Talk:NPC Template: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:58, 13 February 2009

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 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)

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-  | Text = 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.
+  | Text = 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. --[[User:Atarax|Atarax]] 11:58, 13 February 2009 (CST)
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