a combat lure skill

[kiryan]

We use pets to combat lure in quite a few zones.

summon pet, fight pet, mobs walk in switch and kill the mobs.

I think that we could implement a combat lure skill and take the emphasis off pet classes for this skill and I might remove it entirely from them as I don't think it was ever consciously intended to be a skill granted to them. It just happened because of the dynamics of old school conjurers.

I'd like to see rangers, who have an emphasis in luring, acquire a combat luring skill. I don't know whether it should simulate combat or allow to group members to engage in combat without harming each other. I would also like it to be able to lure from up to 2 rooms away depending on what the ranger wants. I might also like to see bards gain the same skill except it would always be an area lure and work only from 1 room away.

Also, I'd like to see them gain some sort of "call" skill which would allow them to target a "wandering" mob and encourage that mob to "wander" towards them. This would also work 1-2 rooms away. I might also like to see bards gain the same skill except it would be area lure and only work from 1 room away.

This idea gives ranger additional emphasis and domain over some types of luring and gives bards some logical ability. It also would speed up some of the more boring part of zoning (waiting for mobs to wander close enough to combat lure).

[Nekelet]

In terms of realism, why the heck not.
Seems a couple warriors could make a very convincing racket just banging their weapons on their shields. Calling it a "skill" though is a bit of a stretch. :P

Call. Or taunt. Yelled at the ogre next door: 'Hey, ya big dumb fuzzy sack of moldy dragon crap, you aren't worth the sum of the fleas infesting your mangy hide!'
Bet he'd come running pretty quick.

Mechanics: I don't see calling mobs (or even a subset of mobs) at will as a happening thing. Worth a talk though.

[Lorsalian]

Are you referring to something greater than 2 rooms, or 2 non-linear rooms? Because in nature, have the former in transport via plants (and all classes have it if a summoner is nearby) and if 1 or 2 linear rooms away, well ... I am sure you are aware of archery lure.

Could you elaborate on what you are referring to?

[Ragorn]

I thought part of archery included luring. How have we come to a place where archery luring is so infeasible that we need some artifical form of "combat luring" on top of it? Why not just fix archery luring so it does what you want it to do, instead of making up more nonsensical skills?

[kiryan]

because not all mobs that lure to combat or wander, track.

I suppose we could just make all mobs track or all that lure to combat track, but why not leave that diversity and create a new skill.

Going along with your suggestion of fixing archery luring to take care of these situations, you could make archery luring give a mob the "track" flag. i think this could turn out to be much twinkier than the suggestion I made.

[Ragorn]

The question here is, why are there mobs which respond to combat luring but don't respond to archery luring? If you fix that problem, then problem solved. Not every mob has to track, in the sense that they will leave their post to come chase you. The elegant solution would be to add a "lurable" flag completely separate from the "track" flag, and apply it to mobs that should be lurable.

Elegant does not always equal feasible or easy, however. This will never happen because of the sheer effort involved in flagging EVERY mob that's meant to be lured. But that's the solution that produces the least spaghetti code, and it won't cause unforeseen problems later on down the line.

[Birile]

In terms of game mechanics (this probably doesn't need to be said, but what the heck, may as well), mobs that lure from archery (or any other hit, etc.) are flagged as trackers while the mobs Kiryan referenced in his initial post are "listeners", meaning they have the listen skill/flag. It's actually a pretty big difference. Not every mob flagged as a tracker is flagged to listen, and vice versa. *shrug*

[kiryan]

I'd support Ragorn's suggesiton. A separate temporary tracking flag after being shot by an arrow as long as the mob isnt flagged sentinal or following someone. Seems to me that this idea could give rangers quite a bit more to offer groups now and down the road when zones are designed with this in mind.

[Latreg]

innate trail of bread crumbs
innate woodcarving sign post

but yeah a ranger could leave "false" footprints for a mob to track, make it go where you want to. Aren't some mobs shielded so they take no arrow damage and therefore can't be lured that way?

[kiryan]

no missile shield is only 100% effective against arrows with 0 hitroll.