NPC aggro?

[Watford]

First off, I recently came back to Istaria, and I must say, it's a great game! But one of the first things I noticed when I returned was that the gnome guard standing just outside New Rachival wasn't coming to assist me in killing desert wolves! Guard-Captain Terry and his militia guards no longer ran to my aid if I were battling a blight hound near their location! Not even Elainor, the New Trismus guard, would help me to kill a gruok. Is there a reason for this? I found NPC aggro to be a very fun part of the game, and would love to see it back in-game again, if possible. Tell me what you think. Thanks!

[Hoberton]

I don't know the reasoning why they were deactivated from assisting but the change happened late 2009 - early 2010.

[Shian]

It was so it could prevent power leveling or some such. I forget what exploit it was but it does suck not being able to use them for defense any more.

[Racktor]

How the heck can you power level off of guards? I think a simple fix for that would be making it so that guards got their own 'exp' and when they killed a mob themself, no exp would be given to the player to prevent power-leveling.

I liked it when the guards helped me But then again, I was a player new to the game at February 2010 and was an ancient or near-ancient when they took it out. So somewhere in mid-2011.
(I remember being on my 2nd adult char murdering the gnome guard by dragging all the wolves to him.)

[Watford]

I like that idea, Racktor. Another solution might be to make the guards' adv levels inferior to the mobs', so that the player would have to rely more on themselves to defeat the mobs instead of leaning more on the NPC's.

[Dhalin]

I heard they did it to reduce server strain, less resources used by the server.

[Krinharth]

It was so it could prevent power leveling or some such. I forget what exploit it was but it does suck not being able to use them for defense any more.

Shian, mobs killed by NPC give no exp to player, so no way for PL.
only proffit I've get, that I survive, if hord of aegis attack me, and save time - no need run again from NT shrine to deadland.
but now they realy stops to help, and I do not know why too

[awdz]

There were issues with the guards by New Trismus constantly going after nearby grulets, disrupting to local roleplay, causing lag and being a server drain. Guards in other areas (e.g., Kion gates) may have had similar issues. I think the aggro range of guards was reduced because of that. If you run on top of the guards as though begging for help, they do get moving to assist.

[Mimir]

I remember buffing the guards at the Harro gates. Great fun when getting chased by more than we could handle and having two NPCs come to our rescue. I hope that was not changed.

[Lillyjo]

when i was much lower adv level and had to get yew in harro i would run to the guards for protection far inside of the gates. you get 0 exp from the guards kill so that is a total hoax, i just ran there to stay alive and get my wood, when the guards got killed i would rez and buff them. but never ever got any experience from their kills your not grouped with them so why in the world would someone say that. and the guards i am speaking of are the ones at eastern outpost, it was right acrossed from the woodshop then.

Lillyjo, chaos server

[Mimir]

I didn't say we got XP, it was a game mechanic that was enjoyable and a mostly valuable service.

[Mensar]

There were issues with the guards by New Trismus constantly going after nearby grulets, disrupting to local roleplay, causing lag and being a server drain. Guards in other areas (e.g., Kion gates) may have had similar issues. I think the aggro range of guards was reduced because of that. If you run on top of the guards as though begging for help, they do get moving to assist.

Pratt - RIP. Reason: Roleplay disruption
Guards-RIP. REason: Roleplay disruption

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

[Krinharth]

I didn't say we got XP, it was a game mechanic that was enjoyable and a mostly valuable service.

but seems something changed now? no more guards come to helps players. at least in NT I saw it

[Raptress]

Pratt - RIP. Reason: Roleplay disruption
Guards-RIP. REason: Roleplay disruption

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

I had never even heard of the reason for guards being deactivated for player defense being "roleplay disruption." The only reason I ever heard was drain of server resources, and I'm pretty sure that was from a dev. It feels like you jump on role-players any chance you get. :/

[Hoberton]

May 20, 2011

http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ighlight=Pratt

That led to this:

July 6, 2011

http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ighlight=Pratt

Blight Update 208

has been applied to the Blight Testing Shard on Tuesday, July 5th and includes the following additions, changes, and fixes. Please use this thread to post bugs only.

Changes

Pratt will no longer walk around New Trismus and talk to Geoff or Milicent.

and finally:

Sept. 6, 2011

http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ighlight=Pratt

An update will be applied to the Live servers on Tuesday, September 6th, 2011.



World / Plot

• Pratt will no longer walk around New Trismus and talk to Geoff or Milicent.

[Mensar]

I had never even heard of the reason for guards being deactivated for player defense being "roleplay disruption." The only reason I ever heard was drain of server resources, and I'm pretty sure that was from a dev. It feels like you jump on role-players any chance you get. :/

No, actually I just prefer the game not be changed for the whims of the players. Or certain players. For example. You told the devs there were too many motherlodes in travertine... so they took them away. The thought process behind that is beyond me, but that's just an example.

I thought Pratt was great, definitely added a lot of ambience and a welcome feeling to NT. The guards helping folks was a great thing too. It justified their existence. I used them a number of times when I was a newbie to escape certain death, haha. Also nice when you just want to ignore aggro and head into town.

But no, I'm not "jumping" on the RPers.

If you look at those posts Hoberton put up, they were quite clear about the fact that it "interrupted" their RP in NT. And instead of stating the obvious: Don't use local chat for RP. The devs silenced him.

I guess I'm just the one that stated the obvious. Don't use local chat for RP.

Problem solved.

[LOVWYRM]

please folks,
this is not the only thread,
where it comes to a roleplayer vs non roleplayer disputation.

For non roleplayers on Order, one think must be clear:
Roleplay comes first. And yes- in local chat too.
Roleplay is the justification of the existence of Order shard.

And though
-I am not a roleplayer
-I`m the first one to flame if someone tells me to go to Chaos if I have probs with rp or roleplayers
-and the majority of Order population does not rp (which is sad- and I really miss some old roleplayers who I would not have called friends )

its about time that we stopp that picking on each other.

Pratt is gone -good or not good. I miss him too
(and guards have NOT been disabled because of rp probs)
BUT
do not try to tell me that Pratt would give a better impression/welcome to new players
than a group of real players could do. Esp. if they rp.

And who knows..if there is a bit manpower left someday,
devs will send a brother or sister of Pratt to Kion..

[awdz]

And who knows..if there is a bit manpower left someday,
devs will send a brother or sister of Pratt to Kion..

There actually is a mobile guard there now, walking about between the port pad and the west gate. Generally silent, too.

[LungTien Temeraire]

Pratt and others talking NPCs could also have been silenced manually by players by using the ignore function.

[Watford]

Please, folks...this is about NPC guards/aggro, not RP or pratt...