Chapter 395

As a Tier 5 Rank 8 dungeon, James had a decent chunk of mob points at his disposal for his fifth floor. Sure, it never, ever felt like enough, but compared to his other floors, it was a massive boost. Case in point, he currently had 3500 mob points for his max on his fifth floor, compared to his fourth floor’s max at 2,000. Sure, the mobs cost more, but still, it was a nice boon. At the end, he knew he would have a total of 3700 mob points for use on his fifth floor, when he reached Tier 6, and he was drooling about that fact.

That being said, points went quick when his mobs cost 21 to 25 points per mob. He’d already added in more Painguins, given the size of the fifth floor gave them the ability to spread out and snipe, but now, he wanted something a little different. More and more players were making their way through his fourth floor and stumbling into the arctic expanse that was the fifth floor. He didn’t want them all merely greeted by a sniper shot from an unseen foe. Now, it was time for his fifth floor to finally get the action and attention it deserved. Now, it was time for an overhaul of his mobs.

It was time to rethink his mobs for the floor, and even more importantly, to upgrade them with some spicy new fun. After all, he was quickly approaching Tier 6, and his players needed to make sure they were in peek form. Best way to push them, was obviously, to keep them challenged.

Looking at the list then of his mobs, he decided a few key things. First, he really wanted more Cyrus and Solar Bear action. Second, his players totally needed to take on some Darth-Whals, and third, Pall sheep were broken. Pepper in Painguins, and the floor could truly shine.

With the focus mostly on the cybernetic walrus’s and the Solar Bears, the latter of which he really thought the players would enjoy given the Vinnie’s a-bear-ant popularity, he decided to populate those mobs first. Forty of each, for a total of 80 mobs, would put him back 1,840 mob points, leaving him a total of 1660 points for the others.

Adding in 20 of his Darth-Whals, which cost 25 points each, cost him an additional 500 points, which brought him down to 1160 mob points remaining. From there, he decided to focus most of the points on wandering Painguin snipers, in order to limit his Pall Sheep on the floor. He wasn’t removing those harbinger sheep entirely, but still, they were just too…catastrophic for now. They were something to unleash on people during dungeon wars, not when his players were leveling.

As such, he summoned forty painguins for a total of 840 mob points, and sent them out into the mountains and wooded, snowy areas of the floor, spreading them out in such a way players wouldn’t find themselves in the crosshairs of more than, two or three painguins tops, at a single time. That left him with 320 points remaining, for the Pall Sheep, which let him summon a total of 13, and gave him 21 mob points remaining…which meant his painguin count increased to 41. Because optimization.

With those 13 Pall Sheep, a number James found a slight bit of irony in, he decided to assign them to certain groups of mobs. He created packs for them, assigning a few of them to hang out near some of the painguin sniper areas, and others to mill about with his roaming mob packs, which included one to two Cyrus, one to two Solar Bears, and a Darth-Whal.

Those mobs that didn’t form into these packs, meaning a majority mobs James wanted his players to actual face, were given free roam of the floor. It was completely up to their basic AI, to decide where they went, meaning players would have a much more difficult time trying to figure out spawn zones, and camp certain mobs for experience. A, er, problem he’d noticed on his fourth floor. The moment players realized how many pirates kept spawning at the skull fort, they’d begun camping it and just bombarding it for easy experience and loot. Which was still on James’s to do list to fix.

Redistribution of mobs taken care of James moved on to the next focus of his fifth floor. He had upgrade points to spend, and mobs that needed to be empowered. Already, he’d been eying a few different upgrade trees for each set of mobs, and finally, he knew, it was time to make his dreams a reality.

The first mob he pulled up to upgrade was his Darth-Whals. Technically, James had 8 upgrade points to use on each of his fifth-floor mobs. Seven thanks to the normal upgrade tree shenanigans, and then an eighth courtesy of his Highlander title. While the research trick was a one-time thing, apparently the extra upgrade point it offered to him carried over to all of his floors. James didn’t feel like that was unfair though, considering the fact his mobs were limited to only being upgraded, save for special circumstances, 11 times. Whereas mobs like those dragons from the Skirmish he’d just faced, could have had a total of 40 or more skill upgrades, if they were first floor mobs.

James kept telling himself that as he pulled up his mob, looking over its stats as his mind raced. Sure, having lots of skill points to upgrade a mob with would be great. But as he thought about his five, very different floors, he still had to admit, being a Random Dungeon had turned out a lot better than expected. And, the different mob types, really forced him to be creative. Already, as he neared Tier 6, his mind was racing with possibilities. He was really, really, curious to see what that floor would bring.

That was for a later time though, and he knew that. Especially because, from what Steve had hinted to him, there were still some spiffy interactions his players could experience on his fifth floor. Something about a Horde type experience, where players would have to fight off waves and waves of his fifth-floor mobs, while defending the safe zone town. Something he was going to look into a bit more, once he finished his mob upgrades.

He grinned and got to work. So much to do, never enough time.