Guild Wars 2

The balance of NPCs is rather horrible. Would be nice if they were more than just cannon fodder. What would make them even better is if they actually did something instead of just standing still looking how our army is getting slaughtered. Is the AI bugged, or are they ment to be a filler so the map doesnt feel so empty?

The idea is that NPCs can’t deal too much damage because it is the player’s role, and they can’t be too resilient either because otherwise they could be used as tanks by glass-canon players.

I talked about this during the beta and how making NPCs a low priority for ennemy AI and players the high priority could solve the problem of NPCs dying too much (not only in personal story or dungeons but also in events or for filler NPCs like guards and such). I don’t think I’ve seen some update about this since then.

Not dealing too much damage is not a problem. Standing around doing nothing is something completely different. Half of the story missions past 50 have bugged (?) NPCs that are playing the role of statue.

And lets not discuss missions where dozens of NPCs are designated to protect a hallway where I have to forward alone. But thats a completly different issue.

Definitely agree with this. If the NPC’s were more active while not broken it’d make the story more dramatic and intense.

If they weren’t all taking a dirt nap 30 seconds after a fight broke out, it wouldn’t be so bad. As it is, all they are is a speed bump, since I have to spend time reviving them after every…single…battle.

Often I’m tempted just to leave them on the ground, just to get through things more quickly.

@ minbariguy That’s precisely what I do. After the first few quests, I realized the NPCs were gonna be stupid and ruin my tactics. So I stand back, let them run in, and once they’re down, get the work done, THEN revive. On the occasions they’re glued to me, I try to work around any silliness, but if they go down… they STAY down until I’m ready to deal with them.

Why is there no developer comment on this subject? This is still a huge issue that seems to have been accepted as “the way it is.” I have looked around the interwebs for a few days and there seems to be no comment by the Devs that this is even an issue.

I’m slowly getting tired of this game after a month of playing because of how dumb the NPC’s appear to be. I completely understand that I am supposed to be the hero here, but the game would be immensely improved if the NPC’s did help.

The main issue is that an allied NPC vs an enemy NPC of the same level seems to lose, always. I don’t think I have played a single story mission where my companion NPC’s won the fight.

I understand that I am supposed to make up for their weakness but when they are decimated and I have to kill 15 enemies all grouped into a small legion it’s very boring.

Please fix this.

TITAN.6871:

Why is there no developer comment on this subject?

It is weird to set out to do heroic type stuff in your Personal Story, only to see your iconic NPC faceplanting at every turn (pun intended for you Trahearne).

I ended up doing the same things you guys did… I gave up on trying to help the NPC, and just let the NPC die, complete my task, then revive them.

There hasn’t been a developer comment, probably because they have bigger things in their game to fix first (dungeon “polish”, profession bugs, etc.).

The NPCs are useless, but you can still finish the story segments without them. So in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t gamebreaking.

Also, the Personal Story has bigger problems than ineffectual NPCs. It has continuity errors.

On one end, people you’ve already met get introduced to you like you are a stranger. At the other end, strangers get elevated as if they were close friends.

For example, I had a person I don’t remember meeting called Apatia. We tried to rescue her, but she was turned into a Risen and we had to kill her. I travelled to her land and I gave this weird heartfelt eulogy for her, even though I don't remember doing anything with her. It felt fake.

In contrast my mentor Magister Sieran died. I spent more time with my mentor than that stranger Apatia. When Magister Sieran died, I just had two people make brief comments, and she was promptly forgotten... she was my mentor. So much less was done for her and it felt very odd.

Tauril.8504:

The idea is that NPCs can’t deal too much damage because it is the player’s role.

But by this same logic the enemy NPCs also should not be doing much damage because it is the player’s role to not die.

And it really didn’t make any sense why my character didn’t go back and save Apatia. I was already there and had already whooped the kitten of the rest of the Krayt, taking an extra 10 minutes to kill the slavemaster wouldn’t really be putting anyone at risk or going out of my way. And considering my character made such a stupid choice I was extremely fed up with her continous harping that she had to go back and save Apaita. If she was really that important to you then you shouldn’t have abandoned her in the first place.