Originally Posted by Madscientist
Ok, lets try to approach the thing from the other side.

Who are the people who want a stronghold and why do they want it?


Why do they want it is actually a pretty good question that I'd like an answer to as well. The point that Sawyer brings up is quite relevant as well: Is it worth gating content behind the stronghold? For me it's only worth it if it makes sense and isn't thrown in there just to have a stronghold. D:OS' Homestead wasn't worth it and neither was PoE (though they didn't create any meaningful content for it on purpose). The only stronghold that ever worked well is, like I said, in NWN2. It wasn't just handed to you, you worked for it throughout the story. Peasant -> City Guard/Thief -> Squire (to one of 2 knights) -> Captain of Crossroad Keep -> Knight of the Nine. It worked great and it had logical, constant progression. In PoE it was Nobody -> Lord of Caed Nua, in DoS 1 it was Source Investigators -> Magical Overlords at the End of Time. You can see where it all falls down. Really, I could spend hours trying to describe what made the SH in NWN2 work, but I think you all know why by this point. It was packed with content and it was logical.