"Player housing major part of game" (from 6 month demo)

I have to be honest, the whole player housing thing is completely lost on me (particularly at prices being asked). I mean, I get that some feel that it completes the circle of simulating a virtual life (but I have to ask, is this a themed Second Life, or is it in fact the spiritual successor to Ultima as has been so often said). Real life (mine at least) is too short: I want my gaming time to be spent...well...gaming. Not decorating a virtual house, or baking bread to pay for one: I've got a real job which pays for a real house which takes up enough time and real money as is.

I always felt that the "unsafe logout" of UO was a turn off. Real life gets in the way. I cant always plan a play session with enough time to get back to an inn (and in this context owning a house doesn't help anyway if you cant get back to it, and the possibility of house looting just made it that much less appealing to get into).

I'm fine with microtransactioning an extra backpack or whatever but don't make me pay 3 figures to make the game playable.

Just my 2 cents

 

You're right. You see, there's an Ultima-like story that they're keeping secret so we can discover and solve in-game.
Housing is very much a side item that people can enjoy, and it's something the devs can share with us without spoiling the story.
So, housing gets a lot of public attention.

Really, housing is a nice feature, but not the issue some people make it out to be.

 

They are not making you pay 3 figures to make the game playable.

Wait until the game ships and you can play for hours to gather in-game gold to buy a lot and a house. Cool huh?


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I thought they pledged 1000's of dollars because they thought the Game would be worth it, not for a House that everyone keeps saying is not a major draw to the game.
Although those that don't think its a major part of the game tend to be those with one or more Plots & houses.
Not everyone can donate to a higher tier to get a house because there aren't enough to even give all backers one if they wanted one.
If we all pledge up to Citizen level will they add 200 V/T/C to fit us all in.

 

Some people like to play Better Homes and Gardens in games. Others don't. Some people want Open PvP. Others don't.

If SotA can appeal to both demographics, Portalarium will have done something amazing. Good for them for even trying.

 

Well, as someone who has steadily upgraded over time from Collector up to Lord, I will say that , sure, having a Lord house and town plot is nice, but my primary reason for upgrading by such a large amount is to support a project which I believe in. I have many fond memories of playing Ultima I-IX, and hope to repeat that experience with Shroud of the Avatar. (Many other RPGs out there are simply about flashy CGI and level grinding. RG's games have always concentrated on delivering a rich, role-playing experience.) I believe that many other people who backed at Citizen level and above feel the same way

 

I think at this point it's being discussed ad nauseum because there's not much else to talk about just yet. Historically there is a pretty large section of the gaming population that adores their housing and they love to collect items and decorate with them.

In the first release it makes sense to exercise the decorating tools as well, because these same mechanics will be used to engineer a LOT of the game from a development stand point. A modified version of this process will most likely be used to place items in dungeons and instances, so finding bugs now will help with the speed and fluidity of the overall process in the long run.

To each their own I say and once more details on other aspects of the game are widely released, I don't think we'll be talking housing nearly as much.

 

Let's see... All that money donated to the project and housing is what they've been working on the most. I would say that make housing the primary feature of the game, if it is the most they have to show for all the money they have received. It's a good thing that the people who have donated money, either through kickstarter or direct donations or by purchasing three-figure lots and houses on the cash shop will get to enjoy the housing system. Those who just buy the game after it's been out a while won't have that guarantee once the masses get hold of the game and buy up all the land...

You know how it has been in many MMOs where you are out trying to gather resources, and someone runs up and grabs what you are looking for? Yes, resource nodes are first-come first served, but it is still annoying. Especially when the person who grabbed it out from under you tosses out some stupid comment like "you snooze you lose!" or "Did you want that? Too Bad Noob!" Well at least resource nodes respawn after a few minutes. But a housing lot? No new ones to be added until the next chapter, so wait about a year. Someone may sell their lot, so go grind for a year to be able to afford the ridiculous price they will sell it for, or trade real money for it on ebay...

If housing is the most they have to show for all the money that has been thrown at the game, then that makes it their primary feature, which will only be available for the elite among us who get the game early after its release... 5000~ lots will not last long when the masses come.

If it is a major feature of the game, then it should be accessible to everyone. If someone does what they need to in order to be able to buy a lot and a house to go on it, then there needs to be a lot available to put a house on. As it is now, for at least a year after launch, only those who donated or were among the first to buy the game will be able to enjoy the game to its fullest. Why not make it so that only those who donated or bought the game first can craft? Or how about restricting PvP to only the first 2500 people to join one of two opposing factions? I guarantee if they did something like that, the PvP crowd would be screaming bloody murder.

 

It seems to me all the anti-money ranting is a bit overblown since for ways to deal with limited housing there is no truly fair solution. From looking around the forums there are a lot of older players that grew up with Ultima and are huge fans but have families, full time jobs or other commitment that keep them from sitting down for hours and hours to earn gold. I’m sure there are going to be others that have an equal level of fandom as them but more free time to grind out gold. In a scenario like that it is unfair to group A since they can’t just devote their lives to earn a house quickly enough and thus lose out to the negative scenarios be mentioned. But as it stands now the system they have is as about as fair as it can be for both sides since it allows group A get a deed but still allow almost an equal number of spots open for group B to earn one.

