4.2 Housing Update

[MizArai]

Everyone claimed that the auto-demo timer wouldn't make any difference either, but look how many people own homes now thanks to that. If they do reclaim the hoarded homes, I guarantee it'll make a huge difference to the people who are able to buy them.

Personally, I thought the auto-demolition timer would be a huge help. That it would be a semi-decent sized group of houses available that first 45 days, then after that a slow trickle to help ease the market.

Reclaiming houses from everyone that has multiple houses might give a one time boost of about 100-200 houses on the market per server. It would make a "huge difference" one time, but it will also piss off many people, and create many headaches for SE including wasting time and resources on a one time event to make it happen.

There is also no guarantee that the number of people who are happy would outweigh the number of people upset, especially since many people have expressed concerns about taking homes from active players as a slippery slope. It would invite other in game items/ purchases to be taken away from players in the future. People who own multiple houses won't be able to buy any more, so that will help keep future ward expansions for homeless people (with people who already own a home being able to relocate to "dream plots"). Either with the addition of more wards, reclamation, or more likely a combination of both, housing will sort itself out as long as SE keeps taking the issue seriously and works at it (though instanced housing really would be the best option).

[Rymm]

I don't think you understand what that means.

I understand what the preposition 'from' means, lol. I just don't feel that this situation, regulation of virtual housing, falls into the sliding scale of context mentioned in your definition. Which I suppose boils down to opinion since we don't have an official source to cite on whether it does or not. Would it make you feel better if I phrased it as, "In my opinion, hoarders shouldn't throw around the word 'punishment' when talking about losing their multiples."? I could provide you with the Merriam Webster definition if you like, as it's the definition of punishment that I use and why I take issue with it being used in such a way. In the end, we are simply arguing semantics anyway, which pales considerably next to the topic at hand, and why I only mentioned it in passing at the end of my post.

There is also no guarantee that the number of people who are happy would outweigh the number of people upset

I can concede that you are correct in most of your post and that I heartily hope that you are right about SE continuing to take the issue seriously until housing is sorted out. But I can't agree with this line quoted here and have to point out that it is objectively wrong. Even if every single hoarder only owned one extra home, the ratio of upset/happy people if they were resold would be, at the very least, 1:1. But there are enough well documented cases to show multiple owners having way more than one extra home to tip the scales well in favor of the people who would be able to buy a house. And, even if that weren't the case, the probability of FCs scoping up those resold houses would tilt the scales even further in favor of the number of people to be made happy by such a change.

In the end, you are probably correct. It would probably be too much work for SE for too small a benefit to the playerbase for them to reclaim hoarders multiples and it is as futile for me to advocate this as it is to advocate instanced housing or dynamic wards. Still, the official word is that they are still taking feedback, so I will continue to give mine, even if it ultimately falls on deaf ears.

[MizArai]

Even if every single hoarder only owned one extra home, the ratio of upset/happy people if they were resold would be, at the very least, 1:1. But there are enough well documented cases to show multiple owners having way more than one extra home to tip the scales well in favor of the people who would be able to buy a house. And, even if that weren't the case, the probability of FCs scoping up those resold houses would tilt the scales even further in favor of the number of people to be made happy by such a change.

I've seen quite a few people in the forums who have commented in these threads claiming they either own no personal home or only one personal home and don't want the homes of people with multiple homes taken from them. What you're failing to take into account is the people who don't have a horse in the race, but see it instead as the start of a very slippery slope and setting a very bad precedent.

edit: I'm right there with you wishing they would do instanced housing, as long as I can still visit everyone's house, since I'm a nosey neighbor and love to visit random houses to see what all people have done with them. :-D

[Rymm]

I've seen quite a few people in the forums who have commented in these threads claiming they either own no personal home or only one personal home and don't want the homes of people with multiple homes taken from them. What you're failing to take into account is the people who don't have a horse in the race, but see it instead as the start of a very slippery slope and setting a very bad precedent.

But you have to realize that there are also people like me, on the other side of the fence. I also don't have a horse in the race, as I already own a home, but still think the fairest route would be to reclaim the multiples. There is no way to get concrete numbers on the proponents or opponents of the issue short of polling the entire playerbase. The only numbers we can be sure of at this point is the ratio of those who would loose their excess houses verses those who would gain access to housing.

If only SE would make this whole argument moot by fixing housing... if only.

[Besame]

I've seen quite a few people in the forums who have commented in these threads claiming they either own no personal home or only one personal home and don't want the homes of people with multiple homes taken from them. What you're failing to take into account is the people who don't have a horse in the race, but see it instead as the start of a very slippery slope and setting a very bad precedent.

edit: I'm right there with you wishing they would do instanced housing, as long as I can still visit everyone's house, since I'm a nosey neighbor and love to visit random houses to see what all people have done with them. :-D

In Star Wars, people could own 1 of each fortress (3) plus one of their faction but they were all instances. In the main hubs, boards with housing were listed according to what the owners allowed to be seen and you could pop to them and look around.