I feel like this should be a separate topic because there are a lot of aspects to discuss. I will be formulating some of my responses to this topic and hopefully the people around this forum can come up with good topics of discussion.
Given some new light from a developer about the resource regenerating system, does anyone have any thoughts or different view points on this?
I believe it’s been discussed quite a bit in the past. It might help if you presented your own thoughts/concerns first because I think a majority of folks on these forums are fine with the quote from James you provided.
One thought I have is if the world regenerates resources anywhere and in places that are not active or busy, doesn’t that support more solo gameplay? A feature the devs have mentioned, is that a guild would build around a specific resource spot and use that for part of the economy. If activity around that area reduces the amount of resources to be harvested, guilds have no reason to band together! but rather, be dispersed throughout the entire world. Also if there is no control over resources and anyone can find plenty of whatever resource they need. That defeats any real economy there could possibly be. It’ll be similar to a Minecraft economy where trading is just another feature and not something necessary or key to the gameplay. I feel that if you force people to rely on another players harvesting or crafting, similar to Fantasy Life, that will promote a more social gameplay. It really depends on what the developers want as far as player interaction when it comes to having an “economy”.
Need to remember that these are only early access worlds, so resource distribution hasn’t been balanced all that much with regards to how much of something spawns where and how often.
You also need to take into consideration, that a lot of people will be playing solo to start with, and indeed prefer to do so. If, for any reason, those people are not able to harvest a resource to make basic tools to progress, then you stifle gameplay and will lose players. If you give them access to create those basic tools (and when I say basic, I mean tools that have no stats or special abilities), then they can still progress, but at a much slower pace than than someone that has unlocked a special skill granting them the ability to make better tools. Others may have different skills that allow them to make much better weapons etc.
This is where the trading, and to a greater degree, using those specialist skills to advance your guild, comes in.
That and trading location markers for other worlds or places of interest.
On a personal note, I’ve used the trading plinths quite a bit to gain resources I would have otherwise had to mine or indeed go and find, myself. Personally, I don’t think the economy will suffer at all with this setup
You are probably right, I have not been around as long to see how the current economy works given the small player base I personally have seen. I’ve seen 1 player in ~20 hours of gameplay and have probably been stuck in a mindset that trading is not really a useful function since I have had to do everything on my own.
creating a guild or big community to certain area and build a town/city or a big castle so people can find each other, make trades, create market places and do other things. the area around it is usually empty from resources because the area is active all the time and world regen wont start. its ok because that city purpose is only to gather people together, make friends and maintaining the market place. city have portals to other big cities, dungeons etc to link all together around the world. anything around these big things at the wilderness is the place where you go solo or play with small party. so overall the world regen is still good thing as it is now.
Its better to allow your players a better degree of freedom then to artificially prevent them from doing things. I personally am of the open world viewpoint. I don’t like not being able to hold a sword just because I’m a Mage, or being unable to learn metal crafting because I’m an Archer. I think if someone puts time and energy into a project or developing a skill, that they should reap the rewards. It should be about time and effort spent.
Not everyone will want to necessarily follow the same course. Not everyone will be willing to do certain tasks, or have the innate skill-set or interest to perform various tasks. Hopefully not every region will have the required important resources. (Minecraft.)
That is where diversity and free market can develop organically, with player actions.
One player should be allowed to work hard enough to survive solo. In fact I like that, I often enjoy a measure of solitude in my games. I pit myself again the wilderness. (Outside games as well) I am a fairly independent person, I don’t feel the need to socialize all the time. I’m sure many other introverts would concur. (INFJ) Players like myself should be free to explore and develop in their own way, making connections as we see fit.
And there is of course the other side of the coin. The socialites, players who enjoy being around other players all the time. Those are the players who develop the community. They build the civilizations, the guilds, the clans and corporations. As skilled or intelligent as a solo player might be, they are still just one person. They cannot run a mining operation, or a logging company, or build a populated city.
I see no major problem in ether type of gameplay, nor is one inherently superior to the other. Let the world develop as it might, as players enjoy the world’s as they like.