In part 1 of this series we discussed the history of camping and the negative and positive aspects of the mechanic. Here in part two we’ll discuss how Sigil plans to address the negative aspects of the mechanic while leaving the positive aspects alive and well in Vanguard.
To start, a revealing quote from Brad McQuaid is in order.
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Originally Posted by Brad McQuaid
…Camping (sitting on you for hours; bored, waiting for a spawn, hoping you get the loot) was not what we wanted to have happen in EQ, yet it did, and with Vanguard we’re going to be trying new mechanics to curb camping and other needlessly tedious game mechanics.
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Those of us that have followed Vanguard from its inception know a lot about Sigil, their origin, their roots, and experiences. Some of the things we have become accustomed to in MMORPGs, such as camping and kiting, were never part of the plan when EQ was developed. These were things players developed from playing the game. Sigil plans to exercise more control over camping, via “The Vision”™, in several ways and instancing is not one of them. Sigil wants groups of adventures making their way to dungeons and then “crawling” through them rather than sitting in one spot.
In EQ, a group would crawl its way to the Assassin camp in Lower Guk and sit there for hours gleaning XP and loot. The reward was 2-fold and did not reward the exploration element of dungeon crawling. In WoW, you have your own instance so there is no competition. The reward is once you complete your instance and gather the loot; you simply open another instance. Another problem with instancing is the mass amounts of loot pouring into the world and economy. Even if these items are “no drop” they are still out there. More people who normally wouldn’t have access to these items now have them. An example of this is the Plane of Time (PoT) which we discussed in part one. Time gear, which was once elite and hard to come by, became much more prevalent in the world of Norrath after the area was instanced.
There has to be a better way
Luckily it seems like Sigil has figured out just that. There are many ways in which camping will be combated in Vanguard. Dungeon design and construction is very important. Just slapping together content without proper planning is a recipe for disaster. Another important feature is Trivial Loot Code, affectionately known as TLC. Just the mere mention of TLC can cause nothing short of a riot on some forums as to whether it is a benefit or a poison pill to a particular MMORPG. Of course there is also the Advanced Encounter System, or AES. The AES has many people excited and looking forward to this additional “layer” of content.
To the Dungeon
We all have our favorite dungeons from MMORPGs passed. The employees over at Sigil are gamers themselves and know what it takes to make a good dungeon. Sigil wants to immerse you in their dungeons, so they will be massive. Anyone with some graph paper and pencil can make a massive dungeon, but then comes the issue of quality and attention to detail.
Keeping in line with the ever-present motto of “content is king”, Sigil has on its staff some of the people responsible for creating some of the most memorable content seen to date. This includes Ssraz Temple, Hollowshade Moore, and The Coldain Ring Quests just to name a few. They also have people who have overseen the creation of such zones as Sebilis and Upper/Lower Guk. In short, the content developers have a proven track record of designing content that people have enjoyed over and over again. Moreover, they have built their own custom tools to make designing and populating the dungeons of Telon that make it easier than it has been in the past. This in turn will allow them to crank out high quality content at a quicker pace than previously was possible.
So just how big will these dungeons be? The dungeons will be large enough for several groups to be simultaneously “crawling” through the dungeon at the same time along with groups who just wish to remain in place. While there will be static mobs with loot, the game mechanics employed by Sigil promise to put more emphasis on working through the dungeon than just sitting in one spot and taking out three or 4 mobs every 16 minutes. For their efforts, groups will be rewarded for moving about by possibly getting a chance at an AES. It will be interesting to see how these dungeons will fair when a server full of hungry adventures shows up at the doors of a dungeon all looking for the means to trigger an AES.
Trivial Loot Code
Another way to limit camping is TLC, and I do not mean Tender Loving Care. Trivial Loot Code fires up a lot of the “old guard” or “hardcore” gamers (such as myself). The philosophy of these types of players espouses the “free will” mentality. If its in game, and I want to kill it, I should be able to. If I am a level 60 druid and I want to go into a dungeon designed for level 20 characters and rake in the loot so I can sell it later, I should be able to. Honestly, I have to agree with this argument. This is what makes MMORPGs so attractive. We can do what we want to do in game, and for the most part, not pay any consequences.
On the other side of the coin you have the casual gamer who cannot put 40 hours a week into the game. Maybe he or she has a significant other who has set strict times that they are “allowed” to play or they are a college student who puts more time into college than Vanguard (shame on you). Most objective people can see the problem that can arise. This level 60 druid is blocking content that was not designed for them. And honestly, I can see this side of the argument as well.
One thing that players who loath TLC can take solace in is this: the coders, content gurus, and managers all understand the implications of TLC. The management team feels that with TLC implemented from the get go TLC will be easier to update and manage. A side effect of implementing TLC from the beginning will be the managing of expectations of player base as to what they can and cannot do.
TLC was supposed to be in EQ, and for a time was implemented on the Feronia Vie server, however it never really was implemented as the “Founding Fathers” envisioned. TLC is needed, frankly, because of players who farm loot for cash (bottom feeders) and IGErs. This is very different then the 70 Enchanter in EQ who needs a SMR for her epic. These are the people who will camp spawns for days or weeks knowing that each SMR they loot is worth 10,000 platinum.
