Topic: NPC Spawns - The Bread And Butter of PvE
They should be. Only, they aren't. Like the assignment system they are too one dimensional with no depth and as a result they are, no other word for it, boring.
Replace the word "missions" with "spawns" in the following quote from the latest Dev blog and I don't think anyone would have noticed the mistake.
The player is presented with a long and stale list of a gazillion missions which just gets longer and longer the higher he gets on the relation ladder. With time he finds out which missions provide the most rewards for the least effort, and then he does those over and over, degrading the whole assignment system into a glorified grindfest
The "grindfest" of assignments is being addressed. Spawns must be next. There is so much potential to make them more interesting and challenging for all levels of EP.
As a starting point I would start with the game lore. The Niani are supposed to be battling the Earth controlled agents to regain control of the territory they lost before halting the progress of the Berger virus. So why do they just mill around in circles at fixed points and continually throw bots into the slaughter? Not very smart.
Spawns should use beacon mechanics. A spawn could appear anywhere and hang about for a period of time, say an hour, and if they are not shot out they'd despawn. If they are shot at the spawn continues for a number of waves. When its dead you have to go look for another one.
To make finding spawns a bit easier it could be more likely for NPCs to appear at key strategic points, buildings, highways, route to teleports, mountain passes etc. We are supposed to be at war with them after all.
Some spawns escalate, some don't and those that do escalate in different ways. You might just get more numerous NPCs of the same type with each wave, you might get higher tier or both. In rare cases even escalate as far as Mercenary, Praetorian and Vanguard with their sexy loot potential. Make it risky. Give us unknowns. Make us sometimes have to run or shout for help.
ICS, Asintec and TM roaming spawns showing up blue, yellow and green in landmarks. Attack if you want but suffer the consequences of loss of relation for doing so. Get relation back by doing assignments or face getting ambushed by said spawns if your relation falls too low and you enter the "wrong" island
Get rid of beacons from the Syndicate store and SAP loot - make them drops from Niani NPCs only, make them special
Get rid of permanent assignment spawns. They only need appear if someone doing an assignment enters the right area
There is no sense of achievement going out to kill NPCs. No feeling that you had a really good few hours by finding something of which other players can be envious. Sure, loot tables would need to be buffed for balance but at least it'd be interesting.
TLDR Spawns are boring. Spice 'em up a bit. Just a few ideas.