Immersion Idea: Creaky doors and aggro

The changes to door sounds sparked an idea. One of the more surreal effects of the aggro system is that mobs generally don't notice even large changes and sound cues in their environment--like a big door suddenly sliding open, or a loud creaking noise. Obviously, the mobs aren't actually "aware" of doors and such, so the question is how to simulate that awareness.

My suggestion is the addition of a pseudo-pet entity (invisible, intangible, etc) based on the Teleport Foe entity. This critter would be stationed at doors the mission designer designates as particularly obvious or noisy. When a non-stealthed PC opens the door, the critter should aggro, and fire off a PBAoE taunt of sufficient radius to tag the nearest regular spawn. Once the spawn is taunted, the entity should wait a couple of seconds for the mobs to get within detection range of the PC, then despawn. At that point, the mobs should aggro on the PC instead. (If the PC goes stealthy after opening the door, the mobs should just lose interest and wander back to their spawn point--a "false alarm".)

Alternatively, the door critter could be used as an ambush trigger. This version would only need a silent self-kill power, with an ambush triggered upon its death. The ambush should be location-targeted, rather than targeted on the PC, since the mobs would be checking the site.

I think this is a relatively simple way to make mobs seem less oblivious to their surroundings, without unduly interfering with stealthy characters. It's not something that should be overused (not all doors should get a door-critter, by any means), but used sparingly, it would make missions more interesting and immersive.

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The Way of the Corruptor (Arc ID 49834): Hey villains! Do something for yourself for a change--like twisting the elements to your will. All that's standing in your way are a few secret societies...and Champions of the four elements.

Nice idea. Masterminds would start carrying a can of WD-40, but as you say, used sparingly it would be kind of cool. I'd like to see the live security cameras in some maps used similarly.

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Arc 55669 - Tales of the PPD: One Hell of a Deal (video trailer)
Arc 64511 - The Wrecking Ball
Arc 1745 - The Trouble With Trimbles
Arc 302901 - HappyCorpse

[ QUOTE ]
Masterminds would start carrying a can of WD-40

[/ QUOTE ]Only if it affected mission entrances. Once I've got my pets out, I rarely notice anything below triple-stacked ambushes or an EB. (And some EBs I don't even notice... )

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http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt

Hm...
Temp Power: Can of WD-40.
Effect: PBAoE Damage vs. Door Critters, Target Visibility=None. (I wonder if that even works with PBAoE powers?)

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The Way of the Corruptor (Arc ID 49834): Hey villains! Do something for yourself for a change--like twisting the elements to your will. All that's standing in your way are a few secret societies...and Champions of the four elements.