Keeps, why not? Devs?

[azmodanb]

I know it's been a hot topic of the past, many people have hopes, many people get let down.

It's been a long time since they introduced keeps, and a long but shorter time since they introduced CUSTOM houses... why is it still that keeps can't be customized?

Anyone that owns one knows how much wasted space there is... I understand why castles are not able to be customized, but why not keeps? Is there any dev response to this in the past, I thought they were looking at it at one point, was there anything done? Any reasons given? Just curious .. just wondering... just hoping...

Why should they not be? Any thoughts?

I would suggest, IF it was done to only make it a two story custom house plot.. I dont suggest they make it a 4 story, just a two story, that's able to be tweeked..

 

[Edgar]

It's been a long time since they introduced keeps, and even longer since they introduced CUSTOM houses... why is it still that keeps can't be customized?

I know my memory is slipping but keeps have been around ALOT longer the customized homes. I had my first keep in 1999, custom homes didnt come along untill AoS (which I wish I could forget).

I for one hate CUSTOM homes and would rather they bring back tents before they let anyone made something like a keep become another eyesore.

JMO
Ed

 

[Pawl]

It was once posted on UO site. "it beyond the max 18x18 custom house", i do beleave a tower can be changed to a plot of same size , Not sure about the Lshape cause of tress behind house, but think it said it would go smaller to fit size..
keeps been in game a LONG time, i think from day one, never could afford to buy deed but i beleave there were in game from day one or first patch (not exp pack)

i didn't get my first house til a while before t2a came out , had 2 tents thou.

 

[azmodanb]

oops! *quick edit* .. typed that fast... sorry hehehehe... yeah I wrote that backwords hahah .. yeah I loved the tents, but the only reason I have a keep is because all my junk wont fit into an 18X18 anymore, and castles are well even worse on space, and I sold mine for a keep... years ago... to well have a more compact house, but at the same time be able to hold my stuff. Sucks though how it's layed out... I have put up latters to use the roof of the keep, and done major deco to try and change how it looks... but for the most part it's still a big pile of wasted space... I guess I just wish someday they would make us able to customize it.. I am sure im not alone on it...

Why do you hate custom houses? I like the fact that people are able to express themselves... it's neat to see what people do with 18X18's ... and how many options there are.

i do beleave a tower can be changed to a plot of same size

Yeah you can get the footprint of a tower in the custom menu... but you dont get the huge roof then that over hangs.. which gives you more room then a custom of the same size... 18X18 is bigger then a tower as far as roomXroom

 

[Norrar]

Tents FTW!!!

(and id rather see new add ons in the customization tabs but...)

 

[Wynne]

If walls could be removed, and flooring tiles put down in the grassy areas and the walls between the grassy areas and the rest of the keep removed, that alone would make keeps much more useable. They should not be greatly customizeable, but only within the limits of the tiles already in use in the keeps AND within the footprint of the keep itself.

Just able to delete/replace walls and flooring, or change the stairs, or something like that would be nice. Keeps and castles are very user-unfriendly.

 

[love2winalot]

Gypsy tents FTW. Just a few allowed, and can be placed in T2A, an Ilsh.

 

[Pawl]

Yes tents, i loved my tents. hehehe you never had one? login with some monster in it, or pker in it, no door to lock and keep anyone out, god i loved my tent! LOL

loved my first small plaster house..

 

[UltimaSword]

I was just going to make a post about bigger customizable housing spots. Honestly I think 18*18, while nice, is too small. I would have so much fun customizing a keep sized plot. It really should be considered. If anyone knows of any negatives (besides eye sores) I'd like to hear em because I might be too excited about such an idea lol.

 

[Pawl]

I would have so much fun customizing a keep sized plot.

just a thought, or everyone would want one. and there be no room for them all but.

here goes.


If you could have a keep size plot with the storage of an (say log cabin) about 1/3 less of an 18x18 would you still want one just to build, or you need the storage?

Would a, 12x12 with the storage of a castle be more to your liking?

 

[UltimaSword]

I like the building aspect of it. I do not care too much for storage because in UO (not RL lol) I am not too much of a pack rat.

