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Revert/Change Boss Timers

Use original patch boss timers or keep current timers


  • Total voters
    62

Thinking

Active Member
THE ISSUE

The server has grown stale in terms of endgame content.

One group of 20 people is locking down ~90% of bosses and the reason is because everything spawns at a DIFFERENT time.

The entirety of endgame content on this server is unfair to players on the weaker side (it should be the opposite) solely because if you aren't able to defeat the "top" guild that currently has the content on farm in a head-on full numbers fight, you'll never get any content whatsoever, ultimately creating a snowball effect.

Originally in patch 3.5/4.0/4.5 (I don't remember which one exactly), some of the more desirable bosses were made to all spawn at the same time and were given very short despawn timers. This forced groups/guilds that were freefarming to have to make DECISIONS on what they wanted to do - they couldn't simply show up to individual events like kraken and red dragon, and then lock down the timer for DGS.

If you have any suspicion of my intentions here... I was in a freefarming PN at the time these changes were going to be implemented and GUESS what! We tried our hardest to make sure they DIDN'T go through so we could keep freefarming - the changes weren't put in, and just think about how the last year has gone and where we are now!

THE HISTORY

A top argument against the current set individualized boss timers is that people in off-timezones or ones with weird schedules won't be able to attend, let's be honest here and look at what has happened under the current system historically on this server the majority of the time:

1. PN kills kraken (always has spawned at a fixed time, you never had a chance here anyway under a "bad" timezone)

2. PN kills RD (always has spawned at a fixed time, you never had a chance here anyway under a "bad" timezone)

3. PN locks down the timer for DGS (no popup when spawned, only they know when it comes up, popup when killed but its probably too late or your raid isn't assembled. very skewed towards being snowballed content)

THE SOLUTION

Like I said earlier, under this system, one group of 20 people can attend every event for the entire duration and make sure either they kill the boss, or at the very least, nobody else does.

My proposition is to make things spawn at the same time, force groups that actually want to do content to make tradeoffs and decisions.

Ex: "Sure we can kill kraken, but we will have to leave at least one DGS undefended if we want to do so" (this creates an opportunity for a lesser group to at least have a chance of downing the content, even if they don't necessarily get the packs in that time)

"We can camp freed so nobody does DGS and flare to RD if anyone starts attempting, but we get no reward for the day other than denying everyone!" (if you want to try super hard to make sure nobody gets any content, at least everyone gets a bunch of PvP and the "leading" guild isn't any more ahead than they were beforehand)

THE SCHEDULE

A revised schedule that would actually give most players more of a chance to participate in endgame content at least a few times per week (versus NA players always getting to go and hardly anyone outside of there) could go as follows. feel free to suggest something different! - COMING FROM A NA PLAYER BTW

Sunday: 3 DGS spawns + Kraken spawn (2hr timer, all spawn 2hr before sieges hostile period starts to avoid any overlaps)
Monday: 3 DGS spawns + RD Spawn (2hr timer, all spawn at 4pm server)
Tuesday: 3 DGS spawns + Kraken Spawn (2hr timer, all spawn at 5pm server)
Wednesday: 3 DGS spawns + RD Spawn (2hr timer, all spawn at 6pm server)
Thursday: 3 DGS spawns + Kraken Spawn (2hr timer, all spawn at 7pm server)
Friday: 3 DGS spawns (2hr timer, all spawn at 8pm server)
Saturday: 3 DGS spawns + RD Spawn (2hr timer, all spawn at 2pm server)

Once again, these times are totally up for debate I just wanted to give everyone an idea of a general structure that could definitely work better than what we've got right now.

Maybe admins don't want to mess around with the RD timer because they may or may not merge certain phases of the 5.0 update together and give us the instanced RD? Totally fine too, a system like this could still definitely help with balancing DGS and Kraken activities.

THE CONCLUSION

I am proposing that at the very least people think about and consider how endgame content is going as of right now on the server. By no means is my suggestion perfect, but I hope it serves as an example of a method to potentially rectify some of the issues that are currently going on in ArcheRage!

PS, you could always just alpha us and put in the timers how they should be in this patch - Could even just implement the timers working how they do by default in this patch for a month or two and see if there's any difference!
 
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Definitely a worthy and easily implementable proposition potentially solving 2 issues in 1 go (content monopoly and timezone availability)! Endorsed!
 
