So yet another unannounced change.

honestly what can you do with a castle that you cannot do with a city lot? at that point it is really a vanity item folks!

Who's to say a LotM won't sell his castle lot and house for in game gold to the highest bidding guild some day?

We should be glad we have these lots at all. If a Duke or a LotM spent so much money on this game they should have the right to sell a big castle for gold in game.

When I played UO there were some lucky people who owned castles, but there was no way in hell I was ever going to get one. That didn't mess up my game play. I ended up with some villa next to vesper in tram. That was all I needed.

 

I'm not a duke and I probably never will be. I was lucky to get into Dev+ and I've worked to raise my pledge through asset submissions as that's really my only option. I don't have another $100 to throw at the game and I wanted a castle to. Yet I am perfectly fine with this. Larger lot sizes were never really promised to us and they do take a lot of space.

Realistically speaking, just how many keep and castle lots did people think there were ever going to be? The lots in existing towns are pre-established and very limited. Those aren't going to change. Meaning the *only* way any of us would be able to get this lots would be by what? Throwing out $750 or more for a player owned town and telling the devs "yeah I want a castle lot in there".

Well all those people who don't have $750+ to throw into their own are going to be just as upset and making the same complaint about how people with more money than them etc etc etc...

I tell you what.. if I do get my town it'll be through asset submissions. I don't have $750 to throw at it.. but I can try to build 40+ assets for the game.

 

Note that my comment was in regards to the blanket statement that they've claimed you can buy everything for in-game gold. I'd have to check the list, but I can't think of a single reward off-hand that will also be sold by some NPC or obtained through a quest. This was very clear from the beginning. Some items will have a similar counterpart available in-game. I've not followed the Duke/LotM plot story, so I can't comment on that specifically.

 

Eh, I am not crazy about this decision by Portalarium either but at least it doesn't really affect "success" in the game. So they can get a crazy big digital house and others can't get it. What good does that really do them, other than to satisfy an ego?

When it comes down to it though, I do not agree with any decision that allows people things that cannot be acquired in game at some point. That shows a pure and direct interest in money, over the gamers that have already spent their hard earned dollars to back this game. Let's just hope this isn't the beginning of a trend! Something to keep an eye on.

 

Sorry, Bowen, that wasn't aimed at you.

 

Items for money aside for just a second...

Where were all these castle lots going to go? Was there going to be a castle lot island somewhere in space? The game can't support everyone having an option to expand forever.

I'll bet Episode II will have some new lots though.

 

It's a vanity item, and these guys are big supporters of this game. Don't we want it supported? Yeah it's a vanity item, but it is cool to have a castle. One thing cool about castles is not everybody's gonna have one.

Don't forget there are player run cities!!! You can make all the castle lots you want (if space is available) in one of those player run towns.

Truth is I doubt seriously that we will need a house to be succesfful in sota. it would be nice and convenient to have one, but a row house with a basement will likely be excellent for most people's needs. Above and beyond is just really cool.

 

Someone's gotta pay for the game and I support them getting extras however all lots should be available for in game purchase.

Village lots will be better imop for these two reasons higher density for vendoring and the smaller lots can be placed in a lot more areas that will have better foot traffic. i would rather have a town lot vs the castle ones but thats my .02

 

Do you realize that even 12 years ago a castle was over $1k?

 

This is the divide tha game is creating. You can't compare the two. You had the ability to earn it through in-game means. Just like everyone else. The playing field was level and people were only separated by their in-game contribution and attitude.

But what this now effectively means is that John Smith who may work extremely hard in-game will NEVER have this asset because his in-game contributions are measured against the real life contributions of others. Yes there will always be some indirect influence, but the whole idea is to mitigate that.

 

The LOTM Castle lot was always, from what I remember, a pledge only thing once they introduced the new Castle lot. The Dukes keep lot was iffy, but I am very glad Portalarium decided to make it exclusive for pledging. Both the Castle and Keep lots will be rare as castles and keeps were in real life medieval times. Used to fortify countries.

I will repost this that to help fund the Ultimate RPG by upgrading my pledge to Duke, I personally scarified things in my real life. Was it worth it, YES! I am not rich or well off just an average joe.

I support you Portalarium! You may not of always sided with me with your changes, but in the end the game will be worth it!

 

But the game has already met its goal?

 

I can understand some people's disappointment in the devs clarifying that castles and keeps won't be available in-game. This really doesn't contradict (to my knowledge) anything they've said previously though. In fact, most kickstarter rewards usually said "exclusive only to backers" or something like that. After all, keeps and castles are status symbols and those Dukes and Lord of the Manors should have something they can call their own after making such a huge contribution to a game we'll all soon enjoy.

 

im curious as to how this affects the successful 2.0M stretch goal:

"Castle Defense scenarios for most castles, which can be played Offline as well as Online."

are the only castles those that will be backer owned and/or player towns?

 

This lack of clarity is the same thing tainting the stretch goals at the moment. It was implied with the initial pledges that those house styles were exclusive, not the size. So players would earn an equivalent house but it wouldn't be the same, in order to differentiate a backer from everyone else. In the same manner that players can have "Founder Weapons" but other players can still get weapons.

 

Am I the only one who doesn't really give a flying flip about the housing and never did? (Although, my son is loving the whole crafting/house decorating thing. That would keep him busy for hours on end.)

 

^^^^ From the start!

 

They haven't started hashing out guild stuff yet. I have a hunch that we will see more info about guild houses/castles later on.

 

I always assumed that was for NPC castles only.

 

I'm fully aware of that. I was just making a point. This isn't something that should be about who has the most cash.

I understand some people like us, who had hopes of maybe getting our own castle someday might be upset. It is a lovely hope after all. I won't hold it against anyone for being at least a little upset. But I do not think this decision was made lightly or is necessarily a bad one.

As I pointed out, space for larger lots even with player towns is going to be extreme limited. Even if it were possible to buy a castle lot in-game there would never be enough space in the towns even after EP5. Which may well be one of the determining factors here. Yeah they could put more of these lots in each town.. but 10 keeps and castles in a single town could be getting ridiculous.

And also as previously stated, we all took a risk when we pledged. Maybe we don't see it that way because it's Portalarium but risking $5000 and $10,000 on a vision to get a game made with no financial return? And money that was probably hard earned. They deserve their castles.

This is one of those things I'm willing to give up if it means keeping them special and I don't want to get hung up on who has more money than me.