How Does Recognition Work?

[Safehouse]

Something that has made me curious is how recognition (not sure of the term) by NPCs works. What I’m taking about, for clarification’s sake, is when you get the random city dwellers who walk by and say stuff like “Hey, that’s [hero name]! I hear s/he has been really putting the beat down on trolls.” Usually it happens after a certain amount of time playing on a character, but I’ve always been curious how it works or what the threshold is before NPCs start to recognize you.

 

I checked the wiki but didn’t find a clear page about it. Is there some sort of hidden stat?

[Frozen Burn]

I am not entirely sure, but I would assume it's probably a dual mechanic:  1st) there may be a perception check to see if a player character is nearby (much like a foe has perception to you) and instead of "Aggroing", they then 2nd) checks the character's Clues, Souvenirs, and Badges you earn from story arcs, TFs/SFs/Trials, and such and then if something "noteworthy" is found, they make a comment.  

 

So if all a player does is street-sweep, PL / farm in AE, or similar - they aren't going to get the NPC comments like you describe. 

 

And I do not think all NPCs do this and there may be a time limit to it as well - otherwise, we would be flooded with them.  

[Techwright]

52 minutes ago, Frozen Burn said:

And I do not think all NPCs do this and there may be a time limit to it as well - otherwise, we would be flooded with them.  

I'm pretty sure I've had NPCs comment on action I did on a previous session even if I've been logged out for days, so if there's a timer, it's probably an in-game timer.   The NPCs always seem to comment on a fairly recent in-game action/event.  I don't have Talos NPCs for example commenting on my 50 when he passes through for actions taken in his 20s when he worked Talos.  Though saying that, I can't recall if it happens because I temporarily reduced rank to help out a level 20's team.

[Frozen Burn]

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

I'm pretty sure I've had NPCs comment on action I did on a previous session even if I've been logged out for days, so if there's a timer, it's probably an in-game timer.   The NPCs always seem to comment on a fairly recent in-game action/event.  I don't have Talos NPCs for example commenting on my 50 when he passes through for actions taken in his 20s when he worked Talos.  Though saying that, I can't recall if it happens because I temporarily reduced rank to help out a level 20's team.

 

Yes, they could still comment on a previous session if you still have an active story arc clue in your tabs - or perhaps even a souvenir.  Story arc clues disappear once you finish an arc which is why an NPC wouldn't comment on something you did early in your hero/villain career.  You do get souvenirs from story arcs as well, which may or may not be used for the NPC to comment on - I just do not know, but wouldn't be surprised either way. 

 

But the timer i refer to that might be in place, is perhaps one where the single (1 unique) NPC won't comment for another 10 mins (totally pulling a random number)....  

 

I've been hanging out in a zone with some SG-mates who also completed a story arc with me (we co-completed, we all had the contact, got the mishes - so each got the clue and merits at end, and etc) - and I've noticed different scenarios with this... 1) only one of us hanging out got commented on and it was probably because that particular NPC who is programmed to comment had noticed that player before the others - but there was no comments on the other players on the team; and 2) we've seen a couple different NPCs comment on 2 different players and if I recall correctly, it was an area where NPCs were walking in different directions - so the one NPC saw the player 1 first and the 2nd NPC saw player 2 first and they both commented.  But they certainly did not comment on the other people hanging around who had also just done the same story arc with me. 

 

....So, there has to be somewhat of a timer there (mins or hours?) otherwise, they would immediate rattle off a comment for every player in the area - which they do not do.