QoL Suggestions: NPC Behavior

Destai

In celebration of us getting a new forum manager, @ZOS_Kevin, I'd like to compile a series of QoL suggestions so they're visible and organized. A lot of my suggestions are built in the spirit of having a cleaner and quieter experience.

The first in this series is NPCs who need their behavior changed. A lot of NPCs are borderline nagware, and often get in the way of actual gameplay like opening doors, turning in writs, looting nodes, etc. Some break narratives like the awful Bera Moorsmith. Please see below for the somewhat comprehensive list of NPCs that need to be changed.

Category 1. Quest Giving NPCs that excessively follow the player, presented in order of annoyance. These NPCs should be anchored to one spot.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Bera_Moorsmith (Honestly worse than Stuga. Can she be anchored in the Fighter's Guildhalls?)
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Stuga
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Giblets
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Raynor_Vanos (During https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:The_Shackled_Guardian)
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Corporal_Bredrek
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Forinor
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Fongoth
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Nilthis
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Brondold

Category 2. Excessive quest giving dialogue scenes are based walking within a certain radius. Anchor scene to one location and reduce frequency of dialogue.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Manore_Mobaner
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Lirendel

Category 3. Ambient NPC that blocks turning in crafting writs. Should be removed from the immediate area.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Llandras_Gathram
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Nolus_Cedus
-- addressed with U32

Category 4. Excessive ambient dialogue scenes that occurs too frequently
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Zalapu
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Curtaros

Suggested design principles:
Construct NPC experiences so they age well and respect that most players know how to play the game.
NPCs shouldn't block common areas like crafting writ rewards, skyshards, or doors.
NPCs should be in a single static place. A few of these have been adjusted to pop up in select locations upon entering zone, it's still annoying.
NPCs shouldn't have the same dialogue triggering every 10 minutes, especially in common areas like crafting areas and hubs.

Suggested Technical solutions:
Provide volume slider for ambient dialogue, separate from active quest dialogue.
Remove prologue quest NPCs from starter cities unless antecedent content has been completed.
Add prologue quests to the stories menu.

I open this up to the community - which NPCs fall within these categories for you? UESP and other references demonstrated undesirable NPC behavior is appreciated, and I can organize our suggestions in this initial comment. I've bolded the changes I'd like to see the most. Hopefully this feedback can be shared and we can all enjoy a quieter game experience!

Pevey

Agree 100%, excellent post

Sylvermynx

Great stuff @Destai! I *think* they fixed Corporal Bredek in a patch lately? Not positive, haven't needed to hit Riften for anything lately. Nilthis is definitely majorly annoying (along with Stuga and Bera Moorsmith - I'm going to force one of my mains to complete FG soon, just to get her out of my hair), but Brondold at least doesn't say anything.

I especially agree with the "remove prologue quest NPCs" one. I don't have any interest in the prologues, not messing with them, and really don't want to hear it all the time.

Destai

Sylvermynx wrote: »

Great stuff @Destai! I *think* they fixed Corporal Bredek in a patch lately? Not positive, haven't needed to hit Riften for anything lately. Nilthis is definitely majorly annoying (along with Stuga and Bera Moorsmith - I'm going to force one of my mains to complete FG soon, just to get her out of my hair), but Brondold at least doesn't say anything.

I especially agree with the "remove prologue quest NPCs" one. I don't have any interest in the prologues, not messing with them, and really don't want to hear it all the time.

Bredek is improved, but I wouldn't say fixed. He still teleports to me when I zone in, rather than just being in a fixed location as suggested. It's an improvement, but it's annoying to be accosted by NPCs the moment I zone in. Hopefully they can fix him the right way in the future.