Deeds don't decay: That's a problem

They are without question limiting the amount of deeds in-game.

 

They can keep increasing the supply without a sink because there are future land masses opening up. They'll have metrics for deeds that lapsed, deeds that had the person come back after several months, etc. - and they can take it into account as they reach each new episode. If your deed lapses and they replace it with another person's there will always be the "wait until next episode launches" solution, or they can add a town to the game in some out of the way place with some lots in it if a sudden rush of people who had purchased deeds all come back at once.

This is one of those problems that I don't think they will need to tackle until they actually reach the point of selling the last deed to lot ratio and deciding how to proceed at that point. I don't think deed decay is necessary if they have the ability to add a town back in or add land in the next episode.

 

Color me simple: I hope we are successful enough to make this a conversation we actually have to worry about.
Something else that I think is a part of this will be the impact of "room rentals" if that's implemented (and I hope it is) for EP1..
Not everybody wants a house as long as they have a place for their stuff

 

Ahh I must of missed this somewhere down the line, I presumed theyd be keeping the deed npc vendors, but if they are scraping that then they havnt said they are, or outlined it in the "pre/post" notes. But they did say you can outright buy them ingame.

 

You are omitting the limited supply of lots.

If a coffee shop only sold a set number of cups of coffee each day they would be on a first come first serve bases.

If for some reason all those inactivate deeds went back into circulation they'd still be subject to the limited supply of lots and the lot ownership tax.

 

Drastic situations require drastic measures, and I agree that if 20k POT dwellers decide all of a sudden that they all want to move to NPC towns, that space will not be available. Nor should it be. Yet that scenario is so unlikely that I would discount it as a plausible outcome that should affect planning or be used as a scare tactic.

The statement that "if NPC towns fill up nobody would be able to settle in POT's because they wouldn't sell anymore lots" is interesting because it assumes that no NPC dweller would ever decide to move to a POT and that given a choice, new land owners will always choose NPC towns. I consider that also to be a very unlikely scenario. The town lot owner in upper Owl's Head may hold on to his sweet lot with a death grip, but a village lot owner in some backwater PRT with absentee strangers for neighbors is a good candidate for joining new friends in a prime location POT. A row lot owner in an Ardoris alleyway on the outskirts of town might very well be glad to trade his lot in for one in a resort POT with a stunning mountain view overlooking a thriving marketplace.

I can well imagine there being temporary bottlenecks regarding lot availability, because the devs can only track in real time and adjust accordingly, but all in all I think it will work out fine and I see no need for so much pessimism.

 

Not that long ago we had long threads advertising what few lots were in game. Literally overnight there were several new PRT's created so that at least people with smaller lots could place them. Ever since then, the demand looking for in-game row and village lots has fallen dramatically.

The point is that Port just needs to click its heels three times and poof, new lots. If there's ever a lot shortage, then it is intentional.

 

I realize that.

Here's a use case:

I buy a row lot deed in-game for 60k. I pay taxes on it for 6 months, then I get bored and don't log in. Over time the lack of paid taxes or the inactivity frees up the lot. But I will ALWAYS own the deed. So when/if I return, the deed is still there. Now imagine that times many many players that are in the same situation.

The devs have to keep available lots for those people as well as active players that want to move around. So is our answer to this problem simply to create dead space, or to use the dead space in POTs to make up for the gap? Again, this isn't sustainable forever, at some point the world will simply run out of lots for the number of deeds that are in circulation. Or else we'll have a lot of ghost towns created entirely to support the ever growing deed count.

There has to be a way to reduce deeds, just like any other part of the economy needs a sink. Otherwise the inflation of deeds will overwhelm the world we've created to have unintended negative effects.

 

Drocis your idea will punish someone who takes a break twice. First by losing their lot and secondly their deed.

Your concern is very detrimental to the community. I own around 20 taxed and nontaxed deeds. So while your idea would be a boon to me personally implementation would be very much a hinderance to the longevity of the game.

 

You biggest fault is here you are using these items as some kind of economy - they are NOT.

