Having some faction stuff is nice, but at the moment it seems odd that it’s the place I go to reduce terror. There just doesn’t seem to be enough there for me to do that, you know? No improving lodgings, dalliances with portside lovers, layered options… It’s just a place I dock because, mechanically, I have to.
And that seems a shame.
I’m sure there’s more content coming to it in the future but, for now, I’m curious - what would other people like to see in New Winchester (and the other hub ports, by extension)?
[color=#6666ff]Hi there,[/color]
[color=#6666ff]
[/color]
[color=#6666ff]Thanks for the feedback. There will be plenty of content to be added over our time in development, to the Reach and also to other Regions, so definitely watch this space. I’ll pass this feedback on however, as it’s definitely something for us to bear in mind with New Winchester.[/color]
[color=#6666ff]
[/color]
[color=#6666ff]Cheers, [/color]
Well in that case let me give you a little more detail.
New Winchester feels soulless because, currently, it is. You may (very minor spoilers) be able to affect the Winchester War, but other than that there are no stories or threads to follow and, perhaps most importantly, no relationships to develop. It’s a great little shopping hub, and turning in port reports is certainly useful, but they’re both purely mechanical actions - they don’t give the place any character.
Speaking of mechanical, the changes to reducing terror, I think, are a real pity. The chances that London gave you to carouse at the docks, relax in your manor or read the paper are gone. You just pull into port & you go from being a nervous wreck about to flip over into the next terror state to a model of serenity. I know terror works differently now, and I DO like aspects of the new terror system, but gaining conditions doesn’t (for me, at least) make up for the loss of portside interactions the terror economy drove. There was a gamble with Seas terror - is it worth sinking the money in to drop below that 50%, or do I set off and hope for the best? It was a small choice, but it was a choice.
There’s also the issue of time - without the idea of a free evening and a quick run-down of what happened on them, there’s no sense that any time has passed in New Winchester, which there actually is in other ports. When you wander Hybras or go mountain-climbing the passing of time is conveyed, even if only through a few snippets of text. New Winchester feels like a quick stop-off for the essentials and then I’m out again, which makes the rapid terror reduction even stranger.
Now, just to be absolutely clear, I really like the idea of having several hub ports that define an area, and that you can lose terror at and use as a base of operations to head out and explore the rest of a place. But they need people there you can interact with, trade with, build relationships with. I still have fond memories of the admiral, the one-eyed spymaster, the scholar with his (her?) teeth like a steel trap. Now you’ve got the opportunity to give us more of those, from different cultures, different perspectives - that’s what I was hoping for, and still am, but that’s what seems to be lacking the most at the moment. There are hints of it in other places - the eastenders/westenders choices, for example - but New Winchester just doesn’t stand out, and it kinda needs to for the mechanics to make sense.
Anyway, I know there’s a lot more to come - I’m eager to see it, too. Best of luck, and I hope this rambling helped a little in some way.