Map Size Fixes

[Angus]

Two things:

1. To close up and isolate Providence would be really foolish and short sighted. I agree it is the event center, social hub, trade and stall area, a place where friends gather, gossip starts and boasts and threats are made. A place for bragging, of danger and of course where all new comers enter the world. It should stay as is.

2. I really like the adding outposts/cities idea. (all smaller than Providence of course) add 4, 6, 8 new safe towns/villages. Each with a name, a few stalls, npc's, ect at various spots on the map. Each would be a new teleport added to the players travel menu. Different groups might like to socialize/trade in different towns and this would make all areas of the map more accessible to everyone. Have a little fee included if it is not boston or home teleport. BUT.................. here is the catch.................
To gain the teleport ability to a new town you must talk to the town Administrator (npc) in the town. This forces you to travel overland and find the town before you can use its teleport. To be a very well traveled explorer you must visit all the new towns to gain all the new teleports.

[Potjeh]

1. To close up and isolate Providence would be really foolish and short sighted. I agree it is the event center, social hub, trade and stall area, a place where friends gather, gossip starts and boasts and threats are made. A place for bragging, of danger and of course where all new comers enter the world. It should stay as is.

How does any of these things require being able to walk out of Providence into the real world?

[MarpTarpton]

+1 to Darwoth's idea of static, implemented waystones and to walling off Providence.

That being said, the map is bigger than it should be. The things in the pipeline yet to be implemented (namely PVP, raiding, and siege mechanics) demand players have access to one another. The game in its final form shouldn't have a map this large in a single world instance. If players cannot find/access each other within reason (either voluntarily or through necessity), we can't properly test these things in a setting similar to what will occur in the finished game iteration.

[Potjeh]

Why is it necessary that everyone can reach everyone else? Is it so essential to have a single faction dominate the game?

[Darwoth]

Why is it necessary that everyone can reach everyone else? Is it so essential to have a single faction dominate the game?

lol, it pretty much works the exact opposite.

being one of the few people playing that WILL leapfrog track someone over 2 days with a single scent to work with i can say that dumbing down that process with lesser travel times makes it so even people like you that do not know how to play can do "something" to fight the man.

[Potjeh]

That's not at all what I was talking about. I'm saying there should be space for multiple raider factions so the travel times involved make it impractical for them to wage a war of extermination on each other until only one is left standing.

[Lusewing]

I agree Marp Tarpton, the waystones might also become something else in the wilderness to be contested and sort after. I also agree that, with the current player base, the world is much too big for us to fully test many of the up and coming features. I am unlikely to be popular with this sugestion, but it might be worth implementing a full wipe and new map once the combat update arrives. There are already many annoyed at how they may need to implemnt bace redesigns after the walls and defences have been changed, and I know the very idea of relocating those out in the darkness (who would most likely be quite advanced in their play) are enough to get the pitchforks flying.
Then again not wiping charracters, and only starting with a clean map, would insure people could get back on their feet quickly and be ready to test out the new features for bugs, and brakes.
As I said though, not a popular option, but an option non-the-less.

[MarpTarpton]

Why is it necessary that everyone can reach everyone else? Is it so essential to have a single faction dominate the game?

Who said that's what is essential? The problem isn't currently that a single faction cannot dominate the game. The problem currently is that no one is fighting because no one has to, it's unduly inconvenient, and you could easily hide a V Claim the size of Providence without anyone stumbling on it for months despite having over 600 people playing per day. I'm sorry that you don't recognize this as being an issue in a game with open PVP, but it is. I would sooner understand granting further defensive protections against a force of dominating raiders than to inhibit the game by having the map stay so absurdly large not only in comparison to its population but also in regard to mechanics that depend on socialization, trade, and combat, all of which stand to suffer if the map size isn't of an intended size OR a new system put in place to make travel over the area easier.

[Potjeh]

When we get more players (once you start advertising) the population density will increase naturally. As for finding towns in the first place, IMO major shrinkage of darkness can solve this. But unlike suggested in the OP, it shouldn't just ignore settlements and cover them in darkness. Instead settlements should generate light so you can have high enough civilization level in your base for comfortable living, but on the flipside you'd cast a large anti-shadow which will alert anyone in a fairly large area around you to the presence of your settlement.

[MarpTarpton]

When we get more players (once you start advertising) the population density will increase naturally. As for finding towns in the first place, IMO major shrinkage of darkness can solve this. But unlike suggested in the OP, it shouldn't just ignore settlements and cover them in darkness. Instead settlements should generate light so you can have high enough civilization level in your base for comfortable living, but on the flipside you'd cast a large anti-shadow which will alert anyone in a fairly large area around you to the presence of your settlement.

By the time we get more players with advertising, the testing should be over, so that doesn't help us right now. The areas in the light are just as difficult to locate as the areas in the darkness currently (but without the humour drain) and it doesn't solve any of the issues otherwise faced with the result of having a large map.