Suggestion: Darvo's Bar

[DuWryght]

I was milling over the idea for a good while. There is something about seeing a lot of people in a room that makes a game more alive for me. It's one thing to be in a clan where everyone is busy doing their own thing. It's another thing to have a lobby-hangout spot that anyone can drop in, pop a few health packs and shoot the breeze.

 

I'm talking about having instanced lobbies that anyone can join goof around or pre-mission plan. These lobbies can have a cap of idk 32 or something people. It would function as much as the chat and clan systems we have know, however, instead of having a million an one people see your recruitment message for X void mission, it can have it's own separate tab just for those in the bar. The bars can be some something of a deployment lobby as well for each planet where, upon entering a planet or leaving a mission, you have an option to enter the Bar and see those that are also interested in the local missions. It would be a cool way to visually see potential groupmates along with making the world seem more alive-you get to see more faces and bodies versus obscure names.

 

If anyone has played Phantasy Star Online, you will know what I'm talking about. These lobbies can have these non-casual based options:

 

1. Recruit teammates (aka invite system as we already have)

2. Recruit Clan

3. View start chart (which is probably akin to how the personal ship will go, but this would be a miniature pop up [at best] or the full-blown screen version we currently have).

4. Access the Market

5. Have visual monitors that display current Infested Outbreaks and invasions.

6. Some other things I haven't thought of or don't know yet.

 

It can also have some casual options.

1. Jukebox

2. Pvp (Conclave) area for anyone in the lobby to join or watch.

3. (Mini)Parkcore are(n)a.

4. Punching Bag Grineer Target

5. Happy Zephyr arcade game.

6. Areas to sit and join space with random people.

7. Option to show/view your/other players stats/achievements

8. Plenty of other things I couldn't think of alone (RP purposes included).

 

Some other unique things we could consider would be:

1. A friendly Grineer npc

2. A friendly corpus npc.

3. A chance to show off dev concepts and current projects in a contained environment (including art).

4. Visual dev/game moderator opportunities (think of devstream in the bar full of players.)

5. Lotus....

 

This is something that can pass a little. or even a lot of time. Most of the games that I have fond memories playing were made as fun when I wanted to log in on the downtime and didn't simply stare at a chat log. Warframe is so busy and so anti-casual activities I end of playing it like a business. I have my laundry list of things to do. Once it's complete, I leave. I'm not sure if the devs thought of this, but I feel Warframe is in a good enough place to start uniting players beyond missions and events. This is, for the most part, a single player game with teammates. Clans do not offer a sense of 'live-togetherness' because of the nature of the game. 4 player max deployment in missions as well as pvp. I think this could really make things more alive.

 

I have an idea of a concept, though I cannot graphically concept and concept graphically on a computer very well. I might post something of the sort later. I want to relate it to some of the concept art we have already mixed with the appeal of the Star Wars saloons.

 

What do you all think?

Edited June 25, 2014 by DuWryght

[DuWryght]

(reserved)

[DaftMeat]

[Archistopheles]

It's a "good" idea, but planet hubs are already in the works, they just don't include darvo.

[Zareek]

I'd upvote anything related to Darvo

[Llyssa]

It's a "good" idea, but planet hubs are already in the works, they just don't include darvo.

There is no conclusive proof they do NOT include Darvo!

 

However, I'd note that, based on how it's discussed, it generally seems like hubs are a complete flop from a technical standpoint. They're interested in it, but it's completely outside the scope of what they're working on now, and they've actually decided to release stuff they'd worked on for it as little bits and pieces here and there.

 

So, they wanted to do it, but the engine is going to require quite a rewrite to pull it off.