rdfall wrote:We have more than enough creative people. But you can't expect anyone to sacrifice any time they could be playing to just SIT in their scenario waiting for somebody to join... And of course nobody ever goes to the ring terminals if there is never a scenario up. The ring could be great fun, acting out stories and such. Even if only 1% of the people creates a couple of scenarios, that still means we'll have a hundred or more online to choose from. That is, IF the scenarios get the ability to stay online without their owner in them. (maybe even when the owner is offline)
Exactly. I think the Ring (user content) is the future of this game. The only thing I put above the Ring in importance is getting more people in the game. Because making the Ring work better and marketing the game are done by different people they could be worked on at the same time. Here are just a few ideas:
Events staged by GMs could be in the Ring. Reduces travel time and offers a controlled environment. Events are easily set-up and changed at will. Allows running the same event at different times. No changes are needed other than bug fixing. Players could even make the basic maps used by the GMs.
Apartments are just storage rooms at present.
Instead, let players build their apartments in the Ring. Change the present apartment to a storage room (crates, gear, mats stacked up and lying about). Change the apartment keeper to offer two choices to the player – storage room (owner only), and a Ring entrance to a true apartment. The apartment owner would have to be present to allow entrance (same as any Ring scenario now).
Minor changes to the apartment keeper, perhaps some changes to what can be built in the ring - provide several basic layouts, furniture, art, etc. Setting up an apartment could be an endless dapper sink if the items are for sale.
The same can be done for Guild houses as well. The present ones are cramped for even for a small guild, hopeless for a large one. The same can be done to create bars, clubs, gambling halls, stores, tattoo parlors, etc. etc. More dapper sinks = money has value again.
Eventually, I like to see player made scenarios available all the time. Perhaps a group of player volunteers would be willing to test scenarios submitted by other players for bugs, exploits, fun-ability and if the devs approve (doing their own testing perhaps) those could be set up to be always active.
Perhaps new PvP spaces & scenarios could be done via the Ring. Again the spaces would be setup by players, tested by players, and then left active by the devs.
Quite a few mentioned the “Canopy” or other lands to explore. I’d like to see that too. Perhaps the Ring can be used for that as well.
Players could design ‘pieces’ of the canopy that the dev team would fit together as they see fit, adding background art (sky as now, the planet below, wind, weather, etc.)
The canopy would grow as more people made little sections to be included. Atys would really seem to be a giant growing plant if you could do that. This would require a lot more dev work, artists, new mobs, and so on, but it would be much less than doing it all from scratch.
Other little touches I’d like to see:
Sitting in chairs.
Too much trouble, fine - make the homins a chairless people, but provide carpets, pillows, low tables and such that are appropriate for a chairless people – think Japan and Arabia.
Make food, drink, furniture, art (picture of that giant kittin would sell well), and so forth craftable items and thus dapper sinks. Designing clothes (not just armor) would be great too – probably too difficult given the slider bars in the character creation screen so allow dying fabric & texture choices.
Make jewelry visible. People don’t just wear jewelry for stats & resists. I know it would be small, but I’m sure you guys can come with something that could be seen – wide bracelets, multiple anklets, shiny rings.
Think about allowing approved 3D designed items into the game after an appropriate approval process. Player enthusiasts, most of whom didn’t know diddly about using 3D programs before they started, designed nearly all the ships in Pirates of the Burning Sea. The ships are beautiful and the best thing about that game.
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