 

[Lord Drakelord]

The only thing I wish they do is turn the empty spaces inside a keep to something like prison cells or/and treasure vaults where we can keep our booty, with secret doors from the halls allowing access to the areas.

 

[Pawl]

just asking. but many would want the keep plot to kave more storage, and room would be short again i think..

Me, i would take the 12x12 with castle storage, i don't display stuff in my house , my house by no means if full, i still have 1/2 the storage of my 18x18 free still ..

 

[UltimaSword]

Yes but I think many would love the fact of having such nice room to customize. I feel there is a lot of room for houses right now. Even if they changed it there still would be room.

 

[Harb]

When this was first kicked around and we did have dev responses on the issue, the only thing I can recall any of them saying was that the problem was blocking terrain within some (not all) of the structures themselves. An example would be a rock or shrub in a castle courtyard or inside a keeps lower walls. Since the terrain itself was not to be modified, nor was blocking terrain scheduled to be relooked, they could not address the player concern/ desires at that time. There were a lot of other player opinions voiced, but never from dev itself. Blocking terrain was once redefined since, but it seems due to low demand, the issue has never really been relooked. This may be is a good one for Jeremy!

 

[UltimaSword]

Yes this is something I really would like to see a response to though I do not mind if there isn't one yet as there are more pressing issues. I'd still like to see a dev say whether its not possible or if it is worth it looking into (i think it is) lol

 

[MalagAste]

Aware of the wasted space... but I'll be darned if I want to come upon an enormous borg cube the size of a keep or castle..... The price you pay for having a keep or castle and taking up all that space is that you can't custom..... I think it should remain this way......

However... On the same page with that..... I seriously think that there should be 2 or 3 versions of each and owners can pick and choose which one they want..... and change it from time to time.... Like going into custom mode for a house they should be able to go into a style mode and change the style of the castle or keep.... Maybe a "Traditional" and then two other styles... Perhaps a "Japanese" and maybe some other style of castle....


One suggestion I made before was to allow the players to enter a contest on a test shard where you can "custom" a keep and/or a castle.... and then the Dev team could choose about 10 entries.... and of those ten then we could "vote" for what 2 styles we like best and then they Dev's could copy those and put them in game.... I think it would be nice... The only stipulation would have to be that it must have the same footprint..... so you couldn't actually put things in the open areas on either one but you could change the layout... Just a thought....

 

[UltimaSword]

I do not think it should remain that way (at least for keeps). It is not my problem if some guy doesn't want to build on his plot. That should not be a legit reason for why i cannot.

 

[azmodanb]

Would a, 12x12 with the storage of a castle be more to your liking?

Yes! I mean the only reason I have a keep and not a custom 18X18 is because I ran out of storage on the 18X18, other then paying for another account just to have more room, I sold my 18X18, and had to get a Keep to store my bods, and countless old items, and just hell JUNK. The 18X18 has tons of storage yes, but not enough for me at least, BODS take up ALOT of room if you really get into them.

That said, I would be all for having a smaller plot, sacraficing the room, for more storage. Example... getting more custom house choices that give you more storage at a drawback, either size of the plot or something else. Maybe you get more storage if you choose a shorter house? 18X18 with max or two stories, and you get a bonus of a keeps storage limit?

OR, making BODS take up less room in house, maybe? Would prevent people from having to leave there 18X18's for more room, most of the time people have either to many bods, at least that's one of the main reasons people have to go to keeps or castles. (one of many reasons im sure, in my case and a few others who have posted there reasons for having to get a keep or castle were there massive bod collections)

OR, making keeps customizable would work... I am not asking for a 4 story keep sized plot... a 2 story (like it is now) would be GREAT. I am not for being able to make HUGE 4 story keeps, which would be an eye sore for sure. EVEN just be able to change a door here, take down a wall here... but have to keep the outside walls... just being able to change the inside of the keep would be ok with me.

 

[Loqucious]

Maybe it's me, but I kind of like the idea that the old school houses can't be modified. To me it makes them special.

