Very first stages of PVE*. Don't set your expectations too high for now, but these NPCs show promise imo. Here's what I liked about them..
Chomper
- Growls, faces player when close
- Determines attack point and then charges up and releases threeverypowerful projectiles in quick succession. If you are hit by more than one of these, you are dead.
- Can/will shoot you if you are hanging on the ceiling or walls. If it's head can see you, and you're in range, you're fair game.
- Slow turn rate, making strafing around it very effective
- Releases an AE cloud of gas that slows movement
Exploding Mushroom
- Very small and hard to spot, but makes a constant faint noise when nearing one (audio is surround sound, which helps with spacial awareness)
- Immune to damage
- When a player comes too near it will rapidly expand and then explode, destroying anything in a small radius.
- Leaves a small crater behind. Doesn't drop loot, but all unearthed minerals & dirt are collectable by player
- I (usually) spot these first and it becomes a jousting match to make it explode and collect materials without getting blown up
White Wisp
- a willowisp returns from EverQuest!
- When in range, the wisp will flash and release a fast-moving projection of light towards the player
- Can attack at any angle: straight up in the air, down, etc. (targeting appears to be slightly buggy right now, making them pretty easy to down)
Abomination
- Green sludge monster with a skeleton inside. Shoots slime-covered skulls
- Slow-moving, higher attack damage. Easy to run away from
- Emits a poisonous gas that deals DOT if standing in range. The poison is very lethal if you continue to stand in it
Other Things
- Non-traditional Leashing - All monsters appear to have different aggro leashing ranges, based on their flavor and aggressiveness. Abominations are slow and will stop attacking if you run too far for them to catch up. When "leashing" the mob resumes it's non-combat AI, but doesn't run back to a spawn point or regain health automatically, like you'd expect. In some situations, backing off and repositioning (behind a rock, tree, on a ledge, etc) is actually beneficial.
- Health regens significantly slower now; if you're almost dead it can take up to a minute to return to full health. This creates a need for potions, food, healing spells, etc. I found a tunic that gives +3 life drain within the first day and it's been a godsend. If I get destroyed by one creature, I'll pick out an easy target to regain my life on
- Usable equipment drops off of monsters, that is always tradeable. This is surprisingly simple, yet so different from how MMOs operate these days. There is no "bound on equip", "bind on pickup", etc. You can either wear it or salvage it for crafting ingredients. Found a weapon you don't need? Break it down into an Aspect of Destruction that is the base ingredient for creating a new weapon. Other things can break down into ether shards, which are the primary resource in the game used for all things. They could easily bring back the "Skeleton holding a sword? Skeleton drops a sword." feature of EQ1, with this system.
- Respawning monsters, chests are a bit bugged right now. If you want to experience PVE Combat, just stick to the surface. Caves aren't respawning properly, so they're a bit frustrating if you're trying to find fights and treasures
The first wave of monsters are simplistic and combat isn't quite nailed down yet, but already I can see some real potential here