From SWTOR Gamescom 2014

 

The 25 NPC decoration restriction is very likely put in to improve performance, but they did not know for sure. Also, they said that it is possible they may raise this limit in the future if they find the servers can handle it.

 

So to improve proformance, why not change the limit of folks visiting your stronghold instead. Realistically how many friends in game does the typical player have outside his guild? Cut down the number of visitors to a couple dozen to personal strongholds, but keep 25 NPC limit for Guild Strongholds/Guild ships if performance is an issue.

 

Ask around, I'm sure most players would agree.

Just what does the server need to "handle" the npc rendering is done on our end anyway.

Just what does the server need to "handle" the npc rendering is done on our end anyway.

 

There is much more to placing an NPC rather then just rendering.

Hopefully they'll get it worked out soon. No one was having trouble with massive pet collections on the PTS, so the limit was quite a nasty surprise when it got implemented. The two features I was most looking forward too have been largely ruined. (Showing off my pet collection and having legacy companions grouped together.) Edited August 17, 2014 by Damask_Rose

I'm sure they'll up the limit when/if they can. Obviously people want to display their stuff;) It may take some time though. I'd much rather they kill as many bugs as possible 1st, before trying to optimize stuff that's essentially "working". If need be I can choose a "top 25" NPCs and deal with it for the short term.

I'd rather them raise it later then raise it now and have to lower it later because it caused the severs to take a crap, kind of like what happened to 16 man Group Finder Ops.

On a scale of 1-10 hype meter it was easily an 11 when I heard about player housing. After seeing the npc limit in place my hype meter went down to 7. Big big disappointment this is.

On a scale of 1-10 hype meter it was easily an 11 when I heard about player housing. After seeing the npc limit in place my hype meter went down to 7. Big big disappointment this is.

 

My thoughts exactly. Even if they made it to 100, it would be way better. Even like 50.

I want my Stronghold to be full of NPCs, Companions and Pets, this is why I'm so excited about housing.

 

It makes me sad to think about me sitting alone in this huge Tatooine Stronghold. Sure, I will invite some friends to see how I decorate my house, but how many of them will join me? 3? 4? And for how long they will sit there? 15 minutes?

 

Stronghold can hold lots of players, so why it can't hold lots of NPCs? Planets, flashpoints and operations are full of them and we don't have any issues.

I am struggling to see how a npc, pet etc, is any different than a decoration in terms of "load".

 

Are you able to interact with them in anyway? If not, they are identical to simply placing a rug or a plant in my eyes.

 

So why any limit at all, if there is none for decorations?

Hopefully they'll get it worked out soon. No one was having trouble with massive pet collections on the PTS, so the limit was quite a nasty surprise when it got implemented. The two features I was most looking forward too have been largely ruined. (Showing off my pet collection and having legacy companions grouped together.)

 

I'm guessing they're scared it'll cause trouble when you invite your whole guild over for a party.

With companions becoming holos (what I already hate), I lost interest in putting them into my strongholds (and that was what I had most looked for in housing for SWTOR), so the limit of 25 doesn't bother me that much, since it is already ruined anyway.

With companions becoming holos (what I already hate), I lost interest in putting them into my strongholds (and that was what I had most looked for in housing for SWTOR), so the limit of 25 doesn't bother me that much, since it is already ruined anyway.

 

If they are holos, then I fail to see how a companion holo is any different than a basic chair.

 

The figure 25 is clearly plucked from the air and you can bet that it will take a CM unlock to increase that limit beyond 25. As a PVPer I don't believe a word of what BW say regarding their intentions around the arbitrary number choice.

 

Those of you buying into strongholds, are going to have to pay for it.

Edited August 17, 2014 by ThorgrimLutgen

If they are holos, then I fail to see how a companion holo is any different than a basic chair.

 

I agree, but I am not sure which items are classed as NPCs. Are those companions classed as NPCs? I ask because I simply do not know.

