I'd have to say that Newport strikes me as the main city. Even with this new system of portals, I think it will stay that way. I agree that everybody gathers there, but that's because it's got everything you need. It's got just about every guild except for the evil ones, who will most likely go KOS in Newport anyway. It has vendors for every tradeskill as well as forges, ovens etc. So as far as buying and selling and tradeskills go, there's no better place.
Next, its easy to move around in. Sure Underhill may have guilds and tradeskill vendors, but who's going to want to go there except for gnomes? All of the big races get stuck trying to move around there, so that's a big turn off. Newport has nice high doorways and streets. Every race is welcome and every race and freely move without worrying about getting stuck. It's also easy to navigate. It's not spread out like Sadri Malath or full or ramps and stairs like Underhill. And it's easy to get to. Even without the TLs, you get on a boat and eventually it'll take you to right to South Newport and the bank. What other starting city has a boat that goes right to its door? It's also friendly to everyone. Some races might need a little faction to start selling, but it will sell to you.
And it's got the rewards. It's, as far as I know, the only city with a multi-part quest like Rings I-V. Getting Ring V is a nice incentive to hunt around Newport. Then it's got the Port Neck. Other than Grobb, it's the only starting city with one, but I doubt many people would have, if its even possible, both.
So that's my 2cc. Newport makes a great central city, even if it wasn't intended that way. I personally think having a centralized area helps the economy and gameplay. People are a lot more social. I actually started grouping with someone because we kept running into each other at the Newport forge. While Blackburrow can get crowded at times, my groups at that level never had a problem deciding to leave and go to Warrens or somewhere else.
Everyone gathering in one place also makes things more rewarding for adventurers. Groups who do decide to hop off the bandwagon and go to unpopular zones get privacy and often, I've noticed, a better bonus. They also get the advantage of rare drops that are even rarer because people simple aren't hunting there.
And personally, I don't see the allure of leaving your starting town early. I choose different races because I like to experience the new areas. I also think, from an RP point of view, it doesn't make sense to immediatly start out on your own and leave your home.
Now granted this is all coming too late since the portals are already in place, but here's my suggestions.
I like the earlier mentioned idea of an exp penalty for leaving your newbie zone. Or instead reward vs punishment. Instead of making it harder to leave your starting zone, make it better to stay there. Little incentives like, cheaper stuff. Since it's your starting city, they obviously like you more than another city would, so they would give you better prices. As long as you're in your starting city, say to level 12, you can buy cheaper and sell things for more profit than you would in another city. People would stay longer for faster money gain.
Maybe a starting city free soul debt remover. As long are you're under oh, level 8 and in your starting city, they'll remove 75% of your debt for free.
Or implement PVP up to level 10ish or something. You could get a marker from your guild leader as soon as you start out that marks you as safe. For example, Mark of the Bogs. As long as you're in Stinger's Bog, Greenmist, or Mielech, you're ok. But once you leave those zones, you're flagged as PVP until level 10. If you don't have the mark for your starting area, you'll be PVP there as well. Unless you love PVP, you'll want to stay safe and in your zones.
Of course, none of that would stop people from leaving there zones, some still would. But even with portals people aren't going to stay put. And again, I know the portals are already in place and I doubt the translocators are coming back, but these are just my thoughts on the subject. And if people do still gather in Newport and BB even with portals, maybe you can implement some of these.
I just think that if people are going to gather in Newport anyway and wouldn't leave when it was easy to. It's pointless to make it harder to leave. It also hurts the groups who want to leave the overcrowded areas. Say you have a great group going in Blackburrow, but 2 of the members have to leave in an hour. As usual, it's crowded so you decide to go to Meil A. Do all of your members even have the right runestones to get there? If not then it isn't even worth it. Even if they do have the right runes, do you want to waste 15-20 minutes traveling when you only have an hour left? Fuck that, you'd just stay in BB. With the translocators you never had to worry about not having the right item to even get somewhere. You could just lend a group member 2pp if they needed and get to where you were going.
