Hmm. The previous discussions about NPCs seem to come down to this:
That was 1-2 years ago. The game has come a long way since then, so perhaps it’s time to reevaluate? I submit that the 0.172 game doesn’t feel busy enough in the capital areas. One way to fix that is to give us incentive to actively play in the capital areas, beyond passing through portal hubs and trading at plinths. Another is NPCs – and in fact I could imagine them providing some of that incentive along with other features that keep getting requested, especially if they work as @MrGamer117 suggests and have customizable behavior & dialogue:
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city guides – station an NPC near the entrance to a city. Let it offer people a player-written description along with location markers of various points of interest.
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living signs – for any purpose you can imagine. Players could station NPCs throughout the world with tips/directions for newbies, links to forums/discord, etc. And you wouldn’t have to worry about translating from glyphs
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city guards – station an NPC near annoying spitter spawns. Outfit it with weapons etc and have it shoot on sight.
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mercenaries – let players create & equip NPCs and then hire them out to people who want protection on difficult worlds. Preserves the sense of players-do-everything while also making it possible to play semi-solo.
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ongoing NPC soap operas – can’t speak for the rest of you but I’d dramatize the Oort out of NPCs if I could write my own dialogue! Bonuses: creative outlet for writing types, and a reason for people to keep coming back to a location to see what’s new in dramaland!
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rewards for longterm players or cash shop – make some really expensive fancy-looking equipment that can be displayed on NPCs as an equivalent of “legendary” weapons/armor. And sell silly NPC hats in the cash shop and you can have all my money I swear!