Heavy spawns in certain areas are really annoying and diminish RP

[Dr. B]

One time I was walking through the Shyr on my main. This would have been a really nice opportunity to admire the area design and experience the feel of traveling on foot through a picturesque landscape, enjoying the company of my traveling companions.

Except that again and again and again, we had to stop typing our dialogue and kill annoying parties of goblins that were incessantly throwing themselves on our swords.

It would have been nice to just be able to walk, enjoy the surroundings, and type our dialogue. That, and to appreciate the fact that like most fantasy worlds, Arelith has variety: some places are dangerous while others are relatively peaceful and safe to travel, even if there are dangers here and there.

In some cases, it makes sense for there to be enemies lurking on the roads. For example, the roads between Minmir and Guldorand are particularly remote and seldom traveled, so it is fitting for bandits to occupy those places.

But consider (again) the Shyr. Some people have complained that its large size makes it tedious. Personally, I think what actually makes it tedious is constant the need to stop and kill small goblin spawns. The Shyr, the roads between Cordor and Bendir, and perhaps parts of the Arelith Forest, for example, might be looked at in this regard.

One could argue that without incessant spawns on the roads, there would be no need to party up when traveling and so no RP.

However, this doesn't seem like much of an argument. There are still be writs, dungeons, et cetera, and so generally one would need a party to handle these areas.

Someone might also argue that it should be difficult to get from one settlement to another. There needs to be challenge.

However, you can already sail around the island for very little money.

Must every wilderness area be overrun with monsters for Arelith to be a great server? If some of them had the spawns removed or significantly reduced, would it really make the server worse? Conversely, would it make the server better?

When Frodo, Gandalf, and the Fellowship traveled through middle Earth, they faced many dangers. But they did not have to stop and kill things every hundred feet. I would not want to read that novel.

[Biolab00]

I think.... this is over-complicating simple matters
It's simply RNG spawn
And that higher level, will generate more spawns in lower level areas.

There's no fault with meeting monsters while travelling the wildness, especially when we're playing in a dangerous world.
Shyr belongs to certain Goblin's Tribe territory and that makes it more so, to have spawns, heavy or not.

I can't agree with your view but that's simply me, i don't stand for majority

[Kuma]

I do wonder if those roads should have more of the random encounter spawns (ie the rare triggers for travelers being attacked by bandits, the Border Reavers and such in Minmir) but relatively minimal or non-hostile (animals etc) normal spawns.

Same for, perhaps, Bendir Dale between Whidershin and Bendir - though again with more thematic "the orcs are attacking!" or "Blood Moons have kidnapped a caravan crew" and similar. This already happens somewhat if you know what to look for but having them be the predominant method for spawns (ie less random, more eventful) in well-trafficked areas could be more thematic.

Worth noting that I don't believe neither the Shyr roads nor the Traders' Route have any "must kill x spawns" writs - they have patrol writs but they don't have a kill count.

Food for thought: makes courier writs easier? Depending on the strength/risk of the more scripted encounters.

[Morgy]

I do find killing endless birds and bears between the Whidershin and Bendir a bit much. We could do with a reduction I think in areas like that.

[MissEvelyn]

Because of the growth system, shouldn't killing more of them produce less spawns in the long term, as long as the groups are continuously culled?

[TurningLeaf]

Just roll with some beefy summons and continue the pleasant conversation as your diligent pets tear apart mobs off to the side.

[Eyeliner]

It’s a very dangerous world and there are a few peaceful areas if you want to stroll and RP but that’s rare and should be rare. PCs can claim areas four zones away for their towns all they want but I doubt NPCs give a damn. The Upper Shyr is near multiple monster settlements that I suspect have much larger populations than Bendir and those goblin and bugbear NPCs have their own writs to go patrol and raid the Shyr farm and kill 10 dwarves trying to claim the Crystal Caves for Brog.

[Dr. B]

It’s a very dangerous world and there are a few peaceful areas if you want to stroll and RP but that’s rare and should be rare.

Okay. Well if the spawns were lessened it would be a slightly less dangerous world with a few more peaceful areas now, wouldn't it? And if someone made a feedback thread complaining there were too few spawns I could come back at them and say "That's not rare and shouldn't be rare." And this is ignoring the fact that relatively peaceful wilderness areas would still be rare even if a few more of them were added, which I think is all I and some of the other people here want.

