Aggro range increased... again...

[LucianDK.8615]

Monsters go invulnerable if they are currently pathing to a position. Like where they are supposed to be, and you dont gain agro from them, just stop attacking them.I play a necro with minions, and I have no issues getting out of combat, the increased agro you claim the world about is a nonissue. You only feel it now because of mounts.

[Mushuchalaka.9437]

I'll admit, it was annoying at first, but then I realized, I actually have to pay attention running through the map or I might die. It seemed to make the map more livelier, albeit annoying. I can't recall what mob, but there's a mob that runs pretty fast, that actually caught up to me while I was almost dead running through and I actually had to try to survive. I love this map, it's very lively.

[Terrahero.9358]

Seems to me that the aggro range increase was due to the fact we now got mounts and can zoom past everything.

I still think mounts were a mistake, but anet makes bank selling skins for 25$ so it's not like we'll ever go back to how it once was.

[Zaklex.6308]

@Fengzhou.9853 said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:

@BlueJin.4127 said:

@Tommo Chocolate.5870 said:snip

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the game's fights. As far as MMO’s are concerned, GW2’s combat is fun (if not deeply flawed due to things like excessive skill effects, etc.). Particularly when I see a quick random event in HoT, I charge in head first. And when I see multiple enemies near a gathering node, I love to round up as many enemies as I can and mow them all down. I used to tank in WoW so I love fighting multiple enemies at once. However, there’s more to exploring and adventuring in an open world game than just forced fight, fight, fight, fight, fight.

If I'm currently not in the mood for fights and want to gather materials, explore, or map complete, etc., I want to do those without too much disruptions. Pre PoF, for the most part, battles are battles I choose to do. In PoF, it’s the game constantly forcing me to fight when I’m not in the mood for it. I kill the initial aggroed group, and before I can mount, another group aggroes. Kill that, and before I can mount, ANOTHER group aggroes. Kill that, and ANOTHER kitten group aggroes. Want to gather that node? Forced fight first. Want to remount? Fight, again. Want to check that vista? Fight, fight, fight. Look at the map? Fight, fight, fight. Chat? Fight, fight, fight. Don't want to fight? Oh, well, fight, fight, fight!

We already do plenty of fighting in the game; hearts, events, bosses, instances, competitive modes, etc. When I’m not in the mood for too many fights, the constant forced fights are disruptive, like constantly getting robocalls on my phone when I'm busy or flies constantly bugging me when I'm trying to eat. There's only so much forced fights I'm willing to put up with before I decide this is not worth the annoyance, and PoF just isn't worth it.

You do know there are plenty of locations in PoF where you can do some of those things without a mob in site, don't you? Even most resource nodes are easily accessible without engaging enemies...so that one really baffles me.

If this is such a 'player' issue only, then why are PoF maps farrrr less populated in comparison to HoT maps? Don't say 'cuz metas' because that's not the only reason.. lol

No clue, that's usually where I'm at when not doing dailies or the latest LW episode...and I was specifically answer his point about resource nodes in PoF...not really about anything else. Unless you want lower level resources, which I tend to ignore for the most part anyways.

[elrin.4750]

I no longer watch vistas because of the mobs. I just use it and escape, done. Even on safe vistas I do not watch it because I no longer care.

[Gehenna.3625]

@Edge.8724 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:How can aggro range be a problem to so many and be not even noticed by players like me? I've stumbled into two situations where I was slightly annoyed by it on the new map and that was mostly because I was an idiot. There are so many corners, so many rocks you can jump behind. Maybe it would do good for many if they learned to LoS.

