NPC-patrols

[acridiel]

As far as I know, it has been like this once. (early beta)
Trouble was that players would sometimes drag aggro into the patrols just to get rid of them and more seriously that if the patrols were attacked by a large spawn of social creatures or aggros, the naturally “social” patrols would not know when to stop.
The violence would soon spiral out of control with more and more socials joining in the fight, especially if AoE was involved, until each last one either side were decimated. This could very well mean a fight of rather “epic” proportions in some regions.

And if they helped you killing Nameds, or other aggro, no XP for you, remember?

CU
Acridiel

[iwojimmy]

I used to kill (and loot, and get xp) Wyac by pulling her to the Eco Warrior camp, and feeding her poisoned trykers until she died, I say it counts as soloing if I am the only one left alive at the end

And i remember the tribe patrols when they used to fight the wildlife. I dont think they were aggro, but they were attackable by gingos etc, and would defend themselves. I beleive it was stopped because players were just following the patrols around to avoid aggro.

It would add to Ryzoms image, or reputation, or whatever - as a living world if the tribe patrols were a bit more responsive to the environment around them, and the history of the players with that tribe.

[acridiel]

I used to kill (and loot, and get xp) Wyac by pulling her to the Eco Warrior camp, and feeding her poisoned trykers until she died, I say it counts as soloing if I am the only one left alive at the end

*cough,cough* Exploit *cough*

And I never said they were aggro.
But sometimes aggro mobs attacked them and things could get out of hand quickly
At last that´s what I´ve been told by someone I know who was in Beta, but sadly left with Patch 01.

CU
Acridiel

[iceaxe68]

And i remember the tribe patrols when they used to fight the wildlife. I dont think they were aggro, but they were attackable by gingos etc, and would defend themselves. I beleive it was stopped because players were just following the patrols around to avoid aggro.

That sounds like a perfectly valid RP sort of way to get around, frankly. Why wouldn't a homin travel with a group in dangerous country? I don't see that it would be a problem. If some sort of problem did occur, just change the location/path of the NPCs. Or *gasp* randomize it (within limits).

It would add to Ryzoms image, or reputation, or whatever - as a living world if the tribe patrols were a bit more responsive to the environment around them, and the history of the players with that tribe.

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

[katriell]

That sounds like a perfectly valid RP sort of way to get around, frankly. Why wouldn't a homin travel with a group in dangerous country? I don't see that it would be a problem. If some sort of problem did occur, just change the location/path of the NPCs. Or *gasp* randomize it (within limits).

I agree. Even though I love sneaking and difficulty, it would be realistic and immersive to ease travel by following NPC patrols.

Imagine you are digging or hunting and you see a line of homins passing. NPCs, players, whatever - they're just Atysians trying to make their way in and through the world, taking advantage of the timeless idea that there is safety in numbers. You wave to them and go on about your business, or maybe you join in for some company and sight-seeing.

People would sometimes move their mektoubs this way, creating awesome caravans.

When the time comes for you to do some travelling, maybe you bravely head out on your own or maybe you're a timid sort, an average homin who would rather hitch a ride. Either way you will still have to sneak normally at many points. For some the opportunity to cling to the hem of a patrol's skirt would be a relief eagerly sought, but no more than an intermittent one nevertheless. Others might spot a patrol and decide to tag along on a whim, following them to places they wouldn't have seen otherwise.

[ajsuk]

Sounds fine to me, something we've all thought about from time to time I think. I don't see any problem w/ it, it's deeper, more realistic, and more fun. =)

As long as there's not a plethora of tribes ripping through the landscape and killing off all mobs within a 100m radius. Everything in moderation.

[iwojimmy]

*cough,cough* Exploit *cough*

There you go displaying the mindset that unless you do things the way the Devs imagined, you are breaking the rules...
What kind of sandbox is that ?

According to the game mechanics, to get xp and loot from a mob, I had to do the majority of the damage, So I had to out-hit the NPC trykers, without running out of sap or health - or dying. It took a lot of effort to actually pull Wyac that far, and a lot of deaths to develop the technique. I feel more virtuous killing Wyac that way, than using a twin box setup with a tank and madness/heal combo.. which is certainly more reliable and easier.
/edit and of course the inspiration for the whole thing, was getting Wyac off the resource fields, so all I was doing was making sure the Eco warriors DID manage to kill her.. even if they all - or almost all - died in the process.
/edit

But getting back to what is acceptable, the devs go to all this trouble to design a region, and populate it with mobs, and design a challenge for the players, then some bright spark comes up with something that bypasses all that effort and get on with whatever they want to do, the devs see that as the world not 'working as intended' and act to prevent players from bypassing their creations.
Sandbox worlds should result in emergent behaviour, The challenge for the development team is to keep up with the players, not to keep the players down.

So .. heading vaguely in the direction of back on track .. The NPC tribe patrols used to interact with the wildlife, but were stopped, for reasons I personally dont feel are justified. It would increase the immersiveness of ryzom if they interacted with players also, at least to the same extent that the static village guards do.

[acridiel]

I absolutely agree with you that it would help the emersiveness of Atys.
I never said otherwise.
My post was merely meant as a reminder of said past facts and a word of caution to the devs and maybe a small "be careful what you wish for.".
Nothing more, nothing less.

As wholeheartedly as I normally abhor this kind of notion, I must point to another game that had a system that dealt with these problems in a very great way.

Tabula Rasa.

As bad as it may have been for many players out there, and here I won´t in any way say defend the game, its PvE-Enemy-Raid-System was fantastic and amazing fun.
When Alien troops tried to take an Outpost and stormed the gates it felt alive and truly like a warzone. Especially if there where no Fame-,XP-Farmers around to just blast the attackers away.
In a balanced fight, everythign truly depended on tactics, skill and a bit of luck.

It were amazing fights for pure survival and tactical advantage.
A bunch of soldiers, trying their best to hold off a near unstoppable alien force. That most often threatened to overcome us by sheer numbers.
It was an amazing feeling when we won our first such battle and were able to hold our base. Or if e lost it, to later re-capture it from the aliens.

And the alien patrols wandering the area were quite clever too. Sometimes they too were attacked by aggro MOBs, but the let go after the single attacker had been killed and did not continue to fight the whole spawn.

If it would be possible to get a similar system into Ryzom... wooooh, what fun may ensue!

CU
Acridiel

[dracolych49]

Sadly, I never made it off newbie-island before the end of Beta, but the ideas here aren't that bad.

Maybe a bit of 'if % of the herd/convoy is killed, flee' type of thing would keep from the complete devastation that was previously mentioned. There is already a 'stampede' response, but players never trigger it. Using that response with the social stuff would make sense.