"Town Houses"

[Emil Ispep]

Evening everyone, was just wandering through my daily routine and was thinking about the lottery and the New Magincia housing plots back... ohhh almost 3 years ago now... I was wondering if anyone besides myself would like to see this type of housing system created for other towns besides New Magincia.

I know some towns already have housing plots fairly close to the city limits.. say Yew and Skara for example. But what about adding some additional plots inside the city limits for those towns (maybe a whole new island for Vesper's sake?) Could perhaps do another raffle/lottery like before to help eat up some gold? I think it was some of the plots you could only buy 1 ticket, others as many tickets as you wanted, during the Magincia lottery? I think the same type of rules should suffice.

Yes, some towns like Vesper might need some work hehe.. say Cove for example too. Maybe only have 1 or 2 plots up for bidders in Cove? Maybe the same for Nu'Jelm, Serpents and Trinsic? But others such as Brit, Ocllo/New Haven, Moonglow, Minoc, Jhelom (islands), Bucs Den, Yew, Skara... all of these could be "reworked" to fit some of those 15x15 plots; albeit not as many as New Magincia, since the entire island was leveled during the invasion.

Any thoughts?

 

[virtualhabitat]

I would rather be able to rent a room at an inn that came with 500 or 1000 storage for (x) gold.
Also, a town house should never have a footprint as large as a 15x15. More like 7x10 or there about.

 

[Thrakkar]

I would rather be able to rent a room at an inn that came with 500 or 1000 storage for (x) gold.

If that room is accessible from every char on that account, I'd fully support that.

 

[startle]

Evening everyone, was just wandering through my daily routine and was thinking about the lottery and the New Magincia housing plots back... ohhh almost 3 years ago now... I was wondering if anyone besides myself would like to see this type of housing system created for other towns besides New Magincia......Any thoughts?

That would be fine if they changed the way it worked in New Mag, so everyone (no matter how poor) would have an equal opportunity at the plot. We don't need more areas owned by the 1%.....
Only the 1% really want that.

 

[Captn Norrington]

Being able to rent rooms at an inn is a great idea.

 

[Garrett.]

Being able to rent rooms at an inn is a great idea.

Great idea but, that would then mean either making new inn's or modifying the existing ones (to cope with the extra capacity) - both options I seriously doubt the Dev's would waste time on because we already have housing available....

An instanced version of an inn room could be another option, but again, I doubt they would devote time to something so very few people would need.

 

[Captn Norrington]

your right, very unlikely it will ever happen, but doesn't hurt to try

 

[Garrett.]

your right, very unlikely it will ever happen, but doesn't hurt to try

OFT T'is a very good idea, still....

 

[MalagAste]

I would rather be able to rent a room at an inn that came with 500 or 1000 storage for (x) gold.
Also, a town house should never have a footprint as large as a 15x15. More like 7x10 or there about.

This Idea I like.

 

[Aibal]

I would rather be able to rent a room at an inn that came with 500 or 1000 storage for (x) gold.
Also, a town house should never have a footprint as large as a 15x15. More like 7x10 or there about.

Great idea. Would be awesome on the shards where I don't have homes. I sucks living out of the bank box.

 

[Uriah Heep]

I vote no. We had a beautiful town, now we have a trailer park... The rest of the towns should have learned from what happened to Magincia.

In fact, it no longer qualifies as a town, IMO. It's just a neighborhood now...smh

 

[Flagg]

Yes! Would be ton of fun. Let's face it, none of the cities comes with housing that'd look exceptionally good. Seeing player houses there would spice things up. Maginicia is much more pleasant to the eye than collection of 100% meaningless borg cubes of Britain, for example.

There would have to be a mechanic that ensures houses end up and stay in hands of people who actually play the game. Front dooor that needs refreshing once a month would go a long way.

I find it very hard to understand what people have AGAINST this change when it comes to nothingness in center/eastern of Britain for example. Those completely unprofilic,meaningless flat boxes that mean nothing for anyone. It is largely a scenery that hasn't changed in almost 20 years. Why would seeing player homes there be a bad thing.