Same here, I never noticed a problem with the aggro range until I saw a thread in the forum. I do play a lot of PoF but I never seen any problem with this.Just cause you don't have a problem with it, doesn't really mean anything. I noticed the difference as well and I find it annoying. If it's not a noticeable issue for you then clearly you have a different focus than I do.I don't understand. How is it a problem for people? Just don't AFK. I see sometimes some dead players in random places. I res them and they do nothing, they just stand there, idle.Just don't afk is not an acceptable answer. First of all it can be a matter of seconds. It happened to me a few times already where I just got up to fill up my coffee and was back in a matter of 30 seconds and something attacked me already. Also the design team puts a lot of effort in the maps as far as how it looks but it's pretty much impossible to travel and look around without getting attacked again within 3 seconds. I can't even check my map to see where I'm going and get attacked while checking the map. It's just annoying.Besides, there are tons of safe spot, If I need or want to AFK, I usually seek a cliff and that's it. Or I just waypoint...No there are not. I try to do the same but many places that seem safe are not because there's some mobs that are just so randomly placed that it can take a while before you find a really safe spot just to look around, fix my inventory etc.If you are dismounted, just kill all the mobs around you and continue. It's not like running on foot is terrible. It used to be like this before mounts...It was one of the parts that sucked before we had mounts. I didn't like it then, so I don't like it now. Also the new maps are built around having mounts meaning that you often need to cover more ground.

And killing all the mobs around you gets tedious really quickly. You'll find that not everybody enjoys the repetitiousness of the combat in PvE against those mobs.

I think what you need to learn to understand is that not everybody plays a game the same way and has the same focus. That's why your experience means f*** all to other people who do have the issue. If you don't have the issue then great, but other people do. The fact that it's not an issue for you, doesn't mean the issue doesn't exist for other people. It doesn't nullify that.

[BlueJin.4127]

I was so pissed after this that after creating this post, I didn't touch Dragonfall (or anything PoF) for 2 weeks. Well, I decided to resume and... yeah... this is definitely one of the worst and most annoying experiences I've ever had in any game, ever. Seriously, I don't know what the heck Anet is thinking with this retarded aggro range. This is equivalent to playing a JRPG where you get a random encounter every step, except I've never played a JRPG this bad. If I so much get off my mount to gather something, commune, or trigger a Vista, a dozen enemies aggro from out of nowhere, respawn on top of me, and force me to clear them before I can interact with what I came to do. This is pure garbage.

I read about the Skyscale collection and I don't mind that it's time consuming nor that it requires 250 of each LWS4 currency. I would actually enjoy it. But the fact that I have to deal with this ridiculous aggro throughout all of PoF really makes this experience furiously annoying at times.

[Vargs.6234]

I'm definitely in the camp who likes difficulty in MMOs, but being harassed by easy mobs every 3 seconds when you are trying to check your map really isn't anything except annoying. Especially terrible on my mesmer because the clones aggro even more garbage. Please, I just wanted to chop down this wood, not fight every single trivial mob in a 2-mile radius.

I prefer HoT's mobs. They're a lot more dangerous but you don't need to kill every single one of them in render range whenever you stop moving.

[BlueJin.4127]

Pretty much. I love HoT. Enemies in Dragonfall are actually fun to fight, too. It’s just that CONSTANTLY being forced to fight a horde of enemies when I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT AT THE MOMENT, is just annoying. We have to fight when doing hearts, events, world bosses, metas, dungeons, fractals, raids, etc. We still fight plenty when exploring pre-PoF zones. When we’re not in the mood for chain aggro after chain aggro, letting us take a break from the constant aggro and explore PoF in relative peace is actually healthy for the game and player experience.

[Lady Celtaine.3760]

I noticed a problem when I loaded into a Way point and the pet immediately ran what looked like 1/4 of the entire map to go bite something.

[Ultramex.1506]

It's annoying that some NPC about to die they just become INVULNERABLE and ran back to their original spot and regenerate their health because of this increased agro range, SERIOUSLY??! I can't tell which 1 is the furthest because i'm trying to stay alive!

