Housing questions for 'Friend Online Mode'

I have two questions concerning the upcoming housing features, which mainly stem from the fact that
I would like to play the game with 3-4 of my friends and we're very much into roleplaying. They've said that there would be an online mode that allows you to just select the people you want to play with, and only them would be visible in the world. Is this still true? And if so...:

1. If we (or one of us) would like to roleplay as an artisan and he opens up a shop in his house, who would buy his goods? Will the other players have to buy them, so he makes a living on our adventures, or will NPC's take some of his goods from him, or his shopkeeper, from time to time? Ofcourse, if the others go out adventuring, find him the materials and ask him to craft an item for them, he'll get paid by them. But it would be nice if he could make a living from the NPC's and he can even gain a reputation with them as an accomplished artisan, so he gets more customers and can move up in the ranks of craftmanship, eventually upgrading his workshop, store and lot.

2. Some of the Devs told us that, when you'd play offline, the amount of housing lots would be decreased and some fees and deeds would be removed, since they wouldn't have a point. How would this translate to a game where only you and your friends would run around? Would it still be connected to the 'open online mode' and you can see the houses every other player has, or would you just see the houses you and your friends own. Because we might only have 1 or 2 houses each. If so, wouldn't that mean that, given that it would be in 'online mode', the amount of empty lots would be enormous? Will there be something implemented to prevent villages/towns/cities from looking like abandoned wastelands, just because there are no other players putting houses there? Or would a 'vacant' lot have a standard townhouse on it, up until someone buys it?

 

I'll try and answer and if someone else has any corrections or more to add to what I say, even better.

1. If you and your friends are playing in any of the 'online modes' (Single-Player Online, Friend-Player Online or Open-Player Online) then you and them will see ALL other players houses and vendors, and all other players will see your house and/or vendors. These other players, that you may not see in SPO or FPO modes, would still be able to purchase yours and your friend's goods. Not sure if NPC sales will be worthwile or not, as I don't believe the details on that have been announced.

2. I believe, but may very well be wrong, that what was said was in OFF-line mode you will not see the persistant online world at all, so you would only see the houses YOU put up (not your friends, not in offline mode) and that 'world' will be local to your machine only, with only the changes you yourself make to it. Not sure how empty lots will be presented in the Offline Single Player game.

 

Thank you for your answers.

Although it raises one more. If what you say in 1. is true, does that mean my friends and I would still have to compete with all of the other players to get our housing lots? The way I see it, Friend-Player Online would be integrated if you want to be in that world with just your group. It would seem a bit silly to have to say "Well, lads, look around you! We can't buy any of these lands, because of invisible people living on them.".

And I know it's not that simple from a technical point of view, but from a roleplaying point it would take away a bit of the immersion. It's a detail ofcourse, and seeing how the housing in other RPG's turned out, I'm not afraid this won't make for a great roleplay and gameplay experience. It's just something on my mind.

 

To my understanding, yes, it would be exactly that. In FPO mode, and all the 'Online' modes, there is only one world, one land. Those lots exist for everyone and even though your FPO world appears to contain only you few 'humans' and a bunch of NPC's, it really is shared by everyone. This may stretch role-playing somewhat, but the advantage is in a much more robust economy than one you and your friends would have only between you and NPC purchasers.

I think the roleplaying, for me anyway, would be simply that those houses belong to many of the NPC's that are in stores, taverns, on the streets, in the fields, on paths and other places, or are perhaps unseen. I see thousands of houses around my city, but not always the people that dwell within them.

 

That is a very nice way to look at it. It certainly would have more advantages this way, like you say, with economy, technical possibilities and who knows what else. Let us hope they can make the cities look bustling with activity then, even without the hundreds of players running around.

Thank you very much.

 

It would be just like playing any single player game, such as the old Ultimas. The towns still have people to talk to, they're just NPCs. It just happens that the NPC vendors in town are stocked by other players.

 

There is a Dev blog about this:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=3955