One of the topics in the round table reminded me of one of my mmo ideas I had a little while ago and I figured I might as well share it here.
Back in the day of EQ the raid zone Plane of Growth had a creature called “a protector of growth” (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=5538). The guys spawn every half hour and hunted players in the zone from the second they spawn regardless of distance.
I can see a similar mechanic being used in what I’d like to think of as wolfs hunting players at night. Imagine if you will Lesser Feydark, or any dangerous woods for a moment. Within these woods a cave wouldt exist and in this cave spawns special wolfs. Unlike normal mobs these wolfs spawn one at a time once a night at the same time. When the cave has spawned all its wolfs (maybe 6) an event is unlocked. Every night after all the wolfs still occupy the cave there is a chance a special hunter wolf will spawns. Let’s say that the predetermined wolf spawning time is 8pm in game time. At 8pm the game checks to see if the 6 static wolves still live within the cave. If they do the game will flip a coin and if it wins the game will make a zone wide noise of a lone wolf howling and spawn “The Hunter” wolf. The Hunter wolf immediately starts to randomly crisscross the zone searching out prey, leaving very few safe places (more on this later). The Hunter wolf will have a huge agro radius consisting of basically as far as you can see. When any PC enters this radius the wolf attacks. The hunter wolf will be of average level but it will have two special attacks. First is called “leg gash” which is an irresistible snare. The second is also an irresistible (regardless of level) attack called “throat clamp” which hurts for 5% of the PC’s total life. These two attacks create a threat for everyone even players much higher in level.
Now when The Hunter kills a PC, a zone wide wolf call sounds out again signaling to all of his kill (sort of like the cannon shot in hunger games) while also telling wary adventures that The Hunter is back on the hunt.
When dawn comes The Hunter despawns and safety returns to the forest.
The only safe area from The Hunter is a few campfires around the zone and in some outposts. The local general store also sells a special torch that when equipped reduces your agro radius for the hunter to maybe 100 feet. Being invisible or sneaking reduces the agro radius to about 10 feet.
Killing the cave wolfs (during the day) prevents The Hunter spawn and because they spawn so slowly (one per an in game day) it is vital to keep them in check when working within the zone for any period of time.
This event does a few things.
1) It brings fear to the night
2) It makes communication vital when in the zone, if you enter in the middle of the night you will have no idea if The Hunter is up or not.
3) Gives a common enemy even to people that have no need of each other normally. People might ban together to ensure the cave never reaches its wolf threshold.
4) Uses audio to instill fear.
5) Remains a danger to anyone of any level.
I personally like things that change up an area quite a bit. Kithichor forest was sorta awesome the first time you went in there at night. Zone Sweepers sort of did this on a regular basis (always had to keep your head on a swivel in a zone that had a sweeper in it).
I like your idea a lot - especially since (if I'm reading it right) there is an air of unpredictability to it. Sometimes the wolf hunt could be on at night, sometimes not.
Excellent type of idea that could be used in different ways scattered here and there around the game world.
I really enjoyed the part of the roundtable where they discussed dynamic mobs/events (but like Brad stated not "always" changing).
I really liked your idea (and agree with Wandidar's point above) and the "skills" that the hunter wolf has. I would almost take it a step further and give the player a message upon zone-in such as "The smell of blood is in the air" when the wolf is on the hunt to raise the player fear/awareness of the present mob in the zone.
And, I would have the hunter wolf cause no physical damage at all or very little like you said - maybe a laceration dot in addition to the snare that you listed. Then the "howl" of the hunter would bring a wolf pack sprinting to your location while sending a zonewide message saying "The Wolf-Hunter has found the next prey..." etc. or something to that effect. That would give the player time to /shout HELP - I'm at such and such place and might give time for the community to come to the rescue.
If it was just a character running through the zone with no chance of survival, I could see the crying already begin.
I was thinking something along these lines as well, with my mentions of migrating herds of animals ....mobs not just standing there waiting to be slaughtered by a roaming player.
Also, if any of you played Skyrim, the "radiant AI" thing that was ongoing with the flying dragons. I remember their devs saying even they didn't know when and at what place these dragons would spawn.
I am wondering if the Radiant AI would be a feature in Pantheon, or if it would clash horribly with Unity. Just a thought.
+1
I think many things like the OP just suggested will be in Pantheon. As someone mentioned, during the roundtable discussion Brad mentioned alternate data sets, which means he is already envisioning dynamic gameplay, as you have just creatively described above...
Just can't wait.