 

The figure 25 is clearly plucked from the air and you can bet that it will take a CM unlock to increase that limit beyond 25. As a PVPer I don't believe a word of what BW say regarding their intentions around the arbitrary number choice.

 

Well, I do not agree with this. I don't think you have any proof to substantiate this so this is purely assumptions on your side. You may not believe them and that's fine but I don't believe you either until you have something to substantiate your claims. Don't get me wrong though, I didn't say I believe BW either and for me a lot depends on what is considered an NPC in this housing setting. I will say that I personally think 25 NPCs already seems crowded to me for one Stronghold, but that's just me. Again it does depend on what's classed as an NPC.

 

Those of you buying into strongholds, are going to have to pay for it.

 

That was almost clever, but not quite. I remember the quest log limit is set to 25 and I still see no CC option to enlarge that quest log. I don't think the assumption that every limit is set just to be able to charge CC for it is really true.

There is much more to placing an NPC rather then just rendering.

 

 

And the animation happens our end too...

 

how can use having NPCs with very limited scripted motion be worse than the large number of NPCs on the fleet coupled with all the player characters

And the animation happens our end too...

 

how can use having NPCs with very limited scripted motion be worse than the large number of NPCs on the fleet coupled with all the player characters

 

I am pretty sure that's one of the reasons the fleet has a lot of lag and a lower amount of people limit than before.

 

People commented on the world feeling dead because of a lack of npc's moving about. But look around the locations. NPCs are placed sparingly and some are unclickable.

 

Once you can click on an NPC it's an interaction with something that other players can also interact with. I am not a programmer but I can imagine it has something to do with that.

I'd love for them to remove the limit completely. There are 44 companions ingame, 29 creature mounts, 21 decoration NPC's and 178 pets. A limit of 25 is extreme but with BW adding 4-5 pets every month (via CM/updates) then any limit is severely bottlenecking our stronghold creativity now and in the future.

 

Remove the limit completely like the first iteration of 2.9 on the PTS!

 

My 25 cents

Edited August 17, 2014 by Jamus_Divinus

The limit appears to be on any item with an idle animation, which is why pets and creature mounts were lumped in with NPCs/companions. From my time on the PTS I can say that I walked into strongholds on the public listings where individuals were just placing hundreds of pets and NPCs around haphazardly or in clumps. I can imagine that there would be some performance degradation under those circumstances.

 

That said, a limit of twenty five is far too low given the size of strongholds.

I am struggling to see how a npc, pet etc, is any different than a decoration in terms of "load".

 

Are you able to interact with them in anyway? If not, they are identical to simply placing a rug or a plant in my eyes.

 

So why any limit at all, if there is none for decorations?

 

Decorations are mostly static, npc's / pets move around a bit? Mabye that's it^^

More than anything, I would really like a "formal" reply from the developers to this 25 NPC limit. The reasons for it being lowered, and keeping the "visitor" numbers at around 50. (I could deal with it if they reversed them.) Just hoping it doesn't become another hood toggle situation, something a lot of us would like, but never seems to be addressed.

you know how there are some npc like looking characters that are not clickable? like just standing there in place and its more like background art than character right? well is it possible to give those as decorations instead of the actual, targetable npc's instead for decorations when possible?

 

for example I can purchase a targetable, clickable republic guard from the pvp decoration vendor. But he pretty much stands still. Why does he need to be a targetable npc when he can just be like the mounts and be an unclickable piece of art? I think that would reduce any potential lag issues right?

Edited August 17, 2014 by Sangrar

More than anything, I would really like a "formal" reply from the developers to this 25 NPC limit. The reasons for it being lowered, and keeping the "visitor" numbers at around 50. (I could deal with it if they reversed them.) Just hoping it doesn't become another hood toggle situation, something a lot of us would like, but never seems to be addressed.

My thoughts exactly. There were numerous threads, many pages long, on the PTS forums about this issue, but not one dev response.