Originally posted by Cryomatrix

 

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Originally posted by Dibdabs

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Originally posted by Adoni
Has housing become a obsolete feature in mmorpgs?

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More like pointless, at least to many.  I've played two or three games that feature player housing and, for me, all it's good for is the extra storage slots they usually come with.  I have utterly no interest in filling it with pointless eye-candy like furniture and trophies.

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Housing that is instanced is completely pointless in my opinion, it's just so the game can say there's player housing when it's just a fancier version of a bank that you can decorate.

Player housing in SWG was what I consider player housing, you'd be adventuring and see someone's house and decide to go into it to see how it is. That was awesome, when i played last year i was in a guild well known for crafting and people would come to our city to buy stuff cuz that was how we marketed ourselves. That's real player housing, SWG back in its heyday must have been amazing but alas I join it toward the end of its life.

Great game, a bit clunky, but great for sandboxing.

Cryomatrix

SWG player housing is my all time favorite. But you have to admit, it made for some really laggy times...

Originally posted by BlackUhuru

Originally posted by Adoni

Has housing become a obsolete feature in mmorpgs?

Nope!!! Check out Archeage forums...

 

ARCHEAGE! WHOO!

Originally posted by Adoni

Has housing become a obsolete feature in mmorpgs?

EQ2 has housing.

Lotro has housing.

Runes of magic has housing.

SWToR is gonna have housing (in space ships form)

Vanguard has housing.

EvE has the captains quarters.

I believe I remember some kind of news about housing for GW2.

SWG has housing.

AoC promised housing, but never devlivered.

In my opinion is just one of the second line features, I mean, the kind of stuff the developers want to add after all the basic features works fine. In my opinion mmorpgs should have housing from the start, but I understand why not all the developers implement it for launch day.

Originally posted by Dibdabs

More like pointless, at least to many.  I've played two or three games that feature player housing and, for me, all it's good for is the extra storage slots they usually come with.  I have utterly no interest in filling it with pointless eye-candy like furniture and trophies.

That's fair, but would it not be equally fair to call, say, raiding poinless?

Originally posted by Ardwulf

Originally posted by Dibdabs

More like pointless, at least to many.  I've played two or three games that feature player housing and, for me, all it's good for is the extra storage slots they usually come with.  I have utterly no interest in filling it with pointless eye-candy like furniture and trophies.

That's fair, but would it not be equally fair to call, say, raiding poinless?

"Pointless" or not, in my opinion it should always be an option. Some people love housing just like SOME people love raiding. The more options a game gives a player, the better.  I've always loved  housing.  It's a feature I have enjoyed and used a lot.  For me, in the games that have given it to me, it's been a huge part of MY "endgame"....finding or making all the rarest and most precious items for my homes and then trying to make it unique on my server.  That's a lot of fun for me.  I don't really care if someone else finds it pointless.  For ME, PvP is kind of pointless (I only enjoy it when I'm in the mood for it), but I don't want games to quit including it just because I don't personally care for it.

Options.  Options.  Options.

Originally posted by just1opinion

"Pointless" or not, in my opinion it should always be an option. Some people love housing just like SOME people love raiding. The more options a game gives a player, the better.  I've always loved  housing.  It's a feature I have enjoyed and used a lot.  For me, in the games that have given it to me, it's been a huge part of MY "endgame"....finding or making all the rarest and most precious items for my homes and then trying to make it unique on my server.  That's a lot of fun for me.  I don't really care if someone else finds it pointless.  For ME, PvP is kind of pointless (I only enjoy it when I'm in the mood for it), but I don't want games to quit including it just because I don't personally care for it.

 

Options.  Options.  Options.

But the inclusion of even an optional feature can easily affect the rest of the game. There's no end of people who will tell you that balancing and rebalancing of classes for PvP—where balance among races, classes, and builds is all-important—has a negative effect on the game's PvE aspect. And removing a feature automatically improves the "competing" features in the sense that a.) developers have more time to work on them and b.) more players will participate in them. As an example, if endgame consists of raiding and/or territory control, taking out the raiding means more time will be spend polishing the territory control and more people will participate in it.

And of course, the big deal with non-instanced housing is that it's very visible. Even if I choose not to build a house, the presence of hundreds or thousands of player houses tends to drastically change the way the game's zones look. Having different styles of houses next to each other (or next to pre-existing static buildings) would ruin the aesthetic appeal. There's also the issue that if any in-game benefits are tied to the housing, not having a house may not really be a viable option at all. Just as an example, having a bank/storage isn't really something that players can be expected to do without. If you must have a house in order to hold your extra items or to transfer items between characters, it can hardly be said to be an option that doesn't affect the people who don't care for it.

