Often, when you rest in Dragon’s Dogma 2, your main Pawn will pick up work from other players online. These loyal non-playable characters in Capcom’s latest high-fantasy role-playing game tend to return bearing gifts, such as the currency Rift Crystals (which you can use to hire other players’ main Pawns) or consumables for health and stamina replenishment. However, not every player that hires your Pawn for a job is a real person, a feature Capcom seemingly designed to make sure every servant gets their participation trophies.
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Redditor MrFoxer took to the game’s official subreddit to discuss their findings on April 2. In the post, MrFoxer talked about how Capcom will sometimes create a “fake player” to rent out your main Pawn so that you still earn Rift Crystals in case your main Pawn isn’t getting hired by any real players. You can tell when your main Pawn has been recruited by one of Capcom’s fake players by looking at the report card. If the player’s name is grayed out when your main Pawn returns in the morning, you’ll know that player wasn’t real. It’s kinda sad, actually, but everyone deserves their flowers—even unhireable Pawns.
As MrFoxer explained, these fake players Capcom conjures from nothing can do everything a real player can in Dragon’s Dogma 2. This includes rating your Pawn, giving them gifts to return to you, and helping them complete their assigned quests. If you didn’t know what to look for, it’d be almost impossible to distinguish a real player from a fake one when your Pawn returns from beyond the rift (the in-game’s phrasing for entering and leaving online lobbies).
Capcom’s official FAQ on Dragon’s Dogma 2 confirmed MrFoxer’s findings. The company explained that these fake players tend to appear based on whether or not your main Pawn’s online access setting is set to “No One.” If this is the case, and your Pawn returns from beyond the rift with goodies in hand, then it was recruited by one of Capcom’s fake Dragon’s Dogma 2 players. If you see a grayed-out or dashed-replaced name, that’s your tell it’s probably a fake player.
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So, don’t worry if you can’t figure out who hired your Pawn. Whether it was a real player or not, Capcom’s keeping your loyal servant employed, which is nice.