Ohhh, I forgot my other thought.
I think anything at spawn could work if we reintroduced ports to replace dockmasters. With the exception of a few direct town-to-town port connections (if they're nearby on the same coast, say, or not too distant allies, or part of the same nation state or faction), it would by and large force players to commute to spawn from one ship, then walk through the docks to another ship to get somewhere else.
At present, however, I could click on a Dockmaster to get directly from Havarda to Irrcrawn at the other end of the map, and potentially not see a boat at all, just the inside of a dockmaster's office near the coast. I'm also making a ridiculously fast journey without any visible sign of progress or pacing as would be achieved from a stop at spawn in the middle.
Ships also used to be a good signal for where new players want to go. If you had an Elven character and had never heard of Tauredal or Darkwood, NOW you might be tempted to guess (with limited Emeralds) that Darkwood sounds all forest-y and appropriate from the Dockmaster list.
Before, you'd be able to make an educated guess from the styles of the boats you were thinking of taking which one is actually the most appropriate for an Elf - probably not the high-walled and frostbitten Darkwood. Likewise, soldierly characters would be drawn to warships, northerner folk to longships. It provided the simple RP of asking "where does that ship go?", and encouraged discussion and deliberation on travel, not just wild guessing.
Most importantly, it made spawn a genuine crossroad for travellers, refugees new to Altera, traders, and all manner of people, OOC and IC.
...Something about two pennies' worth. Yes, that.
I think anything at spawn could work if we reintroduced ports to replace dockmasters. With the exception of a few direct town-to-town port connections (if they're nearby on the same coast, say, or not too distant allies, or part of the same nation state or faction), it would by and large force players to commute to spawn from one ship, then walk through the docks to another ship to get somewhere else.
At present, however, I could click on a Dockmaster to get directly from Havarda to Irrcrawn at the other end of the map, and potentially not see a boat at all, just the inside of a dockmaster's office near the coast. I'm also making a ridiculously fast journey without any visible sign of progress or pacing as would be achieved from a stop at spawn in the middle.
Ships also used to be a good signal for where new players want to go. If you had an Elven character and had never heard of Tauredal or Darkwood, NOW you might be tempted to guess (with limited Emeralds) that Darkwood sounds all forest-y and appropriate from the Dockmaster list.
Before, you'd be able to make an educated guess from the styles of the boats you were thinking of taking which one is actually the most appropriate for an Elf - probably not the high-walled and frostbitten Darkwood. Likewise, soldierly characters would be drawn to warships, northerner folk to longships. It provided the simple RP of asking "where does that ship go?", and encouraged discussion and deliberation on travel, not just wild guessing.
Most importantly, it made spawn a genuine crossroad for travellers, refugees new to Altera, traders, and all manner of people, OOC and IC.
...Something about two pennies' worth. Yes, that.
