I don't understand. Is it just a house on a Player Island where you can go to other islands?

No. There is an area that is accessible by that ship south of soupir, that has lots of houses/area. A person with an island can ask for permission to take over one of these houses/area so that island quests, advertising, and other things can be done there. It is a totally separate area from his island.

No bobdude: at the agency area you will be made co-wirter at:
1. a house (agency - generic location) and 2. an NPC (representative - npc-location).

You can advertise your island there, make a few quests in there,...
But you cannot make a direct link from these places to your island (for the time being. that might very well change in the future)!! For the moment, travelling will have to be done via Travel Agency in Goadlo. There is a boat in the area that brings you directly to the Travel Agency or back to the South Part.

I think a 2D food hall would look better

You don't like my generic location image for the open air food market?

2D location just look better than generic ones, in my opinion. Nothing wrong with the image

I agree. In general, 2d locations are preferred to generic locations.
There are a handful of reasons for using a generic location instead.
One of those is if a quest or the location itself requires an image.

If you can come up with a 2d map that you think looks better, send me a PO.
If we like it we can always copy the map image to another system 2d location and re-link everything.

Another benefit of a generic location for shopping like this is the fact that all the shops are right there for you. Don't have to go looking around a 2D map for them. I like 2D maps much more than generic for just about anything, but that's something to consider (and obviously there are ways to make it simple in a 2D map as well).

Smurfsrule wrote

Another benefit of a generic location for shopping like this is the fact that all the shops are right there for you. Don't have to go looking around a 2D map for them. I like 2D maps much more than generic for just about anything, but that's something to consider (and obviously there are ways to make it simple in a 2D map as well).

That's part of the game aswell, having to look around for the items you want to buy.

Maybe I'll give it a shot

skullsz wrote

Smurfsrule wrote

Another benefit of a generic location for shopping like this is the fact that all the shops are right there for you. Don't have to go looking around a 2D map for them. I like 2D maps much more than generic for just about anything, but that's something to consider (and obviously there are ways to make it simple in a 2D map as well).

That's part of the game aswell, having to look around for the items you want to buy.

Maybe I'll give it a shot

True, but it's not necessary to make things more difficult if it's possible to keep it simple

I'm not at all against making it a 2D map, I'm just saying there are some aspects of a generic location that are more beneficial than a 2D map.

I'm more of a supporter of having a standardized format for villages Having some islands using Generic Villages while others use 2D can be bothersome. Generic Villages are easier to make, but 2D maps are much better in every possible way(markets and shops should be harder to find, it makes it harder for people to find items to sell in the marketplace)

The main reason generic villages exist is because the main island used them when NEaB was first created and most player islands followed that, at least until Zorich discovered the wonder of 2D maps Considering that the main island has been switched over to 2D villages, I think all player islands should as well to preserve some kind of common design across the game map.

Well, I don't think that is possible even if everyone wanted it. Too late to remove generic locations now, considering so many islands have used them and many of those islands have inactive island managers who cannot come back and change them. Either way, I've seen some very creative uses of generic locations before, so I am against doing away with them entirely (though I'm not against regulating generic locations to keep players from making boring little villages with a couple NPCs in them).

Yeah, generic locations are very useful. They are very flexible and you can use variables in them that you just can't use in a 2D map. I've used quite a few on my island, just not as villages

As for player islands, maybe someone could be appointed the job of switching over any islands with completely inactive IMs? Islands like Healer's would be next to impossible tho I think

A nice balance between generic locations and 2D maps spread over neab seems fine by me. I personally don't like walking around in overcrowded 2D maps, but that doesn't mean that they should not be allowed or modified.

And as to islands of inactive IM, indeed, there should be revision of the islands to see what to do with them. Keep them? Make them system islands? Is anyone able to upkeep the islands (like Ruby said: Healer's island won't be easy to keep up.)

Maybe it is time for a revisit/discussion on the different islands that are currently out there in Neab!

Sir Ruby Knight wrote

Yeah, generic locations are very useful. They are very flexible and you can use variables in them that you just can't use in a 2D map. I've used quite a few on my island, just not as villages

As for player islands, maybe someone could be appointed the job of switching over any islands with completely inactive IMs? Islands like Healer's would be next to impossible tho I think

I really like that idea, right now bugs won't get fixed on those inactive islands.

