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Author Topic: Spawn frequency  (Read 1246 times)

Crowl

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Spawn frequency
« on: May 22, 2020, 11:37:07 AM »
I have not been around the low-mid levels around a lot lately, but recently again I have and after going through the experience again now with twice or thrice the players around I have realised that with the recent surge of players every single dungeon in the game for their respective levels seems to be either empty or cleared very recently. No matter how much time you wait for it, or how far and removed you travel. Because everyone is looking for the same thing when they want to get a good portion of that dungeoning/adventure RP. You are left with either no spawns, or absolutely the lowest spawn possible, which is not very engaging to fight as it's often unrewarding and they keel over a light breeze when you do find that there's at least one enemy remaining inside, somewhere.

I propose that this be revised. I think the system worked great when the numbers of players was lower, but now I've spent for this kind of experiment with no joke close to six hours going from every dungeon there is in Barovia, West and East, keen on the idea that we would get at least ONE dungeon before calling it and everything was always cleared, being cleared, or about to be, or you also run into another group just wanting to go do the same thing, or find it has been visited recently (IE within the last six IRL hours) and is thus filled with some scarce, isolated poor man's imitation of a challenge inside.

The only place that's free of this seems to be the Crypts under the Sanctuary in Vallaki.
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Kaninchen

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2020, 12:12:44 PM »
Cosmic Ray has talked about this, and said the spawn build up of dungeons is effected by the server population. High player count, means it build sot a higher level faster.

As another solution to this, Cosmic Ray has also been working on adding more dungeons to the module.

Main thing to take away is the concern is known among the Devs, and they're taking steps to keep our fighting spirits high.

SardineTheAncestor

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2020, 12:17:22 PM »
I myself would prefer more random encounters with larger pools of enemies to pull from, as well as some random trap placement too, to break the monotony a bit, rather than just locking people out of a dungeon because someone else completed it 30 minutes before them. This is a pretty divisive issue though, very much based on taste, and it would require a massive rework of every dungeon in the module, so I'm not holding my breath. But I agree that low spawn is generally pretty unfortunate to happen upon, probably because I just like unpredictable stuff more. Even more than I like returning to the same max-spawn dungeon which plays out nearly the same way, every time.

Cosmic Ray has talked about this, and said the spawn build up of dungeons is effected by the server population. High player count, means it build sot a higher level faster.

As another solution to this, Cosmic Ray has also been working on adding more dungeons to the module.

Main thing to take away is the concern is known among the Devs, and they're taking steps to keep our fighting spirits high.

Very glad to hear this. I didn't see those messages from Cosmic, so thanks for forwarding this.  :mrgreen:
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Kaninchen

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2020, 12:30:22 PM »
No worries! Also, on second thought, I might be mistaken, and crediting the wrong Dev with the quote? More likely, the conversation has happened more than once, with answers from differing Devs saying the same thing. That's beside the point. A Dev said a thing to that effect. Aware of concer. Steps are being taken. 

HopeIsTheCarrot

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2020, 01:40:51 PM »
I have not been around the low-mid levels around a lot lately, but recently again I have and after going through the experience again now with twice or thrice the players around I have realised that with the recent surge of players every single dungeon in the game for their respective levels seems to be either empty or cleared very recently. No matter how much time you wait for it, or how far and removed you travel. Because everyone is looking for the same thing when they want to get a good portion of that dungeoning/adventure RP. You are left with either no spawns, or absolutely the lowest spawn possible, which is not very engaging to fight as it's often unrewarding and they keel over a light breeze when you do find that there's at least one enemy remaining inside, somewhere.

I propose that this be revised. I think the system worked great when the numbers of players was lower, but now I've spent for this kind of experiment with no joke close to six hours going from every dungeon there is in Barovia, West and East, keen on the idea that we would get at least ONE dungeon before calling it and everything was always cleared, being cleared, or about to be, or you also run into another group just wanting to go do the same thing, or find it has been visited recently (IE within the last six IRL hours) and is thus filled with some scarce, isolated poor man's imitation of a challenge inside.

The only place that's free of this seems to be the Crypts under the Sanctuary in Vallaki.

