http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...uilds-(part-1) - Part 1 (contains context)

So this is it! The second half, the final post. For this, I wish particular focus to be paid to King's Cross, Spire's Trail & Spire's Gate, Heart & Lower Heart, Dalimond Ridge Gate, Morathaven, and Duskhold as these contain some of my favourite ideas.

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Drakul- Ar'akis, Chirdelak, Nu'delak, Incignat, Sylrak, Myrkijira, Pyrakis, Liakis, Faldesuk, Ignatar, Aklet, Soklifak
Chiconis -Aurken
Char- Usak
Trandalar- Cre'delak, Tiaerakis
Drakul/Chic/Char/Trandalar refers to the vague area in which these communities lie.

Now there's a reason I take all of these together: they all suffer the EXACT same problem:
There's no outgoing portal nor incoming pad remotely near to most of these places. That's all they need, all they need is portals & pads. Even if some of these have resources close...without a pad or portal no one's going to use the resource fields some lie close to nor buy the lairs.

Usak perhaps suffers less from this, with only some lairs being quite a flight away from the dralk portal.
Trandalar dragon communities do suffer from another thing: there's nothing in northern trandalar. No monsters, no resources. Add some resources (non-biped ones) and monsters somewhere in the massive gaps between communties so people have a few reasons aside aesthetic to buy property here.

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Spire's Trail – Plots are faaar too small (35x50 and 50x45), lair is an unusual size at 120x72x240 which also happens to be a small and restrictive size with x72, granted it's not the worst of lair sizes. My suggestion would be to get rid of it completely – the plots, the outpost itself is optional but I can say i've never needed to use that port ever. Whatever Spire's Trail provides, Spire's Gate does it better, so this suggestion goes hand it hand with the next section.

Spire's Gate – This is THE best spawn for Kenaf, yet I have never seen an owner for this plot in 5 years...So this one is one I hope the most of all is improved. Firstly, 42x70 plot – make it at least 50x70, 60x70 if it's possible. Next, add an outgoing portal. The nearest one is Dalimond which is a very long run out. Finally if possible at all, add more resources around it, and with that give a use for the Tebolli Leaves that come from the Small Tebolli Plant which is gathered near here. Also the 96x96x216 is a useless, very restrictive size.

Heart & Lower Heart – Taken together as they're almost in the same place and have the same issues. Everything this settlement does, Central Valley does better. Small plots and the only resources around Central Valley captures better. With that in mind – remove plots in both communities. Put Lower Heart's lair in the community of Pleasant Canyon instead, and for Heart's lair either leave it as the sole property in Heart, or add it to Cauldron's Edge/Central Valley's community instead. In the space Lower Heart's plots would be, instead add new enemies- in fact there's a burnt down house, chest, and enemy “Restless Spirit” lv31-34 ish on the path down to Lower Heart with...no relevance to anything, the story behind this house is never told- and so a new quest or a few could be added here with new content in Lower Heart instead of a community.

King's Cross – there's a reason to get plots around here- animal hides/meat, fish, however small plots + better availability of these resources elsewhere makes this community undesirable, especially as it takes two portals to reach King's Cross if you aren't bound to a shrine in bristugo (in which case it takes one portal). So my suggestion would be...get rid of this community completely, give Guard Alis a little tent or something so it looks more homely, and in/around said tent place two machines – Cooking Table & Oven and a Tanning Rack, allowing for processing of local resources, or if you really wanna add some pizazz create a new community machine structure “Foragers Shack” that consistents only of these 2 machines to allow for storage. OR get rid of all 3 currently existing plots, and have only one decent sized plot in there (100x50~ ish) and then add additional resources around King's Cross, or better quality resources (“rich nodes”), so it's wanted as a crafting area. (my personal preference lies in the former idea of removing plots and adding world machines.)

