Landfish, your ideas are much appreciated, however.. you run into a barrier in an MMORPG. You can''t have goblins above a certain level, at least not many of them. Assuming goblins the lowest, then you''d have people killing these things off day in and day out. How would a goblin manage to become a leader? LOL!
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You also note another good point.. slaughtering hordes of low-level monsters doesn''t offset the lack of higher-leveled ones. However, in a realistic world.. how do you settle this problem? Certainly there''s no persisting menace that will last ages? I mean, goblins in most MMORPGs must have a life expectancy rate of 2 hours, and a gestation period of 45 seconds!
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That to me seems a bit off. I disagree with the whole "monster generators" to a degree. Having constant baddies pop up from nowhere doesn''t seem like a very big roleplaying aspect. If a monster crawls out of the bushes, and the game disallows the player to go into the bushes, seeking the goblin horde.. well.. there''s no fun there! To me, it should be that goblin troops rise up every so often and do battle, perhaps even try to takeover a city! A spying ranger or passerby could warn the town of a giant camp full of goblins, and then a war party would form up to battle the threat!
Even if you have some form of portal allowing baddies entrance.. they would eventually run dry, unless they''re undead and killing them merely sends them to the other side of the portal. This is an idea i''ve toyed with in a D&D campain.. it''d take time afore the adventurers found out that they need to focus on the portal while a few hold off the undead
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by then, they might not be alive enough to fix the problem! It adds a surprise! element to the game. Forces people to really think, instead of just hit a button over and over, which we all agree is useless on both ends.
However, high level characters giving low level characters a tour, or some practice at combat would be going beyond mere hack''n slash. This way the fighter might be doing nothing more than whack-whack-whack, but it''s for a better cause! And believe me.. this is something we heavily support.. as we''ve even put in plans for a system to gain minor experience from watching someone fight. You must actively watch though, not just be partied with the person!
But once again.. it''s all down to how to translate that into the actual game system without killing all other aspects. I feel like i''m building a card castle without a steady hand! One card doesn''t fit and boom, the whole thing tumbles. Leave out a key card.. and boom, it''s gone. And you put a lot of time into something like that.. so you wouldn''t want it all to colapse! It''s hard to pick up and get going again after such an incident. So.. i guess i''m looking for some support in this aspect.
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I know balance is key, but.. how do you achieve that balance? where to begin? do you make the player and then set the world around them.. or the world and then put the player in the world? LOL
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how would you work it if you had to fill god''s shoes?! LOL! well.. just some food for thought..
J