Quote Originally Posted by Kafeen View Post
Then why give the mobs levels at all if they aren't representative of the difficulty of the mob?

If the dormouse is easier to kill and gives less exp, shouldn't it just be a lower level mob than the Buccaneer and Poacher?
no, a dragon who is experienced as you, shouldnt be the same as a rat who is experienced as you. some things are just tougher because of who they are. If you make every monster the same exp, then why fight anything that has high hp? why fight anything that has strong special attacks? This is especially important with level difference systems, because if the rat was lower level it would be weaker and take more damage just from that alone.

This allows you to design interesting monsters and also have multiple playstyles. Rats might be better for soloists, because they have less hp, whereas a dragon is made more for a larger grooup to fight. also you can make enemies that die fast, or enemies that take long without making one intrinisicly better than the other.
Perfect example is you can make as much sp at certain levels chaining puks as you can from killing crabs, because although puks die faster, crabs give more sp. This allows people in the same level range to have different target monsters based on thier own party makeup/number of people.

now the problem becomes, accurately balancing the risk/reward/speed when deciding each species base sp levels.

truthfully more rpgs have worked on the concept of differnt species giving different sp/exp/gil rather than just a straight level difference.

another good thing about it, is you dont end up hunting rats forever, as they introduce better monsters, and you have better stats/gears/teamwork, you can take on harder monster types.
Your a bad ass when you choose to get SP off of dragons, more so then when you try to get sp off of a rat.

It was sad that in FFXI level 70 people would still seek out the things they killed as level 1 newbs, like crabs to exp on, because they were the same as fighting an ancient undead warrior. To me it makes a lot more sense.