Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Walking NPCs in the nodes & other locations: Have they been confirmed?
Artharion
Member, Alpha Two
One of the things we all appreciate about MMORPGs is how important is to make the world feel alive and in constant motion. This means that it is essential to have different locations well populated so you can find players anywhere in the world. However, I think that this should not only be limited with the players themselves, but also with the NPCs. I think WoW does this very well. When you enter a city such as Stormwind, Iron Forge or Ogrimmar you can see a lot of NPCs there, not only standing in their places, but also walking around and having their own rutines, no matter how simple they are. Even if you log-in at a time when there are few players connected, you'll see that the city feels alive because of its NPCs. Moreover, you can also find NPCs across the world, in different outposts and locations, so everytime you go outside for an adventure you will come across with interesting characters to interact with. Another game that has achieved this is Black Dessert. One of the things I love about Black Dessert was how alive the world feels when you go out the cities and you see NPCs travelling on the roads transporting materials.
On the contrary, a game that hasn't achieved this is New World, where the last time I played I could barely see more than 10 NPCs per outpost, and all of them were standing there without moving, making the outpost look quite dead especially when they were empty of players. I think these are the two faces of the same coin when it comes to a very important concept in an MMORPG.
As far as Ashes of Creation is concerned, has it been confirmed that the nodes will be full of NPCs and that they will not only be standing in their places, but also will be able to move and make their "life" and routines inside their node? Will there only be NPCs in the nodes and cities or also across Verra?
On the contrary, a game that hasn't achieved this is New World, where the last time I played I could barely see more than 10 NPCs per outpost, and all of them were standing there without moving, making the outpost look quite dead especially when they were empty of players. I think these are the two faces of the same coin when it comes to a very important concept in an MMORPG.
As far as Ashes of Creation is concerned, has it been confirmed that the nodes will be full of NPCs and that they will not only be standing in their places, but also will be able to move and make their "life" and routines inside their node? Will there only be NPCs in the nodes and cities or also across Verra?
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Comments
Where we place the NPC rotations that are relevant- those would be kind of rotations that exist perhaps within an hour, not so much within a day so-to-speak. So there might be five minutes of some changing of an organization's acolytes in a temple or something; and that might be because obviously there's a quest related to that rotation. – Steven Sharif
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/NPCs
I haven't played WoW so i can't comment about that but I i have played BDO and I strongly dissagre that they achieved the feeling of alive NPCs.
It's true that they are there and some are even walking around but most of them are all stuck in a short loop with very few voicelines and poses. It makes the world feel paused, like you're watching an exhibition with mechanic puppets at a historic museum, stuck in the same moment forever everytime you visit.
I don't really thing its needed to have super advanced npcs, but it shouldn't feel empty. What matters is seeing the players around and about the area. If you can have a good gameplay loop for a city you will see plenty of people around doing their thing.
We should see plenty of NPCs around to help set the story.
Intrepid, just because an NPC has an important quest or is an important story character does not mean they have to stand still! Please consider this when programming your city NPCs. We don't need DoS2 (Divinity) where the NPCs repeat the same 6 seconds of dialog with one another every 2 minutes in perpetuity. But a Priest will lead his clergy in a prayer, then perhaps check the incense are still burning, then go to the front of the church to ask for donations, or grab a drink from a nearby water pitcher. There are very many little things you can take for inspiration just from what would happen in a living world.
I hope, in this aspect, Intrepid leans far more into the classic single player RPG style of idling NPCs as opposed to the classic MMORPG style of loads of people just standing around doing nothing to hand out a quest for people to find their lost pigs...as opposed to looking for them too?
In the words of one of the best Tauren starting zone NPCs "Will you help me find my dog?"
Professional Skeptic, Entertainer, and Animal Enthusiast
Some blacksmiths might not like being interrupted and will grouch (or ask for more) if you do. The vegetable seller is asleep at night, wait until morning to talk to him. The hunter is only in town sometimes, the guards take time off for lunch or to take a leak.
You get my drift, make it realistic. Sure, some players will complain. So what? Are we making the game's target audience spoiled gamers?
Watch this example of FFXIV:
\o/ Woo!!
Really, having NPCs walking around in towns, cities, or even around the world like on paths, shores, forests, mountains, and certain areas, gives the world an atmosphere of a living place full of life aside from the players you can encounter. This is something that games like BDO does also pretty well, and other like New Word doesnt. When I played New World, you only encountered a few NPCs in the outpost, and they were stuck there, in the same place, as if they had glue on their feet. It really gave a dead atmosphere, especially when I were in an outpost empty of players; it felt like a ghost town.
Also, adding crows sounds it increase even more that sense of a living place.
Please keep that idea because it adds a significant degree of immersion to the game
Asheron's Call had that, it did add to the game.
I would even go step further and add some sort of likability meter when NPCs interact with you with dice roll dialogue mechanics from Baldurs Gate 3 with Persuasion, Intimidate and Bluff skill checks.
that's a massive amount of work for almost no return
Depends on what the devs have in store for that. It can have an incredible impact if done right.
I can imagine helping a particular blacksmith NPC, doing a ton of quests for him and maybe even supporting his business by buying lots & lots of materials only by him, which he notices over time.
So after a few months or so, compared to lets call it " 0 affection " to " Maxlevel affection ", he halfs the price of goods only for me to up to 50%. Only raw ressource though. Nothing which has already been refined to some degree.
I would find something like this pretty cool.
Crafting on your own farmlocation is apparently more effective but I would still find it cool if NPC's can be more time-efficient or effective under certain circumstances.
And if only in one aspect like buying raw materials.
Having a disposition meter towards a player based on how often they sell/buy with that trader is very different from giving them needs, habits, and schedules though. That's not anywhere near as much work