Change to Dungeon Alert

[Phaaze]

For slayer areas is there anything you can do as far as smaller aggro ranges?

players will slow down for dungeons but when running to quests in an explorer area with dungeon alert red they still wont slow down just keep powering ahead.

Maybe also shorter range before they white dot? that way they can dump their aggro and pathing and not have it build up so fast.

I understand why you wouldnt want to do this in dungeons but for explorers no one ever stops to kill things on the way to a dungeon, especially if they join a quest in progress and want to get there as fast as possible so they dont miss completion.

 

[Phaaze]

also suggestion for dungeon alert:

make enemies run 15% faster for every level in place of some raw power so they can keep up to the player so they cant really be ignored as easily.

Edit: at dungeon alert red give everything devil teleport or something.

or a kinda funny one: every level of dungeon alert increases the chances of fear reapers spawning in reaper mode. if you ignore a pile of those the stacks build up stupid fast.

 

[Nickodeamous]

hello all! I've read most of the comments on here and I have to say, I think this unfairly punishes those that solo quests. Think about it. I just joined the game, and i come across 4 mobs. I kill the first 2, but I am low on health, so I sprint away to heal myself, and instead of going back, I just keep running to the end. Now, I am punished for doing this? Idk...seems like a lackluster fix. meh

 

[Darkwolfer2002]

Actually how about an alternative idea.

Rather than punish players for playing the game, reward them for killing mobs. Not by XP (doing a quest in two minutes for 50K XP is better than doing it in 4 for 75K) but add a system where it adds to your chance of gaining named loot (or something) if you kill all the mobs.

Not in a stupid "I have to spend 20 minutes hunting down every mob in the dungeon" way but something like finishing the quest without DA, or achieving Conquest gives you a couple percentage higher chance of named items.

Out of all the responses I read, I like this one the most. I was on the side of just gating quest progress if zerging is the real problem (I get anti-stealth, anti-D&D, whatever if it makes game playable do it!) but having decent incentives for not triggering DAs would go a long way. They have to be decent enough though the player base would actually want to do it.

 

[saekee]

Please no.
Devs should create inactive mobs that activate when you get near so you either charge in and engage or you can sneak by them.

 

[eshadowbringer]

I would say getting rid of DA, and all the calculations for it, and just making mobs lose aggro a bit faster, would not only be better for the player base, but also LOADS better than adding more calculations just to nerf players further

I see your point, but in my opinion this is very unlikley to happen. I for one am open to whatever it is that will create a stable gaming environment for all of us!

Tolero stated that it was the contitions that create DA are somthing they have identified as an issue! I am not qualified to discount that stament so i have no choice but to take it as fact

 

[Alodar]

Okay to be fair, if this is what you are going to do, and you are going to increase the mob's speed/damage/agility, why not increase the amount of experience gotten from them when killed? This way, even in Slayers there would be some benefit.

 

[Cordovan]

I would probably have to disagree here... The zerging quest is over in less than a minute usually, and the instance is erased... However, adding in a bunch of calculations to not only keep track of DA, but also buff each mob separately for each level of DA, and making the red names and such buffed even further... Is a HUGE resource hog. you're also talking about stopping the way a ton of players like to play, and alienating your player base to such extent, is an outrageously bad idea. And this isn't even going into the alerts caused by what is just bad AI to begin with, like Reapers grabbing entire fields of enemies through doors and such.... I would say getting rid of DA, and all the calculations for it, and just making mobs lose aggro a bit faster, would not only be better for the player base, but also LOADS better than adding more calculations just to nerf players further

It is not the Dungeon Alert system causing degraded game performance, but rather the behavior of aggroing an exceptionally enormous bunch of enemies and not defeating them that is causing the poor game performance. Under normal circumstances this kind of zerging behavior has a minimal to moderate impact, but we've been seeing a big increase in players running through dungeons without fighting anything to the point that it is crushing the servers in recent days. So, the Dungeon Alert system is simply a warning system that the behavior causing this source of game performance degradation is happening.

 

[Oxarhamar]

Dungeon alert doesn’t stop zerging & creating lag on top of zag

 

[Tirvallo]

I'd love to avoid getting red dungeon alerts, but I just want to reach upper Storm Horns quests without paying astral shards.

 

[Dark_Helmet]

I think you missed the numerous comments that just zoning into certain instances causes DA (as well as having pets which run off on their own). It really is a disservice to turn UP Dungeon Alert to the casual players.

