Problem with features like these is I forsee more cheese that could and would be done with it and makes it feel more mmo-y, which I think goes against the spirit of the server.
The server has already resigned to being some what of an MMO. There's a grind to it all and players will run the same dungeon 3-10 times a week sometimes. We can get into the discussion of what is actually at these dungeon locations and the actual IC nature of it all; all of that is a huge huge debate that this thread isn't for. Players IC will have to IC justify hiring people to run the same dungeons-- people talk about going to Shipwreck like they talk about going to their local pub for a drink LOL
I don't think denying players quality of life for the sake of immersion/trying to declare itself a 'non-mmo' when it 100% is an mmo type game is necessarily the answer. At the end of the day the true spirit of the server is 'having fun'. You're supposed to have fun. This is leisure time, this is a hobby, it's a game, it's fun. If we want to get into the hard-core realistic RP of it all then every sword swing, arrow shot, spell cast, etc is probably killing the recipient in a single blow. No one gets hit by a two handed sword and lives.
It's fine every so often to remember that it's just a game, infact I'd say it's healthy to do so.
I'm not a fan of anything that locks a mob onto a certain target. As a DM in my table top games, I will specifically target someone who's potentially more dangerous than the beefy tanky character trying to soak an the damage. It's what any reasonably intelligent monster would do.
So not all monsters fit the bill on this. I actually considered making this a 'Monster AI' thread in general because a lot of the monsters behave rather strangely... for example if you do enough damage to a Maddened Zombie in the crypts. It will run away. Mindless undead, but it will run away in fear. It's not supposed to do that lol
In fact all of the monsters do that. It might be a big ask to request certain AI functions per creatures but there are monsters that behave so strangely compared to how you'd think they'd act.
On this I would partially agree though. In most Online RPG's (Don't want to say the M word around here even if it is pretty much true); monsters will switch targets after receiving a certain damage threshold from a particular source. I find it really odd and kind of meta though that the monsters automatically somehow know player AC; and of course the players don't know player AC.
There's a learning curve involved.
It's really not a matter of a learning curve because there isn't anything to learn other than "don't play ranged, you'll have a bad time". The aggro draws are instantaneous and they aren't based off of information that monster would readily have. like if a high ac ranged character started firing at a monster after a lower ac melee stepped in to fight; the monster won't switch targets because it somehow knows (meta-gaming) that the ranged PC has more AC... but if you reverse the situation a melee with AC enters combat and immediately after a low ac ranged starts firing; the monster will immediately jump to the archer.
So the monster isn't attacking the 'archer' it's attacking the character with the lower AC which incidentally happens to be ranged characters because many ranged weapons don't allow use of a shield and do not benefit from parry so ultimately they end up with less AC.
The monsters know exactly who has what AC but the players don't. Weird isn't it? and their behavior changes on a dime. It'd be one thing if flanking PCs and ranged PCs had the aggro shifted after not doing enough damage within a window of time but that's not the case. The monsters automatically just know.
In DM controlled scenarios this can still be done. Though a vast majority of content is not DM run so having the ability to taunt enemies like in basically any other MMO, which is basically how the scripted PVE content is run, would be a net bonus. Especially if it cost a feat. I'd love if there was an AOE taunt that required say...15 antagonize. Thats a steep investment of skill points and a feat.
I mean I'd be happy to have something like that, I'm not sure 15 antagonize is necessary for it; I think players wanting to 'tank' should simply be allowed to AoE taunt monsters around them; other players would have a time limit to kill these monsters before the taunt wears off; and the taunt itself would be on a cool down that is slightly longer than the taunt duration.
reward groups for working together by targeting the same monster; and then the monsters can punish players who don't work together.
