Respawn rate and monster density

Grimbeard

It just doesn't feel like using a potion worth it? In hyloth lots of fast respawn of pockets of monsters in deceit not so much. Maybe crank it up a little? 

Kyronix

Which shard? We balance different shards based on population.

keven2002

Grimbeard said:

It just doesn't feel like using a potion worth it? In hyloth lots of fast respawn of pockets of monsters in deceit not so much. Maybe crank it up a little? 

I agree with you 100% here. The spawn rate on ATL seems to have been adjusted pretty well for prime time but in the morning it does feel like it's harder to find stuff to kill and I've only used 1 luck potion because it did kind of seem like it wasn't as beneficial as in the past events.

I decided to check out the spawn on Origin with my warrior that lives there (suit on him isn't really even close to my sampire suit on ATL) earlier today and aside from 1 other warrior there and a sampire it was empty but I felt like it was even harder to get drops (even with a luck statue hit) because I was running around just killing most stuff 1 by 1 since there wasn't enough accumulation. Another result of this lack of spawn is that it becomes boring rather quickly. I run around pin balling around to kill this and that really without any real threat. Even my basic warrior build with an average suit was kind of able to Leroy Jenkins through the dungeon without dying.

@Grimbeard - You hit the nail on the head about hythloth. It was a good amount of spawn (and respawn) that you could eventually become overwhelmed if you weren't careful. I would love to see the spawn rate bumped up on levels 2-4 while keeping level 1 the same for those newer/weaker players that might not be able to handle the spawn... especially on the smaller shards where Deceit is more quiet.  

Pawain

You can bump up the Lake Superior spawn some more to test us and kill the NOOBs!

Kyronix said:

Which shard? We balance different shards based on population.

Grimbeard

I was on Origin this morning but Cats as well

Larisa

Origin is SLOW....we might not have a huge population but the spawn is like snore fest a lot of the times. Other times it's decent enough. Just hate when people who can't fight ram and poison ele paragons go in there and kill the regular rams and poison eles then leave when they spawn paragons

The drop rate seems to be lower there too. I can spend an hour in there on Origin and get 7 drops, same amount of time on LA and get like 22 with roughly the same amount of people in there.

Has anyone else found this to be true, the drop rate seems to differ from shard to shard?

Grimbeard

Larisa said:

Origin is SLOW....we might not have a huge population but the spawn is like snore fest a lot of the times. Other times it's decent enough. Just hate when people who can't fight ram and poison ele paragons go in there and kill the regular rams and poison eles then leave when they spawn paragons

The drop rate seems to be lower there too. I can spend an hour in there on Origin and get 7 drops, same amount of time on LA and get like 22 with roughly the same amount of people in there.

Has anyone else found this to be true, the drop rate seems to differ from shard to shard?

Strangely enough i was getting more on Origin 

Larisa

So it may be just the account or character...I have found that some of my characters are more unlucky then others. This time around my archer is doing better then my sampire so same template on both shards with roughly the same amount of killing and getting more on LA.

I don't use potions though.

Riner

The spawn can get a little slow in the evenings on GL, I've also noticed that unlike Hythloth it doesn't seem that you get an increase in the number of the spawn no matter how fast you kill them. I'll help clear the 3rd floor in minutes and it seems the exact amount will spawn again, so no adjustment for the rate of clearing. This leads more to clearing a floor, moving to the next, clearing that and so forth. 

Seth

They should stick with champspawn style respawn rate of Hythloth.

But they like to implement unpopular measures for the sake of "control"... for whatever reason except making paid customers satisfied and happy with playing the game. 

Too much drop will hurt the shard, yall know? 

keven2002

Kyronix said:

Which shard? We balance different shards based on population.

@Kyronix - I do think Origin could use an increase in spawn from what I've noticed in the last 2 days. While I understand balancing based on population, I think that between there being several lower end things (zombies/ghouls/spectre/skeletons/etc) and Deceit being more sectioned off (unlike Destard) that even the average player using AoE could clear an area/floor with ease.

I think increasing the spawn density would allow people to enjoy the dungeon event without as much animosity towards other players too. There would be more stuff to kill so people 1) less likely to run pass someone and "steal" the easy spawn while the person might be working harder stuff (ie the "jerk" sampire thread) and 2) don't have to feel like others (or themselves) own an area like bone knight area on level 2 or the crypts on level 4. 