I miss it in almost every game its a shame really. One of the oldest  games still has the best housing. So are those big budget studios trying to tell us they can't make a  meaningful housing system?! If those lazy suits have time telling the devs to implement bullshit stuff such as microtransactions or  achievements, cgi movies why don't they have time for housing?

Hell I'd even buy an expansion that has housing as a main feature, I love it it makes you feel like you are part of the world.

Originally posted by just1opinion

Originally posted by Ardwulf

Originally posted by Dibdabs

More like pointless, at least to many.  I've played two or three games that feature player housing and, for me, all it's good for is the extra storage slots they usually come with.  I have utterly no interest in filling it with pointless eye-candy like furniture and trophies.

That's fair, but would it not be equally fair to call, say, raiding poinless?

 

"Pointless" or not, in my opinion it should always be an option. Some people love housing just like SOME people love raiding. The more options a game gives a player, the better.  I've always loved  housing.  It's a feature I have enjoyed and used a lot.  For me, in the games that have given it to me, it's been a huge part of MY "endgame"....finding or making all the rarest and most precious items for my homes and then trying to make it unique on my server.  That's a lot of fun for me.  I don't really care if someone else finds it pointless.  For ME, PvP is kind of pointless (I only enjoy it when I'm in the mood for it), but I don't want games to quit including it just because I don't personally care for it.

 

Options.  Options.  Options.

+1 QFE

i think it is the major failing of most mmo's today: a lack of options. if they could create an option filled system like SWGpreNGE that many years back, i find it hard to believe they can't do better now.

Originally posted by just1opinion

Originally posted by Ardwulf

Originally posted by Dibdabs

More like pointless, at least to many.  I've played two or three games that feature player housing and, for me, all it's good for is the extra storage slots they usually come with.  I have utterly no interest in filling it with pointless eye-candy like furniture and trophies.

That's fair, but would it not be equally fair to call, say, raiding poinless?

 

"Pointless" or not, in my opinion it should always be an option. Some people love housing just like SOME people love raiding. The more options a game gives a player, the better.  I've always loved  housing.  It's a feature I have enjoyed and used a lot.  For me, in the games that have given it to me, it's been a huge part of MY "endgame"....finding or making all the rarest and most precious items for my homes and then trying to make it unique on my server.  That's a lot of fun for me.  I don't really care if someone else finds it pointless.  For ME, PvP is kind of pointless (I only enjoy it when I'm in the mood for it), but I don't want games to quit including it just because I don't personally care for it.

 

Options.  Options.  Options.

EQ2 housing is my favorite.  I have a wall showcasing the heritage/signature and lore & legend quests completed.  I have a room dedicated to my warden, a library of the book rewards, and of course the odd event rewards.  This is all populated by the menagerie I've collected along the way.

I also like how EQ2 housing is instanced doorways in the open world.  This way there aren't odd looking building in what might be inappropriate places, but the doorways are in established buildings in the open world where everyone can access them.  Another thing I love about EQ2 housing is the hookless system where items can be resized.

I really hate how LotRO housing is in isntanced neighborhoods out of the way.  Not many people really go visit them.  LotRO housing needs an update to improve visibility of the housing and remove the very limiting hooked system.  The game is a great environment for housing, it's too bad the system is so underdeveloped.

I think its unlikely that we will see housing and player cities like in SWG again. If a game will have non instanced housing, then there will be a limited amount of locations buildable. Which means that players that join the game at later date might miss out.

So I see instanced housing as the better compromise. Preferably located in special neighbourhoods (like in AO), but then with the system from EQ2 to place things. Although EQ2 could have an improvement for this. You can't rotate items around all axis for example (without 3rd party layout editor). SWG's placing system is a lot more robust but at the same time less userfriendly.

Oh and npc merchants to sell your stuff.

I think most developers have realized that no one really wants a place for their character to 'live' so housing for the sake of a house seems to have faded away. Customizable playerspace is still around in MMOs. Clone Wars Adsventures and Free Realms have very customizable player owned spaces. Gods & Heroes  and EVE Online have recently both introduced the early iterations of their player spaces.

Originally posted by someforumguy

I think its unlikely that we will see housing and player cities like in SWG again. If a game will have non instanced housing, then there will be a limited amount of locations buildable. Which means that players that join the game at later date might miss out.

So I see instanced housing as the better compromise. Preferably located in special neighbourhoods (like in AO), but then with the system from EQ2 to place things. Although EQ2 could have an improvement for this. You can't rotate items around all axis for example (without 3rd party layout editor). SWG's placing system is a lot more robust but at the same time less userfriendly.

