Housing in Endless Journey

[jack flash uk]

Apologies if this has been discussed before, I have just reopened my accts (paid) and am shocked at how empty the lands of my home shard are..

So I had a thought, why not allow housing for Endless Journey players. I understand there should be a limit, so I was thinking about allowing classic houses? with some form of "fee" to pay to keep them from collapsing. A monthly gold renewal amount or something, maybe a click of the house sign and deposit?

Of course to placing near IDOCS or in the space left behind but just a way for players to either enjoy a fresh start or to give EJ players something to build as I can imagine they will get very bored and move on quickly. I also bet many will then fully sub to be allowed to build custom housing

Such a shame to have the lands so barren and possibly a high turn over of EJ players

 

[DJAd]

Then it would go from one extreme to another. You can have a single person with 50x EJ accounts grabbing up all the land.

Maybe a 7x7 house as long as the account has had an active subscription for at least 1 month might be good middle ground. This would (hopefully) put off people making tons of free accounts to grab land.

I cant see it happening to be honest though. They dont even allow EJ accounts to be friended to a house.

 

[Phantasmagorian]

Some shards are dead and adding housing to EJ is not a solution to that. Housing should remain a perk of subscribing.

 

[jack flash uk]

yeah, come to think of it, bad idea, guess admin can lose this post now......

 

[keyvan]

If EJ can have houses i dont see the point paying a subscription

 

[Thrakkar]

If EJ can have houses i dont see the point paying a subscription

LOL. Then you haven't experienced the 20 items bank cap BS (no, it doesn't mean Broadsword in this context).

 

[jack flash uk]

If EJ can have houses i dont see the point paying a subscription

that why I was thinking only the classic houses, then maybe they would see the amazing custom housing available and start subbing, but as posted above it can be open to abuse.

Only other suggestion would be to allow previous paid accts on EJ to place a classic house, not the trial accts or millions of SE account codes accts

 

[Uriah Heep]

OR, just let EJ accounts place the houses listed on the first page of the tool gump...with a limit of one acct per email having a house

 

[DJAd]

OR, just let EJ accounts place the houses listed on the first page of the tool gump...with a limit of one acct per email having a house

I think any type of housing is just asking for trouble. Having "per email" is not going to stop anything as you can make unlimited email addresses with next to no effort. All my EJ accounts (4 so far) have separate email addresses.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Simple ssolution there is to make them old school rules, have to be refreshed or they idoc within 7 days. I dont think many people will spend the effort to refresh a whole ot of them..especially is they make it where the homeowner acct hs to do the refreshing and one char can't run around and refresh them all

 

[Siabra]

NO to housing for EJ - its a sample - when you began UO you didn't begin with a house -
yet now there is space- if you pay you can place - easy

 

[Zalan]

The point of EJ is to make players want to subscribe. To give them a taste of UO not the full experience. Housing is one of the main aspects of UO that cause players to keep paying for a subscription on more than one account.

Pixel Crack Dealer, "Pst Pst I have some free Pixel Crack over here a sample."
Pixel Crack Junkie. "Okay, man I'll try it."
Pixel Crack Junkie, "Man you got anymore free Pixel Crack?"
Pixel Crack Dealer, "Ya man I got more Pixel Crack, but its not free!"

 

[transcendent]

I thought they made the vaults so EJ players won't need houses

 

[Anon McDougle]

Tents.....

 

[skett]

Been asking for tents for to long And if they do bring them back I hope it’s a craftable item that requires a recipe and lots and lots of random very very rare hard to get resources that require multiple accounts grinding for months to even have a 1 in 1000000000 chance of getting a drop wearing a 10k luck suit and it requires 10 of, and during crafting you have a 99% chance of losing all your resources on each attempt to craft it. It also requires every crafter skilled maxed along with CAMPING !

 

[transcendent]

I don' t know about needing a lot of ingredients, but requiring the Camping skill to use a tent is a great idea. Gives EJ players housing and turns a useless skill into a useful one.

 

[Syncros]

Tents would be something to re added alright but I would hope they cant block house placement. Useless skills like camping should be removed or not count towards skill points, Making it work for EJ accounts is pointless if they ever go paid it just proves its a useless skill and one shouldnt even have had it in the first place.

 

[Uriah Heep]

I hope it’s a craftable item that requires a recipe and lots and lots of random very very rare hard to get resources that require multiple accounts grinding for months to even have a 1 in 1000000000 chance of getting a

You can bet if this team adds it, this is the way it will be.... *sigh*

 

[Zalan]

Actually they could add player apartments, or maybe rent out housing all ready created in town. For something like 500 Sovereign, or maybe a gold sink.

