Housing Plots Soldout Question

Caliya, you understand that you own both the lot and the house deed independently right? My guess is you think lots are claimed when you place a house deed on them, which is just not true. You can own a lot and leave it empty for example. It is no mystery whether or not anyone owns a lot, so for those that DO own one already it makes perfect sense to buy a different house deed. People who do not own a lot should obviously not buy any house deeds (atleast not with the assumption that they will get to use them right away), kind of as the disclaimer on every single one says that you shouldn't.

 

I feel they are setting themselves up for a complete disaster. They stress how important the possibility to own a home is, yet they seem to not even provide the opportunity to own one for more than 1/10th of the backers. What would they do if suddenly everyone wanted to increase their pledge to citizen? What will they do if the game after release becomes a huge success, selling >3 million copies? The basement thing is already ridiculous (a stupid consequence of not having enough land; after all who would want to live underground, other than dwarves?).

I feel this can be a make or break issue for the commercial success. I hope they thought well about it.

 

What-ifs are a great thing to speculate on. I would only say a surge in Citizen tier or higher pledges would be a good problem to have. The hood is open, they can address this pre-launch if they have the time. But that hasn't happened in the 9 months since the KS campaign. And selling 3M copies at launch? An even better problem to have.

Not having enough plots of land for the player base is not going to kill this game or define its commercial success. Buggy releases, bad story /writing, broken or poorly or partially implemented game systems (combat, PvP, crafting, housing, quests, conversation, inventory), overloaded servers, etc. Those will kill the game.

There's no doubt that there's some pent up demand for land / houses / "homes". They'll think of something. I've always been of the opinion that every one in SotA should have a home of some kind. Just not everyone will be able to own land.

 

Citizen Tier on kickstarter had a 500 limit they failed on that target and have since sold 200 lots in the add on shop.
Housing as it is will have an impact on about 2% of backers on release that % drops to negligible if sales are good.
Its time the Devs put everything into Crafting, Combat and other aspects of the game.

 

Yet they market it as if it was crucial to players experience. =)

 

We differ in opinion here: Depending on the implementation it can kill its success as a multiplayer game. (We all know this is only part of it.)
There are some crucial issues:

* How will crafting in homes be implemented?
* How about item storage?
* How useful will vendors be?

The danger here is that players without a house will just play single player. If this gets to be the case one could have just as well scrapped the multiplayer online mode.

 

If you really believe that, you really, really don't understand the economy of the game and how this adversely affects thousands of paying customers.

 

So are you saying that paying subscribers don't deserve a plot and house, but only those who have the income to afford backing at that level do?

Now, I understand a feudal system, with different classes of citizens. But in a game you pay to enjoy, having the cards severely stacked against you when you first join, is not an enjoyable game experience. There are folks out there that have no clue about UO, or backing SotA. When they're new and all the land is already bought, what hope do they have to ever own a plot?

 

Let's say your numbers, guestimates, are true, with using your high end estimate. Let's even say 5000. 5000 plots when there are one million players would not be a "very high percentage." One million players may be a slightly high estimate. But if you knew what happened behind the scenes with housing in UO, it was pretty nightmarish. This is one reason they smacked down the number of houses owned to one per account. People were ruthlessly land grabbing, creating housing shortages, which drove people to pay hundreds and even more than $1000 on Ebay for a house.

My main concern is, not to repeat past mistakes. While you attempt to say things to alleviate concerns, they are not alleviated. What DarkStarr said in the dev chat was not reassuring. If anything, it caused more concern.

To say it's a minor part of that game is not accurate. They have said many times it's one of the key parts of the game - I mean, why else during Pre-Alpha was that the only thing you could do in town? They didn't have fighting or even crafting as an important skill to work on. Crafting would have been fairly simple to implement for our experimentation, rather than housing.

I fully understand that if a person backs at the Citizen or higher level, they are guaranteed a plot. I fully understand that plots and house deeds are completely separate. But you cannot have a house without a plot. That is also completely obvious. Plots are sold out. Deeds are not. It makes NO sense. Some say there can't be more houses for sale than plots. They were in game, why wouldn't they be in the add-on store?

I felt I asked some brief, simple, straight forward and innocent questions when I started this thread. Those questions have still not been answered except through speculation that may or may not be accurate. I want accurate answers. I don't feel that is too much to ask. Now I feel jumped on just for asking some simple questions.

 

Believe me I fully understand the concept of limited resources, infinite wants as well as supply and demand.

I beleive in a free-market economy.

 

Common sense says if they sell house lot deeds there will be open spots to place those lots. Portalarium would not sell something that could not be used.

 

It should be common sense, .....EXCEPT....what happens when I have a deed but no plot, and log on the first day of the game, along with thousands of other new players? None of us have in-game gold, we all have to earn it. What if I have bought this deed for real cash, and can't beat someone else (out of thousands of players seeking the same) to buy a plot? And, what if all the plots have been bought?

 

Housing properties will most likely be changing owners on a somewhat regular basis even when all available properties are taken. There are so many variables with players moving, quitting the game, getting an offer they cannot refuse and all manner of reasons. In addition to that, each of the four additional episodes will yearly bring in additional land mass with new properties to own. It is a limited resource and will as such be an interesting trade business, and sandbox games needs markets and resources like that.

 

I don't believe in a have-have not economy in a game I decided to pay more for. A bit of competition is fine, and compelling. But it can only go so far.

 

Just to clarify.

- All backers on citizen and above will get their plots.
- All people who purchase a village house (limit to 200) will get their plots.
- No further sale of houses via they 'add-on' shop are currently planned. It is important to the development of the game to ensure that there are plenty of spaces available for players to obtain a plot 'in-game'.

It has been made very clear right from the start that it is not the intention for all players to be able to own a plot at the same time. Once plots have run out, it will be down to demand and supply as well as the odd collapse where owners do not pay their rent.

I really fail (on this thread as well as the previous) to see where the issue is.

 

You make it too complicated.
First, one house per account - ABSOLUTELY AGREE
One character per account - I Hope so!

But when it comes to houses for sale, you make it too complicated.
You can never compare houses for sale compared to lots for sale, since you can have one lot , but with many houses.
The houses for sale are not the ones you get from Pleding, and what if i want one of each house? What if they realise what i hope for, a blacksmith house ? Cant i buy it because there are no plots for sale ( even though im guaranteed a plot? )
ALSO, you can spend money INGAME for a plot, and buy a house for it. Noone knows if the lots are cheaper than the houses ingame or vise versa..

 

As long as we are talking about the launch of the game, everyone who has gotten a land deed from either a pledge or add-on store purchase, will be a part of the queue system based on pledge tier priority to select their property. Each one of these people will get a property some place, maybe not in the location of their first choice, but they will have a property some place. After launch, I cannot see them selling house properties in the add-on store unless there is actual land available.

 

Also, can someone please explain to theory to me of one house per account?

 

Some of us feel that this decision by the developers is the single worst decision they have made. All of us want this game to be a success and I will point out every chance I get that I feel that decision is a very bad idea.

 

Why is it a bad idea?