Instanced Housing: Ideas and Details

[Ayan_Calvesse]

I think if you were to do instanced housing I would not put it in the wards. I would do it the way LOTRO originally did; it would take the form of a zone transition in each capital city. (the dotted lines you cross) essentially walking you into your home area within the city itself. This would keep wards as a unique concept while still giving the instance folks what they want and ideally increase player traffic within the respective cities. I would NOT give you a direct teleport to your instanced home as that would undermine the secondary function I feel and raise the ease of instanced housing further over the ward system that would already begin to wither as people will simply go the easiest route to getting a home (See the housing on the Materia DC).

I do feel that people are seeing more life in the wards at the moment due to demo bringing current players there and getting rid of abandoned homes. I feel that the Wards should serve a function of being a player populated RP hub; thus the wards should remain. For folks that just want their own private house to dwell in I think you essentially have it that you walk down the street in Gridania or whatever and arrive in a instance that reflects the size and position of your home. So you might choose "Beachside bungalow" or "Cape over the sea" or "located on the thoroughfare" for a mist house instance; plop down your size and call it a day.

I would also tax instanced housing probably to ensure its seeing use; or implement auto-demo for instanced housing similar to what you see in the wards.

[Toutatis]

I’d like to see a housing district that looks like Radz-at-Han or Ala Mhigo or essentially the looks of a city where lodging is not in the form of individual houses from the outside but inside the walls there could be mansions with internal courtyards, mediums with a front or backyard and smalls with a roof garden.

I would also tax instanced housing probably to ensure its seeing use; or implement auto-demo for instanced housing similar to what you see in the wards.

Why make it a pain? We don’t need tax. As for auto demo, I understand its purpose with the current (inadequate) system where there is a finite supply of housing but it makes absolutely no sense if they fix the supply issue with instanced housing.

I feel that the Wards should serve a function of being a player populated RP hub

wards or housing under whatever form should be for anyone wanting an in game property, not just RPers.

[Ayan_Calvesse]

I’d like to see a housing district that looks like Radz-at-Han or Ala Mhigo or essentially the looks of a city where lodging is not in the form of individual houses from the outside but inside the walls there could be mansions with internal courtyards, mediums with a front or backyard and smalls with a roof garden.

Why make it a pain? We don’t need tax. As for auto demo, I understand its purpose with the current (inadequate) system where there is a finite supply of housing but it makes absolutely no sense if they fix the supply issue with instanced housing.

wards or housing under whatever form should be for anyone wanting an in game property, not just RPers.

To answer the first question - because those instanced homes are still eating resources; so govern them by the same rules as wards (Auto-demo)
I was more pointing out that Wards are persistant; so people should naturally try to gather there - I was not claiming ward homes should only belong to RPers; though RPers populating the persistant wards makes more sense to me. I am seeking the essence of a compromise here.

[Jojoya]

To answer the first question - because those instanced homes are still eating resources; so govern them by the same rules as wards (Auto-demo)
I was more pointing out that Wards are persistant; so people should naturally try to gather there - I was not claiming ward homes should only belong to RPers; though RPers populating the persistant wards makes more sense to me. I am seeking the essence of a compromise here.

The resources required for instanced housing when a player is not in it is tiny in comparison to what is needed when it is loaded for entry. That's why demolition and maintenance fees are rarely seen in other MMOs. It's usually all instanced so there's no need to deter players from obtaining it.

If SE did a proper job of creating the hypothetical instanced housing, wards could go back to being FC only with any current private owners who wished to stay in the ward instead of moving to the instanced housing being grandfathered into their current plots (though unable to buy additional ward plots in the future). Most private owners would be happy to move to instanced if they had outdoor space in addition to indoor and if there is no demolition, which would create plenty of space for future FC houses considering the current FC to private distribution. SE could then suspend purchases in some wards until others had filled, then open up a few of the suspended wards to purchase as needed (similar to how wards on Dynamis right now are currently not available to purchase until the original wards fill).

[Stormpeaks]

The resources required for instanced housing when a player is not in it is tiny in comparison to what is needed when it is loaded for entry. That's why demolition and maintenance fees are rarely seen in other MMOs. It's usually all instanced so there's no need to deter players from obtaining it.

If SE did a proper job of creating the hypothetical instanced housing, wards could go back to being FC only with any current private owners who wished to stay in the ward instead of moving to the instanced housing being grandfathered into their current plots (though unable to buy additional ward plots in the future). Most private owners would be happy to move to instanced if they had outdoor space in addition to indoor and if there is no demolition, which would create plenty of space for future FC houses considering the current FC to private distribution. SE could then suspend purchases in some wards until others had filled, then open up a few of the suspended wards to purchase as needed (similar to how wards on Dynamis right now are currently not available to purchase until the original wards fill).

Yeah I dont know about that one chief. I personally couldnt care less about instanced housing, and so do my friends or the people I know with a house, none of them want instanced housing, they already got a ward house, there is no need for instanced for them.

I dont know who is this "most private owners" but it sure aint in my friendlist at least.

