Server-wide /shouts

[Daniel_Hatcher]

God this forum is full of moaners, they only added this as so many people asked them to do so. Now you're complaining that you don't want it, make up your mind.

[Aleste]

Au contraire, it's a decent starting point... but if their intention is to get people out of Port Jeuno then it's unlikely to have the effect on the scale that they're looking for.

If I was willing to guess the main reason people hang out in Port it would be because:

Access to a number of locations
Auction House
Abyssea-related NPC's
Shouts
Bazaar (no-tax, high-traffic area)
lesser extent: signet/BCNM orb NPC' and nearby access to Magian Moogles

Recently, they've linked the auction houses and moved copies of the Abyssea-NPC's to alternative locations... although the problem lies in that the majority of people still hang out there to listen to and participate in shouts.

By allowing the shouts in port jeuno to be heard in the likes of Ru'lude, we might see a shift of people from Port to Ru'lude. However, this will hinge on whether or not the majority of players will use /yell rather than /shout, if insufficient people use /yell, we'll see a number of people returning to port on the grounds that they'll hear more.

It seems like the majority wants to be able to listen to shouts, irrespective of where in the world they are... whilst at the same time being able to escape from it inevitably being spammed with spam.

I personally feel like this is a progressive step, but it's not going to be the fix SE believes it to be.

[kingfury]

IDK, I guess the most we'll see is a small shift of people from port jeuno to Ru'lude gardens with the /yell feature...

If it's not possible (due to mechanics) to extend a shout across a large enough area selectively, then would it be possible to have a PC (or NPC if required) that listens to shouts, and transmits that information to 3-4 'gossip' NPCs who then repeat what was transmitted to them in /say (or shout)?

Example:

1 NPC that listens located midway in port jeuno
3-4 NPCs capable of /say; 1 located in each respective port (or whitegate)

Playercharacter Bob yell/shouts '{Ballista} {Do you need it?}'
Listening NPC hears Bobs yell/shout and sends that message (along with who shouted it) to the appropriate Gossip NPC in San d'Oria.
Gossip NPC Loudmouthlarry repeats the message in /say '{Ballista} {Do you need it?} - Bob

You could probably say something along the lines that Loudmouthlarry has a linkpearl and is getting fed the latest gossip from town... if you clicked him, he'd tell you to hush down as he doesn't want to miss anything.

-------------
Cool Idea Aleste /

The current area messages from Campaign cities that update certain battle outcomes come to mind when thinking about this type of functionality in how it could look on screen. I could definitely see there being a cooldown timer between the "Loudmouthlarry" NPC dialogs to prevent NPC spam though. Maybe like 30secs to a minute depending on how much information they need to pass on. The biggest problem I can see with this is the unnecessary information like conversational shouts getting processed along with the pertinent pick-up, exp, crafting, etc. shouts and clogging up the gossip channel.

An alternative solution along these lines might be placing 3-4 NPCs throughout each city zone that allow players to input their "gossip" (such as pick-up event, exp, crafting, etc. related dialog) directly to these NPCs via text pop-up windows for distribution to other cities and towns. This way players could be prompted to construct their messages using an intuitive subject oriented communication menu that could possibly help filter out the unwanted spam, conversational shouts/yells, and possibly even bridge some communication gaps between non-english speaking players.

Example: Player Bob clicks on a "Gossip NPC" in Lower Jeuno and begins to construct his message via the suggestion menu.
• Possible Gossip Topics: Exp, Magian, Missions, Quest, Synthesis, NMs, and Battlefields
Bob chooses Exp »
• Subject (Exp)/ Location Select: This could possibly either use a drop down list or the use of the auto-translate system
Bob chooses Abyssea Altep »
• Subject (Exp)/Location (Abyssea Altep)/ Request Select + Current members obtained: Choose from multiple sayings that detail possible party request and any event related information you want to add, along with the current party member count.
Bob chooses Dominion Ops + (4/??) »

So the Player Bob would confirm his message:

Bob » Exp Abyssea Altep Dominion Ops (4/??)

And the Gossip NPCs would do the rest in terms of getting it to every other zone that houses a receiving Gossip NPC such as major cities and possibly towns. Coupled with a cool down timer, and multiple spots to construct and receive these messages throughout multiple zones, this could help in the directions of alleviating congestion in Port Jeuno.

