Change to Dungeon Alert

[Tolero]

Greetings!

As we look at our lag metrics since our changes last week, we have seen that one unfortunate side effect is that the player behavior of evoking high Dungeon Alert levels by moving quickly through dungeons has spiked, and that behavior is contributing to a different form of lag (the conditions that cause dungeon alert cause lag).

We have made an adjustment this morning to make this behavior less rewarding. All red named boss monsters will be buffed if you encounter them while dungeon alert is active. The buff is gentle for green and yellow, and gets more severe at higher dungeon alert levels. This means that players will have an easier time if they defeat minions before tackling red named bosses if dungeon alert is active.

(As an aside, bosses always got buffed with dungeon alert, but we have leaned more heavily into this. Bosses will take much longer to kill at higher levels of dungeon alert, so kill those minions!)

We will be looking further into modifying content that tends to provoke Dungeon Alert, and change Dungeon Alert to discourage play patterns that provoke the highest levels of Dungeon Alert for long periods of time.

 

[Zaszgul]

You guys should do an AI pass for mobs... your AI is overconsuming resources. You don't even need to instigate DA to see it, big crowds can be toxic to performance without it.

Lengthen the polling interval, or do less stuff per AI update, or do it more efficiently.

 

[rabidfox]

This'll be really fun for those times where certain quests go from no alert to red alert instantly because the of the overly dense mob count.

 

[Maze]

So...we're getting hit with a nerf instead of being able to find a fix for the dungeon alert lag? Sounds about right.

 

[Enoach]

I still think a system where closed doors are locked to prevent progress until DA is cleared will go a lot further.

The problem with the current DA system is that it punishes the slower members who usually are not the ones that created the DA.

 

[Rincewind]

Plz considering taking a look at quest that create instant red alert status, to either lowering the mobs in them or raising the requirements to get red alert in them

 

[Drunken.dx]

This'll be really fun for those times where certain quests go from no alert to red alert instantly because the of the overly dense mob count.

Beat me to this comment.
I approve of this idea but in number of quests you get read alert that is literally unavoidable

 

[Arkat]

So lag is our fault...again.

 

[Yamani]

So lag is our fault...again.

When was it not?

 

[Arkat]

When was it not?

For sure, certain folks have gaslighting down cold.

 

[Natashaelle]

This'll be really fun for those times where certain quests go from no alert to red alert instantly because the of the overly dense mob count.

Yeah. I think it's a good idea to prevent zerg-caused lag, and I think SSG want to discourage zerging anyway -- but I can remember back in the day, when DA was first introduced, it did significantly improve lag. And once, over on the EU servers, Codemasters switched off DA once as an experiment, and after about 2-3 days, everyone was zerging and the lag was horrid !!

 

[Lykanthar2]

 

[T.O.]

I like this idea. My parties tend to kill everything in a dungeon. There are times though that we get red alert from a reaper that activates other mobs. I would like to know how this is my parties fault. Since we would handle the DA before we get to the Red named. So we wouldn't be affected by this buff. But it seems the servers would be affected and causing problems for other players. It would seem it's now on SSG's to stop erroneous DA due to how the game is coded.

 

[D's / Iron & Mortanis/Kin]

IT' really hurts in Slayers....

 

[rabidfox]

XP pots will provide less value as a result if all quests are going to take longer dealing with trash and/or tougher endfights because of alerts.

 

[Baahb3]

DA should be disabled in wilderness zones.

DA should be disabled if you are 10+ levels over the quest level. Doing favor runs, you always build up DA. Yes, you should be able to wipe out mobs easy but unless you have some AOE, it is still a pain.

 

[TeamScorpioRI]

IT' really hurts in Slayers....

I was wondering the same thing. Its one thing in quests where ideally you should be killing mobs, but in slayers/wilderness areas I am just trying to get to the next quest. Feywild is a perfect example of this. Going from quest to quest often triggers Dungeon Alerts... Maybe the answer is to turn off DA for those areas.

They should also take a good look at "Stealthy Repossession" in the harbor. While I understand it is a "sneak" style quest.. it is easy to trigger DA in there. Maybe change it to something like the werewolf room in "Quid Pro Quo" where you have to get by a few patrolling sentries, and the rest of the mobs do not wake up at all.

 

[DOMO]

IT' really hurts in Slayers....

I say that Dungeon Alert should be removed in slayers zones

 

[Willsave20]

Mobs in this game seem to briefly pause when a player first enters their render/detection distance, which allows the player to bypass a lot of fights/groups, in turn causing mobs to build up the dungeon alert system. I think that the Dungeon Alert system was put into place to counter that brief moment before a monster reacts so that they may have the opportunity to react if a player were to run through and "abuse" this moment. Along with the pause, most monsters in the game are significantly slower than the player, so buffing the speed of monsters throughout the levels could help.

As a designer, I definitely understand the reasoning behind it, and at first glance its a simple and somewhat effective system. This said, slowing player movement and buffing the monsters up cause the players in most scenarios to be completely encircled, if not lifted, by a red alert mob group, which cripples their gameplay and limits the player's ability to counter it. Updating the AI for mobs to have a faster reaction time upon initiation would be a better route to go in my opinion. While yes, there needs to be a counter to speedrunning through a dungeon with absolutely no kills or encounters, crippling your player's ability to play the game isn't the way to go. Additionally, a dungeon alert should only apply to mobs within a certain line of sight & area of sound of the initiating mob group and player, not through closed doors or in other rooms.

 

[eshadowbringer]

Maybe the answer is to turn off DA for those areas.

DA should be disabled in wilderness zones.

It is not the DA that is causing the lag. It is the conditions tha trigger DA. turning off DA would have the opposite effect towards reducing those conditions.

If anything they will need to do things further discourage DA...