Devs, Can we get monster "Off Screen" attacking & hitting fixed pls

[Snakeman]

For the last few months monsters etc can target & hit players from off the viewable playing screen (KR bug we were told before effecting 2D). Any chance this can get corrected in the near future. It gets old getting hit from numerous things you can't even see.

 

[Connor_Graham]

This has been going on for longer than just the past few months, but you're right, something should be done about it. They also need to fix a couple of other things along those lines:

Monsters that are farther away auto-targeting before the one that's standing 1 tile from you.

Monsters in other rooms, or even other parts of a dungeon targeting you, yet they can't or shouldn't be able to see you.

 

[Madrid]

This has been going on for longer than just the past few months, but you're right, something should be done about it. They also need to fix a couple of other things along those lines:

Monsters that are farther away auto-targeting before the one that's standing 1 tile from you.

Monsters in other rooms, or even other parts of a dungeon targeting you, yet they can't or shouldn't be able to see you.

Agree.

 

[AEowynSP]

Lets also add taking damage several times after you get a suecesfull hide/inviz off. I have actualy hidden and stealthed 2 screens away only to fall to some stupid attack going off.

 

[Snakeman Home]

Lets also add taking damage several times after you get a suecesfull hide/inviz off. I have actualy hidden and stealthed 2 screens away only to fall to some stupid attack going off.

Ya that one happened 3 times today (forgot about it too when I had posted) Was well over 2 screens away too, I went back and the juka mage went at me.

 

[Sarphus]

I'm not sure this is a problem that can be fixed. I believe these problems are caused by synchronization issues between the client and server. In order to fix it so these problems can't happen, the server would have to trust the client, which opens the door for all sorts of cheating.

If the server trusts the client on this issue, someone could hack their client through memory injection to basically tell their client that everything that is targeting them with spells is out of range. So basically, they would become immune to spells.

Maybe I'm wrong, but this is my take.

 

[DrDolittle]

I'm not sure this is a problem that can be fixed. I believe these problems are caused by synchronization issues between the client and server...

Taking a hit after two screens worth of stealthing sounds like a bit more than a "synchronization issue". Unless, of course, you are playing dial-up with a 300baud modem.

 

[Snakeman]

Sarphus this is a problem that just started about 2-3 months ago, (during vanguard invasion). I may be wrong, but I think someone had said it was due to the teleportation problem on the vanguards they had and did a fix to to correct it.

 

[Surgeries]

This has been going on for longer than just the past few months, but you're right, something should be done about it. They also need to fix a couple of other things along those lines:

Monsters that are farther away auto-targeting before the one that's standing 1 tile from you.

Monsters in other rooms, or even other parts of a dungeon targeting you, yet they can't or shouldn't be able to see you.

/Signed

 

[RoycroftLS]

I'm not sure this is a problem that can be fixed. I believe these problems are caused by synchronization issues between the client and server. In order to fix it so these problems can't happen, the server would have to trust the client, which opens the door for all sorts of cheating.

Isn't this another reason to focus on updating the 2D client? If the current packet transmission methods are so outdated that straightforward game mechanics can't work they way they should, shouldn't that be the area of focus for the devs?

Otherwise every new client they introduce (with the requirement that it be 2D compatible) is going to have the same inherent flaw.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Lets also add taking damage several times after you get a suecesfull hide/inviz off. I have actualy hidden and stealthed 2 screens away only to fall to some stupid attack going off.

That sounds like an extreme exaggeration. I've been watching these effects thoroughly. It often happens that spells hit you one or two seconds after you hide. Mostly, those are delayed spells like Explosion. All other spells sometimes hit you with a delay of one second, too, but never after you stealthed 2 screens away! If you get hit after stealthing 2 screens, you probably have an extremely lousy connection.

 

[Sir Kenga]

I don't like monsters targeting and attacking through walls too...

 

[drinkbeerallday]

aren't monsters already easy enough to kill as it is?

we don't need a monster nerf.

they are capable of targeting you as they cast rather than after they cast like players. deal with it.

 

[Snakeman]

aren't monsters already easy enough to kill as it is?

we don't need a monster nerf.

they are capable of targeting you as they cast rather than after they cast like players. deal with it.

