What is going on with housing?

[BrianFreud]

As of 2 months ago, I had 14 houses. Three are kept active, 11 refresh every 2 to 3 months. I check them all daily, just in case. If I ever see any ever beginning to decay, I immediately refresh the account.

2 months ago, I went to Europe for 3 weeks. I took my laptop, just to be able to log in and check the houses each day (as possible). I was able to check every day save for a period of 3 days while in Italy, when I had no internet service. Surprise surprise, when I had net back and went to check, one house was gone. That means it had to have gone from not-IDOC to IDOC to gone within no more than 4 days.

Ok, so I assumed the housing timer was being wonky, and let it go.

But I've been back for a while now, and am back to checking every single day. I just did today's check - and one house which was not even slightly as of *yesterday*, and which I recall paying to refresh while in Europe (so the game time on the account would have expired no more than 2 weeks ago), is completely gone. Not slightly, not even anything on the ground. Simply gone.

That house had my pigments and tokens collections, as well as many other valuable items.

This is not acceptable.

Brian

 

[Troop]

They changed the rules on IDOCS. No more planning ahead.

 

[BrianFreud]

2 weeks from account going inactive to house gone, with no IDOC period at all, isn't a change in the rules. To me, that's flat out a bug and wrong.

 

[Bethany_lg]

Many of us that idoc regularly have seen houses decaying way too quickly and even some just vanishing after they changed the idoc rules. We reported the problem and no one has seemed to care. I guess most of us just gave up trying to bring this issue to light.

Everyone seems to think the issue has been resolved because the dev team said it was fixed. It isn't and anyone not paying or even anyone trading houses is at risk of losing their things.

 

[weins201]

sorry your account was inactive, I am sure that was what got you. As have seen over and over, and asked about that this is ONLY happening to houses that are on INACTIVE accounts - soooo.

What you should be asking is if something changed with INACTIVE accounts and houses which I am sure is what happened and no one is saying for sure.

As for trading if the accounts are active hasn't been a problem either :-(

 

[Lythos-]

We still get somewhere around 90 days?

 

[BrianFreud]

We still get somewhere around 90 days?

Not so far as I've seen now twice.

 

[S_S]

Play with fire, you are bound to get burned? No offense but hard to feel too sorry for someone who is playing the 3-4 month pay game with that many accts.

 

[Lord Taliesin]

I was watching a house the last few days, it was greatly worn at 1 am last night and gone when I checked this morning at at 10 am. I wish we could get an explaination on why they nerfed idocs.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Wait a second... have they changed when houses hit the decay cycle? Can someone link me to an official word on it so I can see what it is now please.

 

[cazador]

Is it still 90 days till it's starts decaying..so I can clean out my houses


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[sablestorm]

I programmed a database to keep track of my UO accounts and housing and to this point everything is working just as planned. The only difference I have seen thus far is that the decay warning is faster. Once the decay shows up on the house sign, you have less time to refresh it, but that decay has still been hitting at 90 days.

I will say this though. I have seen a slew of homes fall in New Magincia and I've grabbed up the plots. There have been four in the last week so a post like this makes me nervous. The old school plots are empty too. It seems a rather large number to fall right around the same time.

 

[Assia Penryn]

Sorry you lost two houses, Brian.

 

[BrianFreud]

Play with fire, you are bound to get burned? No offense but hard to feel too sorry for someone who is playing the 3-4 month pay game with that many accts.

3-4 months isn't the same as *2 weeks*.

Regardless, I play on a shard with plenty of empty space, and it is income for UO. If they want to change the policy, they should make that policy change official and publically stated. I'll happily stop paying for accounts that, as I never play them other than storage, earn UO a decent amount while asking very little in server resources.

 

[Scribbles]

@brianfreud2 sorry about the loss buddy. I have made several threads about this particular problem as well as others; for the most part we have been ignored. Basically when they "fixed" the shard shield token exploit a side effect was that housing decay rates changed. Whether that was an intentional thing or not is unknown. Regardless they took credit for it and said it would be the new system. Houses proceeded to fall in 2-5days. They claim that all houses should be 5days of decay but as well all know by now some of them dont make it that long. I can only imagine that the account being deactivated = house goes into decay after 90days rule has been affected as well.

