DrHetterscheidt wrote:What I would suggest in it's stead is that there are multiple spawns (as there are now, optionally) but make them mandatory. The nearest large city to your /home is instantly set as your /spawn location.
YES. This would be an incredible idea. We could end up with a single massive subway and netherrail system covering the distance between the various spawn cities, with secondary lines providing local transportation to the small settlements/suburbs around the large cities.
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This would make the wilderness-type areas more dynamic--unlike the current system, where you're more likely than not to be in the middle of nowhere as long as one of your coordinates is >4000 or <-4000, there could be massive thriving cities close to the edges of the map, other major cities more in the middle, and wilderness as an in-between space rather than a peripheral one.
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More importantly, I think this would also promote a stronger sense of community and appreciation of your allies/friends/neighbors. If players are unofficially sorted into one of just a handful of large groups on the basis of where your nearest spawn city is, you'll probably develop a sense of pride in the architectural wonders / displays of wealth / PvP successes of your city... unlike the current system, which tends to favor a multitude of short-lived factions each consisting of only a few members.
If people don't like the idea of losing a centralized /trade area, that could be kept around, but I think the economy would be more interesting if /trade had a different area at each /spawn location. Local fluctuations in price could be possible, if the players of one city have a surplus of a certain good while players of another have a shortage; you could even make a respectable profit by trading (difficult to do in the current system, since trading with anyone, anywhere on the map, is pretty much instantaneous) if you travel between cities, buying things available for low prices and selling them where more generous prices are offered.
The Greymarch has ended.