Area Cleaners: Friend or Foe?

As a returning player I have noticed some changes.  Some of these changes seem good and others I have not gotten used to yet.  The change I will cover here is the introduction of the Area Cleaners. This is being written by a level 22 so my experience with the cleaners is a bit limited.  

    As a lower level, you venture into the Eastlands and run into a gelatinous creature named Area Cleaner. It looks like a blob of jello gone wild.  You manage to bring it down and it leaves a decent pile of loot.  This fuels some questions in the new adventure's mind. What is this?  Where did it come from? Why is it here?  Can I force this creature to work for me?  

What is it?  
    Well, it seems to be named appropriately as it cleans the area.  It's like a Roomba for the server.  It picks up the abandoned loot in the area and stores it. When it is destroyed, all the items it cleaned are in the remains.

Where did it come from?
    It seems that the cleaners are spawned in either when all players leave an area or when a new player enters an area.   I tend to think it is when all players leave the area, my reasoning for this is better answered for in the below section.  

Why is it here?
    Having hosted the realm at a server in my house, I know that leaving the loot on the ground can be taxing on the server.  Basically each pile of loot need location, description, and a bunch of other data stored for each pile.   With it all combined into one creature, it could free up a lot of memory.  

Now on to the part you really wanted to know about: Can I force this creature to work for me?
    There are some limitations.  Not all areas have a cleaner.   Some items are not "Cleaned."  There may be more, but I have only ventured so far and not experienced all of the areas yet.  
    What I have found is that the remains of creatures take a few moments to show up after they die.  If there is a lot of remains in an area, the AC can save the player time.  This can be done by just clearing all the mobs from the area, stepping out of the area (assuming you are the last player in the area), and then stepping right back in.   At this point, depending on the respawn rate of the mobs, the AC will be the only enemy in the area.   Search for and destroy the AC and speed loot from one pile.  This feature can be helpful or a pain. Locating the AC in the area can be tedious if the area is a labyrinth. I have however noticed that the AC seems to spawn in the same general area every time.  The cleaner seems to wander from their spawn point but not usually very far.  This is another reason I believe the AC spawns as all Players leave the area. If you plan on farming an area (or a few areas) try to locate the spawn point and use the nearest exit to exit and reenter.  This will make the search shorter next time.

Is there an Area Cleaner?
    An easy way to test if an area has an AC is to kill mobs until one drops some remains.   Then leave the area and return to where you killed the mob that dropped remains.  If the remains are still there then the area most likely does not have an AC.   If the remains are gone then there is an AC. Find it and kill it. When on a run in Underworld with a group, the ACs can be used by assigning one player to loot the AC for the entire run, and then divide the loot after the run is done.

Notes:
    I have noticed that areas that the drops are not contained in the remains of the mob; items that show up outside of the actual "Remains," seem to be the areas that there are no cleaners. But this requires more testing to prove. Get your loot in these areas as you go.  
    I was taken on a run to get the Underworld Keys and it seemed some players had the ability to summon the AC.   This made cleaning the areas and getting dropped keys basically brought to the team. Again more research is needed to understand how these ACs seemed to always spawn at the door.  Perhaps that can be covered in a future book.

Denied

Please expand the story if you can.. or pick another one that helps or befits the players.


L0BSTER

L0BSTER wrote:Denied

Please expand the story if you can.. or pick another one that helps or befits the players.


L0BSTER

Much Better.. Thank you. You will receive a publish Contract soon as possible...

Publish Contract has been received-DONE!

this is an excellent topic, I find many players do not understand how to use an AC properly and spend much time looting as they go.
Beware though an area cleaner that has too much loot can eat and not drop some of the loot. also it is a creature under attk so it may use the items it carries, including consumables. it always a good Idea to Pick up the boss' loot before area cleaning.