Smobs are "Super mobs"-- really big mobs, like the Avatars and Marani when she's been up for a while.

Aspects are... weak little crittable bashables.

I really think if you get rid of conflict quests you will end up with even more people leaving. All the people who are thriving on conflict quests will have nothing to do so they will move on to where they can fill that need.

The people who like conflict quests, but don't like the grind of recovering from them will also end up leaving since they again will have nothing to do.

The new forum crying will be about godrealm conflict and the raiding going on those places every 4 hours (because that's all that will be left) and eventually that will get impacted and changed.

There really is no avenues for conflict off plane like was planned way back in the beginning. Conflict on prime is basically impossible due to the fact that Avenger blocks you at every turn and enemy status to just about everything means you are free to be ganked but you can't even defend yourself.

So once you cut out the "only game in town" what's left to do? I really don't want to see Lusternia turned into a Mush.

Supermobs generally means "mobs that are harder than usual to take down." Marani takes a swarm of people. Night avatars take a swarm of people. That Korath (?) dude hits for like a million damage. Crow avatars are just regular mobs.

Crow = Hart = Elemental Lords in power, right?

As I understand it, Aspects/Earth and Water lords are a bit easier than Supernals/Demon lords/Avatars.

Alright. Could we get a clear definition of what does the term 'conflict quests' mean? On one hand, I'd think it is the actual quest, i.e. Killing Crow, what raising Marani used to be, etc. On the other hand, going by the rest of the comments, it seems to be just conflict, period. Is killing Avatars considered a conflict quest?

Until then, I'm not quite sure where I am on this issue.

Perhaps conflict quests should be made more into quests? Raising the Demon Lords is far, far harder to do and takes more effort than killing them. All you have to do for one half of the cycle is get a big group together and go kill things. To get back what was lost however takes time and patience. Perhaps smobs should be protected from harm until certain conditions are met. For example, the Night Avatars can only be killed during the Full Moon, and only after a quest is done, rendering the Avatars vulnerable. Conversely, the Moon Avatars can only be slain during the New Moon after a quest has been done. To offset this RP inconvenience, the awards and penalties for the win/loss are far greater.

If that's going to happen, I want the XP bonuses from PvP to be worth it.

I think the killing of smobs and the consequences thereof should remain the same, but the system by which smobs are killed needs to be changed somehow. Currently the strategy to kill a smob is "get a group of ~30 people and hit it for a little while". What exactly this can be changed to I have no idea, but the issue with it as it stands is that you can't really balance the whole thing by increasing smob strength. Either you're going to increase it so much that they become impossible to ever kill, or you're going to increase them enough that they can't be killed for a while until one org manages to scrounge up enough players to do it, and then they're going to get killed over and over again. This latter option is what has happened every time there's been a streak of smobs going down over and over again. First in open beta it took like 5-10 people to take them down, then it was gradually raised over time until it became the ~30 it is today. Smobs need to require some kind of strategy and coordination to kill beyond "everyone hit it at once". (I should note, however, that I think a quest would feel vastly out-of-place here. Rather some kind of unique combat mechanic would be better. I'm not really sure what, though, if I think of anything I'll post...)

What if on first hit, smobs put up an impentrable shield around themselves, and sent out minions that populate the plane and you have to first kill all the minions. However, many of the minions are locked behind new doors that need to be opened simultaneously, and there are various minor questy things about it.

The idea here being that you have to split up your group into subgroups to coordinate actions, and the defenders can try to thwart you by delaying your actions/killing you, or by grabbing items so that you have to kill them or get them to leave the plane (thus leaving the item behind) to be able to finish your mission. Then once all that is done, you go off and face the smob as a large group.

Nah, Elemental Lords are the mirrors of Aspects.

Crow and Hart are like... Korath-level.

Ok revision. The smob activates some nodes that exist on the plane that spawn out monsters to kill. (minimal xp for the monsters) and the nodes are behind locked doors that need to opened simultanesouly. (within half a second of eachother?) and untill you destroy the nodes, the mobs keep popping in and going aggro on enemies of the org.

I'm not sure about the specifics, but this is the kind of thing I'm thinking of, yes. Something that requires interesting strategy and planning.

Here's another example. Baalphegar is the craftiest of the Demon Lords and can be defeated only by cutting through his web of devious puzzles and intrigue. When he is attacked, he will become incorporeal and summon a host of different demons. What follows is essentially a modified mastermind game - but the twist is that picking the colors is done by killing the associated demon (the toughness of which can be modified to fit balance), and while you're working on the puzzle, the invulnerable Baalphegar continues to pummel your group with attacks. He will become vulnerable only when the puzzle is complete.

Gorgulu, on the other hand, is immensely adaptable as he is made of disgusting ooze and possesses a strange set of abilities that renders him immune to all damage types but one - his sole weakness shifting every 10 seconds or so between cutting, blunt, heat, cold, and magic. During that time he can only be hurt by those particular types of attacks - and, perhaps, attacks of any other damage type heal him?

The main issue I see here is that it would be quite hard to balance the quests to kill the Demon Lords versus the quests to kill the Supernals, unless you just took the same ones and changed the flavor.

Here's another one: when you fight Japhiel, he summons cherub NPCs that target random group members and cast Judgment on them, which works identically to the sacraments spell (instant kill after 12 seconds). If you want to stop them from judging, you'll have to either leave the room or kill them, and while they shouldn't be that tough, they'll distract from killing Japhiel. Also, perhaps killing them makes Japhiel stronger as he grows angry.

Incidentally, if any systems like this are implemented, the whole system where the smobs come to each others' aid (ie. Methrenton defending Shakiniel and Japhiel) should probably be removed.

Taking the same ones and changing the flavor should be pretty easy. If I remember correctly, they all have equal and opposite possitions. Instead of devious puzzles, they are tests of holyness. Instead of adaptable ooze, it's just an everchanging shield etc.

I approve of these ideas. This is the kind of stuff I was trying to think of!

Thanks for all the responses! Some interesting ideas there, Sham!