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Towns as Central Hubs

Posted: 15 Oct 2007, 21:42
by Dr Wahl
I hate relating everything to World of Warcraft, but I love how they made major towns a central hub for everything. In WoW, you typically try to make it to a town to log off, sell items, repair equipment, etc., and when you enter the towns there is a ton of chatter. In WoW, if you are looking for information, you will go to a town to get answers. All these things create an environment feels much more like a community.

What I am getting at is that I would love to see a couple MAJOR towns have advantages that attract players to them. This will help players find each other, find answers, and get to know the in game community.

To make this happen, I suggest looking at how WoW does it for inspiration. Maybe we could put a fountain in town and use the particle engine to drive it, and if you touch the fountain, you get a buff (10 minutes of +5 strenght maybe?). Some other ideas that may help attract players to town are:

- Equipment repairs
- Market place
- Rest XP (in WoW, you gain 2x XP while you have Rest XP)
- Main hub for events
- NPC-to-NPC interaction
- Theatrical plays

Any suggestions/comments?

Posted: 15 Oct 2007, 21:58
by BadMrBox
I like thoose ideas. :)

Posted: 15 Oct 2007, 22:37
by Modanung
I think it's pretty obvious that's what towns are for... shops for buying/selling/repairs, a place to rest and maybe some quest NPCs. Some entertainment like mini-games (like the casino) or theater also fits in towns.
Would be fun if the same parts would be done different in other regions. Either with the hero of a different race or switched evil and good for political reasons. I think that would be one of the details that makes a fictional world more real.

Posted: 15 Oct 2007, 22:50
by Dr Wahl
Modanung wrote:I think it's pretty obvious that's what towns are for... shops for buying/selling/repairs, a place to rest and maybe some quest NPCs...
I agree completely. I guess I should have stated that my concern is that the current setup does not incorporate these kind of things as much. I, for one, do not feel that I should get back to town before I log off. I have a hard time putting my finger on it, but there just isn't anything too compelling to drive me back to town. I see this being something fairly simple to fix, but I'm not sure of what would give towns the what they need to draw people to them.

Posted: 24 Oct 2007, 02:22
by dslegends
I think this is a great idea GuildWars does similar stuff like this yet again guildwars is a bigger named mmorpg. But it doesnt hurt to use those ideas in this one