How do you feel about the land rush? Would an alternative lot distribution option be viable?

I like the thought, but it seems too complicated. People have to go online to confirm their selections in this plan, and if they don't confirm, and later don't keep the lot, then the lot goes back in the mix.. but after others have been given other lots based on the fact that lot was taken. I'm not sure about that part.

I do find the connection between lot selection and final wipe intriguing. working out of a bank for the first month will really ware thin if we don't get some bag-mode options expanded to the banks and vending transaction screens.

I definitely think it's odd to do an in-game land rush, where everyone can't see each other in the game. I'm in my own instance, but my lot I want is seen by others in their own instances, (and this can even happen in Multiplayer mode).. this could potentially be terrible.

 

Someone already built the web based interactive map of the NPC/PRT lots.
http://www.sotamap.com/?map_id=191

1. Log in.
2. Select map.
3. Select available lot.
4. Confirm.
5. Log out.

We still have 6 months so lets ask/pay them to integrate it. Lets do this!

Yeah yeah I know.

 

Well I guess there is a kind of fun to the rush, but also a sense of nervousness as well. I would really hate to get a lot in a town that a player owns, only to get kicked out and lose my deed...that's gonna be a customer service nightmare i think. So, I hope they reconsider allowing players to kick people out...or if they do allow that, ensure that the items of the kicked player get returned to an NPC town bank, like Ardoris as an example. I recall seeing a converstation about that, that if you are kicked, the items may go back to that town's banker, but you wouldn't be able to get into the town to retrieve them.

While I'm OK with the rush, I think the fairest way would be to still have a bracket / time system like now, but instead of having to run to the lot, after we complete arabella, and are placed into the first 'instance' we get a pop up window that shows teh world map with the towns on them. We could then click on a town of interest which then brings up a map and layout of the lots along with whats available in the town. We click on the lot then just claim it.

Whether this window happens at arabella, or there is a function to bring it up...maybe tie it into the zone to function that we bring up when we get to the bank and have the deeds in our inventory to claim them.

 

Just had 3 days of no internet that was totally unexpected. Its likely some % of all involved will have such problems during the land rush.
The option to a land rush would need to be some web based interface and for them would first need to not divide people in groups
but rather give everyone a number 1 to ...

The more complex way would be this interactive maps, let everyone be able to reserve a lot using their own number.
Others with lower numbers could displace you taking over the reservation (and then you would be notified and has to choice again)

Less complex would be if you could specify you want row lot in Ardoris for example but not a specific one.

Then it would be enough with a interface where you basically ordered your wanted towns in priority order

• Braemar
• Kingsport
• Owl's head
• Ardoris

Then like in the time of old Play By Email games some program would need to go check all files in order.

Is the first option available (there is still lots left of that type) then confirm ... you get a .... in ....
once it checked everyone it would go through everyone that still not got any checking secondary options

Once that process is done we know who will get each type of lot in each town
And then its time to decide who gets which of them in the town.

This method would likely mean less communication back to us (first method can be a lot of ... has clamed your claim due to higher prio)

 

To my knowledge, no one can be kicked out of a town, only out of an instance of the town, which means you can enter in your own instance of the town and retrieve your stuff from the bank no problem, no matter what.

 

Doing this, we'd have to make sure, once a lot is placed, you're stuck with it until the end of the rush unless you get displaced.. otherwise people would get their Duke friends to displace people with their Duke Deeds, so they can take over.. ;-/

 

There will be more lots than deeds that is already know. On release there will be MANY ghost towns. There will be no land rush everyone will have plenty of spots to choose from even the very last guy.

So I gather that this post only serves to screw everyone with Royal Founders and Founders out of getting the favored lots first.

Bad idea, screwing over the people that got this game off the ground is not cool. Sorry.

 

I understand your sentiment, but it is somewhat misguided. After all, it isn't necessarily just Royal Founders and Founders getting lots first, it is anyone who paid more money than you getting lots first. So, as a Royal Founder Knight Marshall, I will be (almost certainly) unable to get a lot in an NPC town, because of all the Benefactor Barons, Lords, Lord Marshalls, etc etc in line before me. As well as the Founders and Royal Founders, of course.

Just sayin'

 

What is it about NPC towns that you prefer over PRT towns?

 

Hay! I resemble that remark

I think I understand your concern: people with higher pledges helping people with lower pledges get better placement during the land rush. (Either for free or at a cost.) Doing something like this, in effect, displaces people lower down the schedule.

My question is, how can you stop that? Even if the deeds are locked in until after the rush, who's to say the swap can't take place then? How can you prevent the swap after the rush is over?

I don't think you can.

Whether doing something like this is right or wrong is really besides the point if there is just not a way to stop people from using their deeds to claim lots as they see fit.

Maybe in this situation, there will be POT owners who are happy to claim lots in their POT and leave the NPC/PRT towns to the people who hate POTs and POT owners in the first place...lol. Now wouldn't that be a twist

 

Speaking only for myself, my thing is I tend to dislike being beholden to anyone else. If I was in a guild and part of a guild-owned PRT, that would be one thing. But the idea of having a player "lord" with specific rules, taxes, and whatever is frankly too much work to bother with. There's also the problem of elitism/cliques which I'd rather stay out of completely.

