Making exploring the wild more desirable

[Drakill Tannan]

I love exploration, go with a party and get as far from the colony as you can... other than DJspectre though i appear to be the only one, and with good reason, it takes too much time, is totally unrewarding and sometimes it becomes incredibly broing becase you find nothing or no one. Unless you are a nature PC, there is really not much point in exploring.

Firstly there should be more random events, or even better, they should respawn. It happens that, if i can only log 3 or 4 hours after the server reset, chances are all the random event areas are already cleared, if i decide to explore it is unlikely i'll find any with it's reward still, so, i might as well quest instead, after all my character has a duel in couple days and i need lootz... etc. If they can't be scripted to respawn, maybe the DMs could do so manualy? If the transitions are pre-scripted and added to the palette, the DM could just place the transition and erase the old ones every once in a while, it shouldn't takle more than 10 minutes to respawn 5 or 6, this making exploring even 3 hours after the last reset, more desirable.

I imagine if the spawns in the wilds where modified to be somewhat entretaining to fight, it wouldn't be as boring to travel even if you don't find anything of interest. Boars, leopards, etc, are fine, but i would like to see more encounters similar to the orc encounters, for example, instead of one goblin bandit, a party of goblins: a couple bandits and a couple archers. Or instead of that single kobold bandit spawn, make it so it instead spawns that kobold encounter than is found near the scalemount SQA. In the same way, in areas near to the gnoll quest you could spawn small groups of gnolls, say, 2 crossbowman, one or two elites, and three or four regular worthless gnolls. This encounters are more fun than just a single kobold bandit, that is a worthless enemy, really.

I'd also like to see exploring lairs to be more desirable. Perhaps rare spawns of creatures such as dire frogs, etc. Who would drop an item that could be given to an NPC for, say, 50 gold and 50 XP for anyone near it, if such enemies appeared in the wilds ocacionally, that too would be awsome, because the rewards would be greater

Finally, i think there should be a greater XP rewards. Currently most enemies give 1 or 2 XP if any at all, wich means there is no XP value in exploring (unless it is the very first time you do so). If all enemies such as boars, cats, etc. gave at least 2XP, enemies as orcs, kobolds, goblins, etc, gave 6XP and strong enemies like ogre bandits gave something like 20-30XP, it would mean a small amount of XP for the exploring party, that could be significative but still not enough to turn the wilds into a level up area. I would also like to see areas ALWAYS giving you XP when you enter them, after every reset, perhaps if after the first time they only gave 10% of the original XP they gave before, it could sum up to be somewhat significative. Toghether with the more XP from monsters a trip to the wilds could mean 200 XP if it lasted enough, and more if a random event or monster in a lair is found, it could make your average trip be worth 250XP when you find such things, while much less than SQAs, a PC that spends his time exploring rather than questing could still reach a decent level.

thoughts?

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

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It's already well worth exploring the wilderness. Random areas and such

[sylvyrdragon]

While in theory this sounds great, it gives the "Nature" PC's a fantastic jump on those of the Colony.

Figure 250XP per reset, in 10 days they could have 2500 XP. (and that's them just doing what they do on a pretty much daily basis) Doesn't sound like alot, but add that to what they gain in Quests and the random areas... wow.

Having played a Nature character, I can tell you that the current spawns are rather deadly.  The number of Razor Boars alone make one think twice about walking from the Camp to the Zig.  Now lets throw in some Gnolls and you just knocked out any low level Nature types.

[Drakill Tannan]

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It's already well worth exploring the wilderness. Random areas and such

If you can log soon after the reset, yes.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

If you can log soon after the reset, yes.

Random areas appear at random times. They don't all appear at the beginning of reset.

[putrid_plum]

Exploring the wilds is highly rewarding not only in xp and potions but in lore as well.  I find DMs will more often do things for a group who decides to not sit around in the Ziggurat waiting on scripted quests but rather explores areas of the server for no mechhanical gains.

If your character would explore and seek stuff don't be afraid.  The wilds are dangerous but you also have invisible potions if things get really bad.  It is worth the risk by far.

