Part Six -- Setting Expectations around the Global Wildlife Refresh [Spoilers]

[Raphael van Lierop]

WARNING: There are spoilers in here about how certain game mechanics work! In this case, Wildlife Spawns. If you don't want to ruin the "magic" of how the game feels to you, maybe don't read it. Sometimes it's better not to know how the trick works.

Hey all,

Just wanted to share some specific information about the Global Wildlife Refresh coming in Part Six of TALES. I had mentioned in a different thread that there would be a bigger Timberwolf presence as a result of the change, which seemed to make some people nervous.

How our wildlife spawn system works is that we define areas of the world where it is valid for wildlife to spawn. These areas tend to be circular "zones", and within those zones we define what can spawn there, how many of that type of animal, and also a "refresh" timer which is usually measured in 3-4 day increments. What this refresh timer does is revisit the question of how many of the type of animal will respawn. This might mean that sometimes you see 1-2 deer in an area, another time you might see 4-6 deer in an area. It also manages things like how many of the deer are Stags vs. Does, etc.

Moose and Bears work differently from this. Since Moose are solo, they are basically placed in specific locations which they treat as their territory, but we never spawn multiple and they are not common. Bears have specific paths they follow through the world, and rest in Dens in between.

Generally speaking, wildlife entities remain in the areas they spawn in, unless they have a reason to leave them. That reason is typically: they have detected you and are interested in what you are doing. They might also want to eat you. 👀

Prey animals like Rabbits, Ptarmigan, Deer, etc. generally stay together unless they are disturbed. Predator animals like Wolves tend to wander within their territory, more independently. 

With the Global Wildlife Refresh, we have created all new spawn regions in the world, which means you will likely encounter wildlife in places you aren't accustomed to seeing them, just based on the pattern of how things have generally worked in the game until now.

For Timberwolves specifically -- since introducing them to the game, they only really existed in two places: Blackrock Region, and Bleak Inlet. In the original implementation, the Timberwolf spawns were 100%.

With the wildlife refresh, they have been added as a *potential spawn* to 4-5 other regions, and only in specific spawn areas within those regions. (I don't want to spoil the regions for you.) What this means it that when we calculate what to spawn, there is a chance (small chance), that some spawn regions that would have had a pack of wolves, will now have a pack of Timberwolves. This is just to add variety, mix things up a bit.

Generally speaking, the spawn regions refresh every 3-4 days. This means that if you arrive in a region and see Timberwolves, you can probably just leave, come back 4-5 days later, and there's a good chance they will be gone. This simulates them moving through the world. (You can also just avoid them in the areas they exist in regions, as they won't be ubiquitous.)

With the wildlife refresh, we have also changed the previous 100% Timberwolf spawns, and made them less guaranteed. So in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock, where you would previously have always encountered them, there is now a chance these are just regular wolves.

You still have all the tools you need to deal with Timberwolves if you need to, and you also have all the tools you need to avoid them if you need to. You won't be able to avoid them by 100% avoiding certain regions, but you also now have a chance to not encounter them in places you formerly avoided because you didn't want to mess with them.

Hopefully that helps set expectations and puts some minds at ease about the upcoming wildlife refresh. We don't anticipate the overall game balance or danger level changing as a result of this update. It should just redistribute things in a way that feels fresh and hopefully helps make the world feel even more dynamic for you.

- Raph

[Cr41g]

Sounds great to me !!! I am very much looking forward to the refresh.

[Nervous Pete]

That's cool. Sounds like you have a good balance there and it'll indeed give a feeling of being a little more dynamic.  

It's funny, despite now over 500 hours in game I still see wolves like real things a not lumps of code with audio files and animations attached. My heart-rate still spikes on seeing them, even on Voyageur! I just can't fight that primal reaction.

[Leeanda]

Thank you for clarifying...  Sounds like a good and fair distribution . Hopefully more people will want to visit bleak and BlackRock a bit more now.

I hope one of those 5 new areas is pleasant valley,but I'll have to wait and see I guess😊

[DevilDog74]

T-wolves used to bother me. Then I learned. Now I manage. Sounds to me like the "refresh" is just going to let them "roam" and to me just brings that much more immersion into an already magnificent game. I am very much looking forward to this next update. And to be honest, it's really all I can think about. Planning my next long game save. 

