The problem with NPC schedules

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Vladamir Begemot, Sep 12, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

    Messages:
    6,194
    Likes Received:
    12,076
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    Is if they are off work, there's nothing to do but wait. No bars to hang out in and carouse (NPC's just go to bed, never party or go have a game of dice), no restaurants to eat at and carouse.

    Soooo..... heading out of this NPC town to go sell at a POT.
     
  2. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

    Messages:
    7,944
    Likes Received:
    9,015
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Location:
    Hemut
    I just sit and read a book in game, currently reading the Midras book while waiting for a vendor to come back.
     
    Vaentorian and Astirian like this.
  3. Thwip

    Thwip Avatar

    Messages:
    360
    Likes Received:
    881
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Montana
    The problem could be totally fixed by allowing us to buy and sell if we found the NPC, and woke them up in bed.

    Then the schedules would actually be cool, and we would just have to learn where our favorite vendors sleep, and what their schedules were.
     
  4. jiirc

    jiirc Avatar

    Messages:
    2,853
    Likes Received:
    2,893
    Trophy Points:
    153
    There are many places where this already happens. For examp[le, head to Etceter when it's quitting time. You'll see many head off to the inn for a rowdy night of fun and relaxation. Then around midnight some head out and have a good night's sleep.

    While not an evening of activity, have you seen the martial arts practitioners in Ardoris in the morning. There are a bunch of them doing their thing before heading off to work.

    But not everyone wants to go drinking every night. Some just want to go home and sleep.
     
    Witcheypoo and Sean Silverfoot like this.
  5. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

    Messages:
    6,194
    Likes Received:
    12,076
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    I do that when I'm afking at my Inn, just to keep an eye out for people that may need some help. Don't want to do that while Viola and I get a moment of actual adventure time.

    I'd prefer not to do that, how about an automated cash machine when the store is closed instead? I am not a fan of waking up people while they are getting their shut eye.

    That's great, I'll check out Etceter at evening time next time. If that were propagated across that would be fantastic. I hope it's got a bit of depth though, let me do something with the NPC's there, have them acknowledge we're drinking together or something. I know it's probably too much to ask for the moment, and maybe in the long term plans already.

    But it is a stickler. You've got to have something for the players to do if you're going to shut down the stores. Most aren't going to want to read a book and wait, many is the new player or review that has complained about it. I like the schedules, but if they are in place it can't end there.
     
    Witcheypoo and Thwip like this.
  6. Lars vonDrachental

    Lars vonDrachental Avatar

    Messages:
    1,095
    Likes Received:
    1,547
    Trophy Points:
    125
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Germany
    I guess the largest problem with schedules is the short time. A day is just 1 hour and if the vendor is closing at 10 o’clock (every 50th minute) he has to run to reach the next tavern as he already has to leave at 11 o’clock (every 55th minute) and again has to run to reach his bed in time. They just have some minutes to do something in their spare time so I guess more complex schedules are difficult to realize in this short timeframe.
    If possible I would suggest that vendor positions have shift schedules. E.g. one vendor spot is supported by two (e.g. one for 15th minute to 45th minute and one for 45th minute to 15th minute) or three (e.g. one for 10th minute to 30th minute, one for 30th minute to 50th minute and one for 50th minute to 10th minute) vendors.
    This way always an NPC would be available to support avatar requests and this also would offer NPC a little more time to have a more realistic interaction with the world and as a side effect more NPC would populate the streets while they walk to work or to their spare time fishing spot.
    Maybe the shifting NPC even have different offerings. E.g. during the night shift some smith NPCs are offering a little more gold than normally while their prices for resources (e.g. coal) are a little higher.
    Even special NPC could from time to time take a shift. E.g. just around midnight at LB birthday a special vendor is offering at a vendor spot some rares and the normally at this time active NPC is maybe visiting together with other NPCs LBs castle.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2018
    Witcheypoo likes this.
  7. Kara Brae

    Kara Brae Avatar

    Messages:
    3,872
    Likes Received:
    12,189
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Bavaria
    I like this solution. Right now, I only register that NPCs are not in their shop and either shut the game down or watch a couple of YouTube videos until they return. I neither know nor care where the NPCs go or who they spend the night with. :eek:

    If I had the option of still doing business with NPCs if I found them, I would take note of their schedules and have insight into their lives. That would be more immersive to me than watching a YouTube video.
     
