World Make the Silent Expanse more dangerous and scary

I feel like the silent expanse isn’t very dangerous anymore. Maybe it will be if mobs get a general buff, but I feel like walking through SE is like walking through the Emerald Trail, just fighting Weak Zombies along the way. And I play a very glassy build.

I wish that something other than just the mobs could hurt you, too. Like, the purple plants in the Eyeball Forest could deal some true damage if you get too close, or staring at the eyeballs too long gave nausea. Maybe the green stuff in the Toxic Wastes could damage you if you stand on it for too long, or the vines in Void Valley would stun you and deal damage.

I also think that there should be less super common weak mobs, and more rare strong mobs. Or at least the common mobs get a serious buff.
It just doesn’t feel like the horrifying land that it is in the lore, just another place you go to grind or whatever.

The Ruined Olmic City has that really scary vibe though. Like when I’m lootrunning, I skip the challenges there because I don’t want to go. Maybe it’s me just being a wuss in block game, but in my opinion, the City, the Twain Graveyard, and the Path to Darkness are pretty intimidating. Also that eye cave behind the Witness Church.
Part of it may be the lack of many mobs, adding to the overall tension. I notice that the more mobs there are, the less scary it gets. The only exception is the Gateway Realm from Fantastic Voyage. There are tons of mobs and it was pretty scary for a not-so-scary-at-first quest. Maybe it’s just because they were an actual threat, which I feel like the mobs of the Expanse are not.

Anyway, this is just what I think would be good to change. Also, I mean no offense at all to the content team and developers. This is just what I thought would be good additions and changes. I really appreciate everything you have done and the great game you’ve created. Have a nice day/night!

Edit: After thinking about this more, I feel like the sense of mystery and suspense adds a lot to the experience.

 

I really like the way the Ruined Olmic City works
With the rest of the Silent Expanse (excluding Path To Darkness) I'm just like blud these guys are so annoying but while inside the Olmic City I'm always scared that the Omnispective Wanderer will just appear out of nowhere and Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru me

 

Yeah, exactly. Maybe swarms of mobs could be redesigned to only appear at certain times, like in AJB. And the mobs would be really strong. The feeling that anything could attack you from anywhere at any time is very strong and real, and would likely add a lot to the experience of the Expanse.

 

W o r l d b o s s e s i n S E

 

Mmm... world bosses that randomly spawn somewhere near you and obliterate you... mmm...

 

Just put CGG key guardians everywhere

In all seriousness, I think a large part of why it feels so easy to traverse is just because it’s a part of the map in the same way any other place is. You’re not necessarily doing much of anything other than just going from point A to point B with mobs that match your level in between, same as any other part of the map. Even if the mobs were much stronger, it’s still be easy enough to just rush through it. As cool as it would be to have traversing the eyeball forest be like crossing the great bridge for the first time it just wouldn’t work well, especially with how even if the mobs are proportionate, level 100+ layers are simply going to be better at the game.

 

Want scary? Put random animated mobs in little corners that do creepy things and are creepy

 

I honestly like the idea of world bosses for the provinces as a whole, not just the Expanse. Having rare, extremely high-level monsters spawn throughout the map would not only make the wilderness feel more dangerous, but it would also give players a reason to come back to regions they wouldn't otherwise return to (seriously, when's the last time you went back to the mesa?). Also, it would help reconcile the need for a balanced difficulty curve with maintaining accuracy to the world's lore (it makes no sense why mobs at the portal to the Realm of War are substantially weaker than orcs just chilling in the Llevigar Plains).

Wynncraft already has a system like this with the Rare Mobs (which are heavily underutilized, but that's another topic entirely), but these two systems would accomplish very different objectives. Right now, the Rare Mob system incentivizes you to pay attention to your surroundings and spices up normal travel gameplay, but does little to add variety in challenge or incentivize returning to old areas. Having these kinds of world bosses would fill this currently empty niche.