Dalimond Ridge Gate – Plot is small, lairs are nice size and nice location but lack of an incoming portal pad or outgoing portal gate here and pratciyally no resources and little to no reason to go here mean this community has been forgotten completely. Currently, all property here is, in my opinion, irrelevent and not needed. However, expand or remove the plot, keep the lairs, add a portal pad and gate and some resources and this may be useful. Without added resources however it is useless- and so instead, a better suggestion in my eyes- remove the community of Dalimond Ridge Gate completely, add some monsters to it, and instead add a portal and pad to the community of Vagrant's Rest, as yes, DRG has a lot of resources near it, however they're all closer to Vagrant's Rest than they are DRG. Vagrant's Rest/Respite both lack portal pads and outgoing portals, and while on chaos I see a bought lair in one of them I do not see bought plots on either- I think the two Vagrant's communities are a gold mine of potential, unused because of the lack of portals and pads (and small plots), a resource rich area (which to take us back to DRG – adding resources to DRG would make an already resource rich area richer, but all the richness is near Vagrant's and not DRG.)

Sable Shore – Small plots around 50x50 ish are pretty bad, in an area of low interest since elm is better harvested elsewhere and a world machine for it already exists. Either merge all 3 plots here in one long one (110x60 at minimum, imo), or get rid of the plots completely, with the second of those being my preferred suggestion.

South March – Small plots, resources which it is close to, the community of Slate Crest is closer to (which could honestly be given a similar boost as what i'll suggest)- Mostly, can do with larger plots. 70X70 at smallest, 80x80 and similar area plots would be great, and allow it tp contend with other portal convenient places (Mia's Edge for example is owned because of pretty area + good size plots + portal and pad. Resources aren't very close yet it has a reasonable amount of it owned. South March is similar in that it's got a portal + pad, pretty area...but small plots. If you want a plot at South March you might as well go to Mia's Edge for bigger as it serves the same purpose...so make South March bigger too.) (UPDATE: some of this has already been taken on board, thanks Amon )


North Mahagra – The plots are 40x65, which is tiny and pretty useless especially for a city, they should be expanded or merged into each other. 72x72x240 lair is incredibly thin & useless and cannot fit some structures in it at all, this too needs expanding.

Frost Boulder – Average sized plots (60x60-ish), no resources remotely close to the area, amenities (vault, pawnie) already in Kirasanct. No need to get a plot here, especially with larger available elsewhere. Either: enlargen plot(s) to at least 80x80, even if it means sacrificing some plots- and as Guaran said in part 1, if this is done be very careful to not make the land look awful- because while yes I see room for expansion, I see that if all 3 plots were expanded this would just look awful due to flat. I suggest- 1 plot, 80x80 or larger, in the centre of the space between the 3 currently existing plots, then jazz up the space around it with rocks & uneven terrain to look natural. The lairs here are, in my eyes, fine.

Blizzard's Reach – 60x60 plots are of under-average size, proximity to Mahagra and Snowfall is nice enough, but although it has resources near it (aquamarine) and a world machine, these gems are better harvested elsewhere. To make it a possibly desirable community, increase aquamarine node amounts, add a few rich nodes + add the other two types of t3 gems very close with rich nodes amongst them. However I feel this won't help much – this is a resource of low demand, people are willing to take non-rich nodes for it since it's rarely required in bulk. Instead, I would suggest to rid of the community of Blizzard's Reach entirely, and place monster spawns in it's place – or well, anything that isn't plots, maybe even space for something related to future new quests (hinthint it's a t3 area .

Morathaven – 96x96x216 lair is useless as a size. There are two 80x80 plots here, fantastic size, a portal pad and portal gate too which is great...buut...it's a pretty long run from the pad up to the plots. You have to run all the way AROUND the mountain-bit, a shortcut straight up would make this more appealing. Additionally, I'll be honest I had nooo idea this community even had plots in it until I went there to make this post. I think it would be appealing if simply, more people knew this community existed – sure, it's on portal lists, but people breeze over Morathaven, or in fact any place they do not need to go (a...cognitive blind – we don't percieve what we aren't looking for) – so make people visit Morathaven in a quest, put an npc there even if one only needs to talk to them. Then people visit Morathaven, become aware of it, see lairs, see that it is in fact a community.


Shelter Pass – No incoming pad, no outgoing portal, it takes a looong time to run there. Plots are 50x50 range, which is tiny. No resources or anything close of interest. I personally think this community is completely useless but to improve it – merge the plots to have two decent sized 100x50-ish plots, add a portal pad and outgoing portal, then add some resources of interest in the local area, like cobalt maybe (and if resources are added, have rich nodes). Alternatively remove the plots, shrine, fountain and such, even out the terrain and add monsters/npc camp/quest content here, which is my preferred solution here.

