Do We REALLY Need Building Interiors? (a real question)

I'm bringing this up as part of the minimum in "minimum viable product".

Pros: Looks good, immersion, rp, enjoyability.

Cons: Extra art, design, collision mechanics, etc.

Seeing the interior of a blacksmith or training facility rendered in front of you in real time doesn't affect the functionality of the building. You could just as easily disappear from the exterior and see an interface panel (at weeks less development time game-wide, I'm assuming) to get your business done. Going inside a building might make you safe from player attack that way, but we'll only be in NPC settlements at that point anyway and to me that seems a small concern weighed against BEING ABLE TO PLAY.

If they asked, I'd prefer they give me most of the game to finally get started in, temporarily lacking interiors, and add immersion resources later in EE.

No, and they likely wont be in game (except taverns) for a VERY long time.

I think they could leave it out.

Even inns - could just have an interface showing the faces of the patrons, the innkeeper/staff if they are PCs, the entertainers. Click on a face to open a private chat, /t to speak to everybody.

The interior of the inn is needed mostly to allow bar fights, I'd guess.

b-b-but where will we /sit?

In front of your screen :)

ewwwww

The real questions is can we /sit and /spin at the same time?

Considering how many buildings we've already seen in-game, they've probably done enough of the interiors to make this a mute point by now anyways. That being said, I think it would be too "weird" to not have ANY interiors anywhere, ever.

If you're going to have interiors in the newbie starter cities, then you have interiors already.

Considering how many buildings we've already seen in-game, they've probably done enough of the interiors to make this a mute point by now anyways. That being said, I think it would be too "weird" to not have ANY interiors anywhere, ever.

If you're going to have interiors in the newbie starter cities, then you have interiors already.

The only interiors we have seen so far are for Taverns, and I think that will be the exception to the rule of no interiors throughout EE. The environment demo did have a dungeon interior, and we know those wont be in game for a very very long time.

I for one would much rather the art team spend their resources on making more races than on building interiors that will just make you take 30 seconds longer to access a training, market, or crafting interface.

Taverns are about the only building I see that should have an interior to start us out. That and potentially defensive structures, depending on if any defensive bonuses could be had from using arrow slits or standing among crenelated walls. I would really love to see interiors for ALL structures, eventually, not being able to go into buildings in most MMOs is a pet peeve of mine, but if it comes down to timing I would rather see the rest of the core class roles be fleshed out before worrying too much about structures. We may be able to skip doing interiors for some ambient decorative structures for a much longer time or never at all. I would also think to start at high end interiors. Not because they will be most common, but because having them should entail a better sense of accomplishment. And the larger buildings take more space. The mind accepts big buildings standing in the way better if you can see the inside to understand why they are so big. Having a grandiose temple should feel awesome. But having a hut with an altar can come later.

My ranking would go as such...

EE Class Roles
EE Races
Tavern Interiors
Core Class Roles
Core Races
High-Level Facility Interiors (Markets, Temples, Town Halls, Craft Halls)
APG Class Roles
Uncommon Races (Goblin, Kobold, Catfolk, etc...)
Mid-Level Facility Interiors
... Various other features here that I would think about when we have the above ...
Low-Level Facility Interiors
Basic Emote Animations (Yes, still on my list even if we'll never get to them)

Shroud of the Avatar has building/room interiors using Unity. It shouldn't be much of a stretch, but I wouldn't insist on them much before OE.

I would like to see most buildings have an interior at some point. At most there will be a score of standard building templates. If most of the interiors are fairly basic with minimum embellishment it shouldn't be too hard to crank them out some point down the road. Certain buildings could survive without ever having an interior.For example npc housing. However a market that you cannot enter would be pretty lame. Imagine confronting a crowd of semi afk PCs all standing around the perimeter of a building as they conduct business.

I think the highest-value interiors (social spaces, taverns, and inns) are worth the opportunity cost to have at EE, but that most other buildings aren't. I'd rather have the time spend making the PvE ruins and dungeons more interesting and varied than making the settlement more immersive.

As an Eve player I would have to say interiors if done badly are worse than no interiors. I am sure anyone how has looked at the door in the Captains quarters will agree with me....

Though I would point out that Eve does allow you to sit on the sofa :)

I would to see the game as a new early Ultima Online game when it comes to the interior. But if it would mean a much longer development time I would hope to see it completed after launch.

Also I think Interior objects would be a great form for microtransaction for GW, sort of like browsing for new styles, furniture in the Sims but paying a price to unlock it. This way the greedy and poor people can still enjoy others people interior works in the cities while not having to pay for it and ensure more profits to GW for future content. Win-win-win no?

Well, we paid 5000$ for a tavern that we will be able to get custom decorations for so I would expect to see it's interior made visible. I think most building interiors should probably be instanced for the sake of client side performance inside towns.

As interiors are built doors that can't be used should become usable. I agree most buildings should not come with interiors at first. Taverns absolutely should have them before OE though.

Is PFO intended to be a role playing game, or a fantasy based first person shooter with an "economy"?

If the first is the case then yes, there should at some point be interiors and there should be some level of customization available for them.

If the latter is the case then outside of any mechanical advantages they give for cover, concealment, etc. interiors would be irrelevant.

Is PFO intended to be a role playing game, or a fantasy based first person shooter with an "economy"?

If the first is the case then yes, there should at some point be interiors and there should be some level of customization available for them.

If the latter is the case then outside of any mechanical advantages they give for cover, concealment, etc. interiors would be irrelevant.

Considering that they are going this extra mile to implement Reputation and Alignment and actually give them some meaning (what that meaning is can be debated elsewhere), then I'm pretty sure it's the former. That's not to say the latter won't be there, but the former is most certainly present when you also consider the players forming nations and settlements and the focus to make meaningful player interaction.

While everyone may not be running around speaking in butchered Olde English there will certainly be roleplay.