Would you enjoy building/crafting a PLAYER-made CITY from the ground up?

NeeScrolls

Greetings ESO community! Recently i posted my thoughts in another thread about potential *Event* ... https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7544751#Comment_7544751 ....regarding the concept of creating our own 'GUILD CITIES' (player crafted , player cultivated, player governed, etc. ) and so i just figured to get a quick sense from everyone here on the forums about it.

Obviously 'Polls' are not the end-all-be-all , but sometimes they can prove to be rather inspiring....for both our community and for the @ZOS_ developers.

Thanks! -- /tip-hat

p.s. This should most likely be ESO+ required, but wouldn't necessarily have to only be for just guilds, because there could be 'tiers' of unlocks depending upon the city's population (so, for example, GUILD cities would obviously have more options and greater potential for growth, but at least non-guild players could still form their own smaller towns or villages for a very limited group of friends, so they wouldn't feel excluded yet would also have motivation to join a guild )
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Paulytnz

YES, this could be amazing!

Very interesting question/suggestion/whatever. You know they (by "they" I don't know who but someone lol) have working on a Civilization MMO for the past few years. So if "they" can do that, surely we could have something like that here too. But it would be a HUGE update/feature and obviously a new game system so it would not be any time soon.

Having said all that, I think it would be very exciting and something that all us crafters would look at with saliva dripping.....

Xebov

Where would you put them?

Snamyap

Sure, but not in ESO. As it was never designed for that.

S0Z0H

YES, this could be amazing!

It would probably have to be an off world place, kinda like it's own circle thing , like how arteum , cold harbor and clockwork city have it. ZOS would prolly monetize it somehow , but If its fun and easy to customize with tons of options in design and stuff I think people will pay for it. Now housing kinda takes the idea of that , with making it a guild hall and stuff. But your talking about a place that's a big city with lots of space for people to hang out and stuff. It would be prolly 3 x the size of a big house area. And probably ALOT of money lol

NeeScrolls

YES, this could be amazing!

Xebov wrote: »

Where would you put them?

If you read that comment i linked in my OP ^ (from the other *Event* thread ) it mentions how the player-cities would probably have to be 'instanced' , but still travel-able and within the same base terrain that already exists in-game.

Like, for example, guilds could choose which MAP zone as their city's terrain theme ( Coldharbour, Clockwork, Bal Fayen, etc. etc. ) . And certain maps could have different resources for farming potential , so that players would have a hard choice to make before building --- *Which would also help prevent certain mega-guilds from dominating the same type of MAP zone , aka provide more variety.

And yes, i realize this could also be a potential Crown Store cash-cow lol
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Ksariyu

NO, this would be awful.

I would like to clarify, I don't think this would be AWFUL. It's actually kind of a cool idea. My problem with it is that it's such a MASSIVE system with a lot of moving parts and small details that would need to be worked out. It would likely take a couple years to develop, and personally I just feel there are a lot of much smaller changes or additions that would have a bigger impact on the game as it currently is.

AcadianPaladin

NO, this would be awful.

Your poll really should be based upon a simple Yes or No response. Not Yes or No with qualifying remarks.

My intent is to vote No, simply No. It would not be awful at all, I'm just answering the poll question regarding whether I would enjoy building a city. My elf is an adventuress. She is not a merchant, full-time artisan or architect. So she would have no interest in this. That said, I certainly get that there would be plenty of players who would enjoy such an endeavor so I have no objection to the addition of this feature - subject to tech and performance feasibility.

KitsuneShoujo

Maybe, but i'd like to discuss it more...

It wouldn't be awful, but it would be heavily monetized by the cash shop, and it could be horribly implemented too, lots of things could go wrong with it...

Some of the available houses already qualify as cities though.

Lumenn

Maybe, but i'd like to discuss it more...