I remember that there were some positions for fixing bugs in islands with inactive IMs, but as far as I can recall, the people who used to fill those posts aren't as active anymore either. It might be time to look for replacements.

By the way, system islands need to be checked for bugs too. I remember experiencing some bugs in system islands whenever I visited, but hardly anybody ever replied when I sent in the reports.

For upkeep of nonactive islands, would that include making sure that all locations are available, or that some are appropriately changed to 2D locations? I know that there is a large, blocked off island in Shadow Archipelago. Not sure if Kenshin was mostly done with it, but it'd be nice to see it released if it is.

There does exist a role for bug fixing, it is called "Editor". DrAhcir, Astertom, PeregrinFig and Samberg have done the job before. I don't see (providing there is a willing person) why someone can't be assigned the role.
"Updating" (to what extent?) the work of others is another thing. Not sure it is such a great idea. To me bug fixing is fine, interfering with the way somebody chose to layout their island is another.

Agreed, updating old islands with inactive managers is not only a bad idea (in my opinion, and I even thought about mentioning not doing this in my previous post because I knew it would come up), but it would not be feasible anyways. Like Ruby mentioned, some islands (like Healer's) would be near impossible to update due to the complexity of them.

Might be kind of an unpopular idea, and might use some tweaking, but maybe some islands should be removed from the main map and treated as special areas? For example, I created 2 orphaned islands before my old account was deleted that are now system controlled but they are not on the main map and are only accessed via links to them that I created on my island.

My idea would be to add a historic books section to the Soupir Library with a book named after each of the islands. Therefore, all of the oddball orphaned islands would become interactive storybook histories of islands that used to exist in NEaB long ago. Then give someone the role of Island Historian to keep up these "books" and fix bugs. This would separate the role of Island Editor and restrict it to just those islands while allowing them to explore the more bug free and kept up islands without having the Editor Role to worry about.

The one flaw I can see with this idea is all the Inter-Island quests out there, that would complicate it a little

As an addition to this, maybe someone/someones could be given a role to edit many of the empty system islands? There are a few islands such as the monkey infested one and the barbarian one that spice up the world map but the big gaps between player islands are pretty monotonous. I think it would be cool if a IM with good map design skills could be assigned to create a few small villages/fishing towns/trading posts/pirates/hunters/etc. to liven up the world map. A position like that might even open up the possibility of adding quest NPCs for island managers who want to use the new villages as part of a quest.

2D villages are not all that time consuming to make and having more of them with varied merchants would spice up the world map quite a bit.

And would make sailing to places like Valeesh less annoying

I like the idea of making empty system islands more interesting, it would definitely liven things up. It doesn't have to be anything major, just the feeling of finding something new is usually enough to interest people.

As for the inactive islands, it'd be good to find one or two editors who will be able to upkeep any bugs. In general though, we can probably leave most of the islands as they are. Some are still interesting despite the fact that they are not being updated, and as their managers did spend a lot of time working on them I'd rather not remove them from the map. Does the editor position also cover system islands such as Tuffel Island? I know that there are some buggy quests that should be fixed/removed on some of them.

As far as I know, it does. But since noone owns it, noone cares to take the time to fix them

The Editor role only covers islands that have been manually marked as "inactive" by an Admin. The Editor (in addition to the owner) then receives bug reports in the same way as the island owner.

1. Another thing pro keeping up generic places is that the pickpocketing skill is currently linked to generic places.

2. As to the emply spaces between the different player islands, I agree they could be filled up with some towns/shops/little quests. It's an idea that is on my to do list. I sailed the whole of neab a few months ago to correct bad tiles on the system islands and back than it occured to me that lots of these island could be used for healing during sea journeys, or little quests, .... .

3. As to the player islands with Non Active IMs I'm still not sure on what to do. Some are certainly worth keeping, but for some I have the feeling they don't contribute too much and can be deleted. Second thought: I don't think it is easy (e.g. healer's island) to go found out how some IMs wrote their quests, used variables, ....