WARNING: HUGE BLOCKS OF TEXT AHEAD. Skip down to my comment for a TL;DR summary of this part. This idea is in a few parts:
HOMECOMING PART I: Social Changes
HOMECOMING PART II: Shuttle
HOMECOMING PART III: Ready Room Renovation
HOMECOMING PART IV: Guild Lab
HOMECOMING PART V: Guild Stash
So, I have a bunch of ideas for Guild Halls lately, and I remember an event a while back that was called the "Homecoming Celebration" and it celebrated the major Guild Hall change. See release notes 2012-11-14 for details. We've not had one of these in a while and I'd like to see it again - and I'd like for it to always be Guild or at least social related, so players can expect playerbase-focused updates around the time of a Homecoming Celebration.
It's sorta close to that time of year, so I feel like posting these now. Ignoring the fact that this sort of thing can take ages to code. Hey, at least I'm posting earlier than the time it used to happen! >,..,> Anyway....
I'll be submitting these ideas in Parts over the next several days/weeks as I have time. Some of them will not be liked, I'm pretty sure. Many of them incorporate suggestions made by others before, some of them many times, with my own twist on the idea(s).
Obviously I don't want ALL of them in one Homecoming event, that would be too overwhelming. Just something, you know?
Focus of this part is on:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social Changes.
Obligatory yet unnecessary commemorative prize box will be mentioned at the bottom. I simply have to. Yes.
Most of these have been suggested in some way before.
------I------
Players can choose (in their character panel next to private options) whether or not they wish to receive guild membership invites. No more annoying mail!
A message will show up for the sender:
"Guild invite sent to PLAYER NAME. Pending response...Accepted or Rejected."
"Guild invite could not be sent to PLAYER NAME because PLAYER NAME does not currently desire Guild Invites."
------II------
Players can choose (in their chracter panel next to private options) whether or not they wish to receive party invites from:
Randoms, Friends, Guildies (check yes/no for each one).
A message will show up for the sender:
"Party invite sent to PLAYER NAME. Pending response...Accepted or Rejected."
"Party invite could not be sent to PLAYER NAME because PLAYER NAME does not currently desire Party Invites."
------III------
Players can choose (in their character panel next to private options) whether or not they wish to receive trade requests.
Randoms, Friends, Guildies (check yes/no for each one)
A message will show up for the sender:
"Trade Request sent to PLAYER NAME. Pending response...Accepted or Rejected."
"Trade request could not be sent to PLAYER NAME because PLAYER NAME does not currently desire a trade."
------IV------
Players can choose (in their character panel next to private options) whether or not they wish to receive friend requests.
A message will show up for the sender:
"Friend request sent to PLAYER NAME. Pending response...Accepted or Rejected."
"Friend request could not be sent to PLAYER NAME because PLAYER NAME does not currently desire any friend requests."
------V------
Invisible log-in option. Some days, you love playing with your friends and guild, other days, you just want to be alone. Not everyone wants to maintain an alt. Players can log-in invisibly (perma) 2x a day. They will not show up on friend or guild lists as online. Steam will have to be managed by individuals separately. Players will be completely invisible in haven and not be able to join random squads. They can interact with the auction house and craft. They can invite privately. They cannot speak in any form of chat except whispering (PMing) or shouting. None of these terminate invisibility mode, except shouting. Invisibility terminates if you shout in haven, (or anywhere), or log out and back in. The "PLAYER NAME has logged on" message will appear to everyone relevant. Invisibility mode is limited to encourage being social in general, but available for those times when you "just want to be alone or reclusive."
This mode is called Chromalisk mode to be cute, since you can talk to players and receive pms IF you have spoken to them - you're not totally cut off. You always have the option to log in invisibly mostly permanently, but after 2x, the invisibility only lasts 10 minutes. A message will appear for you:
"Chromalisk mode inactivated." in orange text. Invisibility mode can only be started from the log-in screen.
Ideal for: "just feeding my battle sprite" or "just wanting to be alone" or "just checking an auction."
Fangel has suggested other private options in comment #2.
