Advanced Inns and Tavern concept

Gidorick

Inns in the Elder Scrolls have always served a simple purpose. Players would visit inns to get a room for the night and to complete quests. In ESO, Inns serve even less purpose. This doesn’t have to be the case.

TL/DR
ZOS should add social Inn mechanics, advanced Inn usage features, mini-games and idle entertainment to the Inns across Tamriel.

Topics:

• Social Centers
• Inn Mechanics
• Inn games
• Barfights

Social Centers
Inns should be seen as the social hubs in the world of Tamriel. When a player wants to find another player to group with or a guild to apply to, they should immediately travel to their local Inn or tavern. To facilitate this there needs to be a few features added to Inns. First and foremost are Tavern Boards.

• Isolated Chat Channel: Whether it is text or voice chat, Inns and Taverns should have communication channels that are isolated from Zone chat. This would draw players into the Inns and Taverns to see what is currently going on. Zone Chat should be available within the Inn or Tavern but players should default to the Inn/Tavern chat when they enter the space. (thanks @spacemonkey !)
• Tavern boards
  There could be three main functions of Tavern boards:
  • Guild Recruitment: Guilds should be able to post to local boards to advertise their guild. On the posting the guild leader can describe the purpose of their guild and add whatever information they deem pertinent to the recruitment. This posting lasts for a certain number of days which is chosen by the poster and paid for upfront.
  • Player Writs: These are items which players are searching for and are looking for the help of another player to either craft gear or gather material. This should likely be a set-form posting so players cannot use it as a means to try to sell their own items. Players complete the writ at the board and once the writ is complete, the posting disappears. The player posting the writ must put the gold upfront for the writ.
  • Calls to Adventure: Players seeking another adventurer can post on the writ board of their desire for a companion on their adventure. Players choose which quest they are seeking help on from their journal, and what kind of help they are seeking. Players can then PM the player who posted the Call to Adventure to group up with them. There is no payment to the player answering the post within the post itself but players could work that out amongst themselves if that is how they wish to handle this mechanic. An in-game clock and calendar would be helpful for this specific mechanic. Calls to Adventure are removed from the board when the player logs out of their character.
  Tavern boards are localized so a guild or player advertising on one board is only advertising on that board and no other. Players and guilds must pay the Inn to post on their board and can post on multiple boards if they wish, but those postings are in no way linked to one another.
  
• Finding Friends
  Players should be encouraged to find friends and group while in Inns and Taverns. This could be as simple as offering a bonus (XP or otherwise) for any group that forms within a tavern for as long as they are grouped.
  
  While this mechanic could appear to be abused by groups who form regularly by allowing them to simply meet up at an Inn and group there to gain the bonus. I do not think, however, this should be discouraged as it gets those players in the habit of going to Inns and Taverns for groups, which they may do at another time to find a fresh group.

Inn Mechanics
In addition to the social mechanics Inns should include a few regular mechanics to make the Inns themselves much more immersive and involving.

• Renting a Room: ZOS should allow players to rent rooms at any Inn for a small amount of gold (100 Gold seems reasonable). In this room, players are able to access the bed and log-out of their characters to receive a buff. This concept is discussed further in my Expanded Rested Bonus Concept.
• Supply Writs: Each Inn and Tavern need supplies to keep them going strong. Players can obtain the supply writs from the Inn Board and deliver them to the bartender or cook (depending on the writ). Writs could request supplies or fully cooked food and brewed drinks.
• Jobs at the Inn: Players could take odd jobs at the Inn that would allow them to earn a little bit of gold, compete on leaderboards and perhaps even earn some exclusive rewards. Some of these jobs could level with the players provisioning level. The higher the level of the player, the more challenging the minigame and the greater the rewards.
  • Waiting Tables: Speaking to the barkeep could open a minigame allowing players the opportunity to wait tables for the tavern or inn for a set period of time.
  • Barkeep & Cook: These two minigames could be a sort of ingredient choosing minigame for provisioning recipes.
  • Bouncer: This minigame could involve players knocking out drunks if they cause any trouble in the Tavern or Inn.

