Too much NPCs

[Linerges]

Ahh, so much of debates... I'm the one standing for more NPC, rather then empty space with 30 players crawling somewhere far away. If you disagree and refuse to read tons of arguments - read next posts. You've been warned!

I see that people blame NPC because of impossibility to stay near higly-secured areas. Well... that is why they are HIGLY SECURED, right? In reality you cannot break into any office of NYPD ALONE (!) and stay cocky and alive, robbing people around.

So you're also blaming NPC for their failure to RP - great, I see your point clearly. But I can also see that these pieces of code can talk IN A VOICE, which you or any live person here cannot. You might bring a great RP and text us some genuine lines, but in complete silence Freelancer never gonna work for me. Many space-exploring games have such mechanic, where NPC make a radio-talking - this give players atmosphere, makes them BELIEVE in this world. Your texting RP must ALIGN to this world, not CHANGE or completely deny it.
If you really want to be an RP pirate - make it real with catching traders aside from secured space (traders can be motiveted to be there for high margin vs very low in safe space) OR make some raids! Outnumber and outgun defences of those nasty lawful highly-secured bases and dominate there. If you come to a planet with just a pair of small fighters - you are not a threat and such actions is not a serious, well-planned raid. So you blame, that NPC doesn't bring any RP - you're wrong, they DO. They makes highly-secured places protected and demanding a higly-threating raid as opposed, not some random dudes on flying washtubs. You want live persons to catch you? Write in world's chat that #random pirate faction# is spotted in #random system name# and have fun fighting and RP-ing with those, who you so desperately looking for. If you want to make pirate and terrorist stuff in a middle of active and busy world without bringing attention - you have some serious problems with logic and undertanding where you are. Maybe you get used too much to empty server without "life". "Life", that was in original game we all so love and appreciate. Well, since we play the game for more than 17 years - we have to love it desperately, I guess

Good point showing people, who wants immersion, "New game" button. But, you see, Discovery is not a server only for joy of pirates and PvP. Some people also want to play in coop, which is also great. Or be peacefully helpful for other players - not all of us have murder instincts hidden deep inside of our skulls, you know. That's why I play it - to relax and joy the game, the world of it. I don't like empty space with a few guys who seeks reasons to start "pew"-ing each other or those, who love to send a PR-poems to each other instead of making more realistic radio conversations.
I want to play Freelancer as it was + live people in it. I refuse to play in decorations of this game with some random dudes lurking along emptyness - for such experience I can find another game.
Of course, I can find another server, but there ain't much of them and I like the story Discovery community created - this is amazing work, which is quite interesting to join.

You talked so much about how important your RP is against NPC. Well, that is your RP and of few other dudes. Unfortunately, there ain't much of you in numbers. Most people do some crappy RP or doesn't do it at all. There are many of them, way more than people like you. So you want to this world be consisted of such people? Ain't fun, ain't RP. NPC is required to make this world live. Yes, they shoot you just because you red. But that is OK! You are their enemy. WHY they have to wait until you say something? Even in real world there are many people who will just punch their obvious enemies without a word. I don't understand when people want to be a part of this world with their RP while completely negating basic laws of this game: if systems paints you red as "enemy" - you are enemy. I think you never get an idea to stop shooting and speak with NPC? Ever tried to taunt them or make some other lines, which can fit the situation and typical behavior of NPC? Most of you just ignore them, which is quite crazy - you ignore part of world you want to be a part of. Nah... such RP is not a true one. It is a simple imitation that you try to elevate here as of something more meaningfull.
Those who really can in RP, with complete understanding and accepting of all those details and mechanics, will not whining here about NPC - they will accept it and play their RP around it because this is an essential part of this world.

After all, there ain't much of people on this server. I came back to Discovery after a few years just because there are so many GOOD changes appeared and one of them - NPC spawn. It brings back that old warm feeling of real Freelancer, not some plastic "RP Server". Real persons never gonna align to this world completely, all they have to do - is to make it more random and sometimes dangerous, but not completely erase a hefty part of this game. You have to realize, that this ain't EVE, as someone mentioned before - this world is small and played by less then 100 people by most of the time. Same 100 people over and over again... it kills me. World of Freelancer is a huge galactic with hundreds of planets, billions of people, thousands of spacecrafts! And you want to replace all of it by that hundred persons? People, who made and keep supporting Discovery made it because of love for this game, for this world. I'm sure, that if thery wanted for a chat with PvP function, they never gonna tell any of those stories about nations, their achievements and losses, complication of story and world itself.

Little offtop about POB:
People also whining about POB destruction. And I would also be very upset of loosing so much time and effort just because some dudes decided to make a "boom". Well, let's make POBs more, way more easy to create and support. It will allow people to raid them more often without cries on forum, it will also give more RP sense for those, who want to make raids on enemies. Especially if you give some rewards for destruction of POB, like resources, left in ruins. Yes, easy-to-set POBs will spam this world, but may be easily erased by raiders and opposite lawfuls during war. There you will get your "Puebo Station attack like in original game" without hugging unreakable stations and planets.
Care of your POB? Well, POB is not for a single player, it is for a group. So gather group and make some kind of guarding patrol or, maybe, admins may add spawn of heavy NPC patrols of your faction nearby? Since NPC are bringed back, we may use them for something good too.
The bigger and wealthy your POB - the more guarded it may be with heavier and/or more frequent partrols of NPC around it. AND it may become a great target for raid, if we will make reward for raiding dependable on wealthy level of that base.

Stay safe, pilots!