Nektulous Mob - Low Spawn Rate After Patch

Don't make a dark elf, problem solved...

On pre-Gates progression servers, there are 200 NPCs in the level 1-5 range in Nektulos and another 95 from 6-10.

These facts are well and good, but what about the alternative facts?

I'm going to assume you didn't just check and that you knew that off of the top of your head.

so what's your favorite behind the curtain thing that you've learned about EQ classic that you think we might not know and you haven't mentioned before (that you are willing to tell us of course).

Looking for a headline here.

"Prathun confirms XYZ. Minds blown!"

Checking on LJ, just had to go up the hill to find mobs, instead of all the ones that literally roam right next to the entrance/guards.

Density is down quite a bit though, so will take people more time or spread out in picks more.

More nostalgic this way, right?

I can say for a fact that the spawns now on Phinegal for example are not the same they where a week ago. If this is supposed to be true or not is a different story but for now this sucks lol.

I've spend over the last week checking out various race/class combos deciding what I wanted to play on the new TLP and so I have had plenty of recent experience with nearly player less newbie zones and the mob density. My favorite so far was the barbarian start due to the nice flow of mobs coming thru right outside the entrance of Halas but now... it's a trickle. I never even completed the fungus quest for the shaman spell this last test after Wednesday because there simply was no spiders I could find roaming from Halas to the plain to the entrance to Blackburrow.

TLDR: newbie spawns *SUCK* now compared to last week in atleast Halas and Neriak as those were the 2 I tried before and after. The fact I could not find *1* mobs in the rock area right outside of Neriak all the way to the entrance to Lavastorm was... odd

And because why not: http://i.imgur.com/FOVtX7m.jpg : this is outside of Halas right now on Phinegal, the entrance to Halas is in the back on the right and as you can see there are a few dead mobs and 2 more mobs roaming this way... If this is normal for launch then this is gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

The problem Prathun is not mobs in the level 1-5 range.. Its the mobs in the level 1 to MAYBE level 3 range... The new Nek Forest while looking similar to the old Nek Forest is NOT the old Nek Forest.. There are HARDLY(I will admit in my run through there was a dozen or so of the following mobs up) any decaying skeletons, moss snakes, and black wolves to get people to level 3 in Nek Forest. Back in 1999-2000, you had the "newbie" log which is sort of in in the new Nek Forest but there isn't a steady stream of those low lvl 1-2 mobs there anymore to kill.. Now its mostly higher level mobs and if you want to get into it.. Mobs that aren't "classic" either that you decided to leave in compared to the stuff outside the Neriak Gate(Which you freely admitted in another post wasn't classic but put them back in cause it was a good portion of the zones "newbie" stuff but may remove later...)I mean are you trying to turn Nek Forest into a barren wasteland with nothing to kill if you do remove THOSE mobs too? I'm just trying to grasp your logic of this whole thing and I can't. Only thing you guys have done is basically forcing almost every Dark Elf made on Agnarr(and future TLPs also) to go to the West Freeport newbie yard to level which will tax that zone even more than it will before this change.

Also on a side note.. Any reason you guys didn't touch reverting fire beetles to their old appearance and if you did.. You kinda missed the Tox Forest...

There are 4 level 1 mobs in a reachable location near neriak (the newbie log). It will sustain, assuming near-instant repops, maybe 2 players. The other several hundred dark elves will just have to wait I guess? All of the other level 1 mobs are scattered across the zone mixed into dangerous higher level mobs.

I get that you're going for classic authenticity to some degree. I'm just going to guess that you didn't think through what the impact will be.

But isnt we got VERY popular server we ever have? (i hope).
All newbie zones must have a bit spawn rate improvement.

** Also not forget ENC Epic bottlenecks **
If Devs, like me, hope Agnarr be very populate server why not make this hundreds ENC, SK, Wiz be happy like others class?

I went left from neriak, where I found a nice chunk of mobs(skeletons and snakes).

Didn't explore much beyond.

Will see how it goes, it's a stark difference yes, where previously you barely moved from the entrance because just mobs all over. Can only hope there is some kind of real-time programming that detects amount of players near by and adjust spawn rates at least in newbie areas, or you can just open tons of picks that all have 10 or so people in them each.

Or if people will just need spread out more and continuously kill the mobs that just spawn every 2 seconds, which would supply enough mobs for a full zone.

Since dark elves aren't even a race that can be berserkers, it make sense that they simply increased the number of mobs in all newbie areas for zerkers. It also makes sense that they have now reduced the number of newbie mobs in all starter areas. The guy complaining that Halas was equally devoid of newbie mobs suggests that this is true.

In other words, everyone is going to suffer, not just Dark Elves.

It will, ultimately, only be annoying for a week or so until everyone spreads out.

What a weird change to make right before Agnarr goes live. Strange moves, devs, strange moves.

The only reasoning I can think of that would even put this on their radar is server stability.

With the adjusted pickzone spawn settings, maybe they anticipate instability due to too many pickzones. Decreasing the number of npc's per pickzone may reduce the server load?

I'm going to be blunt.

The developer responsible for implementing this change should be fired.

Of all of the things that are non-classic on these TLP's, you choose LEVEL ONE mob spawn-rate/zone-distribution, five days before the launch of your new server? Really?

LOL

Lighten up Francis.

It's worth mentioning that on the past few TLP server launches (RF/LJ/Phin) that there weren't really any complaints about too-few mobs in newbie areas. If you reduced mob density with the last patch, then maybe the /pick spawn threshold in these zones needs a revision downward pre-Agnarr launch (assuming they weren't already lowered a few months ago with the /pick changes then).

Seriously, who is really shocked though? It's always something.

This time they increased the exp and reduced the mobs Lolol

+3 daybreak.

... I just have no words.

"RELEASING NEW SERVER WITH RAGEFIRE/LOCKJAW EXP RATES, CAUSE YOU SAID PHINNY'S SUCKED!

Reducing spawn rates to bring exp back in line with Phinny."

Lol. Sarcasm. But not really.

Because why not here is a video I took a few minutes ago on Phinegal outside of Halas. You can see me wander around making an idiot of myself for 3 minutes and wonder what happened to all the mobs. If the game goes live like this on Agnarr then this is going to suck =(