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05-03-18, 11:34 AM   #1
Voxxel
A Chromatic Dragonspawn
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 193
Question NPC IDs

hey!

Many NPCs keep their own IDs through whole areas. I mean, before BfA, a quest giver NPC that statically stays at X point of the map didn't share the same ID with another version of the same NPC that stays another point of the map. Now they share the same ID within the given area.

For example, think about a quest hub. You first found Lucille Waycrest on a guillotine stand, then you free her, she gets mount up nearby, etc. She shares the same NPCID as long as she's around the area, despite wherever she stays exactly. As the story advances, you found her at Arom's Stand then around the waycrest court. She has different IDs in each area but the IDs limited to the area and not her locations. IIRC, the same character had different IDs for each locations he/she was found at before.

Is there a way to distinguish these key characters with the same name and the same IDs in BfA Beta?

Last edited by Voxxel : 05-03-18 at 11:36 AM.
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05-05-18, 08:34 PM   #2
Nimhfree
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Your premise is incorrect, in that the same issue exists in live. Before BfA beta, and in BfA beta there are the following:
(1) NPCs that have the same ID yet are in more than one position.
(2) NPCs that are the same person (name, etc.) but have different NPC IDs in different positions.
(3) NPCs that are the same person (name, etc.) but have different NPC IDs in the SAME position. (Usually something has happened to change their state, and therefore their NPC ID.) [Actually I have not found this case in BfA beta yet.]
There are also NPCs that have the same NPC ID, but have different names depending on whether they are "attached" to you or to another player.

I do not know of any way to differentiate NPCs with the same ID but different locations, so in my addon Grail, I create "alias" NPC IDs for an NPC whose ID reported by Blizzard is the same as one Grail already knows, but has a different location. For example, in BfA beta, you meet Flynn in prison with NPC ID 121239 at location 876:79.84,59.33, but as you move to Tiragarde Sound, you encounter him again with the same NPC ID at location 895:73.70,25.15. Grail has a separate alias for this second position where quests associated with that position use that alias NPC ID.
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05-06-18, 12:14 AM   #3
TOM_RUS
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Originally Posted by Voxxel View Post
hey!

Many NPCs keep their own IDs through whole areas. I mean, before BfA, a quest giver NPC that statically stays at X point of the map didn't share the same ID with another version of the same NPC that stays another point of the map. Now they share the same ID within the given area.

For example, think about a quest hub. You first found Lucille Waycrest on a guillotine stand, then you free her, she gets mount up nearby, etc. She shares the same NPCID as long as she's around the area, despite wherever she stays exactly. As the story advances, you found her at Arom's Stand then around the waycrest court. She has different IDs in each area but the IDs limited to the area and not her locations. IIRC, the same character had different IDs for each locations he/she was found at before.

Is there a way to distinguish these key characters with the same name and the same IDs in BfA Beta?
What you have described has never been a case.
NPC with same id can be in multiples areas, there's no such restriction.
And there's no requirement for NPC to have different id if it's placed in different area.

It's all implementation details.
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05-06-18, 01:00 PM   #4
Voxxel
A Chromatic Dragonspawn
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 193
Originally Posted by TOM_RUS View Post
What you have described has never been a case.
NPC with same id can be in multiples areas, there's no such restriction.
And there's no requirement for NPC to have different id if it's placed in different area.

It's all implementation details.
Yes, it's well known that there are NPC versions with the same ID and different locations. It's all visible on Wowhead too such as WoD's Khadgar and more.

What I tried to describe here was maybe a bit misleading indeed. I just wanted to tell they didn't use this method (to set the same ID for different NPC versions) that frequently prior to BfA. In the Beta it comes for most quest giver NPCs in any given area/hub (which is a big difference). That difference led me to a question for how could the NPC versions be distinguished technically if not by their IDs from now on?
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05-06-18, 09:42 PM   #5
Nimhfree
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Originally Posted by Voxxel View Post
Yes, it's well known that there are NPC versions with the same ID and different locations. It's all visible on Wowhead too such as WoD's Khadgar and more.

What I tried to describe here was maybe a bit misleading indeed. I just wanted to tell they didn't use this method (to set the same ID for different NPC versions) that frequently prior to BfA. In the Beta it comes for most quest giver NPCs in any given area/hub (which is a big difference). That difference led me to a question for how could the NPC versions be distinguished technically if not by their IDs from now on?
Actually I have data that shows at least 2000 different times prior to BfA where this is done, for NPCs involved in quest giving or turning in.
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WoWInterface » PTR » PTR API and Graphics Changes » NPC IDs

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