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Static PoTs: What we have here is a failure to communicate!

Discussion in 'Release 41 Dev+ Feedback Forum' started by Malchor, Apr 23, 2017.

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Should Portalarium relax building/NPC limits/restrictions in PoTs AND provide more free items?

Poll closed May 23, 2017.
  1. Absolutely! We should be able to create our towns with what we have invested!

    42.9%
  2. No way! We should continue the same system and purchase what we need.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. No. Let the dynamic PoTs buy what they need and the static PoTs stay locked in design.

    57.1%
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  1. Malchor

    Malchor Avatar

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    Hello everyone. Overall, I am satisfied with the Dev team's communication and responsiveness throughout the SoTA-building process. Despite uber-multi-tasking, the Portalarium folks have generally addressed our comments and concerns in a timely and definitive manner. With one major exception....

    We bought our player owned town in 2015 and after much internal debate, decided upon a static model. We supplied Portalarium with all of the necessary elements and waited. Then we waited some more. We reached out periodically and were told that the static towns will be completed once templates were finalized. With much patience and understanding, we continue to wait for some update or communication, but this seems to be a forgotten topic.

    Would it make sense for Portalarium to "unlock" a more comprehensive amount of core decorations/walls and NPC dwellings and remove the limits/restrictions on placement, so that we could start to develop our PoTs the way we envisioned without having to purchase what should be core items? Where are the "design sessions" that were supposed to occur? Maybe allowing more building options would convince some of us static-minded folks to start building on our own and in turn, reduce the burden on the developers. I think we should all be able to place walls around our town, add trees and guard towers, for example, without purchase or utilizing an NPC "spot" -- it just makes sense. It would definitely help transform many of the PoT "wastelands" into viable and interesting places that people actually want to visit.

    At VERY least, how about a periodic mention of the status of static PoTs or a message sent to town owners?

    Thoughts?
     
  2. Andartianna

    Andartianna Avatar

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    This is more of a cost issue to Portalarium then what you have stated. While I sympathize and wish limits could be raised on decorations all around it is not time for that yet. In a static town programming wise the devs can put in a permanent static picture that is quick to load and takes a lot less bandwidth. This is why the dynamic towns have limits. Being able to move or adjust items in a town means that every client has to load all those items every time they zone in which can dramatically increase loading. The limit keeps the dynamic town's load times to a level that is manageable and similar to what a static town will have load time wise with their fixed decoration. Portalarium has stated many times that as they optimize loading times dynamic cities will be able to increase their limit but they will never get to a point where they will load as fast as a static city nor have anywhere near the decoration or design of a static city. So the trade off here is a much more decorated and designed city with a static build or a limited decorated city with custom placement. I do however certainly agree that they should send more mails explaining their timelines to people who are waiting for a static city.
     
  3. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

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    Community buildings, built and repared from weather and siege by players of that community;

    This is what I would like to see, where communities could build things themselves and if properly maintained then an NPC would "arrive" to man it.

    Yet with eavery siege or heavy storm, then those things or buildings built by players would become more damaged and need of repair.
    Time Lord :rolleyes:
     
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  4. Malchor

    Malchor Avatar

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    I appreciate your response Andartianna and agree that PoT add-ons and constructs cannot be infinite since I'm sure there are technical and cost issues at hand. I did not mean to suggest that static towns should also become modifiable, but rather that if dynamic town owners were provided with more basic options, they may forego considering static towns. I have some pause in applying the "cost and bandwidth" rationale broadly, since many decorations, ornaments and lights can be purchased separately and added -- should we have to purchase street lamps? Would an automatic guard tower in each PoT cause that much drain? There may be ways to make the process more economical. I would think that shrinking the lots to match the buildable area (holdfast vs metropolis), for example, would eliminate some cost (and acre upon acre of dead space)....

    I am not a programmer and do not profess to know the mechanics. As a player and supporter, I am qualified to say that this whole process needs to be better. I am still patiently waiting to hear the plan....

    Btw....I like that idea Time Lord!
     
  5. Stryker Sparhawk

    Stryker Sparhawk Avatar

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    You do realize the last Static POT to have been built (Arc Draconix) finally switched to Dynamic.
     
  6. Malchor

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    I was not aware, but think it reinforces the point that the system needs to be reexamined.

    Also, I did not realize that the static towns were being built, since I have had no follow up on my static town request since 2015.

    Back to communication!
     
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