by Fcn » Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:22 pm The Current Map
The current map, with it's various rings of animal difficulty is made interesting by the effect civilisation has on it. The map above is a fairly old one, but it illustrates the current situation fairly well. The further you get away from the ring, the harder the enemies get, the more civilised an area is, with hearthfires and cabins, the lower the enemies will be. A result of this is that experienced players are more likely to settle around the outskirts, while weaker players would settle in the safer areas. However, with the ease in which players can travel to more difficult hunting grounds from the center, once a group of players have established a settlement there is little motivation to move unless raided and destroyed. I personally feel that this has lead to a rather stagnant game world, with established towns which remain settled not because their position is adventageous, but because their established settlement has everything they could ever possibly need. There is no reason to ever move. There is no advantage to Laketown over Bottleneck.
This is a problem, there is no reason for various towns to interact on a meaningful level, anything one town can produce another can also produce. It is generic, bland, boring. There is nothing to do, no reason to explore, to interact, to do anything beyond the isolated community you create.
Model One: Civilisation vs The Wild
Allow me to briefly explain what is being shown here.
Mob level would increase further out just as it does with the current model, it would also be affected by civilisation.
Green Nodes: Rare resources. Gold, Platinum, Diamonds, generic fantasy metal, sulfur (for gunpowder). Highly concentrated areas of terrain that tradeskills rely on to encourage a high density of players, neighbouring towns each 'claiming' specific resources. If town X wants to make a specific piece of armor but do not have access to the resource, they will have to trade/steal/coerce or destroy the town that holds it. Resources are close enough to encourage a sense of law and order, no longer would there be a sense of isolation.
Blue Node: Spawn Point, RoB. Would remain unchanged, a large area that would be unbuildable on that villages could surround.
Yellow Ring: Slightly more numerous higher level mobs than the non-yellow area. Scents decay 25% faster here.
Orange Ring: Higher level Mobs, high-end tradeskill dropping mobs, very specific tradeskill item gathering. Scents decay 75% faster here.
Red Ring: Low level mobs, no rare tradeskill items. No scents are left here and tracking is very, very difficult. For example, attempts to track people in the red area while standing near the RoB would be nearly impossible, perhaps adding an artificial 150 stealth to their targets.
The aim of this model would be to drive the criminal elements of society out of the main area, as they would be safer in the very distant wilderness. The high level animals would provide a deterrant for low level criminals, who would be forced to be more careful in the crimes they commit to avoid retribution. The red area would be safer for criminals, but at the same time be utterly useless to them. A sense of society could be built around the rich resource areas, and those wishing to hunt higher level mobs would most likely wish to travel in groups to protect themselves from criminals. The orange ring would be thin enough to allow criminals to roam it and occasionally find targets, which would not work if the area was larger due to low population.
I will update this when I feel like it with the other ideas I've thought up with. I don't even care if you're not interested I like drawing coloured circles on things.
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