Totally agree.

There are so many great areas that are underused/unused due to spawn and/or layout.

They should just make it so that every hunt provides solid swarms. There is no reason to make most hunts not useful at all on the creature ladder simply because they aren't able to spawn enough for everyone to come enjoy.

"An' I'm learnin' 'ere in London what the ten-year soldier tells; If you've 'eard the East a-callin', you won't never 'eed naught else. No! you won't 'eed nothin' else"

>+1 for upping the swarms.

With the way current engagement works all critters should spawn 4 per hunter per room.

~Hunter Hanryu
>You know how map makers use to be "Here be dragons"? Old DR code is like that. Except instead of dragons there are Lovecraftian horrors made out of well-intentioned psuedo-code.~Raesh

>I don't see this working well at lower skill ranks where the difference between 90 tactics and 80 tactics is the ability to dance with 4 critters all day and having them shred you bad the minute the third one engages.

Granted I've only run a F2P barb up through eels (60ish ranks) but from the get-go I danced with 4 rats then 4 gobs then 4 ... and never really noticed a problem. What happens between 60 ranks and 90 to change that?

~Hunter Hanryu
>You know how map makers use to be "Here be dragons"? Old DR code is like that. Except instead of dragons there are Lovecraftian horrors made out of well-intentioned psuedo-code.~Raesh

I don't think it'd impact lower levels all that much. Your kill rates are generally pretty low using basic gear that you will eventually get four on you, especially in the more populated hunting zones.

This is an issue that bugs me, so I thought I'd revive this thread.

I go hunting to kill, and the spawn mechanic in most hunting areas does not reward me for killing.

Instead it rewards those who dance for hours on end with 4 critters without killing any. They get what they want, sucking the area dry while others face minutes of whistling in the rain and 1 or maybe 2 creatures most of the rest of the time.


So I'm wondering whether I'm doing this all wrong. Is there a good reason for adventurers in Elanthia to dance with their prey rather than kill it?

>I switched to all Jab/Feint for attacks because of the spawn thing. I just don't understand the GM reticence to allow for optimal training conditions (4 critters per hunter per room).

SNAP! Have done the same, but I still spend lots of time waiting.

What led to me writing that post was trying to take it one step further by jabbing with slicing and blunt weapons and feinting with jabbers. Then I learned that my Arthe Dale spear isn't good for feinting with, and my etched greathammer (From Milgrym's) doesn't have enough puncture. So my character is in the funny situation of having to buy suboptimal weapons to deal with the stupid spawn system. And that's the essence of my complaint:

I don't feel that the game design should force my character to jump through hoops and perform silly unnatural acts in order to hunt in a hunting ground.

> The best way i think to train weapons, when you are having trouble killing too many, is getting weaker weapons. Get someone to forge terrible weapons that are worse than store bought (i think that's possible). Some loot weapons are definitely worse, so loot all or loot equipment and use the enemy's weapon. it's an option, but harder to find the right weapon, depending what you need.

I hadn't thought of this. I think I find it funny and ridiculous in equal measures. Apart from being true.

I don't think I explained my original complaint very well... let me try it in point form, starting with the facts of the matter:

- It is possible for anyone to engage and hog 4 critters for an indefinite period of time.
- Some hunting areas in the game spawn a low number of critters per hunter.

There are two consequences to this:

Firstly, a single hunter can dramatically alter the nature of these areas depending on whether they decide to kill or dance.
Secondly - probably as a consequence of the above - quite a few hunters decide to dance with 4 critters indefinitely.

And what prompted me to write today is my current situation in game... I'm in leucros with 2 others, each of us in their own room. One guy is dancing with 4, and the area is spawning 6. Which sucks for the other guy because I've just decided to dance to lock my defences and go look for a better area. Assuming the zone spawns 2 per hunter, he is not going to have anything to fight for a very long time.

Also, I'm not blaming the guy who's dancing with 4 critters. they probably feel that if they didn't someone else will, and then they would lose out. Which is probably true.

I appreciate the advice to kill slowly and use gimped weapons. It's just that sometimes I kill things and they don't come back... then I discover someone else hogging them. And there's no easy way around it either. If I work on locking my defences as soon as I start hunting, then I'm only contributing to the problem.

I realize I'm probably flogging a dead horse, It just feels unfair.