Please adjust mob respawn timers

Lowering mob respawn timers would be a boon for the community as well as CSR staff.

We are not playing the same Everquest as it was 22 years ago - mobs died way slower back then. Damage values have changed (player DPS is higher than it was during era), player knowledge of the game is better, and there are additions like Banestrike.

While mobs die way faster than they used to, their respawn timers haven't changed. Most of the camps in the game don't have enough mobs to support the amount of players nor the amount of DPS. There are mob respawn timers that are well over 20 minutes, and there are even reports that having more players in the area actually increases the timer.

When a group's camp area is clear of mobs, they're going to start pulling from other groups' camps. This is going to result in drama much of the time, which often leads into harassment/training/etc., which leads to petitions. CSR do not deal specifically with camp disputes, but they do deal with harassment and intentional training.

I think everyone - both players and staff - would be a lot happier if respawn times were toned down a bit. There is also the option of lowering the amount of players required to spawn a new pick. Either of these options would put more loot into the economy, but I think the overall benefit is worth it.

Or they could just increase mob hit points...

But if they did that, why would they have made players stronger in the first place?

Up to nearly 30 minute respawn times is just an old outdated mechanic that really doesn't do anything but cause boredom and drama. There isn't any reason a mob should have more than a 15 minute respawn timer.

It is mostly a dungeon issue, those are the places with the highest respawn timers. Newbie zone timers are very fast for obvious reasons, but even some of the outdoor spawns in random zones have as low as ~6 minute respawn times. There's just no reason for other spawn times to be 4-5 times that.

they already did this once, but yes they could do with another 20% adjustment

They don't need to reduce respawns, they need to get rid of/fix the ridiculous dynamic spawn rate. LGuk normally had 24ish minute respawn but was taking 33 minutes when I was there a few day ago because so many people were in the zone.

I agree, sitting around forever waiting on respawns.

If the spawn rate actually increases when there are more people in the zone, what is Daybreak's logic behind it? Or is this an old thing from SOE? Wouldn't it be more reasonable for it to decrease instead?

Next TLP idea: 6x faster spawn timers, 2x less exp.

Great for ADD.

I think the respawn rates that adjust to zone load only apply to the pick zones and not the static zones. It used to spawn more npcs the more people that were in the zone to keep up with demand, but apparently they reversed that decision and went the other way. Probably due to the fact their servers can't handle the load anymore.

This.

The game is full of zones and NPCs, so if one you want hasn't spawned yet, just go kill something else.

Classic respawn timers are an actual issue. You get into later expansions its 13-16 minute averages, in classic its 22-30 minute timers. It doesn't even take a full group to clear out an entire section of a zone before stuff starts respawning.

Then again, my solution is to not have servers start in classic.

Literally why they made loot random, and tradeable, so you guys would spread out and not camp in the same 6 zones.

It is a solid premise, but even when you check out some more off the wall places, there aren't many options and high pick thresholds are a problem.

I think a good solution that's been mentioned before is simply making mobs hard again. Back in the day it was so normal for an entire group to stay busy on a very small number of mobs. Now though... Hamlord can pull frenzy and then some in a good group...

I used to wonder why there were always so many people that were begging for them to start launching the servers in at least Kunark and maybe even Velious.

I am now one of those people.

Kunark does so much for the game and to me just feels right. As if it were already a part of Classic to begin with. Nothing else feels like that to me, not even Velious. Kunark should really be the standard from now on for launching servers.

I've been wanting to look up and compare the per expansion respawn timers for this exact reason, I was pretty sure they weren't so high later on. I'm wondering if there is any reasoning for it or if it's just old and outdated and overdue for adjustments. It would be such a major and appreciated improvement.

Finding an open camp can take a little work, but that's not the main issue. It's that you have a camp and you're killing everything in the area but you have these 10+ minute windows where there is nothing to kill. So you're having to pull things from the other side of the zone, quite possibly accidentally training someone, or ticking someone else off.

