Question about housing lot returned

Say I buy a village lot deed from the add-on store. Per the FAQ, "Lots have an in game currency tax that must be paid monthly or the lot reverts to being for sale and the Lot Deed is returned to the owner. "

So my question is, what exactly does it mean when a lot owner defaults on taxes?
Does it mean that in order to re-obtain land (1) there has to be an unoccupied lot and (2) I would have make good on the unpaid taxes? Am I interpreting this correctly?

Is it true that somebody who purchased a lot deed with in-game currency could potentially take my previous lot (even though I spent a small fortune of real money on mine)? Is it true that I may have to wait forever to get land back when some frees up?

Apologies in advance if this has already been answered somewhere. Thanks.

 

Yep, dont think you have to pay the unpaid taxes but even if you pay for a citizen level house they will repo the lot if your not online and you have to wait for a lot to become avilable, even though you have paid more than $500 for the privilage

 

Yes, this is to combat ghost towns, If a person quits playing there's no reason to deny an active player their plot. Just have to log on once every so often, if you can't do that (are overseas, in jail, at mother-in-laws, etc) then you'ld have to come up with a way to get your char ingame or loose your plot, the house & everything in it will get packaged up & put into your bank/inventory along with your land deed so you won't loose it, just will have to place it somewhere again.

 

This is the only detailed information for sure on how lot/house returns will work from the FAQ. To Asguard's point, anyone who has pledged $500 gets 5 months before the lot reverts. To me that's an extremely generous amount of time. Otherwise, it's a month. I think it's not asking too much to have people check in once a month to prevent ghost towns.

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Is there an upkeep cost to Lots?

Lots have an in game currency tax that must be paid monthly or the lot reverts to being for sale and the Lot Deed is returned to the owner. Backers at Citizen level and above receive a tax exempt Lot Deed but the lot can still revert after an extended amount of inactivity (5 months at Citizen level, + one month per tier above that).

What happens to my house (and the contents) if my lot reverts?

Your house (and the contents) will be placed in your inventory. The decoration of your home is maintained, while it is in “storage”. When you deploy your home on a new lot, it will appear just as before.

 

Some games let you pre-pay your taxes. Lord of the Rings Online lets you at least 6 months ahead. I'd assume we'll be able to do the same in SotA.

 

Don't know if I'd like that because it defeats the purpose of keeping towns active. Someone who wants to play the game should be able to log in once a month. I don't think that is too strict.

 

Thanks for the replies.

So far it sounds like the sole benefits of buying a lot deed from the add-on store are:
(1) The deed itself would be worth a hefty sum of in-game gold, so that buying a deed with real money would essentially be like buying in-game currency. But is anybody able put into context how much gold this is?
(2) You would have placement priority ONLY before SotA launches. This means that if you were to lose your lot after game launches, you would not have placement priority anymore (the benefit disappears) and in fact may even have to wait a long time before land becomes available again.

If these statements are accurate, then I find it quite hard to convince myself to purchase a lot deed from the add-on store when someone could get the exact same thing simply by making money in-game and waiting it out a little. Unless that lot deed is worth an insane amount, I just don't know if I can justify buying one now.

 

Housing will go fast. If you're prepared to go off and put a lot of time in upon release, you may get a house in game, but people going into the game planning on finding a house will more often than not be let down. The main benefit of buying a house plot is having one established before they're all gone.

 

timedilation:

(1) We don't know how much in-game currency a deed will cost after launch - the developers haven't set prices yet. (They haven't decided what the in-game taxes will be yet either.) I'm sure they release that information closer to launch date...

(2) You don't get to select a lot until after the Kickstarter and SOTA backers at Citizen level and above select theirs (i.e., lowest priority in lot selection).

Quite frankly, you are much better off raising your pledge to Citizen level (through the installment plan, if that helps) instead of buying through the add-on store. You get priority lot selection and tax-free status by upgrading your pledge. The only reasons to buy a lot through the add-on store is if (a) you want to make sure you get a lot at launch. There may be few or no lots available for purchase with in-game currency after launch and you may have to wait until Episode 2 for the developers to increase the number of housing lots., and (b) you aren't interested in any of the extra tier rewards at Citizen level or above.

