Timberwolf mechanic great, please also fix it.

[dahemac]

I quite like the timberwolf mechanic. I can see that it would be frustrating on difficult modes, but the way I play it adds variety and makes me have to be more careful. However there are elements of the mechanic that are broken.

This was most evident for me when I first arrived at the Cannery in Bleak Inlet. I had already been harassed by two groups of timberwolves on the way there and the cannery group gave me a very bloody welcome. But I drove them off. Then I started the platforming to get to the workshop and the wolves agroed again. Except that they could not get me. I made it out to the workshop front door and started my wait for the aurora. I was there for more than a day, possibly two plus days, through at least two blizzards. And all the while, the timberwolves were going nuts, running around in circles barking and growling. Hour after hour in killing weather, without food or rest. I was just barely clinging to life from exposure and they were going strong endlessly. This is pretty immersion breaking. Basically irritating. I finally attacked two of them just to make them shut up.

Timberwolf attacks should time out. There is no way they could keep that up for long periods of time. If you get where they cannot get you, they should give up after 45 minutes or an hour. Even that would be a long time.

The wolves should also not run around like supercharged lunatics. I think this must be intended to waste player’s resources. But again, it is immersion breaking. It is the quiet realism, the absence of improbable mad tireless zombies that makes TLD great. So the timberwolves should not be mad tireless zombies.

Edited January 20, 2020 by dahemac

[Ahatch]

Have to agree , at least make them maybe go off a short distance and patrol perhaps and get reset if you move within range again. 

[dahemac]

15 minutes ago, Ahatch said:

Have to agree , at least make them maybe go off a short distance and patrol perhaps and get reset if you move within range again. 

They could just reset with a cool-down. Then take another go at you if you provoked them again.

[ManicManiac]

@dahemac

I disagree, I don't think there is anything to fix.

The fact that they are tenacious and will stay on your trail until dealt with is one of the things I really like about them.  It requires us to both be more careful and a need to come prepared.  I say leave it as it is.

Their tenacity is what makes them such a wonderful and genuine threat...

Edited January 22, 2020 by ManicManiac

[Kayosiv]

They can be tenacious and not leave you alone WITHOUT barking and growling endlessly while doing it.

Having them stalk you over long periods of time is OK, but they shouldn't bark for 2 days straight.

[ManicManiac]

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 3:28 AM, Kayosiv said:

but they shouldn't bark for 2 days straight.

 You know… that's a fair point.  

[Jimmy]

2 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

 You know… that's a fair point.  

Spoken like someone who's never owned a yappy dog. 🐕‼️🔊📣

[ManicManiac]

16 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Spoken like someone who's never owned a yappy dog. 🐕‼️🔊📣

oh but that's the thing... I have had a yappy dog and I very much thought it shouldn't do that.  

Edited January 31, 2020 by ManicManiac

[tinyfenix]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:04 PM, ManicManiac said:

@dahemac

I disagree, I don't think there is anything to fix.

The fact that they are tenacious and will stay on your trail until dealt with is one of the things I really like about them.  It requires us to both be more careful and a need to come prepared.  I say leave it as it is.

Their tenacity is what makes them such a wonderful and genuine threat...

Gonna have to argue with this.

It doesn’t matter how tenacious or angry an animal is, they know to take shelter during a blizzard. 

 

I agree with OP that it does seem really ridiculous that a pack of wolves would continue running in circles and screaming for three straight days during an absolute white out blizzard, trying to get to a person they haven’t even been able to see in three straight days...

 

while the survivor is camped out with food and water and a fire, the wolves are only wasting energy and freezing to death while getting zero sustenance.

 

they still need to survive too. They would be forced to find other means of food after a certain period of time. And, like I said, they should also need to sleep and find shelter too. 

 

I know they’re not supposed to behave exactly like normal wolves but should they be immortal? 