There could also be other jobs in the Tavern or Inn such as menial tasks like clearing out rats in basements (a TES classic!), ejecting deadbeats from the rooms, and playing music in the bar. Many of these jobs could involve branches of different Speechcraft skills (as mentioned in my Advanced Speechcraft Expansion Concept).

Inn Games
Along with working for the Inn there could be a selection of games in the Inn for players to play. Ideally there would be at least one game that is unique to each race and the three games of the alliance could be prevalent throughout the appropriate zones with a few of the other games being tossed in here and there. A few ideas could be:

• Five Claw Card games
• Variations of Chess
• Dice Games
• Knives (like darts)
• Arm Wrestling
• Drinking Games
• Coin Games
• Variation of Dominos
• Variations of five finger filet

Barfights
Many players wish to visit taverns to flex their muscles and make a mess of the place, and ESO could allow this to happen. To encourage this ZOS would have to include an unarmed skill line and barfights could automatically access this skill line and could limit players to only this skill line. Two separate activities could involve the same mechanics with a slight variation. Bar Fights and Basement Brawls

• Bar Fights: These fights take place in the tavern itself against NPCs. If the player continues to fight for too long the city guard will be called and appropriate actions will be taken. This threshold could vary from tavern to tavern.
• Basement Brawls: Underground fight clubs where one on one with other players and NPCs. No law involved, bets rolling high.

Players would not die from bar fights and would just black out for a moment if they are knocked out. They could also increase, or decrease, their chances of victory by drinking and raising their defenses. If a player drinks too much, however, they’ll lose too much coordination and have a greater chance of failure. This mechanic would work in direct conjunction with my Narcotic Addiction Mechanic concept.

Conclusion
With these mechanics Taverns and Inns would become a social hub for players and a place player could go to relax and have fun alone or with their friends. These mechanics would be best accompanied by the ability to interact and sit in chairs. Not all of these ideas would have to be in every bar

So what do you think? Ideas that could be added? Any of this too much?

Jumper45

Sounds like you want a Tavern Game bro ... lmao.

Gidorick

LOL @Jumper45 . I just want ESO's offerings to be more expansive. Check out my Concept Repository for more ! I need to update that...

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/171334/gidoricks-concept-repository

Sallington

This is more of what the game needs: Social aspects/events/content

I've lost almost all interest in ESO since they really haven't added anything to improve guilds or any social aspects that give the great MMOs longevity. They've spent more time on the cash store and a solo arena than they have on any social aspects of the game.

There's only so much you can do to find creative ways to keep a guild full of people interested if the game doesn't have any content for the guild to participate in. Not a single end game Trial scaled to the level cap? F'ing really? That should never, ever happen. Ever.

Sallington

-dupe post-

Spacemonkey

Tavern's and Inns should have their own chat channel also. and not have access to the zone chat.

Gidorick

Spacemonkey wrote: »

Tavern's and Inns should have their own chat channel also. and not have access to the zone chat.

OH! GREAT point @spacemonkey... I'm adding that.

SanTii.92

I haven't even read yet and already gave you Awesome. I'll be back later.

CavalierPrime

In GTA 5 I used to park my car on the hill overlooking the city at sunset and listen to the radio and just relax. I would totally stop by a tavern and listen to casual tavern chat. Lite-RP if you will. Like a costume party vibe.

Spacemonkey

Gidorick wrote: »

Spacemonkey wrote: »

Tavern's and Inns should have their own chat channel also. and not have access to the zone chat.

OH! GREAT point @spacemonkey... I'm adding that.

Well, maybe they still have acces to zone chat, but the idea is that a lot of people are in the tavern and in THAT chat. And more people will head to the tavern just to have access to THAT chat where plenty of people are. So if they keep access to zone chat, everyone would still just use the zone chat etc...

Gidorick

sAnn92 wrote: »

I haven't even read yet and already gave you Awesome. I'll be back later.

hehe. Thanks @sAnn92 !

Jumper45

Honestly I think its too much for ESO. This would be a great idea to add to a older game that has a good foundation like World of Warcraft for example. Much like they added the (pokemon) Battle pets im sure they could add such Tavern concepts. ESO is too fresh and broken to have this much work and detail added to it honestly when it needs to be spent elsewhere for a lonnnnng period of time.