Ive stopped doing the 3 month cycle on some important houses, sold the other houses and closed those accounts for good. It is not worth the risk at this point. Housing is bugged and it seems to be staying that way.

@brianfreud2 the next time you go on vacation icq me a list of houses to check and ill gladly keep an eye for you.

 

[Aran]

I think two weeks is a better timeframe than three months anyhow.

 

[Xelious Norwood]

All messed up like damn near everything in UO! I watched one go from Greatly to gone with no in danger at all.

 

[Nephilim]

@brianfreud2 sorry about the loss buddy. I have made several threads about this particular problem as well as others; for the most part we have been ignored. Basically when they "fixed" the shard shield token exploit a side effect was that housing decay rates changed. Whether that was an intentional thing or not is unknown. Regardless they took credit for it and said it would be the new system. Houses proceeded to fall in 2-5days. They claim that all houses should be 5days of decay but as well all know by now some of them dont make it that long. I can only imagine that the account being deactivated = house goes into decay after 90days rule has been affected as well.

Ive stopped doing the 3 month cycle on some important houses, sold the other houses and closed those accounts for good. It is not worth the risk at this point. Housing is bugged and it seems to be staying that way.

@brianfreud2 the next time you go on vacation icq me a list of houses to check and ill gladly keep an eye for you.

I don't think you were ignored...I believe the consensus of the population was in favor of keeping it. There is a big difference...

 

[Captn Norrington]

Sorry to hear you lost some houses Brian, but it's one of the risks people take when doing the 3 month cycle thing. Only way to guarantee a house doesn't fall is to pay the account 100% of the time.

 

[Xelious Norwood]

thats not even a guarantee.

 

[Uriah Heep]

I think two weeks is a better timeframe than three months anyhow.

My opinion, but it isn't worth much.
Make it 5 days, 2 days, decay start 2 weeks after account goes inactive, whatever.

But for God's sakes, tell it, post it here and login screen...shout it from the rooftops. Let people know it's not a bug and it is how we will play from now on. As far as I can determine, It's the guesswork and unknown that's pissing most people off.

 

[Scribbles]

@Uriah Heep I completely agree, just let us know what the rules are lol.

 

[THP]

so what are the new rules....is the 90 day cushion gone as well...jesus....why do the devs meddle with Idocs when they worked perfectly fine as there was...did one of the big boys who pays real cash for everything they ever get in the game whine to them too much....beacuse normal people were making a little amount of ingame gold....

is there were we are???

 

[Jirel of Joiry]

Look the only way you can be safe is do like I do have em on auto pay with my American Express. Trust me EA will NOT fight with Amex. When it comes to who's the bigger guy on the block Amex wins over EA hands down, and it is a bank. The only problems I have had is that my accounts bill at the end of the month and 4th July is a bit of a monkey wrench. I usually end up with two months worth for some of em in July. The only other thing is they're billing me from the Netherlands, as long as they're billing in USD and not EUR I don't mind. If your all worried about giving EA your CC, then get on of those refillables or sign up for Lifelock. Lifelock really does work I spend 15 bucks a month with them and don't regret a penny.

However looking at recent developments over all am I the only one that feels like they are "souring the milk to wean the baby" ?

 

[Xelious Norwood]

It seems like every time something new comes out something old gets fouled up. At this point I am thinking it is all purposely done. They need to go back to more than one house per shard per account. Sadly that is a dream that will never come true.

 

[cazador]

I think two weeks is a better timeframe than three months anyhow.

They can make it 3 days...just freaking tell us. Then these threads wouldn't exist.


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[Ludes]

Look the only way you can be safe is do like I do have em on auto pay with my American Express. Trust me EA will NOT fight with Amex. When it comes to who's the bigger guy on the block Amex wins over EA hands down, and it is a bank. The only problems I have had is that my accounts bill at the end of the month and 4th July is a bit of a monkey wrench. I usually end up with two months worth for some of em in July. The only other thing is they're billing me from the Netherlands, as long as they're billing in USD and not EUR I don't mind. If your all worried about giving EA your CC, then get on of those refillables or sign up for Lifelock. Lifelock really does work I spend 15 bucks a month with them and don't regret a penny.

