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[Badger]

Another sterilized generic MMO? No thank you.

So it's better for gameplay to just have easily escapable encounters that players have absolutely no interest in/chance of defeating?

[Surf]

Counterquestion - where the encounters significantly better in FO1/2? What was their purpose? What did they do better? What not?

[Lexx]

The encounters in Fallout 2 are just filler-trash, while the ones in Fallout 1 made more sense / are more reasonable (and not as often + more unique). It's impossible to fill the 2238 worldmap with many unique encounters.

[Surf]

Yeah, I don't remember much encounters in FO2 where you meet small tradergroups that you can join for walking to Shady Sands etc, remains of old battlefields, a guy singing old celtic folksongs etc. Biggest Fail are always the ones with two groups fighting where you just wait till one finished the other to loot their weapons. Although not as dramatic like in FO2, it exists in FOnline aswell...

[Lexx]

I think it's pretty dramatic in 2238. If I could, I would replace all this crapfest with something more unique, but it's just impossible to do this in an MMO without getting it to become super repitative.

When I replayed Fallout 1 again, after years, I have been seriously impressed by the encounters, because I didn't remembered them anymore. Compared to Fallout 2, it's just a totally different system and feeling. It got me when I have done a caravan run with the Crimson Caravan and met "Raiders" .... which have been ghouls, armed with spears(!). You will never find something like that in Fallout 2.

Another example being the maps-- no trees, no broken up desert ground, some parts of the worldmaps are solely desert sand (which inspired me to change the maps on the whole desert plains area on the westcoast).

[Badger]

Counterquestion - where the encounters significantly better in FO1/2? What was their purpose? What did they do better? What not?

Not particularly - half the time I just had to rely on the fact that when you hit the exit grid, so does your entire group. The one good thing about them was the difficulty curve - there was some kind of path the devs expected the player to take, and so you're going up against stuff you can be expected to handle. In FOnline, you're trying to find someone's dead husband for 500xp in the Boneyard while dodging super mutant lasers.

I figure encounters are by nature repetitive and kind of inherently a flawed idea, but I also think tying it to level is the only way you're going to be able to put players up against stuff they can be expected to defeat - the only way I think you can make encounters even vaguely enjoyable. The world is too vast and the quests are too dotted around the map to create a kind of expected path for the player to take.

[Lexx]

Well, a possible alternative would also be to remove all humans from the normal encounter system, so you would only encounter animals of various difficult. Human encounters then would be placed into the "special encounter" category and therefore become more rar. Then it doesn't matter that much anymore, if they are too weak for you or not- if you meet them, you kind of earned the shit they got. But if I remember correct, we tried something like this already long time ago. Though it was timer-based, which gave bad results after very short time.

As 2238 is an MMO with a big world, where players can spawn on already three different places, there isn't really any room for a "dotted path" through the games area. Also I think the worldmap buildup isn't suited for having such a difficult curve. And "fixing" that would mean to make yet another gigantic overhaul... It's just not what we can stem in the moment, considering we already have "TC overhaul"(?), "car overhaul", "caravan overhaul", "crafting overhaul", .... Soon we get to a point where it's faster to ask what isn't in some overhaul project.

[Surf]

When I replayed Fallout 1 again, after years, I have been seriously impressed by the encounters, because I didn't remembered them anymore. Compared to Fallout 2, it's just a totally different system and feeling. It got me when I have done a caravan run with the Crimson Caravan and met "Raiders" .... which have been ghouls, armed with spears(!). You will never find something like that in Fallout 2.

Another example being the maps-- no trees, no broken up desert ground, some parts of the worldmaps are solely desert sand (which inspired me to change the maps on the whole desert plains area on the westcoast).

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. The *feel* is just different. But I doubt most of our players would admire the beauty of encounters more true to the original, instead you'll read "omfg weak ass monsters, lol, where the fuck is my lewt!11, lawl I just shoot this guy in the face, wtf y is that guy singing, that's gay lol".

I figure encounters are by nature repetitive and kind of inherently a flawed idea, but I also think tying it to level is the only way you're going to be able to put players up against stuff they can be expected to defeat - the only way I think you can make encounters even vaguely enjoyable. The world is too vast and the quests are too dotted around the map to create a kind of expected path for the player to take.

Give it time, when eventually more stuff to do and varied material shows up.

[Andr3aZ]

A simple reason why i am against the OPs suggestion is: I am lvl 21 i want to craft Leather Jackets/Armors. I simply cant hunt geckos and brahmin anymore because they are too low tier for me so im reduced to alting or trading.

[Badger]

A simple reason why i am against the OPs suggestion is: I am lvl 21 i want to craft Leather Jackets/Armors. I simply cant hunt geckos and brahmin anymore because they are too low tier for me so im reduced to alting or trading.

Or we just have tough geckos. And brahmin are more a resource than an enemy critter, I figure you should have as much chance to encounter them as you do broc flowers.