Can we get some type of Sign ?

[Jesdyr]

I would LOVE to be able to craft some type of welcome sign in my home. Something that you could type a msg into that people could read when using examine. Maybe give it some type of "broadcast" like a MOTD when people zone into your house ? Rightnow there is no way to communicate with buyers visiting your house (unless you stand there all day). would it also be possible to remove people's names from the "visit" list who do not have their house open to the public ?

[dartie]

<p>I'd love to see something like this.  I suspect the programming could present some challenges, but I would like to be able to do it with all sorts of wall hangings.  </p><p>You could put a sort of caption under an HQ item on the wall saying, "Calthine and Cryptic Firefly helped me through this quest and have my gratitude" or "I died six times before I figured out I should focus on the boss and not his pet!"  Or even just a date and the level/class of the quester: "Competed July 12, 2006 by my L42 Warden."  </p><p>Anything that would let us add textual messages to our homes would be quite cool.</p>

[Jesdyr]

hmm .. didnt think of people using that many of them ... Maybe this would be better as a quest reward if the overhead is too high having many of them in one house ?

[Valdaglerion]

<p>The Sims Online has had these objects for years now, so the programming isnt all that much of a challenge. They are limited to about 100 characters of text though I think. They come in several forms. 2 would be nice, one freestanding one and one wall hanging.</p><p>Wow - imagine this a sign that tells you where the sales crates are in the bigger houses?? Or OMG - "I am looking for the following items. Please contact me to sell or trade!</p><p>The possibilities are endless. Again, depends on the traffic you generate how useful they actually are.</p>

[Off]

LOL A scrolling marquee would be fabulous!! Bah....I know that's not possible, but hey the thought was there <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Seriously though, the welcome mat/message idea is a good one in my opinion.  (Might put our easels to good use /nod).

[Valdaglerion]

Yep, here's your sign~

[Aurumn]

<p>It'd be nice if those bulletin boards would be useful to visitors, wouldn't it? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p> I think this would be an awesome idea. A little easel or poster of some kind to post a welcome, request for goods, or some sort of promotion would be awesome. It would add to roleplay for the vendors. Heck, you could even post the hours you're available to make commissioned items! I have no clue how difficult it would be to implement, but my little carpenter would be ready and willing to crank those puppies out. <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Rijacki]

1st - I -loved- the customisation effects in SWG, not only the ability to name my crafted items, but also the round-about way to make signs (naming armor plates *chuckle*) and I loved the "call out" merchant NPCs when they weren't over used. The problems with signs (especially in EQ2).... 1. Each tool-tip (scroll over to get the display) does take space in the database.  Each required database query causes lag.  One of the ways lag was reduced, recently, in many areas was by reducing the number of things that required a database search for a tool-tip or the number of times those tool-tips would be sought. 2. The prevalence of those people who abuse dynamic naming or signage is sadly immense.  Think of all the times you've seen a mildly to immensely abusive, offensive, or simply "immersion breaking" name on a character or some kind of pet.  That would be compounded in a sign.  It was an issue in SWG and I saw way too many.. umm.. extremely inappropriate signs, more than extremely inappropriate names, or even names of pets.

[Valdaglerion]

Yes, I agree the captions and mouseovers hould not be included. A clickable sign would be good though.

[Jesdyr]

I dont know how they should handle the thing on the backend .. I dont know what systems they have inplace. I dont know if they have any type of "zone" MOTD that could be used or not. I just wanted to throw the idea out there .. maybe get some type of support and see if Domino can get it in the game in some forum. Honestly I dont care what it is like as long as it lets the house owner leave some type of MSG for people visiting. It should be something easy to spot that crys out "look at me!" People can get very offensive in the many chat channels. This is no different and I dont think the "someone will put something offensive" thing is a good reason to leave it out.

[Looker1010]

<p>Zone in, particularly in large houses, takes quite some time now. You're suggesting something that will increase the lag? Thanks but no thanks. I don't need public self aggrandizing announcements and most who enter a house to buy something without the broker commission are not there to socialize. </p><p> I honestly don't see an upside to or need for this idea. Just my 2c.</p>

[dartie]

<cite>Looker1010 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Zone in, particularly in large houses, takes quite some time now. You're suggesting something that will increase the lag? Thanks but no thanks. I don't need public self aggrandizing announcements and most who enter a house to buy something without the broker commission are not there to socialize. </p><p> I honestly don't see an upside to or need for this idea. Just my 2c.</p></blockquote><p>I couldn't agree more.  I keep my front room completely empty of everything but sales displays and refuse to acquire pets because I want customers to be able to zone in and out as quickly as possible.  </p><p>However, if the proposed signs would only slow people down when they actually float their cursors over the signs, then I think they could be a lot of fun.</p>

[Jesdyr]

<cite>Looker1010 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Zone in, particularly in large houses, takes quite some time now. You're suggesting something that will increase the lag? Thanks but no thanks. I don't need public self aggrandizing announcements and most who enter a house to buy something without the broker commission are not there to socialize. </p><p> I honestly don't see an upside to or need for this idea. Just my 2c.</p></blockquote> The two big things that effect load time is unloading the pervious zone's data and loading the new zone's artwork. Pets add a huge amount to the load time of a house. The upside to this is for crafters who want to advertise their wares better than just the broker.  I could have a little sign saying I have a lvl XX crafter for custom orders send a mail to _____ ... so on. It is not a game changing thing, it is mainly just fluff. Still it could be usefull fluff.