Gidorick

Jumper45 wrote: »

Honestly I think its too much for ESO. This would be a great idea to add to a older game that has a good foundation like World of Warcraft for example. Much like they added the (pokemon) Battle pets im sure they could add such Tavern concepts. ESO is too fresh and broken to have this much work and detail added to it honestly when it needs to be spent elsewhere for a lonnnnng period of time.

The great thing about this concept @Jumper45 (and MANY of my concepts actually) is that they don't have to implement the concepts in their entirety. Add an Inn board and a minigame or two now... add in jobs later... even later add barfights. This is more a "final vision" of what Inns could be.

CJohnson81

@Gidorick hey man, thanks for pulling this all together. Table games are a must-have and hopefully we get them. I was just telling my brother about the dice game in The Witcher. Sometimes I play that game just to bet at dice for an hour.

Of course, the bar fighting is there too. Real solid suggestions here. The first rule of fight club is don't talk about fight club.

I'd like to submit the idea of keeping leader boards and having tournaments for all of the above. Tamriel-wide organized knife throwing tournaments? YES PLEASE!

Message boards? Yes! To all of the above.

And finally, the inn mechanics, also fun. It would be great if resting could advance daylight hours. It seems for the last week, I've only played at night. It's an odd enough coincidence that I noticed it. Not sure how that's happening, but I'd like to see some daylight!

SanTii.92

Dear Zenimax Online Studios please add a board system like the one described here, it's oh so much needed.

Signed, A fellow Eso player enthusiast.

Rune_Relic

The tavern skill fight line.
..let you use barstools, bottles, throw food.
Not to do damage of course but just to add atmosphere like trophies/emotes.

New game....food evasion.

Nice post.

Acrolas

CavalierPrime wrote: »

I would totally stop by a tavern and listen to casual tavern chat. Lite-RP if you will. Like a costume party vibe.

Stop by Sentinel's inn sometime. Those RP people seem really... thirsty...

imnotanother

I was really surprised there were not tavern games at launch. I would love to see these added. Even if it is only one location per alliance.

RoyJade

I love these ideas.
I think some "mercenary" daily quest (like Wrothgar one, killing a WB, a dungeon boss, some mobs) in a board can also be a good idea. Just for fun, for rp or for some loot (like some forgotten sets?).

SirCritical

I had been playing earlier with a fantasy PBEM game for some years, and there was an option after each "rounds" to rest in taverns; with a closing command you can set your character to take part in minigames between the rounds if another character came in the tavern and had the correct and matching command.

This could be implemented here also: before logging out you can speak with the innkeeper NPC, where you could set in what kind of game do you want to take part until your relogging (chess, darts, brawling etc. )

There could be a skill or skill line, called "gambling", which you can raise only "passively", in the logged off status. I imagine a system where your character could play only one game per logged-off-hour, with another logged-off chatacter, and win some prize, based on your gambling skill and luck.

Surely, this needs more brainstorming.

Lenikus

Aside the bar fight (brawl system actually in the works),
Did you try some Role Playing guilds already ?

bedlom

Some good suggestions there.

KingRebz

Great thread, Love it all

TheShadowScout

Sooo.... much.... win!
I heartily agree with all of the OP! None of this is too much, all of it would make grand additions to ESO!

Concerning Inn jobs:
• Serving Tables... darn, how I wish the game paid more attens to attire, this is a position where revealing clothes should give you a big bonus for the tips earned. Maybe add more civilian clothes with effects, one of those effects being some "sexyness value" that would greatly increase your income from tips while serving customers?
• Bouncer jobs might also turn into bar fights... for those occasions, I might like to see "subdual" weapons that do "brawling" damage instead of lethal damage... truncheons for one-handed, clubs for two-handed, stun magic staves for staff, etc. (Can't really think of any non-lethal bow that wouldn't be silly... no boxing glove arrows in ESO, please )
• Bardic jobs. Playing music has been mentioned, though this of course would make for a good place to think about having more then a few musical emotes, and instead a whole "bardic guild" skill line with musical instrument "weapons"... and then have a daily job for them playing in different inns.
• Generally inn jobs might have a small chance of "special occurences" that can be reacted to. A bouncer might be able to turn a unruly crowd angry about their drunk friend getting "bounced" from starting a bar fight through intimidation. A barmaid might need to use persuade to calm some insistent costumer misinterpreting her job and getting too grabby. A cook might need to deal with complaints, either way. Things like that. Advanced speechcraft would make it even better...