 

[Kith Kanan]

has to be some drawbacks to wasting that much space ... and imho if they suddenly made it so , alot of peopel who down graded to be able to customize prob would be extramly pissed off

 

[The Home Guild]

Need more space?
well you can purchase 40% storage upgrades with ml and the storage upgrade on uo's site.

 

[Ni-]

The official response that I've ever heard was that Keeps, Castles, and L shaped houses don't have totally filled in square footprints and that the highest customizable footprint is 18x18. Which I think is the max update range for UO?

Anyway, I think that it is fair that there are drawbacks to both sides. It sucks for Keep/Castle owners to not be customizable. It sucks for 18x18 owners to not have the storage of Castles/Keeps.

They would have to add housing plots that are 25x25 and 32x32(I think) to allow Castle/Keep owners to customize their houses. In alot of cases trees and other items might be within the footprint blocking re-placement anyway.

I think it's fine the way it is. I've learned to live with my limited storage of my 18x18 to have the designable ability.

 

[Pawl]

BODS take up ALOT of room if you really get into them.

Called books, one chest with 125 books x 500 in each 62500 bods


thats alot of bods so you got more then 65k bods?
that an 18x18 with 125 of 2119 storage? you have alot left over even 2 chest 250 books with 500 in each 125000 bods, that still leaves 1850+ left in storage..

 

[Leaf]

Just let us put doors or teleporters in the walls that go out to the grassy area and tile in the foor, or at least let us lock things down in that area. Not to much to ask for and will allow us to utilize that wasted space.

 

[Fireman Sam]

Called books, one chest with 125 books x 500 in each 62500 bods


thats alot of bods so you got more then 65k bods?
that an 18x18 with 125 of 2119 storage? you have alot left over even 2 chest 250 books with 500 in each 125000 bods, that still leaves 1850+ left in storage..

youre having a laugh eh?
if you can show me a chest containing 125 filled bod books ill eat my own head

 

[Harb]

youre having a laugh eh?
if you can show me a chest containing 125 filled bod books ill eat my own head

Uh, Sam, begin eating. There are lots and lots, and lots of cases of this. If you have a character on Chessie drop a PM and I'll show you ours, and we haven't collected a single BOD in 4 or 5 years.

 

[Cynic]

I would like to see customizable keeps. Storage has been an issue for me when it comes down to the items that I cannot stack and take up a storage slot per item. Just for PvP I have to keep a seperate 18x18 for supplies.

However making a keep customizable isn't about storage for me, I don't think this thread has anything to do with storage, just the fact that keep owners are getting tired of the layout. I can relate, I hate running around my keep.

The "courtyard" areas in the keeps are ********. The fact that I have to "leave house" in order to get to the front of my keep faster is dumb.

Honestly if the devs cant make keeps customizable I would be happy with them adding doorway's to the two front rooms, instead of those windows. I would at least get more use out of the seperate rooms in the keep.

 

[Pawl]

I was replying to the other person post, said his bod's are taking alot of space, when they shouldn't...if he uses books

 

[Fireman Sam]

Harb, well my chests on europa only hold one full book with 25 spare slots as designed, they use 1 lockdown for every 5 bods in the book, im afraid if you get more then you must be using some kind of exploit, i wouldnt be keen to use that in case a gm removes them all.
" does put head on plate though"

 

[Tjalle]

Called books, one chest with 125 books x 500 in each 62500 bods


thats alot of bods so you got more then 65k bods?
that an 18x18 with 125 of 2119 storage? you have alot left over even 2 chest 250 books with 500 in each 125000 bods, that still leaves 1850+ left in storage..

Well, the thing is though that 5 BODs in a book takes up one item slot. So if you have a chest with one book with 500 BODs in it then that chest contains 101 items...

500/5=100 plus the book.

At least that´s how it works for me...

 

[Tjalle]

Harb, well my chests on europa only hold one full book with 25 spare slots as designed, they use 1 lockdown for every 5 bods in the book, im afraid if you get more then you must be using some kind of exploit, i wouldnt be keen to use that in case a gm removes them all.
" does put head on plate though"

Fireman Sam, if you want to maximize the use of your chests then have 2 books with 300 BODs in each. That will make it 122 items in each chest...

