In support of Town Stalls

[JohnCarver]

If it's complicated to implement non-Boston stalls then it's not worth it. If it isn't complicated - then why not have this small nice thing?

It isn't something simple that could be done quickly without pulling development resources from other projects, if that is what you mean.

[Procne]

Yeah, that's what I meant

[Judaism]

I wonder whether or not you guys spoke too much with Realak, he had similar ideas.

[RyanS77]

Why not just a plain old auction house in Boston that everyone goes to? I know it's a tired model but I think it could work, one of the issues would be the character collision but I'm sure there's ways around it i.e. a UI that becomes available in a certain area or a large circular area that players can access from all sides and maybe from a distance like stalls.

[Kandarim]

you want to take away pretty much the only social interaction that exists in the game?
Stalls will serve that function just fine

[RyanS77]

you want to take away pretty much the only social interaction that exists in the game?
Stalls will serve that function just fine

Yeah good point... I'd still prefer an AH though, just personal preference I suppose. The forums are plenty social interaction

[ImpalerWrG]

The forums are a cesspit only visited by 1% of the player base.

[Potjeh]

'Localized' things are not going to be a providence thing. I'm also not convinced on all these benefits of 'neighbors'.

You want to meet strangers, you go to town, you want to make friends, you form a town with them. I don't understand or support this demand for 'friends' who are not good enough to invite to your town, but are somehow cool enough to leave in your backyard, that are somehow more interesting than somebody you simply meet in Providence.

It's pretty obvious that people in your backyard are more interesting than someone you meet in Providence - for starters they can inflict harm unto you and your property (and you to them and theirs). Thus the current optimal strategy being eradication of all neighbours. But IMO it'd be a lot more interesting if in addition to these downsides there would be upsides as well. Balancing the costs and the benefits of letting neighbours stick around would add a great deal of strategy to the game. Having your neighbours sell forage to you is a good thing, but having them deplete the local lime pits isn't. Even worse, they might go and claim those lime pits. So obviously you need to set down some law, and where's law there's people not satisfied with it. Some of those might develop enough to challenge your supremacy over the area. You could launch pre-emptive attacks to wipe out people who are getting too developed, but that'd wreck your PR and cut the influx of the newbies you want there to collect those chestnuts for you. So diplomacy would be the first choice, and in the name of keeping peace concessions would have to be made which could leave resentment on both sides. So when and if diplomacy fails and the whole thing boils over there's a whole lot of delicious drama to be had, because the involved parties have a lot of history together, and because they're right next to each other the conflict is guaranteed to be bloody. There's nothing wrong with the classic HoB stories where the attackers strike out of the blue to get loot and tears, but I think the neighbourhood drama could be on a whole new level. Of course, to get it, we need neighbourhoods, and thus a strong enough incentive to players to form them.

Then there is also the effect on retention of social players. Having nearby homesteads to look at is more interesting than just the wilderness, as they're more dynamic. You can watch them develop and compare them with yourself, so you get that whole keeping up with the Joneses effect. Running into neighbours while foraging or hunting would make the world seem more alive. You can make small talk about whatever either of you are currently doing, which isn't a good conversation piece in Providence because people there are mostly just standing around. Or you can gossip about the other neighbours, trying to deduce who might be trouble.

Anyway, I don't think that we need any new teleport options for this, since the idea is to encourage people to settle closer to each other. What would be nice, though, is a wilderness port option that takes you to an area that's open to settlers. Maybe something like a special building, an inn or something. You pick an inn from the list, and the wilderness guide sets it to be your homestead. The inn should of course be destructible. As for the stands themselves, I think it goes without saying that they should be destructible. But we have braziers to protect them, and if they have limited range for trade so you can put them behind a wall I think they'd be good enough to see regular use.

What I'd really like to see is people's making mini-Providences, gathering places with all the hustle and bustle of a trade centre, but no perfect safety like in Providence. It should be possible to get a good enough degree of safety with just braziers and characters.

[DarkNacht]

What I'd really like to see is people's making mini-Providences, gathering places with all the hustle and bustle of a trade centre, but no perfect safety like in Providence. It should be possible to get a good enough degree of safety with just braziers and characters.

As long as you can just port to Prov when ever you want this will not happen.
There are also currently lots of reasons to build a neighborhood, though trial membership in towns greatly reduced some of the biggest reasons, and some people have, this was fairly common on JT and there was tons of drama between neighbors. I seriously doubt town stalls will even encourage it enough to make a big increase in people building neighborhoods unless porting becomes significantly more limited, especially now that Prov has player stalls.

[trungdle]

[...]the current optimal strategy being eradication of all neighbors.[...]
[...]set down some law,[...]So diplomacy [...]delicious drama [...]history together[...]conflict is guaranteed to be bloody. There's nothing wrong with the classic HoB stories [..]but I think the neighborhood drama could be on a whole new level. [...]

[...]Having nearby homesteads to look at is more interesting than just the wilderness, as they're more dynamic [...] more alive.

What I'd really like to see is people's making mini-Providences, gathering places with all the hustle and bustle of a trade centre, but no perfect safety like in Providence.
I'm interested in those points you've made. We may have the same ideas of a relaxing and "care-bear" Salem, which is not what the devs are aiming for. Though overtime, when all the mechanics are in place, I would love to have your suggestion realized. I like H&H but I also like Wurm Online. Maybe there is a place for me in Salem.

It should be possible to get a good enough degree of safety with just braziers and characters.

Now that's where I draw the line. I don't think we should be safe from raids. we should be easily constructed after raids. Like indestructible structures (that can be burned for days if you want to) and claims. they can take our wealth but we can rebuild on the burned down town. then towns can be more consistent.