Since the figure is about 5000~ spots no matter what method they chose as it stand about 20K would lose out on houses. Going from the number on KS there are only maybe 2000~ village deeds available for cash (max of 1000 for citizen level, 500 for knight, 200 add-on store, no clue on Edelmann) and since the only ones sold out are the add-on deed we have no good figures on how many are left.

Also the speculation about outrageous prices and sales on Ebay seem a bit premature. Yes in game prices will always be high since there will always be a demand but limited supply but making the only available by in game gold won’t change that. There probably be some that will sell on Ebay but those will most likely be edge cases and not the norm so I see little reason to get worked up too much about them. Yes much of what I’m guessing may end up being wrong but until we actually have more information both positive and negative theories are correct so ranting that some have more money to invest really won’t accomplish much other than try and create a wedge in the community.

 

That is not what I meant with my post, and for which reason people donate at various tiers is probably very different from person to person and I will not speculate on that. Though, I don't think anyone who donates any amount does so without thinking the game is worth it, anything else would not make sense.

Houses are in the most expensive pledge levels, and if they weren't, I think those pledges would see a lot less support. Without incentives I think people on a general basis would donate a lot less, and those who donates deserve to see their included incentives. Do you not agree?

 

Get your tin foil hat out. It is FUD spreading time...


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Occupy SotA.

What a world, what a world...

 

Yeah, but whenever I do that, I get one of these messages...

Owain,

Your actions in this message (post that I cared profoundly about) are not appropriate. We cannot allow users to be abusive, overly aggressive, threatening, or to "troll". This does not follow our rules. Your message may have been removed or altered.

Your account's access may be limited based on these actions. Please keep this in mind when posting or using our site.

Moral of the story? Play nice, children.

 

On kickstarter they were expensive Pledge levels and I am pleased they have one. Its the fact that they can have as many has they want that bothers me when they are so limited.
The ones in the add on shop were for less than some people had already donated on kickstarter and not received an house in their pledge, so a newcomer could pledge $45 + $150 House plot if they went up to Citizen level cost they could buy 3 plots for $450 + $45 pledge.
Portalarium are setting a bad precedence for players allowing more than one Plot per account were some will be sold on EBAY for a High Price.

 

Personally, if I were to consider selling one of many properties, I would not think about selling on e-bay or similar. I would be selling them in-game. That's just me, though.

Letting people get many houses, apart from giving Portalarium more money, could also let someone hold onto houses for his or her friends/guild members. Recently you could gift them away, but you could not before. There are many possibilities which I think are positive.

 

I won’t disagree that I also didn’t like the idea of them selling the deeds in the add-on store or people owning more than one but still overall three deeds in the store isn’t as much at citizen level. An adventure level pledge with three deeds really isn’t an apples to apples comparison since it lack all the physical rewards and the Unity assets(which are arguably more valuable that a deed) that can be estimated to make up over half of that $500 price tag. And still if there are people buying two, three, or even more deeds to sell on ebay that is still an edge case and by no means the norm
and the use of ebay is still speculation.

 

As this Thread was set up to vote on housing emphasis I would say that the vote so far carries the argument that Housing is very important to a large majority of People.
So Portalarium must carry the can for putting Housing Plots into competions for a few Backers who were probably already at the house owning Pledge level, They also made a Big Marketing mistake by allowing Multiple Plot ownership per account and selling House deeds in the add-on shop, therefore depriving players from obtaining them in game when they will also face stiff opposition from anyone buying into the game on release.
But looking at the Housing FAQ,s they have no intention of attempting to correct it.

 

Let's not be too hasty here. We still have no exact idea of how many lots will be open at launch. It will not be 0. Multiple plots could be a drop in the bucket of all the plots available. We don't know how many actually have them. Just saying that there's not a lot of data to make the claims you're trying to make yet.

Marketing mistake? You can't really say that unless the lack of plots will deter people from playing. Limited resources have their own attraction and can compel people to play the game for the challenge of making the acquisition. Plus, people will have the opportunity at Ep 2 most likely. Again, I don't think this is an easy case to make at this point.

 

I see no evidence of mistakes anywhere, other than a few disgruntled people on the forums.

 

House deeds or plots sold on the cash shop isn't really the problem. The problem is the arbitrary decision to put a limit on the physical locations which can be claimed, and implying that lot increases won't happen until the next chapter, and that their plan is to put a year between chapters.

I don't really care how people get a lot or a house. I do care that people can get more than one lot (ensuring that someone else cannot have one through normal means) and then either using them just to dump stuff or to horde them to be sold at ridiculously inflated price or on ebay for real money. The rules need to apply equally across the board. As it is now, they don't.

As to the occupy SotA comment, puh-lease. It does not take a rocket scientist to look at the system as it is presented and see that it is stacked in favor of one group and shuts another group out BY DESIGN. The only people who will say otherwise are those who are benefiting from the inequity of the situation. This will be proven when the lots run out, the complaints start rolling in, and the haves will respond to the have-nots with something along the lines of "Too bad for you, I got mine!" And that is not going to make the have-nots want to play the game so they can get theirs too... It's going to make them leave the game. Oh a few will stay. But the majority will not, if housing is something that drew them to the game to begin with, at least.

This is not about some false sense of entitlement. As I said, I have no horse in this race, as I don't care whether I have a house or not. However, because I sort of pull myself back from it and look at the broad strokes, I see how the system will prove be unfair for those who join the game later rather than sooner. And I am sorry... It's just not right. And I won't just shut up and walk away.