Another reason I think the density needs to be increased on lower population shards is that it actually makes getting drops harder when not under luck potion / luck statue (1400ish+ luck). I played for about 45min the other day after my luck statue ran out and I only ended up with 7 drops in that time period (constantly running trying to kill stuff) which wasn't worth the grind IMO. For me personally, I've only been hitting it one hour a day when I'm able to hit my luck statue which might be another reason Deceit on shards like Origin are pretty empty. 

Larisa

Yes!

Like I said, I don't use potions but I do throw on my lucky charm and hit a luck statue to give me a little boost.  I use the handy Select nearest hostile, attack selected macro in the CC and just run around smashing a button lol and it's a LOT of running around, I usually go from first to third and back and the spawn is usually thin.

Most stuff is a one hit kill so I welcome the para liches and serpents and mummies and stuff. The Ele's and rams not so much but the normal stuff dies so fast and the respawn seems to be a bit slower so it takes a lot of running. I get maybe 12-20 in an hour depending.

keven2002

@Larisa - so YOU are the one that is stealing MY spawn in Deceit 

If there was more spawn to kill, I'd probably use some luck potions but as it stands if there is just 1 or 2 other players in the dungeon running through the dungeon it makes them a complete waste bc half the stuff is dead as I'm running on screen. 

I think the spawn density should be bumped up and worst case scenario if it becomes too much and people complain they can reduce it. It's not like people here are shy on letting their opinions be known lol.

Victim_Of_Siege

Larisa said:

Origin is SLOW....we might not have a huge population but the spawn is like snore fest a lot of the times. Other times it's decent enough. Just hate when people who can't fight ram and poison ele paragons go in there and kill the regular rams and poison eles then leave when they spawn paragons

The drop rate seems to be lower there too. I can spend an hour in there on Origin and get 7 drops, same amount of time on LA and get like 22 with roughly the same amount of people in there.

Has anyone else found this to be true, the drop rate seems to differ from shard to shard?

I’ve been jumping on about 30 minutes before work (4am eastern) and it’s pretty slow, but I usually get 5 drops in that 15-20 minutes of play. I’d love to see it turned up a little 

keven2002

@Kyronix - Sounds like the aye's have it for at least Origin to crank the spawn up; please!!  

Larisa

Yes..I was just in there about an hour ago. Aside from the 5 paragon rams, the spawn was rather light. I tend to not kill the rams so paragon's don't spawn but some people do and it's frustrating.

So I ran from 1-3 and back 4 times, killed everything but the rams and got 5 drops...not too shabby I suppose but I would like to see a bit more.

keven2002

@Kyronix - Please come check out Origin this morning. I'm there right now and with only 2 other people (a sampire & tamer) in the dungeon there just isn't enough to kill; especially with everyone recalling around. 

I run through level 2 with half the stuff already dead and so I recall back to level 1 and I see another player killing stuff. So I recall to level 3 and there is the other player so I run to level 4 to kill maybe 10 things. There is virtually zero chance of anyone dying because there isn't enough spawn accumulating to actually be a threat... and this is with only 3 players in the dungeon. 

Grimbeard

Last event the spawn felt like champ spawn rates you'd clear a floor and wait a few seconds for next wave which was thicker 

keven2002

Yea the spawn on Origin hasn't appeared to change. I ended up logging off because there didn't feel like enough to kill. I was running into rooms to kill like 2 things. I did come across a couple pockets that hadn't been hit yet but not even close to enough spawn to be fun/challenging. 

keven2002

@Kyronix - There are 2-3 sampires in Deceit now and it's been a bit difficult to find enough stuff to kill. Everyone here is very courteous so nobody is running ahead to clear rooms when someone is working their way down a hallway etc but it kind of limits how many things we can kill (unless you want people to start acting like jerks and steal kills... even then there still isn't enough spawning).

We shouldn't need to compete against other players for drops... it kind of defeats the purpose of the event (to defeat evil - not "outkill" other players). Can you please bump the spawn rate on Origin? 

Kyronix

@keven2002 - Every time you've posted I've looked on Origin and have found large swaths of unkilled mobs roaming about the dungeon.  I appreciate the feedback, but the only way for this to be a situation where you don't have to compete against other players is for this to be a single player game - which we are not.  

Pawain

Kyronix said:

@ keven2002 - Every time you've posted I've looked on Origin and have found large swaths of unkilled mobs roaming about the dungeon.  I appreciate the feedback, but the only way for this to be a situation where you don't have to compete against other players is for this to be a single player game - which we are not.  