 

[Pawain]

Actually they could add player apartments, or maybe rent out housing all ready created in town. For something like 500 Sovereign, or maybe a gold sink.

That sounds interesting. But, it took a lot of work to get the vault in the game. But that would reduce the workload for your idea.

UO apartments.

 

[transcendent]

Apartments sound interesting, but then why would anyone spend sovereigns on the vault system? If you can store items in an apartment, it would be superior to a vault in every way.

 

[SpyderBite]

I'd be cool with instanced housing like in EQ2 and other MORPGS for EJ accounts. Rent with gold or RL $$. Can't customize inside and nobody else can access it.

 

[Zalan]

LotR has had instant housing for years. They use ingame currency. Have limited storage based on the size of the home. The bigger the house the more it costs.

 

[ShriNayne]

Housing in LotRO is quite cute, it's set out like little villages, the only down-side is that deco items have to be placed in certain spots dependent on size/shape. It's not as good as housing in EQ2 but still a lot better than nothing. Instanced apartments sound like an interesting idea, so do tents! Not sure if it would be possible in UO at this time though.

 

[HippoRedux]

Actually they could add player apartments, or maybe rent out housing all ready created in town. For something like 500 Sovereign, or maybe a gold sink.

... or allow subs with houses to become "slum lords" and rent out apartments via vendors.

 

[Delvan]

Not having housing is one of the EJ limitations that I think is non-negotiable. You have to consider the mindset of existing subscribers.

If you could place housing in any way shape or form on free accounts then paid subscribers would abuse it. The maps would be full of EJ housing owned by alts of subscribers who then sell it on at extortionate rates to new players. This is just one example I can think of from the top of my head in which it would hurt the game, i'm sure there are hundreds of ways to exploit free account housing in UO.

Right now the major hurdle EJ players face is the crazy banking system they have in place for them. I feel this is the only area that makes the EJ system non-intuitive and overly punitive on new players trying the game. If they made it a "normal" bank with a higher item limit (not talking about paid rates of storage, just something more workable) then I think people would have a better time on EJ which would in turn lead to a higher subscription rate when they find they need a house or want to take part in other endgame content that isn't available to EJ.

 

[kaio]

Imagine if EA/BS would allow housing for EJ accounts ?
Then they would spend 1 year developing an crippled unusable house where you could store items, but not take any items out. And the house would look like a juwelery box.
A few months later they would make a hotel in britt where you can rent a room for 300 sovs a month. And from that room you could take out items from you're EJ house.

 

[Val-Tur]

You do not need a house to play an mmo enough to decide if it is worth it enough to subscribe. You do need decent bank storage that is not shared by other characters on the account. I have played dozens of mmos with no housing - some of them make you pay with real money for decent bank storage. Free or even temporary housing for free accounts is only asking for abuse. Many of us here have been witness to the abuse of such systems in the past.

The apartment idea is interesting, except that they would probably be abused by current subscribers =p.

 

[Lord Frodo]

... or allow subs with houses to become "slum lords" and rent out apartments via vendors.

As long as those apartments took up the house storage I see no problem with this idea

 

[Lord Frodo]

Apartments sound interesting, but then why would anyone spend sovereigns on the vault system? If you can store items in an apartment, it would be superior to a vault in every way.

That would depend on cost and the number of items each could hold. Storage Vault for X amount of real cash for X amount of storage, Studio Apartment/Room at the Inn for X Amount of real cash for X amount of storage.

 

[Gidge]

Years ago when we use to have to refresh our homes, my husband and I thought that it would be nice to be able to donate resources to the house to keep it from collapsing. At the time I never thought of suggesting the idea. It could be wood, ore, ingots, leather (anything else?) and you could maintain the freshness level of your home. If you don't upkeep it, just like we have to our real homes, then of course it would fall. The bigger the home, the more resources. We use to have guild fees (100gp per week by buying a book from a vendor!) We gave thought that guildmates could donate to a container to help upkeep a guild home (complete with the gold box only they have access to use). If they ever did do something that required some kind of upkeep again, this would be a interesting system.

I have have also imagined apartments in various unused building and vendor spots in towns. The town vendors was what I thought that Magincia was going to be. Rent a spot and place TADA a vendor. Not resources buyers and sellers. I also thought the moongate for Luna was going to be in it's actual intended location outside of the town's northern wall.

