Cities And Housing Archive
Thread: For the love of god, doesn't anyone realize that Player Cities have almost ruined this game?
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Kalvin87
Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:02 pm
#1
Honestly, SWG was pretty sweet before player cities.
As of right now, THERE ARE TOO MANY player cities.
There are only 4 or 5 cities max, where people hang out.
Coronet, the Mining Outpost, Theed, ...and I dunno where else. :/
It's quite unfortunate, because most players are now spread all over instead of gathering in a place to have a good time. Before player cities (most people don't even know that experience by now) was probably the best time SWG had.
People hung out in all the cities, and they weren't desolate places filled with spammers, and afk dancers.
The immersion was much greater back then -- back when there were Anchorhead raids, or raids on Bestine, or Theed. Now it's just lame with 70% of the population gone from cities.
*Sigh*
As of right now, THERE ARE TOO MANY player cities.
There are only 4 or 5 cities max, where people hang out.
Coronet, the Mining Outpost, Theed, ...and I dunno where else. :/
It's quite unfortunate, because most players are now spread all over instead of gathering in a place to have a good time. Before player cities (most people don't even know that experience by now) was probably the best time SWG had.
People hung out in all the cities, and they weren't desolate places filled with spammers, and afk dancers.
The immersion was much greater back then -- back when there were Anchorhead raids, or raids on Bestine, or Theed. Now it's just lame with 70% of the population gone from cities.
*Sigh*
Capetin
Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:04 pm
#2
You know man i really wish i would have been here for beta. It hurts me inside to know these things. Housing and player citys really werent what brought me into this game. It was bio-engineering and the promise to kill jedi(Foolish jedi hehe.)
StarNick
Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:27 pm
#3
Depends on where you go and what server, there are many player cities on Chilastra (your server and mine)that you can always find ppl hanging out at many hours of the day. It beats everyone hanging out in only a few select static cities, causing a tremendous amount of lag.
Not to mention, currently on our server, PvP is dominatenly in Theed...where once it had been in AH-Bestine. Unfortunately for AH-Bestine the NPC base between the two got axed by the devs, and PvP in general fell down the tubes when the holocron grinding started (basically end of AH-Bestine raids)
Before player cities, there were a much more concentration in the cities most people hang out today...so I'd say player cities are a bit more of an improvement (also beats walking everywhere on planets as well). Now at launch, there were big populations in many cities, as most couldn't go beyond the static city where they started in, plus the fact that everyone was starting in the same locations at once and staying put for a few days...you get that immersion and livilness to it. Take Doaba back at launch, a great deal of Beta players started there, i started there...it was a very cool place to be, even during the AH-Bestine raids...the place gradually emptied as everyone moved away. SWG is a huge place...would you have rathered a much smaller selection of planets/space to explore/fight/build in just to get more people around you?
Granted there are positives to this, as this is a social online game...but also remember, SWG has taken a very big player-base loss...hopefully that will return 
Scoooter
Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:46 pm
#4
StarNick wrote:
Depends on where you go and what server, there are many player cities on Chilastra (your server and mine)that you can always find ppl hanging out at many hours of the day. It beats everyone hanging out in only a few select static cities, causing a tremendous amount of lag.
Not to mention, currently on our server, PvP is dominatenly in Theed...where once it had been in AH-Bestine. Unfortunately for AH-Bestine the NPC base between the two got axed by the devs, and PvP in general fell down the tubes when the holocron grinding started (basically end of AH-Bestine raids)
Before player cities, there were a much more concentration in the cities most people hang out today...so I'd say player cities are a bit more of an improvement (also beats walking everywhere on planets as well). Now at launch, there were big populations in many cities, as most couldn't go beyond the static city where they started in, plus the fact that everyone was starting in the same locations at once and staying put for a few days...you get that immersion and livilness to it. Take Doaba back at launch, a great deal of Beta players started there, i started there...it was a very cool place to be, even during the AH-Bestine raids...the place gradually emptied as everyone moved away. SWG is a huge place...would you have rathered a much smaller selection of planets/space to explore/fight/build in just to get more people around you?
Granted there are positives to this, as this is a social online game...but also remember, SWG has taken a very big player-base loss...hopefully that will return
/agree
Before you just had huge clumps of player housing around NPC cities in fact on valcyn there was straight houses from AH to bestine and all around AH. Mkaing missions a pain.
I am the mayor of a very active city because due to WOW I lose 10-15 ciitizens a month to house decay but I get them replaced keeping life in the city. This patch will mean my metro will end up like a ghost town
Derku
Wed Jan 19, 2005 8:03 pm
#5
Kalvin87 wrote:
Honestly, SWG was pretty sweet before player cities.
