Please Change Knockback

[Super Hayes.6890]

I just want the satisfaction of using a knockback skill near a ledge in PvE and seeing my foe plummet to their death. It was awesome when I accidentally pulled it off in WvW against players but I really only play PvE now and hate the invisible wall that keeps my enemies safe when I kick them. Does anyone else want this?

[Blockhead Magee.3092]

It does seem 'unfair' that the npc's can knock you off a cliff, but they get held up by some invisible wall.

[Morg.5986]

I can dig this. I'd like to Banish some poor sap over a cliff and watch it die

[lokh.2695]

I'm all in for this. But you need to be ready to jump right after your foe to get your loot as well, auto-loot isn't a core feature and has only limited range ;)

[Rhyse.8179]

No defiance bar = NPC Batting Practice. Do eet.

[penelopehannibal.8947]

I can see a lot of events bugging out if this were implemented, such as certain enemy NPCs (especially temporary event enemy NPCs such as the Norm Reidarr Rockcrusher in Lornar's Pass) being knocked down holes and wells that can't get back up, which is why I think they didn't implement this in the first place.

 

Imagine knocking Reidarr Rockcrusher down the cliff and he can't find a route back to where he came from once defeated. That event would be stuck for the remainder of the mega server being online.

[robertthebard.8150]

Yes please. I was wondering if it was just me...

[Endless Soul.5178]

I can see it now.

 

You find yourself racing towards that boss, trying to get to it so you can complete your achievement, or get that much needed collection item. Your're almost there, you can see the fight, and right as you get within range to tag it, a ranger uses Longbow No. 4, and launches your much needed boss off a cliff. Unfortunately, you can't kill that ranger, and they just laugh at your frustration.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

This would be nice. That said, AI enemies would have to have the ability to move on the z-axis added -- they do not have this now. I suspect this would be a very large undertaking.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

The reason we can't knock NPCs off ledges is that this is usually an abused mechanic against the AI. It's not unfair for the game's NPCs to have access to skills & abilities the player lacks because the AI is predictable and (one hopes) less clever than its human competitors.

[Super Hayes.6890]

Yeah, I was thinking only on normal foes. Not veterans and up.

[Neural.1824]

This would be a wonderful change, and there are other games that have proven it can work, but there are issues that come along with it that would need to be addressed.

The introduction of break bars has provided mechanics to keep bosses, etc. from being knocked off a ledge, so even with some veterans, it cleans up any potential abuses.

That said, I would propose that killing a mob by knocking it off a ledge should invalidate XP/loot from that mob if it's health is above a certain percentage.

You can't invalidate XP/loot completely if a mob is killed in that manner, because the trolls would come out in droves with LB rangers and simply prevent people from killing mobs that are anywhere near a cliff, thus denying XP/loot. Wait till a mob is around 90%, knock them off and laugh in map (sounds about right for this game).

Additionally, fall damage would need to be assessed on mobs, and I don't know that this is something currently done. Otherwise you've got a mob knocked off some high up location landing down below. While it does have some amusing aspects to it, it can cause problems mechanically as the mobs probably have set paths to follow, and moving them outside their leash range creates more work for the devs.