Instead of Tindrem being known as a boring place to leave from to find the "real game", why couldn't Tindrem be built up as a special place of it's own?
It's one of the first places players will see. They will wonder as to the Tindrem backdrop with it's intricacy scaling the mountain... and may think what are all these back alleys and the Noble district. I found it a bit unfortunate the game doesn't offer any kind of mechanics system, or special tasks, or similar to dig into ..... Blue Players. Get what I mean? It's interesting the game seems to only focus on making Tindrem a dry place to get out of, and where the "cool" people go-- "those reds who do the seiges, trust me bro". Talk about a glimpsed dream of wonder and lore, then a missed opportunity.
Here are a few things I thought of--
The same ideas also for Morin Kur as the Tindrem of the East, so to speak.
-- Instead of punishing people for having LOW standing, reward for having HIGH standing. Very basic game design logic -- catch more people with honey than vinegar. For instance, if there were great rewards for building up Blue Town Social Standing, would you even need to lock people out of Blue towns for Low Standing anymore? If you added something of a system mechanic like this, you could just remove Guards attacking for Low Standing. (Unless they have a Crim Timer of course.)
-- High Standing offers the ability to acquire Tasks, information, and trade with from the Noble District.... Rare Items Dealer. Goodies like engravers, special clothing, and yep, for Fist Weapons too perhaps.
-- Also in the Noble District is
-- the Tindrem Knight Lord -- he's like a Task Giver for Blue Players to specifically protect Blues, & kill Red Players. This means UNIQUE KILLS. So people can't just kill their friends in a loop to game the system here. In other words once you've killed a specific red player, killing them again won't gain progress.
------The reward is a Knight Weapon Engraver Crafting Book (for the engraver I mean, so any weapon can be made a special Knight Weapon). It's a holy weapon that only Blue Players can pick up.
-- Also in the Noble District is the Master Merchant --- he gives advanced Tasks for mining, wood cutting, collection, Auction, and Crafting. Completing his tasks would be great if it unlocked some new crafting books. But the idea is to specifically make Solo Blue Miners and SLAG HAULERS feel there is a game system for their playstye. If that makes sense? (Yea you got the Sieging and TC for the Sandbox. How about a Fantasy RPG also?)
-- In the Tindrem Library you might find....
--- Not just skill books to buy, but also an updated Lore book case system. This is from the MO2 lore writer. Matts, was his name? This has everything from Mage Tower, to Lava Falls, Sheevra Cave. Bits and pieces of useful Lore to solve advanced tasks of Archeology and Exploration -- bringing in the varoious Landmarks and Ruins locations scattered around the map as destination points. For example you go to Fire Shrine and find a secret, if you know where or how to look (perhaps you need to find the Clue for your Journal). And if you update the in-game Lore tomes secretly here and there, like something reasonable, every month or so, with a new tidbit, it would be well worth digging thru for the Lore Buffs and Roleplayers.
In other words, rewarding those playstyles with real game mechanics (instead of making them and after thought compared to BIG FIGHT ZERG as they only real thing to do, win and feel good!)
-- Oh yes, the Tindrem Back Drop should be explorable too. It might be a very nice place for a new Dungeon as well as some intrigue Below the Tindrem Arena in the Labyrinth. What's up there? Well, a Throne Room. And in this Throne room, you can find special things that spawn every so often. So it's worth "holding the Throne" - but as a PVP destination. Titles, tasks, etc. can fill out here also.
-- Altars to various deities referenced in the Lore that act like Relics where you can get a special Buff. But this is based on your Standing (functioning as a Social Status rank.) The buffs can only be taken every so often, but do stick around even if you die.
-- Buffs give incentives to respect playstyles for those solo and small group blue-berry miners, gatherers, and explorers.
-- Specifically this is because since the game is Zerg driven. If the buffs reinforced players who go solo or in small groups, from Tindrem, yes.
-- High Standing or "Blue Reward Buffs":
--- Kind of the Altar Buffs example:
--- Magical Shield -- 20 bonus HP, these are lost first if damaged by getting hit by a player, but if someone HEALS YOU for restoring actual lost HP, then the buff fades off at a 1 for 1 rate. The idea is to make Solos more tanky instead of being squish to Zergs in 1 v. X. (Hopefully that makes sense? Reward all those players for their efforts so they stick around too.)
--- Nature Blending -- aggro radius of Animal creatures shrinks. Letting you move around overland map without as much unintended aggro.
--- Slag Hauler Buff -- increases the rate at which you can deplete a node that is gathered from.
And for the Underworld of course--
-- Eaves Dropper style Character to inform players of new rumors. And clues for where these Advanced Tasks might be completed
-- Please add Snooping and Pickpockets as Theivery Action skills (200 pts total), and Lockpicking as a Theivery Profession skill (100 points total), where Lockpicking is akin to FISHING, just with working chests (or doors) in a mini-game of tumblers where you try to open it while conserving picks.
-- The Tindrem Sunken District would again be a great way to deliver the Book Vendor for Theivery -- maybe he has a variety of Thief Tasks, in addition to these books? Plus an intresting Grey area adjacent to Tindrem for some intrigue mysteries, task collection points, pickable chests and so on. The idea is close, fast action for Tindrem -- making Tindrem Fun...Not Boring!
-- Please add the Assasination System. Similar to Bounty Hunting, but it gives a task for non-Murder players (can include Reds too, if the algorithm needs something in reasonable range.) Guild Leaders and people with High Standing are targets that give special "score" bonus. Can only reroll the target Once per hour.
