Thoughts on monster level system?

[zbizu]

If you had a chance to add a monster level system of your design to your server:

• how would the level be calculated?
• what would you use it for? (which places on map, which monsters, which quests/events, etc)
• how would you configure it?

Assume this:

• the code can do whatever you imagine
• you don't want to fill hundreds of lines of config manually
• you can use skulls near monster hp bars, you choose how

 

[Evil Puncker]

how would the level be calculated?

honestly I have no idea, still going to place one by one in each xml file (or even better, being allowed to place it on monsters.xml file), or even add a global setting, for example: lvl range from 1 to 50 to all monsters spawned naturally

what would you use it for?

regular mobs will not all be the same, that is the point, more damage, more HP, more EXP, more loot

how would you configure it?

hp ratio
damage ratio
loot ratio
exp ratio
speed ratio (monster movement speed)

 

[Marko999x]

as @Evil Puncker said above

HP,DMG,Loot,DMG Ratio and maybe some cool effects for higher level monster loot

 

[2Rec]

Calculate lvl by monster's experience maybe.
Could take a single equation i guess.

 

[Nemphis]

EDIT: Sorry for wall of text. Everything below may not be what you were after, but to me this is what i think about when i hear monster level in Tibia and the problems it could bring.
//EDIT.

Imo a monster leveling system makes no sence if player max lvl is infinite. If you put a max level on player, it should be easier to make sure that a monsters level and stats stay on a line above the players powers all the time. (not thinking of mlvl, skills, only lvl)

Buuuuut, if such a system would take place, i'd like to be able to double-click the monster in map-editor and give it a level there or even a level on the spawner and all creatures inside the spawner will get the level of the spawner. if you understand what i mean.

I'd like to be able to make a rookgard or a low level hunting area that contain demon creatures, but ofc as low lvls so you can do something more exciting than killing bugs and wolves.

A game like World of Warcraft has done their monsters in such a way that they can be used over and over again with different levels, and it makes sence. Hoggers, Any kind of Humanoid, Dragon Hatchlings, Animals, Imps etc.
But they also have the power to increase or make a creature smaller if they want, without the need for a new sprite. Like any bosses, they are most likely double the size of a regular monster in that dungeon.

Tibia basically have monsters in families, where most monster doesnt have a family (im thinking Pokemon now)
Rat -> Cave Rat.
Larva -> Scarab -> Ancient Scarab
Rotworm -> Carrion Worm
Wolf -> Warwolf
orcs ->
minotaurs ->
Dragon Hatcling -> Dragon
Monks
Bug

If you want a level system for monsters in Tibia, you have to decide which level a normal of the strongest(Demon) and the weakest(rat, snake) would be as a default. If they are higher or lower level than default their stats should follow a function based on their level.

Say that a Demon is level 100 by default and if you make a Demon(20), all of its stats, damage, health, exp, anything really to be reduced by X%.
If you want to make it even more custom, there should be brackets of loot tables that will be used depending on which level you put the creature. A level 10 demon shouldnt for example drop MPA.

In world of Warcraft if you kill a dragon in one area, it doenst have the same drops as a dragon in a different area. If you are after a recipe of some sorts, you go to the area of which it drops.

Tibia creature loots could be changed so that items below plate set is common, and above is crown set is epic and between is rare and all items that can be dropped from any creatures in the game (not quest items) will put into level brackets. The higher the level of the monster you kill, the higher the chance of a common, rare or epic item to drop.

This could also balance the profit/waste ratio of all hunting areas and make those special drop moments really exciting!, imagine being level 10 and you kill a creature level 12 and it drops a knight armor (which almost never happends)!

 

[dami1310]

• how would the level be calculated?
• what would you use it for? (which places on map, which monsters, which quests/events, etc)
• how would you configure it?
  
  
  1.
  I'd separate it to 3 levels only:
  level 1: normal mob (no skull)
  level 2: elite mob (white skull)
  level 3: unique mob (red skull)
  
  normal mob hp/damage/loot chance etc would be as you have in .xml file
  elite and unique would be altered by a static percent number that you set yourself in .xml file, like:
  <flag elite="30"/>
  <flag unique="70"/>
  if flags == 0 or aren't there then it means the mob doesnt have elite/unique version and they should not spawn
  so you can do that mob has only elite or unique version too
  
  also maybe some additional loot items
  like:
  <item id="2148" unique="1" countmax="100" chance="40000"/>
  meaning it would only drop from unique mobs and the chance ratio of it wouldn't be altered
  or:
  <item id="2148" elite="1" countmax="10" chance="20000"/>
  drop from elite or unique
  
  2. probably on all normal monsters and maybe some bosses (definitely not on quest bosses, since it would change the difficulty)
  3. written above

 

[Silba]

Spent last night thinking about a system like this, it wasn't level based but i adapted it and i like it better now it has levels.

