This is probably the only time I will ever harrumph about something that encourages exploration in any MMO ever, but... noooooo. Every MMO needs a Stormwind/Jita/Cebarkul :|
"Players must be forced to specialize in specific areas of play ..."
Notwithstanding the fact that I hate this idea, I'm not sure how such a thing can be implemented at this point. Besides a complete reset, which isn't going to happen.
I absolutely hate the idea of forced specialization and would quit the game if that happened. It wouldn't be the same game, and I might as well go play something else. I like being able to do everything if I'm willing to put the time and effort into it.
As for the tool vendors... something seriously cool would have to replace them. As it is now, Cebarkul is one of the few reliable gathering places in Ur. There are fewer and fewer reasons to be social in Glitch. Moving the tool vendor from Cebarkul would be yet another reason to not socialize.
Wouldn't it be fun to build a temple to a particular Giant, and have appropriate calendar-related festivals and events in it? And create an open marketplace for goods related to that Giant in it?
stoot, please explain how the game would be shut down by the tool vendor staying Cebarkul.
I agree, we NEED a hub of some sort. Do we get a town instead? Stoot, you said in an interview that Glitch is a social MMO. I am not alone in feeling like slowly all the social aspects are being removed. We no longer have neighborhoods. You have told us repeatedly that global chat is leaving (and its already getting too fast to follow, so I get this)...and now our only hub in game to find others is leaving.
What will replace these things to help us stay social? Im getting confused what will keep new players interested, and keep us old ones hanging on.
I play Glitch for the social aspect, only. If that is gone, why should I stay? (not a threat, please know. Its a pure, honest question)
I'm surprised nobody is thinking of the player to player interaction this will cause. Rook attacks are in semi-random places all over Ur, and it causes groups to band together and communicate to let others know where the rook attacks are. The same thing will happen when the tool vendor roams around, people will spot him and tell global or the Tool Vendor group where he is. I like that people will actually have to work a bit to find him, and maybe they won't and will have to use a "normal" vendor that is near them. It's not the end of the world :)
"Only hub in game" - why do you feel Cebarkul is the only hub?
I expect we'll just come up with more hubs, as is already happening at Madhur Hathur. That regularly has as many players as Cebarkul.
There's just no way to have one single hub for everyone who plays. With the way things work, if everyone could use just one hub, the game would be really tiny and not viable.
But Ix, global is going away, too. (unless stoot has changed his view on this). So how will we tell people?
[Should make it well known that I am playing devils advocate...... I have my group of friends. Im fine with things changing. I know I will find the tool vendor, and I know how to find people. However, that doesnt mean others can or will be able to.]
I don't think there should be any 'special' vendor in the game. You should get the same deal no matter where you go. The spread between selling prices and buy-back prices should be expanded so as to facilitate more player-to-player sales. The vendors should be your 'last resort' for buying or selling.
As far as Cebarkul goes, every person who appears there has to update every other person who appears there with their location, appearance and action. That's not a linear progression - every time you add a person it gets worse and worse. If the game is ever scaled to the number of pretend-clothing buyers that would keep the company afloat, they can't all stand around one street snoozing. It would a) be silly to have a huge world with only one street anyone ever visits, and b) have tremendous lag. Something else needs to be figured out.
I for one favor regional hubs to bring back the neighborhood feel of glitch.
It's fine to play devils advocate. That is my favorite thing to do! :)
Even if global goes away there are still groups. For example Rook Alerts.
If there is not already a Tool Vendor alerts or if somebody doesn't make one, I expect his stalkers would probably spill over into the Trade Channel
I realize that not everybody plays the same way, but I'm okay with not getting the "max" amount for things every time i sell to a vendor. If you play like that, then when you do find the Tool Vendor it will be sorta like a bonus...
One thing that i would like to see happen though is that instead of the Tool Vendor giving you the max amount for everything it makes more sense for me that the meal vendor would require raw ingredients and kitchen tools more than the other vendors so would pay more for them, but less for cooked meals that she's got coming out of her ears..., just as the tool vendor would pay more for planks an ingots that he needs, the Produce vendor might pay the most for seeds or guano for example...
I would like to point out that when the first Zilloween happened, there was an all around consensus that Somewhat Sump was THE place for candy trading and not Cebarkul. Why it changed to Cebarkul, I'll never know, but every Zilloween if I'm on Ye Olde Laptop, I will NOT hit Cebarkul up because it will crash. I went to a popular party on said laptop in a certain street up in Aranna that crashed me like 4 times before I finally got stabilized because people moved to another street.
There's far too many Glitches to make one street a central hub, and Somewhat Sump was actually something that the community came up with because it had a Subway station. I like the idea of the Tool Vendors (yes, there's two, everyone forgets the poor Level 4 East one) moving from place to place and area to area.
You could make Uralia as some kind of special hub, even without the vendor. It seems like it already is in it's own way. The community has to get together and decide that it would be a good idea. Glitches spread out in one region like Uralia or even Ix would be a fantastic idea, it worked for Valentine's Day for example.
Heck,why not propose an idea of some kind of mini town with buildings Glitches could enter with each one housing a vendor (except the Tool vendor, who'd be wandering around) and one central building that Glitches can hang out in (if their computers can handle it) and do whatever. Just a thought.
I welcome this idea and can't wait to play the game of finding where the Tool Vendor has traveled to.
Community Rooms, or Community Hubs of some sort, are coming. People should try not to think in such a static fashion. With the change where 'the special moves around' will come other changes we cannot even imagine yet that will make everything better than ever, I am sure.
The flips side of hubs combined with population growth, as Stoot alludes to, is... *cannot finish sentence due to flashbacks to when Ironforge was Lagforge and to logging into Jita on a Sunday*
One does not simply log into Jita. *shudder*
I leave it in the designer's capable hands. At least we can now be sure that they are aware that Cebarkul's hubbiness is valued.
I don't see anything wrong with moving tool vendors - not as if we can't just use in-game information search to find out where they are at any time which is incredibly easy to do.
It will force people to congregate in different places around Ur as it shifts location. Is that really a bad thing when it's going to be so easy to find them?