As for the topic of making the Expanse feel scarier and more hostile, I agree with the idea of adding random events. Having world events (like the Old Druid on Tree Island) that have a low chance of triggering in commonly traversed areas would add so much more unease and horror to the region. The Omnispective Wanderer is a brilliant idea executed very well, but it shouldn't just be repeated in every part of the Expanse, or else it would lose some of its edge. As an example, you could make some of the eyes in the Eyeball Forest stationary mobs and give them the L.A.Z.E.R. Drillers' attack (even at a high level those things are terrifying). I like the OP's idea of adding unique environmental hazards, since those would force you to interact with the Expanse differently than you would with any other area.

One last, probably crazy idea: remove the paths, or make them far less reliable. Force players to rely on their own knowledge of the terrain to navigate back to safety. The Expanse is already very mountainous, and this change would make it feel even more maze-like. I'm not completely sold on this idea since it might have the Canyon of the Lost effect where the terrain becomes annoying to navigate rather than interesting, but the inherent danger of the Expanse would make getting lost anxiety-inducing rather than tedious.

 

Thank you for your detailed response! I agree with everything here, especially that last part. Those paths make it feel like exploring the region beyond them is just taking an annoying detour. There is so much to do in the Expanse and yet it is so underutilized. Lootruns helped a lot with this as you can actually do something with these unique caves and buildings, but even then, removing the path would definitely make it feel like more of an actual challenge then just somewhere you walk through. It would reward learning about where you are, and exploring to find the best ways possible.

 

In short, I don't think I've ever been this happy to see a suggestion. I was actually going to write basically the same thing as part of a bigger post but I was dreading having to write it all and stuff.
One of the issues is that as of 2.0 basically everything that wasn't added in 2.0 or later and isn't expressly meant to be as hard as possible is piss easy (at least in comparison to before, idk how I stand among other players as far as being good or bad at the game)
Almost every mob in the SE is oneshottable with any normal build, including mobs that are supposed to have noticeably more health than the others. If you look at the health values of the mobs it's really obvious that they were designed for an older version of the game where the numbers were different. Most of the regular melee mobs, "fodder mobs" i guess, have ~9k-12k hp, in a game where a typical spell build does ~20k dmg or much more with it's main offensive spell. Mobs that are supposed to be harder like the Larbonic Canker have typically 40k-50k hp (larbonic canker has 45k) which puts them in 2 shot range, and this is largely from my experience on a Black Amaranth build (a rare weapon) with no mythics, and from the damage numbers I typically get building (I'm a garbage builder, by the way) with other Rare tier weapons.

I've never had an encounter in the SE playing on Battle Monk where I couldn't just automatically win by RRR-RLL-RLRing repeatedly for a few seconds. I have never felt in danger in the SE since 2.0 came out, and I don't think I've ever died there since 2.0 came out. The situation wasn't that much better before 2.0 either.
I think a concerted effort needs to be made to make the SE actually very difficult; the goal with the area should be first and foremost to make it as unnerving and uncomfortable to be in as possible, because right now despite being intended as one of the most dangerous and oppressive places we have access to and being described in the lore as such, it is still among the easiest areas in the game and as a result you feel safer as a level 100+ player in the SE right now than at most other points in the game. The new Time Valley, Nesaak, Dernel Jungle, Kander Forest, and Maro Peaks are still way harder just to name a few, and those mostly fairly innocent and pleasant lorewise in comparison to the Silent Expanse with exceptions of course.

And yes, world bosses should also be a thing. Right now Rare mobs are kinda the dumbest thing ever. Many are incredibly hard to find and they typically die uneventfully in one hit at level, their only purpose being to drop certain rare ingredients which doesn't affect much of the playerbase. I'd like to see a lot of the current rare mobs get converted into world bosses of some kind.

And yeah in addition to this most endgame content and much of the mid and early game content needs to be buffed, 2.0 buffed players a lot and has left mobs mostly untouched, especially normal non-boss mobs.

 

Thanks for the response. I agree with you completely. Maybe when 1.12 support is dropped and mob models are updated, mobs will also get an hp or spell update to make them more dangerous. I wonder if all the mob changes will come in one update?