[Khryseis_Astra]

While I currently have a house, I still want instanced. I’ve been trying to relocate (downsizing from medium to small) since a few months before the new wards were added, with no success. And I’m pretty sure everyone who’s also been suffering through an endless string of lottery losses like I have and still don’t have a home at all would be thrilled by instanced. As would anyone who does have a house but not the one they want, or the size they want. There’s never going to be a way for all the people who want to upgrade to do so under the current system. The sole medium in LB on my server is currently at 49 bids, and it’s not even one of the popular ones!

I don’t see the wards ever going away, and I don’t want them to. Even with instanced, some would still prefer them and that’s fine. There just needs to be another way of tackling the lack of supply for the rest of us.

[Frizze]

I dont know who is this "most private owners" but it sure aint in my friendlist at least.

Im happy with my ward house too. I have what i consider the best plot in the game. No need to ever move or upgrade/downgrade unless they add something new and exciting in the future. I still see the value of adding proper instanced housing. You dont know anyone who would want to move to an instanced plot or who doesnt already have a house and could get one if that was implemented? Ok. If moving to an instance meant that they could upgrade their size like they want, i know some people who would move. If moving to an instance meant they could take longer breaks without fear of losing their plot and the effort they put into making it look good, i know some people who would move to an instance. If moving to an instance offered more/better/new locations that they could have their house be(or appear to be), i for sure know people who would move in a heartbeat. If they kept everything they have now as it is and in the next few expansions instead of new housing districts they added instanced housing to Ala Mhigo, Old Sharlayan, Radz, and Garlemald(or Crystarium/Eulmore, Amaurot, and Bestways for that matter) you really dont think ANYONE you know would move?

@Jojoya The issue might just be the line "Most private owners". Maybe change that to "Many" then? Cause yeah, i have no idea if the number is close to 51% but i certainly know it would be a much more popular option then 0%.

[Jojoya]

@Jojoya The issue might just be the line "Most private owners". Maybe change that to "Many" then? Cause yeah, i have no idea if the number is close to 51% but i certainly know it would be a much more popular option then 0%.

Possibly but I suspect it really is "most" and so that's why I used the word.

What are usually the two biggest complaints we see from those who do own a house? Demolition and item limits. Instanced housing solves the first since demolition would become unnecessary. It can improve the second, especially with respect to outdoor furnishings since there would no longer be other owner outdoor furnishings to be considered in loading limitations.

This is where i once again think of RIFT Dimensions. Housing items were simply housing items. There were no categories for furnishings. You could place any furnishing any where you wanted. If you wanted to use 400 rocks, trees and plants and only 100 items to make a small cottage, you could. If you want to use a series of planks to build a massive spiral slide starting at the top of the skybox limit going all the way down to the ground, you could (someone had done that and it was one of the more popular Dimensions - it was a fun slide). If you wanted to recreate a building from another game, you could.

Those who are less interested in creating designer homes and more interested in flexing their creating muscles in unique ways would be drawn to instanced housing over ward housing immediately. Instanced housing can remove some of the constraints that designers currently have to work around.

I think some of those who say they like ward housing say it only because they don't have experience with a good instanced housing system so to them, instanced housing means apartment. When your choices are only apartment or ward house, of course the ward house is going to win despite the risk of demolition. But if you could do everything you can currently do in a ward house plus more in instanced housing, is that ward house still going to win?

[Sindele]

Sure, people will take the magical result that gets them everything they want plus a pony, but I'm not sure how much sense any of that makes in reality. It's worth remembering that housing interiors are already instanced, so there's nothing about instanced plots that would make them more performant there. Unless we're spitballing some hypothetical new Dimensions-esque "plot" with no indoor/outdoor separation as an addition to Island Sanctuary or something, there's just about no chance that a theoretical instanced house and ward houses aren't kept at feature parity.

For what it's worth, to be contrary: I'm one of the people who has had plenty of experience with them but have never really been that keen on stuff like Dimensions. I feel most of the systems in its vein have a habit of being so overly granular and fiddly that it makes for a much greater amount of work to get to the first point of having something attractive and usable, vs. FF14's where you can have something fairly usable right out of the gate, immediately setting off that feedback loop of 'but I want it to look nicer' -> spend some time playing with stuff -> learn a trick or two -> 'but I want it to look nicer'... until you've picked up an entire book of tricks and learned how to bend the system's restrictions and work with items in unusual ways to make things more than the sum of their parts.

There's certainly a nicer middle ground to find than where we're at, and more content would be nice, but.. all I find myself really gravely missing - outside of more item count, of course - is less arbitrary bugginess with placement surfaces and proper XYZ placement control.

[Jojoya]

There's certainly a nicer middle ground to find than where we're at, and more content would be nice, but.. all I find myself really gravely missing - outside of more item count, of course - is less arbitrary bugginess with placement surfaces and proper XYZ placement control.

So that becomes the problem - finding a single middle ground that leaves everyone satisfied. My experience with people is that a single middle ground isn't possible. There will always be someone finding reasons to remain unhappy.

That's why it would be nice to see both systems available, allowing players to choose between the two.

RIFT did have buildings to place as items (from small huts to very tall towers with built in elevators) so it really wasn't that hard to throw something decent together quickly. Pick your building, resize it if desired, place it where you want it then add the basic furnishings. I will admit that it lacked a snap grid system like FFXIV has, but then that snap grid would likely remain a feature here if SE ever did offer improved instanced housing options.