Where is the add-on store stuff for player towns?

Where is the add-on store stuff for player towns?

Right now the team has an unexpected success with player towns - they didn't expect as many as they got and they didn't expect as large as they got. This of course have funded a lot of dev-hours into the game.

Now going from one size to the next is usually quite large steps.

Spoiler: rambling and stats

But the rewards for the owner going up sizes isn't that big unless being crowdfunded in return by guild or potential residents. This since the owner don't have enough lot deeds.
So going from a $750 pledge upwards isn't usually worth it for most.

$750 for 21 vl and 1 NPC (and 1 choice of house)
+$450 for +12 vl and +1 NPC (and +1 choice of houses)
+$300 for +9 vl
+5$00 for +14 vl and +2 NPC (and +3 choice of houses)
+$1000 for +18 vl and +2 NPC (and +1 choice of houses)
+$1000 for +28 vl and +4 NPC (and +3 choice of houses)
+$1000 for +27 vl and +5 NPC (and +3 choice of houses)

Now I don't know since I haven't found the statistics but I'd venture that this means that they get a reverse bell curve if you sum up each pledge tier, getting a lot of value on either very low pledges ie Holdfast, then nothing nothing nothing, until you reach the really big towns where you have the large guilds purchasing as big as they can populate.

So how about those extra $50-$§100 pledges that could be gotten out of this? If people spend extra for a nicer looking house or a basement or shiny tools then they'd definately pay extra for some swag to the town with their name on it.
I think that while owners wouldn't necessarily want to increase their size they might want to increase the "quality" of their settlement.
This means that also for guilds and friends, they could gift store$ or even a whole add-on item to the owner to "upgrade" the settlement and show their appriciation etc.
Let's throw out some random ideas and see if others like them.

Spoiler: random ideas

Here are just some random non-quality ideas I threw together now to get some examples rolling:
- Upgrade the default guards to "honor guard" (think too much plumage etc)
- Get an extra NPC for the town square (max limit is double the ordinary amount)
- Ballista tower
- Aqueduct
- Temple/church (no NPC)
- "mini" Dungeon instance (respawn daily - first served etc)
- Aerial guardian (something flying which is mostly for show)
- Extra planting fields
- Public crafting table
- Level 8 Gazebo
- Mayor Statue with donation box
- Public Punishment Pit
- Une arc de triomphe
- poor lot (bad pun) row-lot which resets ownership to "for sale" every two hours
- orchard (berries or fruit of some kind)
- graveyard with up to 12 stones (no creature spawn)
- balloon (tethered by a rope - only goes up and down but gives a lovely view of the town) ...preferably with the original colors....
- Unicorn town companion (visible only to those who have not...uhm...been in a hot tub?)
- Gargantuan Dragon bones
- lord British/Darkstarr statue

 

As a player town owner myself, And now with our town reaching the size of three scenes I would say I support this notion 100%. Though I would hope some of these things would come with the design session, I wholeheartedly agree that having access to this kind of addon store content would be something we would support.

For me, the management and administration of the town *is* my gameplay, so like others who purchase crafting supplies or housing decorations or pets because thats *their* gameplay preference, to me I would support anything that would allow more content in this particular type of gameplay. Anything that allows towns to further differentiate themselves from one another is always going to be a good thing in my eyes.

 

Three? In which sizes? (I must have missed something - you have grown). Kudos.

 

That's why im dying to know if player owned Towns will allow décor in non lot locations.

 

Yes, we've grown - i have just been quite busy and havent had a chance to put up announcements yet. I am not as much of a forum goer as most. One reason why I get a bit frustrated that "community interaction" is largely judged only by forum interaction.

We're approaching village size for the city proper, given citizen donations, and that will be the port which is a metropolitan city. We also have Sawtooth Hollow, the "subterrainian" pvp enabled town, and now we've a third scene which will be more or less agricultural farmland in a plains/woodsy area.

Because each of the three towns/scenes within the Phoenix Republic each have their own very specific themes, this addon store idea and the idea of having non lot decoration types would be imperative. I think it would give us the elbow room to really shine.

 

I think there should be tons of purely cosmetic things that you can buy and decorate your town with. But when it comes to offering some sort of functionality, that's where it can get complicated. In other threads, there was the idea of having a fishing pond in the town where you can kick back with your neighbors and fish and have events, etc.

I'm perfectly fine with that -- except, the pond must be empty when purchased and placed. The town owner and its inhabitants need to fill the pond and maintain it and feed it and restock it when supply gets low due to overfishing.

