the world like the Valrei items are now.

 

Thoughts? Additions? Suggestions?

 

 

Edited by Seriphina
clarity
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2. Termite mounds that would damage wooden and timber framed construction (faster than off deed standard decay would destroy unattended structures within 2 months, fairly easy to kill so as to not punish new players, drop something to create yellow dye)

New players used to bag themselves when they verse something with teeth or w/e .. with red outline/boars included../

yellow dye wont be for the new player's convenience for sure.. but +1

btw... no damage to anything.. at some point trolls were able to bash player made structures.. and nobody's sharing good memories about that(even if there are some)

 

Bears.. why not... make the fur really rare drop and let everyone hunt them for that special, actually rare drop 1/1000 chance or something like that...(talking rare.. but dropping), if and when you drop one.. you'll feel amazing about that! (trust me.. if you have it as a common drop.. wont matter if you have 2 or 2000, everyone is going to have some)

 

:huh:Bandits..:rolleyes: +alignment.. good idea.. some faiths do need easier way to get that... but... title.. idk how useful that is.. + the part where wurm have enough troublemakers.. a few more red bars on the roads.. wont make the home-cats go out and wander.

 

I like the random new wood sources... even tho I cant see it as that useful... but some might love to get a lavender table, etc....

 

Quote

5. Salamander dens in deserts

But.. crocs are already there with scorpions, etc.. unless there's something wrong with the desert near you.. there should be plenty to fight with.

 

6.. sure, something like greenish mobs.. ~rare to find.. and loot for it's not so common loot, I guess

----------------------

In general.. you're expanding the creature list... with almost nothing new on the table.. maybe work on that with your idea.. you're not solving your problem, just poking the art team:unsure:

 

Polar bears.. @zigozaghad idea for yettis some time ago, afaik that's still a myth, around it might have emerged 1-2 other similar creature ideas.. but none of that made it.


About portals.. I imagined rifts to be something like that.. portal or altar/tombstone.. some kind of portal... with something like seal that could be broken.. and allow the players to get in.. some instance(another world) and fight hordes of mobs, etc... but we got something else. Which is decent.. First rifts were epic.. later it was meh... build fences, etc and you're safe as long you aren't tanking 10 mobs alone w/o healing, etc etc etc..

There's a problem with letting lose such amount of mobs, new ones or more of the existing ones.. there's hardly safe spot when traveling, unless you're set with armor, mount and some enchanted gear, good skills to help you survive... new players.. just bag themselves and walk around "It's fun they say", but I doubt they are having that much fun.. vs 1 croc.. I've seen ~5 body bags with the same name.. on the same road.. less than a local from starting town, poor person barely made it to the desert ON THE ROAD.. and still got wrecked so many times.

 

About the portal idea... I think you should have started with that and skipped the regular extra nub scares;), sounds like good new content.. with some thought over what you should be getting from there ofc. Judging by the usual response from staff/devs... going trough a portal to another server is a no-no tho.. hope that is not that much of a taboo nowdays.:unsure:

Good luck with your idea!
 

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I would oppose portals and other not "inworld" methods in Wurm as always. That would lessen the integrity of the world in my view and I don't see what would those add to the game - we have plenty of remote space where weird things can happen. Some travel does not hurt to anyone to explore the awesome areas one may never seen before.

I really like though the ideas like bandits, termites and also such smaller (or even larger) scale activities that would bring people together to work as a team, such events are always fun in Wurm.

I'm really looking forward the improved mob AI that was outlined in the roadmap, I think that could add a lot of fun to the usually dull rifts (although I heard that last one on Release was really a challenge up on a ridge...

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You sound like you would like on chaos - join our little chaos community! We have two faced babies, giant worms, see-through eagles, dragon-spirits, reptiles... Come and see for yourself! 

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+1 I wanna ride a salamander

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2. Termite mounds that would damage wooden and timber framed construction (faster than off deed standard decay would destroy unattended structures within 2 months, fairly easy to kill so as to not punish new players, drop something to create yellow dye)

New players used to bag themselves when they verse something with teeth or w/e .. with red outline/boars included../

yellow dye wont be for the new player's convenience for sure.. but +1

btw... no damage to anything.. at some point trolls were able to bash player made structures.. and nobody's sharing good memories about that(even if there are some)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If new players are that scared about seeing a red outline, then they're not playing PVE, they're playing PV-dirt piles.  Termites don't have to be red either.  But this would deal with some of the mass of abandoned shacks dotting the landscape from people who started a toon, played for a week, and gave up. Note, it says "unattended", so not near deeds and whatnot, but those low carpentry skilled 2x2 buildings with no roofs.

 

 

It's not about nub scared, but limited spawn (like x number from a lair before it disappears) something to try to find for uncommon or interesting loots.  If the only way for the homebodies to get away from their crops for a few minutes is to dangle a different kind of carrot, then so be it.  I'd love to go hunt down some different uncommon mobs.

Edited by Seriphina
quote got wonky

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Overall +1 because we can always use some more balanced content.

 

(Rifts are still a mess loot wise, reward vs involvment wise, and landscape destruction wise).

 

Don't forget some semi uniques creatures as well, no good loot on them, but a decent fight for a group of 4/5 people.

 

We used to have sea serpents, they no longuer spawns around nowadays, but something in that vein. Their amount can be limited (like sea serpents and whales are) to 2/3 per types, per servers. And we can just go through the folklore and find a large bunch of weird creatures fitting in.

