Housing in the SA lands

[Aurelius]

Been a few posts around the subject of 'When will housing be available in SA' over on U Hall, and Draconi just gave an interesting answer -

"Well, placing houses in Ter Mur requires a certain level of "loyalty" to the Queen, and no one's gonna have it at start. They'll have to earn it through gameplay. We'll post more on this soon, but no, first-to-login won't be first-to-place. (Although they *will* have a starting advantage in the race)"

I really like this approach - should avoid the dreaded 'launch day pileup' as players scrambled across the world trying to place anything, anywhere, on the opening day of the relevant expansion, and even allows an element of that 'role playing' stuff to affect a game mechanic!

 

[Zayin666]

Yeah.. I just hope that the players that dont play 6 hours a day also have a chance at placing a house

 

[Siteswap]

Yeah, no system is perfect and this one is no different. From the sounds of it it will heavily favour the powergamers. Also im sure someone will figure out a script to gain loyalty and we all know who's hands the houses will end up in if that happens.

I would have preferred a lottery system where everyone has an equal chance to get a housing spot.

 

[Aurelius]

I would have preferred a lottery system where everyone has an equal chance to get a housing spot.

Except, of course, those with multiple accounts - which as irony would have it includes many of the scripting setups - would have even greater chance to get a spot in a lottery

As you say, no system is perfect, but actually bringing in some element of interaction with the world is a very nice move, I reckon. Making access to a house something related to what a character actually does also makes it harder for a scripted 'solution', although of course you're probably right that some scripted methods will help get such a plot.

It's only a step - but at least it looks like one in the right direction! As for the 'powergamers' - depends, could be the tasks you do to get a plot might be time limited to so many stages per week, letting more 'casual' players get a look in too, we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Siteswap]

I agree ... it certainly is a step in the right direction from the Devs and is more interactive. I hope my doubts are unfounded.

 

[Kiminality]

It depends on the nature of the "loyalty"
I haven't seen more than a glance at the loyalty thing, but at a guess, I'd say that it's a pretty standard faction reputation deal. You kill enemies of the faction, and do tasks for them, and you get awarded points. Things like house placement would have a minimum requirement, so when loyalty > requirement you get to place.

What would be more interesting if it were more of a prestige system, in that you "spend" some of your prestige to get perks.
Like, if unlocking house placement costs 10,000, then you hit 10,234 and go talk to the relevant NPC, and then housing is unlocked, leaving you with 234. That way, you'd have to suck up to the gargoyles every time you want something.

Edit: Got a bit carried away, and forgot what I was going to say.

Any system will benefit one group above others.
A lottery would benefit those with multiple accounts.
A point earning system would benefit those able to earn points faster (powergamers or scripters)
A point earning system with caps would benefit those able to earn the cap of points every day (and log in at 5am to earn the final points).

Oh, and the loyalty will probably be character based, so there'll likely be an advantage to those who don't want to raise multiple characters' loyalty.
Interesting how the dynamics could play out.

 

[THP]

Err is there any new land mass in the new lands for placing houses??? if there is how big is it??? and lets be honest do we new any more?? sorry but ive been offline for 5 weeks and have not been able to try SA yet??

 

[Aurelius]

Err is there any new land mass in the new lands for placing houses??? if there is how big is it??? and lets be honest do we new any more?? sorry but ive been offline for 5 weeks and have not been able to try SA yet??

I didn't play in the Beta much, but I gather a largish area was planned for housing around the Gargoyle city, part way into Beta this was reduced, and later disabled - but that's mainly what I'd gathered from postings in various thread, so I may well be wrong.

I'm guessing your last question was 'do we need any more' - apologies if I guess wrong! In honesty, we don't "need" the space we have now, if all you are considering is letting people have a house. However, the option for RPers, or anyone else who chooses to play as a gargoyle, to base themselves in the Gargoyle area is surely justification enough in an mmorpg for at least some space being made available?

 

[Siteswap]

It's only a step - but at least it looks like one in the right direction! As for the 'powergamers' - depends, could be the tasks you do to get a plot might be time limited to so many stages per week, letting more 'casual' players get a look in too, we'll have to wait and see.

I had hoped that I would'nt need to post and say "I told you so" .... but ... I did tell you.

Powergamers win.

 

[THP]

well having seen the lame area for housing theres possible 2-3 nice spots with lots of medium size spots thats im guessing will never be placed ...on europa anyways...far to small and peeps aint gonna downgrade ...shame i think maybe 6 new keep spots would have gone down better...and much more interest than 20 small ones and a couple 1818s...maybe a RP guild will fill the lot...would make great RP vilage i guess.

 

[jbfortune]

Yesterday there was room for 4 or 5 18x18s with other filled.

 

[Aurelius]

I had hoped that I would'nt need to post and say "I told you so" .... but ... I did tell you.

Powergamers win.

Although you're right in as far as it falls short of the system we hoped to see ... powergamers 'win' on housing? Nope, not in the game I've seen.

I've only logged in a few hours per day, on various characters, and spent a lot of that time looking at the new lands and trying some of the new quests, and my Elf necro/mage has enough 'loyalty' with the Gargoyle Queen to build a home there, simply from killing the mostly lower level stuff those quests ask for, or that was in the way of me wandering about aimlessly looking at the pretty countryside

There's no way this was 'powergaming' by any stretch of the imagination! Maybe the way people have levelled imbuing could count as powergaming, as some have been devotedly hammering at it for hours or days, but looking at the names on the houses currently placed, and the spaces still open, I don't think that's been a problem with housing.

 

[Phaen Grey]

Can someone tell me where the housing is located?

 

[Kiminality]

Powergamers always win.
That's the way of things.

It's how it always has been, and it's how it always should be.

Simply put, if a player earns X in one hour, then a powergamer who plays for 6 hours gets 6X and the casual player who plays two gets 2X.
That's oversimplifying, but it illustrates investment of time.
Other factors include things like effort put in, and comparative proficiency.

What's more important than "balancing" this "inequity", is learning to not covet the acheivments of others.
I saw a plot in Ter Mur I liked, and today, I saw it was filled. Someone beat me to it, but they obviously worked harder at it than I did.
If someone exploits to get ahead, sure, be bitter. I know I am.
But, if someone puts in the elbow grease, then they earned it.

edit: To clarify something I know's going to bite me. The housing spots in Ter Mur are mostly only novelty-desirable.
There are still better functional spots elsewhere, for most things. So powergamers wouldn't be aiming for them unless they wanted it as a sort of "trophy house".

 

[Siteswap]

Powergamers always win.
That's the way of things.

It's how it always has been, and it's how it always should be.

[/I]

Thats probably true and is why this system shouldnt have been implemented in the 1st place.

As was mentioned earlier, no system is perfect, but at least a lottery would have given everyone a chance. Ok multiple accounts would have had a greater shot at it but at least everyone would have been in the running

 

[Kiminality]

Things could have been a lot worse.
For the most part, the people who've acheived things have done so under their own steam.
That which shall not be named, has yet to be updated for the expansion. So ingenious methods aside, there's a person behind pretty much every character.
Check out Heartwood, I hear the weather's lovely, and the air is free from the sounds of many beetles.