So yeah, I fully support offering tons of cosmetic items that owners can decorate their towns with to make them unique and interesting places to visit and perhaps even moving there to live. But anything that offers some functionality needs to be carefully considered, as with the pond example above.

 

I'm actually not a fan of any more scope creep whatever it might earn.

I would prefer that the devs focus on making the world more interesting for all players, rather than making another decision in favor of UO guilders. No offense meant.

 

How is it that you get "UO Guilders" out of player owned towns? Our player owned town may have some individuals from UO within it, but it is an open area for all players... and player owned towns are not guilds. Multiple guilds can be present within towns, and one of the quotes that Paxlair and Port Phoenix use all the time is "We are not a guild, we are a town - any one can join"...

Player owned towns create emergent content for the players, all players, and offer a way to contribute to the economic landscape as well as the roleplay opportunities of the game itself.

 

Lord British stated in a video that POT's were added because UO guilds wanted to live together. Now others may have joined in but that's the source.

One thing you overlooked is solo play. Player owned towns create emergent content for multiplayer play, not solo play. Don't forget that there's still a lot of development that needs to take place and this isn't just an MMO.

Also, in multiplayer, with so many POT's now, I suspect they could end up downgrading the importance of regular towns except for story points. I for one want to be part of a regular town and want these to have emergent content and contributions to the economic landscape. We will see how it goes, this is just a concern of mine.

I would rather precious dev time be spent on enhancing the world rather than doing things that just POT's will benefit from if we're going to let the scope on this project creep even more.

 

I would like to see a matching lunar rift to go with the circle of stones in the add-on store, i dont care if it doesn't function as a lunar rift, just the spinny action lol.

 

Absolutely love this idea, even if it is not implemented in release 1. I for sure can get behind this Idea.

 

If they kept the normal one and added in your version, I am cool with it.

I don't want the current version replaced as it fits perfectly in Dara Brae, the Celtic Holdfast.

 

Oh, no I wouldn't want to replace it, I like it the way it is . Just an additional option to have a lunar rift, or not, within the circle of stones. But just one that does not function as a teleporter, purely cosmetic in nature, for player towns or guild halls, etc.

 

what about player town stuff that could also be purchased to put on your own properties if space allows? Interchangeable stuff.

 

Agreed, anything with functionality needs to be maintained and stocked by the players themselves. Like any kind of dungeon....if players want to tame and release wild animals into the dungeon and stock it with treasure from their own stash then let them create it.

 

Since they have the animation already, id think it be an easy option to add without it being functional.

Given it wouldn't cost anything more to do so, and that 40.00 is only getting you a decoration + taking up a very valuable chuck of real-estate i think it would make sense to add it at no extra cost.

Id also suggest that if your opting to have a basement on said lot, the basement entrance could be the portal vs. A trapdoor.

Minimal work on their end and would increase desirability on this asset as well as providing fun functionality that is 100% cosmetic only. Seems like a big win/win

 

From a functionality standpoint it makes sense to have the option to place lunar rifts that lead to certain areas of interest within the town. such as the pvp-castle arena. Enter town walk into rift to enter arena, etc. Or even a satyr It would be amazing to have the options for that.

*lifts one side of a mysterious rock* *instantly teleports to a dungeon with no apparent exit*

 

Here's my one big issue with this whole thing. Player Towns are bloody expensive and only a handful of players will ever be able to own them. Which means only a handful of players will ever have any kind of incentive to purchase town-only objects.

The devs would have to take the time to make whatever it is that went into the store.. with less than 200 people (and I'm being fairly generous here) who even have any kind of incentive to purchase whatever it is they may or may not want.

As cool as it would be for town owners to be able to customize. There just isn't much bang for buck here for Portalarium. Do they work on something only 40+ (number of player towns I heard at last count was 40+.. not even 100) MIGHT buy.. or work on stuff that 10s or 100s of thousands of people will use?

At least with player towns themselves there are many applications and bonuses. More housing, community etc.. But if we're just talking décor here where's the value in that?

Now on the other hand.. if we're talking stuff that can be placed on any player lot.. that's another thing entirely.

 

It has been said that Player towns will be purchasable with in-game currency. This would mean potentially more player owned towns in the future. However, I did not mean for my idea to be construed with a 'player town only' sentiment. If there were to be add-on items geared for player towns, they most definitely should be usable for any lot, player town or not. I dont think there would be a way to customize any player town/ with add-on store items, unless it were to be placed in a player's lot of some kind...

 

I am a player town owner and I love this idea. Though I would prefer if some of the upgrades were avalible through in game money as well. That way the items could be purchased as a community.