As of right now, THERE ARE TOO MANY player cities.
There are only 4 or 5 cities max, where people hang out.
Coronet, the Mining Outpost, Theed, ...and I dunno where else. :/
It's quite unfortunate, because most players are now spread all over instead of gathering in a place to have a good time. Before player cities (most people don't even know that experience by now) was probably the best time SWG had.
People hung out in all the cities, and they weren't desolate places filled with spammers, and afk dancers.
The immersion was much greater back then -- back when there were Anchorhead raids, or raids on Bestine, or Theed. Now it's just lame with 70% of the population gone from cities.
*Sigh*
I completely agree with you. I had much more fun before player cities were introduced. (Day 1 vet myself)
If you wanted to PvP you knew where to look. If you needed a crafter you could find one. Actually if they only allowed 3-5 cities per main planet things wouldn't be sl spread out. When I say main planet I mean Corellia, Naboo, and Tatooine. The rest of the planets could be like Dathomir.
ana-mo-cara
Wed Jan 19, 2005 8:39 pm
#6
I agree the devs even made a thread on revitalizeing npc cities
What needs to be done.
NPC cities need actual bonuses and services.
Player cities need more restrictions in number of cities specifically.
Player cities need to be placed closer to npc cities. They need to reverse the trend of parking them out nowhere.
Player houseing is retarded a player should be able to buy lot sized houses instead of haveing to place five houses to store stuff.
Player cities should not have shuttleports, mission terminals, npc trainers, cantinas, medcenters,cloneing centers. I know I will get hell for this but city structures are increadibly cheap and easy to maintain. A player city should have to make a choice of 1 or two civic structures other then the city hall.
NPC cities need to be clutter removed. Nobody loves lag and these cities are jampacked with them. The npcs should be curtailed and fluff structure removed.
Some NPC cities need to removed. Mos entha, doaba guerfel keren duplicate outposts on advanced planets.
NPC cities need actual dynamic bonuses city specific.
NPC cities need factional functionality
Its not that player cities need to be removed. Though that would be the easiest solution. They should be tightly packed places filled with the basic stores. Players should be able to trade up lots for bank storage space. So players will not be compelled to own structures. I think the best solution would be to allow npc cities and player cities to merge. Allow anchorhead to have a mayor and any structure built within five hundred meters of anchorhead will be in anchorhead. Then allow that mayor apply the bonuses he sees fit. Maybe have a anchorhead suburb district. A marked patch for players to place structures.
SeanBlader
Wed Jan 19, 2005 9:02 pm
#7
Problem is there are more people that want to be Politician per server than 15, that's why there are so many. I agree that the number ofmaximum sized cities should be reduced. They increased the maximum number of metropolises and cities a while ago, but it might have been too much.
I think the better solution is to create a real demand in the cities. A great money sink would be to allow people to have apartments in the major cities for a fee with prices set as server controlled andadjustedby supply and demand. So you'd only have the richest of the people who were willing to drop the most on the big places. I might spring for a month or so for a penthouse that had a 360 view of Coronet from like 20 stories up.
How awesome would it be to be a merchant running an exclusive entry fee'd bar in that setting. Set it so there are only a limited number of them per city and per high rise. 50k per week for the penthouse, but only if you out bideveryoneelseat the end of the month when your monthly lease runs out. Then you have 2 days to move out before you're kicked out, and your stuff is sold at auction hehe.
plmcmahon
Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:31 pm
#8
As of right now, THERE ARE TOO MANY player cities.
There are only 4 or 5 cities max, where people hang out.
I started playing about a year ago, so I can't comment as far back as you may be able to. I do remember the raids on Anchorhead and they were great (for roleplayers at least). When I got my start, Anchorhead was a popular place.
However, you have offered no points or evidence as to why player cities are causing people to leave the NPC cities. You simply say "because I see less people in places like Mos Entha or Dearic, it must be player cities". Frankly, there are few player cities that I have seen that are "active". My home town of Xanadu (on Sunrunner) typically has 3 or 4 residents online at once, and if they are not in town they are in Eisley or out earning a living.
Eva'ngelene used to run Beer Nights in Mos Eisley and we always had a good turnout, but most other nights the cantina would be mostly empty. I find it very hard to believe that those folks were just sitting around in their own player cities waiting for something interesting to happen.
I think players are focusing their efforts on profitable areas, whether it be space or Dantooine/Dathomir. The reason you don't see people in the "major" cities is that there is simply little, if any, content to keep them there; they get buffs or healed up and then head out to their favorite hunting areas.
There are only 4 or 5 cities max, where people hang out.
