Fix Housing Megathread

[Thorncraft]

This game gets boring for crafters if you literally don't allow access to one of the most craft heavy item in the game (it's houses). And it's you, SE, you won't allow the average player to buy a house. Either buy on release like a good player or you get punished. The average human can't spam click every SECOND for 24 HOURS but I mean hey at least PC players can have a program to do that for them. Also, I love that one FC can own a LITERAL block of a ward.
Show the timer make it reasonable for at a normal human. Like 4 or 6 hour windows. Allow relocation before the plot goes up for sale (10-12 hours) and if no one relocated after X time then NO more relocations only the new shorter window. Because that at least gives people a heads up that a plot will be available but also stops instant buying/selling. And the shorter window is beneficial for mental and physical reasons. We can't all be bots.

[TroySoFab]

Number 2 is not as simple as you think there is something your failing to address.



Here is a picture of my FC house placard. Take a good look at the owner, cause thats not my characters name or anyone elses..

If your FC house isn't owned by a member of your FC or anyone on your server, then maybe you need a GM to help you out with that. Not even sure how that can happen, unless there are some interesting exploits I'm not aware of.
Outside of this I think my point still stands. 1 personal home, and one fc home ownership. It could be modified with an additional restriction of one FC ownership per account, for those extra creative players.

That might have been the intent. It wasn't the result.

Neighborhoods feel like neighborhoods because you see people doing things, not because you see houses. We're stuck only seeing the houses because there's little reason for players to be in the wards themselves. If they're at their house, they're far more likely to be in it than outside but we're got no way of knowing they're in it from what we see on the outside.

Player behavior when in the wards goes far in showing how players don't really want neighborhoods. There have been a few occasions when I've been at my house or our FC house and someone randomly comes by. Greet them and they almost always run away if they were caught doing something wrong. Clearly they're interested in how others have decorated their houses but they aren't looking to be a neighbor.

Its not the result because most wards are owned by a few players with no interest in actually doing anything with the home other than reselling it, or inactive players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oPC4D-rHqg

I've linked this in other housing threads before, but I think its a good example of what can be done in wards when people who actually care about having a home and decorating it, have said homes. As apposed to people who only hold on to them for "other reasons".

[NanaWiloh]

If your FC house isn't owned by a member of your FC or anyone on your server, then maybe you need a GM to help you out with that. Not even sure how that can happen, unless there are some interesting exploits I'm not aware of.
Outside of this I think my point still stands. 1 personal home, and one fc home ownership. It could be modified with an additional restriction of one FC ownership per account, for those extra creative players.




Its not the result because most wards are owned by a few players with no interest in actually doing anything with the home other than reselling it, or inactive players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oPC4D-rHqg

I've linked this in other housing threads before, but I think its a good example of what can be done in wards when people who actually care about having a home and decorating it, have said homes. As apposed to people who only hold on to them for "other reasons".

There is no mistake no exploit the Free company itself owns the house not any of the Free companies members. Check the placecard of any FC house on your world you will find the FC name listed as owner. A restriction on buying a FC house was once put in place but was quickly removed due to issues it caused. Restricting player to one fc house interfers with the FC's leadership and FC's must have a lead at all times. It also would prevent players with mulitple characters from putting their other characters into FC's with homes be it on the same world or a different world. This why such and idea will never be implemented by SE.

To be blunt Restrictions that work for player house cant be applied to a FC house without causing more problems that have to be solved.

[Besame]

My FC placard says, "Owned by FC NAME".

[Catstab]

Predictably... Our rat, having absolutely no freaking clue when it'd get a pellet, never stopped pressing it.

Yeah, I don't know what SE expected other than what they got. As you say, the results are predictable.

People need to be given information for their own good, or they hurt themselves learning the hard way. The timer is not explained in detail anywhere by SE, leaving first time house buyers to depend on veteran players for advice. Even the advice of veteran players is just "click or use a controller for 4 hours straight over and over again." And of course the more desperate players ignore that advice and continue to click closer to the full 24 hours of the timer, over and over again.

Yoshi P says they will consider a lottery, and I really hope they find a way to keep the bots from taking an unfair advantage from it. Barring that, and barring the "enough houses for everyone" hope- I'm starting to think the best suggestion rolling around lately is Themarvin and the "3 placard clicks per day" idea. It would force all of us to use the timer as SE intended. Check and see, come back much later. Even the bots would not be able to overpower such a system. I didn't love the idea at first, but I'm coming around.

[Thorncraft]

Plot is relinquished [placard does state for Relocation or Sale during their respective phases] > Invisible 10-hour-timer starts for Relocation (that's 42% of a real day to decide). Once Relocation timer is up no more Relocation and the plot goes up for sale > next 0-4 hours that plot can not be bought (that is minimum of 58% of a real day to login and see there could potentially be a plot up, given the relocation goes unphased) > 4-12 hours the invisible timer starts (like the current one) > invisible timer goes off or after 12 hours > the plot goes up for insta-purchase. The minimum amount of turn around time would be 14 hours from relinquish to purchase with max being 26 hours. Relocation still gets priority but timers favor a buyer. Lastly, the knowledge of a rough buy window with only an 8 hour spam window is priceless. What do you think?

[ItMe]

Relocation still gets priority but timers favor a buyer.

I'm not sure I understand this part. Can you run this past me again?

[Jojoya]

I'm not sure I understand this part. Can you run this past me again?

Relocators still get first crack at the plot like they do now with the first timer. The second timer removes the worry of a relocator getting the plot at the last minute after campers have spent several hours clicking and reduces the max time to click to 16 hours (or 12 hours if the player is aware of either when the plot was relinquished/demo'd or when the relocation period ended).

To me it sounds like it's complicating the system without making any significant improvement that would get players to change the camping habit.

Wouldn't it be better to move to a system where such clicking would be neither needed nor possible?

[ItMe]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up for me Jojoya~

To me it sounds like it's complicating the system without making any significant improvement that would get players to change the camping habit.

Wouldn't it be better to move to a system where such clicking would be neither needed nor possible?

Fair.
I can understand that.
But does this part not have value? It would sure help keep people sane at least:

The second timer removes the worry of a relocator getting the plot at the last minute after campers have spent several hours clicking

Moving to a better system would be, well, better. But it doesn't seem likely they'll remove the placard system anytime soon. And as a simple tweak to an existing system I'm not seeing much of a downside Thorncraft's idea.

[Thorncraft]

No problem, if you want to relocate, the first timer allows those with land to do so, but that is the only window for Relocations. As a buyer you'll know you don't have to stand there while the plot is ONLY under the Relocation phase (it'll say on the placard), you'll also know that once Relocation phase is over it'll be another 4 hours before the invisible timer starts and lastly the new invisible timer is only 8 hours long.