Ridiculous In Game Housing System

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Cock of the North, Feb 17, 2018.

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  1. Ashlynn [Pax]

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    LOL, no it's not. It's something you buy.
     
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  2. Bahamut Arc

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    Any Crown Merchant?
     
  3. Lained

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    There's a couple in Owl's Head next to the crafting pavilion, the one with the stall has them, I'm unsure where else they're located.
     
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  4. Lained

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    Not merchants selling crowns, merchants that take crowns for items that are in the add-on store.
     
  5. majoria70

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    Welcome @Cock of the North . Really it is fantastic that you voice these concerns. Yes this game was funded mostly by the housing system unfortunately and fortunately. One thing that can be gained from your experience coming in is to make it truly known that new players coming in at this point are seeing housing this way and while the wonderful community here offers a lot of the possibilities for new players to gain housing in this game someone should not have to come to a forum to know this. @Berek @DarkStarr.

    I joined this game in 2013 to have an opportunity to try to provide feedback and hopefully some of this would help to shape a game I was very excited to see come to fruition. Over the course of development it was discovered that housing packages and player owned towns provided most of the funding for the game. It was not something that anyone had foreseen would happen and even while it was happening there was no stopping it. Just as many games are funded by a feature as buying ships as Star Citizen did. This game funded in Kickstarter something like 148 million dollars or some insane amount selling ship packages to people. Now this is just the fact and does it mean these games aren't going to be good just because of these facts? Well one can only hope they will be good enough in spite of these facts ;).

    So bottom line is: How to advertise and present a game correctly so that players come into the game and have all of the facts regarding housing to make choices to go forward? This game does provide housing and players have the ability to obtain it but as with many games housing is not just handed out to players. Players do need to be able to see and visualize what it's going to take to obtain housing given their situation and preference up front.

    So what do you suggest since this game is still developing @Cock of the North given the situation of this game and just to help you answer that question here are some facts:

    Shroud of the Avatar does provide these avenues to getting a house in the game:

    1-The Rental system is an option - Renting rooms, houses, parts of houses etc is in game. Renting rooms gives the ability to decorate, place chests, have a bind point etc. Many players offer rent-free to new players while they decide what they are going to do. Rent fliers will be in game to link you to these players soon.

    2-Purchase bundles starting at $275 which provide a taxed-free option and other misc items.

    3-Purchase housing lot deeds necessary to claim lots to place a house (Row deeds have a house already )from buying cotos with in-game gold.

    4-There are several types of lot deeds in Shroud of the Avatar such as: Tax-free player own town deeds only placeable in player owned towns, place anywhere taxed deeds, place anywhere tax-free deeds to mention just a few. This game has not released so many lots you see in NPC towns are not claimed yet by those who have purchased them.

    5-Not all player owned towns are or will be ghost towns after release. Player owned towns offer many amenities to their residents laid out carefully and as I've seen lovingly for convenience and in service to the residents of the town.

    6-Starting up again after release the raffles for housing lot deeds will begin again. You can purchase raffle tickets from decorations vendors located upstairs from the bank tellers in NPC towns and in many player owned Towns. All lot deeds won from this lottery are taxed. 5k gold and 10k gold for tickets to play in the Lottery.

    7-Check player vendors in all towns to hunt for lot deeds. Please note: houses are not lot deeds. Do not buy a house thinking it will claim a lot. It will not. You can place a house or other structures on a claimed lot such as blocks to create your own house.



    Many ideas have been proposed to help players to obtain housing such as a quest for housing, tents, campsites, occasional in-game events like fishing up a deed etc. Renting became the latest option. There is still time to create options but ideas for these are still necessary. This game is and will still continue to develop from some ideas presented from it's players. This is totally a crowd funded game. It relies on our feedback to better serve the success of the game. Some may not like how it is but it has always been formed under these conditions and while no one planned it this way many of us still feel the game is a very worthy contender at this early stage to present a large player base with a satisfying, challenging, and fun gaming experience.

