Improve Parsinia
Parsinia seems designed for introducing new players to the building side of crafting. Four of the six building school trainers are there, as well as both gathering trainers. It is the only settlement with an NPC vault. Three of the five raw materials needed for building are right near the settlement.
If you look at Parsinia on either server, it is not succeeding. Only a couple of the 16 biped plots are owned on either server. The same is true of all the other settlements on Lesser Aradoth, with the exception of Nuthala (which is *right* next to four resources, the best first tier crafting location in the game).
The game would retain more players if they could get their own plots and build earlier in the game. Parsinia would be a good place to start them off, but clearly isn't.
1. The price of the smallest plots needs to be achievable for characters in their late teens/twenties. When the characters get richer, they will move to larger plots. At the current price structure, people are maximizing their space, and ignoring smaller plots. Pricing the smallest plots at a couple hundred silver seems about right to me.
2. Roads around Parsinia need to be improved, and lead more directly to the resources. A road connecting the essence and hides is nice, but the new one on Blight leaves in the wrong direction. It should run down into the little valley towards Parsinia, and join the road that runs to the one Parsinia plot perched high above the town. Instead, it runs towards and through the newly level 18 golems.
Other roads should run more directly to the building resources *not* found near Parsinia, flax and cedar.
3. Some spawns of flax and cedar should be put in nearer to Parsinia. The small forest area separating Parsinia and North Parsinia seems like a good place for one or the other.
Parsinia is the first settlement most new players see, and it's a desert. Making it more convenient for starting out in the building trades would engage more new players, and a more vibrant Parsinia would better show off one of the unique qualities of Istaria.