While I know every game is different I will say just the way housing is done here can be tedious, or expensive (or both?) It might be something I'd throw myself into once but that's about it(I can literally spend weeks in Conan exiles building cities, houses, or forts. With a few exceptions, here it's usually some run down ruin that you can't repair, just cover up) so it would depend on how it's executed. And this is assuming Zos has already fixed simple bugs and glitches like, I don't know, being able to reliably USE skills in pvp, bar swap, gap closers, etc. So I won't give it a blanket no, nor will I give it a definite yes either.

Sylvermynx

Maybe, but i'd like to discuss it more...

Remove it from relation to guilds and I'd consider it. I refuse to mess with the guild setup in this game. And as with Acadian Paladin's statement above - yeah, I don't have merchants, politicians, housewives - I have mercenaries, adventurers, explorers....

ArchangelIsraphel

NO, this would be awful.

I voted "no" not because the idea is awful, it's a nice concept, but I just don't think its full potential would ever be realized with the limitations in ESO currently imposed on housing.

If we can only have 700 furnishing slots with ESO+ in the largest homes, I just don't think a guild city or player town is possible unless customization is severely limited and assets like furnishings are already pre-placed so that the system does not have to hold data concerning placement.

I also have an inherent dislike of "Player governed" anything in physical areas of any game due to poor experiences in past games where entire guilds could lock players out of housing districts so that no one but the most accomplished could have them. Of course, your system doesn't work like that, but the idea of player governed is just...ehh... I'd have to really know what that means in full before giving a true opinion on it.

Of course, it could be very cool for guilds especially if a dedicated crafting area could be built to better utilize the crafting table services most guilds provide, but again, I just don't think it would ever meet the grand scope you invision for it and it would ultimately fall flat and not be as cool as it could be.

Iselin

NO, this would be awful.

I can almost see all the tall towers with onion domes.

RisenEclipse

I'm not going to vote. Because I love housing. I love decorating. But the decorations you can put into a house vs the actual size of some houses is so disproportionate. So I don't see how this would be any different for this idea. We are still restricted by what consoles can handle.

Also considering AwA cut things out of the game rather then just add global achievements along side character achievements, all for the sake of performance fixes, I don't see how anything like this could even be added to a game that is cutting things already to save space. So to me this is... wishful thinking at best. Of course I'd want something like this in the game. But I'm not going to bother even hoping for it for the time being.

LostHorizon1933

Maybe, but i'd like to discuss it more...

I prefer to build my city on rock ‘n’ roll

SammyKhajit

YES, this could be amazing!

It’d be brilliant. Imagine a city of sweet rolls.

Vaoh

YES, this could be amazing!

I think what this idea mostly comes down to is *proper* guild housing.

Guild Home Rules:
• Item Limit: 500% of the original limit.
(3500 item limit for an ESO Sub-enabled Notable home)
• Max Players Allowed: 100
• Your Guild Rank determines whether you have permissions for Guild Home Accessibility, Guild Home Item Placement, and/or Guild Home Editing.
• There is an option to allow the home to be entered by the public, as in non-Guild members.
• The Home itself is accessible from the guild menus

Home and Item Ownership:
• The guild master selects their own home (or the home of a player in the guild) to become the Guild Home Host. This request has to be accepted by the player who owns the home.
• If the guild disbands or the guild home owner leaves the guild, players are refunded all of the items they have placed in that home. You can edit/move other players items (if you have the proper permissions), but you can never pick up other players items from the home to place in your inventory. In other words you can’t lose your stuff. A permission also exists to move another player’s item back into their inventory in the case of players spamming items to troll.
• If you leave the guild, your own items are returned to you.

Guild housing would have been awesome in this game. Disabling player abilities would help a lot with lag in these homes, as well as stuff like teleporters which would help to drastically reduce Lag since you can build portions of the home farther away from each other (not everything loads at once).

fleetingyouth_ESO

Maybe, but i'd like to discuss it more...

Ksariyu wrote: »

I would like to clarify, I don't think this would be AWFUL. It's actually kind of a cool idea. My problem with it is that it's such a MASSIVE system with a lot of moving parts and small details that would need to be worked out. It would likely take a couple years to develop, and personally I just feel there are a lot of much smaller changes or additions that would have a bigger impact on the game as it currently is.

