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Suggestion: Patrolling - Engaging the Player Base, and Consequences

ProfPenguin92ProfPenguin92 Member
edited May 2022 in General Discussion
So firstly I'd like to start out by acknowledging that this idea came to mind after seeing a comment written by a fellow youtuber on the newest dev update video (Sean Barrett- shout out to you if you see this) about this idea. It's something that got me thinking and I thought, for what it's worth, I could try and signal boost it while also building it up. This all spawned from Steven talking about events that could happen within the nodes (natural disasters, Goblin raids, etc.), the way this information is disseminated to the player base, and the consequences that may result from whether or not players took action to handle the situation.

The overarching idea is the introduction of a Patrolling/Scouting quest/mechanic, whether it's a daily or something that is distributed at random to different player/s at various points in time. Its purpose is to send out active parties into the surrounding area within the Node's region (it doesn't have to be limited to the Township itself) in order to help maintain a watch of the surroundings. Think of it as taking proactive steps to help mitigate potential disasters and the severity of their outcomes.

I'll use the newly featured Goblins for my example.
---The player/s receive and accept the volunteer Patrol quest, once gathered they set out to for the designated area of concern. Once in the area the players could possibly be given a form of passive or active investigation checks (maybe through a form of player perception checks?) which could result, but not always guarantee, environmental clues (i.e. spotting tracks on the ground, broken branches etc.) that could lead you to finding a goblin. Through this process the players can follow along and determine if the goblin was just a one off, a scout, or even part of a goblin raid group. From here you could go any number of ways, whether it's to determine their purpose, origin, etc. If he is a scout, it could be an indication that something is a raid(?) could happen in the future. If its Goblin war party, and you've already encountered 3 along the patrol route perhaps it should throw up some red flags for the people in the area that something worse is yet to come. Of course, not EVERY clue should lead a point of concern, maybe there was no problems in the area at all (what if the campfire you came across was from some other player and not from the goblin host?).---

Obviously we don't want to make this an overly tedious process, but I love the idea of players actually interacting with their environment to obtain information about something that's about to go down (OR NOT, otherwise it's going to become too predictable). Of course there is always the option of ignoring or not acting on the potential warning signs, but that feels like it would fall well in the land of consequences. Could even give a little extra xp/loot as a reward for not just doing the quest but also finding some kind of clue as a form of compensation.

Hell you could maybe even do this on a smaller and informal scale, where a solo player could encounter strange sightings of a seemingly one off goblin who if pursued would lead the them into a goblin war party camp. I can imagine the player being prompted with the ability to blow a war horn that instantly can send a warning message to people within a certain vicinity. The warning doesn't have to be too descriptive, but just enough to catch the person's attention to be like "Hey, somethings up and you don't know what it is. Go to X and find out what it is." From there its up to players to disseminate the information to others who may not have "heard" the warning call.

I know this was a long post, thank you for giving me your time. But this is my best attempt at putting it into context, I just love it when games get me more involved through the environment because that's what makes it meaningful to me and keeps me coming back. I know this idea could be refined, and I'd love to hear ya'lls feedback on it. Thank you

Comments

  • SylvanarSylvanar Member
    edited May 2022
    This would be more applicable for a VR single player game rather than a multiplayer game played on a screen. Reasons being:

    - One way to implement this would be to make the things we are supposed to find obvious by highlighting them, which makes it a generic quest. The best that could be done is by hiding the stuff in hard to find places but they will still need to be highlighted. There is a reason proper tracking (that is what you are asking) has not been a part of MMO, at least to knowledge.

    - What you are suggesting would have players stare intensely into the screen zombie like so that they dont miss any clues while they are searching an area which would be very bad for peoples health. This is common for single player games because we need to figure out the next path and they dont have constraints associated with multiplayer games.

    - Lets say, this is done. Now there is a goblin invasion and you have accepted the quest. There are 2 outcomes: you figure out the invasion, you don't figure out that there is an invasion. How does this affect your rewards from this quest? Isn't that clue enough with regards to what is happening? How much affect a single players failure should have on the node? There is a reason that events in MMOs are announced and not based on chance discovery by someone because otherwise theoretically speaking sieges should be unannounced events for it to have more chance of being successful.

    The best way to implement this would be to have goblin invasion and announce it as an event for the node so that players can come and defend. After all AoC isn't a detective type of game, even though spying is an aspect but that is more related to backstabbing than any detective activity.
    "Suffer in silence"
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited May 2022
    Mmmmn. I mean... I think maybe the word event is being exaggerated.
    Possibly due to what events have been in previous games, but...

    In Ashes, this is mostly intended to be part of the organic evolution of the story on each server.
    Sometimes, there might be a Goblin faction that attacks a village or town. It's not necesarily intended to be something that the region remembers years later.
    But, it's possible that on some servers a Hobgoblin Champion arises from that faction who is capable of endangering a City or Metro. If the Hobgoblin Champion rallies a Monster Horde against a City, that will likely be very memorable years later. Especially if the City is weakened enough that it is soon destroyed by a Siege.

    We don't need a Patrolling/Scouting mechanic, I think.
    I think we players will just naturally be on the look out for mobs kinda like we normally are.
    Sometimes we will encounter packs of mobs.
    Sometimes packs of mobs will raid us, just like we raid them.

    People who want to patrol and scout to prevent disasters will be able to do so, but I don't think we need a mechanic for that...beyond what Steven mentioned in the Livestream.
  • Yeah. Both of your points are fair. We're not here to play a survival game, and perhaps these kinds of activities are just something that have to happen organically.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    edited May 2022
    But, patrols and scouts are a great concept for max level Adventurers.
    People often wonder what there will be to do once they reach max level Adventurer - besides repeating dungeons and raids while seeking BiS gear.

    Patroling and scouting to try to minimize rising disasters brings siginificant variety.
    Max level characters can be trying to find ways to eradicate a plague. Or they might be hunting for the lair of the Hobgoblin Champion who sent the Goblin Horde half-way across the world.
  • Yeah. I think in the end, what matters more to me is that Intrepid creates an environment that won't just be a theme park. I want the world and the player base to respond in an organic way to one another, because that's what hooks me in and keeps me coming back. This suggestion is of course more focused on a smaller scale, but the principal is still the same and can be applied to the wider game. And in the end whether or not this gets implemented is not relevant, as long as the over arching goal is achieved.
  • DygzDygz Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Yep. That's the plan. It's an organic feedback loop.
  • VaknarVaknar Moderator, Member, Staff
    Neat idea and good conversation happening here :) Certainly an idea worth thinking about! I do like Dygz suggestion of that feature being tied into max-level adventurer game loops as well.

    Either way, I can't wait to see what the design team has planned and what they're going to show us! I think the event system will be an awesome, organic, and fun way to make Verra feel everchanging and real!
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