Journeyer Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 (edited) The scope of this suggestion is certainly not small, but could be accomplished bit by bit through small teams during patches. The problem: Worlds, despite being decently large and having players, NPC models, and enemies, feel like a lifeless husk, *particularly* on higher level worlds. There's players, silently doing their thing, and there's stuff to look at, but when you stand still, all is eerily motionless and quiet. The cause: The worlds are full of things that don't *do* anything in a great many cases. I tried, for example, following a cantina server NPC on Nar Shaddaa (one of the few I've seen that actually move between multiple rooms). She walked down a corridor, into another room, walked to the midpoint of the room, and abruptly turned and looped back. And *that* is one of the more dynamic examples! NPCs aren't really characters at all--they're models, generally playing a "standing still" animation loop. The solution/suggestion: Every NPC should have a mission. Not all at once--I realize the scope of this--but that should be a goal. Maybe the mission is as simple as "choose 1 cantina table and get a drink for it." Or perhaps "get item from toolbox, use on speeder." I'm not talking rocket science here. (Oh, wait--"write rocketry theorem on holoboard for fellow scientists, fetch telemetry from nearby datapad..."). You see what I'm saying, though. A repertoire of little "missions" to be on for each type of NPC. Seems negligible, and not worth even the small amounts of time, but all of those micro missions add up fast. Each little mission causes a global effect: everyone seems to be *actively* doing something. I can follow an NPC and see them perform a logical action. It's a mini-reward for exploring the game. Please? =) Edited February 2, 2012 by Journeyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spootybeaver Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericbola Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Fully agree, even in UO (1997) most NPCs walked around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journeyer Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Wow--really?This is my first MMO, so it took me a bit to figure out what's been bugging me about the "feel" =) Given my relative lack of mmo experience, I can't say for certain that this suggestion would suddenly make the end game feel all better and whatnot, but I suspect I'd stick around on worlds longer, and wouldn't mind the time hanging out, if it felt like the world wasn't a tempory stopping place on the way to levelling up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journeyer Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Annd, I'll stop bumping this after this post, I guess. Supplemental feature I'd love to see--a way to see which posts Devs have read ;D Okk, kiddin. Maybe =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epicrisis Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Very good idea. The worlds do feel kind of dead. Plus it would be nice to happen across a story or even a quest by chance as you're walking around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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