 

[Obsidian]

Yes! Would be ton of fun. Let's face it, none of the cities comes with housing that'd look exceptionally good. Seeing player houses there would spice things up. Maginicia is much more pleasant to the eye than collection of 100% meaningless borg cubes of Britain, for example.

There would have to be a mechanic that ensures houses end up and stay in hands of people who actually play the game. Front dooor that needs refreshing once a month would go a long way.

I find it very hard to understand what people have AGAINST this change when it comes to nothingness in center/eastern of Britain for example. Those completely unprofilic,meaningless flat boxes that mean nothing for anyone. It is largely a scenery that hasn't changed in almost 20 years. Why would seeing player homes there be a bad thing.

Because on many shards there are vacant plots or unbuilt homes sitting with just the foundation placed. I would prefer we leave the buildings as they were originally built but add a rental system for secure storage on shards where you do not have a house.

 

[Lady Storm]

Ok I'll up it one better...

Have the Dev take one or more of the "castle designs" we have had over the years and fill up the Malas and other HUGE empty lands all over the UO shards and raffle off a 1 time "second house" ticket... like they did with the magincia plots. Gold sink and new design to boot.....

 

[Flagg]

I mislike the idea of rental system. One thing UO has going is the beautiful and unique way for players to " own" property. Renting existing places would throw that all away. And seriously,buildings as they were originally built during some afternoon or another in mid 90's have been there long enough I think;p

Ofc, there are *profilic* places that prolly nobody wants to change, move or erase in any way. Castles, WBB,immediate vicinity of WBB, some of the NPC vendor shops. But I hazard a guess majority of the houses in Britain mean absolutely nothing for anyone. Getting some life, dynamics in heart of Britain would be wipe any harm in it (occasionaly empty plot) a thousand times over.

 

[virtualhabitat]

On renting.

Recently I started spending some time on a foreign shard. My main shard, Great Lakes, is where my two houses are and I have no particular desire to demolish them so I can place a house on another. My time in this new land will almost certainly be temporary -or maybe a series of visits over the next year. I have enjoyed making new characters and 'building up' again.

It would be nice to be able to rent a room at an inn in the city of Occlo, maybe take a room with the monks at the Lyceum in Moonglow, or even taking a bed at the guard outpost on the road between Trinsic and Britain. For a fee they could provide a place to sleep and some storage for my characters to plan their activities. Different room rates could apply based on location (inner city vs. country, large town vs. small town), and storage space (250 storage, 500 storage, 1000 storage).

 

[Viper09]

I would have agreed with renting idea several years ago when a good house spot was quite difficult. However, with the ample amount of room that is available for nearly any type of house, I don't see why we would need this.

As for town houses, no thanks. I love the way the towns are as it is. Last thing I would want would be the devs destroying these towns just to make room for small player-owned town houses. There is enough room outside these wonderful towns for housing.

 

[Uriah Heep]

On renting.

Recently I started spending some time on a foreign shard. My main shard, Great Lakes, is where my two houses are and I have no particular desire to demolish them so I can place a house on another. My time in this new land will almost certainly be temporary -or maybe a series of visits over the next year. I have enjoyed making new characters and 'building up' again.

It would be nice to be able to rent a room at an inn in the city of Occlo, maybe take a room with the monks at the Lyceum in Moonglow, or even taking a bed at the guard outpost on the road between Trinsic and Britain. For a fee they could provide a place to sleep and some storage for my characters to plan their activities. Different room rates could apply based on location (inner city vs. country, large town vs. small town), and storage space (250 storage, 500 storage, 1000 storage).

This shouldn't be an impossible task. make the system similar to the pet system. one click rents the box, then you can drop stuff in, and it charges a set fee when you do it. A click brings up a menu of what you've dropped in, looking similar to the list view in EC?

The only place I have found with any kind of housing shortage is atlantic. And even at that, as of last Friday, I could have taken you to 3 different plots that would take a sandstone patio...

 

[Dot_Warner]

No.

The New Magincia housing system is way to ugly to inflict on the other cities. Part of what makes the cities look halfway decent is the limited tile sets used in each, players tend to make highly objectionable house design decisions.

I don't want more crystal borg cubes.

 

[a slave girl]

The New Mag house plot raffle was a fun and a nice gold sink, so I say yes but only if houses are a preset design to blend with the chosen neighborhood and that design cannot be changed, ever.