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Also agree with the mob health thing. Take the Atomic Gunk. It’s a rare mob with like 100k hp. And yet I can kill it easily in less than a second. If mobs get an update, I’m really hoping the older ones become more dangerous

 

I agree with a lot of the ideas present here, but I think a lot of the suggestions regarding mob swarms or stronger mobs—or even paths being destroyed—should be utilized for AJB/AJF. It’s supposed to be like you’re building a path through SE, and it could be that way if the idea of breaking and fighting through a ton of obstacles and mobs is utilized in these quests. After them, the expanse benefits gameplay wise to have a set path.

the expanse could definitely do with some world events and more unique world terrain, though. Having entities and unique interactions built into the world would work wonderfully in creating an alien landscape.

 

Mobs should be buffed but not crazy. Currently they're not actually scaled around level 100 mob stats (like blinder as a pretty obvious example) but I wouldnt go as far as to make SE a crazy super dangerous area when The Realm of Darkness is planned to be added

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Also gameplay wise it shouldn't be as difficult to survive in as the higher level Fruma

 

I mean, AJB and AJF go to great lengths to show you how dangerous of a place the SE is, what with everyone else dying.
The Ruined Olmic City actually does a decent job with this - namely, through use of the Omnispective Wanderers. These unkillable-

Wait, what’s that? Even those can be killed within seconds through Mythics?

Regardless, the IDEA of the Omnispective Wanderers is a good one for the SE. They’re aggressive, high-damage, tanky mobs that it is best to avoid when possible. The SE shouldn’t be somewhere you can just walk around without pretty much any fear of dying - the scariest mobs in that place are the CGG key guardians, which don’t even make much sense there. I’m not saying make all mobs Omnispective Wanderers, but it would definitely help to make the mobs significantly scarier, given the two-quest introduction to the SE’s horrors.

 

It would also be cool if there were mobs that do more than just attack you and then die. Like that Obsessor that attacked Lucio in AJB. It canceled your spells and then attacked you.

I feel like anything that just charges at you and does nothing but use a melee attack is always bound to be killed by the player. Elphaba said it herself, the Expanse takes strength of mind along with physical power. Right now, all you need to do is kill the enemy before it does anything.

Just yesterday, I did the Nexus of Light raid as an Acrobat. In TNA, I almost never die because I can fly. It makes everything super easy. But in NoL, I died at the beginning of the fight because the crystal thing trapped me and I got swarmed by mobs. It proves that you are way more likely to struggle against something that does more than just attack you. If mobs had other abilities that hinder your combat ability, it would probably make stuff a lot more deadly. Here are some ideas I had:

An AoE attack that immobilizes you or stops you from casting spells

A ranged attack that does no damage but gives you extreme weakness and blindness

Mobs that come in pairs that work together (one weakens you, the other attacks, etc)

Mobs that have push/pull spells that are consistent and do damage

Mobs that spawn or call more of the same type when killed

Mobs that have a ton, like a TON, of health, and summon minions



Also, Blinders should blind you for a few seconds. Like, come on.

 

I'm fine with this as long as there's telegraphing, it feels really bad when an enemy can stop you from playing the game without you being able to stop it

 

Twain Graveyard is not a part of the Silent Expanse

stuff like this is fine in big boss fights, but in the overworld it'd just get annoying quickly

 

Yeah, I was just referencing it for the scary factor.

I can see this getting annoying if it’s overused. But like you said, it could be cool in a boss fight!

 

Right now most of the open world areas are just places you go through and see when engaging in transportation, they don't really have any entertainment value. This post seems mostly to be asking that they do offer entertainment value through fun combat, just like almost every RPG does and should do. The fact that boss fights are pretty much everything that is fun combat-wise in Wynncraft is not a good thing.

I may be reading your comment wrong, that's just the impression I got. I don't totally like all of the specific suggestions you were responding to either, but I like the idea behind them.

 

less super common weak mobs, and more rare strong mobs.

So does that mean Gilded Eyefolk?