Again, I don't think it should be a punishment (ie made harder) to travel away from your starting zone - which is also hard on the mid-high levels who can't port or cast SoW and haven't been able to get a port neck yet. This hurts the monks and warriors and rogues who can't even gate back to where they started from - There should be a reward to stay there.
Next, its easy to move around in. Sure Underhill may have guilds and tradeskill vendors, but who's going to want to go there except for gnomes? All of the big races get stuck trying to move around there, so that's a big turn off. Newport has nice high doorways and streets. Every race is welcome and every race and freely move without worrying about getting stuck. It's also easy to navigate. It's not spread out like Sadri Malath or full or ramps and stairs like Underhill. And it's easy to get to. Even without the TLs, you get on a boat and eventually it'll take you to right to South Newport and the bank. What other starting city has a boat that goes right to its door? It's also friendly to everyone. Some races might need a little faction to start selling, but it will sell to you.
And it's got the rewards. It's, as far as I know, the only city with a multi-part quest like Rings I-V. Getting Ring V is a nice incentive to hunt around Newport. Then it's got the Port Neck. Other than Grobb, it's the only starting city with one, but I doubt many people would have, if its even possible, both.
So that's my 2cc. Newport makes a great central city, even if it wasn't intended that way. I personally think having a centralized area helps the economy and gameplay. People are a lot more social. I actually started grouping with someone because we kept running into each other at the Newport forge. While Blackburrow can get crowded at times, my groups at that level never had a problem deciding to leave and go to Warrens or somewhere else.
Everyone gathering in one place also makes things more rewarding for adventurers. Groups who do decide to hop off the bandwagon and go to unpopular zones get privacy and often, I've noticed, a better bonus. They also get the advantage of rare drops that are even rarer because people simple aren't hunting there.
And personally, I don't see the allure of leaving your starting town early. I choose different races because I like to experience the new areas. I also think, from an RP point of view, it doesn't make sense to immediatly start out on your own and leave your home.
Now granted this is all coming too late since the portals are already in place, but here's my suggestions.
I like the earlier mentioned idea of an exp penalty for leaving your newbie zone. Or instead reward vs punishment. Instead of making it harder to leave your starting zone, make it better to stay there. Little incentives like, cheaper stuff. Since it's your starting city, they obviously like you more than another city would, so they would give you better prices. As long as you're in your starting city, say to level 12, you can buy cheaper and sell things for more profit than you would in another city. People would stay longer for faster money gain.
Maybe a starting city free soul debt remover. As long are you're under oh, level 8 and in your starting city, they'll remove 75% of your debt for free.
Or implement PVP up to level 10ish or something. You could get a marker from your guild leader as soon as you start out that marks you as safe. For example, Mark of the Bogs. As long as you're in Stinger's Bog, Greenmist, or Mielech, you're ok. But once you leave those zones, you're flagged as PVP until level 10. If you don't have the mark for your starting area, you'll be PVP there as well. Unless you love PVP, you'll want to stay safe and in your zones.
Of course, none of that would stop people from leaving there zones, some still would. But even with portals people aren't going to stay put. And again, I know the portals are already in place and I doubt the translocators are coming back, but these are just my thoughts on the subject. And if people do still gather in Newport and BB even with portals, maybe you can implement some of these.
I just think that if people are going to gather in Newport anyway and wouldn't leave when it was easy to. It's pointless to make it harder to leave. It also hurts the groups who want to leave the overcrowded areas. Say you have a great group going in Blackburrow, but 2 of the members have to leave in an hour. As usual, it's crowded so you decide to go to Meil A. Do all of your members even have the right runestones to get there? If not then it isn't even worth it. Even if they do have the right runes, do you want to waste 15-20 minutes traveling when you only have an hour left? Fuck that, you'd just stay in BB. With the translocators you never had to worry about not having the right item to even get somewhere. You could just lend a group member 2pp if they needed and get to where you were going.
Again, I don't think it should be a punishment (ie made harder) to travel away from your starting zone - which is also hard on the mid-high levels who can't port or cast SoW and haven't been able to get a port neck yet. This hurts the monks and warriors and rogues who can't even gate back to where they started from - There should be a reward to stay there.
