So I'm posting this in hopes a GM will see it and possibly, if time allows look into it.
I have been given several bounties now that require me to go hunt down bobcats in the Toadwart for various reasons, (cull creature & find child). I get to the area (which is only 9 rooms big), and hunt for a longer period than normal because the spawn rate for bobcats is too low. There is an abundance of moccosins and vipers in the area, (which seems odd as they have their own area for spawning in). I've heard I could go into Lunar Weald, but that is a lvl 20 and up hunting area, why would anyone hunting a level 5 critter go to a level 20 area to hunt that same critter, we would get all sorts of dead before we had time to blink. I've also been told I could go to where the darkenwoods reside, but they are in the teens level wise, same issue as the Weald.
I understand if the spawn rate is low because of the area (which I am sure is the issue, I could be wrong though). If this is the case can the spawn area be increased to the rest of the Toadward, the vipers and moccasins don't seem to have any issues getting around, don't see why a bobcat would have any issues. If this can't be done, can the spawn rate be increased in the area they are SUPPOSED to spawn in pretty please?
~Rayna, cleric of Oleani and Ta'Vaalor
ANEWMAN2
BHTM
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/07/2015 08:44 PM CST
There is more than one area in the Toadwart that bobcats spawn.
-Richard/Fjalar.
-Richard/Fjalar.
ANEWMAN2
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/07/2015 09:32 PM CST
outside of the ones I mentioned? I would love to know where.
~Rayna, cleric of Oleani and Ta'Vaalor
~Rayna, cleric of Oleani and Ta'Vaalor
BHTM
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/07/2015 11:07 PM CST
They spawn with the darkwoodes. Not in the Weald.
-Richard/Fjalar.
-Richard/Fjalar.
ANEWMAN2
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/08/2015 01:22 AM CST
oh, i know they spawn in the darkwoods, already mentioned that, but for a low level character, hunting a level 5 critter in a level 13 and up area is unreasonable.
~Rayna, cleric of Oleani and Ta'Vaalor
~Rayna, cleric of Oleani and Ta'Vaalor
JOEKRYSTEL
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/08/2015 05:08 AM CST
The problem is that the max number of bobcats seems to be spread over both areas. So if you are spawning them in the lower level area and killing them, they also spawn in the darkwoods area. Eventually the darkwoods area fills up and none will spawn anywhere else. Considering that and considering the two areas are not directly connected, it would be nice if they used seperate spawning pools.
AIM: GS4Menos
>Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
>Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
AIM: GS4Menos
>Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
>Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
RATHBONER
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/08/2015 06:23 AM CST
>So if you are spawning them in the lower level area and killing them, they also spawn in the darkwoods area. Eventually the darkwoods area fills up and none will spawn anywhere else.
Exactly. If there isn't anyone hunting darkwoodes, you can't hunt bobcats. The bobcats are one of the most extreme examples of this in the game, but they are not alone in having spawn algorithms that require the game to be more crowded than it actually is to work properly. However, they are mostly in sub-level 10 hunting grounds and you level out of them very fast.
The only sensible thing to do with these tasks is to refuse them. If want to complete every task no matter how painful it gets, you could to go back to town (or log out of the game) for five minutes or so every time you run out of targets in order to get the area to despawn. 90 minutes or so of 5 minutes in game, 5 minutes logged 5 minutes in game etc. will get enough bobcats to spawn outside the darkwoodes to complete the task. Or you could play dodge the darkwoodes and take advantage of the lack of Sting penalties below level 10 if you get pounced at the wrong moment. There are only 2 of them in there and they are fairly easy to avoid if you PEER before moving and run when one walks in on you.
Disconnected spawn areas are bad for any AG task, because the critters are liable to despawn while you are in transit, as well as piling up in the other part of the area. I'd normally refuse just because the area is disconnected even without the darkwoode problem.
Exactly. If there isn't anyone hunting darkwoodes, you can't hunt bobcats. The bobcats are one of the most extreme examples of this in the game, but they are not alone in having spawn algorithms that require the game to be more crowded than it actually is to work properly. However, they are mostly in sub-level 10 hunting grounds and you level out of them very fast.
The only sensible thing to do with these tasks is to refuse them. If want to complete every task no matter how painful it gets, you could to go back to town (or log out of the game) for five minutes or so every time you run out of targets in order to get the area to despawn. 90 minutes or so of 5 minutes in game, 5 minutes logged 5 minutes in game etc. will get enough bobcats to spawn outside the darkwoodes to complete the task. Or you could play dodge the darkwoodes and take advantage of the lack of Sting penalties below level 10 if you get pounced at the wrong moment. There are only 2 of them in there and they are fairly easy to avoid if you PEER before moving and run when one walks in on you.
Disconnected spawn areas are bad for any AG task, because the critters are liable to despawn while you are in transit, as well as piling up in the other part of the area. I'd normally refuse just because the area is disconnected even without the darkwoode problem.
ANEWMAN2
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/08/2015 11:14 AM CST
thank you, you guys seem to understand what I'm talking about here. You know, I posted this up not really for me as yes, it gets frustrating, but most anyone knows I have no issue with hanging out at the court chatting with anyone that want's to chat and I'm of a level where I can now handle the darkwoods. I requested a GM try to find a fix for this for the new and returning players that don't know the tricks, that are only going off of roomdata maps to find their way around. It just seems wrong to tell a level 4 character to go cull the bobcats when after they clear the darkened morassas, they next have to go to the darkwood area where they would get owned if caught unawares.
