Problem:
If an NPC you rivalled changes in a way that you find displeasing (say, for instance, they lose a magic that gives them an ideal aesthetic), or if you share a rival with a friend you frequently play with and you realize that the both of you don’t exactly share the rivalry bonus when hunting your mutual rival, you are going to want to replace that rival of yours.
Additional Problem:
I find myself in a dilemma when writing this suggestion. I do not want to make too ambitious of a suggestion because of the clause about dynamic NPCs in the declined suggestion list, but I also don’t want to propose something so simple that it can lead to someone accidentally deleting their rival.
Solution:
As a result of the above considerations, I will simply propose that players have the option to remove their rival in order to get a new one, through some means or another (however vetex sees fit). However, I do not believe this stops me from simply listing off a few ideas without going into any detail, just to get a brainstorm going.
- A climactic battle
- A “revoke rivalry” button
- Similarly, a potion of forgetfulness
- A “lock-in” option on the bounty board or somewhere else, where you can manually lock in a criminal npc as your rival after fighting them a couple of times, rather than them automatically becoming your rival after fighting them 3 times in a row
- While this will allow players to put some thought into their rival choice, it does not fix the overarching problem. Still a nice feature, I think.
I would also like to ask you viewers for your own ideas to add to this brainstorm. A variety of potential solutions gives vetex more options to play around with. Perhaps, in the future, a public poll on this forum could help inform vetex of what solutions most players might enjoy. I have also added a poll to this post, but a public forum could have a larger sample size.
Some solutions that people in the comments have suggested are:
- Paying a fee of galleons to either the grand navy or the assassin syndicate to remove your rival, depending on whether you are a hero or a villain.
- Some dialogue after defeating a rival where you can choose to kill them for good (or let the grand navy capture them, if you’re a hero). Alternatively, whether or not you kill them, capture them, or simply forgive and forget (as an alternative to capturing) could be decided by your choice after the Elius fight.
Reasoning:
As it stands, rival NPCs are entirely interchangeable, and individual NPCs do not have anything truly unique to set them apart from one another, aside from aesthetic and flavor. As a result, unless someone wishes for a more or less difficult rival, there would be no practical advantage or disadvantage to changing one’s rival.
Considerations that I am personally indifferent towards:
If vetex decides to add a timer to the removal/replacement of rivals, perhaps when you acquire a new one or when you remove an old one, I do not know how that would affect the rival experience. It might not even be that significant of an addition. At worst, players might get annoyed with it if the timer is too long.
Additionally, I can see players getting “reckless”, in a way, with their rivals. At best, this allows them to use the rival system however they want, going into different servers and getting different rivals or treating the system like how it operates now. I struggle to imagine a worst-case scenario for either these individual changes or the suggestion overall.
- A final, climactic battle
- An option on the bounty board to revoke a rivalry
- A forgetfulness potion of some kind
- Paying a fee of Galleons to get rid of them
- Post-fight dialogue to continue your rivalry or end it
0 voters