I have previously touched on this subject in a thread questioning the decision to have hirelings email us and thought this concept deserved a thread of its own. The original thought is that it’s strange to have in-game characters email us and that our email should be for player to player correspondence only. The Hirelings should deliver messages and goods via an in-game Courier Service. This concept is born from that initial thought.

Strap in... it's a long one.

TL/DR
ZOS should introduce and implement the Courier’s Guild into ESO. This would include a mail-type system for NPC to player communication as well as a Courier’s Skill tree and accompanying quests.

Topics:

• The Courier System
• Courier Generals
• Couriers
• Guild Quests & Skill Line
• Crown Store Integration

The Courier System
The Courier system will be a complex network of deliverymen that allows players to receive packages and message from all across Tamriel. Once a player reaches level 5, they gain full access to the services of the Courier’s Guild. Unlike many other guilds, the Courier’s Guild doesn’t operate out of guild halls or Guild Stations; instead, the Courier’s Guild is closely associated with the Banks of Tamriel. While not intrinsically linked, the Courier’s Guild places their representatives, called Courier Generals, in or near the Banks of Tamriel. After all, their services do involve the banks quite often.

The Courier Guild will provide the following services:

• Sending Crafting Writs to destinations
• Delivering Packages to players
• Item forwarding to the player’s bank

When accessing a Courier General, players will be allowed to send their completed crafting writs to their destination in lieu of traveling to the NPC themselves. Additionally players will be able to receive messages, items, and gold that has been sent to them from NPC and Guild stores. These will be delivered to players in the form of packages. Alternately, a Courier will be sent to deliver messages to players who have been away from a city for a while.

This system will largely function in lieu of the email system that is currently in ESO but will not replace the email system. That system will remain to be utilized by player guilds and players for player to player interaction.

Deliveries will be available account wide, so if a Courier attempts to deliver to one character, and the player either logs out without speaking with the Courier or declines delivery, they can then log-in with another character and visit the Courier General in or near the local bank to accept the deliveries.

Courier Generals
Courier Generals will be situated near or inside banks across Tamriel. Sitting behind their desk or next to their Courier’s Cart, the Courier General will have the following options:

• Send a Package: This function will not be for player to player deliveries. Instead, the player will be able to build a package to send to recipients of Crafting Writs, and other possible future recipients. This Courier Package can provide ZOS with a new player function.
• Receive Delivery: Players can receive packages from multiple sources, including
  • Hireling Deliveries (A written message arrives with materials received)
    
  • Gold from Guild Store Sales (A written message arrives with gold received)
  • Items purchased from Guild Stores (A written message arrives with materials received)
  • Items that fail to sell from a Guild Store (A written message arrives with materials received)
  • Rewards from Crafting Writs (A written message arrives with materials received as well as XP being gained upon the opening of the package.
• Courier Options: Players can choose from a few options that best fit their play style.
  • AutoBank: Players can set packages to auto-deliver to their bank. This will occur as long as there is room in the player’s bank.
  • Delivery Hold/Resume: Players can request that the Courier General not send a Courier to deliver packages while the player is out in the world. This is a toggle and will remain switched until the player changes the option themselves.
• Browse Jobs: This option will allow players to perform Courier Jobs from the Courier’s Guild.

Sending packages of any kind costs gold and is dependent on a player’s level and the number of items being sent. The more items, the greater the delivery charge. Players will have a package interface to where one package can be sent with multiple items. The maximum number of items in a package should be the same number of items able to be attached to an email, six.

Guild Leaders should have the option to create custom messages that will be sent with all guild packages. The custom messages should written for the following circumstances:

• Item is sold on the Guild Store
• Items is purchased from the Guild Store
• Items did not sell on the Guild Store

These are generic messages that players will receive when they receive their item or gold from the store. The names of these items should be something along the lines of “Item Sold-GuysSellinStuff”, where GuysSellinStuff is the guild name. The body of the message should contain the following:

• Tamrielic Date (Would require the days and dates to be observed in ESO, Concept link HERE)
• Name of Guild
• Message type (Item Sold/Item Purchased/Item Returned)
• What is being sent
• Generic Message From Guild Leader

These messages should be stackable by title in stacks of 200. This will not only help players keep track of their guild sales like a receipt, but would also offer Guild Leaders the opportunity to offer incentive type programs where players can turn in their messages as contest entries or act as reward points, or they could just be destroyed.

Hireling deliveries will be delivered to the Courier Generals at the same rate that players are receiving emails now. Deliveries from Crafting Writ completion would reward players with XP upon opening, and would include Gold as payment.

All deliveries received are shown in the Courier General’s inventory as brown paper packages wrapped with twine called Parcels. Parcels function similarly to containers and urns. Once they are emptied, they disappear.

Each player begins with 60 spaces in their Parcel Box. Players cannot place items in the Parcel Box in any way. They cannot reorganize their Parcel Box. They can only take packages from the Parcel Box. Players cannot open packages without removing them from the Parcel Box. If a player choose to AutoBank and their bank is full, parcels will remain in the Parcel Box until they are either retrieved by the player or the player empties space in their bank. Parcels are forwarded from the Parcel Box once a Tamrielic day. A full Parcel Box will cause further deliveries to be rejected, much in the same way a full email in-box cannot receive more mail.

Couriers
Many players may prefer to do their business with Couriers, instead of visiting Courier Generals. Couriers are sent to the player if all of the following conditions are met.

• It has been 96 hours since the last Courier was dismissed by the player
• The player is outside of the parameter of a town that has a Courier Generals
• The player has been in-game outside of that parameter for more than 60 minutes
• The player is in the overworld and not in a dungeon or building or other interior instance
• There are Parcels waiting for the player

When a Courier is sent to a player, they will run up to the player on foot and patiently wait at a distance.

