Just throwing this out there because I know the revamp is coming along with experimental changes to AI and how current enemies function.
I would strongly advise avoiding the use of modern MMO encounter design for inspiration. Whatever you may think about the complexity of max-difficulty dungeons and raids in current MMOs, the simple fact about them is they are manufactured to require tight repetition for a party to be successful. Repetition that is sometimes broken up by random occurrences and players making mistakes which need to be corrected. A well-paid team of professionals ensure that the math is right for these fights to be possible.
This server is built by volunteers who do not have such luxuries, and beyond that, NWN’s combat system is a lot different - we don’t rely on players executing a DPS rotation while making the most of their class’s movement abilities to avoid deadly AOEs. Enemies in this game have to meet different standards to challenge players.
Moving on, group play is a little odd right now. One issue with the way it works is Enmity. On a server designed for solo players to be able to defeat just about everything, Enmity allows you to ping pong enemies between players using ranged weapons without either player ever being attacked. Group play already makes it a lot easier and quicker to not only level, but also complete what few challenges there are. Enmity goes totally overboard especially when characters with weaker armour on flank duty don’t have to worry about survival because the “tank” is invincible long before XP starts to fall from the maximum amount.
Threat is not inherently a bad mechanic - playing “aggro ping pong” shouldn’t be possible. Taunted enemies should be given a movement speed increase so they can reach their target and attack, and enemies shouldn’t change targets more than once every few rounds. Threat management can enrich gameplay and make things tense, but not if the mechanic is easily abused and enemies lack lethality like they currently do. A robust aggro system also includes enemies which ignore your attempts to manipulate their threat table.
I think if you want to make combat more exciting, it’s not the patterns and repetition of modern MMO encounters or the threat management of classic MMO combat that you want to look to for inspiration. I think threat as it exists needs to be reworked to prevent enemies depriving themselves of all their attacks per round. I don’t know where Enmity as a stat is going, but I think it should probably just be removed, or there should be an Enmity economy where even ranged characters can expect to have it on their gear & need to find ways to mitigate attracting attention by using their environment or devices to their advantage (like hiding behind cover or using smoke grenades - basic examples).
It’s okay for bosses to have phases and do different things when they reach low health, but all the other baggage that comes with the way encounters work in current MMOs would be more negative than positive. At the same time, while I don’t think it’s wrong to have a mostly soloable open world, it is a problem that currently, with few exceptions, enemies which present little to no challenge grant ideal XP and loot, making them essentially the most viable vector of progression.
NWN combat usually gets good when the bigger picture is considered, so here are some alternative combat mechanics/abilities if you want to spice things up:
- A much larger “social aggro” radius, and more groups of enemies working together
- “Patrols” which wander through dungeons, thus potentially engaging you when you are not ready.
- “Ambushes” which appear in a position that forces you to fight - e.g. reinforcements at the dungeon entrance/exit coming to you
- “Gauntlets” which endlessly spawn zero XP/loot enemies until you bypass the area under their control, block off their method of entry, etc.
- “Platform fights” where unreachable enemies have to be defeated by your ranged party members while melee enemies have to be faced down by your melee party members
- Bosses having only one or two abilities which are iconic & high impact
- Force Lightning should probably be a channeled Stun - perhaps if resisted, only a Disorient
- Crowd control & greater enemy variety encourages teamwork and coordination
- Synergy abilities like buffs and auras (damage, healing, resource management) allow support-oriented characters to shine
I hope some of those ideas were useful and that the revamp brings some greater challenges!