I agree with Ksariyu's statement but I voted Maybe as I think there could be a much simpler version of this made using current housing abilities.

Perhaps they could make a new purchasable house targeted towards guilds that is mostly terrain so requiring very little design time for ZOS. This large plot could then somehow have assignable sections within it for guilds to manage rules and design to its members.

This would be similar to how it currently works but with more ability for guild members to build out their own section in this "guild town" using furnishing resources. It would also be usable for guilds who just want to build a no-frill guild hall or for housing whales who want a massive sandbox.

I think it should be purchased from the crown store or a high gold cost to incentives guilds to use their pooled resources.

Dithieon

LostHorizon1933 wrote: »

I prefer to build my city on rock ‘n’ roll

What you did there, I see it 😂

Tandor

NO, this would be awful.

No, but not because it would necessarily be awful. Why do pollsters still persist in imposing their bias on poll options by adding unnecessary qualifications? Haven't they got the message yet that it trivialises their poll which if left as straight "Yes" or "No" options would have the potential to be so much more useful.

SilverBride

NO, this would be awful.

Am I right in assuming the entire guild would be building this city?

If yes then I assume the guild leader would be the owner of the city, but how could others actively work on the construction? Others could be given decorating permission but that doesn't allow them bringing in their own furnishings.

NeeScrolls

YES, this could be amazing!

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Your poll really should be based upon a simple Yes or No response. Not Yes or No with qualifying remarks. .

Noted, and sorry 'bout that @AcadianPaladin (and everyone) .

i was just trying to add some flair to the Poll , but i can see why it didn't exactly help lol my bad!

Sylvermynx wrote: »

Remove it from relation to guilds and I'd consider it..

Well, after 9 years in ESO , i'd say it's nearly impossible by now to "remove" any relation to GUILDS (and any "gatekeeping" therein as a result) when it comes to game-systems & content. Just look at how Public Traders work , as an example.

So i hear you loud & clear @Sylvermynx , but imho it's the type of new system that would sorta have to give greater options & functionality to both ESO+ users and yes cater more to Guild users. Otherwise, what would be the point or motivation, since single-solo users already just have their own self-contained houses.

SilverBride wrote: »

Am I right in assuming the entire guild would be building this city?

If yes then I assume the guild leader would be the owner of the city, but how could others actively work on the construction? Others could be given decorating permission but that doesn't allow them bringing in their own furnishings.

It's a fair point @SilverBride , but (theoretically) the GM would simply initiate the guild-city and then grant each guild-Rank various 'decoration' perms and 'construction' abilities & such. Take a look at @Vaoh 's reply above ^ for some solid ideas.
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doesurmindglow

YES, this could be amazing!

One idea I had that was kinda along these lines is to replace the "chained doors" in various cities that signal a given building is mainly just for show with portals to public-facing player housing using the corresponding floor plan.

Most of the building footprints are standardized, so it wouldn't be too much new work to map them to a particular housing entrance. But it'd add a huge amount of depth to the world without requiring developers to do the interior design in each house. And it would considerably increase player interest in housing if there was a way their housing might become part of an explorable open world.

The hardest part would probably be a means of selecting *which* player's housing is public-facing. I don't know how they'd want to do this. I know some MMOs (ie. New World) have a furnishing "rating" system. My preference would be for a community upvote mechanic, perhaps tracked in leaderboards and rolled over weekly so the housing would change each week. But I could see that aspect of such an implementation to be fairly challenging.

doesurmindglow

YES, this could be amazing!

doesurmindglow wrote: »

My preference would be for a community upvote mechanic, perhaps tracked in leaderboards and rolled over weekly so the housing would change each week. But I could see that aspect of such an implementation to be fairly challenging.

Maybe it could be a gold sink where you'd have the option to toggle on "random," "guildie/friends" or "featured," and if you're in a random or a guildie/friends' house, throw 1k gold at the game if you want it to be upvoted into "featured."

wenchmore420b14_ESO

The logistics say no.