    Hopefully @Cock of the North you will be able to forgive the inept attempts at this point to provide players with optimism about having a place of their own in this game. Since we cannot go back and can only go forward marketing housing in this game needs to be handled to provide that optimism and choices for players in a way that provides this for them. Housing is a very important feature for many players and in this game it really is fantastic in so many ways imo.

    Of course housing is not everything that is available in this game and we have much here to offer such as the music system and ability to sync music with other players, a unique, in-depth combat system, a lot of sand box features with more and more coming such as treasure hunting, boating, mounts, guild-war system, perhaps faction system. Also enhancements to fishing and agriculture are coming as with many other enhancements to the game which will continue constantly. So much to look forward to. Again I welcome you and ask that if you can find it in you to help with feedback based on these facts to give new players hope and optimism in their journey to get what they want out of this game.

    I am Majoria in the game and truly if I can help please whisper me in game. I totally understand all of your concerns and from there hopefully we can make a better experience for new players with their help at this point. *cheers*
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2018
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  6. Innascual Inch

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    LOL, that's what I meant... let me try again for you: a house/deed is something you buy with the gold that you EARN in either the game or with money you EARN in RL.

    There are many ways to EARN that gold or RL money .... it's not hard to do.
     
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  7. smack

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    It's not even sustainable now. Look at the dozens of PRTs that are essentially ghost towns. 42 of the 45 PRTs have less than 20% occupancy. And the other three aren't that great either, at no more than 38% occupancy. The vast majority have only a handful of occupants. It's exactly why they even removed some. PRTs are an endless sea of housing without any community. You're better off living in a POT where you can socialize and participate.

    They're right to limit in-game deeds sold by NPCs as POT-only for the time being, with Place Anywhere Deeds trading hands between players, so as not to affect the PAD guarantee. But I do hope they re-open the PAD lotteries or some other equitable system for them in-game, without having to create more PRT ghost towns. As it is, even NPC towns are only 60% occupied currently. The only other option is to move towards true instanced housing.
     
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  8. milspec

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    I am in a similar position to the OP. I am newish, adventurer Level 50 having played 80 hours over the last 6 weeks. I have a full set of gear I estimate is probably 30k IGG. Other than that I am broke, mostly because I make potions for my 2 other real life friends who play (and they make me food and other items).

    I currently live rent free in an Inn in a POT, but the biggest limitation is no ability to share a chest with my friends, a restriction of the rental permissions system. We looked into buying a city row plot.

    I think the cheapest row lot deed is 85 Cotos. Is it safe to estimate 2,500 gold per Coto? If so, that is 212k.

    Someone mentioned 5k per hour. I make the most money by mining and selling the raw resources. I bet I can make 5k an hour in the silver mines near Resolute or the iron mines near Brittany ... but it’s not fun to do all of the time.

    212k / 5k = 42 hours

    Do people think it is a good idea to require new players to toil in game for 40 hours to afford the least expensive place to live? And assume they will take 20 hours to learn the game, and only mine half the time. That is 100 hours before people can own a home.

    Is 100 hours for the cheapest house the smartest way to make a healthy game?

    Edit: maybe Cotos are 3k? 85 * 3k = 255k / 5k p hour = 51 hours of toil in a mine?
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2018
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  9. Thwip

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    There has been some good discussion in here. Here are a couple things to keep in mind.

    - The Rental system does not provide the opportunity to OWN a deed/house.
    - POT Deeds do not provide the opportunity to fully own your lot. The POT owner still ultimately owns the lot.
    - The COTO vendors do not sell place anywhere deeds. (Good that they sell POT deeds!)

    - The point of the OP is very valid. There is no reliable path for a new player to obtain lot, deed, and home ownership (aka a place anywhere deed) apart from Real Money Transactions.
    - The one path to place anywhere deeds with in game gold is the lottery. This is not reliable, just luck.
    - Grinding gold or materials and selling for real money then buying a deed - while totally awesome to be able to do - is not what we are talking about.
    - Super cool players that help people out - again totally awesome and very good - still does not provide a path in game, it is reliant on a player to player interaction.

