Talk:Courier/@comment-96.238.184.38-20140308214231/@comment-24658963-20140308223953

By the way, what is your name on the EQNL forums (if you're one of the posters on the thread this wiki is based on) so that I roughly know who it is I'm speaking with? "If a player has accepted a Courier Contract and already picked up the item, the Courier has the item within the Sealed Package, we don't want Customers griefing Couriers by picking up a package when the Courier is already making the effort to deliver it. If you were a Courier you would not appreciate traveling a huge distance to find out just before arriving, that your journey was meaningless because the Customer just picked up the item you're supposedly carrying."

I agree, though on the flip side what if the buyer realizes that it would just be faster/easier to get the item themself? As a buyer I wouldn't want to be locked in to the Courier system, as that can create some negative interactions. This would be exacerbated if the actual name of the Courier is available to said buyer, because it would turn into a 'hurry up' sort of scenario. There's a pretty delicate balance between allowing Couriers to do their thing and not locking buyers into the system if they change their mind or need the item faster.

"The Marketplace is a separate topic, Please feel free to create a new page within this wiki to discuss and flesh out the core concepts."

It's related heavily. The way the Marketplace works directly reflects the overall workings of the Courier System. If the Marketplace is through UI and based on a player crafted station, it would be a distinct disconnect for the Courier System to then be based on something completely different since the systems are heavily interconnected.

"Most of these questions are answered in the page above- The Courier Board Prop presents a UI that lists all contracts that have not been accepted including the details of each contract, Couriers accept contracts through this UI. The Courier Board and Postal Hub props are player-crafted, yes. Postal Hubs are where Sealed Packages are placed by Customers that want them delivered. Postal Hubs present a UI where the Customer creates the Courier Contract and Sealed Packages simultaneously."

Allow me to elucidate. My questions here are not necessarily asking for answers, they are to figure out the core identity of the system. What is the goal of Postal Hubs/Post Offices if Mailboxes already essentially accomplish the same task in a much more simple fashion? It seems unnecessarily complex to require players to go through a third party rather than just moving from Origin to Destination.

"Again, explained above- The mechanics are based on the core ruleset of the server. It is different for casual PvP than for hardcore PvP . Hardcore PvP is the only ruleset where the item could potentially be lost. In PvE and casual PvP there is no chance that the Customer's valuable goods will be lost, only delayed. The Sealed Package is only returned to the Postal Hub if there is a Failed Delivery(see above description)."

We have no clue how PvP will function in the fully developed game. What if PvP is possible across every server and it's enabled on a person-person basis? What if it's limited to unclaimed/claimed areas? What if certain regions follow PvP rulesets and others don't? It seems inconsistent to have a Sealed Package on certain rulesets and the actual items on another. Either way, personally I feel that PvP is so completely up in the air that it's not even necessarily worth me discussing, so I'll move on from there.

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Basically, it seems as though there are a lot of conflicting viewpoints on what this system's actual identity is. There are some suggestions that seem to make it more integrated into the game and some that would prefer this system to be completely unique and standalone. The ideas surrounding delivery and pickup are relatively disconnected as well. There are a lot of mechanics that seem to be unnecessarily complex for no real benefit depending on what sort of system this is supposed to be.

The most important question to ask when discussing this concept is thus: Is this system meant to be integrated into the daily experience or something that specifically has its own style of play that isn't necessarily connected to the rest of the game? If the first, the system needs to be simple and accessible by everyone. If the second, it's fine if it is overly complex but it needs to have very distinct benefits and specific gameplay surrounding it. Currently I see a hodgepodge of both options, and it results in an overall weaker system.