Brand new player! Why I *almost* left the game.

First off, I love the Ultima word, and I do dump money into other "Free 2 Play" games... there is one, warframe, I dumped about $1k into because I liked the community and the developers were awesome especially when I learned they stopped selling skins for money when they learned a kid bought ton of them (I'll admit, I am temperamental... when it took over a month to get a critical uncraftable gear item back due to a bug, I've pretty much vowed to stop sending them money)... and yes, I've but some money into this game already...

What did I like about the other game that I dumped $1k into? Everything, with the exception of a few cosmetic items, could be earned by playing the game. Even when items became unvaulted for a short time, it was still possible for players to obtain these items during the unvaulted period. What paying money into the game did was give you the items right away without having to spend hours grinding to get them. Now, some cosmetic items on the other hand, you had to pay for as part of a pack. Some other cosmetic items were purchasable as tradeable game currency purchased with real money, others you would earn the one-time recipes for by working for them in the game.

Now this game...

What really annoyed me though is these lot deeds. There is no way to get a lot without SOMEBODY paying real world money for. You get a free POT lot, which can't be used in NPC towns, yet POTs only exist when someone dropts around $1k or more. Many of these POTs require that you ask the governor for permission to settle there, yet it can be hard to find these governors. Some players offer rooms to rent in inns, but, again, you have to locate them in-game to get a room. Granted, as a new player, I didn't know a mail system existed, but still (I just discovered this yesterday).

So here I was, a new player, with a deed, which, as far as I could tell, was pretty much useless because I couldn't use it to get a lot in any NPC town. There were inns, and I thought maybe I could just rent a room at an NPC inn or something, which also wasn't the case. I was very annoyed, and I almost quit right then and there. I found NPC towns with open lots, and I really didn't like the feeling I was being forced to pay money to get a home to live in. I was very pissed.

Discovering the Outlander Welcome Center was the only reason I kept playing. I could plop down a row home without asking permission first.

Also, I really think there should be some athletic standards for NPC town housing... Soltown welcome sign is a huge eyesore. I was expecting to enjoy a medieval world, not medieval world with vegas-style signage. What you do in a POT should be left solely up to the governor's rules, NPC towns, on the other hand should have some restrictions to keep the feel and aesthetics of the game enjoyable for everyone.

On to the subject of Inns.... If NPC inns allowed for instanced rooms for rent, it would be great for new players. The other option is for players to offer rooms for rent in a way that requires no interaction from the person offering the room. Simply click on the door and offer it for rent, and set the rent fee (visible to the player before they take the room). Items already placed in the room before being marked as a rental can't be removed by the renter, and all other items inside the room, or put in storage containers, will be put into the renter's bank when their rent expires. Players should only be allowed to rent one rooms in the game in towns they don't already own a lot. If they choose to rent another room, then their old room should be cancelled and stuff moved to their bank. Once a player claims a lot in the same town, the room they are renting should automatically be given up. They should also be promoted to, if they are renting any rooms, if they wish to stop renting once the player claims a new lot.

Town criers should be able to provide a player with a list of open rooms. I personally am offering rooms for free in my row home because of how much a turn off paying taxes on a lot or you'd loose it, and finding an open lot, was for me--but I still have to be online to grant access. Ideally a the town crier would be able to point a player to other towns that might have vacancies if there are none in the town. To speed up loading time (sometimes the of lots takes awhile to generate), the list should only show free lots first, and allow the player to select based on type: inn room (with rent shown), row, town,city, etc... Ideally the town should show the tax rate next to it in the list, so there is no question what the player would be paying a day if they get the lot.

Inns should further be able to automatically evict players that haven't logged in in 14-30 days (configurable by the property owner). We don't need to see inn rooms reserved for 100+ days.

To avoid a situation where there is no housing at all, players should be able to rent a room for 100g/day in NCP town inns. This room ideally would be instanced like a basements, is to allow for more rooms than could fit on the map otherwise. It would take away form the realism, and should only really be used when there aren't any free rooms available in an NPC town or local area.

On deeds.. NPC and POT deeds should be purchasable through in-game currency. The first row lot a player gets should be for either NPC or POTs, or at least upgradeable to NPC deed with in-game gold.

Now, spending real money to get a 5-story basement rather than a craft-able 2-story one, sure I have no problem with that, or buying home decorations and what not, sure I'm all for... but making it so hard to get your first house or room is VERY annoying.

Having individual vendors is nice... but there really needs to be shared marketplace. Make public vendors able to access inventory sold by other vendors, except that they player would need to pay a delivery and wait for delivery to keep things interesting. For home and public vendors, you should be able to list a lot of items to be sold for a single listing fee, and allow individual items to be bought and sold like regular vendors. If I want to sell 100 potions, then let me sell 100 potions, but allow a player to be able to buy one at a time, not 100. New players may not be able to afford to buy 100 potions, but still would want one. Same goes for other consumables like scrolls etc.

Cash registers aren't obvious that they would have items for sale... It be great if the game had an introduction about the public vendors, cash registers, and player vendors.

I'll keep playing the game, but I thought I'd share this as it is something that I know other new players will be turned off by when they discover this game, as I was. This game really needs more players. This game really needs more players to continue to exist. The more players you have, the more community involvement will exist, and the more money will be generated by players buying cosmetic items/etc.... but please, lets try to style these to fit within the Ultima/medieval.middle earth look and feel.

 

Rygen, I'm glad you found the OWC and were able to claim a lot. The OWC was built to help new arrivals since they/you are the future. I'll try to touch base with you in game to discuss some of your other concerns. Cheers, JkB

 

You know, maybe all lots should be placeable anywhere

 

I'd agree with that, but they also cost more than PoT deeds. If I had paid a premium for access to NPC towns, and it was suddenly granted to everyone on a whim at no charge, I'd be pretty angry. The game already has enough of an issue with formerly premium unique items now being available to everyone.