A really cool mechanic I think warrants looking into

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Originally Posted by ClausL

I absolutely despise games with any kind of automated, make progress while AFK type systems... it feels like an in-game bot, basically. No thanks. I would rather progress be limited to when I'm actually playing the game.

I would quit if this was implemented, no question.

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Originally Posted by Spy

yes. because I LOVE games where people just afk with their characters standing in one spot like mindless drones. Adds so much LIFE to the game.

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crazy thing is people bot & afk like mindless drones anyways, and theres people who buy power leveling. AFK progress will always be around. all mmo's are mindless zergs anyways, FFXIV was no different.

There is one other thing that needs to be mentioned about the NPC mechanic in Age of Wushu, your character is a target for other players still in the game and they can be kidnapped and sold for servitude to NPC's in the game looking for free labour, so it is a risk reward that makes that game unique.

In PSO2 you could make yourself available as an NPC for your friends to invite you to their party when you were offline. You earned money from the monsters you kill as well as some exp, from what I remember. This of course depended on your friend's performance in that run...

I like the idea of giving life to AFK/Offline characters, and I hope we see something like that in ARR eventually. But, I hope it doesn't involve increasing EXP. or items. If it's there, it's there for social aspects, like:

- Making sure the free company HQ is never empty.
- Making it easier for people in huge LSs/FCs to recognize each other if they can see them in their HQ whether they're online or offline.
- Free company members giving other members certain permissions to borrow some stuff from them while they're AFK.
- AFK DoH can repair equipment (if they allowed it beforehand.)

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

In PSO2 you could make yourself available as an NPC for your friends to invite you to their party when you were offline. You earned money from the monsters you kill as well as some exp, from what I remember. This of course depended on your friend's performance in that run...

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Actually the NPC partner you create in PSO2 is from the most recent time you created/updated your partner, and your NPC can be used by multiple people at multiple times whether you are online or offline, BUT if you don't update it from when you yourself gain a level, it will forever be level 10 heh, I should know, I'm currently playing it and keep forgetting to update my NPC Partner card.

Been a while since I touched that, so you're probably right. I didn't want to play with a Damocles sword of "we're going to block all foreign IPs if hacking continues" hanging over me.