I am sure you’ve all ran into the useless named NPC’s that you can talk to, that when you talk to only present you with the choice(s) of the following
A) “Learn Useless Thing #1.”
B) “Learn Useless Thing #2.”
or C) “Talk.”
All of which provide no real benefit other then the access of a Shrine/Alter/Place/Pit/Palace or whatever, that of which we still have to build. So it’s not really a benefit.
So, my first suggestion is to give these NPC’s quests, such as “Go here and kill this, and provide evidence (a head) of you killing it, for a special reward” or “Go here and gather this, bring it back to me to receive a reward” So that way the NPC’s aren’t just useless, walking, talking, unkillable douches.
Oh, and that’s another thing. Allow us to kill these NPC’s, because personally. I am a follower of Ymir, and I hate Setites and Mitrians, so I kill them on-sight, but I can’t kill Mek-Kamoses, or Muriela, because they’re “named” Yet I can kill other named NPC’s who can become thralls… What?
My second suggestion is to add a “Faction” choice in the character creator menu, and to add the ability to choose a Faction later on in the game when you find the Specific NPC that grants that ability.
For example, instead of getting attacked by ever Setite, every Nordhiemer, and every Blackhand member. You can choose to side with the “Heir of The North” and become “allied” with every NPC in New Asgarth and every other established Nordheimer settlement. And if you choose to side with the Blackhand, you become “allied” with every NPC in the Black Galleon and the Floatsam, and other Blackhand settlements. The reason I put “Allied” in quotation, is because if you at all attack/injury any member of the faction you’re sided with, they turn on you for 12 hours in game times, and you have to stay away from them until they forget or forgive you (Kind of like Fallout, where if you kill a Merchant in Diamond City, all the citizens turn on you. But if you leave for 5 days and come back, they treat you like family.)
For my third suggestion, I would like to put forward the idea of two following thralls, one Animal, and one Human. So that way, you can be a roving trio when your friends are offline or busy doing something else. It’d be a good way to allow players who have friends in different time zones, or are anti-social to actually fight the bosses and go through the dungeons. That, and it would feel more interesting then carrying along one person who more often then not will be more useless than a wet paper bag. If anything, the Thralls at the moment are more os a distraction then an assistance.
Conclusion: These are my 3 suggestions for the game… They’re truly the best suggestions anyone can push forward at this current time other than the obvious “MOUNTS PLZ” post.