 

[Rull]

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

Or mobs forgetting the players within 30 seconds of not seeing them, instead of 5 minutes.
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Reducing the number of enemies aggroed on players at the same time CAN be achieved by players aggroing less of them or aggroing them briefer. But also by less of them aggroing, or by them aggroing briefer.


Another solution would be to put less enemies in the dungeon. 3 enemies with more damage* and more hit points are just a dangerous as 10 enemies, but less intensive on enemy AI cycles.
(* faster attack speed, not higher burst. yes I am aware that enemy attack speed is probably intentionally relatively low and damage high, to reduce hitbox calculations probably. but apparently it's not just attacks that are causing lag because they don't attack from the other side of the dungeon and they apparently still cause lag)
But that's more of a longer term and would need a change in dungeon design philosophy.

 

[T.O.]

I think you missed the numerous comments that just zoning into certain instances causes DA (as well as having pets which run off on their own). It really is a disservice to turn UP Dungeon Alert to the casual players.

From what I understand from what is stated. SSG isn't upping DA just buffing end bosses for the players that red alert a dungeon. It would seem the casual player is being dis-serviced by endgamers basicly ddos'ing the server

 

[Tolero]

Incentives is also something we're exploring atm, I would like there to be a stronger motive for people to want to thin down the minions besides "the dungeon master gets upset if you dont".

 

[Eoin]

It is not the Dungeon Alert system causing degraded game performance, but rather the behavior of aggroing an exceptionally enormous bunch of enemies and not defeating them that is causing the poor game performance. Under normal circumstances this kind of zerging behavior has a minimal to moderate impact, but we've been seeing a big increase in players running through dungeons without fighting anything to the point that it is crushing the servers in recent days. So, the Dungeon Alert system is simply a warning system that the behavior causing this source of game performance degradation is happening.

Possible the +25% heroic/epic, +5% vip, and +5% reaper xp encouraged a change in zerging behavior in the recent days?

 

[T.O.]

Incentives is also something we're exploring atm, I would like there to be a stronger motive for people to want to thin down the minions besides "the dungeon master gets upset if you dont".

Just buff the red name like a vengeance reaper buff. Would seem to be the strongest motivation.

 

[rabidfox]

Incentives is also something we're exploring atm, I would like there to be a stronger motive for people to want to thin down the minions besides "the dungeon master gets upset if you dont".

The XP gains from killing has to offset the loss of time on my SOV pot that's ticking down every second I'm in a quest. Offering new XP pots that have X quest completion charges (vs 3(6) hours of better zerg to maximize that XP bonus ticking away) would be a good start. The current system encourages me to move fast to not waste the DDO points/cash I spend on XP pots; it's trap of SSG's own creation for pushing us deeper into the zerg mentality. edit: This need to zerg also applies to discovery pots ticking away.

 

[Rull]

It is not the Dungeon Alert system causing degraded game performance, but rather the behavior of aggroing an exceptionally enormous bunch of enemies and not defeating them that is causing the poor game performance. Under normal circumstances this kind of zerging behavior has a minimal to moderate impact, but we've been seeing a big increase in players running through dungeons without fighting anything to the point that it is crushing the servers in recent days. So, the Dungeon Alert system is simply a warning system that the behavior causing this source of game performance degradation is happening.

Well they may not have *killed* the enemies but they sure *defeated* the encounter.

When the player has successfully bypassed a certain checkpoint (or distance), the monster associated by it might as well give up. https://en.meming.world/wiki/Defeated_Male_Leaves

At least in my old d&d books, it was specifically said that the players can solve encounters in many ways, and murder is certainly not to only option to neutralize potential danger.

 

[eshadowbringer]

Incentives is also something we're exploring atm, I would like there to be a stronger motive for people to want to thin down the minions besides "the dungeon master gets upset if you dont".

Great idea... The most guilty zergers (myself included) are after specific things fast. It can be favor, xp or loot not much else that i can think of! any incentive you use will have to address what the zerger is after.

 

[Lotoc]

If you want to incentivize no alert gameplay consider like a 10% exp bonus for not having triggered alert at all, reduced to 5% if green alert is triggered and nullified entirely if orange alert kicks in.
Dunno what to call such a bonus, Subtlety?
Or perhaps have 25% of time spent in a quest refunded on completion for experience and discovery potions if you don't trigger an alert?