NPC collision

Censorious

I know there was a general demand for collision detection in this game and it's too late to change it now but I just want to register what broken idea it is.

Firstly, it's inconsistent. NPCs are solid obstacles but you can run through players. Since you can't easily tell them apart in a crowd it makes walking through a city literally hit-and-miss.
Secondly, it's way too solid. When you bump into an NPC, you get blocked. No matter how big you are or how fast you're moving, you stop dead and the NPC carries on unperturbed, completely oblivious.

In fact if you run into an NPC while riding a horse. You stop as if you hit a brick wall. That really is unrealistic.

It's actually better and feels more natural to me to have no collision mechanics. I'm completely used to being able to walk through people.
So much so in fact that I have to think about it when walking through my home town in RL.

Sarenia

I think they would have made PCs without collision to avoid abuse.

I used to play a game called Astonia (I think that was the one) where players had collision. So what we would do, is crowd a walkway with players so that nobody could enter the area we were trying to keep control of.

Collision lets players blockade each other. And if there's also bumping, you open up a world of abuse.

Elsonso

Personally, I find it annoying that people run through me when I pass someone. I can see it if there is a crowd, or if I am just standing there blocking the road, but if I am somewhere that has lots of room, invariably someone will come along and plow through me like I was not there.

That said, I have noticed that the "personal space" around the NPCs is a little odd. It is easy for a couple NPCs to make a solid wall, even though there is space between them. NPCs that are on the ground seem to have a lot of space reserved above them, to the point where jumping over them can still result in a collision.

nerevarine1138

The type of collision detection you want is generally not going to be seen in online games due to processing requirements. And as mentioned, player CD allows for abuse.

Censorious

nerevarine1138 wrote: »

The type of collision detection you want is generally not going to be seen in online games due to processing requirements. And as mentioned, player CD allows for abuse.

Absolutely. Enhanced detection would be a waste. I want it removed. It can never be made to work for the reasons you mentioned.
IMO it would be better to have none than this awkward half-assed scheme.

As for being offended by people running through you - why?. It doesn't bother me and running around people is pointless. I don't even think about it.

ShinChuck

Censorious wrote: »

As for being offended by people running through you - why?. It doesn't bother me and running around people is pointless. I don't even think about it.

It is a little annoying to me depending on what I'm doing at the time, but I also know nothing can be done about it, so I mostly let it go unless it's someone directly parking on me! I tend run around other people, though, it just feels a bit more polite.

But not an omg super srs issue to me either!

AlienPrimate

One reason for the NPC collisions could be that if they didn't have them, players could stand on top of the NPC's and other players wouldn't be able to interact with them. I never noticed this in the beta, but i'm guessing that it could be a problem with a mass number of people crowding an NPC.

Player collisions would never work in this game. Have you taken a look around the crafting stations lately?

Sarenia

AlienPrimate wrote: »

One reason for the NPC collisions could be that if they didn't have them, players could stand on top of the NPC's and other players wouldn't be able to interact with them. I never noticed this in the beta, but i'm guessing that it could be a problem with a mass number of people crowding an NPC.

Player collisions would never work in this game. Have you taken a look around the crafting stations lately?

Absolutely agree.

There's a method to the madness.

Censorious

Sarenia wrote: »

AlienPrimate wrote: »

One reason for the NPC collisions could be that if they didn't have them, players could stand on top of the NPC's and other players wouldn't be able to interact with them. I never noticed this in the beta, but i'm guessing that it could be a problem with a mass number of people crowding an NPC.

Player collisions would never work in this game. Have you taken a look around the crafting stations lately?

Absolutely agree.

There's a method to the madness.

Well, yes and no. In WoW for example, it was pretty annoying to find some gimp had parked his dragon over the top of a merchant (probably deliberately) so that no-one could access it.
We'd have the same problem in this game because of the way it's made.
But there's a simple answer - to put important NPCs behind a barrier ( a table or a cubicle). Or to activate collision on just these NPCs.

Other than that there's no good reason to have collision. It simply means that you are constantly running into obstacles. Especially since you can't tell players from NPCs easily except by the fact that the NPCs keep blocking you.

The dynamics even mean that you get pushed aside by moving NPCs. If you want to talk about being rude!

The only reason we have collision is because the RP players made a huge noise about wanting it during beta. Zenimax obviously thought it would be a good selling point and put it in. But imo it's a bad move. It fails on so many levels that it actually spoils immersion rather than adding to it.

Sakura_Rose

AlienPrimate wrote: »

One reason for the NPC collisions could be that if they didn't have them, players could stand on top of the NPC's and other players wouldn't be able to interact with them. I never noticed this in the beta, but i'm guessing that it could be a problem with a mass number of people crowding an NPC.

Player collisions would never work in this game. Have you taken a look around the crafting stations lately?

Basically what this guy said. Everything he said is the reason why. Nobody wants to have to try and find the npc under so many people in one spot. Crafting stations are the same. It would be so ridiculous to even attempt to even if they had a shift + click option. Everything with player collisions is because the amount of abuse that would occur if it were. Just give it some time and eventually you won't mind having people run through you.

Lalaeith

Censorious wrote: »

Well, yes and no. In WoW for example, it was pretty annoying to find some gimp had parked his dragon over the top of a merchant (probably deliberately) so that no-one could access it.
We'd have the same problem in this game because of the way it's made.
But there's a simple answer - to put important NPCs behind a barrier ( a table or a cubicle). Or to activate collision on just these NPCs.

First you say it's confusing that npcs have collision detection and players don't and now you suggest putting it only on certain npcs?

What really bothers me is, that ghosts have collision detection. They look like you can walk trough them, but they are really solid.
I didn't have problems with the other npcs...And I really like the way ZoS listened to the players and implemented it because of their suggestions.