 

We can still hope as well for themed hunting servers, sand & desert one (with the critters you mentionned and others), snow and ice (yetis, mammoths and the likes) and a valrei one, with the valrei mobs but not the pvp. Can always add a few variations on those servers, cosmetics changes to armors (fur armor instead of leather) or better, use the empty cape slot for a type of gear/clothes allowing you to survive the server (placing climate back in PvEnvironment).

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-1. PVE does suck, but adding more creatures to fight with different loot wont change it. Rift portals and what not i would only approve of on Xanadu and Inde because... reasons. I don't know if others feel the same but I think that a more interactive combat system would be nice. Non premium players can only target and hit. Then hide to heal and get back in to hit. I would like to add I don't have a full understanding of fighting, but the fact that I'm killing trolls and hell hounds without knowing it shows that it needs more work. Instead add some of the following

 

1. Give animals moves that show up in the fight chat. These moves can include draining some of your stamina, debuffing your damage/movement spd/ability to dodge/etc, possibly deal heavy damage, or maybe buff themselves. Something as simple as a cat should be able to do this, maybe not livestock, to make sure new people can join in on the fun. "The bear begins Intense Claw" -waits 7 seconds- "It is super effective!!!" (Something like 30 dmg to naked)

 

2. Every player starts off with moves, but the chance of them landing depends on their stats in comparison to their foe's. A person with 10fs fighting a cat should be able to do moves. I have seen moves like cold clouds, sharp twig, low rider, but they don't seem to be that useful in pve. I only use cold clouds just incase draining a troll's stamina would be useful. Whatever they may be, we should be able to see the animals stamina in the target window to see if they have lost their stamina (assuming they lose their combat rating when they do). The moves we all have should also be unique for every weapon (I realized both spears and swords have low rider and cold clouds, correct me if im wrong). Maybe have 1 handed weapons + shields give defence buffs that can only happen mid fight? Maybe 2 handed weapons have more evasion buffs? Give em both damage buffs? Give 2 handed weapons a chance to interrupt animal's moves (2 second timer with a cooldown and slap for damage)? Offer a move that makes the player not attack but take 80% less damage, and increase damage on shield per hit (if holding a shield)? Moves have so much more potential but they aren't being applied. Imagine the previous sceneario "The bear begins Intense Claw" "Yiraia performs disruption" "The bear is now stunned" -5 seconds of additional damage unblocked- Of course don't have it 100%, compare combat ratings and make a fair chance

 

3. Remove the height advantage, Its a stupid method of gaining an advantage in a fight. Standing on the tall side of a hill would make your legs more vulnerable as far as i know, and make your foe's head vulnerable... Either have it so height + stance affects advantage or just remove entirely.

 

4. Smarter AI when fighting AND buff flank tactics. If you meet up with two goblins, and 1 goblin realizes he is targeted, the other goblin should move behind you and aim for your buttocks for more unavoidable damage (who dodges and blocks what they can't see? Only armor can help glance the damage). This would promote hunting parties for reasons other than "extra damage".

 

5. Ranged Taunts. Why not? Call a bear fat from a distance and see him come running. In addition to that...

 

6. Similar animals assist one another. If you come across 3 bears, you shouldn't be able to pull 1 and fight 1 by one. As nice as that would be, Its not challenging enough. Idea #4 would only be better if animals help other animals just like people help other people. Also have them walk around in packs more often, only leave a few strays around (maybe a spawned in trait for pack animals and for stray animals).

 

Those are the ideas of the top of my head. For those that would say this is too hard on newbies, i said nothing about increasing the animals running speed. People should still be able to run from pve fights as long as they can move quickly, and guard towers should certainly be enough to help with the fights, as they would have their own moves (but not be smart enough to disrupt, just buff and stuff. Cause possible lag issues, idk). Infact, it will help newbies if they pay attention to the moves they have and utilize them to avoid damage and deal more.

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1 minute ago, Yiraia said:

5. Ranged Taunts. Why not? Call a bear fat from a distance and see him come running. In addition to that...

:huh::rolleyes: I'd pet that thing instead of fighting it, imagine if it's able to write poetry and books later.. not just understand simple english

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+ 1 for new critters

 

+1 for rift instances. We already have portals, so why not? I have never participated in a rift due to travel times and inconvenience in the timings all around. 

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+1 for polar bears, salamanders and different coloured wolves! We could make salamanders ride-able over lava tiles. I like the idea of winter animals; maybe the lairs can spawn in winter and disappear when the season changes? It'd be great to see snow leopards as well. Add badgers and moose into the mix, and we have perfection :) If adding new animals to the game will be too much of a mission, it may be easier to change things to make it more possible to interact with some of the existing animals. If we could tame/charm/ dominate dolphins, octopi, spiders, lava spiders, huge sharks and sea serpents, it would be almost as good as having new animals added.

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Smarter NPC AI (in current plans it seems) might help with this.

 

Also on a related note it use to be part of Notch and Rolf's original vision to have NPCs like goblins making their own villages and the like. Them picking up and equipping gear (if they still do) is kind of a leftover from this. Not to mention their old mechanisms of attacking enmasse when any others are nearby.

Edited by Klaa

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I love this idea and have been asking for something like this for a long time! give us a reason to kill mobs please! This has to be done give us more kinds of mobs! This game lacks pve big time!  Hell if chaos has this then allow the pve servers to have this! Come on devs please get this done! Also the spawns on xan is terrible please keep trying to fix it!

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-1 to more redundant mobs

+1 to better mob AI

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