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The Life and Death of a Mob in a Trinity World..
VirusDancer
Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
Intruders?
"Okay, guys - let's get them," I said with a fiendish grin. Pulling my razor sharp blade from its sheath, I rushed forth to attack the trespassing enemy.
I rushed forth alone. Looking back, I saw that my comrades in arms were just sanding there. Fine, screw them. I let out a blood curdling battlecry and continued to charge them.
There were three of them. One was dressed head to toe in heavy plate and carrying a shield, another was wearing chain mail and moving his hands while praying, and the last was wearing a robe with magic flames beginning to form from his hands.
Must interrupt the mage.
I swung the sword through the air, cutting a crisp arc through the air. The blade slid off the warrior's shield.
What? I needed to interrupt the mage - why'd I attack the warrior?
The flames scorched my armor and scalded my exposed flesh. I lunged forth with the sword, intent upon rending the mage from end to end. The blade cut deep through a chink in the warrior's armor, and he grunted.
The warrior again? What the Hell is going on?
Again, the mage hurled fire at me. The warrior grinned as his cleric compatriot healed his wounds.
Even if I get at the mage, that damn cleric will just heal him. I need to get that cleric.
"Damn you, you're dead!" I screamed and turned my blade on the man in chain mail.
Once again, my sword glanced off the warrior's shield. Must strike down the cleric! As my blade was parried by the warrior, I screamed out in rage.
Must kill the cleric...
Must kill the cleric...
Must kill the... must kill the... must kill the...
...the warrior.
* * * * *
"Well, that was pretty easy," the warrior said.
"Yeah, those mobs are so stupid," the mage said.
"Give me a sec before we go kill that next group," the cleric said.
The warrior waved at the next group of mobs. The mage danced while laughing at them.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Comments
That was quite amusing, perhaps you'll write more?
Good thing trinity games are trying to entertain the player, not the mobs.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
Raid Boss sez: "With this kind of damage output, I should wipe the floor with the whole raid in a matter of minutes. Hmm, I think it might be most time-efficient to wipe out the healers first, and let the AOE damage build up on everyone else while I work my way through the DPS."
Warrior (picking his nose) says, "Yer mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
Raid Boss sez: "Ooh, shiny!" and focuses all attacks on the Plate Amored guy for the duration of the battle, ignoring completely the four guys dousing the warrior in green numbers. Short, as expected, but not with the expected winner.
Taunt + threat: The single most overpowered mechanic ever invented. Far more powerful than any form of CC ever conceived. A solid mind control of essentially infinite duration.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
There were things like positioning, better avoidance, and so much more - leaves me to wonder if we'll see such.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Some of the players would be more entertained if they tried something else...
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
I'd swear I've heard the mobs snickering when they killed me.
OP, write some more!
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I remember the day well. I was eating my lunch beneath the old oak tree where I always ate my lunch. After raining hard all week, it was a beautiful day. Looking up from my roasted haunch of meat, I saw a human and an elf standing out on the road. My brother, his wife, their two kids, and the family pet wolf were picking daisies in a nearby field. The human and elf could not see me where I was sitting, but I was close enough to overhear them speaking.
"Hey, want to group up to kill these orcs?" the forboding man wearing a fashionable dress asked the efl.
"Sure, it's taking forever to kill them as a cleric," said the elf.
"I'm going to run over there, grab aggro, and burn them down. You just heal me if I need it, okay?" the man asked.
"You don't want me to follow..." the elf started to say, but the man was already running toward my brother and his family.
I did not think the man in the dress any threat to my brother, so I took another bite of my lunch. I figured it was the man's folly for attacking, and that my brother would simply chase the man away before returning to the afternoon with his family.
"You filthy orcs, prepare to die. I'm Pwnzjoo the Mage, and I'm going to destroy you," the man in the dress screamed. But he screamed it in his own common tongue, and my brother had no idea what he was saying. My brother simply shrugged at the man and held up a daisy toward him.
Then the man screamed out in orcish, "I'm not sure which of you is the ugliest. Is it the female one or the little ones?"
My brother understood that. As my sister-in-law saw to my nephews who started to cry, the lot of them headed over to the man. I tell you, my brother did not look happy. He knew his wife was ugly. He knew his kids were ugly. But he would be damned if he was going to let anybody say that.
As they neared the man, he motioned with his hands and muttered, "In Flam Grav" under his breath. Suddenly, a wall of fire appeared - consuming my brother and his family. I dropped the haunch of meat in disbelief, as I witnessed their deaths and heard their cries.
"Wow, that was cool," the elf said, "What was that?"
"A PBAoE," the man replied.
"A PB...what?" the elf asked.
"A player based area of effect attack. It damages a bunch of mobs in an area."
The elf ran over to the man to help collect any valuable possessions littered amongst the charred remains of my brother and his family.
