Mob Aggression question

[Saito_S]

This one? IIRC the ARR areas have plenty of mobs that aren't aggressive. All the enemies attacking you all the time only became a thing from HW on I think.

Correct.
If you wandered into Amal'jaa territory or the Sylphlands or a Castrum, etc., then just about everything was aggressive, but that actually makes sense in those areas. Outside of those, in the "main/open" parts of the zones, there were SOME enemies that would aggro on sight, but it was more of a mix. It would depend on the enemy.

It does seem a bit worse in ShB, as I'm not sure I've seen a non-aggressive enemy yet. But it has been like that for a while, and I would say the trend began not just with HW, but with the level 40+ areas of ARR itself. And that's where it began to get silly. Sure, Northern Thanalan and Mor Dhona are at least justifiable to some degree - basilisks, giants, and morbols all being aggressive is understandable,

But the chinchillas in Coerthas Central? Paissas and those red dodo-looking enemies in Sea of Clouds? Steinbocks in Coerthas West?? I mean those are clearly in the antelope family. Why would a hoofed prey animal see a heavily armed humanoid passing by minding their own business and then charge over to them like IMMA FUCK DEM UP!

It really doesn't make sense,. And I agree that all it does it make it harder to enjoy the scenery of all the game's beautiful zones. They're not "dangerous" since we can just run on by with basically no consequence, they're just annoying. I would absolutely love it if the ratio of aggressive vs. passive enemies were more like 25/75. But I doubt this is going to happen. "Overworld enemies that attack you if you get near them" seems fairly heavily entrenched in the design philosophy of this dev team, either because of tradition in MMOs, or calling back to traditions of "random encounters" in your classic FF-style JRPGs. Or a combination of both.

[Jandor]

I would absolutely love it if the ratio of aggressive vs. passive enemies were more like 25/75. But I doubt this is going to happen. "Overworld enemies that attack you if you get near them" seems fairly heavily entrenched in the design philosophy of this dev team, either because of tradition in MMOs, or calling back to traditions of "random encounters" in your classic FF-style JRPGs. Or a combination of both.

Yeah, it's only a minor thing really but I would like it if not all enemies were aggressive. Be a bit more immersive.

It's not like mobs in the overworld matter, you can outrun all of them anyway, and they don't gate anything that I've seen so far, that function appears to have been replaced with actual gates now.