Concerning Inn games...
• I definitely want bar games. And preferrably, different ones in every bar. Some played against NPCs (practice opportunity!), some played against players - also alternating, so you might find a NPC to practice card playing against in one bar, and a player card game running hot in the next inn...
• I would really love inn games with unequal starting positions. Like, say, arm wrestling games that take character appereance into account, check the sliders, and assign a better chance to win to those who built their charsacters "tall and muscular" over those who went for "small and skinny".
• Also, elven races might have magical tavern games... move a conjured flame in a mental tug-o-war, whoever first sets their opponents robe on fire wins, have conjured familiars fight each other, play illusionary "pong", whatever. Stuff like that.

Kublakan

Awesome ideas. Kind of reminds me SWG cantinas full of players receiving buffs, making joking, gooffing around.

Murkblade

Post this suggestion in the 'ask us anything' thread. Or suggestions thread or something. Don't let it slip under the waves of general discussion. :-) All great ideas.

MattT1988

Completely agree. Great ideas. Your right about the inns having wasted potential. They should be much more then they are now and your ideas pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Holycannoli

I've not only been saying this about ESO but previous MMORPGs as well, for years. So far none have done it.

I'd like to keep access to zone chat though.

Necrelios

This is exactly what I think every time I step into an tavern. The Witcher series has a lot of great concepts with fun little minigames... as well as umm... other things you could do at taverns. But that series really is in a class of its own much like TES games.

KramUzibra

Gidorick wrote: »

Inns in the Elder Scrolls have always served a simple purpose. Players would visit inns to get a room for the night and to complete quests. In ESO, Inns serve even less purpose. This doesn’t have to be the case.

TL/DR
ZOS should add social Inn mechanics, advanced Inn usage features, mini-games and idle entertainment to the Inns across Tamriel.

Topics:

• Social Centers
• Inn Mechanics
• Inn games
• Barfights

Social Centers
Inns should be seen as the social hubs in the world of Tamriel. When a player wants to find another player to group with or a guild to apply to, they should immediately travel to their local Inn or tavern. To facilitate this there needs to be a few features added to Inns. First and foremost are Tavern Boards.

• Isolated Chat Channel: Whether it is text or voice chat, Inns and Taverns should have communication channels that are isolated from Zone chat. This would draw players into the Inns and Taverns to see what is currently going on. Zone Chat should be available within the Inn or Tavern but players should default to the Inn/Tavern chat when they enter the space. (thanks @spacemonkey !)
• Tavern boards
  There could be three main functions of Tavern boards:
  • Guild Recruitment: Guilds should be able to post to local boards to advertise their guild. On the posting the guild leader can describe the purpose of their guild and add whatever information they deem pertinent to the recruitment. This posting lasts for a certain number of days which is chosen by the poster and paid for upfront.
  • Player Writs: These are items which players are searching for and are looking for the help of another player to either craft gear or gather material. This should likely be a set-form posting so players cannot use it as a means to try to sell their own items. Players complete the writ at the board and once the writ is complete, the posting disappears. The player posting the writ must put the gold upfront for the writ.
  • Calls to Adventure: Players seeking another adventurer can post on the writ board of their desire for a companion on their adventure. Players choose which quest they are seeking help on from their journal, and what kind of help they are seeking. Players can then PM the player who posted the Call to Adventure to group up with them. There is no payment to the player answering the post within the post itself but players could work that out amongst themselves if that is how they wish to handle this mechanic. An in-game clock and calendar would be helpful for this specific mechanic. Calls to Adventure are removed from the board when the player logs out of their character.
  Tavern boards are localized so a guild or player advertising on one board is only advertising on that board and no other. Players and guilds must pay the Inn to post on their board and can post on multiple boards if they wish, but those postings are in no way linked to one another.
  
