Feedback on the changes to gnolls and spiders
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Is it just me or are the Silkstrand Spiders harder to beat than the Tree Spiders? And if so, how come the XP is higher for the Tree Spiders?
Also, there was a Barking Spider in Norwick about 6 AM EST yesterday. That's not really normal is it?
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Just wanted to update my comment. I thought the risk/reward was balanced for the greater silks and high levels… But I created a lvl 1 char just recently and tried my hand in the low lvl area with another lvl 1 and Cotton nearby just in case. I found it extremely difficult to stay alive and even just hit the damn things.
I think the fact I took expertise and improved expertise is the only thing that kept me from the fugue lol. So in my humble opinion, deep spiders should stay as they are... but the low level spidies should be either slightly weaker... or give a slightly higher reward. Because unlike before... they are much more signifigant a threat, but seem to give around the same xp.. maybe even less xp then before? I can't tell for sure because it's been ages since I've played a low level... Anyways that's just my two cents. I like the challenge but the reward didn't seem balanced.
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@eb044a89c3:
The fact remains that the low level spiders were pushovers before. You could easily get a level a day untill they stopped giving exp. Narfell has always had a "teamwork" approach to combat, yet some creatures did not live up to that design philosophy.
@eb044a89c3:
Indeed Brian, many old campers referred to the Spider Pass as the "Level Loop".
I can unfortunately attest to this, because I'm a bad person and I did it.
Granted, it was usually because there was no one interesting on, and I was bored, but still.
Now it's much harder for a low level to just fight a screen or two screens in and back and get 100 gold and half a level. Which is perhaps a good thing.
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@48c2453d28=BrianJ:
The fact remains that the low level spiders were pushovers before. You could easily get a level a day untill they stopped giving exp. Narfell has always had a "teamwork" approach to combat, yet some creatures did not live up to that design philosophy.
Indeed Brian, many old campers referred to the Spider Pass as the "Level Loop".
And I always find it funny when people who are hardly ever at camp say what is going on there. There "is" farming going on trust me. They will be noticed by one of our Camp's DMs and Runs thumb across throat
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The fact remains that the low level spiders were pushovers before. You could easily get a level a day untill they stopped giving exp. Narfell has always had a "teamwork" approach to combat, yet some creatures did not live up to that design philosophy.
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My comments on the spider changes:
The silkspinner spiders, are now a serious challenge even for a small party of starting characters, agreed they do not swarm like goblins or kobolds do, but considering.
a: low/starting level spawns are far less now than the past (Lvl 1-3 characters.).
b: 10 or so silkspinners or equivalent used to be enough to give a 3rd level chracter a bit of a kicking, now one is a problem, with i would estimate +4 AC and +1 BAB to what was previous.
so for that level of diffuculty, lvl 3 character gets 4xp more for killing one.I dont personally think the changes to the low level areas are a good thing, as the reward to risk sliding scale is no longer proportional.
For an area, that has quite quick respawning, and spontaneous spawns in certain areas, i think the changes would not matter too much to a clerical heavy [party, but clerics are rarely under a great deal of strain with any magical-effect equipped monster.Changes to areas, all good to keep people on their toes, but i like to see the corresponding plot-driven changes personally as a result of events in those areas, - i.e. Goblin spawns changing as a result of defiler events.
My question is, whether there is anything to find-out in-game about the events that resulted in stronger spiders and gnolls, if there isn't, i think in my humble opinion there should be.
If areas are getting hunted to extinction, wouldn't there be less spiders, with nests etc destroyed or perhaps the spiders being replaced as dominant predators by another breed of spider or another creature… i.e. deer or other non-hostile animals?
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@c22f3b4830=Kerby:
Ahh Dwin… I just caught my breath from being doubled over laughing when you did that. Sorry about the two deaths... but when you poke the bear... it comes out growlin. Anyways, thanks for the laugh... I almost had my own urine test at the time!
coughs
Yeah Dwin… no more peeing into ravines...
coughs and slides into the lynch mob forming against DWin
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Ahh Dwin… I just caught my breath from being doubled over laughing when you did that. Sorry about the two deaths... but when you poke the bear... it comes out growlin. Anyways, thanks for the laugh... I almost had my own urine test at the time!
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nods and that service was provided free o charge, despite me posters bein' ripped down.
