First Day Housing

Hi folks,

Not quite ready to drop $500 in order to get a house at launch. That said, I was wondering how important claiming a lot right away will be in the game?

Will this create a situation where it is difficult to find a 'good spot' by the time we are able to afford a house in game through the course of normal game play?

Thanks.

 

Yeah, I think most of us from the Ultima Online days can remember the terribly laggy server's during day 1 of Trammel launch. I'm super excited about it regardless, but I'd imagine none of us are going to have the funds to place housing on day one, unless you contributed $500, which a lot of us can't.

 

I'll probably contribute to the kickstarter with $125.00 to receive the map etc.

Hopefully I'll do things right within the game to be able to buy a lot.

 

Well, it seems that there will be a good restriction on where housing can be placed, unlike in UO. I do love the option they have for placing houses. Really looking forward to getting something placed, and set up asap. Hopefully as beta testers, you will be able to place during the testing, and get a good spot in first.

 

Yea, $125 sounds about where I'm at as well. I'm sure that the quickness to which one becomes a owner of a house is relative to the amount that one not only invests financially, but also in play time and adventuring. I'm sure if you purchase the game upon launch and play actively for the first few weeks or months, you should have a decent chance any becoming a home owner.

-Julian

 

I'm glad to read this is under development guys, hope the kickstarter goal is reached.

 

I can't wait. UO was always my favorite.

My one concern is the numbers of lots. Yes, the value of the land is great, but with the tiny number of lots listed in the FAQ, only those who play 24 hours a day for the first week will own property. New players are shot.

Some form of instanced housing would be wonderful. Keep the property for those who want the ego boost of owning a place all their own, but have some houses or inns where a player can buy an instanced residence.

Everyone enters through the same door, but you go where you have a key to.

You can invite others to enter. The invitation can be until revoked, for a period of time or for the time that you are in the building only.

You can opt to be shown as a resident. Clicking on the doorbell of the building brings up the list of residents who have opted to show. Someone rings your doorbell and you can invite them in.

Finally you can open and name the house as a store and people can enter through the doorbell and shop.

Again, for those willing to pay the price, a piece of land of their own is wonderful, but for those who join late, the chance to own is still a big thing and some kind of housing should be available.

 

I share some of the concerns here. I remember the challenge of trying to find places to place a shop in UO as well.

I agree with Stormsong, in that the limited number of lots could result in a lot of vanity houses being placed, and that may leave few lots for those who wish to actually provide services from their homes. This could lead to villages that are relatively useless because they lack all but the basic commerce.

If our homes are to be shared with the persistent world that all players see, maybe there should be a split in a 'vanity home' where you can decorate and have your friends see and visit, and a 'services home' that all players may interact with?

 

The only thing that really concerns me is the fact that some Clans before startup will buy a town and if you are not in that clan you will never get a lot. This happened too many times an then the clan breaks up town is dead because of it.

 

I paid $500 for a spot. I hope i'll be able to make the most of it. I am happy to see Lord British returning and what this will bring for us. I have a home in LOTRO and like the instance effect, but I also remember having a bunch of friends over at my house in Ultima Online and that was one of those memories that stick with me.

 

There are a ton of creative and simple solutions to these problems. I frown on instancing for the mere fact that it completely breaks immersion.

For instance one solution would be to have an entire island or continent dedicated to nothing put player owned land and housing (ie the frontiersman style housing). Make that area huge and dangerous. Now you'll have impromptu player towns springing up and a nearly limitless amount of land to grab and build on.

That's a napkin outline.

 

Another $500 Citizen Level here. I think that the Housing was the reason I popped for that Level given how incredibly difficult it became in UO to get a house after the first opening months. Also a house really gives you a feeling of virtually belonging in the game.

 

I may end up upping my pledge. Mulling it over.

How difficult was it to get a house in a decent area in UO?

What were the advantages of owning a house?

How critical was location for houses (as opposed to business like the blacksmith business mentioned in the announcement video)?

 

I agree with Thoth. "a house really gives you a feeling of virtually belonging in the game."

Absolutely!

Instanciation is in my mind the least attractive of all. I threw it out there as a possibility. Not pretty, but it works within bounds. It could get ugly with a dozen people (or a dozen dozen) all standing around the door looking to get in.

A housing island or server or whatever is good though I tried it in AoC and there was nothing fun there. Trying to find a single house was near impossible.

I guess all this really says is that it is not an easy fix.

BUT please don't create a low limit on the numbers of houses that is so low that only those with $500 to spend either now or on eBay in a year are the ones who can afford it.

I remember houses at $40 and castles selling at $2,000. Please lets don't go there.

 

I can't help but think that this is starting to sound like a real-life gold sink.

I mean.. I really want a house, but 500 bucks?

 

Looking at the numbers given to us, seems like roughly one third or half the housing spots would go to Kickstarter backers (if sold out). And who says people will own only 1 house if there are no limits for that.

However, I'd much rather be without a house than break the immersion by heavy instancing. I remember the joy of owning my first (and last) wooden house in UO and how much i worked for it. The previous owner gave me a tour around the house and told me all the good and the bad about the location, people living next door, business opportunities and so on - like a real broker! It wasn't the best spot but it was mine and i loved it.

I really hope they can bring back some of that magic and give the players the feeling of being a part of a virtual world.

 

My curiosity brings me to wonder how they will fix the issue if more ppl select the option to pay 500$ than there is housing spots? I don't know how many spots there are, but seen in the video that it is based off vacancy on the instanced towns. I dont know how many vacant houses there will be in each town. I am also curious about how the persistent world fits in. If I do not have you in my google+ facebook or what ever else it looked at for friends, I am not part of your world from my understanding?

 

On Kickstarter it states there will be a few 1000 village homes available, a few 100 Townhomes, and only a few dozen City homes.

So somewhere around 3000-5000 homes max worldwide.

For non Kickstarter casual players, they may never get a home. It normally takes quite abit of time to aquire gold as a new player. I see the hardcore players, generating the gold much quicker, poof all land gone.

I may upgrade from 2nd responder to Citizen, free taxes and a starter home sounds good to me.

Another point, if you decide to take break from the game, a few months or so, come back, your house is still there.

 

Zarf - I think that is one of the main appeals of pledging high enough to get a house in the game. Regardless of whether or not you take a break, your house (along with the founder's marker) will remain in game. Even if you come back a year later, it will be there.

 

I enjoy the idea of owning a house, and will centralize my game play towards upkeep and paying taxes to keep it. As a player in this game I would take every chance of playing to up my levels to GM while finding trinkets and things to put around the house. basically, I would go to work, questing, and whatnot, bring home some trinkets and place them, rinse, repeat.