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« on: September 12, 2014, 07:29:45 AM »
Those suggestions in the title might appear not that much related, and they might not be, but they convey a general feeling of what i think would make the server greater.
My take on the current server is that you rethought the Fonline general rules for the better, with a nice playground, with missions, dungeons, factions gates, factions sides, areas controls, npc patrols roaming in the street etc... It really make us wanting to wander in the cities and interact with that new world.
An issue that i have, although, and it doesn't mean everyone share it, is that i don't feel i am given reasons to actually STAY in the town or in specific areas. I have good reasons to come, scavenge/fight and leave once i did what i had to. I don't have much reason to patrol in a zone or guard specific areas of the zone. In the same time, i don't have much interactions beside fighting/running/scavenging.
It might be a good start, IMO, if some npc patrols weren't just there to attack/defend you, but to interact by other means. For instance, there could be :
- Traders : Low inventory, but chances to get any kind of item, and they buy all kind. You can kill them to get their inventory, but you will lose some reputations with the 4 factions, as you hurt the local trade market.
- Scout : Might provide you maps of Phoenix or tips to helps you find the dungeons, the sewers or specific items.
- Survivalist : Might provide you temporary stats boost after you talked with them.
- Wounded soldier : A faction soldier that won't attack you, and is unable to run. If you talk to him, then allow him to leave the map alive, you will gain a medium amount of reputation with his faction and lose a low amount with the three other. If you choose to shoot/kill him (regardless if you talked to him or not), you will lose a medium amount of reputation with his faction and gain a small amount of reputation with the three other factions.
- Legendary creatures: Lone creatures that have hight stats, are a real challenge to kill, but provide REAL XP, not a small amount.
On the other hand, if you stay in the zones you control, you could get :
- Fixed Traders that have almost the same items than in faction HQ, but also accept all kind of items, not just caps. They can only deal with the faction owning the town, but can provide items that are related with other factions. (Lawyer/Family combat armors, for instance) If you kill them, you have no access to their inventory and lose a small amount of reputation with the 4 factions.
- Rebuilding protection. Considering your faction is interested in taking over Phoenix, they might want to secure the city's assets. They could send 10-20 workers to try to make the zone installations working again. Let's say that the V-TEC control RobCo. You will find at the end of the timer, 10-20 civilians npc will start roaming in the map, occasionally using their hand on computers, lockers or various spots. (only to make looks like they are actually working). You can talk to an NPC and start protecting them for any threat they might face. For instance, you might gain 10 caps/reputation for every ingame minutes you spend protecting them. If some of them die during your watch, you will lose 50 reputation, and don't gain anything for 5 minutes, until a new npc is coming. On the other hand, if ennemies come and kill one of these workers, they will gain 50 reputation/XP. The workers don't defend themselves but flee enemies, which might help you to see that they are in danger. If one of them die, another one come in the map five minutes later. If another faction start a ZC timer in that zone, all workers would flee, while 5-10 guards would show up to attack.
- If there is enough faction members are protecting the workers, a significant amount of raw materials (electronics parts, junk etc) should appear in a locker near the flag, every 10 minutes, that could only be accessed by those in protection duty since 10 minutes or more. That raw material should be different for each zone.
- Those rewards shouldn't be gamebreaking, not punishing those who don't try it or not make those who use it night-invincible, but provide enough reward for giving people new motivation to actually stay in town, if they wish.
- During those protection duty, trader/scout/survivalist are more likely to appear. Wounded soldiers/legendary creatures wouldn't appear at all.
- There might be some npc guards to help you, but they won't be the bulk of the protection duty.
- If there is no one to protect them, there would be no workers, to avoid some abuse.
- You might need a level/reputation requirement before trying protection duty, in order for you to be prepared in case of reputation loss, and not suffer it too early in the game.
It might not be related, but i think it would be nice if the patrol of npc would be stronger/more numerous during ZC. When there are 50-100 players on the same maps, those poor npcs stand no chance. It hurts the balance a bit.