Mob Leash - a term used to describe the range to which a mob will chase the player character before snapping back and returning to its game world placement, route or habits.  In many MMO's, the mob will rapidly or instantly regenerate health once it has run out of leash & returns to it's placement.. and/or may gain a substantial evade boost while returning.

I've witnessed standard leash ranges in some mmo's, where every mob chases a player to the exact same distance before breaking off the pursuit... to varied leash ranges depending on the mob type... to where crossing a zone line, exiting the game, dying or killing the mob is the only way to break aggro.

It'd be nice to see some variety programmed into this game mechanic.  Something like every creature has a specific leash range and when the creature is generated and placed in the game world, it's leash range is randomly selected between it's assigned minimum and maximum (ie 30m - 50m).  Or making the mob's pursuit distance relative to it's stamina pool... and also depleting it's stamina pool if the mob sprints.

Various run speeds should be applied to the mob as well, akin to their build.  Some mobs should be built for speed but not for stamina... they'll quickly close the gap between the PC and themselves, but perhaps break off a pursuit before too long if the player continues to run.  While others should be faster than the PC, but are only interested in chasing the player out of it's territory.

There should also be more thought put into the more intelligent species.  I imagine the majority of human npcs will engage in ranged combat (save the melee types).  It would be refreshing to see these npcs fire back from cover, instead of automatically chasing the player until he's in range.  Perhaps have some that won't move (no leash) from their defensive position, but may move to cover in order to break the line of sight if the player is out of range.... returning to it's assigned position once full healed/regenerated.  Yet other intelligent mobs could call for assistance as their first reaction to an attack... set off an alarm or retreat further into it's own territory.  Maybe even run like hell and hide heh.

A players faction standing could also come into effect when fighting certain npcs.  Perhaps the player is so hated by the organization that he's considered a target of opportunity and is pursued further than other players that haven't built up that amount of hate.  The occasional npc hunting party would be interesting... npcs that are sent out to kill the player once that player is noticed in their territory.  Although, there shouldn't be any faction hits related to the npc hunting party for group purposes.

I suppose I think variety in these areas would make the PvE content seem more dynamic and alive.  Witnessing human npcs react and act exactly the same as a wild animal in most mmo's can kill immersion.  I know there's restrictions to AI in games, but there definitely has to be plenty of room for improvement.

Heh, Train To Zone! brings back a lot of old EQ memories.  I was a fan of it... I also was a victim of it =)  I especially liked the slower movement speed when you were low on hitpoints, being clobbered by mobs and you were approaching the zone line... wondering if your health was going to hold up long enough to take those last few steps.

I couldn't agree more with the way a lot of MMO's have handled the run speed in the past... terrible design indeed.

AI scripts like that would be pretty sweet. My favorite thing about GTA is actually how dynamic the authorities presence is. Who knows, maybe ER will have something like that. I would like to see it at least up to par with AI found in RPGs and shooters, which seems like a mighty task.

Is this the thread that you had in mind?:

http://forums.play-earthrise.com/index.php?topic=1696.0

Hmm I should of put Mob instead of AI. I am useless with the search... Ohh well... But yes that is it. That give a good explanation of what to expect. So yeah... the topic has pretty much just been killed with bit of information.

And Burek thanks for saying that.. I will talk/e-mail to zigzag and ask whats up with the transcripts. Hopefully he can get it back up. Those were some really good transcripts and some really good questions were asked.

I'd take it one step further:

If I ever saw a game where a mob kites a player character, I'd laugh my arse off and play that game for the rest of my natural born life.

a random behavior in mobs would be excellent IMO. This would really force players to pay attention and it would offer a more realistic playing environment.

That would be a great idea for a boss-type or rare mob.  But if there was a bunch of mobs that need to be farmed for resources like that, Im pretty sure I'de go crazy after a few minutes.