Feedback:User/Frizz/Random Encounters
Random Encounters | |
|---|---|
| User | Frizz |
| Categories | World Mechanics |
Have a controlled amount of random occurring small scale encounters. It would be nice to see less "spawns" and more random events. These random encounters can be small scale, so not really world changing events. While others might have a bigger impact on the environment. Some encounters might happen because of NPC's interacting with each other, while others are strictly focussed on the player.
Concept[edit]
Already 'implemented' (in a better way than I thought possible) in Guild Wars 2 As the player moves himself through the game world he should not be able to anticipate every NPC-(foe or friend)-movement as such that it will be possible to control every event in the game happening. As most MMO's are about seeing that enemy far ahead in the distance while slowly approaching, and while this enemy won't see the player until it enters the players "aggro-circle" the player can easily control the battle. And most NPCs are randomly walking about and not being in touch with what's happening. This seems a bit flawed. While making a bigger aggro circle or having a line of sight might get annoying or hard to realize, either to program. So why not have some sort of random occurring encounters with these foes instead of placing them in and around their spawning spot, make monsters approach, pop-up and attack randomly. Of course to not make things to wild the best is to have a mix between spawned foes and randomly spawned foes. The key of this idea is that the encounters are entirely random to happen and never in the same place, but also they need to be logical, bound to the surroundings and events of the story.
Two types[edit]
There are two types of encounters: player focussed encounters and NPC events. The idea is to make the world more interactive after all, more alive. It might be possible that player focussed encounters might be triggered by groups of NPC's wandering about. So there can be two types. One where encounters happen randomly in a random place in the world. The second that are events between NPC's in which the player can participate, randomly occurring. The latter one will involve the players as much as there are in the area, but the encounter will still play on, even if there are no players around. The first one will be randomly triggered in random spots.
Player Focussed[edit]
Player focussed encounters are the main part of this suggestion. As the player travels across the lands or through cities he might get taken or approached by surprise, or he simply doesn't know what will happen. These encounters should be programmed per player/party or group of NPC's, adjusted difficulty to the surroundings. This would mean that the encounters would only happen for a specific party or NPC-group (in case of a free roaming environment) or player or group of players in the neighbourhood. This way the encounter won't happen if there are no players or NPC's about. It is possible that some of these encounters are story related in one way or another. Because of the actions of the player he might get different encounters than another players who did the same quest or mission in a different way.
Examples[edit]
- Walking in a forest, a chance exists the player or NPC will be ambushed if following the road through the woods.
- In hostile territory, getting rushed by a random group of raiders. You might see them coming, but you were never in "aggro" range. This could be a patrol running about the area and "suddenly" seeing a specific group of people.
- Travelling across a gate or bridge or near any kind of key map mark, and get a group of enemies blocking you path. This might as well be a spawn.
- A friendly encounter: you get asked the way or get help for some time or are asked for an escort to the nearest town.
NPC Events[edit]
NPC events are less random, and not really the main point of this suggestion. (Since there might already be these kinds of events, since there are some) These are events, and not encounters. They will happen, with or without interaction of the player.
Examples[edit]
- A village being attacked by an undead horde from the town's cemetery, the villager flee in look for help of heroes wandering about.
- A hostile army from the nearest bandit hideout looking to raid the town.
Additional Comments[edit]
Seeing alot of suggestions wanting to make AI improved, fights scripted or anything of the like, this might be more easy to implement. But of course I might be mistaken. I will take a look on the talk page to improve and work out the details more. Of course if you think the idea is total crap, please tell me why exactly, especially because I left out alot. I already can see this might be annoying for players when this happens, and they are not up for the task, or can't handle the situation or simply because they don't want to bother to fight. Then again I think I got a slight hints there already are such events, which is why I put them as lesser part of the suggestion.