Free storage in an inn is an excuse for UO to lose money, if you need more storage pony up another sub fee, so I am against any more free storage in UO for that reason.

If there was a way they could allow us to rent out a whole floor of one of our UO houses with dedicated storage for the renter, I guess I"d be okay with that, so long as total lockdowns/storage remains the same for that house's footprint.

 

[Flagg]

Because on many shards there are vacant plots or unbuilt homes sitting with just the foundation placed. I would prefer we leave the buildings as they were originally built but add a rental system for secure storage on shards where you do not have a house.

This reads to me like wishing it'd never rain because that way, laundry hanging outside would not get wet. Low profile, low meaning houses that have been there for 15 years Vs portions of city owned by players..with all dynamics and life that'd bring. Latter would inevitably result in occasional empty plot, sure. Still, benefits(aesthetics and otherwise) are infinitely greater.

 

[Obsidian]

This reads to me like wishing it'd never rain because that way, laundry hanging outside would not get wet. Low profile, low meaning houses that have been there for 15 years Vs portions of city owned by players..with all dynamics and life that'd bring. Latter would inevitably result in occasional empty plot, sure. Still, benefits(aesthetics and otherwise) are infinitely greater.

I recommend you run through New Mag on some of the lesser populated shards. In most cases it is desolate. I fear this would turn what looks like complete towns now into ghost cities except on Atlantic and a few of the more active shards. I have a New Mag house on Origin and there are no other houses except a few placed but unbuilt plots. I do not think this is what was originally expected.

 

[Kyronix]

No.

The New Magincia housing system is way to ugly to inflict on the other cities. Part of what makes the cities look halfway decent is the limited tile sets used in each, players tend to make highly objectionable house design decisions.

I don't want more crystal borg cubes.

Ideally being able to restrict housing sets available in a given city would be a nice way to keep the cities looking uniform. I imagine someone could probably still create something purposely heinous with even just sandstone for example, but in that case we may need to investigate adding rotten vegetables to the throwing skill

Lots of great stuff in this thread, definitely gives us something to talk about!

 

[Flagg]

I recommend you run through New Mag on some of the lesser populated shards. In most cases it is desolate. I fear this would turn what looks like complete towns now into ghost cities except on Atlantic and a few of the more active shards. I have a New Mag house on Origin and there are no other houses except a few placed but unbuilt plots. I do not think this is what was originally expected.

Great deal of game mechanics&features good and bad are in varyingly unsatisfying or dysfunctional condition due to state of population on quieter shards. It is what it is. Is this in and and of itself a large enough reason to decapitate all kinds of additions, updates and features that rely on a multiplayer game having multiple players? Should every single new feature that appproaches, assumes and relies on game and it's community being functional ones be decapitated, simply and solely because there are quiet shards where this feature would not soar?

Again, I'm pretty sure nobody here speaks of leveling entire cities. It's just that all legacy cities have their share of utter nothingness with a roof. Much in them is not particulary good or profilic design by any means. Seeing an empty plot.. - specially if those could be updated so the vacant plot shows as something besides patch of dirt - would not be much worse.

 

[Warpig Inc]

As great as it would be to have a plot in lets say Trinsic. It would take the new vendor search to make the plot any better then a plot on Luna's south road. The thinking is a unique house plot event might make a stir and a new goldsink. What we need is another Abyss warden event. Wasn't there mention of later plots being brought out? Agree a city plot would require some kind of building code. Or just a set design like a classic using one those NPC free building with character.

Hotel room could be as simple as a boat/bankbox treatment at Inns. Takes gold to refresh from the character on the account that opened the room. Standing in the Inn and saying "Strongbox" on any character of the account opens the shared acount storage. Failing to pay just opens a chute to the abyss landfill. If they ever admit that EA abuses the origin store revenue with spending on other games not UO /slash/ EA wont make an effort for better population growth. Have the strongbox at a higher cost with a 10 item limit have a cross shard sharing within an account for short duration. A million gold to cross shard UOPS ten items to gear up a new character could work. Use of the UOPS could have a once a month use limit. Would keep the dishonest from abusing the system to some effort.

