NPCs/Players shouldn't show their name plates to you until you've met them or heard about them

I saw the nameplate system hasn't been developed yet but plays a major role in your experience of the game.

It would add depth and allow some NPCs to introduce others. It would allow players to hide in plain sight if they mimic the town's folk. Cities would be filled with people you don't know while towns might be more familiar.

If you're simulating reality, I recognize a person in real life based on their looks. I identify police by their clothes and can introduce myself if I so choose. I don't care about their name if I don't know them.

Just an idea I had

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Aerlana

For the RP, "realism" and other thing you are right.
BUT the name plate does not only contain "the name".
it will be different information the devs think we have to see for the good live on the game.

This can be the first, and optionally last name (surname).[1]
The name of the character's Guild is displayed next to their name.[2]
The character's nameplate will deteriorate to give an indication of how much damage they have taken.[3][4][5]
An icon will identify the character's class.[6]
Hovering over the user's nameplate will show information such as level, their class name and archetype combo.[6]
A buff icon indicates the character's gear and grade.[6][7][8]

also the problem of your idea is
technically when does the game consider you "met" this guy or "heard about this girl" ?

Dygz

In real life we have more senses and more characteristics that differentiate people.
Especially when many payers will be wearing full armor, we won't be able to distinguish each other just by looks. Especially not from a distance.

Khronus

I want a fun game....not a game based on "this is how RL is". You want name plates to be missing because it adds depth? I think it does the opposite and adds mindless wandering to try to find out who people are. Hiding in plain sight by dressing like town folk....is not something that will ever need to happen in this game.

The way the questing system currently is will work fine for what you are wanting I think. You don't see where quests come from and there is often decent dialogue that leads to gaining a quest. This is enough "in the dark" for me to enjoy the exploration of every area.

bloodprophet

The name plate colors will be different based on what services they offer. Making them not show will make it super bad for new players to figure out who does what. There will be no quest markers over people's heads noting who has a quest and who don't.

Dygz

Easy to tell the OP has not played the Alpha.
Where is Lt. Fiona?

CriminalCupcake

Dygz wrote: »

Easy to tell the OP has not played the Alpha.
Where is Lt. Fiona?

Why does it matter if they've played the alpha if they have an idea that they feel is worth sharing?

RocketFarmer

Could be fun if you had to convince an NPC to give you their name, or have another NPC identify them, rather than have the neon sign over their head. NPCs need a bit more personality and some common sense. Oh, and they could lie as well.

I am assuming the NPC merchants and what not have their name plates present because the signs are not ready.

And yes, it’s just Alpha.

Dygz

CriminalCupcake wrote: »

Why does it matter if they've played the alpha if they have an idea that they feel is worth sharing?

Because they don't understand how difficult it would be, without nameplates, to find NPCs when they change locations after the Node progresses to a new stage.

They are forming their opinions based on the gameplay of some other MMORPGs, rather than on the gameplay of Ashes. Which is significantly different.

CriminalCupcake

Dygz wrote: »

CriminalCupcake wrote: »

Why does it matter if they've played the alpha if they have an idea that they feel is worth sharing?

Because they don't understand how difficult it would be, without nameplates, to find NPCs when they change locations after the Node progresses to a new stage.

They are forming their opinions based on the gameplay of some other MMORPGs, rather than on the gameplay of Ashes. Which is significantly different.

I didn't see any reference to any other mmos... Wondering how you got to that assumption? Just kinda seems like an idle thought.

CROW3

Interesting idea, though I think practicality wins the day on this one. If I see Dygz run past I want to know so I can say hi.

Aerlana

Nameplate on players = hidden only from a personnal option. (so i want to be able to see nameplate around, because... usefull informations)

Nameplate on NPC/Mobs, again, the best would be option (allowing each one to chose what he wants) but it is far less mandatory to be able to see them.

For "usefull NPC moving after node progression" i think about 2 solution in general gamedesign more interesting than only relying on nameplate
1) the position change but remains "the same"
One example : the guys who gives citizenship should always be on the first level of the townhall
Another : NPC relatited to artisan in a section to the node that can easily be identify.

2) not having those NPC to commonly dressed, if you dress them in a way they can easily be identify as special NPC it will helps a lot.

