Can my holdfast produce something unique?

*Shy wave*
As I write out a storyline for my little holdfast I wonder if it would be possible to "contribute" something ingame that would give us a little spark of belonging - like a unique reagent or something. I would like to give people a reason to visit us other than "Check out the kooks jumping over a broom" type stuff.

I was thinking of a backstory whereby one of the village ancestors is supposed to be a mer-creature washed up in the fishermans nets; thus giving the town something of a supernatural bent and affinity for witchy stuff.

Maybe we could have a harvestable resource spot (like from fishing or something from the singing rocks) where players could collect "Mer tears" - which would be like a reagent for crafting or something?

It would be really awesome if such a thing was only collectable here - giving people a reason to drop in and say hi.
I guess theres lots of reasons why this couldn't be possible - but I think it would be nice.

 

The problem with a unique feature (cool as they may be) is that if they do it for one.. they have to do it for all and it's a lot of work.

If I may, I think what you really want to do is develop your own little community and it sounds like you have a theme in mind. Remember that town can control who lives there and by extension you can pretty much dictate the visual style of the town. You wouldn't want me living there for example because I'm very much a knightly kinda guy and my house will reflect that. Where you would probably prefer magic users who want to live in 'witchy' style homes.

Then the people who live there will have friends who will come to visit and hang out etc. Having a resource or something special is good and all but community will bring people in as well (it's just more work). It's worth it though.

 

"What a Very Bewitching Thought"

Once we get "wickedly cracking around here", I would like to see an ability to create a certain fashion of cloths for such player towns to have the ability to make "only there". Because if such a thing were possible, then it may be a small payment to Portalarium to have something you or a kind programer designed that was SotA fit to be introduced strait into the game for that town's local sewing work station to be able to be made there.

We may be far from such things or a matter of just thinking out the implementation of such a thing, but just make it revenue worth Portalarium's time involved.
Fashion I believe has not had it's fare time for us here yet.
A Very Bewitching thread of though Deloria !
~Time Lord~

 

Great idea, perhaps the questlines could encompass such a feat/smile.... collect one thing from each playertown to advance, etc.... it will all work out to everyones advantage. Or Playertowns could hold their own festivals etc/smile..... I am so loving this game, we can incorporate many great twists over time.... Collectible badges for festivals/even on fansites, etc..... Perhaps each Playertown should have its own website and network them, etc... the mind is spinning now/easy there.... lol
/hugs too all

 

I really wouldn't mind paying for the privilege of having a unique harvestable resource in my back yard. It gives the holdfast a reason for existence entirely seperate from my own ego (which right now is the ONLY reason I have a holdfast) - anchored right into the game

I think the difficulty for devs would be deciding how to balance it - but imagine a purchasable item in the shop "Gemstone Mine" or Herb garden" for land owners only...

Resources like that suddenly become covetable as well... Eventually if the resource is especially valuable maybe someone would want to attack your town, or do a trade deal with you. Maybe having the Resource means you have to flag a certain area of your town as PvP open? Thus certain high value resource nodes would be high risk to own and operate.....

I have no clue how difficult any of this would be - better minds can figure that out but if a dev said to me "OK you can fish for mermaid tears on your dock" I would be very happy.

 

I'm really hoping that our holdfasts will have the ability to harvest (fishing/gardening etc)...Otherwise living there will be quite boring haha...

A holdfast that has an environment that actually is better for certain harvesting does add to the depth of the game as well. I would love to visit your little town if I know that I can find a better quality of Apple tree. I love the thought that my little holdfast has the best ice-fish in the land because the icy lakes are ideal conditions for them to grow and mature.

Hoping for these levels of detail in our game!

 

I like the idea of farms and ranches, where you have to maintain your land, its resources, crops, etc. In other words, you have to spend some amount of time, effort and money to grow crops / harvestable goods.

I don't like the idea of purchasing infinitely spawning natural resources for placement in a player-owned town. Let's use a fishing pond as an example. If it's a pond that infinitely spawns fish that you can harvest, then no. If it's an empty pond where you have to fill it with fish, and then have to feed the fish and maintain the pond or they all die off from starvation or disease, then yes, by all means fish as much as you want...until you run out of fish, then you'll need to spend time/money/effort to repopulate the pond.

 

Well in ardoris they had what looked like a public farming area. So that idea might already be in game. I was thinking about asking for one of my NPC buildings be taken by a public farm plot. Or at worst take up one f my village plots used as a public farm plot.
Then it's not a far stretch to make that a farm enhanced for xx crop.

I'm still hoping for something like an expert farm, like an expert bench only for farming

 

Random ideas:

The "something unique" does not even have to be an in-game object...it could be a title (e.g., "Defender of Merspire") or something like that, that could only be obtained by completing a quest there.

