Major changes needed for housing

[Tommara]

All of the drama over housing is deliberately caused by the devs, which they could have easily avoided by just copying Everquest2's housing, that existed almost a decade before this game: https://eq2.zam.com/wiki/Housing_%28EQ2%29

Which is not only a lot more useful, but a lot prettier. New players get an apartment for free.

If I wanted a nice house in a game, I'd go back to EQ2. But I don't. I've got the best guild hall (fortress on an island so large that I get lost in it, including an underground cave with boat dock), and nearly unlimited mansions in EQ2 (ok, so just 20, but more than I can keep up with).

My point is that I believe the devs have caused this problem intentionally, because I don't think they are stupid, not by a long shot.

Edited Note: Probably money and time sinks, and forcing you to subscribe to keep it, while EQ2 did not, last time I played. But not something that works on me, considering the lack of benefits vs. cost and if I were into decorating, which I'm not, I've played better games for that.

[Jojoya]

Edited Note: Probably money and time sinks, and forcing you to subscribe to keep it, while EQ2 did not, last time I played. But not something that works on me, considering the lack of benefits vs. cost and if I were into decorating, which I'm not, I've played better games for that.

If the point was to use houses to keep players subscribed, they would never suspend auto-demolition nor would apartments be free from demolition.

I honestly don't think the sub money is their objective with the system considering how often demolition has been suspended.

Housing helps keep me subscribed not because I fear losing my house (I've lost one in the past, had to wait 8 months before I could get another and would deal with it if I lost this one) but because it gives me something I enjoy doing when I need a break from other content. My FC will tell you how much I like to decorate/redecorate, helping some of them decorate their newly purchased houses when they weren't feeling comfortable about doing it themselves (a few of them are now frequent decorators as well).

How many sub dollars is SE losing because other players who would do likewise can't get a house at all so there's nothing to keep them interested once other content is consumed? It's a double-edged sword relying on a limited resource system to keep players subscribed. You've got players who only stay subscribed because they fear losing something they wouldn't be using. You've got players who unsubscribe because they can't get something they would be using.

I think it's fair to say that the devs designed the system intentionally with a specific vision of what they wanted housing to be like (the neighborhood thing) but not to say they intentionally designed it to be a problem for players. That runs counter to so many of the other things they do and say.