There will always be enough places to place a house to account for EVERY lot purchased before launch in NPR or PRT towns NOT in POTs. So there is going to be enough space for EVERY LOT purchased plus some % over.

Now over time as more players enter the game and purchase Lot Deeds there MAY come a time when there are actually more purchased LOT deeds than avail but just like you stated some will most likely always be avail, since many will place in POTs and others will just let them decay, so the Deed you have will NOT be as valuable as you want :-(

These are not being sold by PORT for player profit, they are being sold so players can live in a house if they so chose to purchase up to that level.

 

... actually that space should be available... for everyone that does move to a POT... they've left a lot open in an NPC/PRT somewhere. Port has said repeatedly that there will be at least 1 lot for every deed + 30% overhead. So if 20k players move to POT's there will be 20k empty lots in NPC/PRT's. They don't plan on releasing more deeds to fill those. So in theory those 20k players should be able to move back anytime to an NPC/PRT.

 

The +30% promise, based upon MY understanding is only for release. I suspect over time plots might and should become "rare" especially outside POTs.

If POTs become worthless and their land mass unused no one will buy them in the future. This will hurt the players, but moreso will hurt Portalarium since substantial pledge money was made from the sale of POT.

The goal is to impose virtual rarity.

For comparison research other games with virtual real estate.

 

That may be true (can't quite tell from their wording), but even if that 30% fills up... there would still be a lot somewhere for any deed holder in an NPC/PRT town. They have made it clear that they will NOT sell more deeds than there are lots... ever. So those 20k players will ALWAYS be able to move back to an NPC/PRT.

 

I would assume no more deeds than lots would also count POT space with exception of release. There is no guarantee the 20k will have NPC/PRT space avalable POST release. In fact I think the plan is for the exact opposite. People will eventually have to either pay a premium for NPC/PRT lots, live in a POT, rent, or go homeless.

Btw, nothing wrong with being homeless. Saves a lot of headache having too much stuff, taxes, rules, and other assorted nonsense.

 

No, Port has made it clear in a number of videos that POT lots do not count in there totals... EVER. So there will indeed always be a non-POT for them to back to.

 

Can you provide a support or anyone else confirm? Seems like a load of wasted POT space is this is the case. Unless there is other incentivization to live in a POT and then many will be angered over the incentives.

 

It was mentioned in one of the videos late last year after this very topic was hotly debated in another thread. @DarkStarr has repeatedly stated you will NEVER be forced to live in a POT, there will always be a lot available.

 

The deed is not crafted. It's purchased from an NPC or the store. This keeps the deed from the requirement of an economic sink.

What't the point in having a deed to a lot at all? Why not just attach the deed to the purchase of the lot. When the taxes fall to the level of forfeit the deed is removed. The location is the value not the paper in the backpack.

In the current design a deed unclaimed is permission to claim a vacant lot. If there are no vacant lots then it's worthless. There is no need to decay the worthless deed.
If there are plenty of vacant lots and people are not claiming them then Port is doing something wrong.

So really it comes down to when and where you can purchase your lot.

Make the lots limited and deeds abundant the people will need to purchase a deed and find a lot. Make the lots limited and deeds limited then people will need to find a deed and find a lot.

What you are suggesting seems like it would punish people for securing a deed well in advance of securing a lot.

 

Why is deed decay fun?

Not sure I follow the need for deed decay after reading this thread. The premise seems to be that there will be a lack of deeds, blocking out newcomers from getting deeds. I'd offer that there are plenty of row deeds for sale in the add on store now that could be acquired, and there have been for quite a long time. If those are actually sold in the store, that would be a good thing for the game. However, they have not been. Until then, why is it fun to penalize those who have been contributing with yet more decay? That sounds like anti-fun for those of us here now so that we can offer deeds to someone not even paying attention to the game? Anti-fun is the opposite of fun.

 

If there was 1 deed per lot then someone could hold onto a deed and a lot would go unused. Then there would be a need for a decay.

That would be more about economics and less about fun.