((sorry, no more off-topic comments….its Friday, end of day, and I cant help myself))
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@0b669f8a17=Clan:
We can report that the Urine test proved near fatal last night.
We have hypothesised that Barking (farting) and Queen spiders apparently do not like to be urinated upon. Further testing may be necessary, though.
:idea:
nods
The Urine seems to force the entire brood of spiders out of ravines and to the surface.
checks off a cleared ravine
Yet another instance of the baiting and exterminating services provided by the "D.E.S"…
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We can report that the Urine test proved near fatal last night.
We have hypothesised that Barking (farting) and Queen spiders apparently do not like to be urinated upon. Further testing may be necessary, though.
:idea:
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@61d641247a=robilar:
Keep in mind that many people might just be there to see what's new. Server changes always attract attention.
You'll always be happier if you make positive assumptions.
Good point.
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Tala (9 ranger) and Oreth ( 5 duird) went to the woods… and cautiously made their way through them. We almost bought it a few times... got kinda dicey in the hidden cove. We had a G silk, two barkings and an ettercap on us. winn had run off badly injured and Oreth was paralyzed. Its scary when the squishy ranger is the one in combat. luckily there was a big rock. I used him to block one way around the rock and shot at them till they got to me... lucky for him i have the lower ac. Then Improved two weapon fighting saved the day. Tala chewed up the two barkings and then went back to peppering the Gsilk with arrows. The Greater silk eventually bought it thanks to the ettercap casting its spell of hold accidentally on it and not us. At some point in there Oreth became unfrozen and we limped off to water the dryad and leave. That dryad is going down hard to water her now.
anyway... YAY for Oreth and Tala... scary but fun and we got a bit lucky too.
<<edit to="" include="" comment="" about="" queens="">>
Yes the later event where the cave spiders and queen spiders pwned us was fun. Good question though is why do queens drop 0 exp when other spiders do/might depending on group. Our group got very modest exp on the greater silks and barking spiders. (that always makes me think of farting. Damn dad calling a fart a barking spider.)</edit>
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After further testing, I can't see anything wrong with the respawning.
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Lets see, helped out Brian test out the spawn rates. Overall I was impressed with the upped difficulty of the spiders…it makes them credible threats to the higher up levels...the greater silk spiders in particular with that touch paralysis attack
Was it deliberate to add it without a save? Cause that is nasty
Would have thought fort would have saved against the effects. Anyway.I'd actually suggest upping the dc's on the stinking clouds and webs slightly for a few reasons...a high enough fighter would have a sufficient fort save to never be affected at all, save on the roll of a one..at the moment, all it really serves is to lag up the screen..Web is more affective, being how difficult it is to move through.
Didn't get bitten, so not sure on the poison/other drains of the various spiders. The greater silks could actually do with a slight ab increase...I talked with some people and they were made out to be the boogeymen. It was a mild surprise when Horbie and Kara stomped all over them
Unsure about xp either, as our party was made up of one level 11, level 10 and a level 6. Farming from high levels won't be an issue I think.
Otherwise, I like....the respawn rate is good, and so is the overall difficulty
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Im very positive that Smoo and Raptor will take care of any farmers in the spider woods.
Cackles
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Keep in mind that many people might just be there to see what's new. Server changes always attract attention.
You'll always be happier if you make positive assumptions.
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Can I just say that the 400 cave spiders and two dozen queens are underrated for Experience?
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The tree spiders take longer to die, if you can find one. They are usually slaughtered by folks with impossible challenge ratings on their way to the big ones (Greater Silks and Barkings). Might as well fill the whole area up with Greater Silks as the easy spiders are killed off by people camping and waiting for a party to hunt the big ones. It's not really a good place to go as a mid-level character. When I logged on with my mid-level druid, there were something like thirty people logged on. By the time I got there to hunt the smaller spiders, twenty of those logged in were already camped out there to hunt. I even saw a campfire in the middle of the forest. Go figure. Maybe there should be a shortcut around to the big ones to leave the smaller ones for mid-levels to hunt. Or, like I said, fill the whole place up with big ones because if you're not high level there's really no point in going there. Not griefing, just wondering if there can be a shortcut for the high levels.
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numbers or not the influx would have happened. I personally know that if the people listed in some of the groups above were getting XP it was well worth a trip through. To be honest, i still think that the XP may be a little high for the risk, someone has already posted an easy way to deal with the hardest challenges the new spiders face.