Definitely a worthy and easily implementable proposition potentially solving 2 issues in 1 go (content monopoly and timezone availability)! Endorsed!
I'm aware my version of the proposed schedule doesn't necessarily create a perfect system, but the timers should allow for a more inclusive environment while also still being relatively NA-centric (since it is still a NA branded server). Thanks for your comment.
 
This proposed change can be made entirely irrelevant by the 20 players in question either simply recruiting 10 more people so that they can do two things at once, or allying with a guild of 10-20 active players to keep the monopoly, as was historically the case (but with slightly different numbers). Unless one is hoping to be in one of those two groups, there is absolutely nothing this will do for them. It is not a huge stretch to say that any system implemented will be exploited to the maximum extent possible by the people who care enough to do so.
 
This proposed change can be made entirely irrelevant by the 20 players in question either simply recruiting 10 more people so that they can do two things at once, or allying with a guild of 10-20 active players to keep the monopoly, as was historically the case (but with slightly different numbers). Unless one is hoping to be in one of those two groups, there is absolutely nothing this will do for them. It is not a huge stretch to say that any system implemented will be exploited to the maximum extent possible by the people who care enough to do so.

Yes that is the other side of the coin. However, west had alliance with pn2 before but pn2 wasn't too happy how it turned out and broke it prematurely. I don't see alliances happen again any time soon, imho.
 
LOL, you have to play the game to be able to contest it, Cowboy. There have been so many times that DGS + Kraken or DGS + RD have overlapped that it makes your whole post pointless. The fact that flaring and having 1 person watch any of the content also makes this post pointless.

We've ping ponged back and forth on kraken/DGS multiple times with West, lmao.

IF you actually played the game and had any idea of how the content train is going then you would understand that it is fine. West/China/DPS all show up to the things now that they outnumber pretty much everyone.



ALSO, I vividly remember all of PN1 saying that you guys didn't want them to change timers on TWT when it was at 2-4 AM so it falls into the same boat as this of leaving timers alone. Has it inconvenienced you that much that now its OK to change things?
 
The fact that flaring and having 1 person watch any of the content also makes this post pointless.
If this is true then I don't see any reason not to make this change. It'll just add another level of depth to raid leading on all sides to make decisions and have people scout/flare each boss.
 
Added a poll to the thread.
Option 1 and 3 both count to not keeping the original timers and will be considered cumulatively in not keeping the current timers
 
If this is true then I don't see any reason not to make this change. It'll just add another level of depth to raid leading on all sides to make decisions and have people scout/flare each boss.
If you want bosses then just get better and take them. There is a reason why 40+ people still cannot take it against the 20 brave boys. Shaving a hour off the bosses is just going to ensure that they 100% don't get them forever.

Depth to raid leading? You going to do that from the fresh start?
 
If you want bosses then just get better and take them.
classic guild that is snowballing argument, much easier for a guild taking the majority of the bosses to "get better" at least gearwise

There is a reason why 40+ people still cannot take it against the 20 brave boys.
Shaving a hour off the bosses is just going to ensure that they 100% don't get them forever.
This is more or less already the case for scheduled bosses outside of a rare occurence. You even said "40+ people still cannot take it against the 20 brave boys".

After however many months/years of freefarm culture I think the outcome speaks for itself. Really, what is the downside to trying out the original timers or making an adjusted schedule for this server. Can always change it back/tweak things if it doesn't end up working, but this option has never been explored on this server.

Ex: The Titan event has multiple spawn times and it is the most population-rich activity I have ever seen on the server (granted, not a pvp event)... However, taking this approach of still being a NA-centric event but also having some degree of flexibility for people in other time zones has proven to be successful in some capacity, why not try it out for other pieces of content to give everyone else more of a shot?

This proposed change can be made entirely irrelevant by the 20 players in question either simply recruiting 10 more people so that they can do two things at once, or allying with a guild of 10-20 active players to keep the monopoly, as was historically the case (but with slightly different numbers).
inter-guild alliances rarely last in my experience playing AA, generally a few members may peel off and stick around once the groups split up

I am glad you mentioned monopolies because that could be an issue the Antimonopoly committee and market regulators need to check into.

