Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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Encounter Routes are interactive adventures that can be used to progress a storyline, or simply to create a fun play experience for a group of lucky players.

Encounter Routes are not /only/ spawned via items – we have other means of tracking a group’s action within an area. View an Encounter Route as a series of linked events or conditions which must be met in order to receive a reward. Our encounter routes are not an entitlement; not everyone will get to experience each one of them

We will have both covert and overt Encounter Routes. Covert ones may not give the players any feedback as to their progress along the adventure. Overt ones may give you feedback such as “Kill ten more Foozles” or “Return to the Throne Room”. .

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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Encounter routes are for your group - your group needs to do the actions

Encounter routes are not only triggered by items - they are triggered by monitoring the actions of your group

Encounter routes are /not/ specifically designed for casual players. They are a layer of content on top of existing content.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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Certain Encounter Routes will have a minimum number of players that must meet the conditions. It will not often be a full group requirement – so yes, additional players may join in. It would certainly not be fun to find out you are on an Encounter Route that you have no way of defeating – just because the Ranger and the Cleric didn’t hit accept group yet.

We may create some solo and casual encounter routes – but the focus of most of the Premiere Dungeons past a certain level is typically group. That’s not to say we wont have mini dungeons with encounter routes for solo players – but creating this content does take time.

As for higher level players returning hoping to do those Encounter Routes – they will find that they are not eligible. This falls in line with Trivial Loot.

The intent is to not trigger or allow encounter routes to happen with a solo individual in a group based area.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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The maximum level for a given encounter route will probably be in line with the level range of the dungeon or area that it is in. It should be pretty clear to players that when a dungeon is trivial to them the encounter routes it contains are also trivial.

Also please keep in mind that these encounter routes are not an entitlement. Not everyone will get to experience every one of them.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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We have a variety of options here and will likely use them. If the plan is to have the item persistent (saved) we can do that, or we can have the item disappear after you trigger the encounter route. The latter will probably be more common.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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The second group with the item that triggers the encounter route would fail to trigger the route until the first group had moved on. That said, remember that longer routes are divided into segments, so there would be an item/trigger for each segment. The idea there being that more than one group could be on the same route, but in different segments (but not on the same segment at the same time).

How many routes and segments per dungeon depends on the size of the dungeon, the level range, etc. The idea behind our larger dungeons is that they should support multiple groups that are either just adventuring or on various routes and the segments within those routes. Ultimately, while we think the encounter route system addresses what instancing tries to addresss but without the negatives, having a lot of content and huge dungeons is just as, if not more, important.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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If you do see something like that in Vanguard, it will be very different than what you see in, say, our distinguished competition. More on this later, but don't panic.

If we use it it will be in very special situations that I don't think you'll have a problem with. Until then, please have faith. Also faith that if, in beta, it doesn't work, we'll yank it. .

Locked encounters are only at the end of a specific type of quest. The vast majority of the time, encounters will not be locked. - late October 2005

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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"Golden Mobs" are typically only at the end of an encounter route or special quest which involves massive amounts of work by one set of individuals. We do not want a groups collective effort being spoiled after working towards something for a long period of time.

We don't lock standard encounters.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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There is a huge difference between two groups competing for a standard spawn, and a group coming in and destroying the last hour of /your blood sweat and tears/.

Again to be clear – only a very limited number of NPCs will be golden. These will most often be the final boss type encounter NPCs.

A very limited subset of NPCs involved in an encounter route will be “Golden” NPCs. These are the only NPCs which others may not interact with. A majority of encounter routes are planned to play upon the standard population of the dungeon as stated above.

The purpose of the “Golden” NPC is to insure that a group which has been working on an Encounter Route for several hours and finally spawns a boss mob does not have said boss mob “stolen” “ks’d” or otherwise molested by other players.

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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The current thinking (not set in stone) is that if you or your group caused a boss mob to spawn with our flag-based quest system, it would only do so as you approached the correct location in response to your flagged group. Most likely it would be locked to your group so someone else doesn't gank it when you did all the work on a long, detailed, and difficult quest that culminated with the boss mob spawning. As mentioned above, only a very limited number of mobs or NPCs will be considered “Golden”. .

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Last updated: 2005-12-07 19:05:15

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We'll do our best. the more complex the content or encounter, the more time it takes to implement, but the designers are putting in major hours and doing the best they can.

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