Got a better one?

Having the npcs fight our battles aren't going to help any. I mean the npcs right now have no strategic element to them at all. They follow the player and attack. They don't dodge, they don't parry, they don't guard. So basically whoever gets the most critical hits and whoever attacks first is going to win. Also, it's going to be a pain in the ass for the commanders to be controlling bowmen, sorcs, and warriors all at once. Usually they say charge and the people do the fighting. I don't like viewing battles i enjoy participating in them. I want to do the fighting not have a bunch of things scripted by eric do the fighting for me. pointless.

Even though Asuka basicly just stated what I stated before (except better) I bet any money Vermain will acknowledge his view as good and mine as invalid.

Just add in more commands to do that, it's simple. Or even put up a huge command bar.

And while, yes, it's great to participate in wars, there won't BE wars except for little 5 people skirmishes. You remember 2k1, hardly any fighting ever went on because there was such a severe lack of people. There never was a real war because the population was in such a pit of despair no one had enough members on. While I'd certainly like to be hopeful that more people will discover the wonderous gift of roleplaying, that just isn't going to happen within the lifespan of this game. I hate having machines fight for me too, but there isn't any other options then this except having the 5 soldiers from each kingdom hit eachother and run around until they die. Would you like giant wars with both scripted and human fighters, or boring, neverending skirmishes?

And yes, of course I'll acknowledge my view as good because it's my view. You acknowledge yours as good, I would bet anything on that.

I like the idea, it would be interesting to have npc soliders helping you protect your castle / trading island. Players should still be able to fight themself, but having some bowmens in the background shooting at the enemy can probably help :)

Did you change my sig? again... is everyone anti-communist... bah...

Dude thats why more people need to be attracted to the game.
Most people only find out about Graal because they wonder upon the website, and although its nice having a small little community,
graal needs to expand! The only problem is there would be a huge horde of newbies running around. That can be changed. It is better to talk to a newbie and educate them to say "**** off ***got newb." I would not be the person I was today if someone hadnt taken the time to educate me. And for g-d sakes I was an ultra-noob. I didnt know how to talk or where to get anything so I just ran and started slashing at someone, they hit me back and then paused and started talking, I PMed them and they helped me out and let me join their guild (This was LordBrian from LOG, if anyone remembers his...) And you know what with his guidance I became the second fastest promoted member of LOG (He himself was the fastest) I was promoted almost two weeks after i joined, and i just kept getting promoted all the time since I was devoted and on all the time. So guys if your not to embarassed, when your at school or wherever tell some of your friend about Graal, tell them to check it out for themselves!

Here's a solution, only players can invade castles. Npcs can't penetrate castles. they can help in the fighting outside but not inside the castles. Also, there are usually 50-60 players online why would there be 5-10 player skirmishes?

Because only 2/4ths of the 60 people online are in a kingdom. I'm all for what you're proposing, however.

Nah,
I still dont like it, I think NPCs should only be used as gaurds.

How about: You can get npc war machines, but not npc warriors.
I mean your view that wars shouldn't be skirmishes is fine, but your solution has nothing to do with the problem. How is having the npcs fight going to help solve the fact that wars should be epic rp events?

Maybe have npcs that do patrol duty around your island but can't leave.

Because there's still a mass of fighters slaughtering one another. Yes, it's just massive slash fests but it's honestly still more impressive then small skirmishes.

But who will see these battles?

Commanders, and any human soldiers on the fray.

I think that is a last resort we should try to avoid. Let's think of ways to get more people playing 2k2 and more of those into roleplaying right now.