• Finding Friends
  Players should be encouraged to find friends and group while in Inns and Taverns. This could be as simple as offering a bonus (XP or otherwise) for any group that forms within a tavern for as long as they are grouped.
  
  While this mechanic could appear to be abused by groups who form regularly by allowing them to simply meet up at an Inn and group there to gain the bonus. I do not think, however, this should be discouraged as it gets those players in the habit of going to Inns and Taverns for groups, which they may do at another time to find a fresh group.

Inn Mechanics
In addition to the social mechanics Inns should include a few regular mechanics to make the Inns themselves much more immersive and involving.

• Renting a Room: ZOS should allow players to rent rooms at any Inn for a small amount of gold (100 Gold seems reasonable). In this room, players are able to access the bed and log-out of their characters to receive a buff. This concept is discussed further in my Expanded Rested Bonus Concept.
• Supply Writs: Each Inn and Tavern need supplies to keep them going strong. Players can obtain the supply writs from the Inn Board and deliver them to the bartender or cook (depending on the writ). Writs could request supplies or fully cooked food and brewed drinks.
• Jobs at the Inn: Players could take odd jobs at the Inn that would allow them to earn a little bit of gold, compete on leaderboards and perhaps even earn some exclusive rewards. Some of these jobs could level with the players provisioning level. The higher the level of the player, the more challenging the minigame and the greater the rewards.
  • Waiting Tables: Speaking to the barkeep could open a minigame allowing players the opportunity to wait tables for the tavern or inn for a set period of time.
  • Barkeep & Cook: These two minigames could be a sort of ingredient choosing minigame for provisioning recipes.
  • Bouncer: This minigame could involve players knocking out drunks if they cause any trouble in the Tavern or Inn.

There could also be other jobs in the Tavern or Inn such as menial tasks like clearing out rats in basements (a TES classic!), ejecting deadbeats from the rooms, and playing music in the bar. Many of these jobs could involve branches of different Speechcraft skills (as mentioned in my Advanced Speechcraft Expansion Concept).

Inn Games
Along with working for the Inn there could be a selection of games in the Inn for players to play. Ideally there would be at least one game that is unique to each race and the three games of the alliance could be prevalent throughout the appropriate zones with a few of the other games being tossed in here and there. A few ideas could be:

• Five Claw Card games
• Variations of Chess
• Dice Games
• Knives (like darts)
• Arm Wrestling
• Drinking Games
• Coin Games
• Variation of Dominos
• Variations of five finger filet

Barfights
Many players wish to visit taverns to flex their muscles and make a mess of the place, and ESO could allow this to happen. To encourage this ZOS would have to include an unarmed skill line and barfights could automatically access this skill line and could limit players to only this skill line. Two separate activities could involve the same mechanics with a slight variation. Bar Fights and Basement Brawls

• Bar Fights: These fights take place in the tavern itself against NPCs. If the player continues to fight for too long the city guard will be called and appropriate actions will be taken. This threshold could vary from tavern to tavern.
• Basement Brawls: Underground fight clubs where one on one with other players and NPCs. No law involved, bets rolling high.

Players would not die from bar fights and would just black out for a moment if they are knocked out. They could also increase, or decrease, their chances of victory by drinking and raising their defenses. If a player drinks too much, however, they’ll lose too much coordination and have a greater chance of failure. This mechanic would work in direct conjunction with my Narcotic Addiction Mechanic concept.

Conclusion
With these mechanics Taverns and Inns would become a social hub for players and a place player could go to relax and have fun alone or with their friends. These mechanics would be best accompanied by the ability to interact and sit in chairs. Not all of these ideas would have to be in every bar

So what do you think? Ideas that could be added? Any of this too much?

Yes awesome

Gidorick

Necrelios wrote: »

This is exactly what I think every time I step into an tavern. The Witcher series has a lot of great concepts with fun little minigames... as well as umm... other things you could do at taverns. But that series really is in a class of its own much like TES games.

Well, TES DOES have a prostitutes guild. That could be a perfectly viable game mechanic but our society is a bit too juvenile and prudish to allow such things in an MMO @Necrelios