Final Wipe and Lot Selection

I asked when the original thread how many companions there would be and didn't get a response. I'm hoping we get a few more details on them.

 

But he could be standing behind the hero and behind the "camera" and then say something. So basically he wouldn't be too far away but we couldn't see the displayed text as he is behind the "camera"...

 

Divinity Original Sin had a decent solution for this (aside from the fact that their whole dialog system was wonderful)

When your companion had something important to say, they would have an Icon over their head (a !) to let you know. Then you had to initiate the conversation when you were ready.

Not that I advocate icons over your head, but some sort of unobtrusive GUI notification perhaps?

 

dragons dogma had/has that too, unfortunately most of the stuff they have to say is useless. it was a big ugly red speech bubble with a ! on it. maybe have a floating icon near the edge of the screen that kinda blends in with the rest of the UI/world a little?

 

If they are saying random banter comments it's not important enough to worry about. If they wish to hold a conversation they should lock into the conversation zoom position like any other NPC

 

How could we get access to the inventory/gear and skills of our companions?

I think we should double click on them to start a conversation.
If we ask them about "gear" their paperdoll and backpack opens and we can rummage around, pull other armor or weapons from the backpack to their paperdoll etc.
If we ask them about "skills", then their skill window shows up so that we can determine which skills they should train.



Those were the times...

Do you realize that this is the first time we will get a companion system in an RPG by Richard Garriott since Ultima VII? It simply has to be done right!

 

I would be absolutely floored if we got this

 

I wouldn't. They're supposed to be implementing this for NPCs in PoTs.
Wait... What? Some feature that might be useful in more than one aspect of the game? Unpossible!

 

I don't know, I found banter to be pretty immersion setting when walking around in U7.

It is good news that a byproduct of PoT's may make it to companions, how fortunate.

 

Didn't say the banter shouldn't be there. So you would still be right at home in the immersion.

 

If you think about it... They could do the land rush backwards and it would make more sense. Row lot owners can't take village lots if they went first etc etc.

 

There are many solutions to the problem of top->bottom lot poaching. By now, it's clear Portalarium aren't interested in solving the problem, nor even consider it a problem to solve.

 

Working as intended. You (quite literally) get what you paid for. I'm OK with that.

 

Yep, and as an added bonus, you can also, optionally, at your choice, take something that someone else paid for. Unless, you know, you go last or something unfortunate like that.

 

Not really. They paid for a deed and a position in the land rush. They haven't paid for an actual piece of land. Nobody has taken away their deed or their position in the land rush.

 

mmm Semantics Jousting. Good times!
If I am in a higher tier, I can take someone else's desired lot who happens to be in a lower tier, that they paid for. I could even say "neener" while I do it, if I was that kind of person.
And many players, on these very forums, in this very thread, have confirmed that's their intent, because they feel entitled to do it, being in a higher tier.
Using all the wiggle words in the world doesn't change that reality, nor the public perception of the injustice of such a thing, in an online game.

Axiom: Defense of bad design decisions encourages more bad design decisions. (Yes, I think this is a bad design decision)

 

You can certainly make a case that it is a bad design decision. You may be right, since it obviously upsets some players, and that is generally not what game developers seek to do. The die has been cast however. People have paid real money, and agreements must be honoured.

What you cannot successfully argue is that anyone has been deprived of something that they paid for.

 

How in the heck will anyone be able to take someone's desired lot?

1: having a desired lot with an expectation to claim said lot is setting yourself up for disappointment.
2: the way you word that comes off as if there are less lots available than people in the land rush.

 

I am not sure this is any different from a knight with a village lot deed taking a place a citizen with a village lot deed would want. If a high backer pledged more into the game to have a POT, for example, should they then be penalized from having the village lot they want in an NPC town if they had no intention of placing their higher lot in an NPC town? If a baron does this, for example, it leaves room for someone who purchased a city lot with in-game currency or from the add-on store to place a lot there. Is it more fair to have the baron take a city lot they will not use and deny the add-on store person the ability to claim it?

 

There MAY be less lots available than people, if higher tiers massively poach lower tiers. Ok, I'm reasoning by absurd, but still...

Case in point: row lots.

Taking data from: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...5dYcdSf8UC4LtRNXuC5hzLBhU/edit#gid=1933397109

There are:

Developer: 177 lots
Navigator: 159 lots
Ancestor: 1013 lots
Add-ons: 319 (1000 total - 681 still available on the store: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=9085 )

Total: 1668

Total + 30%: 2169

Since there are 3137 pledges in the range LOTM > Citizens, it means that if *EVERY* pledger with deed > row would get a row lot, there won't be any row lot for pledgers with that kind of deed.

Actually, row lots would be over already at Founder Edelmann tier.

As I said, it's an absurd scenario. But a non-zero probability, still.