Public Realm Chat & Loneliness

[GamingRAM]

I think the new public realm chat is pretty damn cool. Reminds me a lot of, well, other MMOs. (World of Warcraft Barren's chat flashbacks)

However.... Haven and Hearth isn't like other MMOs. The realm chat goes as far as realms can stretch, and frankly, they can stretch pretty far, and not everyone who is in a realm border is exactly a part of the realm. Often they are just mooching off the buffs.

I can't help but feel this somewhat hurts the feeling of "loneliness" on the game. Playing for your first time you can often find yourself pretty damn alone. Whenever you come across another player, it's scary, are they friend or foe? Will they follow me? It's an experience that isn't easily replicated in other games.

I think there should be some type of requirement to be able to have access to a realm's public chat. A skill? Or perhaps an item that's consumed to show that you are more "civilized" and can communicate with hundreds of people simultaneously screaming at each other hundreds of miles away.


Yea you CAN just ignore it, but it's always going to be there, and you know, watching, right in the corner of your eye.
It doesn't make sense in terms of the Haven of Hearth's rough "lore". I can get communicating if you've "kinned" someone before, but here there's little excuse outside "you're in a realm".
Give a month or two and a new world will be covered in Realm claims. Every active looking place will be claimed.

[Ysh]

Long ago there is IRC build into some custom client and I can recall some new players use it with frequent for ask some questions about game.

[loftar]

Hm. I've always disliked the idea of a global chat because I like the idea of not having knowledge of the global state of the game (which is also the main reason for the lack of leaderboards, high-score lists and like things). I only evaluated realm chats on that basis, and felt they were okay since being in a realm chat doesn't make you know what's happening beyond the borders of the realm, be it in other realms or in no-man's land.

Now that you mention it, however, I can see what you're saying about the feeling of being cold and lonely when starting out, and that the realm chat perhaps diminishes that experience. Not really sure what to think. While it feels somewhat silly to have a skill for it, I don't hate the idea of buying a skill to gain access to the realm chat (and it would probably also be a pretty cool feeling the first time you do that as a new player and gain access to the chat), but on the other hand that also diminishes the value of the realm chat a bit. Hum. Will consider.

[Fierce_Deity]

Having to craft an item or build a structure to allow oneself to use realm chat is another way to go about this. An item would be more ideal as you then have the chat with you anywhere, but I can't but help liking the thought of needing to go to some pillar to send realm wide messages more than a magic conch shell.

[tigerlrg245]

I only evaluated realm chats on that basis, and felt they were okay since being in a realm chat doesn't make you know what's happening beyond the borders of the realm, be it in other realms or in no-man's land.

I agree, i think it's a fantastic aspect, making the zone you're settled at more meaningful to how the game feels, world wide chat probably isn't necessary but this addition could end up being a nice middle grounds.

It would be nice to attach the chat to something you have to unlock for three reasons, one being stopping directed spam from multiple alts, second is to really give it a feeling of being unlocked, after a while of having to do stuff on your own, and a third reason is so that people will notice the realm chat is a thing based on reading description on the skills they take, so if someone is outside any realm / in an inactive one they'll learn to seek for an active realm.

[Granger]

Possibly reformat that chat from IRC style to how message boards worked in BBS times?

Build a writing desk (and fuel it with carrier pigeons if you want to write yourself) where the incoming messages get queued to be reviewed afterwards. Could also solve the offline private messaging issue: unclaimed desks see all public messages - claim one to obtain a character based postbox, inherit it in case of death to be able to access the existing contents to be able to write 'my father died and I inherited his farm...' messages to the prior kin.

Bonusts should messages only spread at pigeon speed.

[jorb]

Would perhaps not mind a skill for it, or w/e, but I also kind of think that noobs need the chat the most. Idk. A bit torn.

[sMartins]

Would perhaps not mind a skill for it, or w/e, but I also kind of think that noobs need the chat the most. Idk. A bit torn.

Yeah I agree, let's keep it free at least for some time to test/see how new players/population interact with that and if beneficial to players base and retenction.

[AntiBlitz]

could this become something that is a kingdom item, or "buff" like a building, IE Rookery style thing. Could play into the lore and what not of the game, and give it a reason to exist. Could even come with the idea that it only extends so far from the initial building, and upgrades to move out farther and farther within the realm to "deliver messages".

[✧]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line