The Courier will have a few idle animations to attract the attention of the player. They will wave to the player and will shout things like “Message for you!”, “This will only take a moment”, and the ever popular “I’m in a bit of a hurry!”. If the player doesn’t acknowledge Courier and just goes about their business, the Courier will follow the player until they are acknowledged or until they have waited for a total of one hour.

The hour is the total amount of time the Courier is following the player and the player is not in combat. The time doesn’t count any of the time Courier isn’t actively pursuing the player, such as when the player is in an instanced part of the world. If the player doesn’t access and utilize the Courier within that hour, or the Courier is dismissed, the Courier leaves and the clock resets. The Courier will then return in 96 hours. There is no penalty for not utilizing the Courier, they simply come back in 96 hours with all of the players parcels.

The Courier will not follow the player into water and will run away and re-approach them on the other side. The Courier will not engage in combat and will leave if the player enters any instance and will return when the player again joins the Zone exterior.

The Courier is instanced to the player and only the player can see or interact with their them. When the Courier is accessed, the player is able to view the Courier’s Satchel which functions much like the player’s own inventory and contains the Parcels being sent to them. While the player accesses the Courier, other players will simply see the rifling around in their bags, as if they are accessing their own inventory. Players are invulnerable while accessing the Courier, and as such, Couriers are NEVER sent into Cyrodiil.

While accessing the Courier’s Satchel, the player is able to see and fully access their own inventory plus the number of open spaces they have in their bank. They cannot, however, access items in their bank inventory in any way.

When accessing the Courier’s Satchel, the player is able to do the following:

• Take: The player moves a Parcel from the Courier’s Satchel to their own Inventory
• Forward: The player moves a Parcel from the Courier’s Satchel to the Bank Forwarding section of the Satchel screen or they can move items from their inventory to the Bank Forwarding section of the Satchel screen.
• Destroy: The player drops a Parcel outside of the inventory the items is destroyed.

Players cannot open packages inside the Courier’s Satchel. Players must accept a package to rifle around in its contents.

When the player backs out of the Courier’s Satchel, and there are items left in the Satchel, the player is given five options:

• Take All: Moves all Parcels from the Courier’s Satchel into the player’s inventory
• Forward All: Moves all Parcels from the Courier’s Satchel into the player’s inventory
• Destroy All: Destroys all Parcels left in the Courier’s Satchel (requires confirmation)
• View Satchel: Returns the player to the Courier’s Satchel view
• Dismiss: Dismisses the Courier.

If the player chooses Take or Forward, and they do not have enough empty slots, they will be given the message that their inventory/bank is full and will be returned to the menu. This is one of the instances that highlights the usefulness of an Over-Encumbrance mechanic in ESO.

Forwarding items to the bank costs in-game gold at a rate that is appropriate to the level of the player. For example, a player level 10 would have to pay 100 gold per item or Parcel forwarded but a VR1 player will have to pay 500 gold per item forwarded. The player MUST pay the Courier with the gold they have on them, they cannot utilize the Courier to accesses their bank inventory or their banked gold in any way.

When a player dismisses a Courier, any remaining packages are returned to the Parcel Box. Players can visit the Courier General to retrieve their packages or they can wait for the Courier to return at their next appointed time.

Guild & Skill Line
The Courier’s Guild can be added to ESO via the concept of the Guilds Act Addendum, as mentioned in my thread The Guilds Act, a Discussion. This doesn’t mean the Courier’s Guild be recognized as a fully formed guild. On the contrary, the player could be a vital part of the guild attempting to achieve ratification and recognition as an actual guild. This could be the core motivation behind the Courier’s Guild Story.

The effectiveness of a player’s actions during the Courier’s Guild story line could have a direct and lasting impact on the long term benefits of the Courier guild for that character. An example of this long term benefit would be lowered prices for forwarding items to the bank, for sending packages and greater gold rewards for package deliveries. Additionally, players would be able to deliver Parcels for the guild both during and after the quest story line. The farther the package is delivered, the more positive reputation the guild receives during the quest story and the more the player receives as a reward in both XP and Gold.

Unlike the Fighter’s and Mages Guilds, the Courier’s Guild wouldn’t be isolated to one zone. Players could be required to travel clear across Tamriel to deliver packages.

Just like the other guilds, however, the Courier’s Guild will have 10 ranks which the player can advance through. This specific guild can have speed and endurance based skills.

Below is a quick overview of the types of skills this guild skill could have:

• Active Skills: These skills could give the player a speed boost, an endurance boost, or allow the player to move past mobs (and only mobs) at full speed without attracting their attention.
• Passive: These skills could give the player a permanent speed boost, lessened endurance for movement activity, and could shorten the time between Courier delivery appointments.

Crown Store Integration
ZOS could offer a few items in the Crown Store that could facilitate in the Courier functionality.

• Parcel Box Space: A set number of spaces permanently added to the Parcel Box.
• Courier’s Whistle: A small, silent whistle that breaks upon use that calls a Courier to the player between appointments.
• Courier Costume: Allows a player to dress in a Courier's uniform.

Overview
A Courier Guild added to ESO will create a unique system for ESO where players will be able have greater options with their material deliveries. While I do agree that the tangibility of the Courier system will create a system that is more cumbersome, the features, benefits, gameplay, and narrative additions justify the change.

So what do you think? Would a Courier system be entirely ridiculous? If the Hireling and guild store deliveries aren’t included in the Courier System and the Courier Delivery aspect of this system isn’t implemented, would the Courier quests be enough to justify the Guild’s inclusion into ESO, and would they make sense without the player receiving packages themselves?

Looking forward to your thoughts.