Bottom feeders also ruin mid-level content. Why would a game designer spend a ton of time developing a mid level dungeon populating it with loot just to have high-level characters farming and selling to mid-level players? If Sigil takes the time to develop high quality mid level dungeons, and they are, they do not want them to be ruined by farmers in game or IGErs outside the game. This is not to say that you cannot go back into the dungeon for the molestation of mob that just rained on your parade. This is very important in MMORPGs. I cannot tell you how many times I utterly destroyed the griffon in Eastern Commonlands just because he killed me more times than I killed him. Actually, I would dire-charm him and take out his ghoul buddies at the undead ruins, but, I digress. The content will be dynamic and you will have access to the items you will need for quests.
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Originally Posted by Brad McQuaid
The onus is on the devs if they are going to implement some kind of TLC to also make sure that it doesn’t stop you from completing an epic quest, ect. Easier said than done, but then if you implement some sort of TLC system from the very beginning (as opposed to trying to apply it to a game that’s already been live for some time), it’s a lot easier to put safeguards in.
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What we know
TLC is in beta. There will be soft caps in Vanguard, much like EQ and the minimum level requirement. While the player will be able to equip the item regardless of level, they will not achieve the same statistical advantage that a player of appropriate level would receive for an item. Gone are the days of level one frogs hopping around with a full set of high-end armor and 1300 hit-points and a mana pool a level 40 wizard would kill to have. Nothing has been publicly stated about the bottom feeding issue other than they will have something in place to try to combat the practice.
In the end, camping the same mob repeatedly for money limits access to content that other people want to enjoy. Not only that, but the behavior of perma-camping mobs for loot, weeks on end, puts the developer in a position that does not allow them to develop content for certain levels of characters. It also forces a developer to limit the drop rate of exceptional items more than they would usually want or have to. TLC can be a good thing, then again, it can be a slippery slope to the dark side if it is not carefully managed and tweaked as required. We can only wait and see where this leads.
The AES
Perhaps the most exciting feature of adventuring Vanguard is the Advanced Encounter System (AES). Two of the problems in earlier MMORPGs was that a group would work its way to a named mob that dropped a particular piece of loot and sit there for 5 to 6 hours grinding away XP and farming the loot. Or, a group would be grinding away and XPing waiting for a rare named mob to spawn only to have the four-horseman ride in and KS the prized rare spawn. Sigil doesn’t necessarily want the first example and definitely is against KSing. Instead, they want groups of adventures working through dungeons, killing mobs, gaining XP, and getting the loot they earned for their effort along the way.
To promote this atmosphere, Sigil has developed the AES. The AES is not common at all. It should not be expected that every time you walk into a dungeon you can trigger an AES. Instead, AES is being looked at as a reward for those groups of adventures who crawl through the dungeon. Sigil has said these will be rare, yet, more than one AES can be occurring at the same time in the dungeon.
While crawling through the dungeon, an adventure group will come across a trigger that can activate an AES. There are two known types of AES: Covert and Overt. Covert AES are just that, they are difficult to find and do not give a lot of advice or a helping hand along the AES route. The overt AES is just that. The party will have messages and pointers to get the party to its final destination.
Triggering an AES can happen several ways. Perhaps the AES may be triggered by the looting of an item or maybe some type of interaction with a Non-Player Character (NPC). An important thing to note is that just because you are offered the AES does not mean you have to accept it. However, at the time of this writing I am not aware if you can “save” the AES for later.
As the group begins an AES they will be fed a stream of mobs that they need to kill. They will progress through the dungeon killing both mobs inside and outside the AES. It may be that the party will be lead by other groups in the dungeon not involved in an AES (The massiveness of the dungeon). Moreover, the route through the dungeon will not necessarily be the same every time. Every AES will be different in some way.
At certain points of the AES there will be specific mobs that will require interaction, peaceful or otherwise. These mobs are as of right now called “Golden Mobs”. These particular mobs will not be common and can only be engaged by the party participating within the AES. This furthers the progression of the AES or it may be the final mob in the AES. Either way, golden mobs prevent KSing and allow the group to experience the dungeon in a way that is not normally done. The point here is that not only is the party inside an AES, they are continuing to crawl through the dungeon, gaining XP, collecting loot, and experiencing the dungeon the way Sigil designed it. Some people may look at the AES as instancing. It is not. Instances can be entered into at will while the AES will be triggered based on certain unknown factors. People should look at the AES as an additional “layer” of content inside the dungeon that is not always available.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we’ll get some incredibly large dungeons that are not only vast in dimensions, but are well populated with mobs and designed by people who know how to construct a dungeon. At the same time, we should see camping curbed by the three mechanics mentioned above. With any luck, the Vanguard player base will come to grips with the fact that Sigil is implementing TLC and embrace it as the lesser of two evils. While everything will be done to limit the code, this will obviously make some of the “hard-core” players very uneasy which should be interesting since the “core” gamer is Vanguards targeted audience. Finally, the AES should spice things up and looks very promising! People will be crawling dungeons with a sense of purpose and the hope of not only taking down boss mobs inside dungeons, but perhaps getting a crack at a “Golden Mob” as well. This in turn will contribute to the feeling of a living, vibrant world in which everyone will be excited to be a part of. In the long run, excited players are necessary for the long-term health of a game and I think we’ll be seeing a healthy Telon for years to come.
