Game Mechanics: Caster Mobs

savarin · #1 04-11-2010, 12:13 AM

I've yet to see this mentioned by anyone else and haven't found anything in the forums about it, but I definitely remember caster mobs being significantly weaker in the old days until a patch sometime during or after velious. Previous to this, caster mobs generally cast spells far below what their actual level would predict. I remember this specifically because I played a warrior and recall that before the patch, pulling wiz mobs in sebilis wasn't terribly dangerous because they cast extremely weak nukes more appropriate for a level 30 mob. After the patch they began using things like ice comet and force strike, causing them to be far more formidable. I've tried checking patch archives but I can't seem to find exactly when it happened; I'm hoping someone with superior research skills remembers this as well.

When the change occurred it certainly made caster mobs much more of a threat, but because this was after velious it wasn't completely out of proportion to the itemization implemented at that point. Though I certainly didn't like the fact wizard mobs could suddenly ice comet me, with velious gear it was manageable. Unfortunately it appears on this server that caster mobs are as they were after the change, casting nukes appropriate for their level. The issue is that in the classic era this makes them significantly more formidable than they were in old eq, to the extent that caster mobs are capable of absolutely destroying PCs lacking a heavy arsenal of stuns. Post-velious it wasn't especially difficult to get your resists to a respectable level, but in classic it's significantly more difficult.

Now I might be wrong, it could be that this change only affected sebilis mobs, or mobs in that particular level range. My memory isn't clear, and I certainly remember healer mobs being more difficult than warrior mobs. Nonetheless, with the possible exception of festering hags, I don't remember caster mobs quite so formidable in old eq. Somewhat related are some of the hate mobs, specifically the bard mobs actually casting bard songs and the pet classes (golems & revs) actually having pets up. I'm less clear about this as I did not raid hate very many times, but I have no recollection of revenants having pets or banshees (or any bard mob for that matter) casting songs.

Isildur · #2 04-11-2010, 12:18 AM

Watch out for a desert madman!

/chain 70dmg nukes from start to finish

spoolie · #3 04-11-2010, 01:33 AM

Ya I have to say that was one of the first major things i noticed on this server when playing was how the casters NPC are way out of tune.. so I went and did some research for ya...and

JUNE 5, 2002

NPC casters should be a little bit smarter now. They will choose their spells a little more carefully.

This caused a shit storm for about a week. I do remember the ice comet of death from seb frogs because that is where i used to AA. So now it comes to this about a week later.

JUNE 12, 2002

* NPCs are now bound by spell casting distance rules, meaning that an NPC's spell will no longer connect from halfway across the zone.
* NPCs now have a chance to be interrupted by normal combat when casting newer spells.
* NPCs that are much lower level than their target have had their potential casting damage reduced using a similar mechanic to the one that player characters' level differences use.
* NPC Wizards no longer have an inherent bonus to their fire and cold based spells.
* Most NPCs that had previously had their spellcasting level inflated to make up for poor spell selection have been brought back into line with their actual level.
* NPCs no longer automatically get free access to rarely dropped spells, such as Garrison's Superior Sundering and Funeral Pyre of Kelador.

so there ya go. we have it seems like the OP spell file and not the original NPC spells.

Uaellaen · #4 04-11-2010, 02:06 AM

i think the problem seems more related to that NPCs seem to ignore resists almost completly ...

getting feared by a dark blue mob repeadetly with 200+ MR seems out of line to me ... the same goes for lvl 26~29 mobs nuking a lvl 50 character for full damage, each time, without a single resist, with resists above 100 ...

was funny when i went to unrest 2 ~ 3 weeks ago, pulled 4 festering hags, and was shot down in roughly 15 seconds (~1700 hp with symbol up) ... they kept chain nuking me for 200+ dmg each ...

EDIT: yeah well, it wasnt exactly fun since i was bound at guk [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Gorroth · #5 04-11-2010, 05:49 AM

I can confirm that there's definitely something off when it comes to mobs considering players' resists.

Even greens land spells easily. Getting feared by a green mob in Unrest is fun, but being a puller and getting repeatedly feared even with high resists (150+) isn't.

girth · #6 04-11-2010, 03:35 PM

I don't recall the casters chain casting until they ran oom either, but I could be wrong, I was barely a teenager at the time.

I saw mobs in HHK on my monk that would chain cast their AOE basically until it died, there is no way it was like that on live, I don't remember taking much damage at all doing HHK on live as a dps.

Jify · #7 04-11-2010, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uaellaen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

i think the problem seems more related to that NPCs seem to ignore resists almost completly ...

getting feared by a dark blue mob repeadetly with 200+ MR seems out of line to me ... the same goes for lvl 26~29 mobs nuking a lvl 50 character for full damage, each time, without a single resist, with resists above 100 ...

I can vouch for this. I routinely have to hit 400 MR to resist fear & root on a consistent basis. I remember back in the day doing Vox, with the requirement being 140 MR/CR before joining a dragon pickup group. And at that point it was pretty easy. (140 + buffs)

On that note, can we bring back Maylong with his uber AE? I think I have enough MR to duo him now. ;D

Uaellaen · #8 04-12-2010, 04:43 AM

Quote:

I can vouch for this. I routinely have to hit 400 MR to resist fear & root

shouldnt resists be limited to 255 before luclin?

guineapig · #9 04-12-2010, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uaellaen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

shouldnt resists be limited to 255 before luclin?

Yes.

Jify · #10 04-12-2010, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guineapig [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yes.

Thought that was a little high!

And to be honest. That probably speaks to the "state of resists" best. I know it's a trial and error approach, but it requires very very high resists atm to resist anything. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]