Talk:NPC service

Clean-up

I've added a clean-up tag because I think that this article includes terms not used by ANet or players and other terms that are so rarely used as to be inappropriate for classification. Not every NPC that provides a service has to be placed into a specific box. In particular, NPCs who have a brief function as part of a quest or mission...and are never seen again should probably be classed under a broader category or even simply, Other. — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 09:04, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Think this could benefit from an NPC Service navi? --Falconeye 02:52, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Proposed simplification

As noted above, listing too many services hurts rather than aids our understanding of what functions NPCs perform in the game. I propose narrowing the list to the following 15 primary services (with some NPCs also receiving one of 5 secondary tags):

Primary tags

These tags organize the primary services provided by NPCs. They are meant to group NPCs with similar functions together.

Type	Description	Examples
Collector	NPCs that collects anything including reward trophies.
Crafter	NPCs that craft anything	Artisans, weaponsmiths (arguably, the zoin collectors)
Faction services	Any service involved in converting, claiming, or using Faction (whether Balthazar, Kurz/Lux, or Imperial)	Tolkano, Hei Su
Guild Services	Anything associated with creating/building/maintaining Guild halls	Registrars
Lore	Any NPC whose primary purpose is to provide lore (not just local color)	Scribes, historians
Microtransactions	NPCs that enable use of NCSoft store credits	Makeovers, costumes, mercenaries.
Mission services	Primary function is directly related to the mission corresponding to their outpost	Records keepers, initiators
Pet services	Any NPC that helps with pets.	Emryd, Wyn
Polymock	Anyone associated with polymock.	Players, instructors
Quest givers	NPCs that have 1+ quests to offer
Storage	NPCs involved in storage	Xunlai Chest, Xunlai agents
Traders	These NPCs buy and sell.	Dye traders, Merchants, Mat traders, Factions merchants. (Does not include e.g. Crafters, who can buy but do not sell.)
Trainer	NPCs that offer skills or professions	Includes hero skill trainers.
Travel	NPCs that can transport players/parties to another location (but not quest or mission initiators)	Gatekeepers (who prevent unauthorized access to a single, locked or restricted location), Map travel (who warp players to one of many locations) (does not include quest or mission initiators)
Other	any NPC that provides a service that is not covered above.	Only applies to NPCs that offer a service.
None	Any NPC that doesn't provide a service.	I don't think we need this; it's on the list (a) in case ppls think we do and (b) to highlight the fact that ANet has taken the time to populate the world with NPCs that do not fight, do not perform a service, and simple help flesh out the universe in which we play.

Secondary tags

Secondary tags are applied to NPCs that already have a primary tag; they are used to distinguish special situations, such as services available during events or to help with other types of categorization.

Type	Added when the service also...
Armorers	Directly relates to providing armor (Helps to autosort/categorize armor crafters and collectors.)
Controlled-town services	Is available only to the controlling alliance.
Hero services	Applies to heroes (e.g. Hero trainers would get Trainer + Hero services)
Festival services	Is only/primarily available during a special event
Weapon services	Directly relates to provisioning weapons (Helps to autosort/categorize weaponsmiths, crafters. and collectors.)

This makes it easy enough to categorize NPCs with similar functions, making it easier to understand how these NPCs relate to each other and to find others of the same type. It also ensures that tags are applied to a minimum number of NPCs.

There's nothing sacred about the above list; it's likely that I missed an important category or two and/or that the suggested service names above are awkward or misleading. — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 16:58, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

GO FOR IT! your idea is tons better then current setup. 15 primary tags + other/none seems to be about right with the current metagame, but will the 1-5 secondary tags be enough? ^_^ --Falconeye 19:50, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

I don't even see the point of having this page, to be honest. -- Hong 17:47, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

It was organically born out of necessity like many other centralized pages on keyword subject matters. --Falconeye 19:50, 10 July 2011 (UTC)