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NPC permanency
Just curious as to how named/quest aligned NPCs will work in nodes. They will re-spawn right? Mainly I am asking in the context of the PvE events that are triggered where monsters attack the city. I believe it was mentioned that monsters can destroy or de-level nodes but do they do permanent NPC damage?
I think making NPCs killed during some event take longer (even days) to re-spawn would be a good way to further incentivize players that participate in the node, to really care about protecting it and feel like the world interacts with it.
If I knew I may not be able to access my storage or something today if the dragon kills all the bankers I would be super motivated to defend it. On the flip side, if I had a monster coin I'd go straight for some key NPCs (like bankers) for the lols.
I think making NPCs killed during some event take longer (even days) to re-spawn would be a good way to further incentivize players that participate in the node, to really care about protecting it and feel like the world interacts with it.
If I knew I may not be able to access my storage or something today if the dragon kills all the bankers I would be super motivated to defend it. On the flip side, if I had a monster coin I'd go straight for some key NPCs (like bankers) for the lols.
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Don't let Sorrow's Hunger rummage around in town. Organize people and kill him.
I guess an implicit part of my question is: will there be any NPC death in the node that will actually matter? And for how long? Especially in the PvE events where my node is supposed to feel "threatened".
So any info or personal thoughts on non-questing NPCs of consequence? e.g. bankers?
Edit: and to clarify, I do not at all endorse or suggest dead-end quests. But some meaningful delay between re-spawn or re-assignment of a new NPC would feel good to me.
My main point is that if a dragon comes through (or sure, even if a siege occurs) there should be temporary damage to the node. It could be repairs to buildings or missing NPCs that put a utility like a bank or quest temporarily out of order, but either way I think that would be cool for several reasons like immersion and a potential resource sink. I don't want life to continue on as normal just minutes after a dragon rolled through. If you walk into your city immediately after it was attacked by a zombie horde, I want to notice something has happened and be dragged into repairs or defense to carry on with other node/life stuff. The game is already full of other incidental events and occurrences that may get in the way of what you were doing/planning to do.
In any case, we'll just have to wait to see as more information rolls in. I hope Steven and the team has something like this in mind
This is what I was looking for
If you ever played octopath traveler, i really like the npcs they had. Whilst many didn't have names every npc had character and had their own unique story to them. Granted it is a 2D jrpg, it was still refreshing to talk to people and realize they felt real and not just throw away characters just there to fill the screen. I hope ashes manages to do this. Of course not every npc needs to give a quest but giving everyone that you can talk to some character would be great. Of course i understand that creating an individual story for every npc would be a difficult task and all but hey, Octopath managed it. Although their world is a hell of a lot smaller than ashes will be.
I think once a siege is initiated. An NPC named Cecil The Banker should spawn at the local bank with the guild name <first day at work>. Cecil will have 1 HP and run towards conflict.
Cecil will not last long.
And maybe less devastating than a spirit bomb.
Why not give him the "Wooden sword of AoE-stun". Everytime he lands a blow enemies in a 10 Meter Radius are stunned for 10 Seconds. That would be devestating enough.