------VI------
Choose to show your name/prestige badge/otherstuff above your head or not: This will be moved to the same menu as the others mentioned above.
I don't even want you to know my name! RAWR! Other players can still select your body to ignore you, and they'll get your name that way. But if you're doing something to get ignored, you're probably not behaving like a ninja now are you?
------VII------
The only way to leave a guild is by opening up the Options menu and selecting the guild tab. In the middle of this screen is a big red button that says "LEAVE GUILD." pressing it will bring up an "ARE YOU SURE?" message. I've had guildies - several times - say that they almost left the guild because of its proximity to that stupid menu. What a hassle.
------VIII------
Guild PvP "representation." More on this in Part V of my Homecoming Idea Set.
------General Note------
Alternatively, the privacy options could show up in the same option menus as controls/audio/video etc. instead of in your character panel. Depends on how gross it looks, how easy it is to use, etc.
-----Boxes------
I've put together a potential prize box commemorating invisibility mode:
Personal Character aspects: animations that play when you leave an area or enter it (loading or logging)
Players can choose to mute and/or totally ignore these effects, as they can obviously be used to make a ruckus in haven and some ppl don't like that.
Then again, you could just hide in your guild hall ;P
Default (as it is now, silent except for when the character takes out their weapons with that swapping noise)
Colossal: leaves a crater, like Neo launching in that one matrix scene, or a superhero punching the ground.
Explosive: yeah do I need to describe this? fake your death haha.
Smoke: a bunch of ninja smoke bombs.
Mystic: wizardly magical fog and star sparkles.
Royal: trumpets announce your presence and leaving. Fiendish really. And possibly super bloody annoying.
You can mix and match these, like come in explosive but leave smokey.
Some of you might remember my other ideas that are similar -Downed! and Return! animations as usables. and More Body Mods: Walking, Idle, and Idle Random <3.
Costumes/Acc:
Clear Camo. Yes that's right. You'll have a clear shape like a chromalisk of whatever costume it is.
Accessories attached will appear to float on you, unless they're invisible too.
Standard recolors. Want wings that seem like heated air? Well here ya go.
I'd just walk around with glow eyes. Because why not. Or with a body and a camo head to freak people out. Or just a floating head. Lots of fun.
Ghostmane Stalker cap and body (hey, we have gremlin suits, so we know we can has this too). Comes with a scarf!
New craftable weapon (not in the box): that sawblade that the ghostmane stalkers use. OCH at Vise? Or recipe bought from Vise and used at a normal machine? Thoughts? (This has been suggested somewhere before a few times).
Confetti: smoke bomb effects.
Furniture: Docile wandering chromalisk. He'll get uncloaked if you walk close enough to him! Don't worry, he's shy but friendly. Comes in T1/2/3 versions, as well as status varieties. Kleptolisk too! So that's abouuuuut... 16 different kinds?
Ghostmane Stalker statue. Oooooh scary, it's about to throw that sawblade! The statue is cloaked until someone walks close enough to it. They'll get a "!" above their heads and then the stalker will appear. But it won't move.
Extra rare: Grinchlin Stalker statue. A sign of things to come? I'd love to see this in more than one box, could easily be in a decoration kit.
------To readers------
Please avoid saying things like "OOO will never do this" etc. I want user opinions about the game/feedback for this. +/- 1 based on how you think it will be for the players. Please post ideas about cost/time parameters and so on!
EDIT: broke thread up further. Context of comments in thread might be confusing. Added links to top.
TL;DR:
No more annoying mail from Guild Invites or Friend Requests. No more annoying noises from Trade Requests or Party Invites. Unless you want them.
Invisibility mode for short log-ins to "just feed your sprite" or lone wolves.
Commemorative prize box to go with Invisibility Mode with ninja stuff and stupid stuff.
Yes, these are long, huge ideas. I've been working on them for about 10-20 minutes for the past month or so, because yes, I do have a life (barely). Happy Halloween!
For more ideas by my friends and me, check out my idea list thread.
EDIT: Broke thread up into different threads, so check the top of the original post for threads that seem related to comments that seem out-of-context.