Dygz

CriminalCupcake wrote: »

I didn't see any reference to any other mmos... Wondering how you got to that assumption? Just kinda seems like an idle thought.

Idle thought is even worse.

Dygz

Aerlana wrote: »

For "usefull NPC moving after node progression" i think about 2 solution in general game design more interesting than only relying on nameplate
1) the position change but remains "the same"
One example : the guys who gives citizenship should always be on the first level of the townhall
Another : NPC related to artisan in a section to the node that can easily be identify.

2) not having those NPC to commonly dressed, if you dress them in a way they can easily be identify as special NPC it will helps a lot.

Already, the devs are not going to only rely on nameplates to distinguish individual NPCs.

The issue is not about the NPCs inside a static building. Which is why I gave Lieutenant Fiona as an example for those people playing the Alpha One.
Ashes is a dynamic game, rather than a static game. We should expect the NPCs to be moving locations rather than always being in the same location.
It's highly unlikely that each individual NPC will be dressed so distinctly that we can easily find pick them out from a crowd just based on what they're wearing. And finding the NPC you're looking for is not supposed to be a challenge.

CriminalCupcake

Dygz wrote: »

CriminalCupcake wrote: »

I didn't see any reference to any other mmos... Wondering how you got to that assumption? Just kinda seems like an idle thought.

Idle thought is even worse.

Then you shouod stay off the forums and go join a fact-ory cuz yer just being a topic bully it seems.

Dygz

How is it being a bully to say that a person is either thinking about other games or sharing an idle thought rather than commenting on actual Ashes game mechanics?

Atama

The answer as @Dygz has said is that this sort of thing doesn't work well with Ashes of Creation. It might be a good idea in other games but since we have a number of dynamic NPCs it is unfeasible.

Valentine

It'd be kinda interesting if they had a basic relationship system like mount and blade.

JustVine

I am pro-rp. I like realism. That being said, think of it from the eyes of an inexperienced gamer.

You want to quest to get immersed in a node and help contribute to the area. But you know nothing other than the look of the node/its facilities and maybe out of game conversations. You'd need to talk to a bunch of people right? Let's assume Intrepid does a good job of silhouettes to guide the player in the way you suggest. You'd still need more text for the less experienced/younger gamers. There's a bunch of learned signals you take for granted that don't always work on everyone. This happens in life as well. So you need get even more text.

AoC vows to commit to old school questing. A good thing, but will make finding things harder for the less experienced/younger. Your system would lead to many more frustrating moments of questing and not finding the link that will already be happening at a higher rate than modern.

To mitigate this, you would need extensive quest based npc dialogue in the npc's area to guide the player, for many more npc's The game probably has and needs branching dialogue paths to reveal other quest. Oh and don't forget they already have specific npc text planned depending on certain character traits like race on top of all of that. Its...a bit much from a writing standpoint let alone all the horrendous amounts of flagging....

There are three ways I can see as possible compromise routes to the feeling you want.

1. Make a toggle, most mmos have one. Make this experience optional and not default. (Many people want this for other reasons already)
2. Make the plates turn on after a certain amount of 'hints' have been used. (Acceptable game design, but probably won't solve the increased writing requirement and will therefore be bad for the games questing system in the long run.)
3. Reserve this experience for certain optional org based quests like a confidante for the thieves guild or a black market fence, because there is good reason for the quest to start with getting a vivid description. Not every npc has a name plate so this would make you double take your familiar node as well which is a nice immersion trigger. (Perfectly acceptable since it is smaller scale and has plenty of baked in opportunities to apply this method to.)

CROW3

It’s interesting, while I don’t like this idea for players / npcs, I do like this idea for gathering nodes (i.e. the higher my skill/knowledge the easier it is to find). I forget what game it was (not sure if it was an mmo), but adding points into mining made ore nodes more obvious when trudging around the environment.

Tyranthraxus

It *sounds* like a neat idea, BUT:

Given that a toggle would require an additional system built into the game, I'd have to be more for seeing nameplates by default, rather than having to do extra in order to be able to see them - especially where players are concerned.

Feature-creep is best left to a post-launch era.

Child Item