Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-31200097-20170602234523/@comment-25101089-20170703215639

Catfishperson wrote: Alright. According to Ithilion’s estimates, the High Elves had an army of about 1,350. Using the map, I’m estimating that Lindon and Rivendell cover an area of (50,000x18,000) 9,000,000,000 blocks. Pretty simple math here, in a purely lore world, High Elven Warriors should on average spawn once every (9,000,000,000/1,350) 6,670,000 blocks, this is not even taking into account invasions and hired units. Ithilion estimates that there were approximately 560 Rangers of the North (Or battle ready Dunedain of the North.) The area that Rangers can spawn covers roughly (6,000,000x20,000) 120,000,000,000 blocks. In a purely lore-based world, rangers on average would spawn once every (120,000,000,000/560) 214,000,000 blocks in the places they currently spawn, again not even taking into account invasion and hiring. If rangers and High Elves should be buffed because “lore trumps gameplay,” than I would expect their spawning to be made more lore-friendly as well. Thank you. Great post! This really highlights the fallacy of arguing spawning mechanics based on 'lore accuracy'.

It's not about what's lore-friendly, or what the populations of various factions are, or the amount of civilians that could live off a certain area of land. This is a game; it's not a Middle-earth simulator.

I'm not saying that spawn rates aren't up for debate. Of course we're open to suggestions regarding reduced spawn rates, or increased spawn rates, or whatever. I tweak the spawn rates of various things all the time, even if it's not mentioned in the changelog. And player feedback is a very valuable resource.

But if you think spawn rates should be changed, then please, argue based on your in-game experiences. Are there so many Orcs spawning in an area that it's a constant challenge to survive, when it should be a reasonably peaceful area? Are there so few Elves spawning that it's enormously more tedious as an evil player to gain alignment? Does a certain NPC type spawn so rarely that its existence in the mod goes almost unnoticed by everyone? Does a particular faction spawn so rarely that the quest rewards for slaying them are not worth the effort? Those are some fine examples on which an argument might be formed for changing spawnrates, which we would listen to and consider carefully.

Paying too much heed to what's 'realistic' in terms of spawning opens up all sorts of pitfalls - item balance, money balance, appeal of factions, and I could go on and on. By all means, debate and discuss the lore, and talk about what's realistic, but if your intention is to propose changes for the mod, please consider the gameplay experience first and foremost.