Please remove teleport scrolls

Regional economies are in direct conflict with players' desire to socialize in different settings together (don't forget @Baron Drocis Fondorlatos this includes PVP) and exploration. I prefer that regional economies lose.

 

Apparently you haven't seen the cost or time sink associated with these things.

I stand by my statement of Go make 100 and come talk to us about this topic.

Consider time to gather the resources, refine them, process them and the sheer HIGH COST of the Reagents to make them I really don't think anyone has a grasp on what it takes to keep these in production with the exception of those of us out there making them.

Laz

 

The crafting of scrolls is and should stay a seperate issue. That is the same as crafting anything in game. The product is the scrolls and the person using the scrolls is using convenience. Convenience should always cost more than the counterpart.

 

What if we had scrolls craftable only in the region you are in and you could only use them in said region?

 

Do people here actually believe that anyone wants to be trapped in a region? This seems like a case of "I'd like everyone *BUT ME* to deal with this". Regional economies are not going to happen because noone wants the regional boundary to apply to them. The scrolls are just one way of getting around the regional concept. Sure the devs can tighten down all the loopholes and people could just socialize with the people in their region and the audience for the game could just shrink into oblivion.

Who wants to play a game and not go see the world that is the game? Maybe a few dedicated role players but I don't see that being the majority of players.

The cost of making the scrolls is very important. It is a crucial part of the supply versus demand system. Once people burn out on making them in mass their supply is going to dwindle and the price is going to go up. This can not be disregarded as a part of the entire plan to effect a built in control on how readily available these will be over time.

Me personally? I still have all 6 scrolls (3 of each kind) sitting in my inventory.

 

This is the games design from the begining. Regional trade is richard garriotts vision. We have known this since the kickstarter. I personally like the idea and want it to work. I am sorry that people want convenience instead of what the game was designed for. The control points are there for a reason. They should not be bypassed easily. Port messed up and gave kids candy that they have to take away now.

 

I think a better fix would be to disallow over-encumbered teleport / recall scroll use. Then maybe increase raw resource weights. That way people can port around to play with their friends, but need to devise ways to get excessive gains back home. Regardless, regional economies are ultimately just a way for players to price gouge those who lack the power for mobility. The penalized become the casuals who aren't strong enough to get through a control point. That is just bad design for game longevity.

 

Already done.

 

Hah! Never tried. Then I think it would just be about weight adjustment then. I already find it kind of odd that many items weigh much more than the sum of their raw materials!

 

If that is the case they should only allow gear that is worn and nothing in backpack. No transport of resources through tele.

 

That just gets overly restrictive. See my note about local price gouging of weaker players.

 

Devil's Advocate: Hey guys, I'll be back. I need to recall to my house real quick. *Constipation stance*... buzz... oh, crud, I'm a wizard and my reagents are resources. Damn you and your regional economies, RG!

 

This is one of the few areas where Richard and I completely disagree. I see no feasible way to force or foster incentive for people to remain in a region. I am going to play the underworlds and will wander back and forth between regions that way. I'll run the choke (yes I know it's check) points. I'll meetup with friends wherever they need my help using scrolls. Otherwise what is the point?

Should my selection of virtue mean I am stuck in an area? Should only large guilds be able to influence the economy?

It is a neat idea, I just see no way to implement it. I'd rather see people having fun than specific items made in specific regions. Yes it is the idea of bringing U4 to life - the best armor is here, the best swords are there. But who are these people that are going to go from region to region buying up one of each of these "best" things if it is not us? We can't be limited and the mighty Avatar too.

 

This is your opinion of course. It might seem restrictive at first but it might also foster local relationships instead of everyone wanting to be everywhere and do everything. The whole game design is against this. The game wants no one to be everything in crafting. Thats why we have specialties. Same with regional economics. I personally hope to resist the global push. People do not IMO understand the detriment of making the world smalland less diverse.

 

But it isn't just opinion. It's been shown over and over again that people want to play MMOs with friends. And fragmenting the player base too much hurts retention. If someone starts playing and makes ten local friends and then stops for a couple of weeks and then returns and those friends are no longer easy to play with, they tend to drift from the game and stop playing. The more times they have to make new friends just to have others to play with, the chance they stop playing continues to rise exponentially. Over and over this has been demonstrated.

 

you are just fear mongering and using it as a tactic. You are using certain scenarios and the opinion of others which you do not name to bolster your case. The fact is this is a game design decision and not an emotional one. We do not know for a fact if or if not these things you say will happen. what you can do is state how you personally feel without building a straw man with the myth of how others will react.