[ManicManiac]

@tinyfenix

It's not about matching reality (you're correct in that)… I think it is however, about the experience.  You may argue it if you like, and that will have to just come down to a difference of opinion.  

I happen to appreciate the Timberwolf pack behavior... others would like them to break off after awhile so they can just hide and not have to deal with them.  I get that, I really do.

I can see both sides of it... however I'm of the opinion that:

On ‎1‎/‎22‎/‎2020 at 4:34 AM, ManicManiac said:

The fact that they are tenacious and will stay on your trail until dealt with is one of the things I really like about them.  It requires us to both be more careful and a need to come prepared.  I say leave it as it is.

Their tenacity is what makes them such a wonderful and genuine threat...

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by ManicManiac

[dahemac]

1 hour ago, ManicManiac said:

@tinyfenixothers would like them to break off after awhile so they can just hide and not have to deal with them.

I certainly do ‘deal’ with the timberwolves. The pelts are piling up and the only one who survived me finally attacking them, to shut them up, at the Cannery is still terrified every time she sees me much later. It is derisive to suggest that people who you disagree with are ‘hiding’ in game. It is possible to like the timberwolf mechanic and rather than seeing it as some a scary threat to hide from, appreciate that it can become a nuisance when it gets stuck in a mechanical loop for days. The timberwolves would be much more engaging if thwarted they broke off and came back at you again when you were vulnerable. If they will never stop running around under the pier until you kill two of them, that is just a turkey shoot.

[tinyfenix]

@ManicManiac

I’m with you on not just having a simple timer so that people can easily just wait them out for a few minutes and call it a day. 

But i do think there should be a mechanic involved during torrential blizzards where no animals are out there at all. 

This could kill a desperate player that needs to hunt to find food adding an extra element of danger to bad weather. 

And/or they could even make it so that right after a bad blizzard that wolves are out in droves due to being hungry after not being able to hunt during it. 

I just think that if you’re in a location that’s completely inaccessible to the wolves, they would be smart enough to give it up after a time especially during bad weather. 

[jhickie]

big dogs > little yappy dogs 🐕😁

[ManicManiac]

15 hours ago, dahemac said:

I certainly do ‘deal’ with the timberwolves.

I wasn't meaning to imply anything towards you personally (which is why I used general terms).  I was just discussing the idea from the far edge of the spectrum that seemed to arise as a reaction to the timber wolves in general... as in the cross section of the player population who found the addition really jarring and didn't like it as a result.

5 hours ago, tinyfenix said:

I just think that if you’re in a location that’s completely inaccessible to the wolves, they would be smart enough to give it up after a time especially during bad weather.

And I think that's a fair point... and if the Hinterland team wants to incorporate something like that, then fine.  Though I'm good with it being the way it is now as well.  Mainly because it puts a focus on either being more careful to not be detected in the first place or being suitably prepared to take them on, as opposed to hiding out until they go away.
 

I just find these kind of "curve balls" to be really interesting challenges, and I like having to learn to overcome/adapt to them.  

Edited February 4, 2020 by ManicManiac

[acada]

On 2/4/2020 at 3:10 PM, tinyfenix said:

I just think that if you’re in a location that’s completely inaccessible to the wolves, they would be smart enough to give it up after a time especially during bad weather. 

I have read somewhere that pack of wolf when find some inaccessible bigger prey, they left one or to to guard it while rest is hunting around. And they take turns so guards can hunt and feed themselves. But I cannot verify the information.

[odizzido]

I haven't seen the timberwolves yet but this thread made me laugh. I can just see a pack of wolves running around screaming non-stop in a 72 hr long blizzard. @tinyfenix man your post was funny.

Anyways the devs have plenty of time to see how things are working and what might work better, if they wish. I think it's great that they're introducing new stuff to see how it goes as they're making the game. Finding the right mix can take time, and they can modify or add or remove things to get a better final result as they see how things work and feel in the game. They also have all these people playing around with the new content and seeing how things are going too.

