Originally Posted by jakaul
1) Performance for no value added - this is the case with cosmetic NPCs, such as animals and such. While it may be kind of fun to occasionally take your tank for a stroll to run down herds of helpless creatures, that's not something that would either get me into the game or keep me in the game.
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Exactly. I mean I'm kind of okay with the idea of passive creatures, but hostile creatures add a lot more gameplay value to the game. That's why it bothers me when people interpret what I say for "deer and birds". Someone mentioned a dragon earlier. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned a wyvern type ice creature on Esamir which is basically a dragon.
Definitely more into hostile creatures wandering around in the game capable of being aggroed by players either on purpose maybe toward enemies or by accident when not paying attention. (In the case of a wyvern you might see a few flying around a mountain top. You can fly through them and they might use an EMP NTU attack (remember evolution Auraxis is fun) or go around them. They might also land.
Originally Posted by jakaul
2) Production for no value added - I want the developers doing work on making the PvP experience one that will maintain a healthy population of players for me to shoot at. I don't want them spending their valuable time trying to create pathing algorithms
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Everquest Next already has pathfinding for its mobs. Chances are that means Planetside would easily have it. I mentioned this before that the actual development cost is a hard debate since it's hard to know how easily things are for them. I mean they could already have a full animation system for creatures in Forgelight so dropping them into Planetside 2 might be trivial. Saying one way or the other would be kind of jumping to conclusions.
Originally Posted by jakaul
3) Losing sight of the main goal (PvP) - Where do you stop? People want an NPC faction? That won't be irritating. I'm fighting two other guys and it's awesome because I'm winning, only to get an NPC from out of the blue swoops in and either kills me or finishes the two guys I'm fighting.
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You stop when it makes the game not fun. We're looking at an ideal implementation, or I am, where they are added to make the game more enjoyable and immersive. They shouldn't detract from the core gameplay, but enhance it. Some people hate the idea of an NPC creature killing a player that wanders close to it or in its territory. Personally I find such an idea very immersive where you have a world with thousands of players and also a world that can fight back indifferent to the war. Like they've been there for millions of years before the 3 factions go there to fight for it.
Originally Posted by jakaul
Point is, PvE in PS2 would range from "nice to have" to "that's really stupid". I can't see a case that would change "nice to have" to "the game needs this".
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Yeah I agree. I made this point earlier when I said priorities. I'm waiting to see their 3 year plan to see if creatures ranks higher than any of their decisions. It could be what they have planned is far cooler for Auraxis.