Forced Public(Open) Zones

Consider forcing(Yes I said force, waits for the pummeling from hell) people in NPC owned towns to play in open mode to encourage more interaction, give a sense of community, and let folks feel like they are in a game that is populated. We force certain areas to be private mode like Ruined Keep why not force some areas to be Public or Open mode as well?

Heaven forbid we actually see each other in a sandbox MMO...right now it's too easy to just never ever interact with another soul outside of your small guild or party. I want the game to feel full of life and players but right now that's not a reality and if it is we are too often separated by that silly little toggle of OPEN, PARTY, PRIVATE mode.

I know I'm going to get some hate for this but if you decide to post some hate please provide some constructive criticism to back it up... otherwise just skip the post you trolls

 

I actually would love for all towns and OWMap to be Public, and then zpnes become Instanced if I choose so. Oftentimes I go into Private for a group event, and then forget to switch back and pass a few hours wothout seeing someone, and it takes me a while to realise that.

+1 for this I'm all in for more visibility

 

+1

 

I don't see a downside to having NPC towns forced multiplayer, so +1

 

It has a lot of potential benefits, and very few disadvantages, except to the painfully shy.

 

I don't have a problem with it. I play solo so would like to ask is there an auto-decline toggle for friends request? Last time I ran through Owl's Head public I had to reject so many requests.

 

I usually prefer to be alone on the overview map and in towns, no distractions, no slow down collisions, no annoyances.
When I want to interact with people I switch to open - BTW also a big thanks to the devs for the LFG feature!
I am against all forms of "force" (also against the forced PvP scenes, not sure about the private ones, do not remember them....), everyone should be free to choose the mode.

 

Its VERY, VERY good idea, I dont understand why it was not done a long time before, for NPC towns. + as a POT owner I would like an option to force all into the multiplayer mode in my city(pls dont advice PVP POT, may be later not in the nearest future)

 

No thanks. My favorite thing about SotA is the selective multiplayer feature, and I don't want to be forced into multiplayer in towns.

Imo a much better route would be to have some kind of more convenient options that allow for players to more seamlessly have private adventure scenes but multiplayer town scenes without having to wait/reload. Then more people would go multiplayer in towns without forcing anyone into it that doesn't want it.

 

I'd like to see the ( option ) to set multiplayer when I enter a town scene (pot or npc or prt, all of them) but then revert to my current setting for adventure scenes and such.
I usually want to socialize when I'm in town, but often its just another 20 second wait, and load screen, then another 20 second wait and load screen when I leave, so I usually don't bother unless I'm going to be in town for a long, long time.
If we have the tech to force players into pvp mode for shardfalls then I don't see why we can't do this. I appreciate some players don't want to see people ever, or who have young children who play, and that's fine - that's why it should be optional, but it would go a long way toward making towns more populated.

 

Some towns you can only get into if you are in private mode. Like if you get banned from a town for example.

 

No pummeling, but the core of my dislike of the idea is in the sentence there, 'force' to 'encourage' is self-contradictory. Encourage things by all means - though I do suggest that quite a lot of folks who are in private mode are there because for their own reasons, they want to be, and while that's not what others may like them to do, it's really their choice and nobody else's - don't 'force' people to do anything. If you want folks to do something, give them a reason to want to do it - and the usual hopelessly vague 'for the good of the game' just doesn't cut it.

That has always been the heart of my argument against so many 'forced' zones of all types, by all means remove any of the special benefits from people who go into them in private mode, but shutting everyone out of even looking around a scene is, to me anyway, a strange and not particularly immersive or encouraging thing to do. When it needs to be done for some vital story element, then I mind it less, but the fewer things that anyone 'forces' people to do in a game, the better.

Plus, the real core of the problem you see is a far more fundamental one - there are not enough people in the game world, and we need to get a grip on that first before we try paper over it with 'forced' visibility.

 

Why didn't you sign up for a single player game like any of the Elder Scrolls? If you don't want to play with others that's the best MMO single player out there.

 

The thing that really stands out and makes this game great for me is the sense of community. If people hide while in town, then they are missing out on the best part of the game. +1 for this idea my friend.

 

Because I don't want to play a single player game.

I never said that I don't want to play with other players. Sometimes I want to play alone. Sometimes I want to play with my wife or friends. Sometimes I play in multiplayer. Even people that only ever play in private instances are still part of the world and part of the economy. Having the choice is nice and one of the few really good unique features of the game.

 

I wouldn't argue against making towns and the over-world open only, as long as they don't touch adventure scenes.

 

Hide? Really I hope this is not quite what you mean. Being a solo or friends only player myself, it really comes down to avoidance. I appreciate and encourage the group activities for those who depend on the social scene for fulfillment. It is not for me and I am really happy that this game was designed for both types of player. The only thing missing IMO is a separate game for PVP players. One with town rules, guards, punishment and all. I would play that game before playing the multiplayer game we have.

 

I find many of the community offensive really. I would rather play with friends online instead of dealing with people I cannot stand.

 

The single player aspect of this game is not the same as a game designed single player. Here you have an economy you can participate in. I do a thriving business with my vendor. The housing system with vendors is a big draw for me.

 

aside from the whole it's-not-nice-to-force thing, there have been people over the years who WANTED to be in multi but their computers and/or connections could not handle it. you'd be telling these people they're not welcome at all.