Suggestion: Nerf non-mission NPC's drastically

[Mímir]

So, player activity is at an all time low, which makes it extra annoying to have fights messed up by NPC's when you finally meet another player. As an unlawful in Liberty the NPC's spawn everywhere and it's just fine if you aren't occupied with other players and can just shoot them or fly away. Nearly every encounter I've had with other players in Liberty the NPC's interfere - and not just making fights annoying for me, but also annoying my opponent to the point where I've been sent oorp messages where they explain that they are throwing the fight and docking to avoid the NPC swarms.

It's everywhere you go, above plane, below plane. They are impossible to avoid and it seems no-one likes them other than to shoot some of them for a quick and easy payout (which is easily facilitated by PVE missions anyway).

The NPC's can't replace player activity or even attempt to make up for it. If the argument is that the NPC's are there to offer players protection in House space, that is pointless in that there's a POB or base with very big guns 30 seconds away at all times. If the argument is that the NPC's create atmosphere, then you can nerf them to the ground and it wouldn't make a difference.

I suggest giving the roaming NPC's weak guns and paper hulls and make sure they don't drop regens or credits, so that they are mostly a visual distraction and keep mission NPC's just as they are.

If people like to shoot at NPC's there are so many missions of every level on all bases, it's easy to have them spawn for you to shoot at all you want without it messing with player-to-player activities, I see no reason to have these swarms of beefed-up NPC's flying around annoying everyone else.

In about 50 percent of the (admittedly quite few) fights I have had the last couple of weeks, either me or my opponent has been annoyed by them to the point where it's mentioned. The roaming NPC's are just toxic for everyone.

---

[Groshyr]

Why? This at least makes you to pay attention to game while before it was just AFK F2/F3. Transports can equip AU without losing its cargo, same about guns. This is not because "people like shooting NPCs" but because many AFKing in space, feared neither a player or an NPC.

[Mímir]

I just explained why: They ruin interactions between players!

On a server with 10 people, when 2 people spend 30 minutes finding each other for a consensual fight, but then both mutually decide to dock and log off due to NPC's, the game design is problematic.

Afk traders in space never did anything to interfere with interactions between players. I'm not talking about things from an AFK trader perspective, besides as a trader you can have a fully neutral/almost fully neutral repsheet and not care about the NPC's at all. If the argument is that NPC's are beefed up to combat AFK-trading, then the design is deeply flawed.

---

[Erremnart]

I dunno, unless there are extremely large swarms of NPCs, they can be just easily thrown off by dodging and strafing. I am not snub-pro, but I managed to interact with players in snub well despite 2-6 hostile NPCs around.

FL space with harmless NPCs was just more boring and not immersive, because even harmless NPCs can influence fight by bumping ships or attracting mines.

[Lemon]

Agreed, I flew to Xi with a cruiser and NPC fighters erased shield and started eating my hull mid-RP lol.


It was a nice idea but it just doesn't work unfortunately.

New York itself is hard to play in on snubs now, and e.g. on navy you can't even cd asyou turn LPI against you and they shred you.

[Karst]

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

---

[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.

---

[Groshyr]

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

...error 404: playerbase not found

[Karst]

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.

---

[Darius]

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

...error 404: playerbase not found

At least you are right.