Will PRTs survive much longer?

Scale the PRT's back... They're an eyesore, they give the impression of a barren landscape, they require longer patches, longer load times, and are of minimal service to the community as a whole...

Add them as needed for population fluctuation in the game.

 

Sounds like the best solution to me. I guess by now they are rather easy to add and remove. So melt away those that aren't needed. And if we need a new one, slap it on the map with some kind of RPish announcment and a mini event or something like that.

 

Exactly...

 

Just in case nobody has tagged them yet to read this thread and the observations contained...

@Lord British @DarkStarr, @Chris

 

Just to add my two cents worth. I live in a PRT (Nesoskia). I would be REALLY upset if it was removed.

• I really like the island template that it uses. (Beautiful ocean views)
  • NONE of the NPC towns have available lots/views that can compare to where I currently live in Nesoskia
  
  
• I like where it is located
  • Near Twin Foothills (Elysium Mines)
    
  • Easy ferry/run to Brittany area
  • Easy ferry to Arie
  
  
• I like the fact that PRT lots CANNOT be changed
  • I don't have to worry about logging in one day and discovering that another house has been dropped right next to mine
  • I don't have to worry about logging in and discovering the town owner has dropped deco that I don't like all over the place
  • I don't have to worry about logging in and discovering that the town owner has changed the music to something that is going to drive me insane
  • These things bug me enough that I DON'T want my primary home in a POT

 

Nobody. The name is a misnomer, from when they still weren't sure how PRTs would work. I prefer "Player Residence Town".

 

This is a valid position... I understand completely where you're at on this...
I would concur with this IF there's a population already established...

I suppose I should revise my above comment...
If a PRT doesn't have a notable population or settlement... Get rid of it... There's no sense in having an over abundance of real estate for the public to come in and find in a F2P platform... Think about it... What kinda signal does that send? "Holy crap... The game is F2P and NOBODY is playing it!"

You gotta bear in mind that these new players are coming in with no one on their friends list... They have no idea what the true numbers are in the population. You cant count on the Steam numbers, it's a false number because so many play on the stand alone platform and not through steam. So from a new players point of view, if they were coming in and going off the steam numbers, (because they didn't know any better), then the wide array of empty PRT's would give a negative impression.

I'm not saying to displace a significant settlement in a PRT. That's as counter-productive as having all the empty PRT's. All I'm saying is do a quick diagnostic... Target the PRT's that have a 0% population, and get rid of them until you need them.

*But then again*
We might not know what the hell were talking about... Portalarium may have the over abundance of PRT's in Novia, because they are pre-built templates that they intend to move over to Episode 2 when it's complete... There's a lot of different angles to be considered here, and probably a few angles that we haven't even thought of yet...

 

Population is a rather grey area.

1) PRT with 8 live blooded gaming accounts and 8 houses placed.
2) POT with 8 live blooded gaming accounts and 100 alt accounts laying down 50 houses.

Population is a rather grey area.

Leave the PRTs alone they have the benefit of having the game not look micromanaged trying to push people into POTs and guilds. This gives players more selection on how they wish to game within their own living and playing styles. This provides for better player retention of new players and actually will in time increase overall game population.

 

You don't have to have 100 alt accounts to lay down 50 houses in a POT.
1 account can lay down 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 houses in a POT if they wanted to...

You have to have alt accounts to lay down more than 3 houses in NPC towns or PRT's...

*Blinks with Confusion*

Who are you?

 

Give each ... a ... lot
And have so everyone that has lived there last month can vote on alternatives from a list and then the next month that alternative appears on that lot.
Not Player Decorated but some fixed decoration activities on that lot.

Like could vote for a circus to visit for a month or a ...

Thing to make a bit communal activity.

 

A straw man proposal:

Auction off the non-plot-line, thinly populated PRTs to become POTs, with some special conditions:

- A minimum bid of the equivalent size POT cost.
- All existing lot owners must be left in place with their current deeds, in the current biome.
- Existing NPC utilities (bank, vendor, ...) stay in place, but do not count against POT NPC limit. Can only be moved with agreement of all existing lot holders.
- POT cannot be made PVP, except with agreement of all existing lot holders.
- Biome and/or default entrance can only be changed with agreement of all existing lot holders.

The new POT owner can rearrange lots with the exception of existing owners' lots, and can do that subject to their agreement. As was mentioned up-thread, the tech for this exists, see Blood Bay.

Why this approach: Puts some $ into the Port's hands, while removing an 'asset' they aren't able to effectively use at current staff size, and recognizes the reality that POTs are out competing PRTs for population, presumably since someone is motivated to attract inhabitants. Many of the existing PRT sites still have some value, not least because they have overland access.

 

I agree with this. Some chose not to live in POTs and do not want their towns to be transformed into them. If no one is living there, remove it but some of them have been homes to avatars for years. If you want to draw more people, lower the taxes by half or even quarter them. This would make sense as you would generally pay more to live in larger towns or cities with more services available. Slap a wondering merchant or tinker in that visits periodically with a wagon so we have a way to buy and selll there when he comes visiting. You could also throw some fishing locations into some of them. To me this would fit the more "rural" and leisurely feel. My feelings wouldn't be hurt a bit if a big fishing pond showed up in Aldhaven.

 

I honestly don't get what all the fuzz is about. Melt the PRTs off we don't need an be done with it. If one or 2 ppl have to m oce to another PRT, well, so be it.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

My goodness @Earl Atogrim von Draken
Tell us how you really feel!

​

 

Seriously, we did so much stuff for TeH greater good of the game, like force multiplayer. Why discuss about something relativly small like that.

 

Because other people's opinions matter? Perhaps you genuinely do 'so much stuff for the greater good', that doesn't mean yours is the only way we should be allowed to act.

 

Nobody asked me if i want forced multiplayer. My opinion didn't matter. This is a far smaller issue. So i stand with what i said: just do it an be done with it. It's a game. If it helps the game, who cares about a hand full of displaced players, really.

Btw is there a specific reason why people are getting overly agressive again on this forum? Did something happen i missed out on?

 

Yeah...no. There are enough ghost town POTs already littering the overland map and they should consider more aggressively evaluating the decay on those. That deserves its own thread I'm sure.

But regarding PRTs, I wouldn't want to see them converted to POTs, and I'm sure the current residents would not want that either. I'd rather collapse the PRT once it's empty. If anything, perhaps give nested POTs some upgrade option to take its place, but with one change -- provided it meets some minimum population criteria, rather than just money.

 

Any PRT unoccupied for more than two release should be removed. Perhaps the same policy for a POT.

 

Re: unoccupied PRT removal - make it 3.