Amargein
07-09-2005, 05:40 PM
355Whether it’s a small log cabin beside a misty lake, a gleaming castle with brightly colored pennants snapping in the wind, or a dark and twisted tower that scrapes the sky, players in any MMORPG need to be able to think of somewhere as home. Though there is still much speculation, the details that have been released show that the Sigil team understand this well, and are going to ensure an immersive and rich world for players to call their own.
Among the second generation of massively multiplayer online games, such as World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy XI and Star Wars Galaxies, some developers have offered different types of player housing, while others continue to provide nothing of the sort. Guild Wars and World of Warcraft dominate one end of the spectrum, with no player housing available. Next in line is Final Fantasy XI; though it allowed for a house, only the player who lived there could enter. To enter, players simply zoned into “the housing district” and were automatically inside. Showing a little more flavor is Everquest 2. Players start with a simple inn room, which they can furnish with vendor purchased or player made items, eventually scaling up in size and location to a prominent mansion. However, while this does allow for a player to “have a home,” all of the structures were in place at launch; nothing was built and nothing is new; simply occupied for the first time. Finally Star Wars Galaxies shines, allowing player-made settlements and buildings to dot the landscape. If this type of housing is what you’re looking for, Vanguard won’t disappoint.
The Vanguard housing system is going to be governed by zoning specific areas for players to build on, with more expensive, dangerous, or unique districts available as characters level. “Likewise, there is an upkeep associated with housing, and we expect people to move as they go up in levels, leaving buildings (or at least build-able land) behind,” the Vanguard FAQ explains. Houses placed in areas with aggressive mobs can be attacked, whether or not anyone is home, and will be consequently ruined, requiring a crafter to come and repair the structure. Though it is not a certainty yet, servers with PvP rulesets may very well allow for players to destroy the buildings of other players. To stop this from happening, players will have the opportunity to hire guards. Need a little money to pay for this protection? You can also hire merchants to sell items for you. If being able to build your own house isn’t enough, Sigil has also said that players will be able to create commercial and industrial areas specifically for selling, crafting or storing items.
To keep players feeling a part of the larger picture, several interesting concepts have been brought up. Salim Grant, also known as Silius, the developer for the crafting system, has released information regarding a previously unheard of “city resource pool.” Crafters could take city tasks to make specific items for the city, such as new armor and weapons for guards, using the limited resources of the pool. These would eventually deplete until harvesters performed the task of refilling them. Adventurers would be responsible for security, keeping mobs out and assisting harvesters in the more dangerous zones. The diplomacy sphere also shows its mysterious hand here, with players being able to “turn the knobs and dials” of a city by persuading certain key NPCs to behave in certain ways, making the city more of a living and changing organism than a static location.
493So what’s the crown jewel? Though there are NPC cities that are permanent and affected by players as described above, powerful guilds will also eventually be capable of creating and maintaining their own villages, outposts or perhaps even cities. Player settlements will be able to range over a large area and include different types of houses. The player settlements will even apparently have their own dynamic variations on ambient music. Some of these places would still hold ties of fealty to a more central location, such as the capital, requiring players to engage in political maneuvering to keep their king happy, but ultimately the design, realization and continued growth of all player cities will be the responsibility of the players.
Among the second generation of massively multiplayer online games, such as World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy XI and Star Wars Galaxies, some developers have offered different types of player housing, while others continue to provide nothing of the sort. Guild Wars and World of Warcraft dominate one end of the spectrum, with no player housing available. Next in line is Final Fantasy XI; though it allowed for a house, only the player who lived there could enter. To enter, players simply zoned into “the housing district” and were automatically inside. Showing a little more flavor is Everquest 2. Players start with a simple inn room, which they can furnish with vendor purchased or player made items, eventually scaling up in size and location to a prominent mansion. However, while this does allow for a player to “have a home,” all of the structures were in place at launch; nothing was built and nothing is new; simply occupied for the first time. Finally Star Wars Galaxies shines, allowing player-made settlements and buildings to dot the landscape. If this type of housing is what you’re looking for, Vanguard won’t disappoint.
The Vanguard housing system is going to be governed by zoning specific areas for players to build on, with more expensive, dangerous, or unique districts available as characters level. “Likewise, there is an upkeep associated with housing, and we expect people to move as they go up in levels, leaving buildings (or at least build-able land) behind,” the Vanguard FAQ explains. Houses placed in areas with aggressive mobs can be attacked, whether or not anyone is home, and will be consequently ruined, requiring a crafter to come and repair the structure. Though it is not a certainty yet, servers with PvP rulesets may very well allow for players to destroy the buildings of other players. To stop this from happening, players will have the opportunity to hire guards. Need a little money to pay for this protection? You can also hire merchants to sell items for you. If being able to build your own house isn’t enough, Sigil has also said that players will be able to create commercial and industrial areas specifically for selling, crafting or storing items.
To keep players feeling a part of the larger picture, several interesting concepts have been brought up. Salim Grant, also known as Silius, the developer for the crafting system, has released information regarding a previously unheard of “city resource pool.” Crafters could take city tasks to make specific items for the city, such as new armor and weapons for guards, using the limited resources of the pool. These would eventually deplete until harvesters performed the task of refilling them. Adventurers would be responsible for security, keeping mobs out and assisting harvesters in the more dangerous zones. The diplomacy sphere also shows its mysterious hand here, with players being able to “turn the knobs and dials” of a city by persuading certain key NPCs to behave in certain ways, making the city more of a living and changing organism than a static location.
493So what’s the crown jewel? Though there are NPC cities that are permanent and affected by players as described above, powerful guilds will also eventually be capable of creating and maintaining their own villages, outposts or perhaps even cities. Player settlements will be able to range over a large area and include different types of houses. The player settlements will even apparently have their own dynamic variations on ambient music. Some of these places would still hold ties of fealty to a more central location, such as the capital, requiring players to engage in political maneuvering to keep their king happy, but ultimately the design, realization and continued growth of all player cities will be the responsibility of the players.