They are unable to increase housing limits of items and people.
They just deleted our alt characters history for having to make room in data base.
It would be a nightmare if they tried to do something that large when the servers can't handle something as small our our housing.

It IS a great idea, just will never work here.
Just my 2 drakes...
Huzzah!

bmnoble

NO, this would be awful.

Isn't this assuming there would not be some tiny building/furniture limit for the city, people are always asking for the furniture limits to be increased in game, we are always told they can't due to performance.

What could you do in that city that would be different from what you can do in a guild house or an existing city in the world already? If you say something along the lines of "guilds could attack other guilds cities" I think you got the wrong game most guilds in the game are not PVP focused and those that are I doubt would want to invest the capital needed to make decorate such a city.

It can cost millions to fully decorate a house, no clue how many 10's of millions it would take to fully deck out a city, about the only ones that would be able to afford that would be organized trade guilds.

Assuming they don't milk the whole process as much as possible with the crown store that is but how would they pull that off if the city is owned by a guild and not the player, can just imagine the support ticket if someone who spent a lot on the city gets kicked from the guild that owns it.

Maybe some purpose built customizable guild houses that are owned by the guild instead of having to rely on players using their primary residences for the guild house.

Xebov

NeeScrolls wrote: »

Xebov wrote: »

Where would you put them?

If you read that comment i linked in my OP ^ (from the other *Event* thread ) it mentions how the player-cities would probably have to be 'instanced' , but still travel-able and within the same base terrain that already exists in-game.

Like, for example, guilds could choose which MAP zone as their city's terrain theme ( Coldharbour, Clockwork, Bal Fayen, etc. etc. ) . And certain maps could have different resources for farming potential , so that players would have a hard choice to make before building --- *Which would also help prevent certain mega-guilds from dominating the same type of MAP zone , aka provide more variety.

And yes, i realize this could also be a potential Crown Store cash-cow lol
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I have my doubts that it would work out. The thing is that you need a reason to visit it, otherwise it will end up exactly like houses. SWG had player cities that had an area and individual players could place buildings. They where deserted most of the time because players had little reason to be there. Given the resources that would be required to implement such a system there has to be something in place to keep it alive.

NeeScrolls

YES, this could be amazing!

doesurmindglow wrote: »

Maybe it could be a gold sink where you'd have the option to toggle on "random," "guildie/friends" or "featured," and if you're in a random or a guildie/friends' house, throw 1k gold at the game if you want it to be upvoted into "featured."

Interesting , i sorta like it yeah. (other than the usual 'vote-trading' exploit potential , but heck that's practically unavoidable no matter what Devs do lol )

Xebov wrote: »

The thing is that you need a reason to visit it, otherwise it will end up exactly like houses. SWG had player cities that had an area and individual players could place buildings. They where deserted most of the time because players had little reason to be there..

Not sure which server (or era) of SWG you played but, at least on my server (Shadowfire) and planet (Naboo) , my/our CITY was constantly busy & bustling. Mostly because yes we had 'shopping VENDORS' , but also because i used to put on lots of *Events* for the community every couple weeks. Gosh i still miss that game so much...
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Bradyfjord

Maybe, but i'd like to discuss it more...

A city building minigame could be a fun activity for a carnival/gold saucer kind of content. Something optional to play that might give a cosmetic reward or two.

Northwold

I'd love it. But being reasonable, this is a subject for a whole new game and I can't see ESO'S engine ever being able to accommodate it.

jcasini222ub17_ESO

YES, this could be amazing!

Obligatory SWG player built continuities are cool. They have there pluses and drawbacks like everything. Extremely doubtful ESO would ever go that far if they haven’t already.

There was a high point in game creativity with DAOC and SWG when it came to giving players the ability to create their world and story in a fantasy setting.

We have been stuck in a chase from players and devs from that generation of mmo gaming to get back to it. The kicker that ship has sailed as the mmo market ain’t as niche as it used to be.