Where is the PVE?

[Azurfale]

Znaiika, don't feed the trolls as it's the drama that just keeps it negative and wasting everyone else's time reading these forums.

If you see an idea you like, discuss it, promote it, kindly debate it, but adding fuel to a drama queen's fire is a failing proposition every single time that will only be manipulated and distorted to work against you. I hate to say it, but you can't win. It can't be done but the very act of trying is playing right into the silly little games and thus constitutes failure from the get-go.

Focus on the positive, don't get lured in by the rest. You'll eventually see they only get lip service anyway while the game continues to improve in a direction the rest of us like.

The only troll here is Znaiika

[aliksteel]

I was hoping that there would be some fresh new idea's in this post, But for the most part it's the same type things we always talk about. One thing did pop out at me and that was

why not reset them every spring? At least until the AI breeding and distribution are fixed and working properly. This would bring an anticipation/reason to have seasons besides waiting for the white wash to pass. Makes sense to me.

I can see how this could be worked into just being something that happens every spring, Just like in real life spring is when most animals have and raise there young. So by having a ton more animals spawn in spring would seem to fit what we would see in the Xsyon world.

[MrDDT]

Tons of animals in the spring will not last the year. So they will work for about 1 or 2 weeks then for the other 5 weeks (real weeks) you are down to few or no animals again.

I understand that you want to try to keep things real, but this just doesnt make sense in a game for fun.

I say up the # of animals by like 10x, and cut the resources they give by 10x. I dont even think that will be enough but its a start.

[Book]

If it was as simple as upping the number of animals, wouldn't that have been done already?

When devs say they see X number of animals on the server, does that include the animals in the mist we can't access?

If you have a massive influx of animals every spring, and they are not all butchered, the ones that escape will all pile up in the mist and the server will grind to a halt.

I think the solution will be with the animal AI. I know they've worked on it, but look at loading times, I think when AI gets that kind of attention and focus, we'll see that quality and effective a fix.

Band aids may help in the meantime, or they may create more trouble than they're worth in the short term.

[zookeeper]

So far this winter I've killed 30+ regular animals and around 20+ mutants. I don't understand any of these comments that say they are not finding animals to kill. Maybe the animals migrated or something but I'm slammed with them in the areas I hunt. Just yesterday I killed a canis armadillis, shadow deer, 2 hunchback coyotes, 3 marmots, pit bull, 2 mule deer, chaos hare, and 3 raccoons. Most of these kills took just under a hour of adventuring to do and I was off to find more, I'm enjoying the pve.

[aliksteel]

LOL I understand that adding more animals will not fix everything, But if you could do that and maybe find a few more things to add to it, It would help, At lest a little. As far as "you want to try to keep things real", Maybe realish would be OK. I mean zombies are coming so real is not what this game is. All I was saying was that by adding once a (in-game) year increase of animals would maybe help a little. Fix no, But maybe one little thing like this could help with the PVE. In or out, it doesn't matter to me. I just thought it was a cool idea.

And I hope you all are not looking that ONE thing that could fix the PVE, It will come from many little things (IMO).

[Willowhawk]

So far this winter I've killed 30+ regular animals and around 20+ mutants. I don't understand any of these comments that say they are not finding animals to kill. Maybe the animals migrated or something but I'm slammed with them in the areas I hunt. Just yesterday I killed a canis armadillis, shadow deer, 2 hunchback coyotes, 3 marmots, pit bull, 2 mule deer, chaos hare, and 3 raccoons. Most of these kills took just under a hour of adventuring to do and I was off to find more, I'm enjoying the pve.

I have to agree with zookeeper, however... last night and this morning there was an abundance of animals everywhere. So I have to wonder if there was not a reset, or an intentional change in population. Having said that, I have enjoyed hunting lately and have had little trouble finding animals. However I don't spend the entire time hunting. I clear trees to make future travel easier with my cart. I do some forestry, bit of scavenging and even some fishing rounding out my trip. To me this feels like a real hunting trip. For those people that just want to hunt, PVE & PVP I can see where they would get bored real fast. We try to play the game as I believe it was intended, to play the game as if you actually lived in the mountains and are building your future home, town etc. We stay busy with so many things I never get bored and most of the time we have too much to do. I guess it's all how you play the game.

Also we have real lives and real careers so we don't suffer from game burn out like some people do.

[Book]

So far this winter I've killed 30+ regular animals and around 20+ mutants. I don't understand any of these comments that say they are not finding animals to kill. Maybe the animals migrated or something but I'm slammed with them in the areas I hunt. Just yesterday I killed a canis armadillis, shadow deer, 2 hunchback coyotes, 3 marmots, pit bull, 2 mule deer, chaos hare, and 3 raccoons. Most of these kills took just under a hour of adventuring to do and I was off to find more, I'm enjoying the pve.

Should a zookeeper really be killing so many animals? Seems like a conflict of interest

[tomduril]

Ok just to set things right - I think that PVE not only means fighting but all aspects of "PVE" - player vs. environment - so things that are underway like - comfort, protection against weather (the little icon when you under a roof or in a building) - and hunger/thirst, encumbrance - those are all aspects of PVE for me.

As to animals - and their numbers - I think the real problem is the "sandbox" effect that huge raiding parties have on a region. Iif you go hunting in RL to a hunting ground - they have rules and regulations so that they dont kill the whole population.
- Don´t kill "mother" animals (the ones with little ones by their side)
- Don´t hunt in spring, when they are breeding
- In a hunting party you have a number of animals you are allowed to hunt (and hunts are expensive !!) ... and so on.
They also feed the animals in hunting areas - so that their animal stock can grow larger numbers...

I believe that in a sandbox - if you go hunting every week - with lets say 10-15 people - it should be that the animals vanish from that zone.

In my zone there are no hunting parties (that I know of) - and there are lots - and lots of animals - I craft most of the time (when I actually find time to play) - and the last 2 months - each and every time I was online I saw at least 5-10 animals.
I don´t lure them in the river to kill them - I am happy that there is a wall between them and me ... so they breed and get more and more.

Thats the core of a Sandbox game - what you do *does* change the world / zone. So if you want repawning enemies or animals go play a "themepark" game - they even spawn in the same region ... so you can hunt/grind what ever you choose. But in a Sandbox - you have to be careful what you do - if you hunt down all the bears - don´t complain about that they are gone...

It should and must be that way!

And @MrDDT - yes I don´t want to fight - still I think I know how to defend myself against raccons - but I am proud that I am afraid of coyotes, deers and bears, because they should be dangerous (for me).
For a skilled hunter they are prey - for me they are a sign that I should drop my heavy load and flee to the next save spot :P and I like it that way! (You are complaining about not enough PVE... I am not complaining I am having fun running and getting away with it :O ).