Have you ever noticed the Bulletin Board in the guilds?
I guess you probably have not.
And here is the purpose of this post: Outline the lack of use and give better suggestion for it.
What purpose does the Bulletin Board have?
The Bulletin Board is a way developers found to give players a way to recruit other players for their fleet.
The problem is... nobody uses it. And the reason is... most people don't need it.
Let's face it. Multiboxing is legal and most players can create multiple characters and have all specialized classes / jobs / skills they want. Easy to see why people choose to develop their own skills instead of asking other people for help on a quest.
And hey, I'm not proposing to change the board. But it is completely "underused".
Introducing the Player Quest Market
How about adding a new button function called "player quest market" like the "fleet recruitment":
Any player could put an order, a price and a deadline for:
- Trade goods
- Treasure
- Bounty
Example: Trade goods
You could order 2000 units of lumber in Seville in 2 days (Real world time). Or you could pick this job as any other player created quest, deliver it to the bulleting board in Seville and immediately receive the reward as you would with any quest.
Of course, the player who orders it must pay upfront. When the order is delivered he can pick it up in the bank as it works with private farms and other prizes.
Example: Treasure (Excalibur)
You could order an excalibur (100 attack sword) in Seville in 2 days (Real world time). Or you could pick this job as any other player created quest, deliver it to the bulleting board in Seville and immediately receive the reward as you would with any quest.
Of course, the player who orders it must pay upfront and the player who picks it must be able to complete it (So he doesn't take the slot of someone else who can). When the order is delivered he can pick it up in the bank as it works with private farms and other prizes.
Example: Bounty (on ANYone)
Sure, having a market for trade goods and treasures is already very useful (More on this below), but I think the idea really shines when you can put a bounty on PEOPLE.
You could offer 1b (or any other value) for anyone that sinks player X first (No limits on people enrolled). Or you could pick this job and sink the player / collect your reward when finished in the bulleting board.
Of course, the player who orders it must pay upfront to make sure people are not tempted to scam others. And if no one completes the task in time he can have it back.
Why do we need a Player Quest Market?
Sure, anyone can talk and hire other players (or be hired) and set the conditions if both players are online. But does anyone do it?
Probably not as a job or quest, but only rather as a favor.
1) The first problem is TRUST. People need to know they will be rewarded after their quest. I'm sorry but there are too many people that hides behind alts / fake IDs to scam people.
2) The second problem is "playing time". It is hard to be online at the same time with people from all over the world that have different time zones. And let alone complete and meet in the same in game city.
3) It will help fulfill the idea of nurturing new players with tasks the veterans don't want to do.
4) It allows players to build real companies in game. Imagine the specialization possibilities, what would you be able to offer but you don't (because the basic item procuring is boring) but you would do it (if you had someone else procuring it for the right price for you)?
5) It is FUN. Hell Yeah! Didn't like what X said? Put a bounty on him. Let the carnage begin! (Blue flag restrictions still apply)
Ok but isn't this going to have the same problem as the Bulletin Board (no use)?
I think not.
In fact I would love to put bounties on players that think too highly of themselves, just for the fun (lol).
This kind of use will never get old and I predict it will have much more recognition as "Honor" than the easily fakeable "notoriety points". The most baddass player will probably be the one with the most bounties on him (or the highest price payed by a player) and not the one who farms nation NPCs / alts the most.
Also, people love to talk about their achievements and comment that of others. In honor of the recent "leaderboard" papaya created, there could be list of players sank by player in the last 30 days (But that's a different idea and not needed to implement this one).
Finding / hunting people is hard. Would anyone ever pick up that kind of job?
Yes, it is hard to find people in this game. Most piracy is done completely by chance today.
That's why I also suggest the "find player" skill.
I'll develop this idea in another post but it will basically return if the player is online (or not) and if he is, give the direction and distance of him (in survey skill style points).
Final remarks
So, what do you think? Should this idea be pushed to the devs?
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