Housing and rent cost reductions

Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Daigoji Gai and I am a representative of Novia's The Rent Is Too Damn High Party.
Please listen to the message our senior spokesperson recorded for me to deliver to the people of Novia.
Join today. Fight not to hear children's stomachs growling, not having to take 3-4 jobs, cooking, butchering and smelting to get by.
Join Novia's The Rent Is Too Damn High Party and vote in every Novian election!

Serious business.

 

I have a tax-free village deed. I'd be okay if they rebalanced (i.e. reduced) taxes on taxed deeds, but not to something stupid like 1 gold/day for a row lot. I would prefer if they had some justification/reasoning/math to reduce it to X amount, though.

I'd be really, really pissed if they suddenly started making tax-free deeds easy to get. On the other hand, I'm okay with them offering more tax-free deeds (or upgrades or such) if it cost more than what kickstarter/bundles get.

EDIT: I don't think the free row lot upon quest completion should be tax free. I want to avoid the "ooo let's buy an additional account for $20 on sale to get the benefits of a tax-free row lot!".

 

My opinion has always been that the level of taxes on lots was one of the big issues that made the game overly grindy, because it created a situation where people in certain circumstances felt that they needed to do heavy grinding. Plus, a person in this situation also had a heavy economic disadvantage (which messes up a lot of game balance issues). And because of all of the associated burdens, it also made it feel that taxed deeds were worthless compared to tax-free deeds, because of the cost advantages in saving up to buy a tax-free deed versus buying a taxed deed and paying the monthly taxes.

So, all around, I think lowering taxes is a good and necessary change for the health of the game. Which is what's most important.

Myself, I've acquired some tax-free deeds myself through trades, I'm still glad I have them, because they still present much less of a hassle than paying taxes no matter how low the taxes get.

 

I think taxed lot deeds should change to a monthly rent system at approximately nine times what it is now like in the real world. E.g. Row: 4500 gold per month (150 gold per day), Village: 9000 gold per month (300 gold per day), Town: 18000 gold per month (600 gold per day), and City: 31500 gold per month (1050 gold per day), but I'm sure the developers and a lot of founder players who spent a lot on tax free lots won't be happy with rent being lowered this much.

 

THIS!
ALL OF THIS!

OUTSTANDING POST!
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Founders did their pledges before the tax rates were announced, pledgers wouldn't even be the ones with the real complaints. :>

 

When Founders invested for that benefit, they had No Clue how much rent would be... In fact, I recall that the rent, once announced, was significantly higher than I had been expecting. If rent had been set at 10g/day for a Row Lot, and 200 for a city lot, the benefit would not have changed at all... I've currently a large number of Rent Free deeds, all in use in my town, and I would not in the least be offended by a drastic reduction of the rent, and do not feel I would have grounds for a complaint unless they eliminated taxes completely.

 

Ummm I bought a bundle a few weeks ago... so im not sure what ur driving at?

As far as I know taxes rates were known then.

 

My mistake... I had thought you a Founder. I've edited to remove the second person pronoun.

 

I do but my buying did not stop there, anyways that origianal post was a conversation starter. Read further down for bettee detail of the convo.

 

Nor mine. I most recently purchased 6 Village Bundles when Inns were introduced.
I would still not be offended with a reduction in rent as I've always thought that rent was set too high, even with the Dole of the Oracle.

 

Personally... let them remove taxes... idgaf.

I am content with my investment, and if it means more players, and this lives to see episode 5 go live, then charge ahead smartly and damn the torpedoes!

 

Im sold on this personally, but what would funding look like for eps 2-5. They could focus on houses and ships and take the loss on deeds. Imop i like this better.

All deeds tf

Crappy houses craftable, then scale up from there..

Simple $
Better $$
Great $$$
Awesome $$$$

 

I have several rent free deeds, but use a few paid rent deeds for secondary properties not primary. I salute you seeing the bigger picture and not feeling our benefit is being compromised by a reduction in rent.
Doing the rent free vs. paid lot game - I can see new casual players struggling, and I'd rather have populated POTS than players bailing after getting tired of banks rhey have no intimate connection with nor investment in.

You sir, delivered an...

OUTSTANDING POST
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Then everyone would have a City deed and a significantly smaller class of Property Owner would be created.

 

But what good is everyone with a city deed and no lots avail, uo style loved that always idoc hunting.

 

Early on there was discussion of variable tax based on where your lot was claimed. I wouldn’t mind a reduction in PoT deeds only as this would help communities grow and keep in theme of the free PoT row.

 

Personally the urban sprawl of Ultima Online, where there was no area that didn't have housing littering the landscape was one of the long list of 'features' I found objectionable.

 

Well this system will never offer that reguardless how they deal with it.

Well beside all the damn pots all over the map.

So I take it back we have it now!

 

I've only purchased TF deeds for my characters because the idea that I'd have some daily tax hanging over my head and "forcing" me to log in each day in order to earn gold was unacceptable. I was willing to pay extra for these TF lots in order to avoid the taxes, and I'm happy with that decision. I play because I want to, not because I feel like I need to.

I have to be honest; I've always felt the taxes charged each day on taxed deeds was too high for players who own them, so I'm glad they're thinking of cutting the cost on them. Does this make my TF deeds less valuable if/when I decide to sell some of them? Not necessarily. Lower taxes means more players will be more likely to purchase property (of any kind). Plus, free taxed deeds to every player who finishes the Shroud quest is great for attracting and retaining new players. Many of these players will eventually upgrade, either to TF deeds or larger deeds (village/town/city). I think these moves are a positive for everyone.

My major concern, despite Starr's very positive comments during the telethon yesterday, is that I don't see a big influx of new players. I expected the game to be swamped by tens of thousands of new players at release. I was afraid I'd have to constantly switch over to Private mode every time I wanted to farm for crafting supplies. At one point last year, I think Richard mentioned that 50k players would be break-even for SotA. Starr said they were happy with the actual numbers that they're reviewing, and I'll take him at his word. However, running around Novia every day, it just doesn't seem like that big of a difference in population from what we had in pre-release. Right or wrong, my anecdotal experience has made me a bit queasy about my long-term investment.

For that reason, ANYTHING the developers can do to bring in new players (and "housing" seems to be the first thing every new player asks about) and keep them around for a really long time gets my enthusiastic approval.