[rush247]

Sounds pretty interesting, the fact that I may or may not run into them and only in specific parts within these 4-5 regions makes it seem a lot less chaotic than I initially thought.

Edited November 14 by rush247

[Ape88]

I still think it's a shame that Timberwolves don't drop unique pelts that would make a unique wolfskin clothing option or two. It would make me more enthused about having to deal with them. I didn't get the hang of breaking their pack morale until I was playing the story mode episode that takes place in Blackrock. 

[Veskaida]

Sounds great! Thank you so much for the extra sneak-peek. Excited to try out Part 6 and explore experience these changes!

  💬"Awoooooo~..."

[Rusty]

Will existing Timberwolf pack spawn points in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock have a chance to be replaced with regular wolves? 

[mintietcatm]

4 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Generally speaking, the spawn regions refresh every 3-4 days. This means that if you arrive in a region and see Timberwolves, you can probably just leave, come back 4-5 days later, and there's a good chance they will be gone. This simulates them moving through the world. 

This is literally game changing....  Wow! I dont have any words, this exceeded my expectations by so much

[Raphael van Lierop]

1 hour ago, mintietcatm said:

This is literally game changing....  Wow! I dont have any words, this exceeded my expectations by so much

Glad to hear it -- but this is how spawn regions have always worked, FYI! (It just didn't apply to Timberwolves, the way we had them set up...)

[RossBondReturns]

2 hours ago, Rusty said:

Will existing Timberwolf pack spawn points in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock have a chance to be replaced with regular wolves? 

From Raphael's post:

With the wildlife refresh, we have also changed the previous 100% Timberwolf spawns, and made them less guaranteed. So in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock, where you would previously have always encountered them, there is now a chance these are just regular wolves.

[ManicManiac]

Honestly, I love everything about this.
I feel as though it's going to make the whole of Great Bear Island dangerous for me to explore again... and I love it.

 

[ElSuperGecko]

Love it, love it so much!  Thanks for the update and the explanation of how the wildlife system works in the background.

Are there going to be any changes in how wildlife interacts with each other?  Like how we see wolves hunting rabbits and deer, and the presence of bears scaring wolves and other animals away?

[mfuegemann]

Will The Ravine get a Wolf spawn? Even one with a slim chance would add a new edge there.

[Tthorumsu]

16 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

With the wildlife refresh, we have also changed the previous 100% Timberwolf spawns, and made them less guaranteed. So in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock, where you would previously have always encountered them, there is now a chance these are just regular wolves.

 

"So in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock, where you would previously have always encountered them, there is now a chance these are just regular wolves" This has me a little worried.

Will Timberwolves still be more common in their respective territories of "Blackrock, Bleak Inlet and Sundered Pass"?

Since all three of those regions share the same concept of being "disconnected" from the rest of the island as a result of earthquakes, I always presumed Timberwolves preferred disconnected regions.

I absolutely love the idea of them having a chance of spawning in other regions too, though it'd be disappointing if those regions will no longer be absolutely "infested" with timberwolves, especially since they are there to protect endgame crafting stations/be the climactic finale of Last Horizon.

Edited November 15 by Tthorumsu

[twyn1]

Thank you so much for this explanation, really appreciate you taking the time to clarify the mechanics. Definitely didn't spoil the magic ... as someone who knows what goes into sausage and scrapple (and still eats with gusto), it's all good.

[Raphael van Lierop]

1 hour ago, Tthorumsu said:

"So in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock, where you would previously have always encountered them, there is now a chance these are just regular wolves" This has me a little worried.

Will Timberwolves still be more common in their respective territories of "Blackrock, Bleak Inlet and Sundered Pass"?

Since all three of those regions share the same concept of being "disconnected" from the rest of the island as a result of earthquakes, I always presumed Timberwolves preferred disconnected regions.

I absolutely love the idea of them having a chance of spawning in other regions too, though it'd be disappointing if those regions will no longer be absolutely "infested" with timberwolves, especially since they are there to protect endgame crafting stations/be the climactic finale of Last Horizon.

Try to trust that we have balanced our game well.

