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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
My wish to add customizable NPCs!
Texaslizard
Member
Greetings Everyone!
I wasn't entirely sure where to post this..... but I have an idea that I would like to discuss.
Customized NPCs for personal OR borrowed uses.
Why do I believe this is something that could be accomplished and reasonable for Ashes of Creation?
This would allow players who usually play solo, or duo enable themselves to do something a little bit more difficult then they would usually be able to do. Using the character creation system, you would create the NPC and choose it's class and race. It'll start at level 1 just as a player would and you would have to train and play alongside this NPC for it to grow. It'll have it's own AI and respond to commands all while having it's own "interface" option. Allowing you to fully customize it's skill tree and abilities as you see fit. All while staying alongside the parameters of it's class. Just as a player would.
How would you obtain this NPC?
I believe you could only have a SET number of customized NPCs PER ACCOUNT ( Maybe 3? ). So for instance, you could "unlock" your first space at 20. You could implement high level content to drop "blueprints" for other race drops. So you could potentially do a Fire Dragon Raid ( 40 man ) provide a chance to drop a "contract" for a Lizardman NPC. Once bound to the account, you can create your own unique Lizardmen NPC. However, due to the possibility of Racial Skills/Abilities I find this might not be something immediately done. Something to keep in the thought though.
Primary Reasons for Custom NPCs?
1. My dad and I often played Guild Wars many years ago. Often times it would just be him and I exploring the southern part of the map, the desert area where you had the Hall of Heroes, trying to get our exploration titles. With a true 6 man party we would have had to reset to find more members and greatly slow our progression. However since we could add NPCs to fill the void, we could take our time to do what we wanted and greatly enjoy it with minimal interruption.
2. It'll give players something else to work on that has a very clear goal. Level up my waifu/husbando so he/she can join me in slaying/farming this specific area. You need 1000 wood? Time to go chop trees. Need to farm 1000 berries? Time to farm berry bushes. Oh, the NPC can be tasked to help me gather? Amazing. Hasten it just a little bit. The NPC can only do something while you are online. Since it'll need tasks and commands ( not necessarily continuously and I'm sure macros will be created to help guide them ) to work off of.
3. It can help you run a shop. I once heard ( can't remember where so if this is wrong PLEASE correct me ) that a chef can cook food at a tavern ( which he can relocate ) and while staying near said tavern after eating, you get a secondary local buff. You can create a "restaurant" like feel by having the NPC cook and you take orders or vise versa.
4. Giving you a sense of responsibility. Giving you an attachment. Allowing you to progress a second character in a way, without entirely having to start from scratch. Since you can level this NPC alongside your Main Character.
Cons of Custom NPCS?
1. Possibility of self power leveling.
2. Wouldn't be able to take into Node Sieges, BUT they could be present at a Guild Hall or Freehold?
3. May not immediately exist upon launch, could be a few years before it comes to fruition.
If you read the entirety of this post, I thank you and wish you all a glorious Ashes of Creation experience!
Thank you for reading everyone!
I wasn't entirely sure where to post this..... but I have an idea that I would like to discuss.
Customized NPCs for personal OR borrowed uses.
Why do I believe this is something that could be accomplished and reasonable for Ashes of Creation?
This would allow players who usually play solo, or duo enable themselves to do something a little bit more difficult then they would usually be able to do. Using the character creation system, you would create the NPC and choose it's class and race. It'll start at level 1 just as a player would and you would have to train and play alongside this NPC for it to grow. It'll have it's own AI and respond to commands all while having it's own "interface" option. Allowing you to fully customize it's skill tree and abilities as you see fit. All while staying alongside the parameters of it's class. Just as a player would.
How would you obtain this NPC?
I believe you could only have a SET number of customized NPCs PER ACCOUNT ( Maybe 3? ). So for instance, you could "unlock" your first space at 20. You could implement high level content to drop "blueprints" for other race drops. So you could potentially do a Fire Dragon Raid ( 40 man ) provide a chance to drop a "contract" for a Lizardman NPC. Once bound to the account, you can create your own unique Lizardmen NPC. However, due to the possibility of Racial Skills/Abilities I find this might not be something immediately done. Something to keep in the thought though.
