Pocketing

[Kuegen]

Im wondering, what will happen to pocketing in AO? I believe Outside-tanking is going to be removed with rebalance, but what about the stuff like an MPs heal pet? I see that the soldier/keeper dmg buffs will scale with level...

I suppose it makes sense in regards to pvp and tower wars and such, but I think pocketing is kind of a neat aspect of AO. If anything it gives more incentive to have a second account. Its just fun to think "lets see i got these toons on my other account, how can I speed up my leveling?". I admit the OSTing can get annoying when someone just hogs all the hecks in the area to themselves, but an MP for example doesnt really get in the way of other levelers...

To what extent do you guys think pocketing should be removed?

[Cago30]

My vote would be to not remove any aspects of pocketing at all for now. Why? To me it takes away resources away from the developers with getting the new engine online.

I think outside healing like MP pets or heals should be left alone if my original vote above was not a relevant answer to this thread.

[Kuegen]

Its not a suggestion, so we dont really need to take into account how long the engine will be delayed. If you see no problem with pocketing as it is now then leave it at that. We're just talking about how we'd like to see this aspect of the game, even if only theoretical. Presume time is not a problem

[Obtena]

Just to be clear, I think the intention was to make grey mobs not aggro ... that doesn't mean pocketing wont exist.

[Ocene]

Just to be clear, I think the intention was to make grey mobs not aggro ... that doesn't mean pocketing wont exist.

I don't think you understood the question.

[Obtena]

No, I don't think the OP understood what is planned to happen in AO. He believes OST will be removed with re-balance. It's not. FC are just going to change how grey mobs behave. There are many other places where you can OST non-grey mobs.

[Kuegen]

No, I don't think the OP understood what is planned to happen in AO. He believes OST will be removed with re-balance. It's not. FC are just going to change how grey mobs behave. There are many other places where you can OST non-grey mobs.

I understood that hecklers for example will no longer aggro if grey. As most of OSTing is usually done with hecklers, i lazily made the conclusion that OSTing will be removed, thank you for correcting me

And such would be fine, having an OST at ado hecks because you couldnt get the necessary proffessions off lft seems fine to me. An enfo/doc individually aren't going to be tanking 20 at once.
Stuff like this seems fine to me. The MP heal pet, having an OST for a few mobs, keeper/sold dmg aura on lowbies. Its really just the same as getting some nice OSBs, and i think these aspects should stay as it can make teaming much less stressful.

[drainbamage]

Pocketing is a blight but if the game was properly designed it wouldn't be an issue anyways.

[Kuegen]

Pocketing is a blight but if the game was properly designed it wouldn't be an issue anyways.

And what would this proper design be?

[Mostadio]

And what would this proper design be?

Something that paying players shouldn't have to come up with.

[drainbamage]

And what would this proper design be?

Pocketing exists not only because it is efficient but because it gives such a large boost in effectiveness. There are essentially zero drawbacks or costs to pocketing (outside of getting one) while the rewards are major.

While it's possible to just kill pocketing outright with heavy-handed nerfs, doing so would likely have knock-on effects that would end up hurting other people. Much like how most player suggestions for eliminating bots in MMOs often would end up causing grief for legit players if they were implemented.

So with that said, the "proper design" would be where the advantage gained from pocketing is simply too minor to be worth the hassle for most people. This can be achieved in a number of ways, including but not limited to: scaling buffs/heals to target level (apparently this is being done already), improving the solo/small team utility of professions that are poor in those areas, making it simpler to acquire decent leveling gear, and assorted nerfs to most outdoor mobs (especially SL ones).

This would, of course, make things "easier" (although frankly I don't think anything about leveling in AO is difficult, just tedious), but in turn instances and public playfields could be ramped up in difficulty (and rewards) so that there would still be a good reason to team up while in the leveling stages. And since those kind of zones can easily be level locked, pocketing is not an issue.

[Lazy]

killing pocketing without killing regular levelling is actually VERY easy. in fact it's a mechanic that's been ingame since 2001 and the ONLY reason funcom hasn't implemented it is because they don't want to remove pocketing (yet) for whatever reasons.

[Polaria]

If they take out OST teams before doing something about the population problems, they would be effectively killing off the first 6 TLs of the game. The population has become too small for most people to be able to level normally.

[Kuegen]

killing pocketing without killing regular levelling is actually VERY easy. in fact it's a mechanic that's been ingame since 2001 and the ONLY reason funcom hasn't implemented it is because they don't want to remove pocketing (yet) for whatever reasons.

What is this mechanic?

[Manicmouse]

killing pocketing without killing regular levelling is actually VERY easy. in fact it's a mechanic that's been ingame since 2001 and the ONLY reason funcom hasn't implemented it is because they don't want to remove pocketing (yet) for whatever reasons.

Ah, FC implements a change in policy to allow the mechanic of taking flags to Ely to kill NTs! It's a mechanic that already works but isn't allowed

[Sferyl]

If they take out OST teams before doing something about the population problems, they would be effectively killing off the first 6 TLs of the game. The population has become too small for most people to be able to level normally.

What happens if the brink mobs yield about the same XP as every other mob in the respective zone?

[AyyRawn]

I never understood why they just made it so mobs would be confined to a certain radius of their spawn, after which they would go into "evade-everything-and-gtfo" mode. Wouldn't that kill pocketing (and kiting) outright? :P
Or at least stunt the hell out of it.

[Obtena]

What happens if the brink mobs yield about the same XP as every other mob in the respective zone?

I speculate not much. It's still slower to solo mobs with the same XP gain than it is to team for those, in which case you want a good concentration of mobs because you don't want to be standing around waiting for spawns, finally leading you and your team back to the brink.

[Kuegen]

What happens if the brink mobs yield about the same XP as every other mob in the respective zone?

I've never noticed brink mobs giving better xp. I thought it was just because there's a good supply of hecklers and they're all lined up for the grind.

[Kuegen]

I never understood why they just made it so mobs would be confined to a certain radius of their spawn, after which they would go into "evade-everything-and-gtfo" mode. Wouldn't that kill pocketing (and kiting) outright? :P
Or at least stunt the hell out of it.

Then it would be super easy to avoid dying, simply run back a few feet. It could ruin kiting, you know, the good kind where you're trying to kill a tough boss. Tbh the best way to kill kiting would be to make the cast time cap at an amount greater than the time it would take for mobs to reach you. No more kiting if nukes have a 7 sec cast time after inits, but they could still do good dd in like pande raids if they wanted.