It's also misleading to suggest that the constant spawn rates are there for IC reasons. They're there because, predominately, this is a game and people are accustomed to the idea that in games you kill things for money and exp. Except this isn't an MMO, it's a roleplaying server, and I doubt that in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting every single region has a small horde of enemies every hundred feet. Ubiquitous spawns have been around on Arelith since its founding in 2004, so that people could run around and kill things for xp. Since then the quality of roleplay on the server has improved considerably (believe me, it has), but some aspects of the game design have not kept pace. This is one of them.

I like the idea of special encounters over consistent spawns in these areas. Make attacks an event, rather than the rote slogfest that they usually are.

PCs can claim areas four zones away for their towns all they want but I doubt NPCs give a damn.

Seeing as how they always end up getting slaughtered, and how almost no one dies to those spawns, you'd think they'd take the hint and avoid the roads, at least the ones near settlements. It's completely nonsensical, even for dumb goblins and orcs, to sit around on the proverbial railroad tracks and wait for the murder train to come roaring through. The explanation for their presence is because the module is currently designed that way, not because of in-universe reasons like "but it's a dangerous setting!" Make excuses all you want.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

All of the random crap on roads really sucks if you want to travel by foot. People complain about portals making travel too easy and you never find anyone on the roads, but at level 30 I don't want to have to deal with every level 10 enemy I cross.

[Hazard]

All of the random crap on roads really sucks if you want to travel by foot. People complain about portals making travel too easy and you never find anyone on the roads, but at level 30 I don't want to have to deal with every level 10 enemy I cross.

Can agree with this. I would much rather walk around, but having to massacre the local population of whatever or a small city of bandits, each time I go for a stroll can be a bit much.

Some roads and paths make sense to have a few enemies here and there, and we've come a long way from needing to kill about 40-50 fully grown adult humans each time I want to patrol from Wharftown's Gate, to Stonehold.

I think the more traveled roads could be made safer, and instead put in a low chance for something to happen like a spawn or small attack. I question whether goblins and bandits would send their numbers to die by the hundreds every day without re-considering where they get sent.

Can be especially annoying with animals that just stand around idle in clumps waiting to suicide-rush the nearest meat bag as if they were possessed by demons. Wild animals should be rarer near paths and pushed deeper into the tilesets, imo.

[Dr. B]

Yeah. You would think most animals would prefer to avoid people. But I already mentioned this in another feedback thread and it got shot down.

[Sincra]

SoonTM.
I have approved work to do related to this.

[Dr. B]

Super! Thank you for listening to (and agreeing with) our feedback.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

Oh my goodness thank you.

[Babylon System is the Vampire]

I personally think the shire maps need more. There is only one dungeon in the entire area, and one "hidden" encounter, for what amounts to four maps. I would even go as far as to put a writ guy in the farm, to make it a non settlement destination after adding a few more things to do in the area. Because it is a neat little corner of the server that doesn't really add much to the server as is, especially since the forementioned one dungeon is considered by many to be too hard for the reward and xp involved. I still do it, but I like hard dungeons.

Now that my own agenda is out of the way, I will get to the point of the thread. Some of the spawns seem a bit random, but goblins attacking the road randomly is very thematic given the one dungeon in the area. The Wyverns are decent too, since you got those mountains all around. And animals tend to hunt along rivers because it's a water source for not only them but their prey as well, so again that seems fine. It's just the question "why do they come in a group?" that makes it random >_>. That holds true in a lot of locations, not just the shire, and I always just assumed it has to do with the spawn system arelith uses.

As for peaceful walks, well ...On one hand I get it, sometimes you just want to chat and walk. But really, how often does that happen? If you make the area have 0 danger then it more often than not no one will go there. I'm all for parks in the city for that sort of thing (though I don't know that any of the cities are represented as big enough for something like that, perhaps a wilderness park close to a city instead?) because it makes sense for that sort of thing. And its also good for spies and the like, if the fantasy novels we all have read over the years are to be believed

Anyways I'm just rambling now, because I respect the perspective of the OP I'm just not sure I agree with it entirely.

[Hazard]

Walks between areas don't need to be (and probably shouldn't) be peaceful, necessarily. I think of it more as, it is better for a well traveled path to have the 'chance' of hostile encounters, rather than essentially a gaurantee of hostile encounters. Depending on area, of course.

Walking down the road or in a natural area you should think, I'm not entirely safe here. Something 'could' attack me, rather than .. Oh. That spot, there's always a pack of such and such there.

[I will never sleep]

This has been brought up before, by you, in fact.

It's another gron moment, I'm afraid. I'm wondering if you think anything has changed.