I myself would love to take place in a spawn renovation competition. Spawn right now is pretty horrid, it needs a lot of work. I have not seen a spawn on ECC that was actually welcoming...

 

I want the central area back that has all the portals and SG right next to each other. That was so convenient. There is way too much travelling now to get to places you want.

 

I agree, this spawn is so annoying.

 

I like the spawn area that is set down into the ground. It is more clear now with the signs they have there. We need a sign directing people to the player Market though.

Also, having all the useful stuff centralized and quirky less useful things on the outer areas makes more sense to me.

 

I just got to take a look at spawn for the first time today.

Personally, I do think there is WAAAAAY too much room for some things. If I have time to, I'll post screenshots of some really unnecessarily spacey objects.

However, just to put this out there. Spawn is a fairly large area, and towns are directly behind it, so if it does get smaller, what about the extra space by the towns?

 

Tutorial---> Waaaaay over there

 

I wasn't crazy about he old spawn, but I adapted. I agree with the general sentiment, and I am not crazy about the new spawn design overall, however there are some good points, and things to consider...

Toons appear to spawn at coords 0,0 . This is good.

Portals are more noticeable than before, and have a symbolic design above them to indicated what they are.
- That being said, I think the giant "O" shape is a little over kill.
- The aether's cloud "icon", doesn't really look like a cloud... more like a ufo...
- The portals are really spaced out... I have fly, so this is easier.. but if I mean to go to the market, and I see blue and instead head for town portals.... I'm weirded out...
- On the point of towns, that needs an icon, maybe something like a stargate?
- tutorial could have a school bus icon, or a graduation cap...
- I get the mining world icon is a mining pick... but maybe throw in an ore cube, as when I look at the icon, a quick glance confuses it with the pvp icon, and then I have to use brain...
- In the past, I really liked how a nether portal was in a structure reminiscent of the nether, or how a mining portal was in a mining like structure. I think the portals should not only have icons, they should be in structures (smaller than the old ones) that quickly evoke the environment they lead to, at first glance.

The 4 roads are clear and unobstructed unlike before. This is good. I would recommend putting a "N" "S" "E" "W" on the ground both before the exiting gates, and around the center.

I do feel the overall design though is, like thrown together. It doesn't exactly evoke "organized" or regal, or anything like -- though 1 quick trip to any of the surrounding towns remedies that sentiment. I haven't really visited other servers before. But in one that I visited when ECC was down, the spawn structure was a dome building, that just was grande, classy, organized, and seemed to say "I am awesome, I am powerful." I think there should be some kind of central, detailed structure that says that. I do think since the name of the server says city, this and structures close to the center, should be like city structures, so long as it doesn't confuse new-comers, or look disorienting, droning, like rl NYC... The spawn block and wool/clay shops are decent examples. I see there is a building with an H on the roof.. I thought this was a hospital, but I see inside that there are rooms for item claims or something -- hard to explain but you know what im talking about... A court house would look good in place of that. Unique places like, an area of fountains, or an dinner, would be good asthetic locations that users can quickly say, "hey [friend] lets meet at the dinner at spawn!", or "Let's all get together for a group pic at the fountain park!" I would throw out the idea of some kind of water feature, like a small lake park, that would look nice, and give the feel of a city.

Don't reinvent the wheel design wise. Other MMO designers like those of WoW have spent a lot of time designing 'cities' that efficiently and effectively give players what they need central locations for.

I do feel portals should be closer together. The main functions of spawn is transportation and sg games. Spread out portals defeats a key part of this purpose. That would leave a lot of open space... Decorative structures of varying themes (modern, medieval, pixelart, nature) could surround the center to act as inspiration.

SG games are ok, I don't really play them though... Some other game types would be cool to add... I don't really have much suggestion at this time for that.

I do want to say a few words about the existing tutorial zone. I didn't use it when I first arrived because I just felt it was hard to read pixelatted signs with a few words on it. The wiki, and users, helped me. Some things just can't be explained with signs nicely. I would be willing to do a series of videos to cover introduction material to the server. I am a video editor after-all... I just need to figure out how to record the screen... and write a script/outline up.