North Selen (also called Selen Shore) & Forest Guard – Put together as same issues. 75X75 plots ain;t bad, but like in the South March section, with no resources near by, other communties are better. The lairs are fine though. These need bigger plots- 80x80 at least (perhaps merge some together) and probably more so than that- resources in the area. There's virtually no resources around Selen, North Selen and Forest Guard for them to be wanted for communties for resources. Suffers from something I'll speak about at the end*.

Sanctuary Bay – Good for resources, however needs an outgoing portal in it, as well as larger plots – my suggestion here is specifically, move path/sand pile further south so the 80x40 can be expanded into an 80x70 (or larger) in the space made clear, removed the 50x40 and 70x30 completely and then merge the two 60x60s into one plot (around 130x60 in size) leaving two large plots.

Duskhold – No pad in no portal out, the plots aren't even average sized and Heather already has all the close resources covered with it's own plots. Imo, get rid of Duskhold completely – no plots, no lairs, no community. Instead, fill it and all of the vacant, barren land between Duskhold and Aubador with..something. New content, it's a t3 place afterall ( ). Could even make it some sort of outpost for t3 questlines? Idk.

Granite Hills – It's pretty, it's near valuable confectioner resources, and cotton...the only reason I haven't personally considered this place to buy a plot in is because no outgoing portal (which would be lovely to have added <3) and because most plots are too small. Granted, there's an 85x85 here unowned that is a glorious plot, however lack of outgoing portal is mainly what makes it's undesirable more so than plot size I think. This one suffers a lot from something I'll point out at the end again.*


Bridgehold – Situated on Scorpion Island, this one has only average sized plots which could be bigger, lairs are good though. This one's unnappealing as all the resources around it are better gotten elsewhere. Again, i'll touch on this ones issues at the end.*

Scorpion's Claw – Another Scorpion Isle. A fair few good sized plots here, no expansion needed there. Resources could be placed closer to this community if anything, but generally decent. Main issue explained at end.*

Slate Hills – Scorpion Isle. Small plots could do with being bigger – merge some. Has a pad/gate which makes it nice, however it's main resource – slate – is in my experience one of the worst slate fields in all of istaria, with a massive area/range slate nodes spawn on and I suspect a linked field or something making slate sparse in the nearby area. For that reason it's also not attractive as a place to hold a plot for local resources. So could improve the slate field – make it more compact, put more nodes in it, and put rich nodes in it, as well...and also move the slate field closer to the settlement. But once more, issues at end.*

Elmnic – Scorpion Isle. Under average sized plots that are 60x60 at best, need to be bigger. The closeness to resources isn't attractive in this case either because elm spawns better elsewhere- though if large trees were added (rich node equiavlent) then this may be mitigated. But mostly suffers from what i'll explain last.*


Lower Sslanis, Parsinia East, Cedar's Cove, Upper Bridgeview, North Parsinia – All of these suffer from exactly the same issues. Small plots – most of these locations have plots in the 40x40 and 50x50 range or smaller, which need to be larger. This is simple enough for places like Lower Sslanis and Cedar's Cove, which are largely flat to begin with and just need a few plots to be merged together, but this may prove troublesome for places like Upper Bridgeview. And speaking of Upper Bridgeview – and Lower Bridgeview for that matter – these two communties imo don't need to exist. There's no close outgoing portal gate, it's a bit of a run into Upper Bridgeview, the plots are tiny, there's no resources nearby, I frankly don't see a single thing attractive about either Bridgeview community.

Troy, Ember, Lightview, Poole, Jasper, Crescent – All in one because similar issues. Most of these places have good size plots and a close incoming pad. But most of these could do with a close outgoing portal, and they are hard hit by the below issue.* Possibly, Jasper, Troy, and Poole could be removed and replaced with resources instead.


*So one common issue is low playerbase, this being imo the issue that leaves half of Scorpion Island (and more) abandoned. Because of this, communities which don't have the largest plots are left in the dust – because there's room in 80x80 communites for more plot owners. I do not think these communities which suffer highly from this should be removed, but maybe a few plots (but only a few) could be taken from them to reduce the lonliness. Unfortunately, nothing can really be done about increasing the player base directly here, that's a complicated matter for a whole nother thread.