+1. I’ve had the same experience lately. It’s very frustrating trying to introduce the server to new players and leading them to nothing but a dozen empty dungeons.

DM Erebus

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2020, 04:37:17 PM »
It is true that spawn rates scale with the number of players online. The reality is that we are 'at capacity' in terms of dungeons that people want to go to.

The solution is to increase capacity, which we have been doing. 4 new dungeons were added in the last 6 months (Berez lab, Ghoul Cabin, Wasp Tower and Blaustein tentacles). In the last big update the Old Svalich Road Ants, Wagner Silver Mine, Mt Baratak Spiders, Kobold Cave, Gremshika Cave, Morninglord Crypts, Old Svalich Road Misty Forest and Retezat Forest dungeons were given updates to make them more attractive destinations.

I'm actively working on a new medium-long dungeon for Barovia at the moment. Also in my pipeline are a new ultra-low level dungeon for Vallaki and improvements to Jezra's ice palace, werefoxes, and the Mt Ghakis peak.

Hathor

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #6 on: May 22, 2020, 04:41:19 PM »
It is true that spawn rates scale with the number of players online. The reality is that we are 'at capacity' in terms of dungeons that people want to go to.

The solution is to increase capacity, which we have been doing. 4 new dungeons were added in the last 6 months (Berez lab, Ghoul Cabin, Wasp Tower and Blaustein tentacles). In the last big update the Old Svalich Road Ants, Wagner Silver Mine, Mt Baratak Spiders, Kobold Cave, Gremshika Cave, Morninglord Crypts, Old Svalich Road Misty Forest and Retezat Forest dungeons were given updates to make them more attractive destinations.

I'm actively working on a new medium-long dungeon for Barovia at the moment. Also in my pipeline are a new ultra-low level dungeon for Vallaki and improvements to Jezra's ice palace, werefoxes, and the Mt Ghakis peak.

This is awesome to hear. Thank you!

I want to say, I've noticed during my experiences that many adventuring parties go to the same places again and again, at least in Barovia. It could be that people are too used to frequenting the same places and are not exploring as much as they could be.

Kaninchen

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2020, 06:17:33 PM »
It is true that spawn rates scale with the number of players online. The reality is that we are 'at capacity' in terms of dungeons that people want to go to.

The solution is to increase capacity, which we have been doing. 4 new dungeons were added in the last 6 months (Berez lab, Ghoul Cabin, Wasp Tower and Blaustein tentacles). In the last big update the Old Svalich Road Ants, Wagner Silver Mine, Mt Baratak Spiders, Kobold Cave, Gremshika Cave, Morninglord Crypts, Old Svalich Road Misty Forest and Retezat Forest dungeons were given updates to make them more attractive destinations.

I'm actively working on a new medium-long dungeon for Barovia at the moment. Also in my pipeline are a new ultra-low level dungeon for Vallaki and improvements to Jezra's ice palace, werefoxes, and the Mt Ghakis peak.

Thanks for the update, and for the big chuckle for calling your dungeon "Blaustein Tentacles."

vvolatile

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2020, 01:57:59 PM »
I'd like to +1 increasing the respawn frequency (15 minutes maybe?), as well as making monsters build to a higher strength faster, so that people can get stronger spawns in dungeons that have been recently cleared. How much? Guess that's up to you. But I think that it's a problem.

As far as there being more dungeons recently, yeah, that's a great way to *partially* address it. But then, there are some dungeons that kinda lock out some classes, like Dvergheim with its discipline/tumble/parry checks being not great for casters, or places with lots of fear spells that aren't great for, say, rogues or fighters unless appropriately warded (which might be out of range of the available casters in the party -- not just a matter of preparing the wrong spells, but being unable).

Then you've got distance of travel and how long it takes to clear (Blaustein being a good distance to run from the outskirts, and Dvergeheim being rather long to clear, for instance), when people may be playing with limited time, as is often the case, and is probably why people try to visit the same few dungeons nearest the outskirts.

Day Old Bread

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2020, 06:09:10 PM »
I'd like to +1 increasing the respawn frequency (15 minutes maybe?), as well as making monsters build to a higher strength faster, so that people can get stronger spawns in dungeons that have been recently cleared. How much? Guess that's up to you. But I think that it's a problem.

