Beetle Racing...why not sell race creation packs?

If you follow WP, you'll see a race compilation video that has community created racing happening. If Anet opened the tools to the community to add races this would explode. Tie it to the guild decoration feature, or race vendors selling race checkpoint packs with 5 checkpoints for 5 gold and 10 for 10 or even gems. They'd sell. Add in the ability for people to put up gold as race prize money and you have a winner.

How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

Speaking of, the guild vendor should sell guild mount skins for commendations

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

I only mentioned the guild part because that is currently where the decoration mechanic is used. Personally, I'd like to see that tech expanded to the rest of the game, but how they do the racing tech now. Currently, if you're not signed up for a race you don't see the race markers. Spamming wouldn't be possible because races are opt-in only. They have the tech already in game for squad markers that are only visible to members of the squad. These are currently being used by the racing scene as seen in WP's video.

I agree that you couldn't allow actual assets like decorations to be placed in the open world for obvious troll feeding reasons. But the race checkpoints, stamina boosts, and start and finish lines? Yup...open those up to the community to use for a gold cost and you have what you need for a Tyrian underground racing circuit.

Personally, I would prefer the devs work on content for a larger percentage of the player base than something niche like this.

@"kharmin.7683" said:Personally, I would prefer the devs work on content for a larger percentage of the player base than something niche like this.

But racing is available to everyone, even if they don't choose to use it. Thats a weak argument given the context, and the level of stagnation in the mechanics its going to be tied to. This is conceptually the same value structure of PvP arenas, in that its only a net positive for those actively seeking it out, but a net negative if placed in the open world due to the interference of a secondary rule set forced into the world space.

Secondly, Roller Beetle races were insanely popular on release, and still fairly popular now as an opportunity event. But its still niche. See,b y your logic, you could make the argument that anything with less participation then Istan to be a "niche" activity because of % of player base. Ergo, they should put resources into making Istan a bigger event, because more players are there, and more will show up. Theoretically if they made raids more accessible, a larger % players would go there, thus deserves more resources. Considering they've been pushing raids hard since its inception, that would be the way to go. See the problem here yet?

Logically this would work best as a guild feature, but there is a big concern over what world space to use for it. Guildhalls are actually too small to hold a proper race, and the HOT ones in particular would need a huge amount of Track to make up for the vertical design they follow. It would need an instanced map dedicated to it; which comes with its own set of problems.

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

So the assets I was talking about in the open world are the way of accessing the race. The activity marker where you do a timed trial. You need a way to access the race in the first place. How do you propose setting that up, is the question?

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

That's what I meant by selling race creation packs either for in game gold or if they want, gems. Imagine going to an NPC (one of the current race NPCs would make sense) and you would have an additional option to buy a race pack item that would allow you to place down a race start finish and checkpoints in between. Currently I can buy or craft items that allow me to put down a temporary in-world item that other players can interact with. Examples of these are Boxes of Fun, Karma Banners, Food Feast, etc. I would suggest adding another temporary race sign-up bot that players could interact with and signup for the race attached to the start and finish lines. These function exactly like the current race signup NPCs, except that players can set them up.

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

People already abuse these items when they can. Can you imagine what they could do with something that worked like that and was just purchasable with gold?

Also, how long would it last? Is it Permanent? Can it be edited after being placed? Does it display on the Map?

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

These items are not abused, they are used. The items do exactly what ArenaNet wanted them to do, and I have never heard anyone on the forums complain about being trolled by Boxes of fun, although people on the forums complain a lot. I honestly can't see what you seem to fear would happen.

So to answer your question: No I could not imagine "what they could do" with a race track kit other than to make a race track for people to have fun with. And the race tracks that exist already are only visible to those people who participate. There is no reason a playermade racetrack would behave any different.

Do you guys not have guild halls?

Speaking of guild halls, theres already tje capability to make races in them tho more specialised decorations would be cool (tho i thought this was provided from the race vendors).

They could use the same template as guild puzzles; the same maps even. Just place a vendor on the map who provides access to an instance of a guild puzzle only with a racetrack instead of the puzzle mechanics. You 'sign up' to the race as usual and you're placed in the instance.

@zealex.9410 said:Do you guys not have guild halls?

Speaking of guild halls, theres already tje capability to make races in them tho more specialised decorations would be cool (tho i thought this was provided from the race vendors).

Guild halls are no where near big enough.

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

As said, by others, abuse is no more a danger than boxes of fun and other items that already are in the game. Minimal at best. Duration would be just like what current interactable items are...they aren't permanent. Again...we already have a model in the game for how this would work.

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

Yes, and Arenanet had to specifically put in code to change priorities to account for people abusing Boxes of Fun, and Banners, and anything else that is interactable with an F. Because of course people abuse them. It's very hard to troll people in this game, but if it's possible people will do so. The first question should always be, how is someone going to use this to ruin someone else's day, not how much fun will be if everyone uses it as intended.

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:

@MokahTGS.7850 said:

@Kal Spiro.9745 said:How would it work, though? Like, would it be accessible to anyone? Would it be a Guild thing and so only guild members could see it/access it? Could it be put anywhere, or just in the Guild Hall? If it's available to anyone and able to be put anywhere, who is it accessed. Is it an asset in the would? How do you prevent spamming it so everywhere you go is just a million tracks? People writing out rude things with track markers because money is easy to access and they have the time.

I know I have my own ideas for how this could be implemented, but it is probably more complicated than it's worth to actually make possible by ANet

Really? The first question asked by a game dev is "how will this ruin someone else's day?" Pretty sure that should be A question asked in the development cycle, and at no time did I suggest otherwise. But first? How about "is it fun?" or "Would this work?" or even "WWTD*?"

As you pointed out, Anet has already addressed a totally separate problem of box trolling by adding code.

*What would Taimi Do

Taimi would make a Dragon killing weapon and push it forward without having any kind of realistic grasp on the consequences, then pull back just as it's being implemented because she finally did her due diligence.

This is a great idea but i see one problem. Your going to have that 1 person making a track the resembles a large penis and just ruin it for everyone.

@Magnus Godrik.5841 said:This is a great idea but i see one problem. Your going to have that 1 person making a track the resembles a large kitten and just ruin it for everyone.

Also not an issue as the outline of a race isn't visible to the public with current races. If that were an issue, people would be doing it now with the current tech in game that tracks your foot prints on the minimap.

Maps are build around a certain performance so that people can comfortably play in them.

The same reason Guild Halls have a cap.

Letting players add such elements to the open world maps will never be a thing.

If I thought it would do any good at all to complain about a toy it would be the aviator thing which I loathe with an undying passion but all that would do is spark more trolls to use it.

I do have sweet sweet sweet dreams where the dev who invented the aviator box tried to play the game and each and every time he went to interact with something there would be one of the toys there.

As for a racetrack I've seen some really impressive ones in guild halls...and you can get non Guildies in. I'd like some powerups though!

Same question for Keg Brawl - why it's only accessible from Lion's Arch, and only on specific days? Why not to place a similar NPC in each racial capital, all sending you to the same pool of players? Why not allow to summon an NPC like that literally anywhere, for a limited amount of time (gem-store item), and also sell some kind of an item for regular cash (gold) which would allow access to your private Keg Brawl field (basically, a temporal instance with a limited access) for your party members, so you could organize Keg Brawl games with your friends and guildies?