 

[Fireman Sam]

aye i do that, but i certainly cannae get 125 filled books in one chest

 

[RenaLynne]

I do like custom houses but keeps are called keeps because of the way theyre structured. Customizing it would have to be very limited for it to still technically even be a keep.

 

[ultima online]

Fireman Sam, if you want to maximize the use of your chests then have 2 books with 300 BODs in each. That will make it 122 items in each chest...

or put your filled bod books on vendors as "not for sale" and dont price any of the bods in the book, negligible gold sink for the cost of the vendors fee ~60gold/day and completely legal too might i add.
Then you can use the chests that used to hold the bods for something else, completely freeing up your lock downs too (unless your a packrat)

 

[THP]

Why cant u just wait for the customable basement for the keeps and castles thats coming / hopefully sooner than later...

 

[azmodanb]

Fireman Sam, if you want to maximize the use of your chests then have 2 books with 300 BODs in each. That will make it 122 items in each chest...

I like that idea, and yes I use books, and yes I have thousands of bods total.. not just 1 book but piles of books FILLED. But I will try and consolidate more... still eats up TONS of space though I wish... WISH a book took only 1 slot in a chest no matter how many bods... to bad , I have a box or two or three for each color of ore.. I do only smith bods, but yeah they are in chests, and yeah they are in books... me not that dumb

or put your filled bod books on vendors as "not for sale" and dont price any of the bods in the book, negligible gold sink for the cost of the vendors fee ~60gold/day and completely legal too might i add.
Then you can use the chests that used to hold the bods for something else, completely freeing up your lock downs too (unless your a packrat)

I thought this was illegal... having a vendor in your house with stuff not for sale.... or is that only if you "block it" from being able to be accessed?

 

[ultima online]

I thought this was illegal... having a vendor in your house with stuff not for sale.... or is that only if you "block it" from being able to be accessed?

only if you block it.

the question was asked a loooong time ago on the old forums and one of the devs (poss wilki) stated that it was legal to do,

question was also posted on the players corner here

might even be on one of the very old FoFs but i cba to look for it

 

[Lady Narsil]

Called books, one chest with 125 books x 500 in each 62500 bods


thats alot of bods so you got more then 65k bods?
that an 18x18 with 125 of 2119 storage? you have alot left over even 2 chest 250 books with 500 in each 125000 bods, that still leaves 1850+ left in storage..

WOW if you can do that I would love to see it. You either don't do BODS and have no clue what you are talking about or you are very gifted and can do what others of us can't. I have a max storage house just for my BODS and Supplies to fill them and I am always running out of room.

 

[Spellbound]

...I thought this was illegal... having a vendor in your house with stuff not for sale.... or is that only if you "block it" from being able to be accessed?

From EA's support site:
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cf...WVyIHZlbmRvcnMgYm9kIGJvb2tz&p_li=&p_topview=1

"Please note that BOD books may be stored on vendors unpriced."

I think it was Lead GM Platinum that gave the okay to keep unpriced BOD books on your vendors also.

 

[Cysphruo]

customizable housing is from a new era, if you want that then go place a customizable plot, otherwise have your keep/castle and live with it.
in a nutshell thats what the devs will tell you and its the truth, old housing is just that, remember it how it was and like it.

 

[azmodanb]

From EA's support site:
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cf...WVyIHZlbmRvcnMgYm9kIGJvb2tz&p_li=&p_topview=1

"Please note that BOD books may be stored on vendors unpriced."

I think it was Lead GM Platinum that gave the okay to keep unpriced BOD books on your vendors also.

Well that solves it for me... I can go back to an 18X18, and store the bods in vendors... good to know and thanks for the info, and link to it being OK ... would hate to get banned for something lame hahaha

 

[Silly Seadog]

Arrr, ta be safe, ye should have a book with dat EA url as description on da vendor, in case a GM does have a look at it. But then ye could be banned for da url!!

 

[UltimaSword]

Then I think we should be able to place bigger customizable house plots.