Storage collects people...

[The_Pale_Elf]

I was thinking, in most roleplay games, other than the MMORPG's I've played, (this one and Ultima Online), where do people collect? They tend to frequent bars, taverns, pubs, whatever the setting is. People gather at the place where they buy food, or drink, and they socialize there. But in this game, (and UO), it seems people gather only at storage npc's.

 

Why not incorporate the storage function with the existing taverns? That way, the traditional rpg feel of people gathering at the local tavern is achieved. Also, there are more taverns than storage areas, which would give people more places to go for storage, (thus, less lag). I know lag is a bit of an issue going to any crowded area ingame, even on 5 megabit cable connection. (Which is why I assume it's got more to do with system resources than bandwidth)

[Daxon]

I was thinking, in most roleplay games, other than the MMORPG's I've played, (this one and Ultima Online), where do people collect? They tend to frequent bars, taverns, pubs, whatever the setting is. People gather at the place where they buy food, or drink, and they socialize there. But in this game, (and UO), it seems people gather only at storage npc's.

 

Why not incorporate the storage function with the existing taverns? That way, the traditional rpg feel of people gathering at the local tavern is achieved. Also, there are more taverns than storage areas, which would give people more places to go for storage, (thus, less lag). I know lag is a bit of an issue going to any crowded area ingame, even on 5 megabit cable connection. (Which is why I assume it's got more to do with system resources than bandwidth)

I don't really see anything wrong with it, but my opinion does not matter. *Shrug*

[Entropy]

The taverns have their own use (drinks and food).

[Kami]

The taverns have their own use (drinks and food).

Of the two, only a few use the one and almost nobody uses the other.

 

Taverns need a little more to draw players in, Like Karaoke Night!

[Entropy]

The taverns will have others uses as well, in the future (maybe buying minor healing potions, for example).

[Lachesis]

Try to sell minor healing potion on channel 3 (and offer bringing them). You will see that this won't make taverns more attractive at all.

We all know this issue is purely cosmetic, but please don't think that this makes it irrelevant. Lots of efforts are done making EL a cute small adventurers' world, but currently actual gameplay does not respond to this idea. One part of this is that the local distribution of players (characters) does not respond to a natural one at all.

 

1) Usually you store most of your thinks at home, not at a common place. You would do this only with huge amounts. The current practice results in the described unnatural population concentration.

2) Usually you would not fight until it is necessary because it is very risky. In EL, fighting is the best way to advance, so there are lots of fighters, animals and even monsters are hunted down. Monsters should scare!

3) So if you want to meet people, you will find them most probably at storage or the most evil places...

4) Usually crowded areas like towns, villages, taverns don't play any important role and die out.

 

This is a conceptual problem, as players have no home, never sleep, but have a lot of travelling to do, and the only crossroads are storages. Only NPCs really populate the mentioned places.

 

This is no complain, just a spot light. Have a look at it and just make up your own thoughts about it 0:-)

 

EDIT: I know the minor healing thing was an example, please don't complain about that Skip the first paragraph if you like. This post is intended to stress that new items to buy won't make taverns way more attractive.

Edited February 8, 2005 by Lachesis

[The_Pale_Elf]

Wow, guess my idea wasn't well liked... Oh well.

 

Yeah, it's all cosmetic, but isn't that what a game is about? Or at least why we play one game and not another. Flashy graphics, gameplay, atmosphere... Little unimportant things like that. Maybe it's not a big deal where players hang out, but I think it should be considered... Lag, unnatural piles of people sitting at storages, etc. If not my suggestion for alleviating these issues, maybe something else.

[kl4Uz]

I really do agree with Lachesis. There are so many great locations, but they are empty. For example WSC. Cities should really attract players. Why not include something like an auction house, or a Tavern where players can dance (+ the animation for it), it doesn't need to be something productive, just fun stuff, I guess that would make the whole game feel more alive.

[duran]

one reason why traverns dont attract people is that 2 of the items that they sell can be found for free in most populated areas. now if taverns sold say fried vegetables and fruitcake (each giving the food increase that you today get from vegetables and fruit, respectivly) and where the existing fruit and vegetables give a much lower food increase then they do today you will see more people stop by the taverns. this would put more economic pressure on all skills that have a food impact.

 

cooked meat before could not be made, an now require a lit fire (requireing wood and a fire essence) and raw meat. only gatherd from killing animals. therefor cooked meat (should maybe have been renamed roasted meat) still isnt as simple to get as fruit or vegetables. i belive most that have high level in any creating skill have the routine to stop by the nearest vegetable or fruit spot for a refill when they empty their inventory of finished goods.

 

i wonder if not flower shops should be turned into alchemist shops where people have to buy parts for their high level items. the only other way to get them could be fighting monsters. then we remove the ready weapons and armors from said monsters, thereby removeing the ability for fighters to be selfsupplyed and give them a reason to interact with the rest of the economy.

 

very simple items should still be based on items that are available to all. this way a newbie have a place to start. only problem then may be that a high level character can outproduce a low level one. but given the sheer number there will be of low level ones over high level ones i dont know if that problem may ever be anything else then theoretical...

[The_Pale_Elf]

Well, being that the general concensus is to keep taverns a place where you only buy and sell food, and no one actually spends any time... They're going to stay empty, as I don't think crowds of people will pour in to practice 'dance moves' once the newness of the concept wears off. Maybe if there were mini games incorporated into the tavern? Nah, no useless coding this early in the process, heh.

 

Again with the UO references: UO has an actual cooking skill, used in doing everything from cooking raw meat to mixing flour and eggs and more to make pizzas, quiches, bread, and a lot more. If this game had more involved with its food than "pick fruit, eat fruit", "find bread on ground, eat bread", and "burn stick, burn meat", maybe players, (esp roleplayers), would gravitate to diff food types, and there would be a real need to go to a tavern, other than to offload the veggies you harvested for exp.

 

On a similar note, I think it's maybe overly simple and beneficial to just harvest and sell. There should be a gc benefit to actually doing something with resources you find, like for instance you could sell meat for 1gc, or sell cooked meat for 2gc. Make people take the extra steps to make more gc, and give time and effort a price instead of just hauling bulk lilacs to market to sell.

[freeone3000]

Raw meat does sell for 1 gc.

[The_Pale_Elf]

Mmm, right. I was making an example. Like, have a raw resource one price, and a player modified resource worth more to an npc, so players will do something with their resource rather than just gather and sell. Maybe something that'll take a lil more time, but build some sort of skill.