Crowd Etiquette

[Mazur]

There are some areas in Eternal Lands where people gather, not so much to interact with eachother, but to interact with the environment of those places. The most frequented of those places are the Storage rooms and the popular harvesting spots.These interactions require a line of visibility from the player camera to the environmental spot they wish to interact with. And it's possible to block that line of visibility with a player avatar/creature by standing in the line of sight.

 

There is nothing we as players can do about creatures standing in our line of sight, except kill them or move our view. However, as players, we can minimize accidentally annoying other players by making a little effort to not block their view, as it is.

 

The first and simplest measure is: always sit down in storage, if you're going to be longer than a few seconds in and out, or while harvesting.

The second one is: If you're going to be mixing in storage, choose a place to sit away from the direction of approach, e.g. sit behind Grimm in DP, sit west of Judith in MM, etc. That way people coming for a drop off/pick up can easily get in range of the storage clerk, without having to hunt for a free spot near enough to actually interact.

 

Just my 2¢.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Mazur

[Patriot]

interesting point, I've had similar frustrations as well but it's not that hard to work around it. Still some consideration could be taken

[Mazur]

interesting point, I've had similar frustrations as well but it's not that hard to work around it. Still some consideration could be taken

Yes, it's not about solving being blocked, as the rules take that into account and state one must move if so asked to allow access or exit, it's about maximizing everyones enjoyment by being considerate

 

Take for instance Grimm in DP, say you're harvesting there, you need a great big buttload of something and you like harvesting in DP. So you gather a full load and go to the storage to drop it off, and there's a crowd of non-dwarves just standing there in front of Grimm, or worse, surrounding him. What might be a single click near Grimm to get within range becomes several clicks on the ground to get near, tossing and turning of the camera to get him in view, only to discover that you are apparently our of range, so you try to find another spot, and spend a minute doing, what could be done in seconds. Experienced harvesters and mixers already follow the suggestions I mentioned previsously, I'm just trying to get them more widely adapted. Grimm has a clear avenue of access, with a few unusable spots with rocks in it, so if you're going to stick around for more than a few seconds, consider moving aside to leave the direct line to the entrance open.

[bkc56]

The problem with access to storage would be GREATLY reduced if the range to trade was made larger. At least as large as your ability to interact. It's a real PITA to click the NPC, open storage, try to put something in/out, and THEN get a message about being too far away.

[saxum]

The problem with access to storage would be GREATLY reduced if the range to trade was made larger. At least as large as your ability to interact. It's a real PITA to click the NPC, open storage, try to put something in/out, and THEN get a message about being too far away.

That appears to be part of the design, perhaps to hamper macroers.

[Mazur]

Another way to achieve less annoyance at crowded moments might be, for instance, to mark the circle just beyond the Storages reach with a ring of white, non-movement-hindering stones.or "paint" marks, or plants. That only helps actual users of the game client see where they have reach to interact, and perhaps not crowd the storage NPC as much by using more of that area away from "traffic".

Edited March 3, 2015 by Mazur

[Nardo Lala]

My opinion: is it really a problem? ( with the exception of some special days ) Instead of grinding our teeth how busy it is sometimes at some storage and how one should behave and where to sit, the old rule, one’s advantage could be/is another one’s disadvantage, springs to mind. Perhaps solve it yourself: there are also many storages which are most of the time almost empty, for easy manufacturing or just dropping off, most also have the same resources close by, sometimes even more convenient then the ones used to, it just takes a bit of effort and exploration. Instead of irritating yourself follow your (avatar’s) little white feline friend’s advice

 

However, as a possible suggestion:

 

Perhaps introduce at some very popular storages an assistant (with a non manufacturable area around them, like VOTD storage is) for instance Dessert Pines, place an NPC outside close / next to the entrance of the storage cave (only for dropping off / pick up), the storage NPC inside is for making things. The same perhaps, in my opinion, at the most popular manufacturing storage, Portland, or in Morcraven Marsh, place a new storage NPC, non manufacturable, a little closer to the Battle Hall.

[caladina]

I had a near death experience because several people were standing in the DP storage, i was coming back from alch school and had a red snake blocking my path, i had to kill it but got poisoned and came into the storage with just 2 health and still dropping.

it was quite annoying to then have to swing the camera around to get quick access to the store man.

 

so yeah, try and sit down if you aint on an in and out run.

[saxum]

Many people sit where they do because if they sit in back like in Portland you can be blocked in by AFK characters.

Make area near storage NPC poisonous like sewers if you are AFK more than 60 minutes (not meaning AFK setting for PMs).

That would solve issue and create more free death bags / rostos a goal of game.