I would love something like this. The lack of an ability to provide direct feedback is part (not all, but definitely part) of what has prevented me from ever listing my strongholds publicly. The ability to interact would make a huge difference.

Maybe a deco of a "visitor's terminal" (or even a built-in terminal like the intro scene one) that functions almost exactly like the mailbox deco, but in this case that can only send messages, and that pre-populates the name of the stronghold owner as the person you are sending it to. (I know this could theoretically be achieved if someone took the time to go to a mailbox and compose a mail normally, but a lot of people have weird characters in their name that we may not know how to recreate otherwise.)

I mean, if you're going to do something like this, there's so much you could do, to compensate for the lack of interactivity in the way people share strongholds. For example:

Say you create a stronghold gifts vendor (and place them next to every public listing board in the game). Perhaps the only "gift" this vendor even sells would be a special stronghold token/currency that comes in the form of a lockbox which has to be opened to access the currency, but with the caveat that the person who purchased it can't open it. (I realize there's currently no other item in the game that functions this way, so this is probably a totally farfetched suggestion, but what the heck, doesn't hurt to brainstorm. *Also see my edit at the bottom of the post as to why this restriction might not even be needed.) So when you want to send a gift to the owner of a stronghold you're visiting, you can send them a little lockbox of however much currency you could afford and that you feel their stronghold merits. Make the smallest lockbox very modestly priced (100 credits for something like 1 currency) so that people don't feel blocked from sending a gift because of money. (And yes there is probably a way to make this not sellable on the GTN, because currently the Planetary Display decos that drop out of Alliance Crates are an example of an item that is not BOP but that has something in its coding which prohibits it from being listed on the GTN. Some other super rare decos that drop out of Operations are the same.)

Now, on the other side you get the stronghold owner receiving your message with a currency lockbox gift attached. They can then open that, and collect the currency. The currency can then be used to buy the rest of the gift vendor's inventory, which could include special stronghold labels, or legacy titles, or flairs, or silliness like a special colored sparkle powder. (I'd suggest special decos even, but since this might run the risk of becoming a popularity contest I don't know that it's fair for something as coveted as unique decos to be locked behind that.) Or even slap in all the crafting utility decos in there to be purchasable with this currency, since those are cheap and non-prestigious decos that are nevertheless frequently used. (After all, there've been times when I just want one freakin' blue diaphanous crystal deco and it just happens no one's gotten one out of their Conquest rewards in ages so there's none on the GTN, so even something this modest would be useful for spending special currency on.)

I know that being able to send and receive something like this would totally get me to list my strongholds and to regularly tour other people's. Sounds like it would be fun!

And it would all be made even that much better if we could get another utility deco that has been frequently asked for: an info plaque deco (like the ones on the in-game planet of Manaan that you hover the cursor over for a text pop-up) that could have its text updated by the stronghold owner, so that we could place it to explain what the concept of a stronghold or given room is supposed to be.

Of course, these ideas are probably total pipe dreams... but what's this forum for if not throwing things at the wall of crazy and hoping some of it will stick someday?

Edited to add: On second thought, you know what, who cares if the person who bought it can also open it? If someone really wants to just buy their own way into the stuff the stronghold gift vendor could sell, there's really no harm. Being able to give the currency as gifts would still have a use because some people might not be able to afford to buy a high-cost item for themselves but they could be steadily accumulating the currency via visitors and that gives them another route to stuff (or to the indulgence of buying duplicate stuff). So you know what, go ahead and put unique decos on this vendor! Everyone wins.

I think it would be cool to give automatic gifts to any visitors, people who tour other people's guild/stronghold.

This is a nice idea too.

I like the general idea of a donations box. I think it would also pair nicely with a Guest Book to allow players the option of leaving their feedback. Of course, the Stronghold owner would have the ability to delete any unwanted comments.

A Guest Book is a cool idea. It would also be awesome if we could leave visitor messages similar to the guild message that pops up when you log on. This one could pop up when you're visiting someone else place, if they choose to enable it. I think it should be applied to both guild and not guild strongholds.

A Guest Book is a cool idea. It would also be awesome if we could leave visitor messages similar to the guild message that pops up when you log on. This one could pop up when you're visiting someone else place, if they choose to enable it. I think it should be applied to both guild and not guild strongholds.

I also had an idea that visitors could leave a number which would add onto the stronghold's score. It could be a way of raising the decorated strongholds over the ones that are nothing but chairs and trophies...

I also had an idea that visitors could leave a number which would add onto the stronghold's score. It could be a way of raising the decorated strongholds over the ones that are nothing but chairs and trophies...

A simple like button that toggles on or off would suffice. Then we should be given the ability to filter the strongholds by prestige or number of likes.

A simple like button that toggles on or off would suffice. Then we should be given the ability to filter the strongholds by prestige or number of likes.

That would be simpler and would do the same thing. I was just hoping to find a way to have the strongholds appear by merit rather than cramming full with chairs and junk.

Love it!

I'd prefer to have a fourth type of storage -- Cargo Bay, Legacy Storage, Guild Bank... then add the Treasury, Vault, Storehouse... whatever you want to call it. Just an open box where people can pick up and drop off whatever they like.

Hey, we could hide them in strongholds and do something like Geocaching...

Love it!

 

I'd prefer to have a fourth type of storage -- Cargo Bay, Legacy Storage, Guild Bank... then add the Treasury, Vault, Storehouse... whatever you want to call it. Just an open box where people can pick up and drop off whatever they like.

 

Hey, we could hide them in strongholds and do something like Geocaching...

I would love to have a 4th storage system, for cosmetic purposes. I want to put one storage system in each corner of the Flagship room where players spawn.

I'd totally run wild dropping various grey items at peoples houses and run off snickering like a dirty little vandal throwing trash everywhere! Signed.

You know what they say “one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure!” Ha ha ha! I would just be trilled to know someone visited my stronghold.