Talk:Post Office

Post Office
What is the intent for the Post Office? It seems as though the Postal Hub + Receipt interaction can easily be integrated into the Courier Contract item with no loss of gameplay or emergence. DaenGaming (talk) 21:08, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

Post office isn't a "thing";  it's simply a term used to describe a claim that players have set up with multiple postal hubs, with the intention of provide a wide-reaching postal service. no where in the game would you ever see teh term "post office" outside of player chat, s it's an abstract (but encouraged by design) concept. PopeUrban (talk) 19:55, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

Could we make it a thing? If I want to send some stuff how do I find out where the nearest PO is? How about putting Post Office icons on the map for claims that "qualify"? Onshuu 20:01, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

Mailboxes (local only) and Postal hubs (Local and target region) have that information, and must necessarily be inside a claim. If you want to send some stuff from Spine to Abyss you don't just want "post office". You want "Postal Hub - Abyss - Public" even if that hub is the only one in someone's claim. The map should include these filters as part of the same systems that all other items use to search for crafting tabels, claims with certain tag keywords, etc. There's no reason to have a specialty flag for it PopeUrban (talk) 20:12, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

Basically, I have trouble seeing the reason for Post Offices to exist rather than having all item travel done through the Mailboxes and Couriers. I know the goal is for Postal Hubs to allow players to create specialized claims to facilitate travel as a form of emergent gameplay, but from my perspective it would just add complexity and not depth. Personally, I feel as though it makes more sense to make the Courier system function just like crafting, in that different tiers of Courier Boards and Mailboxes can reach different distances (local, regional, server-wide, global, etc.)  I like the *idea* behind Postal Hubs and having players create their own post offices, but for something as critical as trading I feel as though it would be complex enough to actually deter players from interacting with the systems. DaenGaming (talk) 20:26, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

This "Courier board" IS the Postal Hub. The Mailbox is also a "Courier board" The concept of reaching different distances would make sense, if landmark was a game contrained by distance. The problem is that it is not. Every island is exactly the same distance rom every other island. This means that if we want to create a strata of ranges we necessarily need to limit the concept of "distance" by "number of targets"

Also, where did this idea of a separate 'courier board" even come from? It's entirely absent in the thread for the reason I listed above: it's simply an interface element of mail structures.

The idea is that everyone should have a mailbox, as they don't cost any upkeep, and that mailboxes provide a very basic level local functionality. I highly encourage checking the thread and bringing yourself up to date on the concepts there as the logic behind postal hubs is clearly explained. It's an invenstment sink that is designed specifically to prevent every player from having perfect mail functionality, which in turn creates courier hubs. PopeUrban (talk) 20:36, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

Right so, first off. When the game is in its intended state, there will be different distances as the game will be constrained by distance. There will be no 'islands', it will be one procedurally generated world as stated by SOE. Because of this, it *does* make sense to organize interactions by distance.

Why is the functionality of the 'Courier Board' included in two separate props (Mailboxes and Postal Hubs) rather than being its own discrete concept?

Again, what I'm confused with is the necessity of having Postal Hubs when the world will be massive and procedurally generated. Actually, I'm not even sure how the currently discussed implementation of Postal Hubs can *function* in a procedurally generated world. Having two props, a Mailbox and a Courier Board, would allow for a very easy-to-understand progression through crafting tiers while retaining identical functionality to setting up a Post Office. The Mailboxes would be used as the Origin and the Destination for the Sealed Package, the Courier Boards would allow players to access the Courier Contract listings. As tiers rise, the distance the props can access also rises.

Why is allowing players to have perfect mail functionality a problem? This system is effectively the entire basis for trading and allowing players to sell items long distances. Why should players be reliant on someone near them having a Post Office or needing to create an entire Courier Hub/Post Office themself for a system that is basically just as important and integrated as the Market? DaenGaming (talk) 20:49, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

Am I missing something? Removing the Courier Board as a redundant object seems reasonable as long as we're not losing some added functionality that encourages emergent player action...

Landmark includes character movement, we are not omnipresent nor is our inventory, distance is always a factor even in the current Island configuraion.

Players that are temporarily without a claim, or have decided not to have a claim can have items delivered to a Postal Hub of their choice.

Postal Hubs are player made. Mailboxes are player made. Both have access to Courier Contract listings and the ability to create Courier Contracts. This is a sandbox, let the players build it- the procedurally generated world has nothing to do with the Courier system.

I'm not sure what is implied by the term "perfect mail functionality"...

Answer to most other concerns: This is a sandbox game, let the players build it. Onshuu 21:23, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

If items can be delivered to Postal Hubs, what is the point of Mailboxes? If both have access to Courier Contract listings and the ability to create Courier Contracts, what defines them as being necessary discrete props?

Perfect mail functionality, I assume, refers to the ability of players to fully participate in the system. DaenGaming (talk) 21:24, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

A Postal Hub is public, a Mailbox is private to those given permissions to use it by a claim owner. I think there was an idea of Postal Hubs being able to create Courier Contracts for specific regions that are not local. Onshuu 21:33, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

From a gameplay standpoint, what does that accomplish? If a Mailbox's core functionality is that it allows any player with a Courier Contract to access it, it makes the prop function exactly as the system intends. Random players can't take your Sealed Package and you're able to give your Courier Contract to anyone you wish. It would be relatively simple to add permissions onto that core functionality so that you can allow someone or a group of people to access the Sealed Package without a Courier Contract. One prop for private use and a separate prop for public use seems inefficient if it's possible to combine them into a single entity. DaenGaming (talk) 21:36, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

I disagree, there should be a Postal Hub prop that is public and designed specifically for players who want to create Post Offices as a node of trade, and a separate Mailbox prop that is for the players who just want to send and receive mail and items for themself and maybe another player that they've given access to. These are 2 very distinct and clearly understood differences. Also, Mailboxes can only create local Courier Contracts, Postal Hubs can create Courier Contracts to anywhere within their range.

Because Postal Hubs have additional range based on their tier (conjecture) they will require upkeep of their own, not everyone will want to set up Postal Hubs, I think this encourages emergent gameplay(read: community building).Onshuu 21:46, March 9, 2014 (UTC)

What's the end goal for creating a Post Office/node of trade? Are multiple Postal Hubs needed for a Post Office? What interaction patterns do you want to see as far as where/how Postal Hubs are placed and interacted with? How easy should it be to allow players to trade globally and use the Couriers to facilitate that trade? DaenGaming (talk) 22:12, March 9, 2014 (UTC)