Hello, Gehn Shard!

[Carl Palmner]

So, I hope this is okay to post here, as it is not a bug report or content suggestion but just an inquiry as well as a general greeting.

So, I've come out of a long hiatus from Uru as a result of hearing about the Gehn shard (hello). Installed it yesterday, checked it out--there was no one else on--had a look around, etc. Very nice to see Vothol Gallery in an officially sanctioned online setting. Logged in briefly again today--this time there were 3 explorers on according to the client, but they must have been in private areas because I couldn't find them.

Anyway, I'm curious about a couple of things. First one is: why are we going with multiple hoods, given the low population of the shard? Seems like it would be better to do what other fan shards are doing and lump everyone into one hood until we can get more people. That way it's very easy to find people via Neighbor Chat.

Second question is: Are we moving towards getting more fan ages up on the shard? I've always felt that the fan ages are the key to raising population on fan shards. The problem with MOULa is that it has no new content--so the sooner there is fan stuff up for people to play around in, the better. I was thrilled to see Vothol Gallery and would love to see more of the fan stuff.

Third: Is there a chance we could get a KI directory going somewhere on the forum or site? If we're really going to go with multiple hoods on a low-population shard, it'd be nice to have a way to find out the KI's of others to add to buddy lists. It would be one way to get in touch with people in-game.

I'll probably poke around the forums a bit, and maybe the answers to my questions are already up in various places. If so, sorry for the redundant post. I'd love to hear back from any of you--been a long time, so I don't even know how many of the GoW folks will be the same ones I remember.

In the meantime, I'm KI#00066852, for anyone who wants to reach me in-game (don't forget to message me your KI#, makes it easier to respond)

--C.P.

[Annabelle]

Carl Palmner wrote

First one is: why are we going with multiple hoods, given the low population of the shard? Seems like it would be better to do what other fan shards are doing and lump everyone into one hood until we can get more people.

At this question, you answered yourself right here...

Installed it yesterday, checked it out--there was no one else on--had a look around, etc. Very nice to see Vothol Gallery in an officially sanctioned online setting.

Don't tell me you have tried the nasty Deep Island, UAM or TOC TPOTS shards!!! You wouldn't dare to do such a thing would you Carl? Pirates realm they are. Home of the evil haxers.

[Carl Palmner]

Wait--so we're not allowed to alter things such that people would all start in the same hood?

And as for pirate fan shards...I admit to nothing, I tell you! Nothing!

[Branan]

We could have set it up so that everyone would be in the same 'hood. Hood revamping is on the list of things we want to look at, but we decided that for now we'd keep it at the default that everybody expects.

EDIT: I'll answer your other questions in more detail when I have the time. Cooking waffles ATM.

[Branan]

First one is: why are we going with multiple hoods, given the low population of the shard? Seems like it would be better to do what other fan shards are doing and lump everyone into one hood until we can get more people. That way it's very easy to find people via Neighbor Chat.

Even if most of them are offline, a list of 300 neighbors would still be a bit painful for both the vault and the client to handle. Besides that, multiple hoods lets us make sure that any randomly-generated elements are working correctly.

Second question is: Are we moving towards getting more fan ages up on the shard? I've always felt that the fan ages are the key to raising population on fan shards. The problem with MOULa is that it has no new content--so the sooner there is fan stuff up for people to play around in, the better. I was thrilled to see Vothol Gallery and would love to see more of the fan stuff.

On the TODO list. We're still deciding which qualities make an age one of the "best" so it can go on the shard, and how we can decide on those qualities without being accused of favoritism.

Third: Is there a chance we could get a KI directory going somewhere on the forum or site? If we're really going to go with multiple hoods on a low-population shard, it'd be nice to have a way to find out the KI's of others to add to buddy lists. It would be one way to get in touch with people in-game.

We might set up a voluntary list. There's concern about keeping their game information "private" amongst some players, so I want to handle any sort of directory tactfully. We'll see how much technical effort it takes vs. just setting up a list and losing the support of those who have such concerns.

In the meantime, I'm KI#00066852, for anyone who wants to reach me in-game (don't forget to message me your KI#, makes it easier to respond)

Players that PM you get added to the 'Recent' list in your KI now, so they don't have to send you a KI #

[Carl Palmner]

Regarding the second issue--fan ages--might I suggest a basic democratic process implemented right here on the forums? Obviously this is for the future, not the present (I assume fixing the bugs and non-working features in Cyan areas takes priority), but it would be a simple matter to draft a process in which GoW representatives nominate Ages for "next Age to be brought to the shard" and then votes are held within a defined time limit to determine which Age goes up next. That way, you'd (theoretically) get the Ages that the most people want the soonest. Just a thought.

Thanks for addressing my other questions so quickly. Looking forward to seeing you folks on the shard!

[Paradox]

Regarding the second issue--fan ages--might I suggest a basic democratic process implemented right here on the forums? Obviously this is for the future, not the present (I assume fixing the bugs and non-working features in Cyan areas takes priority), but it would be a simple matter to draft a process in which GoW representatives nominate Ages for "next Age to be brought to the shard" and then votes are held within a defined time limit to determine which Age goes up next. That way, you'd (theoretically) get the Ages that the most people want the soonest. Just a thought.

At the moment, we're limited to Ages built with 3DS Max, because of engine versions. One of the things we've talked about is how we might be able to take existing fan Ages from PotS and automate an upgrade to MOULa.