Settlement (Re)population Project

This suggestion is based on something I noticed in Chiconis - namely the random hatchie running back and forth to that crystal, which got me thinking. Basically, I see a lot of empty/almost empty settlements and even towns in the game, and likely that’s due to there simply not being enough dev bandwidth to go and create nonessential NPCs for each of these locations.

So rather than having the devs try and come up with endless lore and NPCs to fill out the world, why not have a thread where players can suggest NPCs with their own little backstory to populate various villages and empty locales across Istaria?

That way, the devs would only have to implement the character models, movement paths (if they move) and speech text, but the NPCs themselves would have depth and everywhere you go would eventually feel like a real town with real people living in it. Not only that, but for future updates the devs could build on these NPCs, making them into quest givers/merchants/etc if need be. It would also encourage players to get out and explore all of the towns and settlements of Istaria, because in each there would be interesting mini stories to discover and NPCs to befriend.

I’m not talking about incredibly in-depth NPC backstories either, though no doubt there’s plenty of excellent writers just itching to design a masterpiece here. I’m thinking a lot of simple stuff like “Farmer Joe and his wife, Betsy, who left the hustle and bustle of Tazoon for the more peaceful and pleasant air of Heather. They dream of starting their own ranch, but for now make their living as humble grape farmers.” Just a few folks like that peppered around and the world suddenly seems so much more there.

You know, normal folks just trying to survive and scrape by in a world filled with blight and death.

I consider this an excellent idea!

When I was (re) attuning to some places, somewhere in the nowhere,
a little (blue?) hatchie started talking to me about the nice area and such.
It took a sec until I realized its an npc, but most imported it made me smile
and it felt like company in an deserted area.
(as the hatchie was talking about the beautiful area.. could be it was Pleasant Canyon)

Just check this out this thread (Istaria Reference is down atm): NPC Idle Actions.

I'd love to see the world in general appear more populated!

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Originally Posted by Terao

Just check this out this thread (Istaria Reference is down atm): NPC Idle Actions.

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It's a pity the site is down... I think that suggestion goes hand-in-hand with mine. We could have a superthread where players both created an NPC (or series of NPCs) and also provided all of their mannerisms in one go. Then the devs could just implement the ones they liked whenever they had a little spare time.

The main reason the world is not populated to the brim with actual NPCs (instance NPCs are a whole different catagory) is due to various variables, but it not being a priority is definitely one.

That being said, I definitely see promise in an idea like this, there would be a few things that would have to be arranged from our side (a template for non-instanced NPCs being one, as well as some guidelines perhaps). But with enough nurturing I could surely see this becoming a thing.