Can you turn up Lake Superior, we want larger swaths! Thanks

Grimbeard

The spawn is thicker than it was earlier this morning 

keven2002

Kyronix said:

@ keven2002 - Every time you've posted I've looked on Origin and have found large swaths of unkilled mobs roaming about the dungeon.  I appreciate the feedback, but the only way for this to be a situation where you don't have to compete against other players is for this to be a single player game - which we are not.  

Appreciate the reply but would love to know your definition of "large swath" because this morning I was only able to find 4 or 5 of spots (10+ monsters to kill in an area) over the course of an hour that I was using my luck statue with the other players recalling around. Feel free to stop and chat and follow me around as I kill monsters 1 by 1 as I run half way around a floor.

Also I'm a little confused by the resistance to give the player base more of a challenge. It's already been requested by multiple users on the forums to get this event in Fel for more than a weekend (to truly compete against people) and now to give low population shards a bump in spawn in Tram (more challenging). What is the big aversion to actually give the paying player base what they've been asking for to stay interested in the event? 

Also - you might want to rethink telling someone who is paying multiple subscriptions on a monthly basis to think about playing another game. I've been a loyal subscriber month in and month out for years while your team has produced zero new content for half the year (or just recycled the same thing over and over) and others have closed down their accounts and moved on (or played the game time shuffle). Probably not a great business plan telling your loyal customers to go elsewhere and lose even more subscriptions. You might want to wait until you actually release NL to Prod and it brings the biggest audience ever (which you currently are not) to say something like that.

Pawain

He did not tell you to find another game. He stated the obvious.  UO is not a single player game so we all have to share with others. 

Trying to make drama where there is none.

Merus

Kyronix said:

@ keven2002 - Every time you've posted I've looked on Origin and have found large swaths of unkilled mobs roaming about the dungeon.  I appreciate the feedback, but the only way for this to be a situation where you don't have to compete against other players is for this to be a single player game - which we are not.  

Personally I’m not sure I think 1 or 2 players should have to run the ENTIRE dungeon looking for spawn.  The fact that there might be some out of the way pockets of monsters ignores the larger request that spawn density and respawn be increased.  I play a pretty low population shard (Napa) and you could easily double the spawn of every mob Lich and below without touching the difficulty of the dungeon.  As is, I’m often covering all of level 3 alone and feeling like I spend 3x as much time running through empty space as I do fighting.

Seth

Doing the regular fel champspawn is more satisfying in terms of drops and bloodshed... comparing hour to hour for one player. 

Also comparing to champ, I feel we should get "level 4" monsters and thicker spawn that is lethal... like the non paragon lich lords, succubus.

Try to walk into a room with 10 regular lich lord and 10x energy bolt will kill us instantly... no need for paragons.

This current spawn rate is killing us with boredom. 

keven2002

Merus said:

Kyronix said:

@ keven2002 - Every time you've posted I've looked on Origin and have found large swaths of unkilled mobs roaming about the dungeon.  I appreciate the feedback, but the only way for this to be a situation where you don't have to compete against other players is for this to be a single player game - which we are not.  

Personally I’m not sure I think 1 or 2 players should have to run the ENTIRE dungeon looking for spawn.  The fact that there might be some out of the way pockets of monsters ignores the larger request that spawn density and respawn be increased.  I play a pretty low population shard (Napa) and you could easily double the spawn of every mob Lich and below without touching the difficulty of the dungeon.  As is, I’m often covering all of level 3 alone and feeling like I spend 3x as much time running through empty space as I do fighting.

You nailed it. The fact that right now on Origin there are only like 2-3 people in the entire dungeon and we have to literally sweep the entire dungeon and still don't really have a ton to kill should tell you all you need to know about the spawn density. 

Unfortunately there seems to be a pretty big resistance by the Devs to actually give the players what they want; even when everyone appears to be on the same page about the spawn needing a bump. 

Larisa

Yeah I was down there with one other Samp last night(I was on an archer) and just the two of us were having to run and find spawn to kill. 2 drops in an hour

A lot of us don't kill the rams if they are spawning because we don't want the  para's to spawn. I can deal with all the para's except for the ram, and if I have a long hallway to run back and forth and kite, I can do fairly well against a para poison ele so if you happen to go in there and there are rams all over, that's why.

I don't often go down into the lower floors because we've found that if you clear a whole floor it will respawn...not fast...or a lot but I'll recall into 3 first and clear that then go 2 to 1 and back...it really is very spotty and needs to be increased....can you please just do that for us?