Give me a spot to slap a house down, and charge the rent on in the game.

 

I think you mean guild owned POT not PRT. As a PRT anyone can claim ownership of Holtrot (as an example) but only have 4 of 20 plots occupied by their guild. If another guild moves in and occupies 5 lots, both guilds will probably still say they own Holtrot. But no one owns Holtrot PRT in reality, the devs do

I understand your message. Just wanted to clarify so
The confusion of a PRT and a POT remains clear.

If I am mistaken your comments please further explain.

 

I'm right with you on that. Personally I don't think there are many POTs that I would want to live in if I didn't own Rats Nest. I'm too anti-social and I don't like people telling me what to do. Originally, I planned to get a holdfast and just live in the middle of a swamp all by myself. But then I got this idea for a larger town that was based loosely off of the Thieves World novels and "the maze" in the town of Sanctuary. I like that idea for two reasons, the roleplaying opportunities and that's the kind of town I would want to live in if I had to live in a POT. There's only two rules, that's it. Pay taxes on time, and don't attack the owner. Whatever else you want to do in the town is fine. Decorate your house how you want. Settle your own disputes the way you want. Say and do whatever you want as long as it's within the Terms of Service managed by Portalarium.

But I was asking about PRT's and not POTs. PRT's are Player Run Towns, not Player Owned Towns. PRT's are basically just POTs without owners. They don't have NPC's and they're not connected to the story line. So you're not beholden to anyone in a PRT, you just have to pay your rent to the game if you don't have a tax free deed.

 

I hear you and agree. It is a lot of work and a lot of trust to put a home down in a POT especially if you don't know what you're getting yourself into and don't know anyone. And it's true, cliques do exist and sometimes elitism too. BUT (and yes it's a big but), not every POT is going to be populated by elitist snobs and run by power mad jerks who get off on making life miserable for the people living there.

While there may end up being some douchebag governors who are into the power trip of being a *lord* as you put it, for every one of those there is going to be at least one who is not a douchebag. Like me. (shameless plug...lol!)

 

Ok, didn't realize you were specifying the PRTs, but honestly, somewhat the same. I would imagine that most PRTs would want a specific set of guidelines for how their community would be run (especially, if it's a strong roleplaying group), which might not jibe with the average player who's just looking to store swag in their home. I guess it just depends on how it's handled and implemented.

From my understanding (which I admit, I don't follow the housing stuff that closely), there's not an actual way for players to enforce anything in the game on another player, so maybe it's a moot point. I would be annoyed if someone was harassing me or the group though if they didn't fit into their expectations.

 

Ok, now I see what's up. Yeah, "Player Run Town" is a horrible name for what it actually is.

If you take out all the NPC's in Owl's Head...that's a Player Run Town. There's no player control at all. It's just not filled with NPC's or connected to the story. We need to change the name to make that more clear. Instead of Player Run Town it should be more like Free Town.

@DarkStarr Can we start calling Player Run Towns, Free Towns? (or something else that more appropriately explains there is actually no player control of the town?)

 

In NPC/PRT towns, no one really runs anything. Meaning, there is no *governor*. In POTs, yep, you have Governors who grant permission to live there and can kick you out if you break the rules. They may collect taxes or maybe not. That said, I maintain that it is NOT in the interest of any POT owner to kick people out for the hell of it. That's some bad juju right there and I predict Governors who do that will have it come back to bite them in the arse. And rightfully so.

 

See, and that frankly is one reason I have never personally liked or supported the actual concept of the Player Owned Towns, as that level of power can be too easily abused. If the developers had the option to remove someone if the "governor" or group petitioned the GMs for it and it was REVIEWED first by the actual game owners, then I'd be more supportive, since I do not agree that they should have to suffer a disruptive player. But the power to wily nily boot people on personal preference, I will never be in favor of.

The idea of a player Lord or Baron or whatever ultimately will only be useful in the context of roleplaying as a group anyway. From an in-character standpoint, my character would not see their title floating above their head, and would only react when or how it applied to them.

 

And that's a reasonable argument for not going into POTs. I don't think it's a reasonable argument for not having POTs.

There are some POT owners that I have a great deal of respect for, and most that I believe are very sincere in their desire to provide a great experience for other players. But there are places I will never go because of who lives there. It doesn't make sense to that they shouldn't get to own a town in the game, even if they're actions seem odd or wrong (so long as they follow the Terms of Service managed by Portalarium).

 

My issue boils down to that their decisions and actions directly affect other customers who have paid for the game. Let's say someone rushes to place their home in a POT on the Land Rush day, only to be booted the next week because the Governor's friend didn't get a good enough house placement. So now the first owner is without a plot, and has to run around scrambling to find one. That's frankly not a good scenario for the player or for Portalarium from a customer service and reputation standpoint.

Maybe that's a worst case scenario, but I've also seen plenty enough drama and nonsense involving player disputes in many other online games to not think that there won't be problems.