Talk of boss mobs made me wander, boss mobs are what people camp for, or are going after.
But what about a more often spawning Lieutenant mob that has higher level of difficulty than surrounding mobs (less than a boss) but a chance to drop an item randomly from the boss' loot table.
I agree with Jpedrote. To expand on that, I also like the idea of "ultra rare world drops" that have a really small chance to drop from any mob. They don't need to be super powerful ... could be a utility item or even something cosmetic in nature ... like the ceremonial vestment from EQOA! But yes, the idea of very powerful zone drops is appealing. I think that could also include racial drops ... so for instance, all goblins have a very small chance to drop shiny goblin warbeads ... some sort of situational trinket. Or maybe all "giants" have a really small chance to drop a dinner plate that serves as some sort of shield. Or ... a specific tribe of ice giants that have a really small chance to drop a fur cloak that gives a bonus to cold acclimation. Little things like this add value and flavor to NPC races and zone identity ... and the ultra rare world loot table is just something I have always enjoyed, but they should be a 1 in 50k kind of drop. The fur cloak from ice giants might be 1 in 1k while the goblin drop is 1 in 10k. For a zone drop ... maybe every NPC in Amberfaet has a really small chance to drop something that might interact with the legendary forge there ... 1 in 2.5-5k. Just random numbers I'm tossing out there.
Mentira said: I believe in the last stream they mentioned that bosses will have a mixture of spawning habits. Some will be static spawns, some will have roaming paths, and some will have a series of spawn points. So this might help with what you’re suggesting.
Joppa: ...We don't want every boss, every named mob who drops anything of worth to spawn in the same static location every single time. It may be that they have long routines like she [Fion Iridia of Black Rose Keep] does - where she goes all the way around the courtyard. It may be that they have a dynamic spawn point based either on disposition or just based on their flavour and their identity and the zone. So, there's going to be a mixture. There's going to be a mixture of more static spawning entities and ones that are more dynamic, but this is a camped-based design and just because we're not sitting down in a location and pulling everything to there doesn't mean that that's not our direction.
oneADseven said:I agree with Jpedrote. To expand on that, I also like the idea of "ultra rare world drops" that have a really small chance to drop from any mob. They don't need to be super powerful ... could be a utility item or even something cosmetic in nature ... like the ceremonial vestment from EQOA! But yes, the idea of very powerful zone drops is appealing. I think that could also include racial drops ... so for instance, all goblins have a very small chance to drop shiny goblin warbeads ... some sort of situational trinket. Or maybe all "giants" have a really small chance to drop a dinner plate that serves as some sort of shield. Or ... a specific tribe of ice giants that have a really small chance to drop a fur cloak that gives a bonus to cold acclimation. Little things like this add value and flavor to NPC races and zone identity ... and the ultra rare world loot table is just something I have always enjoyed, but they should be a 1 in 50k kind of drop. The fur cloak from ice giants might be 1 in 1k while the goblin drop is 1 in 10k. For a zone drop ... maybe every NPC in Amberfaet has a really small chance to drop something that might interact with the legendary forge there ... 1 in 2.5-5k. Just random numbers I'm tossing out there.
I can back this, but I'd still like to see a Lieutenant type in the game. It's not something that would be hunted or camped, but it would be a nice random change of pace with a higher random chance of a peice of gear you're looking to get from the camped named.
Im guessing you all are describing Kunark era loot tables. While i am ok with this style of drop it really needs to be limited in scope down to NPC type. I disliked the idea of ANY mob in zone holding the item, but if i knew all goblins could hold it i would decimate any and all goblin until i saw the drop. So lets take black rose keep: any npc with black rose in thier name has a % chance to drop a really good item. Lore: an heirloom item that was passed down by thier family. And any named mob would actually be removed from this loot table as the limiter would be the black rose portion of the name. Same with ratkin: each type/race of ratkin can have a chance to drop a lore/element appropriate rare drop.