[Tyranni.9780]

I don't normally like to comment in threads about content I haven't even reached yet and probably won't for some time since I have no direct experience with the issues. But I do have an opinion on this particular issue as it's a huge bugaboo for me in other games. In fact I came to this game partially to try and get away from the trend of games these days of making non-stop combat and constant aggro a thing and calling that "challenge." Something a little more "casual." lol. I know everyone has a different definition for that word but for me "casual" means being able to play the game in a casual manner in the open world areas without every square inch of the game and every half-step I take forcing me into non-stop & un-looked-for combat.

I agree 100% with those who are saying it's annoying. The comparison to flies constantly buzzing around you when you're trying to eat is so right on it. The difficulty of the mobs in question is irrelevant, imo. It's the fact it's so constant with no time to really enjoy your surroundings, or even see them in some cases. What is the point of even making nice maps if people can't enjoy them? They're too busy fighting and/or zerging their way through it to pay it any attention, and sadly many couldn't care less as long as the adrenaline keeps flowing.

With that said, and if a noob's opinion is of any value to Anet, I have to say that after reading through this thread I'm finding it just a tad bit alarming to see that's what I have to look forward to if I decide to venture off the core maps someday. It's not what I was looking for when I found this game and with that in mind I don't foresee myself ever setting foot on those maps even though I've already bought both expansions. I will simply remain on the core maps. I'm not hung up on having a mount anyway.

I love the core maps. They are very well suited for me and my preferred playstyle. I see some people scoffing at the core maps and looking down their noses at those who like a more "casual" playstyle. It's ok, I see that attitude in just about every game I've played. I just hope that this game doesn't become like all those others and start tailoring it for the hard core adrenaline junkies instead of the laid-back casuals because I think that would just be a crying shame. I've seen it happen to too many that started out as rpgs. There's enough of the hard core games out there already and far too few of the casual rpgs, imo.

[Einlanzer.1627]

I agree this is a problem and I think it's a big part of the reason why PoF maps were quickly abandoned. It's just too annoying, tedious, and exhausting being attacked constantly to the point that you can't even enjoy the immersion of the zones from the beautiful aesthetic design of them.

If the goal is to create more challenge, it's a really poor way to do that, and it's one reason we need more dungeons. Open world zones should be enjoyable to traverse and hang out in, with only certain events getting as frenetic as the entirety of PoF is. It can't be like that with stupidly high aggro ranges. It really amazes me they haven't already addressed this as there were a ton of complaints about it in the months following PoF's release. I definitely think there are some higher-ups in GW2's design team that just really don't know what they're doing.

[mindcircus.1506]

@Einlanzer.1627 said:I agree this is a problem and I think it's a big part of the reason why PoF maps were quickly abandoned.

Since the change in rewards this week, the maps have been pretty much packed.So no... people's inability to adjust to the PoF aggro mechanics had nothing to do with it.

[arielwind.8921]

This is my biggest reason why i don't want to farm in PoF, Dragonfall map anymore, even there are many beautiful places. Anet, this insane aggro range is not fun, simply frustrated.

[mauried.5608]

Adding mounts to the game makes the world smaller as players can now travel everywhere much more quickly.Something has to be done to counteract this , otherwise players will simply run thru all the content much more quickly and then complain thats theres nothing left to do, and that more new content must be added.Whether increasing aggro range is an ideal method for doing this I dont know , but I cant think of many other options.

[BlueJin.4127]

@mauried.5608 said:Adding mounts to the game makes the world smaller as players can now travel everywhere much more quickly.Something has to be done to counteract this , otherwise players will simply run thru all the content much more quickly and then complain thats theres nothing left to do, and that more new content must be added.Whether increasing aggro range is an ideal method for doing this I dont know , but I cant think of many other options.