--
It's one of the first places players will see. They will wonder as to the Tindrem backdrop with it's intricacy scaling the mountain... and may think what are all these back alleys and the Noble district. I found it a bit unfortunate the game doesn't offer any kind of mechanics system, or special tasks, or similar to dig into ..... Blue Players. Get what I mean? It's interesting the game seems to only focus on making Tindrem a dry place to get out of, and where the "cool" people go-- "those reds who do the seiges, trust me bro". Talk about a glimpsed dream of wonder and lore, then a missed opportunity.
Here are a few things I thought of--
The same ideas also for Morin Kur as the Tindrem of the East, so to speak.
-- Instead of punishing people for having LOW standing, reward for having HIGH standing. Very basic game design logic -- catch more people with honey than vinegar. For instance, if there were great rewards for building up Blue Town Social Standing, would you even need to lock people out of Blue towns for Low Standing anymore? If you added something of a system mechanic like this, you could just remove Guards attacking for Low Standing. (Unless they have a Crim Timer of course.)
-- High Standing offers the ability to acquire Tasks, information, and trade with from the Noble District.... Rare Items Dealer. Goodies like engravers, special clothing, and yep, for Fist Weapons too perhaps.
-- Also in the Noble District is
-- the Tindrem Knight Lord -- he's like a Task Giver for Blue Players to specifically protect Blues, & kill Red Players. This means UNIQUE KILLS. So people can't just kill their friends in a loop to game the system here. In other words once you've killed a specific red player, killing them again won't gain progress.
------The reward is a Knight Weapon Engraver Crafting Book (for the engraver I mean, so any weapon can be made a special Knight Weapon). It's a holy weapon that only Blue Players can pick up.
-- Also in the Noble District is the Master Merchant --- he gives advanced Tasks for mining, wood cutting, collection, Auction, and Crafting. Completing his tasks would be great if it unlocked some new crafting books. But the idea is to specifically make Solo Blue Miners and SLAG HAULERS feel there is a game system for their playstye. If that makes sense? (Yea you got the Sieging and TC for the Sandbox. How about a Fantasy RPG also?)
-- In the Tindrem Library you might find....
--- Not just skill books to buy, but also an updated Lore book case system. This is from the MO2 lore writer. Matts, was his name? This has everything from Mage Tower, to Lava Falls, Sheevra Cave. Bits and pieces of useful Lore to solve advanced tasks of Archeology and Exploration -- bringing in the varoious Landmarks and Ruins locations scattered around the map as destination points. For example you go to Fire Shrine and find a secret, if you know where or how to look (perhaps you need to find the Clue for your Journal). And if you update the in-game Lore tomes secretly here and there, like something reasonable, every month or so, with a new tidbit, it would be well worth digging thru for the Lore Buffs and Roleplayers.
In other words, rewarding those playstyles with real game mechanics (instead of making them and after thought compared to BIG FIGHT ZERG as they only real thing to do, win and feel good!)
-- Oh yes, the Tindrem Back Drop should be explorable too. It might be a very nice place for a new Dungeon as well as some intrigue Below the Tindrem Arena in the Labyrinth. What's up there? Well, a Throne Room. And in this Throne room, you can find special things that spawn every so often. So it's worth "holding the Throne" - but as a PVP destination. Titles, tasks, etc. can fill out here also.
-- Altars to various deities referenced in the Lore that act like Relics where you can get a special Buff. But this is based on your Standing (functioning as a Social Status rank.) The buffs can only be taken every so often, but do stick around even if you die.
-- Buffs give incentives to respect playstyles for those solo and small group blue-berry miners, gatherers, and explorers.
-- Specifically this is because since the game is Zerg driven. If the buffs reinforced players who go solo or in small groups, from Tindrem, yes.
-- High Standing or "Blue Reward Buffs":
--- Kind of the Altar Buffs example:
--- Magical Shield -- 20 bonus HP, these are lost first if damaged by getting hit by a player, but if someone HEALS YOU for restoring actual lost HP, then the buff fades off at a 1 for 1 rate. The idea is to make Solos more tanky instead of being squish to Zergs in 1 v. X. (Hopefully that makes sense? Reward all those players for their efforts so they stick around too.)
--- Nature Blending -- aggro radius of Animal creatures shrinks. Letting you move around overland map without as much unintended aggro.
--- Slag Hauler Buff -- increases the rate at which you can deplete a node that is gathered from.
And for the Underworld of course--
-- Eaves Dropper style Character to inform players of new rumors. And clues for where these Advanced Tasks might be completed
-- Please add Snooping and Pickpockets as Theivery Action skills (200 pts total), and Lockpicking as a Theivery Profession skill (100 points total), where Lockpicking is akin to FISHING, just with working chests (or doors) in a mini-game of tumblers where you try to open it while conserving picks.
-- The Tindrem Sunken District would again be a great way to deliver the Book Vendor for Theivery -- maybe he has a variety of Thief Tasks, in addition to these books? Plus an intresting Grey area adjacent to Tindrem for some intrigue mysteries, task collection points, pickable chests and so on. The idea is close, fast action for Tindrem -- making Tindrem Fun...Not Boring!
-- Please add the Assasination System. Similar to Bounty Hunting, but it gives a task for non-Murder players (can include Reds too, if the algorithm needs something in reasonable range.) Guild Leaders and people with High Standing are targets that give special "score" bonus. Can only reroll the target Once per hour.
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