sport and news: Have you ever found bored NPCs?

Saturday, 9 July 2011

Have you ever found bored NPCs?

This post has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

While leveling an alt through Northrend recently -- more specifically, on the quest It Could Kill Us All -- I found a most curious sight in Crystalsong Forest. There is a female night elf jumping from bench to bench on the ruins. From a distance, I thought it was a player and flew in closer, only to discover it wasn't a player at all! I couldn't believe it; I haven't seen an NPC act in such a player-controlled manner before. I flew around to see if any others were doing it and only managed to aggro and kill several without any luck.

While doing archaeology, I've seen some zombies jump from wall to wall on the troll ruins in Stranglethorn Vale. But that isn't something a player could actually do out of boredom, such as bench hopping -- the distance they jump is too great. It made me curious, though: Are there other NPCs out there that act inordinately player-controlled? Not as in generic city guard walking from point A to point B or the conversations that take place regularly, but as in erratic actions, seemingly random hopping, or other typical boredom actions? Are there more NPCs like the Shandaral Spirits out there?

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