Proposed change to mob summoning

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Fian, Dec 20, 2019.

  1. Fian Augur

    From what I remember, summoning was implemented as a way to prevent kiting. You don't want someone kiting bosses solo and getting all the loot, when it normally it takes a full group of 6 people to bring down.

    However, as it is currently implemented, the summoning code is a big pain for pullers and tanks, as the mob summons even when kiting isn't happening. Players really hate mob summoning.

    What I am proposing is a small change that will still prevent kiting, but will result in the mob not summoning in a standard fight. Currently, as soon as the high aggro player is out of range, the boss summons him, and then a counter begins before it can summon a second time - maybe something like 15 seconds. My proposal is that the first summon happens after 15 seconds instead, not at the beginning.

    So high aggro player is out of range. Mob summon counter begins, and mob starts to chase player. If mob doesn't reach the player within 15 seconds, then it summons the player, and the counter starts counting again if the player once again runs out of range. On the other hand, if the mob does reach player in less than 15 seconds, then it never uses the summon mechanic. In addition, if the player moves out of range again, a new 15 second counter begins.
  2. Bobbybick Only Banned Twice

    Just don't push it into summon range while pulling?
  3. Deux Corpse Connoisseur

    What is that lizard eating? Looks like freeze dried gnome brains
  4. Fian Augur

    Yes, we work around current mechanics, but it would be better if we had more flexibility.
  5. Bobbybick Only Banned Twice

    Maruchan chicken ramen.
    Deux likes this.
  6. Ninelder Augur

    I have always found "everything summons" to be a cheap dodge, a "gameside-cheat." It's truly lazy, uninspired, and way overused. Really love getting summoned by a garden snake or a wolf, who's agro message is a hiss or growl; until he says, "You will not evade me Soandso." Outside of raid-bosses(and in some cases maybe not,) it should be a special mechanic with flavor. and some sense of game-related ingenuity.

    Summoning mobs should be rare, and make some sense to boot, so you we can maybe be surprised when they do it. The mob performs his undead-ninja spear-attack and says, "Get over here!" or "Come here!" Summoning the poor unfortunate hero into his flame aura and performing the death spin on his face!

    There are many mechanics in game already to make mobs un-kitable, make them immune to root and snare. Not enough? Make them run at Selos-speed too! But make it make sense, The mob has no legs, so is unaffected by tendrils rising up from the ground etc. Give them a gravity effect if they look like Galactus or Jabba the Hut.

    Something we never see is a good shadow-step. The mob is an ogre with a hockey mask and a machete. The puller pulls him but halfway to the group he runs face-first into the ogre, impaling himself on the machete. A nice "chchch ahahah" sound effect could accompany it in game.

    Making mobs un-kiteable could actually be used to make the game more fun and exciting, not the same-ol, same-ol boring garden snake-summons. How about it?
  7. svann Augur

    Used to be that a mob wouldnt summon until 95% and imo that was the right solution to prevent kiting. I never heard any sensible reason why that should have been changed.
    Yinla likes this.
  8. Fian Augur

    This thread already has several. Causes issues with pulling and tanking, and a clunky solution to the problem of kiting.

    My personal favorite is when you have multiple summoning mobs that aren't close together, and they get into a summon party with the poor tank in the middle.

    Incidentally, the reason why I was thinking about this today is the new group mission Restless Assault. On the final boss, he has 4 copies of himself that are grouped very close together. Your goal is to find the one that doesn't have a blue decal on their feet, however with them so close together, it is hard to identify the one without blue. I was thinking that we could punt the mobs one at a time to see which one doesn't have blue, however I realized that the tank would end up getting summoned, which isn't ideal. If my change was implemented, we could be more creative in the tactics we could use on the mission.
  9. Repthor Augur

    in the restless assult mission on the melt named

    the tank himself can spread out the 4 mobs if you give him a little bit of time

    warrior can push with press the attack/grappling strike
    sk with unbridled bash/strike (forget name?)
    paladins can push with push stuns/maybe some other ability aswell

    just to seprate the mobs slightly if they get bunched up to tight and still be in range of the tank for him not to become a pinball

    as a tank nowadays im so used to beeing summoned by mobs it dosent even bother me anymore. Theres so many mobs with diffrent melee range so your gonna get summoned by something regardless its just something that will happen, meh life goes on
    Midasa likes this.