3 replies to this topic

[Crane]

Generally, a transient area is no different to a quest area... it exists for a set period of time, then drifts away into the sands of time, but it got me thinking...

Might it be plausible that, every so often, on both servers, a new area (relatively small) is designed and opened for a period of, say, a month or a few weeks (much like Soft Places / Shifting Sands once was), that offers unique prizes, and then closed and replaced with a new area some time later, following the same guidelines? Such areas could have the following themes:

- An interplanar rift forms and allows access to a parallel realm, but is slowly sealing itself.
- A band of marauders that have been giving grief to the major cities for a while have finally had their sizable base of operations revealed.
- An island has mysteriously raised from the ocean depths, but has disconcerting and destabilising seismic activity.
- Mining operations have revealed a large labyrinth of caverns rich with a rare mineral, but workers are concerned about the area's structural stability and the fact that it seems to have been visited before...

Use your imagination!


I bring it up further though because it could be a great target for those wishing to try their hand at designing areas, bosses and items; by targeting a design towards being transient rather than permanent, I sense it has a greater chance of acceptance because it can't affect the balance and quality of the game (for better or for worse) forever, and is better suited to smaller projects, although that's not to say that a transient area can't be something big and ambitious.

The constantly changing nature of the game's realm could excite players into exploring and training. Obviously, most items that would come from these transient areas won't be overpowering quest items, but there's always a demand for useful things with unique names.

Remember that these aren't quest areas I'm suggesting, but just transient areas with rather regular drops. There's still plenty of room for powerful quest items and their areas around the holiday seasons!

[Crane]

Such a methodology of opening and closing transient areas could be a good way to keep the designated area developers occupied and might be a reasonable way to reintroduce older rare items (if they're not too powerful), including what I call "lost items", questies that still exist in the /library database, but which none exist in the game for one reason or another... e.g. Diamond Ring (was deleted) and Amulet of Ashkew (never dropped).

As a side-effect, a transient area is a good way of beta-testing areas that could be potentially ambitious enough and well-designed to become permanent, although this should be the exception and not the rule.

[Prototype]

I do not like creating areas that will be removed in a set amount of time. What I do like is players creating.

I've been thinking about quitting for a while, it takes too much of my time, and quite honestly I do not wish to put my time in it even if I had it. The only reason I'm still here is because of little things I can sneak in to do for people, helping with pickplayers, clan stuff and small tweaks. Now that Gaz left it's officially dead on our side (staff side that is, I don't mean to start a NM is dead thread). I still have some small things I wanted to create but there's no one left to even talk to anymore, no one to run things by and no one to give their insight in naming/stats etc. (not that there was much before, but it was at least a possibility).

Anyways, what I wanted to say was that I'm planning to assign players to certain tasks, with their consent of course. Might just be 1, might be more. I will oversee/discuss with this person and together add to the game. There have to be rules set, and obviously I will only pick players I believe are capable of following those rules. Severe banning and removal of valuables can be part of punishment for not following these rules.

How it would go: I would contact someone. Depending on what it is that needs to be done will influence the rules set. I Could for instance need help building an area, in that case I would teleport a mortal inside the area and they can, although on paper, start 'creating'. Sometimes it's just a boss, I would need descriptions, stat-discussion and possible drops. I could also contact someone who has his/her own ideas, or wants to alter an existing area.

What you should understand, as many like to call favoritism and bias, this will be of course as much bias-ridden as possible. Because it's my sole decision based on personal and/or staff experience . I just thought I'd post it before I would contact someone, so people can voice their displeasure or support. Keep in mind that it's all the same to me, actually quitting is a lot easier for me, but I figured this could be a viable option for continued development.

Edit: Btw, I already did something similar with the Christmas quest and the new crafting on the leveling system. Although not as extensive as I would've liked.

[Yggdrasill]

Sounds perfectly fine to me Maarten...although it should probably have its own thread for discussion, but no big deal. I would be very interested in seeing a few of these rules you are talking about. The thing that I'm most scared about, as I've been scared, maybe even paranoid about in the past, is "staff" creating things and then having and/or sharing a large amount of inside information with clannies, friends, or even themselves if certain cases. This is why I've always been in favor of "you get a staff crit, you lock your mortal crits so they can't be played until you're not staff again". I don't know how this or anything like it could be possible with this "contract" method. Maybe it is possible and I'm just not seeing it, or maybe you don't think it's a big deal. This is just my two cents so far.

(Please don't turn this post into "this staff member way back gave this person this!!@!" as that is NOT the intention of the post.)