~Rayna, cleric of Oleani and Ta'Vaalor
~Rayna, cleric of Oleani and Ta'Vaalor
THROGG
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/08/2015 08:45 PM CST
Reverse the title of this thread and you get "Toadwart and the Bobcats". Sounds like the name of a bad 50's rock group.
"So, what does that green line on the graph represent?"
"Oh, that's the projection of a hypothetical offspring from a union between Sauron and Cruella de Ville; we use that as a baseline for determining character alignment."
"So, what does that green line on the graph represent?"
"Oh, that's the projection of a hypothetical offspring from a union between Sauron and Cruella de Ville; we use that as a baseline for determining character alignment."
DAID
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/09/2015 10:26 PM CST
Solhaven is especially guilty about tossing creatures together with fairly large level disparities under level 20. Listing the areas and creatures would actually be quite a large list, but a good number of things on the west side (near the coast) are like that. Yay firephantom bounties (level 6) near fire guardians (level 15?); and there are fire salamanders there, too (level 3); it's got the fire flavor alright, but I was there at level 6 and a fire guardian definitely killed me.
Some creatures just have pretty awful spawn rates. Mountain trolls in RR are pretty terrible if you go alone (I usually drop those bounties). Another annoyance is the cave trolls who can wander out of the cave and to the area near the Citadel. You don't even get credit for the kills when they do this, and the spawn area is merely 4 rooms (but they spawn pretty reliably).
Many, many of these designs pre-date the Adv Guild system. At least, you should realize this is not a particularly isolated problem. My usual attitude is some bounties are good and some are crap. Pick the right ones!
>Kayse scrambles to avoid being sucked into the void!
Some creatures just have pretty awful spawn rates. Mountain trolls in RR are pretty terrible if you go alone (I usually drop those bounties). Another annoyance is the cave trolls who can wander out of the cave and to the area near the Citadel. You don't even get credit for the kills when they do this, and the spawn area is merely 4 rooms (but they spawn pretty reliably).
Many, many of these designs pre-date the Adv Guild system. At least, you should realize this is not a particularly isolated problem. My usual attitude is some bounties are good and some are crap. Pick the right ones!
>Kayse scrambles to avoid being sucked into the void!
RATHBONER
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/10/2015 07:15 AM CST
>Mountain trolls in RR are pretty terrible if you go alone
I find plenty of them inside with the bears and chiefs. Outside with the hill trolls you'll waiting forever for the ones that spawn inside to come to you.
I find plenty of them inside with the bears and chiefs. Outside with the hill trolls you'll waiting forever for the ones that spawn inside to come to you.
DAID
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/10/2015 09:07 AM CST
>>Mountain trolls in RR are pretty terrible if you go alone
>I find plenty of them inside with the bears and chiefs. Outside with the hill trolls you'll waiting forever for the ones that spawn inside to come to you.
Well, it's a similar story to the OP. I think my warmage's profile shows the most accomplished kill as a cave bear! w00t!
>Kayse scrambles to avoid being sucked into the void!
>I find plenty of them inside with the bears and chiefs. Outside with the hill trolls you'll waiting forever for the ones that spawn inside to come to you.
Well, it's a similar story to the OP. I think my warmage's profile shows the most accomplished kill as a cave bear! w00t!
>Kayse scrambles to avoid being sucked into the void!
DAID
Re: Bobcats and the Toadwart
02/11/2015 10:36 AM CST
Incidentally, from some recent hunting, I'd say the case of mountain trolls in RR -- while they do spawn more frequently in one area than another -- it does not appear that the spawning areas are actually linked to each other. So it's a slightly different case than this (though, I still don't hunt in the cave alone with my level 16 warmage...but a duo group that runs away from chieftans seems to have been working fine).
I tend to see the design, or at least thinking, behind some of these areas, is exactly that: to encourage group hunting. That's not to say there aren't some minor details that might not be improved upon, but I can't say it's a bad thing when hunting areas exist that are advantageous to groups. The bounty system makes it a little more challenging since you are being assigned to hunt there, but you can get a new bounty every 15 minutes, and also the vouchers in the SimuCoins store is one of the things I'll give loud praise for. It's about $0.07 per voucher, so this is like a nickle and dime problem easy to avoid.
Sometimes the level disparities in such areas are a little crazy, but then again, I have a level 48 paladin hunting level 54 and 56 creatures in an area level 62 creatures can spawn if someone goes in the basement. The absolute level difference is actually larger, it's only the percent level difference which might be smaller.
For low levels and this occurrence, it's a little more troublesome because there is a massive difference between a level 5 and a level 15 character.
>Kayse scrambles to avoid being sucked into the void!
I tend to see the design, or at least thinking, behind some of these areas, is exactly that: to encourage group hunting. That's not to say there aren't some minor details that might not be improved upon, but I can't say it's a bad thing when hunting areas exist that are advantageous to groups. The bounty system makes it a little more challenging since you are being assigned to hunt there, but you can get a new bounty every 15 minutes, and also the vouchers in the SimuCoins store is one of the things I'll give loud praise for. It's about $0.07 per voucher, so this is like a nickle and dime problem easy to avoid.
Sometimes the level disparities in such areas are a little crazy, but then again, I have a level 48 paladin hunting level 54 and 56 creatures in an area level 62 creatures can spawn if someone goes in the basement. The absolute level difference is actually larger, it's only the percent level difference which might be smaller.
For low levels and this occurrence, it's a little more troublesome because there is a massive difference between a level 5 and a level 15 character.
>Kayse scrambles to avoid being sucked into the void!
