Cost

Since they are Instanced how would there be a market? Why buy one from a player when you can just buy one from a vendor? And if you say they can run out then isn't this whole argument/conversation about housing for the masses?

As for the different size stations, that would require them to rework and revamp a major part of the crafting system, and takes a huge draw away from trying to get into the bigger houses.

 

It would probably lower the value of persistent houses

 

well his thinking might be in line with the gypsy wagon housing people are talking about. I believe a main difference would be that no one can visit and that you cannot have a vendor, it would be just for you. And the gypsy wagon one would basically be a traveling instanced storage. Lots of people talking about how they like that.

 

There is no doubt about that.

 

I am just playing the devils advocate here but what value do houses have if there are none to be had. They state they will be very rare.

 

I don't think it's as much about the price of the houses as much as the prices of taxable plots vs. pledge rewards. With pledge rewards from citizen tier and above, the customer is not only getting tax-free land but physical items, access to Dev + forums, early access to alpha and beta releases, the land grab, five episodes of the game, and additional virtual properties from all tiers below the pledged tier (at least by my understanding). That's quite a bit and very much justifies the cost of the "Lord British love pledges" in my opinion. However, when the perception is that the pledged amount equals the value of just one aspect of the pledge reward and that perception is transferred to what's being sold in the add-on store, then it becomes problematic.

Let's compare a Lord tier reward with the taxable town lot. The add-on store lists a taxable town lot as being worth US $900. What is the basis for this price point? What is the price of the tax-free town lot then? Is it the full $1600? Is it $1000? What's the price of the vendor, the two expert crafting tables, the servant, the pet, the Lord town home, etc.? I know that five episodes going at $45 a pop is $225. The physical and digital book is going for $45. So what's the price of the rest of the rewards, physical and digital? When stacked up together does it justify the price point of the taxable lot? I think the price of $450 is fair but the full price is unjustified because it is so prohibitive (the same with taxable city lots), unless, the point is to get people to shell out the extra cash to pay for pledges because the rewards would seem more "worthwhile" in comparison. Still, even at these "sale" prices, those lots are not moving. Clearly, something's a bit off, thus the cause of concern.

I've said this elsewhere, when I pledged money for this game and its subsequent episodes, it was for the creation of the game which I hope to enjoy. Sure, I got caught up in the whole reward comparisons which helped me bump my pledge from Founder Ancestor to Knight to Lord, but because of the perceived advantage in those tiers. This is the most I've ever spent on a game, especially one that I know very little about, but I am willing, begrudgingly, to help fund it -- my money; my sense of nostalgia; my risk. I do not, however, want others who may be more prudent with their spending to get the sense that when approaching the game, they are met with sales pitches like "Don't get left behind!" (as on the About page of the website) because that implies that this game is pay to win and other false perceptions. I do not want folks to approach this game and think that housing is a "major feature or attraction for Shroud of the Avatar" (Richard Garriott, SotA Developer Commentary video). In the end, it is going to be story, gameplay, PVE/PVP, crafting, nostalgic throwbacks, and selective multi-player gaming that have to be the draw to the game and funding as well as the concept that one can earn plots, items, and be able to enjoy the game through in-game actions and not have what it is supposed to be a leisure time activity become a job just to not "get left behind".

For that to happen, there needs to be transparency concerning crafting quality, the actual benefits of Prosperity items, the dollar to game gold exchange rate, the in-game prices of plots and homes, the tax rates of taxable plots and vendor taxes, the disparity of public crafting tables and expert crafting tables at launch, etc.

I do not understand, however, that when folks raise these concerns, it's called negative speculation.

 

Thank you, that was well written.

 

So tell me. Where do you think they should put upwards of 100,000 or more public vendors?

 

No, i suggested players should be able to buy instanced houses.

 

It has been my stance from the beginning that if housing is important to a player in a game where housing is not required, they have two ways to obtain housing: with real money or with time devoted in game.

Just like real life, you have choices to make.

Do you spend your hard earned cash or do you spend your valuable time?

Its quite difficult to compare this to something like SC. Can you even play a space sim without a ship?

 

I am talking about the best for the game. More pledgers and a more solidly funded game also benefit them and i cant show my instanced house to anyone else and dont have my own vendor.

 

There are public vendors i believe?

And if there aren't how can anyone else sell anything without a house vendor?

All they have to do is make smaller stations. They could work just like any other stations so i dont see the problem.

 

I think it's funny that people all of a sudden are supporting the idea of instanced housing, but several months ago when someone suggested that Portalarium use something similar to what was implemented in Lord of the Rings Online, everyone was talking about what an abysmal failure LotRO instanced housing was.

I guess it was an idea that had to percolate and age a bit in the SotA collective consciousness.

 

Never say never, but the current design goals that Richard explained in this post are:
- no instanced housing
- no endless neighborhoods


Regarding gypsy wagons, that is gaining more traction with the Devs it seems as it does provide another vehicle for monetization but it is feature creep and has not been committed to. Please see my rentable lots (wilderness camps for "mobile" houses like wagons and tents) here.

 

Well its not set in stone but you just made my day! Thanks for the post smack!

 

Public vendors for people trying to sell things, visible to everyone in OPO? Again, if there are 100,000 people who want a vendor, where will they put them all? 1,000,000? More?

I don't think making them smaller will help.

 

So how will players without a house sell it's crafted gear?

 

Not my problem. I'm not the innumerate one asking for the impossible.

 

Koldar is correct in what he says. While having a house in game is fun, it's certainly not required. If people want a house to decorate that badly but don't wish to have one right off the bat by pledging, they certainly have the option to obtain one in single player offline to hold them over until they are able to get one in multiplayer. Since no one could see it anyway, what difference would it make if it was online or offline mode?

I can't see the devs offering an instanced option. It would be a punch in the face to people who spent real money just to get a house who also may not care if people visit their house. I'd imagine a great lot of them will be using it for personal space anyway. The question that needs to be asked then is whether or not you're willing to spend time in the game obtaining gold in order to buy one within the game?

 

They have talked about Centers where people can put goods on consignment.

But people could still place a vendor on a plot of someone they know if they have sufficient permissions.

This would cause them to design them, and we don't even know if they are designing a different style station for each of the possible levels yet. This would at least double their work. And you didn't touch on the fact that if they are limiting how many stations a plot/house can have and the smaller village ones are limited to one, wouldn't it make sense that a smaller instanced house would have none?