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The Daily Grind: What NPCs stick in your memory?
I'm not fond of a lot of the storytelling on display in the Prophecies campaign of Guild Wars, but I have to admit that, against all logic, I was happy when Gwen showed up again. I joked about her, I complained about her uselessness and her irritating habits, but the fact that she turned up alive again always tickled me on some level. When I think about the game, I think of her, and her trials and tribulations stuck with me long after Prince Rurik had all but vanished into memory. In an MMO with any sort of story, some NPCs are going to stand out to different people. Even beyond the signature characters of a game's box art, incidental figures wind up getting embedded in the consciousness of players. Maybe it's one of the recurring heroes in the City of Heroes tip missions, or perhaps it's one of the more amusing mission NPCs in Star Trek Online. Whatever the reason, what NPCs stick in your mind regardless of their importance or lack thereof? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
City of Heroes offers a new developer diary on the alignment system
City of Heroes players have been enjoying the newest expansion for just a little over a month now, bringing with it the long-awaited abilities for players to change their alignment. It seems like a natural extension of the game's comic book roots, after all -- you can hardly throw a rock in certain books without finding some major character who's a former villain. But with all that we've heard about the expansion's development, the subject of the alignment system has been fairly quiet, up until the most recent development diary by Shawn "Pit" Pitman. The diary goes into detail on the genesis of the alignment system from a concept into execution, as well as some of the larger changes put into place to facilitate the shift. For instance, one of the major shifts was that the alignment and tips missions would feature their own little gallery of recurring characters, rather than a steady set of existing major story NPCs such as Statesman. City of Heroes players curious about how the game bridged the gap between good and evil are encouraged to take a look at the full diary.