Anyways I fully support trying out new ideas and seeing what fits/works and what doesn't. Adding them into the new region only means it's a choice to interact with it and I think it's perfect.

[Oywin]

I agree fully with OP as I had the exact same experience at the Cannery, and I've had it in other areas too with normal wolves where I manage to stay above it on top of a pier for example. A thing I've noticed is that they alternate between running in circles and running in place, directly below your position if possible in a kind of moon-running Michael Jackson style, which is even sillier, depending on whether or not you aim with your firearm. This is probably because their AI is programmed to move to the player's XY position and once they've done that.. that's it. If they can't pounce the player by then they'll just keep doing the chase animation indefinitely. So yeah, pretty immersion breaking and annoying to listen to.

[Bean]

I enjoy the timber wolves because they’re a challenge to kill.  The best way is to see them before they see you, without carrying bait, then sneak closer and cap them at a distance.  You can take out an entire pack this way even with a rifle because they often don’t run at the shot.  
 

the cannery wolves seem endless but actually they are only about 12-14.  The key is to get past them and then lose aggro.  You can camp out to do this sometimes.  When you come back in to start killing them, I prefer to stand on the planks while crouched and shoot them down.  
 

Once I got mobbed at the bottom of the rope down from the lookout.  Four wolves and one attacked me right off.  I fought it off and ran to a fallen tree nearby and managed to get halfway up it.  From there the wolves couldn’t reach me and i could snipe them while they circled.  Hitting with arrows requires leading them a bit, but puts them down nicely.  
 

I estimate about 26 timberwolves in the zone.  

[odizzido]

I finally had a chance to play with the nice doggies at the cannery, holy crap there are a lot. They play differently than the rest of the wolves which I like, but there are just so many of them. Pack after pack runs up to me and donates their meat. Some of them are running off with my arrows though, so not all of them are fully invested in their donations.

[peteloud]

4 hours ago, Bean said:

Once I got mobbed at the bottom of the rope down from the lookout.  Four wolves and one attacked me right off.  I fought it off and ran to a fallen tree nearby and managed to get halfway up it.  From there the wolves couldn’t reach me and i could snipe them while they circled.  . . . .

A few minutes ago I was at the bottom of this rope in a long Stalker game.  Before climbing the rope I went along that fallen tree. The wolves came and they walked along that tree and made a mess of me.

[dahemac]

On 3/9/2020 at 1:57 PM, odizzido said:

I finally had a chance to play with the nice doggies at the cannery, holy crap there are a lot. They play differently than the rest of the wolves which I like, but there are just so many of them. Pack after pack runs up to me and donates their meat. Some of them are running off with my arrows though, so not all of them are fully invested in their donations.

If the timberwolves that ran off with arrows in them actually bled out as the mechanic is supposed to work that would be fine and you could retrieve your arrows. However despite a patch that was supposed to fix this, wolves that flee are still disappearing and taking the arrows with them. Previously they had been glitching below the map. I do not know what is happening to them now. But I have killed twice as many timberwolves as I have found bodies.

[Cattleman]

So my question is... Once you kill a pack of T-wolves are they dead FOREVER??? As in they never respawn again? Or do they respawn again at a later time like rugular wolves?

[odizzido]

Pretty sure they respawn, from my experience.

[Vhalkyrie]

I'm ok with the Timberwolves.  I always thought they should hunt in packs.  But yeah - at some point they need to break off.  I was surprised when a pack hung around indefinitely when they couldn't get to me.

[dahemac]

On 5/30/2020 at 12:54 AM, Cattleman said:

So my question is... Once you kill a pack of T-wolves are they dead FOREVER??? As in they never respawn again? Or do they respawn again at a later time like rugular wolves?

At the cannery, I have left one wolf alive. I do not think the pack respawns until you have killed all. The one left alive is terrified of me and runs off whenever I approach her. I was away from Bleak inlet for more than two weeks at some point and the one scaredy wolf was still at the cannery when i returned.