Plague in Ardoris

So a plague in Ardoris decimated the population. Basically an interesting premise. So while I traveled to the city I was asking myself:

Are there corpses somewhere? A fire where the dead are burnt to prevent the plague from spreading further or did they just all vanish? What about people wearing masks in order to prevent getting infected? How is the plague affecting the population? Are they talking about it? Are they in fear of getting infected? Are they sad that family members or friends died?

So, guess what the answers are

No one seems to care that there was (or is?) a plague. The people just vanished... Very atmospheric and very good storytelling...

While I understand that it is neccessary to reduce the population due to performance reasons the way it is done makes me think that obvioulsy the story part is so unimportant that just having a plague decimate the population of the city without anyone noticing or caring is ok and will be accepted by the players.

Another thing: After entering Ardoris guess who was the first NPC I met? The guy who sells houses and lots.
Before there were guards there talking to me but now I am greeted by a guy wanting to sell me a house. This says so much about this game...

 

I think the plague comment was just listed as a light hearted joke.

I hate a lot of their development choices and lack of promises..
But comeon.

*We reduced the unnecessary amount of NPC's in Ardoris to help reduce lag. *
If thats all they had wrote, would you still have made this post?

They changed the look of some of the towns. Should they have all the NPC's ackowledge this?
Sure seems like that would cut into the actual development time.. and slow down the *Uncloning/unique* stuff.

Edit - This is like when he goes * Suck it tamers! * as a light hearted joke.. yet everyone got their panties in a bunch.

 

No I wouldn't. I would have made a post that some areas - like the bridge - are now very empty. And this after they posted some time ago that they added some NPCs there to make it look more alive.

Changing the look of a town or having the population decimated by a plague is something different I think.

If it was a joke then it was a bad one.
So now we have a big city in which next to no one lives...

 

I would agree with @Lord_Darkmoon if we were 6 months after "release" and this type of change happened without all the points made, but not while still in development. There are many other issue that need addressed instead of a story to match up with each design change right now.

 

I rarely do this. But im going to play the * Its not launched yet card *. If this was even next month after the *Story release* i could see your point being valid.
Frankly, them changing a town, moving NPCs, or literally any content changes.. doesnt need to be explained untill the *Story* is launched.
Nor do i want them wasting time on trying to.


And frankly, if the game isnt in shape to handle the amount of NPCs yet, then good. Remove them, leave the space open instead of cramming them full of NPCs that literally serve no purpose yet, except slowing down the game.

If they were going to spend time to make ardoris look like it got hit by a plague, without actually wanting that as part of the lore so a *temporary* look, your complaint would be that they put time into stuff thats only here to justify NPCS being removed.

This was a really, Reallly weak/stretched complaint. And trying to pretend that the removal of clutter NPCS that they realized the performance couldnt handle yet, some how doesnt have enough story to show * why* they moved the npcs.. is just ridiculous.


Take a note Dev's, stop trying to be funny, Or waste development time on explaining every little content adjustment while you develop.

 

For me it wasn't clear that this was meant as a joke. I thought that there was the story of a plague added to Ardoris. If this would be the case then it is done very badly.

If it was meant as a joke because to make a "funny" description of NPCs being removed then I understand this BUT I have to ask why NPCs on the bridge were removed. We have to walk for a rather "long" time until we meet the first NPC (who sells houses). Is this how the devs want new players to see Ardoris? An empty city in which we have to walk long ways until something happens or we finally meet someone? Then I have to ask why the city was built the way it is built with so much empty und useless space?

 

Well... he did say "In all seriousness" right after that. I thought it was pretty clearly a joke once I got to the part where he implied it was a joke.

 

Better to have less npc now and good playing and npc back with Release date

 

What I saw this morning before 7am this morning in Ardoris was:
- People were laying down dead. Cabalaist spies were carrying the dead out so they could be used for catapult fodder during the next siege.
- A rain storm came in and cleaned the streets of any blood and infection.
- The winds were strong and fierce and blew away the infected air that had airborne sickness spores.
- The ramaining citizens agreed not to talk about it for fear of it coming back.
- Whole families were wiped out so no one is left to be sad.
- Neighbors won't talk about it for fear of the plague targeting them next time.

Simple. Imagination at work.

 

Exactly - how anyone could take this as NOT a joke is beyond me. Some people are just #Salty.

 

Maybe the whole story could be transfered to our imaginations. This would free up time for the team to work on real and important gaming mechanics...

 

Earth years are much slower. All those plague bodies were cleaned up while you were logged.

 

Are. You. Bloody. Serious?

 

He is, however he is completely right.

But his core message, reiterated a million times in a passive aggressive way to attack the story line and game is that they designed this game to much as an MMO so advanced story plots like this (which should exist in the stand alone mode) are weak and not worthy of a single player game which he has said many times that he wanted.

He has a right to complain about it. But the constant complaining gets old. I think he knows it wont happen since they did switch to focusing on multi-player since that is where Port is getting their funds to continue to build the game from mostly.

 

Pot meet kettle...

I'm just disappointed that the notes are the closest we get to world changing storylines.

 

...but there wasn't any world changing storyline. There's just less NPCs.

...both of those statements I just made kinda suck.

 

Ardoris had over 275 NPCs. They had to be culled to bring client performance under control for that scene, and given that 100+ NPCs in that city are involved in quests and/or are backer NPC rewards, there wasn't a lot of room for maneuver.

 

I hope that in the future player vendors can be much less of a hit on performance so that the NPCs that populate/flavour a town/give the game life can take centre stage.

The lots in Ardoris maxed out on Backer-placed NPCs would hit 226.

 

Ok, so let's see.
Aside from obviously not very good planning to begin with, one of the big problems SotA has is this:

We enter scenes and it is totally underwhelming. Let's take Ardoris for example. As I said: We arrive in the city and before anything happens, before we meet anyone, we have to walk a long way down, over a long bridge and then we meet who? The guy who sells houses! Now with less NPCs this has become even worse.
And this happens so often. We arrive at a scene and there is nothing there. We walk around and find some enemies to kill or some ressource nodes. But why are we here in the first place? What is so interesting in this scene? Why should I explore it? This is missing so often in the game.

What I want to say is that the moment I enter a scene it should be interesting. There should be something happening or there should be someone there to talk to me, give me a quest, fill me in on the situation. Something that makes me want to explore the scene.

How interesting is it in a "story-driven game with a single-player narrative" to arrive at a new location and wander around with nothing happening and no one is there?

I don't say that it was a bad decision to remove some of the NPCs. If it was neccessary for performance reasons then it was neccessary. But what I question is the way this was handled. Removing NPCs or interesting things that happen right at the beginning of a scene makes me question its worth. How interesting can it become if it is so empty looking right at the beginning? Why should I explore it?
There is so much work being done for the new player experience and the introduction, the beginning of the game but suddenly all of this breaks apart right after the "tutorial". Suddenly having great introductions to scenes isn't important anymore? What impressions do new players get when they arrive in Ardoris and literally nothing happens and no NPC is there for quite some time before we meet the guy who sells houses?