Or, maybe the fish scales (which IRL used to be used in sword pommels because they were rough and made a sweating knight sure of his hold on his sword) when applied to your new sword fractionally increase the odds of a hit...or something. Maybe the merscales make your cloak iridescent. Maybe you can only play a certain song on your lute if you learn it in Merspire (this would be pretty easy to code I think, since it requires no new objects). Maybe owning a house in Merspire makes you a better fisherman. Maybe the fish from Merspire when used in food recipes keep you feeling full longer. Maybe Merspire could have its own banner, which only they could sell. Just spitballing here.

 

Exactly, we could even incorporate the ideas of websites for each playerowned town..... player funded awards / competitions.... Guild rewards for visiting each town/gathering items needed for crafts and quests, etc.... This could help the game go viral/at least the world would be or could be infinite.



Also a thought, knowing that there are at least 100,000 re-inactors......cosplay people out there..... imagine more Avatars like mine... Some of them actually fight in real tourneys' in Armor/wink, would be so fun to get my friends from NorthShield to join with persona turned Avatar/giggle.... we can relive the last 20 years of midevial camping/lol, slaps knee.

 

I like this idea too. I think as a town-owner you should have the ability to create a growth of animals and plants in your city in the same way you would create that in your own garden.

This is another fun factor! Creating life in your town for gathering and fishing wow...Great thoughts Smack!

 

Public farms for sure. I think I heard they were thinking about those.

An aspect that I've seen before is also just planting whatever you want on valid soil, but it has the chance of being stolen/ruined by other players. The advantages are that you can create a 'secret' crop of plants if you don't have a home...

Hoping for personally owned farms too that you can get. Plopping down a small square for planting in some designated area would be awesome. Another good option for non-homeowners.

 

Well I'm kind of hoping to have public farms in my player owned town that I could set that only home owners could use

 

Ardoris is not owned by a single, individual player and we're not talking about adding existing resource nodes here but a unique resource that can't be found literally anywhere else. What does that resource do? How does it fit in? How does it change the game balance? Suddenly everyone wants their own unique resource which has to be designed and incorporated and how will they fit in? How will they affect the entire crafting system or magic or alchemy, food? etc.

Then you thought the stink made by the have vs have not people was bad before? Someone pays to have a resource node put in their back yard? That'll be time to duck and run for cover as the "pay to win" crowd causes another stink.. only this time they might even have a case.

Not saying it isn't a cool idea. The point is a unique resource, while technically doable is not feasible.

That said.. I personally would appreciate some customizable options. If you're on a lake, have a river or next to the ocean for example than fishing should be possible. Mining kinda goes back to the personal dungeon idea. Any minable resource on the surface would eventually run out after not too long so I'm not inclined to expect a mining node. If you logged trees in your hex I would expect those to run out too unless you're deep in the woods.

Farms are not such a big deal. Town owners will get to decide on at least one community lot. Larger towns can do more. You can buy an extra lot deed, place it in your town and use it as a farm/garden.

 

But it's no more a resource node then having a crafting bench you can designate your friends can use. Having a place to farm is no different then having a place to work.

A node you just wander upon and gather. A farm you have to get seed to plant, then tend it.

 

Except everyone can have the opportunity do it without paying cash for it.

 

My feeling is that towns earned in game should have unique things. That's why people fight over them.

But towns purchased for the purpose of RP, should produce and export RP. The concept of crafters being able to add their own unique stamp to goods would fall into this category.

 

Well here's three parts to it...
The first is having a purely RP resource, as you say - like in this case mermaids tears: A nice little plot device for any RP that we have in mind. Zero value except to RP.
The second is having something like "Mermaids tears" gives others a reason to go explore player towns. So make the mermaids tears useful to people other than RPers, and give every town the opportunity to create something unique so that other players are encouraged to roam around and explore them. If Mermaids tears were specifically a magic reagent for example, then I would get visits from magic users and crafters - which is in line with the theme of the holdfast. So suddenly our Zero value item becomes low(?)value.

Lastly I don't see the difference between earned and bought towns - they are both owned and run with the same level of commitment, and at the start of the game the only player run places will be the purchased ones - but they still deserve to be visited, and to be useful if its possible, rather than left out of being useful, which means making our low value item maybe a bit more valuable, or strategically important.

I think its kind of important that all player towns are rooted in the game and live in it in some way.

 

no idea what you're trying to say.

Anyone who lives in my village would have access for free. Just like a normal village in real life. Only cash spent is me buying the village.

 

I hope people don't see purchasing land now as an entitlement that won't be equal to later efforts to get land?
(ala: It's not a real city unless you earned it ingame?)

I had the choice between getting a new computer (that could actually play the game) and buying a holdfast.
I chose the holdfast because its important to support the game and I wanted to define my own RP place in it even while I wait - somewhere where people with my interests would like to come, and I could make friends in SOTA... It makes me feel like I belong already when there's a place waiting for me and people like me.

I feel when people prioritise the game development above other things it shows commitment rather than that we are "spoiled kids buying our way upwards"?

Summary: No differentiation between purchased and earned towns please!