Is NPC skill level only determined randomly, or are some NPCs better at ToT than others?

vsrs_au · January 2023

I'm new to ToT, and have only played 4 games so far, so as per the title, are all NPCs roughly equal and only some RNG determines how good they are in any given game, or is the RNG weighted to make some NPCs better at the game than others ?

joergino · January 2023

There are three standard levels for the NPCs: Novice, Proficient and Expert.
I think at the moment you have access only to Novice NPCs, the others will become available once you level up your rank.

After the standard levels you will eventually be able to challenge the founders who have their own special levels (and decks).

Just check this:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Tales_of_Tribute

vsrs_au · January 2023

joergino wrote: »

There are three standard levels for the NPCs: Novice, Proficient and Expert.
I think at the moment you have access only to Novice NPCs, the others will become available once you level up your rank.

After the standard levels you will eventually be able to challenge the founders who have their own special levels (and decks).

Just check this:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Tales_of_Tribute

Thanks, I knew about those 3 levels, but are some NPCs within each level significantly better than others ?

Necrotech_Master · January 2023

the difficulty of the npc does not really change a whole lot, just what kind of decks they have access to

novice only can pick from the 4 base ones

proficient can select the 4 base + i think hunding and rahjin

expert can select all 8 original decks

the "founders" can all select the original 8 decks, but they have "special" versions of the decks which mix and match cards from the various decks, so if they select hlaalu as a patron, the patron is fixed, but their deck may include cards from any of the 8 original decks

the "master" they added in firesong for the druids, has the same rules as the founders, but may also be able to pick the druid deck too, i only played him once so dont know for sure, but i would assume he has access to the druid deck

vsrs_au · January 2023

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

the difficulty of the npc does not really change a whole lot, just what kind of decks they have access to

novice only can pick from the 4 base ones

proficient can select the 4 base + i think hunding and rahjin

expert can select all 8 original decks

the "founders" can all select the original 8 decks, but they have "special" versions of the decks which mix and match cards from the various decks, so if they select hlaalu as a patron, the patron is fixed, but their deck may include cards from any of the 8 original decks

the "master" they added in firesong for the druids, has the same rules as the founders, but may also be able to pick the druid deck too, i only played him once so dont know for sure, but i would assume he has access to the druid deck

Interesting. I've played only 6 games so far, and lost one, and by a significant margin too. In that one, the NPC opponent selected 2 decks I had no access to, which from your description suggests he was Proficient level. That's puzzling me a bit, because I got that match via the ToT challenge vendors in Gonfalon Bay, and I assumed I'd be matched against a Novice level NPC.

Necrotech_Master · January 2023

ive had some losses to novice ones when they have had luck on draws after a deck shuffle, or got too many potent cards lol

when you are doing the tribute daily, you have the option to do only novice when you are like under rank 4, when you are above rank 4 but lower than rank 6, it gives you the option to do novice or proficient NPCs to count as progress on the quest

rank 6+ it gives you the option to do expert, proficient, or novice to progress the quest (i frequently just do novice because its easier, but realistically the AI playstyle does not really change between difficulties, just access to decks and card upgrades)

i also normally only play the novice ones because there is no incentive to play the other ones as the reward is the same regardless which difficulty you play against the npcs

Grandma · January 2023

i for one was quite disappointed when I realized the founders have the same AI as every other npc. the unique decks were interesting but none of the founders even got to use any of them, only i did lol