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A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 / A Concern Re: Removal of Settlement Stockpile in 1.04
« on: June 27, 2012, 11:28:36 AM »
I know the beta patch notes say to hold off on questions, but this is more of a complaint. 
Seriously though, I wanted to mention my concern as early as possible in the event it can be addressed in some way.
In short, I feel that the settlement stockpile is extremely friendly to improvisational group play, where players are coordinating, but not necessarily running around as a party at all times. As a bit of background, I play with old university friends spread across the USA, and while we all have very different schedules, we get together weekly to hang out in a coop multiplayer game and chat. Some of us can be online for most of the evening, some of us can only manage a couple hours, some of us often miss weeks entirely.
The settlement stockpile enabled those of us with more time to go on long spelunking excursions, which we knew would provide crafting materials for the entire group. We could also split up do tasks which seemed interesting to us, say, 3 guys focusing on missions, the other 2 exploring and gathering resources. We never felt forced to all group up at the cave mouth in so-and-so region to stock up for crafting.
Based on what we currently know of 1.04, it seems to me that it will be much harder for players who do not spend as much time on a given server/world to keep up with the continent/world progress. While that fits the generic game model well, one of the things I really enjoyed about AVWW is that it creates a sense of community more than most RPGs, because you know that whatever you're doing, you're helping the progress of the settlement and sharing the resources gathered to further that goal.
I hope that at minimum, there would be some way to trade crafting materials, or perhaps a settlement stash (sort of like an ARPG stash) which players could withdraw from. Or is the phenomenon of one player gathering resources for the whole group something you're trying to curb?
I must admit I'm still a little foggy on the ramifications of all the changes. Perhaps someone can set my mind at ease and show me that I'm panicking without reason here.
P.S. I am very excited for many of the other items in the patch notes, and I think they make sense overall. My concern here is really a selfish one, but I'd hate to see the flexibility that I've just gotten so fond of go away entirely.
Seriously though, I wanted to mention my concern as early as possible in the event it can be addressed in some way.In short, I feel that the settlement stockpile is extremely friendly to improvisational group play, where players are coordinating, but not necessarily running around as a party at all times. As a bit of background, I play with old university friends spread across the USA, and while we all have very different schedules, we get together weekly to hang out in a coop multiplayer game and chat. Some of us can be online for most of the evening, some of us can only manage a couple hours, some of us often miss weeks entirely.
The settlement stockpile enabled those of us with more time to go on long spelunking excursions, which we knew would provide crafting materials for the entire group. We could also split up do tasks which seemed interesting to us, say, 3 guys focusing on missions, the other 2 exploring and gathering resources. We never felt forced to all group up at the cave mouth in so-and-so region to stock up for crafting.
Based on what we currently know of 1.04, it seems to me that it will be much harder for players who do not spend as much time on a given server/world to keep up with the continent/world progress. While that fits the generic game model well, one of the things I really enjoyed about AVWW is that it creates a sense of community more than most RPGs, because you know that whatever you're doing, you're helping the progress of the settlement and sharing the resources gathered to further that goal.
I hope that at minimum, there would be some way to trade crafting materials, or perhaps a settlement stash (sort of like an ARPG stash) which players could withdraw from. Or is the phenomenon of one player gathering resources for the whole group something you're trying to curb?
I must admit I'm still a little foggy on the ramifications of all the changes. Perhaps someone can set my mind at ease and show me that I'm panicking without reason here.
P.S. I am very excited for many of the other items in the patch notes, and I think they make sense overall. My concern here is really a selfish one, but I'd hate to see the flexibility that I've just gotten so fond of go away entirely.