Macunzo
Neophyte
TLDR: Phase out all individual houses with rented 'semi-instanced' off-map houses with the full functionality of present houses. Persistant on-map houses are only for guild achievements.
All successful UO servers have a housing problem. Of all contentious UO issues, housing used to be the one with the least creative dev solutions. Here comes UOO, and already does better than any of them: Rentable rooms! If I understand the technical side correctly, the rooms are persistant on a huge black extra map, but they disappear if the rent is not paid (and the content is transferred to the bank).
However, the rooms are ugly and suspend disbelief (they sit in a sea of black) and they do not have the same efficiency enhancing features as true houses (cannot friend your other characters, share storage over several accounts, share runebooks etc). At present, they are intended as a stepping stone to a true house, which however will be extremely expensive, as the map is and will continue to be completely full.
What comes next is heavily inspired by ESO and Black Desert Online, both of which don't have a problem with ugly clutter, nor with social housing issues. My proposal:
Rent out (or sell) true houses on several big 'make-believe' maps. E.g.on tiny islands on a big map of blue waves. And on a tiny clearanc in a big map of forest. And on a tiny square in a big 'city-map'. These houses have the same funcionality for friending as present houses. Vendors are put in server-owned 'shopping centers' and in the guild-houses.
Nice to have: Recall from and to the house? If rent isn't paid anymore, put everything in a seperate bank account? Allow the OSI system of selfmade houses, because those despicable neon-houses won't annoy anyone but the owner? Have new add-ons 'outside the house, on your little island/forest clearing?
Now comes the housing revolution:
This 'semi-instanced' system replaces all new individual houses. The house brokers disappear. When an IDOC falls, nothing new can be placed there anymore. Selling houses (i.e. transfer of ownership) is disabled. New persistant houses on the normal map are only for guilds (or guild accomplishments), or maybe for communal RP 'towns'.
Eventually the present situation of the horribly ugly but still liveless urban slum, coupled with equally horrible camp-out wagons in swamps, goes away. The map is returned to something worth looking at. The guilds still have something to brag about. As an individual, it is no longer necessary to log-in for years and years without actually playing, or plan long vacations primarily with your UO house in mind.
Who will hate this: The IDOC crowd. And the crazy rich of today maybe won't like it, but then, they can keep their houses for now, until they let it fall.
A step down from my housing revolution would be a social housing reform:
Don't allow new smallish houses on the persistant map. If a wagon or an 9x10 falls, it can't be replaced. The crazy rich keep their big houses, the little guy can still dream of becoming crazy rich, but the guy who doesn't care about big houses or just stays for 5 months every two years doesn't clog the future housing market and can invest his hard-earned cash into skill scrolls and aspect stuff.
All successful UO servers have a housing problem. Of all contentious UO issues, housing used to be the one with the least creative dev solutions. Here comes UOO, and already does better than any of them: Rentable rooms! If I understand the technical side correctly, the rooms are persistant on a huge black extra map, but they disappear if the rent is not paid (and the content is transferred to the bank).
However, the rooms are ugly and suspend disbelief (they sit in a sea of black) and they do not have the same efficiency enhancing features as true houses (cannot friend your other characters, share storage over several accounts, share runebooks etc). At present, they are intended as a stepping stone to a true house, which however will be extremely expensive, as the map is and will continue to be completely full.
What comes next is heavily inspired by ESO and Black Desert Online, both of which don't have a problem with ugly clutter, nor with social housing issues. My proposal:
Rent out (or sell) true houses on several big 'make-believe' maps. E.g.on tiny islands on a big map of blue waves. And on a tiny clearanc in a big map of forest. And on a tiny square in a big 'city-map'. These houses have the same funcionality for friending as present houses. Vendors are put in server-owned 'shopping centers' and in the guild-houses.
Nice to have: Recall from and to the house? If rent isn't paid anymore, put everything in a seperate bank account? Allow the OSI system of selfmade houses, because those despicable neon-houses won't annoy anyone but the owner? Have new add-ons 'outside the house, on your little island/forest clearing?
Now comes the housing revolution:
This 'semi-instanced' system replaces all new individual houses. The house brokers disappear. When an IDOC falls, nothing new can be placed there anymore. Selling houses (i.e. transfer of ownership) is disabled. New persistant houses on the normal map are only for guilds (or guild accomplishments), or maybe for communal RP 'towns'.
Eventually the present situation of the horribly ugly but still liveless urban slum, coupled with equally horrible camp-out wagons in swamps, goes away. The map is returned to something worth looking at. The guilds still have something to brag about. As an individual, it is no longer necessary to log-in for years and years without actually playing, or plan long vacations primarily with your UO house in mind.
Who will hate this: The IDOC crowd. And the crazy rich of today maybe won't like it, but then, they can keep their houses for now, until they let it fall.
A step down from my housing revolution would be a social housing reform:
Don't allow new smallish houses on the persistant map. If a wagon or an 9x10 falls, it can't be replaced. The crazy rich keep their big houses, the little guy can still dream of becoming crazy rich, but the guy who doesn't care about big houses or just stays for 5 months every two years doesn't clog the future housing market and can invest his hard-earned cash into skill scrolls and aspect stuff.