[LoaLimbo]

After making a character that can avoid confrontation by the means of magic, I have found exploring the wilds as they are a tremendously rewarding experience. While I know most DMs do not care much about doing so on one's own, I have found that both alone and in company, the wilderness has many fascinating things, NPCs, things, monsters and random encounters, not to mention some extremely attractive areas to offer that are there for the exploring.

I find the exploration XP that is given out once per character for certain areas quite sufficient when it comes to a mechanical rewards as it can indeed be quite high, depending on where you en up. The random encounters further help mixing things up and providing material incentive.

All that said- I definitely like the idea of rare monsters rarely spawning and dropping items that are obscure, but handy and can be given to certain NPCs for fixed experience rewards, a little like White Stag Meat on CoA. However I find most things already drop obscure things that can be used for some purpose other than XP, such as rare ingredients or handy fetishes and such, such as for example the Mist Essence.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

Rare animals already spawn. I don't get why you all are saying there aren't any.

Manticores, etc...all spawn.

[Drakill Tannan]

Exploring the wilds is highly rewarding not only in xp and potions but in lore as well.  I find DMs will more often do things for a group who decides to not sit around in the Ziggurat waiting on scripted quests but rather explores areas of the server for no mechhanical gains.

If your character would explore and seek stuff don't be afraid.  The wilds are dangerous but you also have invisible potions if things get really bad.  It is worth the risk by far.

Yeah, i agree. But i need a party to do so and sadly, nobody wants to, most of the time :( hence the suggestion, otherwise it would be fine by me.

EDIT: I'll try a nature PC next likely, but all my druids have failed miserably at life. So i'd reallly like for more people to see exploring as a rewarding experience.

[Thomas_Not_very_wise]

Yeah, i agree. But i need a party to do so and sadly, nobody wants to, most of the time :( hence the suggestion, otherwise it would be fine by me.

If people wanna be pansies about wilderness exploring then that's them. :(

[PlayaCharacter]

I'm pretty sure the exploration areas are trigger-based, meaning that you can spawn one at any point after a reset. I have found fresh ones when the server has been up for over 36 hours.

[Mort]

Yes. The longer the up-time. The more chances of random encounters.

[Equinox]

Random areas have a chance of spawning ech time a person passes through a transition. be it the first time, or the thousandth time that reset.

Side note: you do n-need- a group to explore the wilds, though it can make it more fun. I've often just gone wandering alone though, sometimes without stealth. If you want to explore, you need to accept there is risk, but it can pay off if you find that rare random on the other side of the island.

[Cerberus]

Unless you are a nature PC, there is really not much point in exploring.

I think this is kinda the point. A city slicker is a city slicker and you need to tank up with a group to wander the wilds. If you're a tree hugger you can kinda go it alone and "explore" but have to hope like hell you're not spotted by something that your stealth and AE doesn't protect you from. I've had druids with AE of 15+ that can stand in the middle of a pack of wolves, three razor boars and between two jungle leopards and not be attacked. AE doesn't help with things like Yellow creepers and Ogres so it is still dangerous for nature folks when out there exploring on their own. So either way you look at it, it's best for both OOC reasons and IG/IC fun reason to explore in groups.
 
As far as spawns... [shrug]
 
I think quite a few players have explored the island a bit with one PC or another.
 
EDIT: Come to think of it, I don't think Amber Wane has even been as far as Starwood village yet. She went up near the chrystl mines once with a large group for a poetry/story telling thing once. She's a city slicker.

[EfUA_undercover]

From what I see a lot more people are out in the wilds lately, I have met several groups out there. And there is/has been a big run on the mountains lately. Sometimes I think there are more people out there than on the Zig.
The secret is, give the people a reason or atleast a reward to go out there. Just making a sending about exploring will not attract many, but if you mention a awesome place or pay for some guards to get your old, fragile wizard to the place you need to research, a couple of people will likely show up. Just going out to walk around without a sense of direction makes no sense icly and oocly for the most PCs.

Apart from nice loot from random events and exploring xp, exploring is rewarding on its own. You get to see some really awesome areas and stuff the DMs have really put time in out there, but too less people go out of their way and check them out; sadly I am guilty of that aswell, atleast sometimes.