Introducing Settlements (07/19/2011)

[Airget]

Very promising and unexpected, at least I didn't see them actually adding something like this with this patch. What I like even more is how they are going to dive into beastmen strongholds in patch 1.9. MMORPG really are a bunch of unprofessional writers that's for sure. I did look at it earlier and the mere fact they called "auto-battle" a rumor is pure fail. An article published 18 days after the announcement is made and still calling it a rumor is unacceptable. It just proves how little work they did to actually "review" a non-subscription game. Official no less, no honey official isn't until they decide to charge subscribers then you can feel free to review it.

Anyways back on topic. Dungeons, leves changes, settlements, and company introduction. I think all this should certainty subside peoples fears of no longer being able to use leves as a viable leveling process. We also get a look at more beastmen tribes, I wonder what they'll look like. It surprises me the buildings and products from the settlements actually look to be unique.

For settlements I would like to see this though, since they are basically a gathering of common minds for the most part, it would be neat if these quest could grant fame for the settlement and grant access to unique guild marks that players can purchase from each settlement. The marks can very to being class specific to skills traits that can be used with any class. An example I can give is "Red Rooster Stead". The kind of GM abilities I can see granted here are ones mainly tied into botanist and gardening once it's released, since I do think they hinted at wanting to make something with gardening.

Basically in "Red Rooster Stead" Botanist can gain traits that can focus on obtaining more "garden" based materials like seeds or produce. Gardenerers could obtain traits that increase the longevity of their products or quicken the growth time of them. Then the generic abilities could be traits of "potent medicine" Since the town seems to have dealt with a lot of experiments, with enough fame players can purchase "Vaccine" class traits that enhance their resist to certain ailments.

I would say when it comes to purchasing generic Guild mark abilities, they don't accept mixing GM so you can only pay with 1 currency but you can choose whatever currency you want. For things like Botanist and Gardener however you would have to use those GM to get those specific abilities.

I definitely like the atmosphere that should be set by these settlements, starting with 6 is definitely a good start. It always bothered me how at the start there were other outside towns but they were nothing more then hubs for class quest and nothing more. It really took away from the immersion when I walked intoa town when the game was live and there was nothing to do. I had though that maybe they were hiding some of the aspects of what the other towns may have but I was mistaken and sad to discover that only through class quest were these towns of any use.

Again though I am definitely impressed with this unexpected news, while I was thinking of checking out dungeons or even companies first, I think I might opt to run over to a settlement and see how lively it is and what they have to offer. One thing I do hope you do is add NPC items, even if they do suck at least give the impression that these settlements are offering items and trading with one another lol.

[Rhianu]

I think all this should certainty subside peoples fears of no longer being able to use leves as a viable leveling process.

I have no fear of that. In fact, what I actually fear is that the game might not ever reach a point where I can just forget about leves and pretend they never existed. Seriously, leves suck.