Sadly our perception of what we envision for the game is just that, a vision.

I remember a kickass artist who offered her art for free to make the clothing and some items (at least appear on our paperdolls) to look outstanding, but they seem to have a firm grip on not accepting ideas or help from the community unless you are a carnival barker.

OMG I need some chocolate bad!!!!

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

Make a houseboat. The boat will be moved into a world moving crate when nobody is aboard. Requires high seas.
Has 250 storage. Cannot been stuffed if items in storage.

 

[Uvtha]

LOL. Then you haven't experienced the 20 items bank cap BS (no, it doesn't mean Broadsword in this context).

Yeah, but if you had a house it wouldn't be that big of an issue.

 

[Thrakkar]

Yeah, but if you had a house it wouldn't be that big of an issue.

True, but in general I prefer storage, which doesn't decay/collapse.
Plus you would need an account for every shard you play, since you can have only 1 house per account.

 

[transcendent]

maybe an apartment could have less storage than a vault, but would let you lock down some items and decorate your place. So ppl wanting more storage could use a vault, and those who wanna decorate can use an apartment.

 

[Uvtha]

True, but in general I prefer storage, which doesn't decay/collapse.
Plus you would need an account for every shard you play, since you can have only 1 house per account.

Sure, but I would absolutely pay 3 bucks a month (playing or not) to keep a house. I wouldn't do the same for a bank, personally. Then again when I play I spend most of my time farting around with my house or getting stuff for my house.

 

[Blackie]

Will not work, reason: Shard shield and transfer tokens

Every shard is now a feeder shard for Atlantic, the shard which is easiest to sell goods on, and for a higher price. People who script gather resources bring them to Atlantic to sell. People who do events bring the rewards to Atlantic to sell. The game is now Atlantic-centric with other shards to pilfer.

What might work - make resources and em items and other popular scriptable items shard bound. While scripters could still collect these they would be forced to deal with the local economy of that shard.

What might work - Give EJ accounts the ability to place houses on all shards except Atlantic

What might help - globalize vendor goods. Instead of going to a specific vendor to buy an item you can buy it from the VS gump directly. You could then make it so items from all shards appear on VS and this would alleviate the "gotta get this to Atlantic to sell" thing. Players could then spread out among the shards again, put their house anywhere, not just on atlantic so their vendors can make some gold.

I like the last idea best but, yeah, there doesn't seem to be a plan in the works to reverse the "every shard feeds Atlantic" issue.

 

[Cymidei]

Global vendor search would help a lot. The solutions found by WoW would also be great. Like merging parts of the game world between servers. Group/raid finder, etc.


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[Thrakkar]

The solutions found by WoW would also be great. Like merging parts of the game world between servers. Group/raid finder, etc.

LOL, yeah right.
In WoW you can do whatever you want while being transferred to another server, you don't even notice it at all, except when you see mobs/chars from your current server fade out and the mobs/chars from the new server fade in.

How does it work in UO? (TBH I never used a char transfer, only the TC copy). You have to unmount? Then manually log into the new shard? Then you get some popup with all your belongings sor something like that? So basically, it is far from being smooth. To get it really smooth, it would most probably require a full overhaul of the infrastructure/server architecture/interfaces. Roughly 1-2 years of work with the current amount of available developers.

 

[Cymidei]

LOL, yeah right.
In WoW you can do whatever you want while being transferred to another server, you don't even notice it at all, except when you see mobs/chars from your current server fade out and the mobs/chars from the new server fade in.

How does it work in UO? (TBH I never used a char transfer, only the TC copy). You have to unmount? Then manually log into the new shard? Then you get some popup with all your belongings sor something like that? So basically, it is far from being smooth. To get it really smooth, it would most probably require a full overhaul of the infrastructure/server architecture/interfaces. Roughly 1-2 years of work with the current amount of available developers.

Yes but...perhaps some sort of inter-shard area could be created for EM events, special dungeons, vendors, commerce, etc. You copy your self like you do to go to the Test server, then you could put items you buy or obtain in a special crate that you could send home.

 

[Gem]

Tents..I miss tents...my first house was a tent...

Seriously, originally every account could place FIVE houses per shard. I could live with letting EJ players place one SMALL and letting paying players have two houses per shard. (LOL I need more storage!)

 

[Mil]

I really like the idea that Endless Journey players could place tents . It'll be a place of their own in the world, with some extra storage, and RP-ish it would fit into Britannia.