Don't over-saturate the world with npcs

Drokk

I've been watching some Ashes gameplay and I like how there's not constantly groups of npcs everywhere. Obviously they haven't fully populated the world out, but when they do I hope they don't go overboard with it. To use the standard mmo example...let's take WoW. In the past few expansions the designers have decided that every square inch of the world has to be packed with mobs. As someone who likes to spend a lot of time simply exploring and taking in the beauty of the world...that makes it nearly impossible. You just run into packs of npcs constantly, and are always in combat. In WoW the matter is made worse by the fact they scale all npcs to your level, and therefore you aggro things from a mile away, but I believe thankfully Ashes isn't doing.

Long story short: I hope the world has a healthy number of mobs without being full to the brim. I really want to be able to run around, explore, and just bask in the world without constantly being in combat. It's also not realistic to have mobs around every corner out in the open world. In a real world there are...barren areas where nothing lives. And that's good.

Just a minor concern I have.

PlagueMonk

Well I say better too many than too few. The world really starts to feel empty if there is nothing.

I "fondly" remember exploring Shadowbane on launch. After you got out of the hub areas where people grouped up, it was just all featureless grasslands, not even trees or mobs. I ran for literally HOURS not seeing a single thing..that game was so unfinished on launch.

Aardvark

We want tons of nocs with good ai

Yuyukoyay

Players alone are never enough to fill the world in. If anything I don't think there was ever an MMO with enough except maybe Guild Wars 1. I'm happy with NPCs sitting around doing stupid stuff. They make it seem like a world and not like a crappy single player rpg.

Drokk

I'm not saying don't have a good number of mobs. Just that it can be overdone. I think players should feel like they can traverse the world without constantly running into npcs.

Kneczhevo

I recall the days when starter zones were separated by max level mobs, making it near impossible to see other races or communities. But, when you were finally able to break that barrier, it was like a whole new world opened up for you to explore. Then then was the danger affect. If there was no danger, where was the risk versus reward? There is no bragging rights if everyone can do it. But when your the first elf in dwarf land... You get the idea.