Just went to go test it myself on FV server, Velks Lab has a 16.5 minute respawn. Dalnir's Crypt has a ~10-11 minute respawn. Lower Guk has a 24.5 minute respawn. SolB has a 19.5 minute respawn.

It's clear that Classic itself needs its own adjustments. And if having more players causes those timers to increase, causing well over 30 minute timers... that needs to be fixed as well.

And some respawns are within seconds. You just have to know where to go.

This is only REALLY a major a problem in classic. There are just not enough places to level 30-50 to support everyone and you frequently run out of mobs. 45-50 being especially bad as lord/king lose value and you're stuck with wanting either efreeti or isle goblins and nothing else for "good" leveling xp.

Meanwhile, while picks have been fantastic for server health in general, the one glaring problem they've caused it people pidgeonhole into only the best xp camps even more than they used to. Once you get out of classic there will always be enough places for everyone to level, but typically a best or optimal one. Having lower respawn timers would risk even more of the griegs end effect where literally hundreds of players go to the best xp locale and nearly nobody goes anywhere else. EQ was originally built off the concept that players had to spread out at least a little bit, and while high level classic doesn't have the available selection to do it, everywhere else does and basically kunark onward you see a ton of graveyards that never get attention ever because you can stack up the best spots. I'd rather not see this made even worse. I'd rather just have tlps start with kunark+ instead. Much healthier in the long run.

As the game progresses, you'll find targets with 8, 12 or even 24 hour respawn timers, and you're complaining about 15 minutes?? The devs are listening to issues with very long respawn timers on NPCs that affect critical quest lines, such as epics, but they're not going to reprogram the entire game because the typical minimum respawn timer in the Classic era is around 15 minutes, and a few players consider that suffering. Go to another zone and come back. Go do a quest. Work on a hunter or a slayer achievement. Do a tradeskill. Drink (it improves alcohol tolerance). There are umpteen ways to fill in that gap.

Except that Classic has already had major adjustments. The original was all open world, there were no instances. Because of that one simple fact, there are oodles of new places to kill that didn't exist before. The weighted respawn times in instanced zones are a necessity for server performance. You always have the option of using the /pickzone command to move to the base zone, which has the shortest respawn timers possible (also with more competition possible). Those are your options. It's 20+ year-old code, and there are limitations on what can be done efficiently. The game isn't going to be completely rewritten to suit the whims of one or two players.

Just because there are mobs with 24+ hour respawn timers does not mean there is no reason to adjust others. It's also not 15 minutes, it's over double that in some cases. I literally just went and found that out for you.

Also, it's unfortunate that you think adjusting Classic respawn timers is "reprogamming the entire game" when they are in fact just a value in a database.

You've also made it obvious in your posts that you are an anti-social boxer that only plays alone. It's easy for someone like you to pick up and immediately go elsewhere. You don't have to communicate with anyone else, to LFG or LFM or discuss with your groupmates on where to go, and I'm willing to bet you also intentionally avoid any of the areas that you know other people enjoy grouping in and are off in some obscure corner of the world in a spot with few mobs and no loot, since you can just purchase and sell a Krono if you need plat/equipment. So you don't even need to look for a camp.

And that's fine! That's you. But that's not a majority of players. Most of us are eager to play with others in the deepest dungeons where we can't AFK for 30+ minutes due to aggressive mobs who also patrol around, where we can actually help one another acquire items and upgrades.

Again it's... really odd that you think Classic respawn timers affect the entire game. However, this is affecting a large amount of players. People have been complaining about this for years and it's one of the reasons people beg to stop launching in Classic and launch with Kunark. I'm not quite sure how you are getting "1 or 2 players" out of people constantly complaining and being crappy to one another because they sniped a mob from their camp. Then again when you try to avoid as many people as possible like you do, I guess it's understandable how you'd miss out on all this.

It's called "outside".

No logic. It's crappy engine code.