Wakfu : Clan Members
For several weeks now, since Ankama Convention #4 to be exact, people have been throwing a strange acronym into conversations on the Wakfu French forums: MdC...
CM in English, or Clan Members, are something that promise to be one of the pillars of the Wakfu game.
What are Clan Members?
Ogrest's Chaos was the presumed cause of the disaster that led to the world of Last Chaos being in the state we know in Wakfu. The Twelve did not stand idly by when faced with the difficulties encountered by their disciples. In a move to protect the land as well as their inhabitants, they entrusted some of their powers to a handful of elected officials. Thus the Clan Members were born.
Today, these Protectors are in the service of a nation, but retain control over their territories.
What do they do?
The Protectors offer a number of services to citizens of their nation: challenges, bonuses, information about the weather and the ecosystem, etc. They act as perceptors in a territory and will be essential allies for governors.
The money collected by the governors can be reinvested by them in buying improvements for the protector, new challenges, and changes in climate (a heatwave! Who ordered a heatwave?)...
Fight! Fight! Fight!It will of course be possible to attack a Protector affiliated with a nation hostile to yours. But beware! Attacking a demigod is not to be taken lightly! You must start by putting some money or items on the table before it will deign to pit its strength against you. And don't forget to count on the presence of the attacked nation's players, who surely will not leave their fellow citizen to face a common enemy alone!
You can guess, however, that facing these challenges and overcoming them will not be without reward. If you are able to defeat a Clan Member, not only will you win their allegiance, but also all of the benefits associated with it.
But CM doesn't rhyme with NPC…So, with that said, you can perhaps understand a little bit better why Kam spoke of the CMs being a feature that would make some players' hair stand on end (see Anthox' report ). We have always promised that Wakfu would be devoid of NPCs, and yet in the strictest sense of the term, that is what CMs are. If this seems to go against everything we have said on this topic until now, we'd like to discuss it with you by putting things into the proper context.
What is an NPC?
A Non Player Character. A monster is an NPC. Just like a moderator or a GM in-game are NPCs (which goes to show that an NPC can also be controlled by a human).
The kind of NPC that we don't want to see in Wakfu is very specific: one who, whatever happens, will always be in the same place, repeating the same sentence to you, giving you the same quest and selling you the same thing. Here's a typical example: The landlord behind the counter who tirelessly asks you "Hey boy! Fancy a beer? ", even when his property is being ransacked by invading enemies.
The Protectors are more than just simple NPCs. They have a true identity, their behaviour is governed by an advanced AI. As well as bringing role-playing consistency to features such as Challenges, they act as the interface to several other features. The game's momentum will be built around them thanks to their close links with the management of nations' politics, territory conquests or the challenges they offer to players.