This game is unique in a sense that a connection to a place on the map really exists and means a lot. Travel is so slow and the map is so big that putting a house down and living out of a base actually means something.
I think this is a big opportunity to create and foster local communities. I've been playing this game since beta and the deeper I get into it the more rooted I am to a certain place.
I want to visit my neighbours, have a chat, trade goods and hang out. I don't want to travel that often anymore.
I would love more game systems that support this local playstyle and I have a few suggestions:
- TC Broker with reduced prices for people and guilds that I know and like. I want to visit my neighbours village and check out their wares. I want to give my neighbours a bargain since we help each other out.
- Currently, most villages are very similar. They look the same and there is no kind of specializing going on. There is no place for a village that focuses on a certain craft or is known for this and that. Only the sorrounding resources and the behavior of the people living there will make a village unique. Make settlements more unique by providing systems that need lots of specialization. Similar to different character builds, villages should not be the jack of all trades. Force people to make choices what kind of buildings and craft they want to persue deeper and thus provide a unique identity and purpose to that village. Then it actually makes sense to visit other villages, as you will not be able to do everything inside your own village.
So we need deeper, building-centric systems for crafting. Let a village focus on alchemy, another on horse breeding, another on weapon smithing etc. This will be immensily valuable to make the world come to live.
- Give me the opportunity to contact my neighbours when they are not online. When I ride into a village, chances are nobody will be there. NPCs that do manual labour like chopping wood would be a cool addition to make places feel more alive, but I also want to be able to leave a message for someone. How about mail boxes or slipping a note under the door? Or if you could just click on a claimed territory on the map and a contact form opens up?
- Give people more tasks do to inside villages and more rescources to produce. That way life-skill oriented players will actually want to play this game more often. Add in depth farming with different tools and buildings. Again, let villages and people specialize into areas of that system, dont make everything attainable for everyone.
Pet breeding is another system that will assist this purpose. So are tavern games, an overhauled food system, a notice board, customizable buildings, maybe even certain buildings (deeds) that are only produced by players with a certain skill requirement and are sold to other players - not just by an npc available to all.
- An ingame UI element for "your neighbourhood" would go a long way. It could be defined by where your house is placed or by your chosing. It would tell you how many people live inside your neighbourhood (a certain radius), update you when someone new joins or some buildings decay, provide a message board to stay in contact, list the names of characters living inside that area (need an option to anonymize/opt out ofc), provide an overview of TC brokers wares available in your region, give people little profiles with info they can attach (build details, crafting prof., anything)
Hopefully we will see the game move more into this direction, I have my fingers crossed!
I think this is a big opportunity to create and foster local communities. I've been playing this game since beta and the deeper I get into it the more rooted I am to a certain place.
I want to visit my neighbours, have a chat, trade goods and hang out. I don't want to travel that often anymore.
I would love more game systems that support this local playstyle and I have a few suggestions:
- TC Broker with reduced prices for people and guilds that I know and like. I want to visit my neighbours village and check out their wares. I want to give my neighbours a bargain since we help each other out.
- Currently, most villages are very similar. They look the same and there is no kind of specializing going on. There is no place for a village that focuses on a certain craft or is known for this and that. Only the sorrounding resources and the behavior of the people living there will make a village unique. Make settlements more unique by providing systems that need lots of specialization. Similar to different character builds, villages should not be the jack of all trades. Force people to make choices what kind of buildings and craft they want to persue deeper and thus provide a unique identity and purpose to that village. Then it actually makes sense to visit other villages, as you will not be able to do everything inside your own village.
So we need deeper, building-centric systems for crafting. Let a village focus on alchemy, another on horse breeding, another on weapon smithing etc. This will be immensily valuable to make the world come to live.
- Give me the opportunity to contact my neighbours when they are not online. When I ride into a village, chances are nobody will be there. NPCs that do manual labour like chopping wood would be a cool addition to make places feel more alive, but I also want to be able to leave a message for someone. How about mail boxes or slipping a note under the door? Or if you could just click on a claimed territory on the map and a contact form opens up?
- Give people more tasks do to inside villages and more rescources to produce. That way life-skill oriented players will actually want to play this game more often. Add in depth farming with different tools and buildings. Again, let villages and people specialize into areas of that system, dont make everything attainable for everyone.
Pet breeding is another system that will assist this purpose. So are tavern games, an overhauled food system, a notice board, customizable buildings, maybe even certain buildings (deeds) that are only produced by players with a certain skill requirement and are sold to other players - not just by an npc available to all.
- An ingame UI element for "your neighbourhood" would go a long way. It could be defined by where your house is placed or by your chosing. It would tell you how many people live inside your neighbourhood (a certain radius), update you when someone new joins or some buildings decay, provide a message board to stay in contact, list the names of characters living inside that area (need an option to anonymize/opt out ofc), provide an overview of TC brokers wares available in your region, give people little profiles with info they can attach (build details, crafting prof., anything)
Hopefully we will see the game move more into this direction, I have my fingers crossed!