Game Development: Rule of Law

[Rift]

its a grid-claim, you claim a 'square grid' from the http://www.havenandhearth.com/portal/res/map-danger.png Danger map.
Later you will be able to expand that claim and take over more grids..and fight over land and such as well as set laws in your villages controlled grids.

[Coriander]

shockedfrog wrote:I'm not too keen on this whole 5-people-needed thing. For the sake of making a village it makes sense, but limiting the availability of gear in this way sucks. Can I at least assume that I'll be able to wear this gear if I steal it from someone, as with everything else?


The gear will, indeed, only be wearable by those in the appointed position. I can see that you do have a point in it being a bit boring to restrict gear to people living in villages, but I do think that the right solution to that would be to focus, instead, on making gear and powers for people living alone, instead. It is good that you brought it up, because I hadn't thought of it explicitly (I don't know if Jorb has thought about it).

I do think that it is reasonable to limit certain gear and/or powers to some people with certain characteristics -- in fact, we are planning to make character development focus more on specialization than it does now -- but that people living other lifestyles should have their own gear and/or powers to balance it for them.

I think including some type of special gear for solo players or tiny enclaves is a great idea. How the game is played is a matter of personal preference and choice. There should be trade offs, different advantages and disadvantages, but no direct penalty for the decision.
Regarding theft of special gear. Though it may not be directly useful to the thief, it would be a nice ransom item, not to mention bragging rights.

[shockedfrog]

My main concerns are being able to look the same (for disguise, or just for customization) and making it so that these positions don't end up unbalanced, as I wrote in my previous post.

The one MMO I played for a long time was one of the very few which had no specialization, and ultimately died in many players' minds as a result of someone attempting to add it. I do feel that specialization should work better in a game like this than the majority of MMOs due to the focus on a player built and run world, but thinking about the ways it could go is always a bit scary for me.

[Potjeh]

While this update is quite awesome, I must say I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping we would get the nature-spec update this time. Yes, all security measures that can help us protect our steel are welcome, but right now I'd trade all my steel for a mug of beer.

[RaptorJedi]

Okay, I've got two questions:

1) Can the role of Chieftain be changed? Because I had an idea of changing the chieftain every week, so everyone in the town could wear the cool hat.

2) Does the Village Idol have any effect on the civilization of the area?

[loftar]

@RaptorJedi: Yes, the lawspeaker can change chieftain arbitrarily. It probably won't help you with the hat thing, though; it's true that it will remain immediately after some has been demoted from the role of chieftain, but (although there seems to be a slight bug in that right now), it will unequip itself when the character logs out and back in. And, yes, the village claim has a rather large effect on the civilization of the area.

[Laremere]

Question: Is the lawspeaker chosen by the person who starts the building, or is he chosen at the time of lighting the idol?

Also, if it is at time of activating, does the lawspeaker need the lawspeaker skill?

[Rift]

i think the lawspeaker is the first person to right-click the idol [you need lawspeaking skill to be the first one.. otherwise it gives a error message]

[Trafalgar]

THE HORROR! THE HORROR! The animals have been decimated and the bears have seemingly been banished from around our town! This idol is truly a tool of ultimate evil! D:

[theTrav]

YOU WERE RUNNING AROUND IN TOGAS AND FUNNY HATS!

WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!?!?!?

Fight club reference