I would like a config option to globally affect all monsters and a config option for individual spawns. So it would be possible to make a skeleton spawn really hard with stupid high settings on it's config without affecting any other skeletons. This would be great for making areas further from the city harder and enable themes like mage towers where it looks like the mages or even the magical environment are the cause for these increased buffs. More immersive than seeing silly names for existing monsters for the player.

This config would enable several things:

Random 100% immunities, up to 3 damage types. It must always be possible to kill.
Random added spells up to 2 times
Random added damage +5% up to 10 times with a bias towards <5
Random added health +5% up to 10 times with a bias towards <5 so it's not too common to go above 5

For each added buff the monster would be +1 level displayed next to it's name if possible. Max level would be 25 and not likely to appear very often at all. For each level drop rate and exp should increase but not by much, since iview these as a punishment not a reward. They should make your hunt cost more.

I would also have a separate config for bosses where the above 2 configs can not apply.


My reasoning behind a system like this is that it would making hunting incredibly fun since you'd never quite know what to expect, bringing back the oldschool experience and it would severely limit cave botting. With this kind of system the spawn would 'naturally' select against a cave botter.

 

[zbizu]

EDIT: Sorry for wall of text. Everything below may not be what you were after, but to me this is what i think about when i hear monster level in Tibia and the problems it could bring.
//EDIT.

Nah, it's ok. I've read about how the players felt about it in other games (PoE, diablo 3, witcher 3) and they were generally unhappy because it threw away the purpose of levelling as a player or made one monster unnecessarily powerful in other area than starting one. I'm looking for ways to make the system satisfying. I've read your entire comment, but I'm not replying to all of it yet because I'm waiting for other users thoughts about the monster level system itself.

 

[Handicap Ninja]

If you had a chance to add a monster level system of your design to your server:

• how would the level be calculated?
• what would you use it for? (which places on map, which monsters, which quests/events, etc)
• how would you configure it?

Assume this:

• the code can do whatever you imagine
• you don't want to fill hundreds of lines of config manually
• you can use skulls near monster hp bars, you choose holevel would be

monster levels that reflect the average level of players that hunt them

1 config with abilities according to the levels similar to the spells list

whatever you imagine? trolls that use rope and spears in their bags?!
nah seriously, abilities from a list sorted by level; creative but familiar: i.e. magic wall, levitate

 

[Derlexy]

I think its a nice idea. I already aplied it to my own server to create two main features:

• Make the world feel alive: every time you kill a monster, it has different life, speed, damage and gives you different amount of exp;
• Make the game more difficult: by meaning that you can get kicked out of a respawn by facing some elite mosnter.

In my case, i classified them into 5 groups:

• Level 0 to 9 = normal creatures (just with a small variation of life, exp points, etc...);
• Level 10 to 25 = angry monster (white skull);
• Level 26 to 50 = furious monster (white skull aswell);
• Level 51 to 75 = enraged monster (yellow skull);
• Level 76 to 100 = madly enraged monster (red skull).

Also, i've created a bonus loots system that maximize the chance of dropping rare loots (the greater the level, greater the chance to drop extra loot). If thats not enough, i also made elite monster drop special present boxes that can give gold, jewels or runes everytime you open it (everytime you open, the chance of success is decreased by 10%, starting with 70% of success).

Its a simple system, but made the game feels more alive.

 

[Ramirow]

• how would the level be calculated?
• what would you use it for? (which places on map, which monsters, which quests/events, etc)
• how would you configure it?

1) I would calculate the average level based on how far away from a town the zone is and maybe increase it a bit the further you go into the dungeon/cave/area containing the creatures.
2) I would use it everywhere, on every monster.
3) I played around such a system long ago, it was very limited so what I ended up doing was creating multiple files of the same monster with a different lvl range/base loot/exp/dmg etc.
The system I used at that time allowed to scale the monsters with every lvl but I needed to tweak the base stats accordingly. That way I could have like say, a dragon lord that drops lesser loot at lower lvls (some items removed or even attacks altogether) and the normal dl that we all know at around lvls 45-50ish. While those in quests such as PoI were significantly higher lvl (around 75-80) which made them almost twice the stats (around 1.8x)

 

[Amiroslo]

I have a server based on reborns. What I would do is make them hit more, have more health depending on how many reborns you have