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With the upcoming 3v3 PvP tournament, Blizzard has rolled out a new feature on the Tournament Test Realm server: NPC collision detection. This will mean that it is now not possible for players to walk through some NPCs. Players will no longer be able to crowd, or block, the NPCs. This virtually guarantees that players will always be able to access the NPCs.
There is a lot of interest in this. NPC collision detection isn't something that we're used to seeing in WoW. While collision detection has made appearances in MMORPGS of the past, it is something that modern games in this genre are lacking. Many of us are hoping that they'll implement this in the live realms soon – ideally before Wrath of the Lich King comes out.
If you haven't had a chance to test out the Tournament Test Realm yet, don't wait! You can follow this handy guide that fellow WoW Insider writer Zach Yonzon wrote up.
What do you think of this new NPC collision detection? Good or bad? Excited to see it implemented on the live servers eventually?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-06-2008 @ 4:06PM
Jim said...
This will be a real boon to those players whose "v" buttons have been removed by evil lolcats.
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3-07-2008 @ 12:17PM
dan said...
Because what everyone wants is even more lag in the lowercity near the battlemasters.....
3-06-2008 @ 4:09PM
bulgur said...
This will take the concept of "pillar humping" to a whole new level, although the notion of "trainer humping" does open up some unexpected comic potential.
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3-06-2008 @ 4:41PM
Ametrine said...
Particularly considering some of the female trainers...
3-06-2008 @ 4:14PM
Hevnlyst said...
On the PTR, i have noticed, with enough people at the vendor, namely Draenei and Tauren, espeicially those with big shoulder, can block those tiny goblins. Multiple tauren druids in boomkin, on raptors = sigh..
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3-06-2008 @ 4:20PM
Chuddy said...
Hevnlyst, I know the pain. Signing up for a battleground can be a pain with a few around them. However one slight correction to your comment. You can't be in moonkin and on a mount. Unless this was changed on the ptr - then I would be a happy moonie.
3-06-2008 @ 4:56PM
hal said...
druids can't be in a form and mounted simultaneously...
3-06-2008 @ 5:33PM
Izbay said...
Ah but if you turn your camera to a top down view... they're always in a little halo of *no touch*
3-06-2008 @ 4:15PM
dlwn64 said...
I don't really care all that much about it. Even when people are being asses and trying to block the NPC's you can usually get an angle to click them. I hope this isn't predictive of PC collision detection in the future as this would make it a lot harder to deal with casters in the arena (can't just run through them).
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3-06-2008 @ 4:44PM
Snukums said...
This is only for certain NPC's, not players
3-06-2008 @ 5:30PM
jbodar said...
@dlwn64
No way in hell they'd implement PC collision. The player abuse would be so rampant that no one would be able to play anymore. The point of this change to NPCs is to CURB abuse like this.
@Snukums
"predictive... in the future" - dlwn64
Read much?
3-07-2008 @ 9:29AM
FireStar said...
No need to worry as this would never ever happen. Wow learned from the mistakes of other mmorpgs that had collision on. If this Ever happened (which it wouldnt) it would last a total of 30 seconds before every troll in wow would completely and utterly flood the forums.
3-06-2008 @ 4:19PM
Rydolomo said...
Why do ppl block them?
Same with letter boxes and most gathering points.
Do ppl go AFK and forget or do they deliberately block the NPCs?
Also with dragon mounts.
Rydolomo
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3-06-2008 @ 6:05PM
Gessilea said...
They do this because some people enjoy causing other people frustration. They are called griefers or my preferred term, haters.
3-25-2008 @ 2:20PM
Asshat McGee said...
Sometimes there is so many people crowding the npc that the ONLY way to talk to the npc is to show the floating healthbar nameplate dealos above friendly targets. But then if there are a ton of people around the nameplates jump around too much to click on them. The solution? Stand directly on top of the npc, take a birds eye view with camera and zoom in. So the solution to everyone crowding the NPC is to crowd the NPC and use the UI features. It starts a feedback loop. But remember, floating green healthbars above the NPC and dry those QQ tears away! :)
3-06-2008 @ 4:21PM
kevin stephenson said...
That dwarf looked like Zangief!!
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3-06-2008 @ 4:30PM
Matt said...
LoL it did!
on a seperate note, i hope they dont let you jump on mail boxes anymore...god thats annoying...
3-06-2008 @ 4:38PM
Balasan said...
Don't nerf fun, Matt. It's going to end up like the rogues losing their swirlies.
3-06-2008 @ 5:10PM
Aaron said...
They also need to do this with mailboxes. Nothing like a huge Tauren sitting directly on top of a mailbox with the bear mount from ZA.
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3-06-2008 @ 5:15PM
zenpunk said...
The real question is, is Blizzard going to screw up this too, and totally miss the point. Even tho the guy in the video couldn't run through the NPC, he still got get up pretty close. I bet we'll still see Taurens running their dragon mounts right up to an NPC and turning around to stick their big dragon butts in the way so you can't see the NPC anyway.
People will find a way unless Blizz does overkill.. they need to increase the range you can get close to a NPC but 2 or 3 times the distance in the video.
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