Talk:NPC Template
2009 redesign
The NPC template will be up soon for redesign. Ignoring the vendor template for now, here are my thoughts on the general NPC template:
It's going to use the new Intro Template so the related quest section of the table is going to be removed. Route is hardly ever filled in - in most cases the location is a town anyway so there is no need. Route would be better placed in a notes section. The "NPC Summary" title bar & first line "NPC Name" are a waste of space, the title bar can simply be the NPC's name. After all that we are left with a very short NPC summary - Name in title bar, then 3 lines in the table - title, race, location. I can think of 1 more useful bit of information - NPC's level. In many cases, especially recently, the NPC's level is the level restriction of the quest they give out.
I had a thought - why not include the stats? Granted, other than level, NPC stats are not all that important, but it doesn't take up that much more space, and showing full stats is important for dev controlled/special NPCs. Check out Borelean Strathelar to see what I'm suggesting. --An Adventurer 11:01, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: An Adventurer
I agree with all the comments here. We ought to just make a modified version of the creature template, including the live image as part of the block. Just list the attributes vertically (like the actual stats panel) and then below it, list the location. Might work pretty well. --Atarax 11:08, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: Atarax
The only thing I have against placing the live image in the stats block is that users then have to go ~400 pixels down before they get more useful info. Or are you saying that location would be part of the stats listing, like weaknesses or trophies on a creature?One option we have would be make the the NPC live image shrink - keep the actual image 300x400, but in the panel it is displayed as 200x267, 225x300, or something else smaller than 300x400 with the same ratio. --An Adventurer 11:20, 13 February 2009 (CST)
Sounds good, I'll get to work on it. --Tlosk 11:21, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: Tlosk, An Adventurer
I know this looks terrible, but I created an article for Tailen the Tracker to give you an idea. Maybe it will help *shrug* --Atarax 11:50, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: Tlosk, Atarax
I threw something together on Talk:Tailen the Tracker as well. --An Adventurer 11:53, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: An Adventurer, Tlosk
Either way works for me. The only thing I'd suggest is to put the Location(s) below the block. This way we can have the same template work for all NPCs, including collectors, crafters, and other NPCs with the same name that are in multiple locations. --Atarax 11:58, 13 February 2009 (CST)
I'm fine with moving location to notes - but this template will still not work for generic NPCs since their gender/heritage vary. Also, I was under the impression that instead of doing a single listing for generic NPCs like Archmage, Leather Crafter, etc, we were giving each NPC a unique page, with the generic being used as a disambiguation & location listing. For example, Archmage lists not only generica NPCs named Archmage, but all named ones as well. At least, that is Sanddh has been doing. I actually prefer giving each generic NPC a listing, although I would name articles by exact coords/dungeon rather than general area. --An Adventurer 12:14, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: An Adventurer
You have a good point there. And if we do create individual records for each NPC, regardless of if they have the same name, then putting the location in the block would work better. --Atarax 12:21, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: Atarax
Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt putting location in the summary table. Except, if we are going to give each instance of generic NPCs a page, the name of the page will already have the location, like Peddler (43.1N, 53.4E) or Archmage (Hebian-To Sewers). But this is really just a minor redundancy. Including location in the summary block will be fine for named npcs though, which greatly outnumber generic ones.
I was also thinking maybe for vendor NPCs, we could place buy/sell rates in the summary table.
I've added links at the top of this discussion section that we can use to create test templates for vendor and quest/craft NPCs. --An Adventurer 12:42, 13 February 2009 (CST)
To: An Adventurer
Yea, I agree, putting the buy/sell rates would be cool, as well as the currency the accept. The "Inventory" has to be completely redone anyway, so perhaps we could include some sort of secondary header, like a vendor intro template, that could sit above the inventory block which would describe all the specifics to buying/selling with this vendor? --Atarax 12:46, 13 February 2009 (CST)
I think we should update the NPC template to be grey like the quest template, it looks outdated. Also, I think the "route" entry is not really necessary, and in many situations is much too long for the space provided, which clutters the page. --Atarax 10:38, 17 December 2008 (CST)
- I agree it should be updated, though I know the route is an oft used item (copy and paste to give to someone when they ask how to get to someone). --Tlosk 14:24, 17 December 2008 (CST)
We should create a vendor specific NPC template. Things to consider: should items listed just be links? Should we include icons? Pyreal cost? And should all items be listed in a single column (by item category) or in a multi-column table, like the Hero Tokens listings.
Here are some examples of vendor styles we have:
--An Adventurer 17:36, 19 September 2008 (CDT)