Not seeing them at All is the problem (numerous hit by numerous creatures you can not see), they can hit you at X tiles away & you can't. fair ? ya right Did not say a word about "nerfing them" did I... Take getting hit by 2 lichs & a LL spamming their blood oath, pain spike, pain spike, flame strike, Etc, when you can't see them & tell me how fair is it. Make it fair is all we ask for. They already have the advantage of not being interrupted during casting now add hitting you Off screen not know what direction it came from... [sarcasm] ya deal with it [/end sarcasm]

 

[hawkeye_pike]

I never considered monsters being able to cast from a greater distance than players, or monsters hitting me with 1 second delay (maybe because they can cast multiple spells at the same time) a bug or an error.

I am convinced that some monsters have greater magical power than us players (yes, monsters CAN be stronger, even if you have uber equipment), and thus have the ability to cast from twice the distance, cast faster, and cast two spells at a time.

Isn't monster hunting MEANT to be challenging???
And hey, do you really expect evil creatures from the depth of a horrifying dungeon to behave FAIR??? *laughs*

Oh, I forgot, most people like to play UO like it was a single player game ("soloing" in UO slang). As UO wasn't meant to be such a game in the first place, I guess there's no need to complain about monsters that require a certain team work.

(Hmmm... even I can kill a Lich Lord by myself when I'm careful, and I don't consider my character one of the top fighting characters.)

Sometimes I wonder if some people like to complain about things in the game, just for the sake of complaining.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I'm not sure this is a problem that can be fixed. I believe these problems are caused by synchronization issues between the client and server. In order to fix it so these problems can't happen, the server would have to trust the client, which opens the door for all sorts of cheating.

If the server trusts the client on this issue, someone could hack their client through memory injection to basically tell their client that everything that is targeting them with spells is out of range. So basically, they would become immune to spells.

Maybe I'm wrong, but this is my take.

Everquest, shortly after it went live, to make the play more smooth on the client side, did this. They trusted the client to do the expected thing. BUT within a tick (EQ is 6 seconds UO is 5 seconds) the Server verifies the action was taken and will force an update of the client if it did not.

A simplistic and short version of the EQ Server / Client communication is this.

The Client is informed of changes in a defined radius from the center of the client (assume the character position). The Client handles actions and reports them to the Server. The Server validates these actions or over rides them if the server does not agree.

Said even more simply, the Client runs the game and the Server Over Rides the Client if it is wrong.

Having said all that, I am not clear how, from a security perspective, this would play out with UO's Network Datagrams being .... publicly known. But I am not convinced that it could not be made to work.

What is clear that if you compare EQ's smooth play to UO's choppy play, the results is ... well very noticeable.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

....
I am convinced that some monsters have greater magical power than us players (yes, monsters CAN be stronger, even if you have uber equipment), and thus have the ability to cast from twice the distance, cast faster, and cast two spells at a time.
...

Monsters, traditionally, have been given their own rules to play by, as an offset / compensation / balance for their lower AI/IQ than the players, well presumably the player has a higher IQ than the MoB.

I for one, am waiting for the game that creates a Battle Manager for the world/shard.

A thing that learns from every encounter it has with the players by every MoB it controlls (and it controls every NPC in a threat scenario). That can learn to have a Lizardman run from a Greater Dragon ... and get the village out to fight it. To learn to go after the Tamer as a primary target, for example. Rather than have some lone Lizardman act like a total moron and go attack that Greater Dragon by itself.

While I do agree that PvP can be far more challenging, it is not guaranteed to be.

On the other hand, PvM can be made far more entertaining that, certainly UO has it and more entertaining than any MMORPG that I am aware of has it.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Actually, one of the Dev's original ideas for the game (they described before the release in 1997) was, to give the creatures a very cool AI. They had planned to make spawn groups act intelligently. A spawn would become agressive or move, depending on the threat or available food in their area. If you killed a creature's food supply, it's spawn would move someplace else. This way, monsters would at some point move towards populated areas and attack cities, if their means of existence was threatened.

Unfortunately, this AI never made it into the release, as it proved to be extremely bad for server load. They tested it and the server just couldn't handle that AI. I keep wondering if with today's modern hardware such cool features would work...

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

The hardware certainly has the capabilities today. Especially for UO's current population level.

The factoring in the Food was a very good idea, but as you said it never made it into production. There were several similar ideas. They all followed a common theme of Environment Management. Again this, in my opinion, would improve the quality of play for UO.

On that same note, DD addressed the people standing in the safety of their boats, by giving the Spell Casting Mobs the ability to teleport on to the boat and carry the fight out hand to hand.

I liked that change It lasted what all of about 1 week, maybe 2?