    Cordelayne and Thwip like this.
  8. Timmy Vortex

    Timmy Vortex Avatar

    Messages:
    702
    Likes Received:
    1,657
    Trophy Points:
    93
    In most games with npcs having more complicated life routines you can actually advance time :)
     
    Olthadir, Kara Brae and Cordelayne like this.
  9. jiirc

    jiirc Avatar

    Messages:
    2,853
    Likes Received:
    2,893
    Trophy Points:
    153
    At one time you could wake up npcs and do business with them. In the early days they were usually asleep above their shops. Then they changed it so that your interaction with them when they were asleep caused a virtue hit, can't remember when, so I stopped. Also I usually zone to my home PoT and sell stuff there.
     
  10. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

    Messages:
    3,333
    Likes Received:
    11,010
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Also, don't you take a virtue hit if you wake them? I mean, I like that they have schedules and stuff but getting a virtue hit for waking them is really insipid.
     
  11. Sylence

    Sylence Avatar

    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    126
    Trophy Points:
    8
    This vendor schedule does not add "realism" or "emersion" . It just frustrates me and reminds me that Im playing a video game with a really dumb element. Why not use more automatons or have a night shift, or just leave the vendors at work 24/7? There are tons of things in the game that are not "realistic" Making buying regs or a repair kit when you need one this frustrating is just not helpful at all.
     
  12. Stryker Sparhawk

    Stryker Sparhawk Avatar

    Messages:
    2,115
    Likes Received:
    4,770
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Peaks of White Hart
    Everquest implemented the Gems game while people waited for the next mob to spawn.

    I am going to leave the solution to this time perception problem to the game designers at this point.

    Edited thought: maybe the 24/7 vendor prices should be higher than the NPCs with schedules to provide the services for all hours
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2018
  13. Kain Darkmoor

    Kain Darkmoor Avatar

    Messages:
    593
    Likes Received:
    1,227
    Trophy Points:
    63
    I agree if realism is what they are going for it doesn't make sense. Tons of stores are open 24 hours a day.
     
    Witcheypoo and Vladamir Begemot like this.
  14. Razimus

    Razimus Avatar

    Messages:
    1,523
    Likes Received:
    3,220
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I can tell most of you haven’t played UVii, UViii, that’s where the idea came from
     
  15. Elwyn

    Elwyn Avatar

    Messages:
    3,617
    Likes Received:
    4,783
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    If you know where they "live", you can wake them up, though it will bring down your courage score. Or at least you used to could, It's possible now that by now they'll just refuse to talk you and go back to bed, but you still get that virtue hit.

    There are a few situations (devotional caretakers) where they trade shifts. (Yeah, and there was that one town where one of the two caretakers was bugged and wouldn't advance a quest for you.) But too many NPCs has been problematic in the past, so Ardoris got hit by the "NPC plague".
     
    Kara Brae and Vladamir Begemot like this.
  16. Scanphor

    Scanphor Avatar

    Messages:
    553
    Likes Received:
    977
    Trophy Points:
    63
    NPC Schedules - 100% in the good in theory, horrible in practice category of features.
     
  17. UnbelieverDragon

    UnbelieverDragon Avatar

    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Actually, my gripe is NPCs that just WANDER OFF mid-conversation... including NPC vendors ending trades by simply walking away. Even if it's due to their schedule, you'd think they'd let you finish your sale... :)
     
  18. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

    Messages:
    6,194
    Likes Received:
    12,076
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Male
    Or the adventure trainer in Resolute who walk back and forth between the window and the fireplace. Closed the window probably five times on me yesterday.
     
    Jaesun likes this.
  19. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

    Messages:
    6,334
    Likes Received:
    14,098
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Any of the larger city shops should have a night shift. Ardoris, Brittany, Aerie, etc. Sure, the small towns would close at night. Make the cities have some benefit.
     
  20. smack

    smack Avatar

    Messages:
    7,077
    Likes Received:
    15,288
    Trophy Points:
    153
    I like the NPC schedules and enjoy this aspect of the game and wish they implemented more of it for every NPC in the game. NPC schedules in isolation without integration to other systems like NPC dialog and AI can lead to problems like this. Agreed that bugs like them walking away mid-conversation without any logical reason to do so are annoying. But yeah I can see how this feature is meant more for offline games.

    Even in the MMO game though, you should be able to wake up the NPC (if you knew where to find them, but that's a different problem) albeit at a slight virtue hit. At least now dedicated vendors with simple AI to sit, lie down, etc, near their stall that can be woken up would still be worth it to give them some life. Quest NPCs that wander off (especially to other buildings) can be a problem if there's no mechanism to tell you where they went. Perhaps they can have other NPCs bark at you "If you're looking for <absent NPC>, they went to <location>".
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.