A Land Far Away

Is it possible to have statics scale dynamically to the adventurer(s) attempting them? Higher level PCs or parties would get more/higher level opponents etc?

I don't believe so, but a techy person could answer that. I believe a lot of areas tier in difficulty as you venture further in. There are also locations with random chance of harder enemies, but generally easier stuff. I think most of ALFA static content is pretty set in stone these days though, due to lack of builders.

It's possible.

We just shouldn't do it. Entering Durlag's Tower or Cloakwood at level 1 should get you killed, you shouldn't happen upon supermooky mooks just because you're a low level.

FoamBats4All wrote:It's possible.

We just shouldn't do it. Entering Durlag's Tower or Cloakwood at level 1 should get you killed, you shouldn't happen upon supermooky mooks just because you're a low level.

Agreed. But maybe there's some middle ground. My level 1 just got smoked by a static that according to the description concerned one goblin but which turned out to involve three goblins plus a shaman. This was within the suburbs of a major city of Faerun (trying not to give away any meta stuff here). Not wanting to gripe, but this seems more like baiting green PCs. Areas of legendary danger like the ones you mention should be appropriately deadly, but as for the rest, maybe a little give? And conversely, a regular static could provide some fun for higher level PCs scaling. All this is sort of an afterthought to the "Punishment by death" topic just closed in the NWN/D&D discussion forum. Thinking in terms of "how could we provide more fun for players when no DMs are around?", since this is a current problem for us.

This is a commonly griped about static quest I think. I've never taken it so not really sure what the text says. Perhaps it could be edited to reflect the danger, or the spawn tuned. Either way, keep in mind statics are designed to be run in groups.

Most likely, the static didn't involve three goblins plus a shaman. Most likely those were just normal spawns.

Also, as Foam says it is possible to have the statics scale. But i'd rather have spawns scale than statics, which theoretically would work. I had this idea back when there was plans to build Waterdeep that in the sewers, low level players could venture and slaughter hordes of goblins. But should a character simply breeze through them, they'd change AI tactics and run away from the player instead. If the player pursued, something stronger would spawn (something the goblins might've captured or bought).

Anyways, enough brainstorming.

Twin Axes wrote:
Agreed. But maybe there's some middle ground. My level 1 just got smoked by a static that according to the description concerned one goblin but which turned out to involve three goblins plus a shaman. This was within the suburbs of a major city of Faerun (trying not to give away any meta stuff here). Not wanting to gripe, but this seems more like baiting green PCs. Areas of legendary danger like the ones you mention should be appropriately deadly, but as for the rest, maybe a little give? And conversely, a regular static could provide some fun for higher level PCs scaling. All this is sort of an afterthought to the "Punishment by death" topic just closed in the NWN/D&D discussion forum. Thinking in terms of "how could we provide more fun for players when no DMs are around?", since this is a current problem for us.

You were level one, at night, solo, in a dangerous area.

I was logged in as a dm at the time, and that area was fully populated by higher difficulty and greater number night time spawns fresh after a server update. I even possessed the friendly npc nearby to kill the goblins, but your character bled out.

Had you gone during the day time and moved slowly through the area, you'd likely have either survived fleeing the map, or you'd have completed the quest.

The most rewarding play in terms of fun, xp, and wealth is with a dm. I've been spending 5+ hours per day dming and/or content building on bg. I encourage you to make a new character and check the ic rumor threads. Everyone is welcome to participate in my plots.

+1

shad0wfax wrote:

Twin Axes wrote:
Agreed. But maybe there's some middle ground. My level 1 just got smoked by a static that according to the description concerned one goblin but which turned out to involve three goblins plus a shaman. This was within the suburbs of a major city of Faerun (trying not to give away any meta stuff here). Not wanting to gripe, but this seems more like baiting green PCs. Areas of legendary danger like the ones you mention should be appropriately deadly, but as for the rest, maybe a little give? And conversely, a regular static could provide some fun for higher level PCs scaling. All this is sort of an afterthought to the "Punishment by death" topic just closed in the NWN/D&D discussion forum. Thinking in terms of "how could we provide more fun for players when no DMs are around?", since this is a current problem for us.

You were level one, at night, solo, in a dangerous area.

I was logged in as a dm at the time, and that area was fully populated by higher difficulty and greater number night time spawns fresh after a server update. I even possessed the friendly npc nearby to kill the goblins, but your character bled out.

Had you gone during the day time and moved slowly through the area, you'd likely have either survived fleeing the map, or you'd have completed the quest.

The most rewarding play in terms of fun, xp, and wealth is with a dm. I've been spending 5+ hours per day dming and/or content building on bg. I encourage you to make a new character and check the ic rumor threads. Everyone is welcome to participate in my plots.

It's true, I died from boredom and poor judgement. So that was you possessing the guard, cool. And yes, there is no comparison between having a DM and not having a DM. I logged on and saw a DM plus two or there high level PCs, figured "they're off somewhere having fun together, I'll just explore the server".

The equine carcass I'm abusing is how to have fun in Alfa when you don't have a DM. I guess the answer is, "you don't".

boombrakh wrote:Most likely, the static didn't involve three goblins plus a shaman. Most likely those were just normal spawns.

Also, as Foam says it is possible to have the statics scale. But i'd rather have spawns scale than statics, which theoretically would work. I had this idea back when there was plans to build Waterdeep that in the sewers, low level players could venture and slaughter hordes of goblins. But should a character simply breeze through them, they'd change AI tactics and run away from the player instead. If the player pursued, something stronger would spawn (something the goblins might've captured or bought).

Anyways, enough brainstorming.

So they spawned right next to the static creature. A chunk of bad luck was involved in my demise then, that's good to know. I like the idea of scalable spawns, maybe statics should be left alone. Anything that introduces both more variety and playability sounds good. But yes, enough now!

Any mission of "go kill something" is going to have a lot of luck factor to worry about and things like being alone halve your chances in my estimation. It's "double your chances" when you have a buddy who might rescue you from up to -9hp. That's almost a fighter hit die for the "double chances for a non-CON fighter", or triple-ish chances for a 4hp wizard (it takes going over 13hp to full out die etc.).

I don't dispute it being hard to either advance alone or have fun alone... there are other games for that out there.

The more-likely way that CR "scaling" will eventually happen will be in randomized content-- but that will likely be closer to you having an idea of how difficult this generated stuff will be when you hear about it (and you'd still have the option of disinterestedly bringing your level 10 to kick over a few goblins and save a puppy, or march your level 1 to certain doom because doesn't a dragon horde sound amazing?)

It's a few items down on the to-do list, though. The current project is meant to give a more-informative tour of the server via statics and hopefully help characters find other like-minded people to play with. Other people being the best source of content and such.