[Tthorumsu]

1 hour ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Try to trust that we have balanced our game well.

I don't doubt this. My worry isn't about game balance, as the team never disappoints when it comes to that.

As I said, my worry is about the old Timberwolf regions no longer being completely infested with them, making those regions a lot less intense.

What makes something like Bleak Inlet fun for me is the fact that it's completely infested with Timberwolves, and depending on how often they'll be replaced by normal wolves, those regions might not stand out anymore. At least to me, personally.

The actual question I meant to ask was "will timberwolves be more common in their old regions (BI, BM, SP) when compared to the new regions they have a chance to spawn in?"

Edited November 15 by Tthorumsu

[rush247]

15 hours ago, Rusty said:

Will existing Timberwolf pack spawn points in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock have a chance to be replaced with regular wolves? 

I'm not @Raphael van Lierop so he can correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understood yes.  You will no longer have to worry about them all the time in those areas and it'll only be one part of the entire region that they might be in.

[hozz1235]

Thank you for the explanation.

[dbmurph22]

Looks great! Thanks to all for your hard work. Love the focus on variety and I think people will really dig it. A lot of these new and extra spawn locations and gradients that even go down to zero will create a really lived in world with the animals. That's what we love about TLD - many similar games have are so human-centric, but in TLD the focus is properly on us as just visitors.

Will any of the predator behavior be tweaked in any similar fashion with variety? Or even with risk? Or maybe torches could be a bit more.....finicky. Or the wind a bit more....potent (for torches, but not walking speed!) 

Thanks team! You've fashioned, and continued to fashion, an artistic and meaningful game that will have a significant legacy.

[dbmurph22]

4 hours ago, Tthorumsu said:

"So in Bleak Inlet and Blackrock, where you would previously have always encountered them, there is now a chance these are just regular wolves" This has me a little worried.

Will Timberwolves still be more common in their respective territories of "Blackrock, Bleak Inlet and Sundered Pass"?

Since all three of those regions share the same concept of being "disconnected" from the rest of the island as a result of earthquakes, I always presumed Timberwolves preferred disconnected regions.

I absolutely love the idea of them having a chance of spawning in other regions too, though it'd be disappointing if those regions will no longer be absolutely "infested" with timberwolves, especially since they are there to protect endgame crafting stations/be the climactic finale of Last Horizon.

The weather in all of those regions is aptly just awful (this is the true enemy) and in some cases regular wolves can post a greater risk than Timberwolves especially on a death calculus since they straight charge and are sneaky. And as he replied, they are the orchestrators looking at things from 30K in the sky, as a whole.

 

49 minutes ago, rush247 said:

I'm not @Raphael van Lierop so he can correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understood yes.  You will no longer have to worry about them all the time in those areas and it'll only be one part of the entire region that they might be in.

This is actually a good question, but something we'd find out from playing anyway, so it's not a big deal, but I took the Reg Wolf/Timberwolf variable to be not whole region based, but for each spawn point individually in a region, but maybe Raph can clarify or he can just say "you'll see it when you see it."

[The Feng Hunter]

23 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

some spawn regions that would have had a pack of wolves, will now have a pack of Timberwolves. This is just to add variety, mix things up a bit.

Perfect. This is awesome — really excited for this, because it’ll add greater world building cohesion to Great Bear … for me, sure, TLD is a game, but it’s far more than that — it’s a vibrant world full of (digitally simulated) life.
 

Having isolated pockets of Timberwolves detracted from that feeling, especially since the DLC drop,  first loot redistribution scheme, and the Oak release.

[Raphael van Lierop]

5 hours ago, rush247 said:

I'm not @Raphael van Lierop so he can correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understood yes.  You will no longer have to worry about them all the time in those areas and it'll only be one part of the entire region that they might be in.

Yes, that's correct. There will be a chance that the TWolf spawns in the regions where they were 100% spawns will now be regular wolves, but only until the next refresh of that particular spawn region. 

Quote

The actual question I meant to ask was "will timberwolves be more common in their old regions (BI, BM, SP) when compared to the new regions they have a chance to spawn in?"

Yes, the regions formerly dominated by TWolves will still be biased towards TWolves, so they will still mostly on the whole be quite dangerous.