However looking at recent developments over all am I the only one that feels like they are "souring the milk to wean the baby" ?

"souring the milk to wean the baby" ?
I haven't heard that one in a long time Jirel! But I agree.

 

[The Zog historian]

Sorry to hear you lost some houses Brian, but it's one of the risks people take when doing the 3 month cycle thing. Only way to guarantee a house doesn't fall is to pay the account 100% of the time.

I agree with your statement in and of itself, but I'm concerned about people who have billing problems and take a while to resolve them. A couple of months ago my auto-renew didn't go through for an unknown reason, though the card had far more than enough balance and worked fine later at a brick-and-mortar store. I had no problem reactivating the three renewing accounts with another credit card, but what if I had been on vacation, or just out of the game for a while? Is it down to two weeks, or one week? We need an "official" answer to make sure of things.

 

[Lord Lew]

Ok you have me freaking out right now.. I'm in jury duty, and I moved stuff from one house to a holder house that's inactive but only in the first month. I did this to fix a bug in deco where items were showing through to the level below.. I've been away for a few weeks on vacation. If I get home tonight and my stuff is gone, I'm gonna blow a gasket!

 

[Captn Norrington]

Ok you have me freaking out right now.. I'm in jury duty, and I moved stuff from one house to a holder house that's inactive but only in the first month. I did this to fix a bug in deco where items were showing through to the level below.. I've been away for a few weeks on vacation. If I get home tonight and my stuff is gone, I'm gonna blow a gasket!

I'm not sure which house is your main one, but I was running around Trinsic on Saturday and noticed your house right outside the main gate is gone, along with all the barrier island houses owned by Trinsic members, and all of the moongate houses except the armory, the vendor house next to it, and the surf shack. Hopefully the system didn't kill your houses

 

[Dregg]

Today was the renew date on 3 accounts i have been activating every 90 days for the past 9 months. Not one of these accounts have had issues with the houses they hold. I have been back to the game for some time now and until my son went in the army over a year ago (he is stationed in South Korea till Feb) and my wife took a hiatus from the game this past Jan. i have not had to deal with reactivating accounts every 90 days. But with the recent changes to the housing idoc system and the recent posts of houses decaying i think it would be in the best interests of those holding houses on inactive accounts that you no longer use the 90 day system and go to a 60 day renewal system. I plan on starting this effective immediately (already changing dates in my calender). This way you have your butt covered for any instance of a house decaying prior to the 90 day process. For the time being it is not a good idea to wait for the day before or you might find yourself wasting your own time and money.

 

[Lord Lew]

I'm not sure which house is your main one, but I was running around Trinsic on Saturday and noticed your house right outside the main gate is gone, along with all the barrier island houses owned by Trinsic members, and all of the moongate houses except the armory, the vendor house next to it, and the surf shack. Hopefully the system didn't kill your houses

No, soar is taking a break and we could not find enough members to keep houses.. Trinsic once again is a quiet town

My main is in fel, one of the oldest houses in UO. It was placed on 2/14/1998!
That house will never vanish, I keep that account active no natter what.

I checked and my others are still standing! *wipes brow*

 

[Orgional Farimir]

Wow wonder if my keep on Marble Island has decayed yet. I have reactived my only account every 2.5 months to keep my crap, and it might be gone. LOL

I guess I will find out when RTB comes around.

 

[Poo]

i have 2 accounts the i hop scotch with and they both came due here last week right on the day i was expecting.
i renewed them and by the end of the day they where already somewhat worn, which had me a little worried, but at server up they where back to normal.

so the 90 day cycle is still fine, its just they decay a hell of a lot faster.
i usually renew mine on day 88 or 89 but i let them go the full 90 this time because i wanted to test out this exact situation with the house timers.

 

[Tina Small]

I wonder if the publish in August changed the rules so that from that point out, if your account goes inactive, your house starts to decay right away at the accelerated rate.