I started playing about a year ago, so I can't comment as far back as you may be able to. I do remember the raids on Anchorhead and they were great (for roleplayers at least). When I got my start, Anchorhead was a popular place.
However, you have offered no points or evidence as to why player cities are causing people to leave the NPC cities. You simply say "because I see less people in places like Mos Entha or Dearic, it must be player cities". Frankly, there are few player cities that I have seen that are "active". My home town of Xanadu (on Sunrunner) typically has 3 or 4 residents online at once, and if they are not in town they are in Eisley or out earning a living.
Eva'ngelene used to run Beer Nights in Mos Eisley and we always had a good turnout, but most other nights the cantina would be mostly empty. I find it very hard to believe that those folks were just sitting around in their own player cities waiting for something interesting to happen.
I think players are focusing their efforts on profitable areas, whether it be space or Dantooine/Dathomir. The reason you don't see people in the "major" cities is that there is simply little, if any, content to keep them there; they get buffs or healed up and then head out to their favorite hunting areas.
Eerif
Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:42 pm
#9
With the release of JtL and the travel features, players are being brought back to NPC cities mainly because they have absolutely no wait in browsing the shops outside the NPC cities.
glory
Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:45 am
#10
I get a kick out of Player cities..especially since one of my characters is mayor of one. I enjoy "discovering" them on my travels, visiting their museums, cantinas and city halls..etc..seeing how they are decorated and how the cities are layed out.
I try to have one of my characters welcome each visitor I see in my city, so does my partner. We get a kick out of decorating our various establishments and luring players to our city to buy stuff or just visit. We even have a Bed and Breakfast for weary travelers.
Yes, I remember the good old days in Meonia and Anchorhead when the dippy Imps would attempt to take over and it was fun. But, for whatever reason the stupid cities were not laggy then...you could actually walk around with a crowd there and not be lagged...and I had a slower puter with less memory then. Now, I lag out to a frozen screen for a few every time I get into the stinking static cities. It is like a "whew" when I get back to my non laggy player city.
What it boils down to is pros and cons either way. I also think that players leaving for other games has not helped. But, SWG is an awesome game that can be played by yourself or with a few others and be fun. The ability to create...create items, cities, decorate houses and ships, fight mobs everywhere...is something you can do when and where you feel like doing it. I really think Station Access with help a lot in bringing back old players and getting new ones.
I try to have one of my characters welcome each visitor I see in my city, so does my partner. We get a kick out of decorating our various establishments and luring players to our city to buy stuff or just visit. We even have a Bed and Breakfast for weary travelers.
Yes, I remember the good old days in Meonia and Anchorhead when the dippy Imps would attempt to take over and it was fun. But, for whatever reason the stupid cities were not laggy then...you could actually walk around with a crowd there and not be lagged...and I had a slower puter with less memory then. Now, I lag out to a frozen screen for a few every time I get into the stinking static cities. It is like a "whew" when I get back to my non laggy player city.
What it boils down to is pros and cons either way. I also think that players leaving for other games has not helped. But, SWG is an awesome game that can be played by yourself or with a few others and be fun. The ability to create...create items, cities, decorate houses and ships, fight mobs everywhere...is something you can do when and where you feel like doing it. I really think Station Access with help a lot in bringing back old players and getting new ones.
PsychoticChipmunk
Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:52 am
#11
ana-mo-carawrote:
NPC cities need actual bonuses and services.
Player cities need more restrictions in number of cities specifically.
Player cities need to be placed closer to npc cities. They need to reverse the trend of parking them out nowhere.
Player houseing is retarded a player should be able to buy lot sized houses instead of haveing to place five houses to store stuff.
Player cities should not have shuttleports, mission terminals, npc trainers, cantinas, medcenters,cloneing centers. I know I will get hell for this but city structures are increadibly cheap and easy to maintain. A player city should have to make a choice of 1 or two civic structures other then the city hall.
NPC cities need to be clutter removed. Nobody loves lag and these cities are jampacked with them. The npcs should be curtailed and fluff structure removed.
Some NPC cities need to removed. Mos entha, doaba guerfel keren duplicate outposts on advanced planets.
NPC cities need actual dynamic bonuses city specific.
NPC cities need factional functionality
I"m sorry but I really have to laugh at this. I've played this game since day one so I've experienced everything you have, probably even moreso since my server is reknowned for exploitation, cheap tactics, and general PvP type events. Your argument is bunk. Can you place a faction base inside of Theed? Can you control who is able to clone there so a raid is just that, a raid and not a "who can stay up the latest clone zerging wins" battle? No! Can you do that in a player city? You bet your ass you can. And lots of them do it too.
