I just wanted to start a general thread to get some feedback from the UOF community around housing. The real estate buy and sell has really slumped a lot and there is not a lot of action in real estate at this time. IDOCs seem to be fewer and far between as well, although I have backed off the IDOC scene and am not as aggressive towards sector checks for IDOCs I might just be missing a large part of the IDOCs that are not during my regular time of play. My feelings are that it should be starting to pick up as the server is getting out of its typical slower summer months. I think this is mostly related to the tons of empty plots that are just sitting around the world doing nothing. I suspect that there are people with additional accounts that have these houses that are just hoping one day the surrounding houses will fall to place a bigger plot. So not only are there lots of plots sitting doing nothing but there are also houses that belong to players that do not play or have not played in a long time and they have their friends refreshing these houses in hopes potentially one day someone will return the play and still have their house. I was hoping to get a sense from the community about what else might be causing these issues with housing and looking for any constructive solutions to the problem, if there truly is a problem. How can staff determine what houses have been held up by accounts that are not played and release these plots back to the community. It is a very touchy subject as there are legit people that take leaves from the game not on their own accord and are fully planning to come back to the game and they should not lose what they worked hard to get. Comments. Ideas. Suggestions. Theories. This thread is hopefully to remain constructive and look at reasons why housing is potentially harder to come by and ways to potentially reinvigorate the housing market. I don't even know if staff read the forums really to know if this thread will be able to get the attention of staff to make some changes if needed. Thanks.
UOF Housing thread
- Thread starter Titanium
- Start date
Jonny
Journeyman
Well changing it back to how it was before all this ettin bs would be a good start it's borderline pointless to wait at a idoc now.
Thanks for your input. I am sure there are a lot of people that feel the same way. However I don't see this happening as Shane is very proud of this implementation and it serves multiple purposes in the eyes of the staff at not only eliminating items from the server but also allowing multiple groups of people to IDOC and have a chance at loot as opposed to the previous way having a group of scripters come in and easily clean house. I loved the old way of IDOCs as well and would be all for this change but this isn't the purpose of this thread. Either way the IDOCs work does not put any change into the questions asked in this thread about housing and all the empty plots. Thanks again for your reply.
No IDOCS means an active player base
I agree to an extent.. No IDOCS could mean an active player base... But I don't feel that is the case in this scenario.. an active player base creating no idocs we would see custom houses filled with chests and loot and housing that is being used by that active player base... there are a lot of empty plots just chilling and not doing anything but taking up space and potential housing for newer players.. I mean it could be a good sign and that is the kind of feedback I am looking for in this thread is honest opinions on the situation or no situation if that's the case. .. I could be wrong and your thoughts on it being a good sign are very valid.. thank you for your reply
Ghosty
Adept
I play the IDOC game and mark homes when they are fair or greatly. Most of the time those homes get refreshed before they fall, so based on my experiences, a lot of homes go a few weeks or so before someone touches them again...
As for the plots, it's frustrating to see so many laying around. I would like to see something done about it. Perhaps a quicker timer on the IDOC if no home has been built on it or some sort of daily fee to discourage holding on to plots for the long term.
All in all, I really just want to see my UO neighbors more
As for the plots, it's frustrating to see so many laying around. I would like to see something done about it. Perhaps a quicker timer on the IDOC if no home has been built on it or some sort of daily fee to discourage holding on to plots for the long term.
All in all, I really just want to see my UO neighbors more
Jonny
Journeyman
I took about a year break and lost my houses but after being back for a little while I have noticed a much lower player population I believe that has a bit to do with it and the people who are still here just sitting on plots after trying to sell them with no one buying.
I play the IDOC game and mark homes when they are fair or greatly. Most of the time those homes get refreshed before they fall, so based on my experiences, a lot of homes go a few weeks or so before someone touches them again...
As for the plots, it's frustrating to see so many laying around. I would like to see something done about it. Perhaps a quicker timer on the IDOC if no home has been built on it or some sort of daily fee to discourage holding on to plots for the long term.
All in all, I really just want to see my UO neighbors more
I like where you are going with this. Problem with quicker idoc timers on blank plots. it might catch some people off guard at first. but once people are aware. they will just put up 4 walls and let it sit... maybe some sort of item minimum in the house. but then you are limiting those that only want a mining house and have ore and a chest with smithing tools as well.. and also if someone knows this minimum they might just stack items to that minimum to have sit there......
Ghosty
Adept
All very good points and they would also apply to the daily fee idea as well.
Let's get extreme and implement some good ol adverse possession. If plots are just laying around, anyone can build on them and if that place goes uncontested for 7 days or so it becomes rightfully mine! - of course you could just build a few walls to begin with to ruin this idea as well.
Phrygian
Master
I think there should be some type of minimum play time needed to refresh a house once it hits Greatly Worn, or something like that. Too many houses that are just being refreshed by someone who doesn't play the game, except to log on once a month. There's an entire village of houses, over a dozen large 15x15 18x18 etc spots, that go greatly worn every month, only to have a single person get on and refresh them all. So perhaps not allowing friends to refresh would also help. It's certainly a problem, and doesn't help the health of the server.