"Want to see it again?" the man asked.
"Sure, let me get safe."
The man in the dress laughed and said to the elf, "There is no need for that. It won't hurt you or me. It only hurts them."
"Really?"
The man laughed again and answered, "Yes, really."
I did not know what to do. I felt the need to avenge my brother. I felt the heat rising in my blood, but what could I do against such a powerful enemy. As I was trying to decide what to do, my brother and his family appeared again. I looked to the Heavens above, and thanked the Gods for their safe return.
In the midst of my thanks, I saw the man motioning with his hands again. Just as suddenly as the first time, flames erupted. My brother and his family were dead again, while the human and elf stood unharmed.
"Wow, that was totally cool," the elf said.
They both laughed as they stooped over to collect what little valuables my brother had dropped that time. I had left my sword back at the camp, but I was looking around for some kind of weapon. Even if it meant my death, I could not let my brother's and his family's deaths go unavenged. I had found what looked to be a decent sized stick, when I saw a dwarf walk up to the man and the elf.
"That looked pretty nifty," he said.
"Yes, it's a PBAoE," the elf said, as if he had not just learned what it was moments ago.
"Want to see it again?" the man asked.
"Sure, let me get somewhere safe."
Both the elf and the man laughed.
"There's no need for that," the man started. "It won't hurt us," the elf continued. "It only hurts them," the man finished.
"Really?" asked the dwarf.
The man and the elf answered in unison, "Yes, really."
At that moment, my brother and his family returned to our world again. He urged his wife and children to run, but it was too late. The man in the robe had motioned with his hands again. The flames erupted again. My brother and his family were consumed again.
I began to wonder what Hell this was. For surely, it must be Hell. Knowing that I stood no chance against the trio, I ran back to the village to tell them of the horrors befalling my brother's family.
Initially, the chief did not believe me. Were it not for the village oracle saying he had heard of such a thing, only rumors he said, but that he he had heard of it all the same; the chief was ready to laugh me out of his hut. Instead, he put together a group of his finest warriors and set out to put an end to the threat posed by this evil human.
As we approached the field, we saw that there was more than just the three people I had mentioned in my tale. There were perhaps a dozen of them standing there now. We outnumbered them though, and we would stop the human - and - I would have my vengeance. One of the female warriors elbowed me in the ribs and said that I was right, the human was wearing a very fashionable dress. The chief told his warriors to focus on the man in the dress first . . . he had to die.
Then the charge began. The fiercest warriors from our village let out blood curdling cries. Any enemy would have trembled at the sound, but the mixed group stood their ground. The dwarf moved to the front of their group, and the man in the dress stood behind him.
The chief told his warriors to ignore the dwarf and to kill the human first. They all grunted in the affirmative, as the charged continued. I was right there with them. I had grabbbed my sword. I was going to get my vengeance.
Only I tripped and fell. While I might have had a sword, I was no warrior. Left in the grass, I watched our group of warriors charge toward the human. They got closer. They got closer. I could not hear what the dwarf said, but I heard him shout out.
And watched as the chief and his warriors charged at the dwarf instead of the man. I watched as the man motioned with his hands once more. I watched as flames erupted once more. Once more, I watched my brother and his family - as well as the chief and all his warriors - consumed by those very flames.
I had had enough. I grabbed my sword and stumbled toward the group.
Nearing the group, I heard a female gnome ask the dwarf, "Why'd they all attack you instead of him?"
The dwarf replied, "I'm a tank..."
"Hey, look - there's another one," the elf said and pointed at me.
Then I was surrounded by my brother, his wife, his two children, their pet wofl, the chief, and his warriors.
In horror, I watched as the forboding man wearing a fashionable dress began motioning with his hands...
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
The truly memorable fights definitely weren't typical tank and spanks.
Ain't that the truth... Only way to squeeze some excitement out of trinity combat is when something goes wrong e.g. tank loses aggro etc.
I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky
Well the memorable fights almost all layer additional rules on top of the base foundation of trinity gameplay. That's what makes them good fights.
If you took those specific boss mechanics and had a game only about those mechanics, it would be pretty shallow usually. It's when many simple game rules are used together that depth emerges (while remaining accessible; best of both worlds.)
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
I did not read what Quirhid said in the same way at all. The memorable fights happened when the tank lost aggro - when it was no longer about the Trinity. They were memorable because of the excitement - the somewhat chaotic fight that ensued - the risk involved and that greater reward from the risk. It was an actual challenging fight - rather than the Dippy Bird gameplay involved with the Trinity.
The point is that most endgame bosses aren't "dippy bird trinity" gameplay. The reason they're memorable is they've stacked some game-changing rule(s) on top of the trinity system.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
It was a case of stating what it appeared Quirhid was saying. He did not say the fights were memorable because of anything stacked on top of the Trinity. They were memorable when the Trinity broke.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%