Confused over POT NPCs

As the title states, not sure if anyone has any clues or could help clarify what these NPCs / merchants do?

1. Crafting shop? What would it sell in the final game or what purpose would it serve for those of us with a POT? Do we get our crafting tools from this vendor?

2. Armor & Weapon shop vs a Combat shop? What is the purpose of a Combat shop?

3. Public Gardens has an NPC. What would it sell? Gardening items like trees or potted plants? Isn't that what the Home merchant supposed to fulfill?

4. Hooded Statue - I understand statues/titans will grant a buff or some such for a town, but what is the Hooded Statue specifically? I've read the Sword of the Avatar novel but don't recall if there was a Hooded Statue mentioned.

5. Virtue Shrine / Oracle Statue / Dragon Bones - Same question as above. (I assume these objects will provide a buff as well? Or are these purely ornamental in nature?)

6. The Tavern has a Bartender as well as a Customer - I assume we could buy sundries or food stuff from the Bartender but what about the Customer? What purpose would a Tavern Customer serve (provide quests for us?)

7. Stables - well we know so far that steeds will not be in Episode 1. We may have pack animals in the future, but again not in Episode 1. So would it really benefit us to have a Stable in the town?

8. Moon Towers & Guard Towers - Specifically for PvP-centric towns? I don't know if there is any use for such structures in PvE-centric towns.

9. Magic Shop - Assume the merchant here sells various reagents. But will these sell potions and / or scrolls in the future?

If these questions have been answered in the past, my apologies. Please redirect me.

Thanks.

 

To the best of my knowledge the answer to y our questions are as follows:

1. The crafting shop sells more or less what the crafting vendors in game now sell - we have one in port phoenix, come check it out.
2. Combat shop sells a variety of combat gear more in line with what you see in the blacksmith in owls head, while the armor and weapons shop sells things more in line with the merchant in Ardoris, IE no real arrows or repair kits etc. Not sure the direction theyw ill go on the distinction of the two.
3. Public gardens tie in to the fact that in the future, you will be able to grow reagents, fruits, vegetables etc but it is not yet in game. Public gardens will be places to grow these things for people that either dont live directly in you town, need more space to grow or maybe live in row homes and dont have yards.
4. The hooded statue i believe is this http://i.imgur.com/ubRB17X.jpg?1 kind of grim reaper esque.
5. Virtue shrine we dont know, Oracle statue i believe is either the conformatory or the bald obsidian guys. I too would like clarification here.
6. Customer i believe is mostly RP purposes for you to write our their story and have them be a part of the town. It'd be great if they gave quests tho!
7. Stables will also be a place to buy pets.
8. Moon towers provide electricity to the town for certain things like the radio. They also provide a titan shield around the city to protect it. Guard towers have NPC guards which BOTH might be needed since monster invasions of our towns can and likely will happen.
9. Dont think so on the scrolls but everything else is pretty much correct, i think this is mostly going to be reagents, staves, floppy hats...maybe (hopefully!) robes but potions may be included. I just dont know if we will have "scrolls' at least at launch.

Hope this helps. Understand all this is still being hashed out, so even whats 'correct' now is subject to change as development furthers.

 

#5 Would be the conformatory <sp>. I do believe you can see it in Vengence.

 

Thanks Sean

 

A big thanks to WrathPhoenix. You really helped to clear a fair amount of confusion for those of us new POT owners. Especially the ones about Public Gardens!

Though I am still struggling to reason why Portalarium decided to have a Combat vendor as well as 2 similar vendors like the Weapons & Armor vendor. Was it for POTs with limited NPCs and the Combat vendor would offer the best of both worlds but with limits to the stock or item variation?

One other thing - once a POT has been placed in-game, can POT owners change the choice of NPC or the structures?

I wished @DarkStarr or one of the other devs may share or comment, or at least give us a little tease - pretty please?

 

A lot depends on the functionality of the dynamic placement tool and how it advances. The intention of the tool is to give POT owners as much choice as possible. The ability to add NPC buildings, NPC and perhaps other things is on the drawing board. If that comes to fruition I see nothing stopping a POT owner from changing.

I do know that the other option available to POT owners, static design, the NPC buildings, NPC's and any "special" addons are written in stone, well at least until you feel like ponying up for changes for your design. What those charges might be has not been released.