Mass transit and trade

[nonsonogiucas]

I'm horrified with the idea of having to transport anything myself by walking / riding through half of the map.

You settled very far from Boston because you can port items.

I agree with you... item porting cannot be removed without changing how the game works, that involves changing the premises that originally allowed everyone to settle at the far corners of the world without worrying much about remaining isolated.

We must face it, everyone built his game around the mechanics he found in the game when he started... changing those mechanics will turn the table and most likely generate tears.

I hardly think saying it's imperfect qualifies as an argument against this idea.

It's not imperfect.
It just isn't what it claims to be. It is not the solution to item porting. It is a fancy re-style of item porting. If you propose it as a re-style and a re-style is all we get, then I'm happy with it. It's a good re-style.

[nonsonogiucas]

Anything that automates trade is a bad idea.

I wouldn't be so drastic. There are things in a MMO you simply can't do, like playing 24/7 for example.
A certain amount of automation is needed because the players themselves need a substitute for when they can't be online. Passive defenses for example are a form of automation that you can hardly do without in a game where you can claim land. Some form of automated vending machine or npc or stall or whatever you call it is pretty much unavoidable too.

I would put limits on what you can sell that way though.
I remember that in EVE, where normally you find automation everywhere, there were trusted traders because capital ships couldn't fit into stations... so to trade for a capital ship a trusted trader had to play the role of the third man.

For example the Royal Clothing Committee (or something like that) could impose a harsh tax on trades that involved unusual (slotted) garments.
Or maybe there could be a chance of theft of valuable items from a stall... so you might not want to put a WSS there...

[Feone]

Anything that automates trade is a bad idea.

I wouldn't be so drastic. There are things in a MMO you simply can't do, like playing 24/7 for example.
A certain amount of automation is needed because the players themselves need a substitute for when they can't be online. Passive defenses for example are a form of automation that you can hardly do without in a game where you can claim land. Some form of automated vending machine or npc or stall or whatever you call it is pretty much unavoidable too.

I would put limits on what you can sell that way though.
I remember that in EVE, where normally you find automation everywhere, there were trusted traders because capital ships couldn't fit into stations... so to trade for a capital ship a trusted trader had to play the role of the third man.

For example the Royal Clothing Committee (or something like that) could impose a harsh tax on trades that involved unusual (slotted) garments.
Or maybe there could be a chance of theft of valuable items from a stall... so you might not want to put a WSS there...

I agree on the walls, trade is something I don't think really needs to be automated though.
We have the forums to get in contact and if there is a way to send the items back and forth trade will be fine.

The wagon system, in that aspect, would be an improvement on the status quo. Being able to send the items without both being online means both players can get their part of the deal done at their earliest convenience, without requiring the other to be online at that moment.