Umber Hulk Stalker spawns

[Blue41]

I remember that the crossroads used to spawn some pretty dangerous stuff to the solo explorer, umber hulk variants, eyeless spiders, vilstrak hunters, and they were toned down for one reason or another. Umber hulk stalkers are pretty nasty beasts specifically set up to chase you down and kill you. I may be jumping the gun because I just died to one and I'm feeling salty but I feel like having them appear on the crossroads is a mistake.

[Knight Of Pentacles]

Boss versions of these guys can spawn too.  Which means there's a possibility of getting attacked from stealth by a dispelling umber hulk with unmodified true seeing and 4 APR when trying to do a 2-4 lowbie solo quest.

[Kinslayer988]

The only people who I think should be represented for the tone down on them would be for the druid and wild walkers out there.

However if a small Sanctuary character comes out there to do the 2-4/5 quests out there, I want the stalker to show them the underdark is not a safe place to tread alone.

[Pup]

Yep.  The Underdark is scary.  If you don't want to be mauled by an Umber Hulk of any variety, stay in Sanctuary.

I don't mean that to be snarky, I just agree and enjoy that it should be that scary.  Or scarier.

[Knight Of Pentacles]

This wasn't a suggestion to tone down the spawns or the Underdark in general, just one area that sees a lot of low level traffic.

[Adhesive]

Lowbie quests are, I imagine, meant to be accessible and are generally more of an introduction to EFU questing in the current era than a sneaky way to lure PCs out of the shield so they can taste the roflstomp of the average EFU area. If an Umberhulk Stalker is going to be a spawn in the Crossroads, it should be very rare.

[Stranger]

Stalkers in the Crossroads and vicinity are fairly rare, though my invisible mages have been one-shot out of nowhere just as they transitioned.

[Blue41]

I personally hate the idea of needing to wait for a buddy if I want to head outside to do a few simple quests. I'm not even in Sanctuary. Yes, exploration should be dangerous. Yes, I hate buffed up invisible mages having free rein to go wherever the hell they want at no reprisal. Stalkers are a poor answer to both of these. They may be rare, but if you do run into them, you're dead. If you do escape, the next schlub to transition into them is dead.

[half_man_can]

The Underdark is scary BUT having killer spawns one area from the hub is fairly crazy too.  This is a game after all.  If I was new to EFU, walked one area away and some crazy thing smashed me into the ground in three seconds... I'd not be having a great time.  I think the monster is fine though, just maybe not so close.

[Reylathi]

Anybody going to do the 2-4 lowbie quest in question isn't a server newbie and should have a good OOC knowledge of how the server works. It took me a month to find that quest, and I think even then someone had to tell me about it. That aside, there's what seems to be an intentional culture cultivated on this server of "Don't go out there, man, it's bad." which kinda helps tie people together and force more interaction. Personally I think it's great that such mammoth threats can strike you down anywhere.

I understand it's uber-harsh and certainly very unfair, but hey man, that's efu, ain't it? The high difficulty is one of my favorite things about this place. Without that constant chance of immediate and gruesome death, I wouldn't be nervous every time I left the shield alone, and that just wouldn't be as fun.

[whiterabbit]

I've also been transition-camped by a stalker - not pleasant.  I've got a heavy investment in spot and listen, and would undoubtedly have had some advance warning if I hadn't spawned with half of my rather rotund body inside the Stalker's maw.

A stalker could feasibly take out a whole part if they didn't transition together.

I've run across stalkers in the middle of the Crossroads before while on Kurginshale, and I thought it was a fun and pleasant surprise.

I'd be all for Stalkers in the Crossroads if they could be kept away from transitions.

[efuincarnate]

I encountered an Umberhulk- perhaps it was a Behemoth, in the low caverns on our way back from the Dread Fort IV.  It nearly wiped our party, and it was glorious! Well, for me, I survived. I also derped the party in an attempt to beat the beast..but I digress..though stalkers, behemoths, even a normal Umber with a Tunnel Hunter buddy (also encountered there at the transition another time, this is the transition that goes up from low caverns to the passage between it and the Crossroads) My point, is that uber dangerous abberant type spawns, tho deadly, do add a certain sense of danger to the quest trains that seem to be leaving the station with great regularity, and I am all for them. I do wish they perhaps were not right on the transition as it does seem a bit like AI transition Camping, and we should hold the allmighty AI to the same standards we hold ourselves. But on the whole I welcome our Umberhulk overlords, and the dangers they pose. Just give us a fighting chance..or in this case..a few meters off the transition points..

[half_man_can]

They are on transitions not because of AI (mostly) but because people who are low level or frankly not in a large group can't beat them and flee.  The monsters stays sometimes right on the transition and doesn't follow.

[Letsplayforfun]

Critters on a transition are a problem. If you managed to flee, shout on dm channel that a spawn is probably waiting at transition x so we can move it (or make it chase you). Dying before having a chance to load isn't cool.

As for dangerous critters, they are here for a purpose.