As far as there being more dungeons recently, yeah, that's a great way to *partially* address it. But then, there are some dungeons that kinda lock out some classes, like Dvergheim with its discipline/tumble/parry checks being not great for casters, or places with lots of fear spells that aren't great for, say, rogues or fighters unless appropriately warded (which might be out of range of the available casters in the party -- not just a matter of preparing the wrong spells, but being unable).

Then you've got distance of travel and how long it takes to clear (Blaustein being a good distance to run from the outskirts, and Dvergeheim being rather long to clear, for instance), when people may be playing with limited time, as is often the case, and is probably why people try to visit the same few dungeons nearest the outskirts.

I don't speak for the devs, but I think much of what you said here is by design.  This is an RP server not an adventure server.  The distance, the challenge some classes have over others in certain situations, these are all things that players and characters should be working through IC.  I think it serves a very good purpose to have dungeons empty from time to time or at "low spawn".

Just my opinion on the topic but I would rather see a greater variety of dungeons, as have been adressed by the dev team (Kudos btw, it's awesome work) than to see a change in the way the current dungeons work.

Yesper

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2020, 02:06:21 PM »
I'd like to +1 increasing the respawn frequency (15 minutes maybe?), as well as making monsters build to a higher strength faster, so that people can get stronger spawns in dungeons that have been recently cleared. How much? Guess that's up to you. But I think that it's a problem.

As far as there being more dungeons recently, yeah, that's a great way to *partially* address it. But then, there are some dungeons that kinda lock out some classes, like Dvergheim with its discipline/tumble/parry checks being not great for casters, or places with lots of fear spells that aren't great for, say, rogues or fighters unless appropriately warded (which might be out of range of the available casters in the party -- not just a matter of preparing the wrong spells, but being unable).

Then you've got distance of travel and how long it takes to clear (Blaustein being a good distance to run from the outskirts, and Dvergeheim being rather long to clear, for instance), when people may be playing with limited time, as is often the case, and is probably why people try to visit the same few dungeons nearest the outskirts.

I don't speak for the devs, but I think much of what you said here is by design.  This is an RP server not an adventure server.  The distance, the challenge some classes have over others in certain situations, these are all things that players and characters should be working through IC.  I think it serves a very good purpose to have dungeons empty from time to time or at "low spawn".

Just my opinion on the topic but I would rather see a greater variety of dungeons, as have been adressed by the dev team (Kudos btw, it's awesome work) than to see a change in the way the current dungeons work.

That is a fair point, but there are a few dungeons in module that ramp up so slowly that it is problematic. Most notably the Greater Catacombs (Well) beneath the Village of Barovia. I have, over the past few weeks, checked in to gauge the spawn growth. If the dungeon does not come up as high/max spawn after a crash/reset it will never make it there, even with high player count. It's a shame because I actually rather like this area and its design. I feel like I keep ranting on and on about this specific dungeon, but it's the best example of this issue.

Yes, RP is golden in PotM. We shouldn't overlook issues that negatively impact a large number of players because of that. If people want to explore a location, test their mettle, and be rewarded well for their time... Well... You know. If there are those that are seeking to grind the dungeons on a timer as a result, then I'm sure there are consequences or penalties that can be doled out. Clip, clap, donezo.

SardineTheAncestor

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Re: Spawn frequency
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2020, 02:50:01 AM »
Just as a brief thing, gothic horror, roleplay, and adventure do not have to exist exclusively from one another.

If all that happens on an adventure is not RP, then we would not have any combat mechanics at all.

Consequently, I think exploration and adventure are more interesting and have the potential to be both more thrilling & more rewarding if the threats and the discoveries were a little more random and a little less based on the experiences of another party you may not have even encountered, and only in the negative. The goal of this system was surely not to make it so people are competing for spawns. That doesn't even make any sense from an IC standpoint. Luckily the developers are adding more dungeons so it'll be harder to roam around for hours unable to find danger even when, in most domains, it should be looking for you.
Insatisfait permanent, c'est ça l'apanage du champion.