You don't know where to go in order to get PvP? Well either you don't know the good PvP guilds or your server has noone willing to step up as the "head" of their faction. Place a couple bases in your town, highly coordinate your militia to make sure attackers can't clone, and sit back as the PvP comes to you. NPC towns are barren because they have their own latency and PC towns have replaced them with usefullness. I can get more out of a MASC - NDC raid then I can a Bestine - AH one and I can shop in large well developed mercantile hubs instead of a slathering of first come first serve suburban homes turning Coronet into a sea of green on the overhead. Player cities have saved the game from becoming nothing more then a condensed lagfest while noone ventures out and sees the beauty each world has to offer. Those towns in "the middle of nowhere" are what we need to facilitate people going to that spot precisely! Would you ever see the Eastern half of Corellia if a town wasn't there?
But hey, if you want Coronet to be 1 of3 cities on Corellia (despite the number that actually exist in the star wars universe) and composed of 5 buildings and a barn, meanwhile the only player cities to be on the same world are just part of suburbia with no cohesion possible nor reason to exist (you know all those things you want to strip off them) that's fine by me. A few hundred thousand people would disagree with you though and odds are the devs will listen to them instead of scrap a well developed system and profession.
Message Edited by PsychoticChipmunk on 01-20-2005 01:59 AM
Message Edited by PsychoticChipmunk on 01-20-2005 02:00 AM
Tapa
Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:07 am
#12
PsychoticChipmunk wrote:
ana-mo-carawrote:
NPC cities need actual bonuses and services.
Player cities need more restrictions in number of cities specifically.
Player cities need to be placed closer to npc cities. They need to reverse the trend of parking them out nowhere.
Player houseing is retarded a player should be able to buy lot sized houses instead of haveing to place five houses to store stuff.
Player cities should not have shuttleports, mission terminals, npc trainers, cantinas, medcenters,cloneing centers. I know I will get hell for this but city structures are increadibly cheap and easy to maintain. A player city should have to make a choice of 1 or two civic structures other then the city hall.
NPC cities need to be clutter removed. Nobody loves lag and these cities are jampacked with them. The npcs should be curtailed and fluff structure removed.
Some NPC cities need to removed. Mos entha, doaba guerfel keren duplicate outposts on advanced planets.
NPC cities need actual dynamic bonuses city specific.
NPC cities need factional functionality
I"m sorry but I really have to laugh at this. I've played this game since day one so I've experienced everything you have, probably even moreso since my server is reknowned for exploitation, cheap tactics, and general PvP type events. Your argument is bunk. Can you place a faction base inside of Theed? Can you control who is able to clone there so a raid is just that, a raid and not a "who can stay up the latest clone zerging wins" battle? No! Can you do that in a player city? You bet your ass you can. And lots of them do it too.
You don't know where to go in order to get PvP? Well either you don't know the good PvP guilds or your server has noone willing to step up as the "head" of their faction. Place a couple bases in your town, highly coordinate your militia to make sure attackers can't clone, and sit back as the PvP comes to you. NPC towns are barren because they have their own latency and PC towns have replaced them with usefullness. I can get more out of a MASC - NDC raid then I can a Bestine - AH one and I can shop in large well developed mercantile hubs instead of a slathering of first come first serve suburban homes turning Coronet into a sea of green on the overhead. Player cities have saved the game from becoming nothing more then a condensed lagfest while noone ventures out and sees the beauty each world has to offer. Those towns in "the middle of nowhere" are what we need to facilitate people going to that spot precisely! Would you ever see the Eastern half of Corellia if a town wasn't there?
But hey, if you want Coronet to be 1 of3 cities on Corellia (despite the number that actually exist in the star wars universe) and composed of 5 buildings and a barn, meanwhile the only player cities to be on the same world are just part of suburbia with no cohesion possible nor reason to exist (you know all those things you want to strip off them) that's fine by me. A few hundred thousand people would disagree with you though and odds are the devs will listen to them instead of scrap a well developed system and profession.
Agree 100% and 5 stars for you
Before player cities, my guild had our own little city, we grouped all our houses in a spot, and had vendors and everything. It was right between tyrena and coronet, you couldn't walk (yes... we had to walk then) between these 2 major cities without coming across our little setup. Now that we have player cities though, we found an even better spot on correlia, near a popular spawn, which wouldn't even be popular if it weren't for the conveniant traveling city shuttleports give. Imagine having to walk 5000m just to get to your favorite NPC spawning point. Well thanks to a nice player city in the area, you can shuttle in, have a cloning facility for when those nast over imperials stop by, and have plenty of vendors to shop at if your armor gets trashed, your gun broken, or you run out of food, meds, or whatever.
TarionBesbald
Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:33 am
#13
In my opinion, forget about the NPC cities and make player cities more valuable.
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