Thought that came up while doing A Shadowed Mark on the Underworld

[Engeopathichero]

So a few thoughts came up while doing this achievement that I felt were a good idea to share, especially with some of the newest implements from the devs that I will get into shortly. Namely the change that stops dropping loot when you seem to be in an area too long. I felt this added an interesting dichotomy from changes made versus achievements that essentially encourage similar playstyles to those discouraged by said changes.

 

For instance, I just spent about an hour killing random Black Sun members for the Shadowed Mark on the Underworld, or kill 1500 enemies with Fen. There were a few things I noticed while doing this,

 

1. I was interrupting players doing actual quests from getting their bonus because I wanted to kill 750 (with rampage boost) enemies and found a good area to do just that.

 

2. Before the first rampage boost ran out I stopped getting drops.

 

3. It was incredibly boring for me and didn't feel meaningful at all.

 

4. I was actually getting mad at people playing the game the way it was intended because it messed with my farm.

 

This made me think about some of the messaging we have been getting lately about certain farming playstyles not being fun and therefore being discouraged by systems like the one I ran into that stopped dropping loot. In truth part of me was okay with that since I could simply kill faster, but at the same time I was killing just north of 750 enemies (I didn't see my first boost run out) and felt I should be getting something for my time. I simply found it odd that on one hand the devs said "we don't want you doing this so we are going to put in things to stop you," while at the same time putting in an achievement that literally encourages this exact activity.

 

I know that this is an optional thing to do, and technically I didn't need to do it all at once, but I think it is worth bringing up since it really felt like opposing ideas hitting each other from the exact same source.

 

Personally I'm sick of achievements like this, I don't need to kill hundreds of enemies with a companion I don't like in the first place. At least I don't need to kill over 1000 without a rampage boost, no matter how easy those boosts are to get now. I know some people like farming enemies to get loot and achievements, but if the devs want to discourage that playstyle they need to not add achievements that encourage farming. I feel that the two ideas should match up, if you don't want us farming an area for loot, make sure the achievement doesn't go past the limit you put in the first place. The other option is keep this kind of achievement and let people who actually like farming farm. Yes to many it is boring but I know people who truly like doing it. I can just stop doing the achievement for something I find unnecessary and boring.

 

Just some feedback I feel the devs might be able to use. Hope it gives some food for thought.

[SteveTheCynic]

This made me think about some of the messaging we have been getting lately about certain farming playstyles not being fun and therefore being discouraged by systems like the one I ran into that stopped dropping loot. In truth part of me was okay with that since I could simply kill faster, but at the same time I was killing just north of 750 enemies (I didn't see my first boost run out) and felt I should be getting something for my time. I simply found it odd that on one hand the devs said "we don't want you doing this so we are going to put in things to stop you," while at the same time putting in an achievement that literally encourages this exact activity.

There's some interesting stuff in your post, but I wanted to highlight this part.

 

The most that an anti-farm feature (e.g. no loot after too long killing stuff in an area) can do is *discourage* us from farming, and certainly can't *stop* us from doing it. There *are* ways to actually stop us, but I don't think SWTOR is set up to be able to implement them:

* Have it so that after a while, the enemies don't spawn *for the player who's farming*. Other players in the same are will see enemies and can fight them, but not the farmer.

* If the player gets spawn-blocked in three areas, say, in a single play session, then *nothing* (no mobs, no mission clickies, nothing) spawns for the player until the character is logged out for at least twelve hours.

* If the player triple-blocks two (?three, four, something else?) characters without exiting the game and staying out for at least a few hours, all the player's characters are triple-blocked as soon as they log in.

 

ESO is capable of implementing something like that because you can find open-access non-instanced areas where I'm at the beginning of this mission, and type A enemies are visible, but you're at the middle of the mission, where type B enemies have driven out the type A enemies, and that player over there has finished the mission, where type C neutrals have driven out the type B enemies. I can't fight the type B enemies because I can't see them, and you can't fight the type A enemies, and the other player can't fight either A or B.

 

Overall, though, it's getting too complicated to be worth worrying about.

 

If you're worried about interfering with other players' questing, go to CZ-198 and take the mission in the trash area below, which is instanced but can be trivially reset to respawn the rat things. There are twenty or more of them, they are easy to kill, and if you don't trigger the toxin container, you can endlessly reset the instance and kill them again.

[ThanderSnB]

If you're worried about interfering with other players' questing, go to CZ-198 and take the mission in the trash area below, which is instanced but can be trivially reset to respawn the rat things. There are twenty or more of them, they are easy to kill, and if you don't trigger the toxin container, you can endlessly reset the instance and kill them again.

 

I'm pretty sure there is a limit on resets as well. Like 5 times an hour or something like that. Anyways, that CZ doesn't work for the Fen Zeil achievement because the enemies have to be Black Sun or Exchange. For the general companion kills achievements (not Fen Zeil), I have found the Colicoids on Balmorra Empire Side (bonuse series area) to be the fastest. Tons of mobs everywhere, almost all really weak, and the area is large enough you never have to wait for respawns. It's also almost deserted, rarely any players around, so you don't have to worry about slowing down other players.

Edited June 2, 2022 by ThanderSnB