 

I work in the video game industry. I have analyzed user metrics. I have read case studies. I have heard from other developers. How I personally feel is a separate issue and I know that very well. Things that I personally feel are incredibly stupid ideas end up making crazy amounts of money, and I have the actual metrics to show for it. Please do not confuse my preferences for my opinions. My preferences tend to be a lot more niche than the average gamer. The opinions I am sharing are based on career related research and experience and do not always line up with my preferences. But let's delve a little deeper.

Q: What is it that we are seeking to accomplish by removing Teleport scrolls?

My current assumption based on previous responses is that we are seeking: Regional Markets and Value in Transporting Goods Between Them. In other words, enabling systems such as buying low in an area where iron is plentiful and selling high in an area where it is not.

Q: Does removing teleport scrolls enable this?

My current opinion based on exploring the world myself is that no, it does not. Travelling to any portion of the world is not actually time consuming enough to deeply impact pricing. Manual exploration and travel becomes trivial if a user is spending more than a few hours in their session. However, that travel is rather significant if a user is only online for an hour and wishes to run through a dungeon with some friends. Those who are on for longer planned duration will have the time to travel and find their bargains. Those who do not are probably not spending much time shopping because they want to get into the action. My opinion is that these would be the dominant cases. There would be exceptions, but I do not believe it would be enough to make significant market impact. Given this, the removal of teleport scrolls create a simple annoyance that most strongly impacts the people with the least time to play. We would need several more design changes in order to accomplish a Regional Market goal.

1) More difficult travel: Control Point \ Passage Zones would be near impossible to get through as a solo player. Otherwise too much material would flow through. My preference and professional opinion align against this feature for the harm it does to a casual audience.
2) More punishment for death: Lose inventory on death. Need to recover corpse. OR Automatic Resurrect at nearest Ankh instead of Ghosting to one of your choice. My professional opinion is that this would harm the casual audience. My preference is that I do not mind so much. I think it would be interesting to have loot dropped on death and need to recover it. I don't mind feeling the need to be more cautious. I very much mind being able to reach friends.
3) More regionally scarce resources: Outside of things like silver, most resources are freely available in most regions. This is only really a factor to help make the previous options more meaningful. I am neither for or against this on its own merit. It would harm casual crafters who gather their own materials, but I am imagining most crafters are moderate to hardcore players at this point. That is a completely uneducated speculation though.

These design choices together are death to casual player-bases. A lack of casual player-bases leads to a severe lack of income. Like it or not, vast amounts of revenue flows from the casual player-base. As a video game lover and developer, this is definitely something I have found frustrating. But it is a fact. The hard core gamer that is willing to put up with the above feature sets are also the most likely to be willing to put up with them in order to travel for their purchases and thus circumvent regional economies. The casual gamer grows stuck and frustrated. They do not care about regional economies. They want to get on, play for an hour with their friends, and hop off. If it takes them an hour of travel just to reach their friends, then they lose desire to play. Making new friends to play with is too time consuming. Travelling to reach their old friends is too time consuming. If they are going to play alone, then why get into multiplayer mode at all?

 

Thank you for the background information. It does show that you have a background in gaming. I guess I still think that you should just have your opinion and not use the assumption of others in your statement. If you have facts to present then I would consider it an argument. Right now its a straw-man built up on what you say and we are taking your word for it. I can see it as a good hypothesis.

Casual gamers are indeed in the game. To my dismay they water it down IMO. They like you say do not care about regional economies. They do not care about much really except it being the next mmo out. They all rush to the end, get bored and leave. Its us diehard fans that are left in the wake with a half baked instant gratification shell of a game then. Kind of like locusts, they fly through, devour everything and leave. Maybe if they played the game the way it was intended it would offer more meaning and they might take pride in what they do. If its harder it might mean more to them once they accomplish something. The hard core people can and will help the casual gamer if they need it usually. Back on Seige it was a brutal world but it had some of the most compassionate people. People had communities that thrived and grew. They supported each other. There was no hand holding but there was helping hands.

About the removal of tele scrolls. I have mentioned many solutions for the problems. People just want convenience though and Regional economies be damned. Well regional economies are part of the core of the game. So I have stated that there must be a cost to instant travel. I have discussed this with Richard personally. He agrees there needs to be a cost. I think Chris stated in the last hangout that it might be a certain amount of obsidian chips or something. Anyways I would implement a gold cost. Xgp = Y(time)*Z(distance) + mysterious mage fees through control points +% of encumbrance. The values can be changed to balance it out. The further the teleport, the more the cost. I have stated that for social events that maybe they could have an empty weight +5% encumbrance so they can go to their dance parties but cannot carry resources that bypass the regional economy Idea. I also have suggested Regional tele scrolls that are crafted in your region and can only be used in your region. What I do not is willy nilly teleporting everywhere anytime with zero cost and maximum advantage.

 

There will always be people that want what they want and damn what's good for the game.

Those people should be ignored.