I am posting this thread to get some answers from people emailing us after watching our SOTA videos on each pre-alpha release from our NovaGamerCrew channel on YouTube. Our recent castle video has sparked a lot of email interest in the size of housing plots and availability. Anyone who has any information to pass on to future players in SOTA would be great! The question asked is will there be a large amount of additional plots available to purchase using gold acquired in the game? I have done a lot of reading and after playing all the 1-5 releases I have noticed that there are a small amount of plots for the amount you can purchase before the release. For instance, the following can be purchased with real cash before the release: 450 village plots 100 town plots and 50 city plots. This is of course not including the plots acquired from Citizen and above pledges. Does anyone know if there is going to be a lot more plots added before the release? Because as it stands, it seems the current lot availability is below or on par with the ones you can purchase with real cash. Again, there may be info on this already but it is so far back in the forums that I thought a fresh post on updated info would be great. Thanks, Rightplan (NovaGamer)
There will be empty lots in game which players can buy with in-game cash. We don't know how many yet. More plots will be added with each new episode (the map will expand too); some of these will be available by both in-game and real world money (IMO).
Yes, there are supposed to be plots available after launch for in-game currency - there have been promises of availability on top of the pledge lots but there are no solid figure totals given anywhere for plots of any type. For some people that's good enough - others take it with a grain of salt. Either will have to do at this current point in time.
The development team has not released any hard numbers yet and likely won't until launch, but the ones we have seen in R5 are just for testing purposes. Meaning, that number does not reflect the real number available. In R4 there were only few dozen plots. The best I can do is point you to a thread (Lot Deeds: Never Oversold) where DarkStarr states that deeds will not be oversold. Anyone who pledges to a certain level will be guaranteed a plot on launch day, plus they will have many more available for in-game purchase.
Perhaps others know more. As far as I have seen, there seems to be no indication as to how many lots will be available after launch for in-game currency. However, it seems to be implied (IMO) that there will not be many. I think at this point an amount equal to those available now would not be out of the question. Will everyone be able to have a house, I doubt it. But again, this is all just speculation on my part. If anyone knows for sure, I have not heard it yet. edit: looks like Koldar posted before I could, and with more authority. So, there you go.
Agreed. The real variable here is "how many is too many." I don't believe they will be ridiculously scarce, and they can always make more - however as time goes on they will be more and more. How long will that take? There's no way to be certain or even ballpark guess until the game is online for public demand. There was also a quote by Richard in a video - which one specifically I do not recall - to the effect of taking the possibility of "cratering" the value of pledged lots into consideration when generating new lots. Rest assured there will not be enough for everyone at some point and even for in game gold I'd expect to pay a tidy sum for the cheapest village lots. For people that need guarantees a qualifying pledge or store deed purchase is the only way to get it.
Lol. Well, I wouldn't say more authority. This is just one of the areas that I try to stay knowledgeable in since there is quite a bit of interest in it.
. Something I've noticed in the Add-on store, over some weeks now, is that the Property Deeds are not selling? Total dollars raised are increasing at a reasonable rate, but not via people buying Village, Town or City lots. March 7th Stats Village lots left 155/450 Town lots left 86/100 City lots left 44/50 So, the total Add-on store lot transactions since March 7th is: 1 City lot sold and 1 Town lot returned. (refunded?) Anyone who wants to guarantee themselves a home site, prior to release, and prior to any in-game lot purchase by 'new' players, can go ahead and purchase a lot, with a free house, right now. Any lots that are sold after the game's release, whether they be sold via the add-on store or via in-game gold, will still be reduced to a choice of the least desirable remaining plots, at that time? Unless, perhaps, Portalarium is reserving a number of lots in 'good' locations, specifically for only in-game purchase? Otherwise, the in-game lots for sale for game-gold will mostly be the least desirable. .
I'm really hoping that the vast majority of lots are unlocked and acquired through in game activities. Such that lots acquired though other means are more on the order of .1% and not really something relevant in the big picture of things. And I don't just mean using gold to buy from NPCs, as I see that as really no different from using $$. Housing should be created by guilds doing things and players doing things for whatever faction mechanics exist. Some activity captures a village. Some other activity improves the village to a town crating more lots.
With no disrespect to the above posters, i would suggest gettingg it from the "horses mouth". He does answer the question in this video about housing numbers on release. Maybe pass this video along to your subscribers
Thank you for all the quick replies and info! I will be sure to let my subscribers know, and will include it in our next videos content on release 6, for those who I can't reach by email so they are informed. Thanks again all, Very Informative
Hmmm so is that really all the real-money lots that are going to be sold? I guess that means anyone with a city level lot is not going to have much competition at all!
If memory serves, there was an initial allotment of (I believe) 200 or 250 Village Lots that sold out, though my recollection is sketchy and suspect. Quite. And much ado about very little.
The add-on plots are low on the totem pole for lot selection. The Dukes and Barons pledgers will get to pick their city lots first.
No, not really. Firstly, these do not include the lot deeds included in pledge rewards. For the city lots that's about 60 or 70 (estimated Duke and Baron numbers). Secondly, the devs said they would decide on the actual number of lots in the game based on the sales until the start of the pre-launch lot selection.