Settlement Portal Gems
| Note: This article is for Unreleased Content. |
In the Across the Vast Divide Letter to the Players Follow-Up, Turbine announced the following plans:
Settlement Portals
For some time, the Settlement Portal Hubs have been found outside almost all of the towns and cities of Dereth. These Hubs provided fast transportation all across Dereth, but many players have complained that... well, they just look ugly.
In April, we are planning to introduce the first phase of a two-phase process to remove the Settlement Portals. The first phase is the creation of portal summoning gems for all of the Settlements that are currently linked to the Hubs. Each Settlement will have a vendor who will sell that Settlement's gem.
The second phase, currently planned for May, is the removal of the Settlement Portal Hubs entirely.
The goal of these changes is to remove the ugliness of the Hubs, as well as encourage exploration and travel through Dereth's wilderness. If there are several Settlements that you visit regularly, you have the opportunity to purchase gems for these Settlements in the month of April, before the Hubs are removed. If you wish to visit your friend's home, you can ask you friend to purchase that Settlement's gem for you. We would not be surprised to see gems for particularly popular Settlement destinations being traded in the Marketplace!
The following month, in the A New Threat Letter to the Players, Turbine followed up:
Settlement Portals
After discussing several proposed changes, we have decided not to make any change to the Settlement Portals in May. We will still consider changes for the future, but will ask for your feedback before any implementation.
Development on this concept was mostly completed. WCIDs 26059-26451 are portal gems for each housing settlement (e.g. Adams' Beach Portal Gem), and WCIDs 26694-27086 are vendors that sell the gems (e.g. Adams' Beach Merchant).