I’ve noticed that people have been talking a lot about ghost towns and trying to prevent them. I would suggest that ghost towns would not be a problem, as long as you can tell at a glance that it is a ghost town. What if you can place lanterns or a similar block that lights up only if you’ve recently activated it, put fuel in it, or perhaps simply logged in? shop owners could use these lanterns to signal that their shops have recently been restocked so players don’t have to wander through five shops before they find one that actually sells/buys something.
It’s a nice idea to solve this problem but I’m not sure how this does. If people who own “shops” in the large cities now still log in to fuel them, but leave them without stock for months, wouldn’t they just fuel the lanterns when they fuel the beacons? Or are these abandoned shops with stupidly long amounts of beacon fuel left on them, I wonder? If so then the wipe should take care of that.
I like this idea. If someone wanders into a town or area where the people who built shops there haven’t logged in for months, I think it should be obvious. If someone doesn’t log in for 3 months, you could make their shop get covered in weeds or something.
Weeds are another good idea. I’d love to see something done about this. I remember my first trip round Therka Market - elation then deflation as I realised half this massive town had been abandoned.
I posted a similar idea about powered lanterns a few months ago (I think) using spark with spark cords instead of some sort of crafted fuel like beacon fuel.
I like the idea regardless. I like the idea of weeds too.
another thought: maybe buying/selling plinths could change appearance depending on how much is stocked in them. when there are no more items or not enough coins in the selling plinth to buy anything, the block gets grayed out or something.
Surely a ‘Lantern’ could detect the beacon occupants entering the plots? That’s all it’d take to make them light up? Just to then decide upon the amount of time they stay lit.
I mean, this is only a really sizeable issue now because the wipe is soon and has been coming for awhile? I guess we will see if it remains a problem in the future
I like this idea. Keep in mind, some people burn out running shops, so they don’t restock but they continue to log in occasionally to refuel their beacon.
I build alot of stuff in high places where you are not going to be easily able to get close to the lanterns… making me run around building steps all the time to refuel and then delete the steps would be a PAIN.
Also, I wouldn’t want them to have to be manually fueled either. They should either be automatic from logging in/activity, or based on items stocked/restocked if for shop purposes only.
Personally, I’m not so interested in the shopping experience. For me it is rather an annoyance to have to physically look for an item that I need and wouldn’t mind Wow like auction houses