I would opt for allowing players to be able to use a "repeat recently constructed message?" option to streamline the process, as well as an "Edit recently constructed message?" option should they wish to change anything. Perhaps even the ability to check through current/recent messages via a list menu supplied by the shouter NPCs. This could also lead to the option of "Use this constructed message?" and then editing the message to fit one's purposes to again streamline the process.

So long as the menus are intuitive, fast, and well thought out, it could be pretty helpful.

[Kwate]

Gossip NPC's are a good idea, however....

I feel the appeal of Port Jueno is the AH, MH, Abyss NPC's, synergy furnaces (which I use while camping) etc are right there in 1 convenient location. So in other cities, unless they place them between AH, MH or a good location I'm not so sure how that will catch on. But I think it's a step in the right direction.

Being able to hear /shouts while skilling up, doing mission, seal farming etc. You don't get the feeling like you're missing out. I can't tell you how many times I solo'd on low level jobs or skilling up, just to by impulse rush back to Port Jeuno because I felt I missed some good shouts.

edit: At this point I'll take anything, but server-wide is the true fix on this.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

then move Joachim and Horst away from the AH. Put them in the chocobo racing area.

There already are Abyssea stone/teleport NPCs in the Chocobo Circuit. The fact that you don't know that shows how well it's working.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

At any rate, my own two cents is that /yell is a band-aid measure, designed to treat the symptom rather than the disease. In this case, the disease is an ineffective /search and /seacom system. Yes, it's a bit of a Catch-22, but the reason people like to stand in one gathering place and /shout is that trying to find players with the same or similar interests is all but impossible with the /search feature, and people generally don't use /seacom to actually find a group because it's never actually worked for them in the past.

[Unleashhell]

People are still wanting server wide /yells. What is the point of that? For instance if you are currently right now in Port Jeuno standing around reading shouts, once you find someone with your common interest and you get into a party or ally you head to say Abyssea. Once you are in Abyssea or any other event that you joined from a shout /yell group why would you care about more shouts? You are already doing what you were seeking to do by reading all the spam shouts to begin with. Why load the server up with more lag from shout spam. Doesn't make much sense to me. Even if you turn a filter on, that /yell will still be lagging out the server as a whole. The more information that has to transfer the servers the more lag will become an issue whether you have a filter on or not.

If you want to relieve some of the congestion, a number of things should be done. First off put Magian Moogles in the cities. That gives one less reason for people to go to Jeuno in the first place. Next find a better bazaar system, something that people do not have to afk in 1 area for. Why cant we have something at the Auction House that lets you select to buy an item from the Auction house or from a bazaar? Or have Bazaar NPCs with the same system as the auction house where you browse through items in all bazaars.

Maybe those are kinda to far out there but its a starting point to get afk bazaaring accounts out of areas. I know its kind of hard to envision what I just posted but I'm sure one of you guys can add to it or change it up. At least maybe get the wheels turning for some of you. Also the Auction House imo has nothing to do with people staying in Port Jeuno. You can go to the Auction House in any part of Jeuno or any city for that matter. So why hang out at the Auction House just in Port Jeuno when you have so many other close by areas with an Auction House.

[Kwate]

If you look at the abyss pop items at the AH, they sell like crazy, which proves the AH is a big attraction, the convenience of having the abyss NPC's 3 steps away is almost too convenient. PJ, is just the most convenient complete zone in terms of services vs. distance.

I personally have my HP set in PJ next to the signet NPC, I get a warp scroll, refresh signet (habit), and I have a plethora of options within 50 steps, I can head to the AH, MH, I can even turnaround and zone into Sauromugue Champaign and FOV back to my home nation. Again this is my personal reasoning, considering the clutter around the HP crystal in PJ I assume the same for many others.

[Unleashhell]

Good Point Kwate.

[katz]

There already are Abyssea stone/teleport NPCs in the Chocobo Circuit. The fact that you don't know that shows how well it's working.

Thank you for the information. Im sure I wasnt the only person not to know this. I actually use Sandy as my hp and maw teleporter.