    *There is no way with game mechanics and in game gold, other than the lottery, to obtain a Place Anywhere Deed.*
     
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  10. Kain Darkmoor

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    This is a very misleading post. POT governors do not own the lot. You own the lot deed and everything on it, that cannot be taken away from you. They can boot you from the town but you lose nothing except the time it takes to find a new place. I have never heard of this being a problem. As has been said they do not sell place anywhere lots because they are worried about kickstarter backers who are waiting for launch to claim what they have. There IS a reliable path for new players to obtain deeds, which multiple people went into detail how to do that. Nobody said you have to sell materials for real money to buy a house, you can easily do that within the game using gold only.
     
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  11. milspec

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    Is 40-50 hours “easily”?
     
  12. Adam Crow

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    I think that's pretty reasonable. If you want to earn it in game it should take some effort. Plus 5k an hour is pretty low, so that 100 hour number you came up with seems a bit off. Even as a newer player you can make much more than that if you find a better way to earn gold. Ask for advice, there are many helpful players around willing to help you learn the ropes.

    I heard some players worked together to purchase a Player Owned Town for in game gold. That just goes to show that if you set your mind to a goal, almost anything is possible in this game.

    Are you saying trading with players is not a game mechanic? Because that just isn't true.

    This has been beaten to death on the forums. If they were available for in game gold above the banks like someone suggested, the rich players would buy up all the deeds until there were none left. Then everyone would be at the mercy of those players if they wanted place anywhere deeds.

    You can earn in game gold and use it to purchase anything that's available in this game. You can talk game mechanics all day, but you can't change that. It's a fact.

    You can't just say, "Only players that don't already have a deed can buy them" because the rich players have tons of alternate characters to circumvent this and the large guilds would recruit players just to purchase deeds.

    Unfortunately I don't see a better alternative to the lottery right now. At least it will keep them trickling in and give new players a chance to get lucky if they want to take the risk.

    That being said, my advice to new players is to not waste your gold on the lottery. Just save up until you can afford the deed/house that you want. It will mean a lot more to you if you earn it!
     
  13. Kain Darkmoor

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    I'm not sure if you did that on purpose or not, but the context of what I was saying is that it is easy to purchase a lot deed from other players or from the coto vendor, not that it was 'easy' to earn 300k gold (but it still is either way.)
     
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  14. milspec

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    I am a new player. I am asking for advice. How do I make more than 5k in game gold an hour?
     
  15. Arkah EMPstrike

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    I feel like this should be elaborated a bit because it makes it sound like your giving your lot to the town owner.

    the PoT owner has control over whether or not you are placed in their town (they can evict you).

    If you're evicted, the lots deed and hosue and allt he items are returned to your bank
     
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  16. Arkah EMPstrike

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    this is done at high levels either fighting difficult mobs with good sellable drops, or by gathering and sellign resources to other players.

    Being lower-mid level you can earn a couple thousand per hour if you find undead/bandits who drop loot you can sell for a decent profit to NPCs, or gathering resources to sell to players
     
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  17. milspec

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    Sorry, I see your point was you do not have to use real money to do it.

    I am honestly looking for help on how to earn enough in game to buy the cheapest lot. There are supposedly a lot of new players coming, it’s going to get asked a lot.
     
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  18. Kain Darkmoor

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    If you are brand new I would focus on getting your adventure level up first. Once you can handle a single tier 5 monster by itself, which should be about adv level 45 or 50, head to Elysium Mines and mine to your hearts content. That's probably the path of least resistance.

    If you haven't already join the Discord and find a friendly guild. Leveling up is a lot easier if you can tag along with other folks who would be happy to have the company.
     
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  19. milspec

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    Thanks. I am adv lvl 50. I will go try that and report back.
     
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  20. 3devious

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    Some idiot whose name rhymes with Caska DiFumarate bought another avatar a founder place anywhere village deed because he flooded our forums with tirades about how evil this community is because people can't afford to have a home and we were all about the haves and havenots besides, this game is going to fail anyway...

    So when people start ranting about how inaccessible housing is to people I have to :rolleyes: because even when this stuff is falling from the sky, people aren't satisfied. This game is going to turn me into a Republican yet. If that happens you people are going to Hell because I was born and raised in MI and we just don't do that *&@# there.
     
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