What were you thinking when you designed the MOBs?

I'm tempted not to complain about this because I've really been enjoying AO lately. Green MOBs are usually easy to beat, yelow MOBs are a challenge, and about half the orange MOBs I encounter are hard but possible to beat -- the rest are impossible. So at least as far as my lvl 74 agent is concerned, the game balance in missions is fairly close to what one would expect, which is a big relief after months of getting whipped by chain-healing gray MOBs.

But it's a miracle it works at all considering how weird the MOBs stack up against real live players. Can someone explain to me why the MOBs don't at all resemble the way players work at the same levels?

Projectile damage:

My agent: Her rifle usually hits for anywhere between 30 and 790 HP damage, with an average of about 250-400 unless the MOB has good armor or evade skills, in which case I hit around 125 at best. But there's a LOT of variation in what I hit for.

The MOB: Almost no variation at all. THe MOB always seems to hit me at one of two values -- the minimum or maximum damage with little or no variation between them. So one MOB hits me for 95 HP 5 times, then 165 HP 3 times then 95 HP, etc. The next MOB hits me for 120 HP 5 times, then 240 3 times then 120, etc.

Nanos:

Granted, I suppose I could have spent a lot more IP on my nano skills than the skills I pumped up. But it seems like the nanos that MOBs use are WAY above what I'd be able to use at the same level. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this, because perhaps I simply should have devoted more IP to nano skills -- but it sure seems like the nanos MOBs use are unrealistic for their levels.

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Solution: Create MOBs based on a formula that is derived from what an average person of the same profession would have if they spent their IP in a rational way, and then vary the skill levels plus or minus 5 % (always keeping it balanced, so that if one skill goes up 5 %, you have to subtract the equivalent IP spent on one or more of the other skills). Then give them armor, weapons, etc., based on their skills, plus or minus 5 % (which accounts for variations in money, implants, what was available at the store, etc.).

Then let the damage be calculated the same way for the NPC as for the real player. That means there would be a lower minimum projectile damage (just like we have) and a higher maximum damage (just like we have), but it would be a more realistic match. And if the MOB has good nanos, then that same MOB would probably have to have lousy weapons because they "spent" their IP on nano skills instead of rifle, pistol, or other skills.

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Final note: I repeat, I should probably just shut up and have fun playing the game, because as screwy as it is set up right now, it seems to work in terms of greens being as easy to kill as greens should be, etc. But I can't imagine why Funcom took the bizarre approach they did - especially because it must have been far more difficult to make it balanced that way than if they simply calculated the MOBs based on the normal skill stat and IP system.

From what I can tell, mobs have all skills maxed. They are able to use nanos above their level.

Mobs have an obcene ammount of hp.

Mobs are retarded and chain cast the same nano over and over, even though it has a 5 minute timer and arent gonna run out any time soon.

You have nano tech mobs that cast their little dot, and not their big nukes.

Not to mention they have an unlimited nano pool.

Whoever programmed your AI must be pretty new at it, cause I KNOW I could do a better job then that, and I havent done much of that since college.

Pathing is horrible too.


Oh yeah, debuffs should go away when the mob dies. Im sick of sitting around waiting for that stupid rasack or deprive to run out so I can continue with the mission. If wanted downtime I would play EQ :P

Mobs do not have unlimited nano. After about 5 heals, any adventurer mob will stop healing him/herself (and gets fed to my pet leets).

But it would be a nice timesaver if debuffs ran out when a mob dies... or at least when you're not fighting other mobs at that time. On the other hand, your team wouldn't like it if your buffs/debuffs run out when you die, don't you think ? :)

They stop after so many heals cause they hard coded that change not too long ago.


If you take on 2 or 3 adventurers you will have one who will heal the whole time, yet amazingly enough, will still have nano to heal himself when taking on you. I literally watched a doc cast about 7 heals on his 2 partners, and still be able to refresh the dot that wasnt near running out and heal himself a few times.