Unless one is hoping to be in one of those two groups, there is absolutely nothing this will do for them. It is not a huge stretch to say that any system implemented will be exploited to the maximum extent possible by the people who care enough to do so.
I agree that players will always be pushing the boundaries in terms of really any system that is implemented in a game, I don't think that is justification to not take action or be discouraged from doing so. It should be an ongoing conversation/battle.
 
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Added a poll to the thread.
Option 1 and 3 both count to not keeping the original timers and will be considered cumulatively in not keeping the current timers
Just for the sake of everyone having the correct information = What is the exact spawn/despawn time of the bosses under the original timers each day?
 
After however many months/years of freefarm culture I think the outcome speaks for itself. Really, what is the downside to trying out the original timers or making an adjusted schedule for this server. Can always change it back/tweak things if it doesn't end up working, but this option has never been explored on this server.
Lets be real, the admins here will not change something and then change it back LOL
 
LOL, you have to play the game to be able to contest it, Cowboy. There have been so many times that DGS + Kraken or DGS + RD have overlapped that it makes your whole post pointless. The fact that flaring and having 1 person watch any of the content also makes this post pointless.

We've ping ponged back and forth on kraken/DGS multiple times with West, lmao.

IF you actually played the game and had any idea of how the content train is going then you would understand that it is fine. West/China/DPS all show up to the things now that they outnumber pretty much everyone.



ALSO, I vividly remember all of PN1 saying that you guys didn't want them to change timers on TWT when it was at 2-4 AM so it falls into the same boat as this of leaving timers alone. Has it inconvenienced you that much that now its OK to change things?
I agree with Fuji because right now there is a lot of overlap. A few days ago Kraken and RD were up at the same time. West (26) contested Kraken against 12-15 PN2 and it was really fun. We then ported to RD after Kraken despawn. RD still had 1hr + on timer.

DGS are up a lot and a few are grabbed by west/china/DPS. East even snuck in a TwT and killed it. West has has tried but no luck so far. The timers the way they are now have made things fun/interesting and the result is what your thread was hoping to create. Everyone has a chance at content if they can organize and know mechanics.


Even though the server population is small there is some fun PvP and good times to be had. Just do daily's for a few weeks in AAU and play AR. Familiarize yourself with the server for a bit and you will see what your thread is hoping to achieve is already happening. PN2 is consistantly outnumbered and have surging guilds from every side against them.
 
Just for the sake of everyone having the correct information = What is the exact spawn/despawn time of the bosses under the original timers each day?
This has all the spawns.
 
This has all the spawns.
I am referring to - what they would be if the change would be implemented where they go back to patch default, not what is happening under current system, if that makes sense
 
I am referring to - what they would be if the change would be implemented where they go back to patch default, not what is happening under current system, if that makes sense
I understand now.
These are them unchanged after 3.5.
May of been changed 5.0 onwards but is accurate for the patch.

Kraken spawns on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 8:05 PM PST. Disappears in 3 hours.
Red Dragon spawns on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 8:10 PM PST. Disappears in 3 hours.
Leviathan spawns on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8:00 PM PST. Disappears in 10 hours.
Delphinad Ghost Ship spawns at 8:15 PM PST daily. Disappears in 2 hours.
Hanure the Hunter respawns every 12 hours from his death/disappearance, and disappears in 2 hours if not killed.
Rangora respawns every 8 hours from her death/disappearance, and disappears in 2 hours if not killed.
Morpheus respawns every 8 hours from his death/disappearance, and disappears in 2 hours if not killed.
Dahuta’s Champion Nazar respawns every 4 hours from his death/disappearance, and disappears in 2 hours



Kraken and red dragon would despawn in 2 hours normally. But was not changed here.
 
DGS are currently spawning in the custom way, but, as I understand, many of you want them to spawn according to the current game version as originally designed by XL.
So here is some data fyi, so you could debate and vote having more understanding on the changes.

Current DGS spawn (custom timer): 3 DGS a day / no despawn timer / respawn in 24 hours after death.

DGS spawn according to XL (original 4.7 timer): 2 DGS a day / despawn in 2 hours / set spawn time - 9 pm server time daily.
 
thats cool and all but what about thunderwing having a fixed spawn time. So a server restart doesnt dictate whether the boss will spawn in war or peace as which is currently happening as i think we all agree the best boss loot in the game shouldn't be a pure pve event one week and then a pvp event the next week.
 
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