ArenaNet:Guild Wars 2 suggestions/How PvE Foes React to Players
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Foe Reaction to PvE Characters (Discussion)
With the idea of a persistant and instanced world in Guild Wars 2, a important question is chosen. In the original Guild Wars, every new zone had the same foes in relatively the same place, and once you approach any foes they instantly go on the attack and the player has little choice but to fight from one side of a zone to the other. Yet this idea may be good for instances, it is not a great idea for peristant worlds, where travelling outside of towns or outposts is much more heavily relied upon for basic things. The concept of 'everything aggros except level 0-2' becomes more of an annoyance than a pleasure. Yet a quick solution to this would be the reaction of foes to characters based on the status of said character.
An example: Say a character needs to finish a quest by going into a low-level area that is full of little bugs that attack low level characters because it is in a relatively beginner area. Yet this character in question is much higher than those creatures or other players in the area. It would become extremely annoying of a high level character had to fight through these things just to reach something, even if that character could kill them in one swing. Since the drops aren't worth much and no experience would probably be gained, it would be extremely annoying after doing this repeatedly for higher level players. To fix this annoyance, foes would actually examine the level and status of the characters like any foe or animal might in real life. No thug is going to go after a knight in full armor with dazzling swords if that thug is little more than a measly street urchin. That being said when the same character goes through an area where the foes react to level, if the character is considerably higher than those foes they would not attack, preferring to avoid the character altogether since to their own lives it would be foolhardy. Now if a character of a similar or lower level wanders into the area, obviously the monsters would love to make a meal of that character in no time, yet the character would gain something from engaging these foes, such as dropped items or experience.
However, in instanced situations like missions the foes will target whomever is in that instance reguardless of level due to the fact a mission is supposed to be completed and the foes there will try anything to stop them, it also means that the mission won't be a quick run for a higher level character. They still have to fight foes. Another option is to adjust the difficulty level of the instance to match that of characters going into the mission.
- Why this is a good idea
- High level characters who have proven themselves need not be annoyed in a persistant area having foes constantly attacking them no matter their level. This makes just plain travel to specific areas the character is trying to reach a bit easier. Likewise the characters who are supposed to be in that area will be attacked by foes that will give them something in return if they succeed in battle. It also means higher level characters leave monsters alone which lower level characters are probably wanting to attack.
- Instances will still cater to whomever is within an instance. That means foes will attack reguardless making the instance not just an easy street. Instances may also be adjusted based on the level of the characters entering the instance.
- Why it may not work out
- Depending on the nature of the persistant and instanced areas of Guild Wars 2 the foes attacking or not may not matter despite levels. Based on the instanced nature of the original Guild Wars, running through low level areas by a high level character was still challenging. If the foes do not attack then 'running' might be easier than expected and an unwanted feature. Furthermore if a high level character is travelling with a low level character, the low level would slow them both down by getting attacked all the time while the high level character has to stop to remove the threat.