 

[MalagAste]

I personally am opposed to the idea of adding more hideousness to towns. New Magincia is an eyesore... and it destroyed a perfectly wonderful city... I miss it. I hate the puke that is left in it's wake. Not only is it an eyesore but it no longer functions as a town.

I have seen player run towns that are WAY better. Sadly the idea was good however there are no longer enough players in game to care about community and making something function like that.

I rather like the rental idea.

And Kyronix I will tell you what I want to be able to do with vegetables... Next year for Halloween I want 4 Gallows placed near the bank of every city.... those beggars trick or treating can then sometimes be placed in the Gallows as a "Trick"...... where other players can then get cream pies or rotten veggies and throw them at them... This shouldn't last very long and should cost the filthy beggar some of his candies. I also miss the evil twin... or being turned into some sort of monster or animal... but I think a Gallows would be fun...

 

[THP]

eRM BUT LOTS OF SHARDS mAGINCIA Is eMpty grASS...especalliy in Fellucca side...

noooo thANKS

 

[Smoot]

i dont think its needed. If it was to happen, would have to be "small" houses. the problem would be where to put the house. i cant see anything bigger than maybe 10 by 10 fitting in anywhere. 7by7 or 8by8 would be better.

Only way i can see a demand for this is from one of those crazy people with way too many accounts. i know i wouldnt sacrifice a house slot on one of my 2 accounts for a small townhouse. Now if it could be an "extra" house. like the grandfathered ones. id be very interested. it would be awesome to have all the town npcs nearby.

 

[Thrakkar]

Great idea but, that would then mean either making new inn's or modifying the existing ones (to cope with the extra capacity) - both options I seriously doubt the Dev's would waste time on because we already have housing available....

An instanced version of an inn room could be another option, but again, I doubt they would devote time to something so very few people would need.

Why would I need the room itself? I think, the original suggestion was just about storage space.
So I just walk up to the innkeeper and say the keyword, i.e. "storage" or whatever, and the container pops up. Just like banks work.

 

[Lady Storm]

Why?
You have a bank box for that and its what it ws for.
I come from a time in UO when 1 character could have as many houses as he or she could buy a deed for. I have over the years seen it pegioned down to this 1 per account bit that rubbed so many the wrong way they left the game as it kept them from doing exactly what many of you are now doing by going to a new shard and trying it out...
The original GM's sent us out to do just that when shards fell like dead bugs when the raid can came out (published daily killed many a shard)

Bonnie has the right idea by giving us back the freedom of a house on siege that didnt kill off your main shard house... but doing this for the rest of the shards .... well call me a heritic for saying it... i told you so...
Look it was a bad idea to cut the players to 1 per account... the bean counters be damned... it made UO a ghost town on many shards.... the proof is sitting on Atlantic.
Every shard looks like hell... vacant lots all over the place so that if we do get a newbie they soon leave the shard for Atlantic...
I must say the syndcate did a excelent job in selling Atlantic to the UO public...

If the dev were smart they would knock it back to 1 house per shard... but if i know the crowd here i expect you all to take up pitch forks and axes and chase me around the boards.. No this wont kill off the game.. lets face it. Many of you know of one or more people who use the 90 days bit to keep storage homes...
This came about after many of us lost jobs or income that before 2008 was easer to spend on a game. Now because they cant aford the amount of accounts it would take to keep what homes they have or need many are doing this. EA dont give a fig as longs as $ is in their pockets... so rather then a handfull of people doing the 90/30 day shuffle.
Open it up. You cant lump all in this catagory ether so taking away the 90 day grace is not a good idea or a solution.

I expect the main naysayers to bomb me here... but facts are it cant kill UO. it might even boost revenue as a few of those less likely to reopen an account other wise do so...

 

[Thrakkar]

Why?
You have a bank box for that and its what it ws for.

Because I can have just one house on one shard.
I do not care about storage. All I want is a safe and easy way to transfer items between characters. So even if this could just hold 50 items, I would like it very much.

 

[Lady Storm]

I dont think a "group" box wil be what is wanted... but hey who am I to quibble....

Many who bounce around the shards to play with anyone they can find... lets face it finding someone can be tough... might need a tad bit more then 50 count communial box...