Skirting camps instead of crossing them

At 300 players, 372 quests turned in and 154 levels gained in 10 minutes, but 24 of 60 deaths happen on the way to an NPC. Path computation now skirts known hostile monsters along the route, like a player keeping a camp at a distance. And two protections against dithering: a chosen quest pickup is kept, and any repeated oscillation between two objectives is cut off.

Measurement (10 min, 300 players)

372 quests turned in, 154 level-ups, 60 deaths; 24 deaths on the way to an NPC, 44 during or right after a flight. The rise in deaths follows the 200 newcomers progressing into harder zones.

The previous batch is verified: no more hearthstone binding loops, 40 bags bought in 20 minutes, useless vendor visits down from 45 % to 22 %.

Paths

Before each path computation, spawn points of hostile monsters (not neutral ones, which do not attack) of similar or higher level, within 35 m of the route line, become costlier areas: ×2.5 within 15 m, ×5 within 22 m for a monster 3 levels higher. Areas where the character died stay at ×8. The destination itself is not penalised. At most 150 monsters per computation, to keep CPU cost low.

Oscillations

Commitment: a chosen quest pickup stays the target for 2 minutes; the NPC's real position is targeted up to 100 m (Gordo, who patrols, made Velyssa and Galane alternate every second).
General safeguard: if the same A → B → A pattern repeats more than 20 times in 5 minutes (excluding normal alternations with combat, loot or rest), the current objective is set aside for 15 minutes and the event is logged.