Tradable Mercenaries And The Adventurer's Hall As A Social Hub

[Keyrock]

Now that the Adventurer's Hall is officially a go, let's deliberate on how it can be used. My idea is for created adventurers/mercenaries to be able to be uploaded to the "cloud". When you create a mercenary (hopefully Obsidian will provide us a with the ability to do custom portraits and a box where we can write our own bio/backstory) you can keep said mercenary only for your own use, or you could upload him or her to a database online. Now this could work one of two ways.

 

The first was is the easiest where once that mercenary has been uploaded they can be recruited by anyone and everyone that connects to the database via the Adventurer's Hall. Potentially said mercenary could also be levelled up or down, either automatically or manually, to meet a party's needs. (A party of level 10 adventurers wouldn't want a level 2 mercenary and conversely it would be game breaking to allow a party of level 2 adventurers to hire a level 10 mercenary)

 

The second option, which is my preference and by far the more interesting option in my opinion, is as follows. Any mercenary created can only exist in one place at any given time. If you decide to upload a mercenary to the database then he or she leaves your party. Once in the database anyone would have access to said mercenary, provided they were high enough level (again you wouldn't want to allow a level 1 character to hire a level 12 mercenary). In this scenario you would not be able to level the mercenary up or down, they would come "as is", gear included. Once someone decided to hire a mercenary he or she would disappear from the online database, so it would be first come first serve. The person who hired said mercenary could then employ them as long as they like and if they no longer had need of him or her then they could return them to the database. It would create a cool sort of multi-world where mercenaries would jump from adventure to adventure.

 

Imagine creating Thorn Bear, a level 2 Barbarian, then adventuring with Thorn Bear until he was level 5, at which point you decide you want to take the party in a different direction so you tell Thorn Bear to leave the party and upload him to the database. Player 2 enters the Adventurer's Hall looking for a warrior type for his party. Player 2 decides to hire Thorn Bear and employs him until level 7, at which point he returns him to the database. Player 3 then hires the level 7 Thorn Bear because she is doing a nature-centric party with Druids and needs some muscle up front. She uses Thorn Bear until level 10 at which point she returns him to the database. Maybe at that point the original creator of Thorn Bear enters the Adventurer's Hall and sees his creation now far more powerful and differently equipped (provided the previous player didn't strip Thorn Bear of all belongings before uploading him).

 

My other idea for the Adventurer's Hall is to use is as a place where players could communicate online. It could be as simple as a message board where you could leave stories and messages, possibly even hints for other players. Or it could include things such as a chat room where players could talk over a mug of mead. Also, the Adventurer's Hall would be a natural place to find player created adventures. Some adventures could physically start at the Adventurer's Hall or if not they could have a message appear at the hall advertising a quest and giving directions as to where to go. Once you installed a mod the included a new adventure said message would simply appear at the Adventurer's Hall.

 

Thoughts?

[rjshae]

My understanding was the focus would be on the single-player experience. Several of your suggestions would require maintaining a server presence on the internet, which would add to the costs and be an ongoing expense. You'd need a subscription model or advertising in order to maintain it. I'd rather not see either.

 

Other than that though, I do like the notion of fleshing out the Adventurer Hall experience.

[FlintlockJazz]

I'd rather not. This would be a mere novelty at most and require development of online features that would take resources away from other features. Other problems as well but I'm on my phone so won't go into it.

[nikolokolus]

Hmmmmmmmmm .... ahhhhhhhhhh .... errrrrrmmmmmm. No?

[Krios]

I like the idea ... somewhat. I am not cool with the idea of people messing around with my companion, on top of I do not think Obsidian will code a online lobby for this.

[rjshae]

A thought occurs: posting XML files with embedded mercenary information. Somebody can just maintain those on their gaming web site for others to download. Need to be careful with security issues though.

[GhostofAnakin]

I'd rather not. This would be a mere novelty at most and require development of online features that would take resources away from other features.

 

Agreed.

 

Though I will say, it's kind of an intriguing idea. Just not within the scope of this game.

Edited October 11, 2012 by GhostofAnakin

[jivex5k]

I'm against anything that requires a connection to the internet in this game.

I'm all for making characters exportable, whether custom created by you or Obsidian.

[Tale]

The idea is reminiscent of Dragon's Dogma's Pawn system. And I think I read recently that Feargus was playing Dragon's Dogma. I like it, I mean I really really like it, I just think it would be beyond the scope to introduce the connectivity.

[Keyrock]

I'd rather not. This would be a mere novelty at most and require development of online features that would take resources away from other features.

 

Agreed.

 

Though I will say, it's kind of an intriguing idea. Just not within the scope of this game.

Fair enough, I don't really want to take away from the production of the game. The amount of information said server would have to contain and process would be rather minuscule, akin to a save file for each character, though likely much smaller. The only information that would be needed in each file would be the stats of the mercenary (stars, skill, experience, level, picture file, bio text, etc...) and... that's it. I already thought about a snag to my own idea where a mercenary could have a powerful unique magic item then a player who had the same item could hire him and now have two of said item, so instead I would say that the gear does not get uploaded, instead when you hire a mercenary they come with stock gear depending on class and level (e.g. all 2nd level fightes start with a broadsword, kite shield, and chain hauberk, all lev 4 wizards start with a plain robe, bracers of agility +1, and a wand of fire). But yeah, maybe not for this game so it doesn't take away from any resources, maybe for the expansion, or a sequel?

 

I like the idea ... somewhat. I am not cool with the idea of people messing around with my companion, on top of I do not think Obsidian will code a online lobby for this.

Then you simply do not upload the mercenary to the database. The Adventurer's Hall could have a separate section that would be characters only in that particular game. In addition, these characters could maybe be actually seen walking around inside the hall, whereas the characters in the database would simply appear via list form (it would be crazy to have 1000 mercenaries all packed in there).

 

A thought occurs: posting XML files with embedded mercenary information. Somebody can just maintain those on their gaming web site for others to download. Need to be careful with security issues though.

That's an interesting idea, and wouldn't consume any Obsidian resources. Thumbs up.

[Krios]

I am imagining the scene of my companions lounging around the Hall, reminiscent of the Camp in Dragon Age. I liked that, perhaps an online lobby will make it into the game or maybe in the expansion pack. The more I think about it, the more I like to see the Adventurer's Hall functioning like the Camp. Our own place to find out more about our companions, sharpen our weapons, down a few mouthfuls of ale, etc.

 

Mods will likely be able to allow us to upload / download our companions. Like an import / export feature, only this one affects companions.

[Aldereth]

I am not a big fan of the Adventure Hall idea and your scheme does make it more appealing to me. As someone else pointed out, the requirement of server and added resource is probably going to be a tough hurdle to clear. I wonder if it is plausible to trade with your friend list and the save file will be kept client side only.