npcs are boring (and so are quests)

[RainbowElfe]

almost every NPC feels manufactured & the dialogue is unnatural. quest begins, we get introduced to an NPC, and for some reason, they act just like the last NPC in the other quest. just give something, ANYTHING to differentiate or recall who they are. i would hope the goal is to make quests memorable and enjoyable, not some forced part of the grind to level 80 or to get some event items

whenever an NPC opens their mouth it feels like I'm talking to an overused script, not what is supposed to be a person. i'm done with "oh no something bad has happened. will you help? thank you so much here's a reward!" it makes them sound like they're the prince from a disney renaissance movie, flavorless. even when they're meant to be a 'villain' their characteristics don't really make them stand out

i want to like the NPCs so bad but i can't. it also doesn't help when they show up once and never again. how do i grow an attachment for the characters and story when they are just not important? the rp stuff like the allegiances stuff isn't even relevant to the year quests & you wouldn't know what happened unless you're an old player. not very friendly for newer players, and with older players continuing to leave, who is gonna be there to enjoy the lore?

as a side note, it would be cool to have quests that tackled issues deeper than "defeat the bad guy and save XYZ" where everything is black & white. i think the unspeakable team is very talented and has much more capability than what's shown. while i understand pw's demographic is aimed towards younger kids, that does not make them incapable of consuming more complex media and topics. you're basically making harry potter fans read the equivalent of the plot in a children's book. when i say children's book i mean "i know an old lady who swallowed a fly" type book. kids aren't dumb don't be afraid to write better

also i previously suggested a concurrent storyline to quests and still stand by that!!!! will it take a long time? yes. will it be worth it? i think it would

 

[Ivan_]

almost every NPC feels manufactured & the dialogue is unnatural. quest begins, we get introduced to an NPC, and for some reason, they act just like the last NPC in the other quest. just give something, ANYTHING to differentiate or recall who they are. i would hope the goal is to make quests memorable and enjoyable, not some forced part of the grind to level 80 or to get some event items

whenever an NPC opens their mouth it feels like I'm talking to an overused script, not what is supposed to be a person. i'm done with "oh no something bad has happened. will you help? thank you so much here's a reward!" it makes them sound like they're the prince from a disney renaissance movie, flavorless. even when they're meant to be a 'villain' their characteristics don't really make them stand out

i want to like the NPCs so bad but i can't. it also doesn't help when they show up once and never again. how do i grow an attachment for the characters and story when they are just not important? the rp stuff like the allegiances stuff isn't even relevant to the year quests & you wouldn't know what happened unless you're an old player. not very friendly for newer players, and with older players continuing to leave, who is gonna be there to enjoy the lore?

as a side note, it would be cool to have quests that tackled issues deeper than "defeat the bad guy and save XYZ" where everything is black & white. i think the lore team is very talented and has much more capability than what's shown. while i understand pw's demographic is aimed towards younger kids, that does not make them incapable of consuming more complex media and topics. you're basically making harry potter fans read the equivalent of the plot in a children's book. when i say children's book i mean "i know an old lady who swallowed a fly" type book. kids aren't dumb don't be afraid to write better

also i previously suggested a concurrent storyline to quests and still stand by that!!!! will it take a long time? yes. will it be worth it? i think it would

I agree that the quests are really repetitive and the whole formula that they go by isn't the best in my opinion. I would just like to point one thing out. You said that pw's demographic is aimed towards younger kids. I don't know if this is true, the dialogues and the plots are childish in a way, but some of the expectations are totally opposite. What I mean by that is that some quests are really hard to solve when it comes to riddles and just figuring stuff out. Just look at the hunt for example.

 

[RainbowElfe]

I agree that the quests are really repetitive and the whole formula that they go by isn't the best in my opinion. I would just like to point one thing out. You said that pw's demographic is aimed towards younger kids. I don't know if this is true, the dialogues and the plots are childish in a way, but some of the expectations are totally opposite. What I mean by that is that some quests are really hard to solve when it comes to riddles and just figuring stuff out. Just look at the hunt for example.

you can have a childish demographic and still expect your audience to be able to complete gameplay. riddles aren't restricted by age, you won't be able to solve them as an adult if you just don't have the brain for it. children can be good at mechanics and problem solving, etc. potterworld definitely advertises to a younger audience, it's a family-friendly environment. otherwise, why wouldn't we be allowed to swear when even the harry potter books contain swearing?

