Is monster respawn a good thing?

[RyuMaster]

Hey, everyone, while working on my current game, I struggled with one question.

Basically, in RPG, I like to be perfectionist: clear every map, every corner. Diablo 1 was superb for me, while Diablo 2 felt not so fun - everytime I reloaded the next day I wanted to play, map respawned, I could not completely clear the game maps :/

I know there are people, who love grinding in RPG's. They feel awesome, when then can loot same dungeon 10x time for items, or just raise some levels on weak monsters, in order to overcome next challenge by brute force.

And so, should I keep respawn cycle once every year, as it was in MM7 game, or keep game completely without respawns?

Is it just me, who hates this?

[koval321]

Possibly it was reason for that in M&M, if player make crime then he go to jail for one year, which is equal to respawn rate. From one side it may be interpret as to prevent players from evil path, but in other hand its favor for others, quick method to respawn and grinding

In M&M am would change that cycle to about 5 years giving chance to win game without encounter respawn. In games with very quick respawn cycle it look bit pointless and mad like trying to dry ocean, in that situation only best way is to run forward ignoring most of content of game and grind occasionally to claim victory. Where you actually don't miss anything important on way as such games are cheap, empty, not tested and not balanced. Bit weird that it happen to Diablo because first part was solid and then it seem to constantly downgrade own mark.

[Arret]

I look at it as a punishment for being so slow. In most of the games you are trying to save the world, so taking extra years merits making you do tedious things. As long as there is a reasonable pattern there isn't a problem. It is "random encounters" that are frustrating, but there aren't many of those in the later MM games.

The thing is that the loot also respawns, so you can use this to your advantage depending on the zone. I almost always get 2 ring of planes in MM8.

That being said I wish there were places with permanent containers (other than MM7).

[RyuMaster]

Hmmm, maybe I should keep respawn cycles only in the locations, where it makes sense.

I personally hated, if goblins respawned in Harmondale area. But, if rats respawns in the sewers, maybe it is fine.

I never thought of respawn cycle as punishment, actually, looking at if from this point of view, actually brings some fresh ideas to mind.

[Xfing]

Respawn is necessary. Without respawns you can only get your party to level 70 after clearing all monsters in every dungeon. And most of that exp will have come from the quests anyway. So you need the respawn if you want your party to get to level 200.

MM7 was terrible in that regard, the Arena was practically all that you had. MM8 was slightly better with many more areas with monsters next to 1k hp (the four elemental planes +castles, the PBP, the Dragon Caves, 3 rogue Dragon caves).

[RyuMaster]

If respawns are all about levelling up, then I find it more interesting to add extra high-level areas, which will allow to grind up to level 200 without respawns, or, which is more practical, few random-generating dungeons seems like a better solution to this. Random-generated dungeon is a respawn in come aspect, but adds at least extra layer of exploration.


Still, if game is going to be balanced to end up at level 100, where main story ends, I usually do not play more past this point. I wonder, why would I go and try level up to 200.

[Panda Tar]

I'm more inclined to see respawns regarding 'natural life', such as the speed they breed. If you kill all enemies in a place, it would take much longer to respawn. Killing few would make their number to replenish fast. To humanoids, though, respawning would take much, much longer.

I also don't fancy much random encounters, even being a fan of FF series.

I do like, though, mechanics that allow players to always evolve. If you take it from them, you might upset a great bunch of players.

[Xfing]

Story-wise the area respawns are almost certainly non-canon, but gameplay-wise they are a necessity. I don't know why it should even upset your sense of completionism. I'm also a completionist in Diablo 2, but I clear an area once and then when exiting the game, I just omit that area and move on to the next one, so that the automap is full. That way I have cleared everything anyway. Diablo 1 Multiplayer was much worse in that regard anyway, as there was no saving and every time you entered a game, all the dungeons were reset. Basically quit once and you have to start all over again. You can play Multi on SP, too, but from what you're saying, you'd hate it

[RyuMaster]

Thank you for the replies. I decided to go MM5-like way. There will be possibility to perform a ritual in every area, completely cleaning it from monster respawn and getting many XP for this. But as an option, there will be always a choice not to do so, and grind on the monster and loots every year.

[the beavers1]

Thank you for the replies. I decided to go MM5-like way. There will be possibility to perform a ritual in every area, completely cleaning it from monster respawn and getting many XP for this. But as an option, there will be always a choice not to do so, and grind on the monster and loots every year.

I like that

[Arys-Pole]

It's like a double-edged weapon: at the same time a game became endless, a little more difficult and boring for everyone who doesn't like to kill the same infinite monsters)

[Rune_Caster]

Hey, everyone, while working on my current game, I struggled with one question.

Basically, in RPG, I like to be perfectionist: clear every map, every corner. Diablo 1 was superb for me, while Diablo 2 felt not so fun - everytime I reloaded the next day I wanted to play, map respawned, I could not completely clear the game maps :/

I know there are people, who love grinding in RPG's. They feel awesome, when then can loot same dungeon 10x time for items, or just raise some levels on weak monsters, in order to overcome next challenge by brute force.

And so, should I keep respawn cycle once every year, as it was in MM7 game, or keep game completely without respawns?

Is it just me, who hates this?

You could just change the time that your in jail maybe one month rather then a year or increase the number of days in the year to 365 or make the passage of time in the game longer and have the jail time about 90 days 3 months...