Possible melding NPC.. .what do you think?

[Luxea]

Redundant feature.

You already can get away with minimal interaction via DF. Melding too? Come on, the whole point of a MMORPG is to interact with each other so you can't do everything without depending on others PLAYERS. It's not hard to make friends, really, start by greeting people in your FC/LS/dungeons/pf, if things are well, add to friendlist, if they ask for help, offer, or if you need help, ask. People on the internet aren't out to bite you.

[Welsper59]

Redundant feature.

You already can get away with minimal interaction via DF. Melding too? Come on, the whole point of a MMORPG is to interact with each other so you can't do everything without depending on others PLAYERS. It's not hard to make friends, really, start by greeting people in your FC/LS/dungeons/pf, if things are well, add to friendlist, if they ask for help, offer, or if you need help, ask. People on the internet aren't out to bite you.

I think it needs to be stressed that the "interact" portion of this is in the sense that you're actively seeking real people to do something for you. For anyone who may look at that as not being a form of interaction to build lasting relationships, it isn't supposed to be lol. It's just a tool to interact between each other, no matter how minimal said interaction may be. It's your typical craft request sort of thing. Hello's/request > action > goodbye's/reward. The same sort of interaction that might happen with IRL stores or services... which is literally how it traditionally was designed to be in MMORPGs.

Having said that though, I don't see the NPC addition to be of any detriment to the game. This does practically nothing on the scale of reducing interaction. Again, going back to the IRL stores reference, how meaningful is that to someones daily social life? If you're a typical socially healthy human being, not much. Keep in mind that it also removes the uncontrollable burden on both parties of present.

Starts with the player wanting someone to meld, where the variables are 1) finding someone capable of melding, 2) finding someone with those capabilities that is willing to do it, and 3) said person is willing to do it for an acceptable price (ranging from free to X). If any of those are not there, the seeking player is out of luck... and socializing does literally nothing to help it. In fact, if such a streak continued, it'd be possibly detrimental to socialism in general, due to an outlook that said server is unhelpful/dead/etc, not to mention an overall distaste for the game. Of course, the option to level crafts is there too, but that's another matter.

If they want to add in a limitation of basic melds only to NPCs, that's fine. That's probably the preferred approach to this, given the new means of materia use. Personally, I'm one of those crafters who don't actively heed the requests, unless it's someone I know... even then, I may not lol. As selfish as it sounds, I didn't level crafting with the sole purpose to help others or be at their beck and call. Having crafting as a large reason to why I played MMORPGs for over a decade, I've dealt with more than enough situations where people request crafters for something, which in turn made me wait around for 30-60min or more for them.

[Silica-chan]

I don't see the problem with it. With the new gear having Materia slots I'm not surprised something like this would come up sometime plus overmelding stuff would still require a crafter therfore I don't see much of a loss in player interactions.

[Zantitrach]

With the new gear having Materia slots I'm not surprised something like this would come up sometime plus overmelding stuff would still require a crafter therfore I don't see much of a loss in player interactions.

You mean that gear that forbids over-melding......?

[Luxea]

Again, going back to the IRL stores reference, how meaningful is that to someones daily social life? If you're a typical socially healthy human being, not much. Keep in mind that it also removes the uncontrollable burden on both parties of present.

Logical relevance????

1) finding someone capable of melding, 2) finding someone with those capabilities that is willing to do it, and 3) said person is willing to do it for an acceptable price (ranging from free to X). If any of those are not there, the seeking player is out of luck...

1) Player search tool.
2) Ask a qualified player nicely, remember to remain humble and say please. Ask people without the AFK sign. Wait for their reply.
3) I've never met a melder who charged me. In fact, when I tried to tip one, they told me "OMG no, please please, it's for free". Maybe I'm just lucky? Or perhaps politeness and ability to show appreciation was rewarded?

[Luxea]

and socializing does literally nothing to help it. In fact, if such a streak continued, it'd be possibly detrimental to socialism in general, due to an outlook that said server is unhelpful/dead/etc, not to mention an overall distaste for the game. Of course, the option to level crafts is there too, but that's another matter.

1) I'm not sure I quite understood you, but if your server's dead, time to transfer, or level your crafters so you can meld things. It's not detrimental except for some special ppl.

Personally, I'm one of those crafters who don't actively heed the requests, unless it's someone I know... even then, I may not lol. As selfish as it sounds, I didn't level crafting with the sole purpose to help others...

Bolded. Nuff said.

[Welsper59]

Logical relevance????



1) Player search tool.
2) Ask a qualified player nicely, remember to remain humble and say please. Ask people without the AFK sign. Wait for their reply.
3) I've never met a melder who charged me. In fact, when I tried to tip one, they told me "OMG no, please please, it's for free". Maybe I'm just lucky? Or perhaps politeness and ability to show appreciation was rewarded?

You mean how services rendered IRL is identical to services rendered in-game? Pretty sure it's self explanatory on that. People look at crafters as a means to an end. A tool, essentially. It's not a bad thing, but it's no different than opening the yellow book IRL to find a business to do some job you need done. Do you get in contact with those people to build a relationship with them? Your argument was about losing a socializing tool by adding the NPC. I'm saying that you wouldn't lose anything meaningful by this. The example of IRL services to how you would look to a crafter for in-game services is there to showcase why it's not a big deal. That is, unless you do so with the express purpose of making a friend in the process. Most people don't though. If you want to make a friend, seeking melds is not the only way to do it.

Again though, all of those variables must be in play. If one is not, then the seeking player is out of luck and must wait till one is avail or willing. You're right in that most crafters are okay to help you out, but it's still an unreliable variable for something so minor. Your replies are very short sighted, even though I spell out why those thoughts apply. Wall of text mentality maybe, as I do preach a lot.