Houses on accounts that went inactive before that date might be fine. But perhaps from here on out, you will just lose your house now if you let an account become inactive longer than maybe a day at most.

 

[Merlin]

It seems like every time something new comes out something old gets fouled up. At this point I am thinking it is all purposely done. They need to go back to more than one house per shard per account. Sadly that is a dream that will never come true.

Why? So the realtors can gobble up even more houses and leave younger/new players with even fewer housing options on shards like Atlantic and Great Lakes?

UO's rule should be one house per credit card, and simply allow for more storage within houses with additional in-game type purchases.

 

[Aran]

Why? So the realtors can gobble up even more houses and leave younger/new players with even fewer housing options on shards like Atlantic and Great Lakes?

UO's rule should be one house per credit card, and simply allow for more storage within houses with additional in-game type purchases.

Joke's on you, I'm terrible with money so I have more credit/debit card numbers than anyone ought to!

 

[azmodanb]

i have not had this problem.. but if you play the game... the game of paying once every three months... expect loss. as you should.

pay for your accounts and stop playing the game of cheating out on a few bucks.... or chance losing a house.

 

[Captn Norrington]

Why? So the realtors can gobble up even more houses and leave younger/new players with even fewer housing options on shards like Atlantic and Great Lakes?

The realtors already have about 10+ accounts each ya know, clearly paying subscription fees isn't a problem for them. If they want more houses, they'll just open another 5 accounts without a second thought. Plus most of them sell 18x18 and smaller in less than a week anyways, so can place a new house with that account every week. Would they place more houses? of course they would, but would it make any difference? not really, they already control the whole market anyways.

 

[Merlin]

Would they place more houses? of course they would, but would it make any difference? not really, they already control the whole market anyways.

Fair point. But they don't control the "whole" market just yet. The new IDOC rules has made it possible for smaller groups get houses (a point which I am aware is an entire other topic of conversation), but adding the ability to have two houses per account would have more than just the realtors having two plots per account - casual players for whom the opportunity came up to have another house would sit on second plots as well. It just wouldn't be helpful to the whole housing situation, IMO. Atleast not on Atlantic. There's gotta be a better way.

 

[THP]

ive got a noob account going inactive very soon...obvioulsy iam expecting to have the extra storage house for 90 days....if i dont i will report back

 

[Peekay]

Basically this is the current housing situation. Do you not want to lose your house and everything in it? Give broadsword bribe money every month in the form of a subscription and they'll let you keep your pixels in their game.

 

[Aran]

Basically this is the current housing situation. Do you not want to lose your house and everything in it? Give broadsword bribe money every month in the form of a subscription and they'll let you keep your pixels in their game.

Bribe money? Really?

 

[Esmeralda]

Jeez! That explains, why my home is gone (my soulstones!*cries*) with my account beeing inactive for less than 90 days.... *shakes fist*
I logged in last in october, during that welcome back thingy and came back yesterday...that´s definatly below the 90 days rule!
It would be very, very helpful, if the players would be informed about such rule-changes!

 

[Aran]

You logged in, but was your account actually paid for active, or just RTB active?

 

[Esmeralda]

You logged in, but was your account actually paid for active, or just RTB active?

I fear it was only RTB active...doh!

 

[Piotr]

Losing a house now and then, is apparently the price you pay for thinking, that you only need to pay 3 months/year; seems fair to me.

 

[BrianFreud]

I fear it was only RTB active...doh!

aye, RTB didn't count for refreshing houses.

 

[Esmeralda]

Dang..I should have thought about that *sighs* Anyway, thanks a lot for the info

Uhm Piotr, I´m not one of those, who have several homes and accounts.
But you´re right, I should have wether really quit the game with my things packed away safely in the bank, or really kept playing.
Oh well, at least I´m not starting from scratch...characterwise ^^

 

[SpyderBite]

If housing were instanced rather than persistent then cancelling an account would be free and unlimited. But since bank boxes are limited and housing is allowed to suck up virtual real estate; people can abuse the system as they like.

Bank boxes should be unlimited and houses should begin decaying the minute a subscription is no longer active.

But that's just me. EA/Whoever has never seemed interested in actually making money. Or spending it for that matter.