Hope that helps

 

Thanks for the clarification.

At this point, I just don't think it's worth it to pay an arm and a leg in the add-on store mainly for a "place in line", which I can lose at any moment if I happen to go on a month-long vacation. This makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

If any devs are seeing this-- I would just like to say that I strongly hope you consider making add-on lots WAY more valuable than they currently are. At the very least increase the number of months before it reverts or do something to give us a feeling of permanence or value. But putting our hard-earned money simply for a place in line that we could lose at an instant? I would not respect myself if I did that. It's not about the money here it's the principle.

Thanks.

 

Meaning you would not be able to get into the game for 3 mins at some point to pay the rent? Maybe you have a very interesting life...

 

I sympathize with Time's conerns. While you're correct in implying that it isn't hard to get online and pay rent for 3 minutes (even on vacation), I've always been irked by the fear of losing my house to Father Time. Its silly I know, but the fear of forgetting to pay rent, or going on a month long venture to somewhere without internet is legitimate, at least insofar as is bothers a lot of people. I remember on my last UO server, I donated $50 for a nondecay house and a "do not delete if inactive" tag on my account.

 

There are more options. If it's truly an issue of being off the grid for a month... give your login/password to someone and have them pay it for you. Or sell it and buy one back when you get back into the game. Your houses keep decorations if they go back into your inventory...

And if you're thinking that there's really a chance that a month could go by without logging on - maybe an MMO is not really the game for you?

I'm just saying it's hard to be sympathetic on this one. I wouldn't start an MMO with a realistic possibility of being away for a month.

 

It isn't. That's the problem. I agree that there is really no excuse for not logging in for a month (except maybe joining the peace corps or hiking a national trail), but it isn't about that. Its just a little paranoia in the back of some people's heads (for me at least) that makes them wish they could have their account/house secured to never decay.

I don't blame you. Logically, it doesn't make sense to fear such things. I only sympathize with the OP because I have the same odd fear (even though I'm on most games daily and would never be away for even 2 weeks).

Still, the reasons for housing decay are significant, and the desire for an immortal house is selfish and unrealistic (though, perhaps Lords of the Manor could get a non-decay rent-free house).

 

Oh if we're talking about irrational fears, I've got a lot I could share. I think I might have an irrational fear of irrational fears.

 

Well I can think of several games I've played, some being MMOs, that I've stopped playing for a few months at a time for whatever reason (e.g. real-life obligations, temporary shift in interests, etc).

Does anyone know if you can pay the taxes in advance (with either in-game or real-life currency)? If you can then it practically solves the problem.

 

That was the issue under discussion - if you can pay the tax early, it undermines the reason for taxes in the first place (to prevent ghost towns.)

If you stop playing the game, why is there the expectation that everyone has to put up with your empty clutter in the game until you get back? Especially so when you could sell your lot, keep the house, and restart everything later. Or get a friend to log in once a month.

It's an inconvenience and a detraction from the gameplay of other players. Please consider that...

 

FWIW, today I went with the payment plan to upgrade from Explorer to Citizen. That will mean as long as I login once every 5 months, I will always have a home. Having said that, I totally relate to what the OP said. If this game keeps me coming back for the years that I hope it will, then I bet there will be periods of time when I might not be able to login for a month.

 

I get why people don't want ghost towns but theoretically i could log in once a month pay my taxes on my land and then just log out those few moments of me being online does not change if I'm an active player or not. Also, having the option to pre-pay doesn't really change things that much I doubt a ton of people are gonna pay months in advance and then not play. I personally would be just fine with people being able to pay their taxes in advance or being able to pay by mobile app. I either wanna play the game and am going to make an effort to be around or I won't , payment options are not gonna change that.

 

Oh I think it does. I think people won't log in once a month to pay rent. Either they will play actively in some manner, or they will let things lapse. I doubt there will be many who would log in once a month just to pay rent. The issue depends on how many would do that. I think it's a really small number. Mostly a one-month limit will catch those who quit playing and don't care.