Disappointed by last housing rush

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Originally Posted by Catstab

The new wards were released with no timers.

Unless what you're suggesting is that the timer just not take effect on patch day, meaning that any abandoned house could be purchased instantly for the duration of the day. This would likely cause an increase in second hand sellers, since people could claim a house, then demand a ransom to release it so a first timer purchaser could take it over. This practice was commonplace before the timer was patched in.

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I was suggesting that any transferred houses be left timer free so people who upgrade their plots have their former plots available without timers on release day. There are those who transfer legitimately from another area to a new and better location and there are those who buy a house fast to be sure to not lose out and look around for a better plot and then transfer because they found one they like more. Houses on timers in the new wards were because of this.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I was suggesting that any transferred houses be left timer free so people who upgrade their plots have their former plots available without timers on release day. There are those who transfer legitimately from another area to a new and better location and there are those who buy a house fast to be sure to not lose out and look around for a better plot and then transfer because they found one they like more. Houses on timers in the new wards were because of this.

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That is likely to be exploited as the lack of the timer used to be.

Even as it stands, people made shell FCs to absorb some of the housing created that day for the purpose of selling those FCs to other players. They were limited by the fact that not all players want to buy FCs, many want personal houses.

If timers were suspended for the duration of the day as you suggest, those shell FCs could have bought plots and advertised them to absolutely anyone. They would likely wait as people who missed the housing rush logged in, and begin offering to vacate smalls for first timer buyers for costs of 40-80 million.

This is how things were before the timer was patched in. Anyone could claim a vacated house immediately, so people would exploit the system by taking possession of a house they had no intent to occupy and then advertise to non-house-owners that they would leave the small and allow them to buy it, at a 10x - 20x markup on the placard.

It's also worth considering that not all home buyers logged in at 6am eastern as the servers came up. Some logged on only after work. The timer on relocations meant that most relocated plots became available between 4pm and 8pm eastern, allowing some of these people to buy.

My suggestion would be that the brand new plots in the brand new wards show a special icon, say the auction gavel but with a star. Once purchased and vacated, the star will no longer appear. This way, first time house hunsters can refer to their map to be notified which houses are untouched and which have been played on new timers.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I was suggesting that any transferred houses be left timer free so people who upgrade their plots have their former plots available without timers on release day. There are those who transfer legitimately from another area to a new and better location and there are those who buy a house fast to be sure to not lose out and look around for a better plot and then transfer because they found one they like more. Houses on timers in the new wards were because of this.

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So then every plot would have been sold out within an hour of the servers coming up. Those who couldn't log in until a couple of hours later would have had zero chance at getting a house at all.

At least the timer gave those players who couldn't log on until later in the day a small chance to get a house of some sort if they were willing to compete against others for it.

There is no better way in the current system. There are only other ways that have their own flaws that will ultimately leave everyone who still doesn't have a house unhappy.