Suggestion: Nerf non-mission NPC's drastically

[Kauket]

The only faction that should have NPCs strong enough to deter visitors hostile to them is Nomads.

Strongly disagree. Personally NPCs should be strong around key areas, eg Zone-21, Manhattan, home areas for factions.

I used to think that too, but ultimately it's not fun for anyone involved if the interactions we're supposed to be looking for are screwed up by the presence of NPCs as described in the OP. Maaaybe you could make the case for restricted areas like Zone-21, Kansai, Sektor-7 etc., but not capitals and the like. Those are supposed to be "hangouts" that people can interact at.

So... don't initiate a fight at a capital world?

Sure, people will hide there, but they'll usually be covered by pobs with WPs anyway.

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[Commandantt]

If you want to find weak NPC try O11 since wilds don't get nerf their weapon is still weak and others NPC kill them super fast lol

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[Groshyr]

If you want to find weak NPC try O11 since wilds don't get nerf their weapon is still weak and others NPC kill them super fast lol

based

[Karst]

I mean....players going to areas hostile to them is kind of the basis for interaction. It would be a pretty boring game indeed if everyone just stayed in places that are green to them. I don't see why you'd want to discourage that.

And yeah, not a fan of cockblocking weapon pobs either, for the same reason.

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[Fiorella de Marco]

Either you will have people hiding behind WPs, NPCs, or docking and logging off entirely. If people don't want to fight you, they will not fight you no matter how many defenses you will remove.

Current low number of players isn't caused by NPCs or POBs, but by repetetivness of ingame interactions.

[Mímir]

The problem right now is that even if people DO want to fight you, the NPC's complicate things.

To elaborate, here's a selection of fights I had the last few days:

1. I get into a fight with 1 guy, his buddy shows and so does an ally of mine, and we have a double duel. I finish first and start killing off hostile NPC's to get my regens back, but then I notice there's a wing of unlawful NPC's swarming the last lawful guy duelling my ally, and I start to shoot my own faction NPC's to give the guy a fair chance.

2. I go to Malta on a Corsair to pick a fight, someone responds and I decide to take the fight in Theta instead to avoid the Malta NPC patrols. Sadly for my opponent, there's like 8 NPC Titans waiting just inside Theta. I win the fight, but afterwards I'm not really sure how much of it was me and how much of it was the NPC's, and I feel bad for taking the fight there.

3. I pick a fight with a lawful near West Point and decide to take the fight to the Badlands to create some roleplay atmosphere and maybe have a fun fight with obstacles. After a while he breaks off and goes back to WP citing the NPC swarm. I do some trash-talk RP, but as a player I totally understand where he's coming from.

4. There's practically no-one on the server, but I pick a fight with a dude in N.Y. I have a long time to pick the engagement point as I knew he would come to me, so I decide to go 10K above plane in the hopes that we'll avoid NPC's. Nope. TBF I'm not sure if they followed his ship or something or if they spawned in right there, but at any rate I end up with 4-5 NPC's on me as well as the other player even though I went out of my way to avoid them.

All of these interactions would have been a lot more fun for all involved parties had there been 0 NPC's in the game at all. At least nerf the things to the ground if you want to keep them. High-level NPC's are readily available in missions, and are totally counter-productive in open play.

As you say players can run for cover anyway, all capital planets are littered with POB weapon platforms, so the ridiculous NPC's serve no real purpose.

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[Lemon]

The only faction that should have NPCs strong enough to deter visitors hostile to them is Nomads.

Strongly disagree. Personally NPCs should be strong around key areas, eg Zone-21, Manhattan, home areas for factions.

I used to think that too, but ultimately it's not fun for anyone involved if the interactions we're supposed to be looking for are screwed up by the presence of NPCs as described in the OP. Maaaybe you could make the case for restricted areas like Zone-21, Kansai, Sektor-7 etc., but not capitals and the like. Those are supposed to be "hangouts" that people can interact at.

So... don't initiate a fight at a capital world?

Sure, people will hide there, but they'll usually be covered by pobs with WPs anyway.

Not sure what you are arguing here.

Devs themselves through a consensus removed large NPCs from capital worlds so people can interact. They are meant to be interaction hubs

Places like Vespucci planet is fine to have cruiser spawn so people can raid it. This is just an error and will be rectified - lowering density didn't work as even light fighters shred you, and your own allies also kill you as you use CD in duels.

EDIT: vespucci is PERFECT as it has a clear localised area where hard NPCs spawn

We've had this issue in Gallia, RP "Hubs" need to be as accomodating to interactions as possible, house capitals have already been chosen for that purpose.

[Save My Soul]

Make NPCs strong (maybe even stronger than now), or delete them at all, eh. Who needs frail dummies who do nothing but bump into you? If they exist, then let them pose a threat, yah. I'm glad that in one of the last patches They™ buffed them.

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[Lucas]

The only faction that should have NPCs strong enough to deter visitors hostile to them is Nomads.

Strongly disagree. Personally NPCs should be strong around key areas, eg Zone-21, Manhattan, home areas for factions.

Strongly disagree. These NPC's have already ruined countless amounts of fights, each patrol is essentially another player shooting at you during combat. It's even less fun when you consider that CD'ing a police patrol as Navy turns them hostile etc.

It was a fun idea, people had their fair share of fun seeing them, now it's time to get rid of them if you don't want player interaction even less enjoyable than they were before.

[Kauket]

The only faction that should have NPCs strong enough to deter visitors hostile to them is Nomads.

Strongly disagree. Personally NPCs should be strong around key areas, eg Zone-21, Manhattan, home areas for factions.

Strongly disagree. These NPC's have already ruined countless amounts of fights, each patrol is essentially another player shooting at you during combat. It's even less fun when you consider that CD'ing a police patrol as Navy turns them hostile etc.

It was a fun idea, people had their fair share of fun seeing them, now it's time to get rid of them if you don't want player interaction even less enjoyable than they were before.

The actual problem is them being the ambience population which is across the ENTIRE system.

Why would you even want to got pvp in a place like Alaska? Thats the point of adding a risk, don't go there.

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