Housing: Owner-only Refreshes

[Tard the Paladin]

Owner only refreshes on houses would be a great idea in time for the expansion. What's the point in drawing new players to the shard if many of the best plots are taken by players who haven't logged on in years? I know that myself and other veterans can point out numerous max storage houses whose owners have been AWOL for over a year.

Given UOF's large population and limited housing, I believe its a fair requirement that players should have a minimum requirement of refreshing their own houses. Logging on and refreshing a house can be done in less than thirty seconds. Performing that task once a month is a pretty low bar in terms of commitment.

Here's some pro's and cons:

Pros:
Clean up unused spots.
Give newer players incentive to stick around.
All players can improve their chances of getting a superb plot.

Cons:
Probably a few of old forgotten players will log on and see their houses gone. How upset could they be since they've pretty much stopped playing anyway? Plus, they can rebuild elsewhere since there's more housing available.

 

[Shane]

I've wanted this for awhile, not sure how the general public feels about it though.

 

[Tard the Paladin]

I've wanted this for awhile, not sure how the general public feels about it though.

I feel that the issue is more pertinent now than ever before. The expansion will surely bring in new players as well as former players. It would be a shame if these players enjoy the game but are unable to find a decent plot.

Perhaps staff could provide accommodations for military or other players that must take a leave of absence. It would seem like those exceptions would be few. Logging in for a matter of seconds each month to refresh a house is a very low bar to set.

Its hard enough to avoid VPN abusers from making multiple accounts and hogging plots. At least requiring actual owners to refresh their own plots would open up some plots to the rule abiding player base.

IMO its a great time to bring up the issue and see what players think.

 

[LSDjay]

Its a nice idea.Maybe give the friends of the house a few refreshes for when the house owner has some real pronlems irl or just cant be able to login UOF... Maybe friends of the house can refresh it 3 or 4 times after that the house owner really must refresh it..

 

[Young Star]

I would at least condemn houses where the owner hasnt logged in themselves in over a year. Only way to stop the decay would be for the owner to page in.

 

[kurtis]

I think the only legitimate pro listed is "clean up unused spots." New players can find decent spots fairly easily in a short amount of time, or can save the moderate amount of gold needed if they are so determined. But I agree that too many plots go unused for years. And the 3 account system really amplifies the effect of this.

I really like @Young Star 's idea of limiting refreshes to the owner. Except some people have to travel or stop playing for over the limited window of IDOC's and I do think it's unfair to lose so much of what they worked for if they plan to come back.

Maybe if the original owner has not refreshed in 3 months, it drops?

 

[Volco]

I think it's a great idea. if they quit playing, why should they use up valuable space that a potential new 'every-dayer' could use?.

this part i think everyone will hate: if you go through with this idea, i think it best to remove the plot along with all the belongings. Alot of places would fall, and nothing good comes from over saturating the market.... in just about everything.

you could even make an event out of it. massive world-spawns everywhere. At the end, everyone with XXXXXpts can get a 'I survived the great purge' apron or something

 

[Tantreghan]

+1


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[SpaceFolding]

Signing this. When I first migrated to UOF, I spent days trying to figure out the housing situation and it was mind wracking. I worked for my plot, but it's a bit unfair as it currently stands.

 

[Tard the Paladin]

So is there anyone opposed to owner-only refreshes?

 

[lollo]

I'm against it.

I'd be ok with This only if summer was excluded from This rule.
It's not unusual For many people to go 1 month on holiday and Someone has to refresh.

We could do only owner and co owner refreshes

 

[clutchxo]

Signed.

Just to be clear, Owner only as in account owner, or the individual character that placed the plot.

Either way, I'm signing. +1

 

[Kears]

Signed. Hard to imagine anyone who doesn't log in within a month would bother about what happens ingame.

 

[dalmuti]

I'm against it.

I'd be ok with This only if summer was excluded from This rule.
It's not unusual For many people to go 1 month on holiday and Someone has to refresh.

We could do only owner and co owner refreshes

I'm still in favor of owner-only refreshes, but I agree that this is a good point. What if there was a "house repair" dono item that freezes your house decay for 1-2 months? Obviously only one could be applied to a house at once, but that would allow someone that knows they are going on a long vacation to have 2-3 months without refreshing.

 

[Tantreghan]

I'm still in favor of owner-only refreshes, but I agree that this is a good point. What if there was a "house repair" dono item that freezes your house decay for 1-2 months? Obviously only one could be applied to a house at once, but that would allow someone that knows they are going on a long vacation to have 2-3 months without refreshing.

I like This idea but gold sink and Dono. Maybe limit it to like 2 a year. If it's a 3 month delay u get half the year u dont have to worry about you house falling.


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[Kael]

I'm ok with it. But lets be honest. This doesn't allow the "new" player a chance to get a large house. It allows IDOC guilds a chance to place themselves another large home or sell to the highest bidder. New players will just get the left over dregs.

 

[Experience]

I think it should be owner/co-Owner. I know several people that share houses. We need to keep in mind the overall community. People move, run of bad luck (displacement due to natural disaster, job loss, etc), military deployments, etc. If we make owner only refreshes we need to add a vacation mode or something for houses. locks doors to all players, freezes decay.

 

[clutchxo]

I'm cool with owner/co-owner.

@Deadpool. We need a poll.

 

[MrNastyTime]

Finding a reasonably sized home on this server is rough. The plots sold for decent size seem to run around 200k not including the cost of the actual house. I am currently sharing a 9x11 (Think this is the size) with three other players because we gave up on trying to figure out the way bidding works on forum and ran entire map to find only the plot we have now. We will save for individual places but it has been a headache to find decent size housing. I don't expect to run the map and find castle or 18x18 anywhere open. Obviously the larger spaces should encourage a strong market but, the rate for small and medium plots is a bit excessive. Just a noob opinion.

 

[Tard the Paladin]

They could increase the decay time of houses. That probably wouldn't be such a big deal.

There are occasions where people might not be able to update their houses but its an MMO. Logging in a few seconds per month is a very low bar. Even on vacation or where ever, you could find the time to log on. If not, just plan accordingly and plan on rebuilding afterwards. The fact is that too much housing is taken up by coowners simply refreshing houses of people that haven''t played in years.

I still think that overall the requirement is worth while.