Hi there,

Read the 30 page thread on the upcoming interview. Apologies for posting this so late. Found this excerpt from back in 2005 pre ToAU release. It's 1ups interview with Hiromichi Tanaka on the topic of HNM and their views (at the time) on it:

Basically we realise their concerns at the time revolved around MPK.
We also can deduce that SE intends to keep some HNMs as free spawns due to the "MMO element".

But following up on that, special mention in the last paragraph, is that the MPK problem seems to have been fixed. However, due to high demand/traffic/ Aery/Vos/BD are still packed.

Key phrase:

"let's work on something that helps the problem (overcrowding/botting w/e) across the board"

Suggestions? Or maybe a follow up take on the situation which they have commented on sometime ago in view of developments from then till now.

Not saying this would help, but still might be worth a dime seeing what their views are now.

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QUOTE:

1UP: You've recently begun to investigate ways to reduce the frequency of MPKs, which usually happen in the spots of valuable item drops from specific NMs, or at HNM locations where multiple high level Linkshells could be competing for the same God. Have you ever thought of instancing some of these enclosed battles (like Kirin or something), like in a BC?

HT: It just so happens that for the Notorious Monsters you've mentioned here, we would like to keep these monsters spawning in the field (as opposed to relegating them to an instanced battle) with the possibilty of them being taken by other parties that the first alliance has somehow lost the attack-lock. Maintaining that system as it is now in the field, we balanced it out from the very beginning to have battle circles, or battlefields where you'd use beastmen seals to enter and only your party to attack and get whatever drops. From the beginning we hoped the balance between the NMs and number of NMs and the beasts available in BCNMs would be a balance. MPK is a problem and the reason we can't instantly tweak something for what might seem like an easy fix for MPK, is that it has more to do with some things that need to be adjusted outside of what the dev team has control over. This is also a customer service issue that takes a longer time to coordinate and work out. We would consider even a more systemic or fundamental system-wide change if we knew this would help decrease the MPK problem; this is something the dev team itself could work on. If NM pops become all instanced in the field, I think you'd lose one of those feelings of playing an MMO, and that is why there are constantly people around you and that's unfortunate, so please keep your auto-lock on.

1UP: The reason people fight these sort of monsters is to get the abjurations they need to get their high level armor, like a Paladin would need for his Koenig armor for example. Would you ever also consider adding these items to Kindred Seal battles or something like that?

HT: If the MPK problem can be solved across the board, as you're saying, the situation might get better. So rather than focus on just helping out what high level jobs need to get their top stuff, let's work on something that helps the problem across the board. And if that solution includes shifting where items drop, then so be it; it's something worth considering.