I like the idea of not having friends be able to refresh. but. devils advocate here. There are dedicated players that might not be able to get on for a month at a time. An example that comes to mind is someone that might be deployed. this is just one example. and they would need a friend to refresh in that situation. Aside from paging a staff member and letting them know the circumstances. and verifying it somehow. I don't know how this change could be fair to those that are dedicated to playing the game but their job or other requirements have them out of country or away from a computer for longer then the idoc time... Great ideas again and love the dialogue and ideas.. keep them coming.. and I retort not to put any ideas down but to look at it from all angles to be fair to all those that support UOF but might have legit reasons not to be able to log in every month or for months at a time...
eric_azria
Grandmaster
I think we should stop trying to reinvent the wheel.
On other servers players that were able to prove they were active military were given deeds to make their houses "ageless" when they were deployed. Always thought that was a good idea.
Just having a discussion in general channel.. appreciate your comment but it is neither constructive or putting anything towards the conversation this thread was started for.. anything else to add to your comment to justify that things are good status quo would be great to add and would help get more opinions in.. the purpose of this thread is not to reinvent anything.. I just wanted an open discussion to see what people think about the current housing state..and your opinion matters to but I would like to have a more detailed idea of why you feel it's good... or not... thank you for your understanding
Once again .. devils advocate... how does anyone over the internet prove anything... I am sure I could prove that I am in the military ... in the USA... and I am in fact not in the military or even in the USA... that being said I used the military as an example because it was easiest to relate to time away but there are other careers that take people in trips for business.. or even vacations .. that might go over the idoc time frames.. not to discredit those that serve their country and risk their lives because much props to them and respect.. but they are not the only ones that need to have sanctions if there are going to be such sanctions for work related leaves of absences so to speak... good to discuss other servers and what may of worked or not worked in the past .. thanks for your comment
Very extreme yes.. but the 4 walls aspect kinda eliminates this thought as well.. my mind went to some form is siege to protect what is yours... not necessarily related to PvP because that would not be fair to the newer player base.. and I would never want something like that implemented in any way... but that is where my mind went reading your comment lol... thanks for the reply... let's keep the conversation going..
I was hoping to hear from newer players as well.. the main goal it seems in the back of my mind for this discussion was to see if there is an issue.. see if it needs fixing... if not cool.... but hearing from new players and understanding where they are coming from and what their goals are.. if they feel the goals of owning a 24x24.. or even 18x18
.. or even a plot... and they don't see that goal obtainable.. they are not going to stay on the server.. and that doesn't help anyone.. the economy.. and real estate sales of any game that involves such items is a good indicator for health of the game population.. maybe the economy is doing awesome... from the eyes of all the sharks... but in my opinion the housing market isn't doing so well and that might as I said deter people from staying on the server ... once you get a house.. get settled.. it becomes a home and keeps you... i dunno.. taking sauce now but just running with ideas
.. or even a plot... and they don't see that goal obtainable.. they are not going to stay on the server.. and that doesn't help anyone.. the economy.. and real estate sales of any game that involves such items is a good indicator for health of the game population.. maybe the economy is doing awesome... from the eyes of all the sharks... but in my opinion the housing market isn't doing so well and that might as I said deter people from staying on the server ... once you get a house.. get settled.. it becomes a home and keeps you... i dunno.. taking sauce now but just running with ideas
how would you prove you are in the military if you are not?...
AreYouKidden
Grandmaster
House decay time should be tied to player activity. A house should start with 7 days, when the house owner account is out in the world, actively playing (not AFK in the house, in a City, as a ghost, or standing in one spot), house decay timer should go up, to a max say 120 days. If he is not actively playing, then the house would decay. You wouldn't be able to just log in and refresh every 4 months, wtihout actively playing to increase it to 120 days. 4 months is also a long enough time in my eyes to keep a house from falling for someone who needs to take an extended leave, unfortunately if your leave is going to be longer than 4 months, there needs to be a cut off somewhere.
It also means those who grab houses, and don't actively play on the account, leaving walls or a empty plot, would have a very limited time to move the house, before having to actively play on the account, or sell it, as it would drop in 7 days.
Drawbacks to this - obviously you could macro afk, moving back and forth to increase your decay time. There's not going to be a perfect system.. *shrugs*
It also means those who grab houses, and don't actively play on the account, leaving walls or a empty plot, would have a very limited time to move the house, before having to actively play on the account, or sell it, as it would drop in 7 days.
Drawbacks to this - obviously you could macro afk, moving back and forth to increase your decay time. There's not going to be a perfect system.. *shrugs*
Excellent suggestion.. I like the idea of play time tied to house decay... but that being said you have brought up already the drawbacks.. another drawback ofc is each player is entitled to 3 accounts... and you can not play 3 accounts at once... well... I shouldn't say that... you can.. except for in pvp and in RDAs... but actually playing 3 accounts at once to keep potentially 3 houses from decaying does seem very taxing on a casual player that has a job and a family etc... I am impressed by the suggestion though and it never came to my mind or has been looked at from this light in any other previous post prior I have seen... And you are right.. there will be no perfect system.. and maybe we are at the optimal system now.. maybe not... I would really like to keep this thread going and see what other thoughts and ideas are out there.. Thanks for your post!