As part of making Tyria a living place, there should be a connection between the NPCs, and the outside world events, to bridge the gap between personal story and the living world.
How can we make this connection?
“Home Town Heroes”
There are many NPCs from around the world gathered in each home instance.
- Each selected NPC can assign the task of completing a particular Dynamic event chain from their respective region.*
Carys, a Sylvari NPC in the human home instance, could be wondering how her old friend Mathair has been doing since becoming a Valiant of Vandal’s claim in Brisban Wildlands
- Upon visiting the named Contact, they ask for help concerning the current problem they face.
Mathair, the Sylvari friend that Carys told you about, tells you about the “sinister triad” and the trouble they have been causing, and asks if you could take them out
- The final event of the chain must be completed to receive credit
In order to defeat the “sinister triad” you must first trigger the event by destroying all three camps (first event in the chain)
- Each day, a new chain can be rotated in using a different NPC or through the same NPC for a new reason in the same region. While the event begins centered on the contact NPC, the chain can end anywhere.
Uwe Roaldson (norn in human home instance) needs to pay a tab to Innkeeper Klement (also norn) in Lornar’s pass. Upon arrival, Klement makes you collect dwarven artifacts as payment, however after completing that quest you end up having to defend him from pirates, escort researchers, and finally Defeat Lord Ignius
How does this impact the world?
- Gives a new, ever changing reason to go to home instance
- Gives the NPCs in your home significance, as well as an identity that connects them to you as well as the outside world.
- Will shift people around to different parts of the world, and more importantly:
- Bring attention, and context to the many complex events around Tyria that would normally be overlooked or only partly experienced
How does this impact personal story and the living world?
- bridges the gap between personal story, and dynamic or living world events by taking tasks from your personal instance/story and directly involving them in the open world.
- Brings personal significance to the NPC’s in home instance as well as significance to the events themselves
you aren’t just helping while you are breezing through, this event is directly related to a character that you know and wan’t to help.
- If released in some sort of completion order, will give a new sense of personal progression, much like personal story did, while giving the living feel we get from living story patches.
You may complete one “Hometown Hero” quest per account per day, at your own leisure, however there is a set order in which they occur. You may only begin Uwe’s quest to pay back the Innkeeper if you have already helped Carys’ old friend in Brisban.
Interactions do not need cut scenes like personal story, voice over at most, but would be perfectly fine with small walls of text. If voice over, you could simply narrate the steps of your journey with the Character voice, much like in a movie or show, after all… it’s “their story”
There is MUCH more that can be done with this, or even similar to this, but just an idea I had while gathering my quartz.
(edited by Sir Arthur.8905)