Arnold7

Spawn rate definitely affected by the number of players in the dungeon.  With lots of players plenty of accessible spawns everywhere and plenty of players working together to bring down the big stuff.  At night especially it slows down a lot and the larger paras, especially rams and executioners rule.  But most of the time I can find enough spawn elsewhere to get drops, and periodically stuff respawns in the areas I play in.  Two or three players working together should do pretty well any time of day.  For solo players that either can’t solo the big stuff or just have a hard time with it, like myself, it is still quite playable most of the time.  I just have to be a little more careful where I go when there are not enough players on to generate spawns everywhere.  Think the developers got it right this time spawnwise.

Have not been afk flagged a second time so maybe that is working better now.

keven2002

Update based on my experience over the other day.Sorry in advance for the length of the post but I wanted to kind of give my play by play experience in Deceit recently. If you want the cliff notes; it wasn't good and I still believe the spawn density needs increased.

I was on Origin and there was only another 1-2 people in the dungeon but they seemed stagnant (or maybe just camping) because every time I would come back around that small room on level 1 they were still there.so I kind of had the dungeon to myself for virtually the entire hour of my luck statue hit. 

For maybe the first 10-15min I would start at the entrance and work my way down to level 4 and back up (running where I could and recalling into locked places like the lava pits). I started by running down and back up but that made the spawn seem incredibly sparse because once I cleared level 4 crypts (my last spot on level 4) and worked my way back there was virtually no spawn on level 4 as I just cleared it (or level 1 entrance). Felt like even first parts of the next level I would go back to were kind of light.

So the next 15-20min I would start at the entrance, work my way down to level 4 crypts and then recall back to the start. It did seem like there was more piles of mobs in the same places (entrance hallway / jail cells / stairs on level 2 / level 2 locked room / level 3 back room and lich lab / etc) BUT it was still very sparse in between those spots. IE running from the level 1 fountain room over to the jail cells and then down to level 2 (maybe 5 monsters the entire way each way?). I still felt like I was wasting time "searching" for spawn all over... example: I'd run to that nook where Neira spawns in Fel and there might be a total of 4 things to kill. Wasn't worth going down there for just 4 monsters.

The next 20min(ish) I tried to recall around to those "hot spots" hoping that I'd recall into a mass of things to kill. It was hit or miss with some spots being pretty good (7-10 things immediately on screen) and some spots lacking spawn (maybe 3-5 things total in the area). Not really sure if I got more drops doing this or not (was more focused on moving from place to place) but it felt like it (maybe?). The downside to this (using CC) is that it was tedious to open my rune book every 20-40seconds after clearing an area about a screen (or 3) wide to recall to the next spot by selecting it in the book. 

The last 10-15min someone else joined the dungeon so I'd recall in and see that they probably had just hit that spot (all blue corpses) so then I'd try to recall ahead of them to hit the spawn before they did. Mixed success doing that as sometimes I'd leap frog them but other times they would leapfrog me. This kind of brought me back to just running from 1 spot to another trying to kill all the spawn in between the next area since the other person was just recalling (which there wasn't a lot of spawn in the hallways). 

Total drops = 21 of non-stop focused playing for 65minutes with the dungeon basically all to myself for 45min(ish) and having a luck statue rub.

I played for another 30minutes with no luck statue and minimal luck on suit and I ended up with 5 drops (not sure if my first drop was partially due to my previous "luck hour" because I got a drop relatively quick into that 30min). I was planning on doing a full hour so I could do a side by side comparison but a third Sampire came around the 30min mark and honestly I had enough at that point. The juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

Final thoughts: the current spawn density of Origin when there is 1-5 players is atrocious and not even close to being a challenge. It's hard for me to believe that if any developer actually played on these low population servers that they would think the current spawn density is fun/challenging/acceptable. The fact that a single player can run through the virtually the entire dungeon when nobody else is there AND still not find groups of monsters consistently should tell you all you need to know. The entire dungeon spawn should not be able to be easily controlled by a single player. I have had tougher times fighting level 1 champ spawns (undead or imps) given the sheer number of things to kill and being overpowered with numbers.

I think at the end of the day what it comes down to is that by increasing the spawn density, it would inevitably increase the drop rate which would allow players to acquire things quicker. which is pretty obvious something that the Devs do not want for us. Ultimately this really only hurts these small shards because they are the ones that will need to grind the most, simply because there just aren't enough players. Given the lack of spawn density on Origin during non-luck hours I doubt I will play outside my luck window because it just isn't worth it.