Yes, we know this is one of the reasons for the increased aggro range. We’re simply saying that we think this is a terrible idea. Artificially increasing playing time slightly like this is merely a band-aid. Players who play a lot will still run out of stuff to do, no matter what. Players who don’t complain about amount of content suffer for no reason. Not only that, by making the game less appealing when we are playing, it makes us support the game less. Due to the PoF aggro range, overuse of flashing effects, and too much visual clutter, I stopped spending money in this game months ago. If I didn’t make the mistake of spending hundreds of dollars when I first started this game, I’d have just quit months ago instead of bothering to post here.

In terms of players running out of things to do, while that is a valid complaint, there’s just no solution for it. Players who play a lot will consume content faster than these can be created. But when game companies artificially drag out contents whether through too much grinding, too many forced fights, etc., they simply make the overall experience worse. A shorter, but fun experience is much better than longer, but awful experience. That is, assuming players don’t just completely quit because they don’t want to bother with long awful experience.

[Irreverent.3594]

That's why nowadays more and more i find HoT maps (which i hated oh so much before mounts) much better to hang out in with mounts than PoF. Not counting PoF performance issues (Thunderhead Peaks the ultimate of them all. Metas are like 5fps slideshow) and that god awful screen contrast turned to 200% in all maps (almost something like "beauty" that is Draconis Mons from HoT episodes) with no way to turn it off.

[BlueJin.4127]

If you turn off post processing, it turns off the blinding contrast of PoF maps. Unfortunately, it also turns off a lot of effects that aren’t blinding, so it’s a double edged sword. :disappointed:

[Mahou.3924]

@"mindcircus.1506" said:My favorite part of this are those who claim it isnt a "difficulty" issue.Of course it is.You are having difficulty mounting up. You aren't managing the aggro correctly.\

Instead of a forum post have you tried just playing better?

Most.Useless.Advice.Ever. And you clearly lack comprehension because when people talk about it not being a difficulty issue, they are NOT refering to the difficulty of mounting up, but the game difficulty of dieing often (or in this case: The difficulty of dieing is NOT relevant within this thread about aggro range).

[mindcircus.1506]

@Mahou.3924 said:

@"mindcircus.1506" said:My favorite part of this are those who claim it isnt a "difficulty" issue.Of course it is.You are having difficulty mounting up. You aren't managing the aggro correctly.\

Instead of a forum post have you tried just playing better?

Most.Useless.Advice.Ever. And you clearly lack comprehension because when people talk about it not being a difficulty issue, they are

NOT

refering to the difficulty of mounting up, but the game difficulty of dieing often (or in this case: The difficulty of dieing is

NOT

relevant within this thread about aggro range).

Death is the game's fail state.Thank you for proving my point.

[Mewcifer.5198]

I don't know about you guys but I find it super fun and enjoyable to be knocked off my mount mid-air by a bunch of archers standing so far below me they look like ants :)

[Strider Pj.2193]

Wait wait.... so you want to wander around without having to deal with enemies?

Pick your battles?

Maybe you could try WvW or.. better yet, EOTM to explore without having to fight anything...

It’s... an unfriendly zone. It’s not a city or town...

[Mewcifer.5198]

@Strider Pj.2193 said:Wait wait.... so you want to wander around without having to deal with enemies?

Pick your battles?

Maybe you could try WvW or.. better yet, EOTM to explore without having to fight anything...

It’s... an unfriendly zone. It’s not a city or town...

Way to completely misrepresent the opposing argument there, pal.

[Skotlex.7580]

Due to mounts, there needs be an increased sight range or overworld enemies will just be for decoration.

The problem lies in being stuck "forever" in combat because enemies keep coming from far away.

I can think of two possible solutions to this issue:

1. spread out enemies more in maps, if the space between packs of enemies is greater than 1200, then it becomes much easier to mount back up as it'll be harder to drag in more unwanted enemies.
2. Split sight ranges, so mobs will sight you while in a Mount at 1200 range, but if you are on foot, that range is reduced to 900.

Any other ideas? Anet can't just blanket reduce aggro ranges due to mounts, so some other solution is needed.