 

[Ivan_]

you can have a childish demographic and still expect your audience to be able to complete gameplay. riddles aren't restricted by age, you won't be able to solve them as an adult if you just don't have the brain for it. children can be good at mechanics and problem solving, etc. potterworld definitely advertises to a younger audience, it's a family-friendly environment. otherwise, why wouldn't we be allowed to swear when even the harry potter books contain swearing?

This is kinda off topic but i don't think that some of those riddles are appropriate for children and most importantly, many people here are not native English speakers so it makes it very difficult for those children to understand the most basic things. I'm speaking from my own experience.

 

[RainbowElfe]

This is kinda off topic but i don't think that some of those riddles are appropriate for children and most importantly, many people here are not native English speakers so it makes it very difficult for those children to understand the most basic things. I'm speaking from my own experience.

of course it would be difficult for children who aren't native speakers, but that goes for literally anyone who isn't fluent in English, not just kids. yes it'll be hard for kids who don't understand English, but it'll be hard for adults too if they don't understand. also potterworld isn't geared for non-english audiences in the first place so whether you're child or adult doesn't matter since accommodating for foreign speakers wasn't considered in the first place. there is a difference between not understanding because of intelligence vs language barrier

 

[Ivan_]

of course it would be difficult for children who aren't native speakers, but that goes for literally anyone who isn't fluent in English, not just kids. yes it'll be hard for kids who don't understand English, but it'll be hard for adults too if they don't understand. also potterworld isn't geared for non-english audiences in the first place so whether you're child or adult doesn't matter since accommodating for foreign speakers wasn't considered in the first place. there is a difference between not understanding because of intelligence vs language barrier

You're saying this like there's no difference between kids and teenagers when it comes to both intelligence and English knowledge.. Either way, no matter if you're smart, old, dumb or young, that doesn't change the fact that quests are in fact repetitive and i doubt anyone would still enjoy quests after doing a 100 of them that have the same formula, even if you enjoyed them in the first place.

 

[RainbowElfe]

You're saying this like there's no difference between kids and teenagers when it comes to both intelligence and English knowledge.. Either way, no matter if you're smart, old, dumb or young, that doesn't change the fact that quests are in fact repetitive and i doubt anyone would still enjoy quests after doing a 100 of them that have the same formula, even if you enjoyed them in the first place.

all im saying that it doesn't matter if you're old or not, if you don't know English, then of course it's gonna hard to solve. whether you are 12 or 16, if you don't know a language then you understand just as much as the other person. + u say it like teens are always better at english... it depends if ppl REALLY want to learn, how much they use & are surrounded by that language. fun fact, its actually easiest to learn a new language as a kid rather than when you're older

 

[Lynn]

Heyaa @RainbowElfe !

Thank you so much for taking the time to think of and write this suggestion! I do definitely agree with you that the NPCs answers and stories are all kind of the same, and I do think it would be very interesting to make them have more characteristics! I think, as you mentioned, it would add some more lore to the server and it would give the opportunity to 'bond' with the NPCs! Therefore I will be bringing this up to the Poltergeist team so it can be discussed further! Once an official decision has been made, we will keep you updated, so keep an eye on this thread!

Once again, thank you for suggesting this and I hope you have an awesome day!

 

[Jae ⊹₊ ⋆]

Hello @RainbowElfe !!

Fortunately, this suggestion has been accepted! We definitely understand that NPC's as of current, aren't very interesting. Both Events and Unspeakables want to work on making NPCs & dialogs more interesting in the future. On the Unspeakable side, they are also working on creating multiple quest story-lines and an eventual main storyline!

Thank you for making this suggestion once again! I hope you have a wonderful day/night