Are NPC Party Members An Inevitability?

[Aurabolt]

I kinda feel like it will be happening at some point in the future. How it could look is a whole other topic though I have my ideas I won't get into detail on here.

I can already measure a pretty good guess the overwhelming majority of folks here are disgusted by the idea but I do believe it is both inevitable and to a greater degree necessary to meet varying play styles and preferences.

...Plus, the MMO bubble popped a long time ago. The genre's not as popular as it was in the past plus other factors. This is why I feel NPC party members is inevitable. Time will tell though.

[deenman]

in what scenario?you didnt actualy mention that lol,we already have this system for some stuff,but do you mean for lfr and rdf?

[arr0gance]

Fuck no. The last thing this game is even fewer reasons to be social.

[deenman]

Fuck no. The last thing this game is even fewer reasons to be social.

when was the last time you needed to be social on normal df or hc?if theres a need for it i dont see a problem with it,shorter ques would be gr8,also a proving grounds like mode in dungeons would be pretty sweet

[Razion]

Seems like something that would appeal to people who really want to solo current content all the way to the end to see like, story and stuff. Might be another way for people to continue progression every week on their own if they aren't playing with other people, maybe. Maybe to that extent I could imagine myself using it, but if it were just for story it seems like a one and done sort of deal. I'm kind of lukewarm on it atm.

[TehTemplar]

You already get from 1 to 4 NPCs in your group when you queue through the LFG for normal/hc 5mans, so why?

[Very Tired]

The amount of talking in normal pug groups is essentially the same as having silent 4 NPCs in your party.

[arr0gance]

when was the last time you needed to be social on normal df or hc?if theres a need for it i dont see a problem with it,shorter ques would be gr8,also a proving grounds like mode in dungeons would be pretty sweet

God forbid somebody in the group says "hi" to one another in a dungeon. This seems like the end conclusion to the cynical anti-social nature of modern gamers.

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The amount of talking in normal pug groups is essentially the same as having silent 4 NPCs in your party.

You don't have to be social but at least the option's there.

[Rusken]

I kinda feel like it will be happening at some point in the future. How it could look is a whole other topic though I have my ideas I won't get into detail on here.

I can already measure a pretty good guess the overwhelming majority of folks here are disgusted by the idea but I do believe it is both inevitable and to a greater degree necessary to meet varying play styles and preferences.

...Plus, the MMO bubble popped a long time ago. The genre's not as popular as it was in the past plus other factors. This is why I feel NPC party members is inevitable. Time will tell though.

I would hope not. Not for 5-man content at least. Maybe for Scenario/Island Expedition type content designed specifically for AI teams but to have NPC's tackle regular dungeons would essentially mean scripting every dungeon as an Escort quest with multiple variations of escort NPC's depending on what role you're going in as.

Then there's the issue of balancing them. To what level of player do you cater AI run dungeons to and what kind of rewards does it give? You can't just hand out M+15 gear to anyone with 20 minutes spare who just gets carried by NPC's. It would have to give awful gear and literally zero gold so as not to be exploited by people with the time to do so.

It's a nice idea sure, to be able to do anything you want at any time that suits without having to rely on other players for anything at all. But this is still an MMO and certain aspects of it need to be kept as Multiplayer activities. The popularity of the genre as a whole should have little to no impact on what type of content is developed and as someone else mentioned the last thing the game needs right now is even less reason to interact with other players.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Hardly. It takes actual effort to implement something like that, so I wouldn't bet on it anytime soon.

[Mokrath]

It's probably something they would roll out if the population gets too low for matchmaking, but with cross realm play that's still a ways off.

[KayRule]

Pretty much the only thing that would make me come back.

And I know dozens of people who feel the same way.

[StationaryHawk]

There's no shortage of players to run dungeons at the level that an NPC party would be suitable for, and I don't think it would breathe new life into the MMO genre.

Hardly. It takes actual effort to implement something like that, so I wouldn't bet on it anytime soon.

We've already seen something similar in Island Expeditions, a game mode that was barely relevant even in the expansion that featured it.

[thunderdragon2]

tbh wiht the lack of tanks and healers it probably will be unless we get more people playing these rolls i see this as an unavoidable and inevitable move by blizzard

[Cosmic Janitor]

We've already seen something similar in Island Expeditions, a game mode that was barely relevant even in the expansion that featured it.

Having NPCs bum-rush you, jumping around and running away is completely different from having them actually do tactics in dungeons. Especially with the overlapping RNG-fiesta style of gameplay WoW has.

[Echocho]

I bet they could be programmed to be better at socializing than their human counterparts.

In groups everyone is dead silent until you fuck up and then they go on an all out assault, that kind of socialization I can live without.

What's ironic is that FFXIV has this exact feature but they don't need it due to the community being so nice.

[Cosmic Janitor]

tbh wiht the lack of tanks and healers it probably will be unless we get more people playing these rolls i see this as an unavoidable and inevitable move by blizzard

Getting more people into these roles will simply not happen, since it's mostly a certain type of people that wants to play these roles to begin with - especially with the responsibility baggage that comes with it in multiplayer games.

[thunderdragon2]

Getting more people into these roles will simply not happen, since it's mostly a certain type of people that wants to play these roles to begin with - especially with the responsibility baggage that comes with it in multiplayer games.

that i agree wiht sadly that why i feel that its inevitable that the roles will be replaced with npcs or the tanking and healer rolls will be done away with

[Super Kami Dende]

I hope so. One of my favourite things about FFXIV is the Squadrons. Since it allows me to level in Dungeons without requiring a queue time or dealing with other People when I just want to chill and level an Alt.

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tbh wiht the lack of tanks and healers it probably will be unless we get more people playing these rolls i see this as an unavoidable and inevitable move by blizzard

Plenty of People play healers and tanks. Literally every single person I play WoW with has a character they Tank or Heal with. It's just the incentives to do those roles with randoms which is the issue.

Cata and MoP call to Arms rewards were great.

[Cosmic Janitor]

that i agree wiht sadly that why i feel that its inevitable that the roles will be replaced with npcs or the tanking and healer rolls will be done away with

Spec agnostic stuff exists, but so far it usually just means that the balancing is completely off. So I don't see this being the way forward either.