Introducing NPCs day/night cycles

[LigH]

There is no apparent reason why a 24 hour cycle is needed

I hope you mean 24 in-game hours ... but yes, why not making NPCs have both a longer noon break (siesta) and a shorter night break instead to balance it. This idea will probably work well in the area of Ojaveda, which appears like a desert to many players.

[Symasta]

rabartus and darven stand on the same spot (inside each other) near the laanx temple between 9 pm and 2 am, possibly longer

[Sarva]

Zak is currently in his normal place. I'm not certain if he is one of the moving NPCs or not at this point.

[bilbous]

@LigH yes I meant the in game clock which has 24 real-time-abbreviated hours. Unfortunately this would likely entail a lot of work balancing npc movement as the proportion of time they spend traveling from one place to another would increase.

[Aramara Meibi]

rabartus and darven stand on the same spot (inside each other) near the laanx temple between 9 pm and 2 am, possibly longer

they're cuddling, leave them be.

[Rigwyn]

rabartus and darven stand on the same spot (inside each other) near the laanx temple between 9 pm and 2 am, possibly longer

they're cuddling, leave them be.

+1

[weltall]

rabartus and darven stand on the same spot (inside each other) near the laanx temple between 9 pm and 2 am, possibly longer

they're cuddling, leave them be.

[raline]

The other day Burdess Quirain disappeared in the middle of a conversation (after taking the filleting knife but before paying me).

[LigH]

See - making quest relevant NPCs moving is just as annoying as making them killable (reported years ago about the sewer fanatics).

This way, PlaneShift is developing from a playable and enjoyable game to a graphic demo you can just watch but not use... well, exaggerated. But in the current state, there are more issues than use in movable NPCs.

I'll make a Feature Request in our bugtracker for you about postponing the movement while an NPC is in an unfinished quest dialog or trade. — PS#5502

[Symasta]

Arian and Frilaa stand inside each other at the fountain where Arion normally is at 3 pm.

[Aramara Meibi]

This way, PlaneShift is developing from a playable and enjoyable game to a graphic demo you can just watch but not use...

I feel this way more and more with each update.

[Ceraline]

While the idea of npc's moving around can make the game more interesting, having them disappear to go off to sleep leaves parts of Hydlaa and, in particular, the main area of Ojaveda seem almost deserted for long periods of time.  It can be annoying taking a long trip to visit an npc for a quest or training only to find they're not around for quite a while, particularly in Oja where the few remaining npc's don't respond to quest requests and there are often no players around rp'ing.

This is compounded when the npc engine isn't fully working as it seems some npc's don't return. For example, npcs such as Govell, Burdess, Darven, Taulim, Ervin plus a couple of others haven't been around at all today all of whom are key to quests. .. and I'm surprised the Hydlaa pterosaur didn't fly off as it has been left unattended most of the day 

[Aramara Meibi]

there are often no players around rp'ing.

so let's just replace all the players with NPCs.

[Illysia]

The NPCs could use night shift backups. Ideally, realism gives way to good game play in a case like this.

[Rigwyn]

Heh heh ... seriously, Illysia's "Blessed with suck" phrase comes to mind when I hear about these these quest depenent NPCs going M.I.A.   Its as if whoever implemented it thought it would be wonderful for them to roam about, but forgot what its like to be a player who needs to complete a quest, or a confused noob who has no clue where any of these NPCs are to begin with.

The wandering NPC does add to the realism, but at a heavy price as far as game play and frustration level goes.

If there was a way to track down the wandering NPCs, then perhaps it would not be so bad. ( ie. if you could /shout their name in the NPC tab (please, not in main!) and get a response or something )