As for the lieutenant type mobs, based on streams, i can surmise those are already in place. They arent full minibosses, like the named, but they are noticeably higher level and drop items of higher quality.
(Follow-up) I would be ok with zonewide drops if they are lore appropriate to the zone. Like some type of acclimation item. I just really hated the idea of going to a kunark zone to kill 10,000x mobs in OS and still never saw the random drop. If you are exping for a full 24-48 hours straight you should see the item drop once in a zone, maybe not in your camp, but at least it drops.
The ‘once a week/month’ drops after 50,000x is just ridiculous with the pace of combat slowed. This would be an arbitrary timesink. You would be better off creating dynamic content that creates the situation to provide a different loot table once a month than to have a ultra rare item spawn that slowly.
Mentira said: I believe in the last stream they mentioned that bosses will have a mixture of spawning habits. Some will be static spawns, some will have roaming paths, and some will have a series of spawn points. So this might help with what you’re suggesting.
Indeed we will. :-)
I get what you are saying Kreed but the point of having these ultra rare loot tables is to make them ultra rare. You also don't want them to be "campable" -- it's a design goal that you can't really directly farm for one. I mean ... if someone was really desperate, I guess they could just try to kill 50,000 of the weakest possible creature (that still qualifies) ... but from a risk vs reward perspective, that should be a horrible decision. Most people should never get these items and those who do should be able to sell them for a nice haul if they ultimately don't end up using them.
kreed99 said:As for the lieutenant type mobs, based on streams, i can surmise those are already in place. They arent full minibosses, like the named, but they are noticeably higher level and drop items of higher quality.
Cool, maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention. I "watch" the streams in the background and only kinda listen to them. Once I've seen a few visuals, I'm done and only listen at that point. I don't want to ruin it for me by seeing too much too often.
In general, I like the lieutenant suggestion. I think certain loot should remain exclusive to the actual boss loot tables but I think it's perfectly reasonable that some of it could also be shared and drop from these lesser mini bosses. As long as risk vs reward is balanced, all is well in the world.
Mentira said: I believe in the last stream they mentioned that bosses will have a mixture of spawning habits. Some will be static spawns, some will have roaming paths, and some will have a series of spawn points. So this might help with what you’re suggesting.
I like the randomness of this idea, that gives everyone a fair chance of accessing a rare, instead of everything that matters...being camped to the hilt for months on end. If its random, its not predictable. And I'm all for that idea. Less chance of content hogging and people with pages and pages of the rare on an auction house, selling for sky-high prices.
CanadinaXegony said:Mentira said: I believe in the last stream they mentioned that bosses will have a mixture of spawning habits. Some will be static spawns, some will have roaming paths, and some will have a series of spawn points. So this might help with what you’re suggesting.
I like the randomness of this idea, that gives everyone a fair chance of accessing a rare, instead of everything that matters...being camped to the hilt for months on end. If its random, its not predictable. And I'm all for that idea. Less chance of content hogging and people with pages and pages of the rare on an auction house, selling for sky-high prices.
I think bosses will still be camped pretty hard, this is a good way to help aliviate static camping, and a turn in the right direction, but even still, bosses will be hunted hardcore.
Kittik said:CanadinaXegony said:Mentira said: I believe in the last stream they mentioned that bosses will have a mixture of spawning habits. Some will be static spawns, some will have roaming paths, and some will have a series of spawn points. So this might help with what you’re suggesting.
I like the randomness of this idea, that gives everyone a fair chance of accessing a rare, instead of everything that matters...being camped to the hilt for months on end. If its random, its not predictable. And I'm all for that idea. Less chance of content hogging and people with pages and pages of the rare on an auction house, selling for sky-high prices.
I think bosses will still be camped pretty hard, this is a good way to help aliviate static camping, and a turn in the right direction, but even still, bosses will be hunted hardcore.
Agreed and to be expected I suppose, I am just talking about random rares found in the environment..as one is exploring. Keep it random, I love finding surprises, and I am sure others do too. :)