Playing dungeons with a friend + NPCs

[Mawlzy]

Only because all the mechanics here for them are "stand at X and you automatically dodge".

Taking the example that was posted with Hraesvelgr as an example, the original map has many platforms with winds on the edges for a player to jump on to to move to other platforms.

In all my times of doing dungeons with NPCs where we had these none of them do so. They just teleport to the player. So are you telling me that the dev team intentionally doesn't program the bots to use the same jumping mechanic as the players on purpose or are you telling me that they cannot properly program the bots to do so in a manner they like so they don't bother.

Because if its the latter then that is a limitation on the bots and thus, say it with me, inhibits dungeon design. Does it not?

I have no idea why SE does most things. What I'm claiming is that there is no reason an NPC cannot be programmed to solve any mechanic. For jumping platforms, for example, there is no process where it needs to physically "jump." You just change its coordinates to where you want it.

[Nadda]

For me (and a friend) it would be so nice if they would add a possibility to play with a friend(s) + NPCs in dungeons.
They added the system to play dungeons with NPCs but you have to go alone, I don't get it. It would be more fun to play with 1 or 2 friends and to add an NPC to make the party full.
I hope this will be an option any time :-)

I don't see the harm in maybe a duos function in the future - I think the design intent of duty support is to be able to do main story content at your own pace but the trade off is that the npcs aren't as good as actual players?

But 3 out of 4 at that point you may as well just run the dungeon normally no?

[Nighthawky2010]

I feel like it's the opposite. More people playing with NPC's means less people actually playing with others. Less people playing with others makes the game feel more dead.

I disagree. NPCs are the answer for older content with long queues. When it comes to new patch dungeons, I always use the NPCs to go through the dungeons & learn mechanics. I enjoy playing with other players when needed, like the roulettes, new raid or trials content, but l love playing with the NPCs. I would have no problem if all the normal 8-man trials had the option to use NPCs.

[VeyaAkemi]

I have no idea why SE does most things. What I'm claiming is that there is no reason an NPC cannot be programmed to solve any mechanic. For jumping platforms, for example, there is no process where it needs to physically "jump." You just change its coordinates to where you want it.

It's also very frustrating because the entire argument comes from purely vibes, people saw a change that coincided with another change that they didn't like, therefor, they decided that change A is at fault for change B, and then started to spread it like gospel, it's such a stupid argument to even use...

Seriously, the changes to dungeons happened because SE wanted to make them more streamlined/less confusing and more streamlined, I am sure they had years of feedback and data of people struggling to keep track of Hrae's platforms, so when they modernized the dungeon, they got rid of it, that's the start and end of it, if anything, more recent dungeons like Qarn suggest the exact opposite, exactly one (minor) thing was done to make it simpler, two bosses are exact the same, and the last boss is a lot more elaborate and actually forces the players to engage with mechanics, do you not think it would've been easier to make bots simply walk out of AoEs?

[DeltaCyan]

I disagree. NPCs are the answer for older content with long queues. When it comes to new patch dungeons, I always use the NPCs to go through the dungeons & learn mechanics. I enjoy playing with other players when needed, like the roulettes, new raid or trials content, but l love playing with the NPCs. I would have no problem if all the normal 8-man trials had the option to use NPCs.

What you are saying isn't wrong, of course NPCs allow for people to skip long que times and play in a safe space. Thats still taking away people from potentially interacting with each other if all they do is play with NPCs, especially if they do it all throughout the extremely long MSQ. Hence why servers can feel dead.

[Mawlzy]

What you are saying isn't wrong, of course NPCs allow for people to skip long que times and play in a safe space. Thats still taking away people from potentially interacting with each other if all they do is play with NPCs, especially if they do it all throughout the extremely long MSQ. Hence why servers can feel dead.

I'd suggest the main reason that players have moved from duty finder to duty support is because they don't have to put up with players who require them to play exactly the way they demand.

[Rinoa_353]

No more NPCs, please. Duty support needs to be removed for the sake of the game.

I like playing with Trust for the first time I do a dungeon since I take my time and explore the map and the NPC's also provide some quotes related to the dungeon too. I couldn't do that with other players since many are rude and want to just rush through the dungeon.

[TaleraRistain]

I feel like it's the opposite. More people playing with NPC's means less people actually playing with others. Less people playing with others makes the game feel more dead.

People thought that before Duty Support came out and it hasn't affected roulettes at all. Duty Support gives people the chance to do the content themselves and enjoy the dungeon first and then they can and often do choose to run their dailies like normal. It's also been very helpful on already lower population DCs like Dynamis to allow players to progress the MSQ if others aren't available to keep Duty Finder populated.

[Nero-Voidstails]

I use trust for dungeon minion grind so no fighting with other player that can sell it to the MB instead

[dspguy]

Likely won't happen. They pretty much write 3 scripts for the NPCs to follow. One for when you are tank, one for healer and one for DPS. There'd be many more permutations and I doubt they would do that.