Why The Animal/Mutant Animal Dynamic is a Good Idea that should be Expanded Upon, Rather Than Replac

[StormTheGates]

[U][B]Expanding Upon the Animal/Mutant Theme Rather Than Adding a New Monster Type[/B][/U]

One option that I believe should be strongly considered is expanding on the current animal and mutant animal dynamic, rather than trying to force in a new group and theme.

I say this because the mutant idea has been explored in other games, but very rarely has it focused on the animals of a realistic world. It is a fun and fresh idea, that I enjoy thoroughly, and it also has a ton of room to grow.

The rest of this post list new areas that the animal/mutant animal could be expanded to.

[B]More Realistic Animal Behavior[/B]

Without changing any animals or adding new ones, the behaviors could be improved upon to provide a more dynamic, engaging experience. The term my friend used was "I want less Word of Warcraft mobs and more Farcry 3". Additional animations, such as animals eating, cleaning themselves, socializing, attacking smaller animals, etc. would help.

To give examples, randomized behaviors could also go a long way in this respect.

[U]Examples:[/U]

Some animals have a chance to fight OR run.

Some animals will run until backed into a corner, at which point they fight. This would be good for a semi-passive animal, like Elk, Foxes, or Wild Boars. Ranged weapons would be more effective on such animals.

Some animals will threaten you at a certain range, by growling and baring teeth, but will attack you at a closer range. This would be a sort of soft-aggro/hard-aggro setup.

Some animals fight until seriously wounded, and then try to run.

[B]Mutant Passive Animals[/B]

Why are Elk, Rabbits, Chickens, and Pigs immune to the radiation?

You thought they were easy prey, but you thought wrong! Mutated Elk would stomp you down. Mutated pigs would bumrush you. Mutated chickens would peck at your feet, making them dangerous in larges numbers.

Mutated passives do not necessarily need the same loot table as mutated aggressives or their passive counterparts. This gives opportunity to better divide loot tables.

More Animals and Mutant/Giant Varieties

There is a huge portion of the animal kingdom the game has yet to explore.

Just in the climate of Rust_Island, we could have passive and mutated Birds. The passive birds would fly away when approached, but would be vulnerable to ranged weapons when sitting still. Mutated birds could attack you, possibly in swarms. There could also be a Giant Mutant Bird variant, which is much riskier to fight but has a much greater reward.

[U]Here are some examples that occurred to me:[/U]

Birds/Bats and Giant/Mutant Variants

Sea Creatures like Shark or Octopus

Other Forest Animals like Foxes, Beavers, Mountain Lions, and their variants.

Giant, Radioactive Gecko that regrows any body part except it's head

Once the map expands, we could have Urban Animals as well:

Passive animals like dogs and housecats. (A Big Plus if they were tameable)

Passive, escaped zoo animals like Giraffes, Zebras, etc.

Aggressive escaped zoo animals like Apes, Lions, Hyenas, you name it.

Mutant and Giant variations on all of these.

[B]Pets and Animal Taming[/B]

Sticking with the animals and mutant animals theme also provides the opportunity for a wonderful pet mechanic.

Passive animals like chickens and pigs could be tamed or domesticated over time, making them into farm animals. They could breed and lay eggs, and you could butcher them for the cloth and food. This should be difficult, though, and force the player to have a certain tech level before being able to do so, and even greater tech levels to accommodate greater numbers of animals. They might also need to be fed.

Passive pets, like dogs or chickens.

Aggressive, harder to tame pets, like wolves.

[B]Addressing Loot[/B]

I do not believe that all mobs need to drop loot other than the meat and byproducts that make sense for them. However, there are ways to reward players for taking down bigger and bigger challenges. For example, a player might need to craft a tool made with parts from a certain type of aggressive animal. He might then take this tool and use it on the corpse of a second, more aggressive animal, to make a much needed part of a very complicated recipe.

Also, the red bears and wolves dropping backpacks tone is a little silly, granted, because it seems unrealistic. However, it could be made realistic. If instead of every mutant animal dropping loot, they could have a chance to spawn with a backpack. We can reason that these animals may have been helper animals or part of some sort of experiment, which allows us to maintain suspense of disbelief. It also pushes the difficult curve in the upward direction, without creating a greater time-sink. Grinding monsters WoW style is boring. Picking out the ones with backpacks and dealing with their friends is dynamic and exciting.

[B][U]Why I Disagree With Some of the Other Suggestions[/U][/B]

Rather than simply voice my own opinion, I wanted to address some of the other popular ideas, and why I do not think they would be the best fit.

I understand that these are well-intended ideas that a lot of people are passionate about, and I respect everyone's opinion. This is just my opinion, too.

[B]Dinosaurs[/B]

1. Poor Fit for the Established Universe

Though it is sometimes downplayed, there is a very unique and established tone to the Rust universe. We have abandoned, industrial areas that leak radiation. There are abandoned offices and hangers and farms. It is very clear that this is a current or near-future version of Earth.

The Rust universe is very obviously not prehistoric, nor is it apparently based in the very distant future. There is no reason why Dinosaurs would just be walking around, and it breaks my suspension of disbelief to imply that they were cloned or somehow brought back to life.

2. Rust is based on immersion and near-realism

Rust is beautiful. Rust is brutal. Rust gives you an emotional experience that is almost on par to being lost and afraid in a world that is no longer under your control.

I believe much of this emotional experience is built around the realism and immersion that Rust does so well. This is a world almost like yours, but not quite. It is abandoned, aged, and tainted. It engages you with an idea that you are very familiar with, and then twists it just enough to leave you feeling startled and exhilarated. Throwing Dinosaurs into the mix is just too foreign an idea to carry the same emotional weight.

[B]Tribesman/Military[/B]

1. Takes the spotlight off of the player

You are the men and women of Rust. You live, you toil, you struggle, and you die. But, most importantly, you do it together.

You may be a vicious bandit or hired gun. You may be a savvy trader who opens a shop. You may be the local hermit, sought after for your sage wisdom or advice. Whatever path you choose, your actions can impact your world and all of the other players in it. When you add in artificial humans, even mindless "monsters", you take away some of that gravity from the player on player interactions.

In Rust, you can find yourself very alone. When you finally come across another player, it can be exciting or terrifying. A world full of human NPCs feels populated. NPC merchants and traders would be even worse, because they reduce the need for player interaction, and provide a safe, easy way to obtain goods. Rust is not about safe and easy.

My biggest complaint is that human NPC enemies cheapen the experience. A player against player encounter is exciting because there are real stakes for both parties. One of us stands to lose and the other stands to gain. Aggressive human NPCs are the worst of both worlds because they are an empty, one-sided environmental hazard, and they take away from the novelty of a PvP encounter because you've already seen it before, just with less excitement and fewer stakes.
[B]
Fantasy/Mythical Creatures[/B]

1. Does not fit the established tone of the universe

2. It is cliché.

3. Could be better done in a mod

I want it, and I think it would be awesome, but it's n

[FD | Mordecai]

You get a win from me, its a great idea imho and I honestly believe the whole dino idea would ruin the game, I bought rust for a pvp mmo with a radiation twist, I didn't buy it to have it shot out of the air by dino games like the stomping lands, as it would if dinos were added.