Primary Reasons for Custom NPCs?
1. My dad and I often played Guild Wars many years ago. Often times it would just be him and I exploring the southern part of the map, the desert area where you had the Hall of Heroes, trying to get our exploration titles. With a true 6 man party we would have had to reset to find more members and greatly slow our progression. However since we could add NPCs to fill the void, we could take our time to do what we wanted and greatly enjoy it with minimal interruption.
2. It'll give players something else to work on that has a very clear goal. Level up my waifu/husbando so he/she can join me in slaying/farming this specific area. You need 1000 wood? Time to go chop trees. Need to farm 1000 berries? Time to farm berry bushes. Oh, the NPC can be tasked to help me gather? Amazing. Hasten it just a little bit. The NPC can only do something while you are online. Since it'll need tasks and commands ( not necessarily continuously and I'm sure macros will be created to help guide them ) to work off of.
3. It can help you run a shop. I once heard ( can't remember where so if this is wrong PLEASE correct me ) that a chef can cook food at a tavern ( which he can relocate ) and while staying near said tavern after eating, you get a secondary local buff. You can create a "restaurant" like feel by having the NPC cook and you take orders or vise versa.
4. Giving you a sense of responsibility. Giving you an attachment. Allowing you to progress a second character in a way, without entirely having to start from scratch. Since you can level this NPC alongside your Main Character.
Cons of Custom NPCS?
1. Possibility of self power leveling.
2. Wouldn't be able to take into Node Sieges, BUT they could be present at a Guild Hall or Freehold?
3. May not immediately exist upon launch, could be a few years before it comes to fruition.
If you read the entirety of this post, I thank you and wish you all a glorious Ashes of Creation experience!
Thank you for reading everyone!
0
Comments
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Player_stalls
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Freeholds
And yes, we'll have tavern npcs as well.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Taverns#Tavern_NPCs
As for adventuring npcs that not only help you, but even grow in lvl and power - I'm completely against it. This would make the game too soloable and would lead to even fewer parties being made.
If you want to explore the world - make characters that let you do that easier (ask Dygz about that, cause he'll know who'll be the best ones). For all the others things - find a party of similarly-minded people and do your activities together.
I personally hope the tavern boards will help us create small groups of people with the same goal, with a streamlined UI to make organization of such groups easier. But all of this should be only player groups, no npcs.
party up xd into a solo mmorpg. anyways we have battle pets ;3 probs closest thing to that idea.
Seems like Steven has pulled away from that idea a bit. Especially with the 3-year gap between Alpha 1 and Alpha 2, I'm not expecting to see this feature any time soon.
I wouldn't mind seeing growth in skills, but these NPCs should behave more like NPCs - with a very limited set of abilities that are not true Archetypes/Classes.
Even Soloers should be encouraged via the design to prefer another player as a companion due to the available skill-sets, rather than preferring the skills of an NPC companion.
Imagine You can decide if you have a Tavern or a Freehold, that a bunch of NPC Employees there are :
- A bunch of elegant Empyrian Elves.
- A bunch of zombified or skelly "Undead",
- A bunch of other Summons than Undead,
Generally that You can choose between different Races, for - well - "Race-Flavor" (?)(lol), so that your Freehold is a little Paradise of Empyrian, Dwarven, or otherwise Roots and Origin.
I wouldn't even be against the Idea that "only Summoner-Owners" of Taverns and Freeholds can hire Summons as their NPC's.
Imagine how cool it would be as for Example a Member of the "Unseen Order" to have like +7 Civilian Zombies or Skeletons working on your farm. A tiny little Paradise of Undeath that would make King Atrax smile. lol
✓ Occasional Roleplayer
✓ Guild is " Balderag's Garde " for now. (German)