Oh and npc merchants to sell your stuff.

ArcheAge will have open world housing. You can also menage with limited amount of locations. If someone leave the game and dont play for let's say 2-3 months ,then house gets deleted and items from inside send to bank if possible.

I don't like instanced system. Because then house is only for storage while open world housing give so much moore possibilities.

Originally posted by Disdena

And of course, the big deal with non-instanced housing is that it's very visible. Even if I choose not to build a house, the presence of hundreds or thousands of player houses tends to drastically change the way the game's zones look. Having different styles of houses next to each other (or next to pre-existing static buildings) would ruin the aesthetic appeal. There's also the issue that if any in-game benefits are tied to the housing, not having a house may not really be a viable option at all. Just as an example, having a bank/storage isn't really something that players can be expected to do without. If you must have a house in order to hold your extra items or to transfer items between characters, it can hardly be said to be an option that doesn't affect the people who don't care for it.

It is easy to resolve. You limit places where houses can be build + if someone dont play for 2-3 months house gets deleted. Then you dont have houses everywhere. Extra storage - erm I don't remember a mmorpg in which bit housing storage room made a diffrence really.

Same with housing storage as only place to exchange items between your characters. Cannot remember this kind of game.

Besides even if that's the case there is flaw within game but it's not caused by housing itself but because devs don't imlement other system.

I usually send items to alts via in-game mail anyway.

Besides I do think that just because there can be some  benefits from owning a house that don't mean that whole concept should be thrown away just because of that.

You could say that with other things. For example many people are not interested in raiding. You certainly have in-game benefits tied to raiding. So it can't hardly be said that raiding does not affect people who don't care for it. Does that mean that there should not be raiding in game?

Try to be open-minded look at diffrent options in game as a chance rather than a bother. There are people that don't care/like crafting , some don't care for pvp even if it is only instanced one in bg , some don't care about housing, some don't care about raiding, some don't care about beign in guild ,etc - but because of that there should not be things like that in a game just because there are benefits tied to all those things?

It is better imho to have it all and provide people with multiple options of what they can do in game.

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by just1opinion

Originally posted by Ardwulf

Originally posted by Dibdabs

More like pointless, at least to many.  I've played two or three games that feature player housing and, for me, all it's good for is the extra storage slots they usually come with.  I have utterly no interest in filling it with pointless eye-candy like furniture and trophies.

That's fair, but would it not be equally fair to call, say, raiding poinless?

 

"Pointless" or not, in my opinion it should always be an option. Some people love housing just like SOME people love raiding. The more options a game gives a player, the better.  I've always loved  housing.  It's a feature I have enjoyed and used a lot.  For me, in the games that have given it to me, it's been a huge part of MY "endgame"....finding or making all the rarest and most precious items for my homes and then trying to make it unique on my server.  That's a lot of fun for me.  I don't really care if someone else finds it pointless.  For ME, PvP is kind of pointless (I only enjoy it when I'm in the mood for it), but I don't want games to quit including it just because I don't personally care for it.

 

Options.  Options.  Options.

EQ2 housing is my favorite.  I have a wall showcasing the heritage/signature and lore & legend quests completed.  I have a room dedicated to my warden, a library of the book rewards, and of course the odd event rewards.  This is all populated by the menagerie I've collected along the way.

I also like how EQ2 housing is instanced doorways in the open world.  This way there aren't odd looking building in what might be inappropriate places, but the doorways are in established buildings in the open world where everyone can access them.  Another thing I love about EQ2 housing is the hookless system where items can be resized.

I really hate how LotRO housing is in isntanced neighborhoods out of the way.  Not many people really go visit them.  LotRO housing needs an update to improve visibility of the housing and remove the very limiting hooked system.  The game is a great environment for housing, it's too bad the system is so underdeveloped.

I agree....LotRO housing is horrid and EQ2 housing is my favorite.  I know....people that aren't into housing (and some that are into Vanguard style housing) bitch that EQ2 has INSTANCED housing, BUT....it doesn't clutter the environment and it's fully customizable INSIDE.  You can choose what style of house you move into from the outside but you don't BUILD the outside. However....you fully customize the inside.  It's perfect housing IMO.

I too have rare furnishings and collections and things in my house. I can't understand why people wouldn't want that for their characters.  I think it must be a roleplayer's kind of thing.  Most of the younger gamers don't seem to care about housing at all.  Blows my mind.  On the other hand...maybe they've never had fully customizad housing and they think it's going to be shitty like Runes of Magic housing or something. I don't know.

Anyway....I hate that it's missing in most games and it's something that always sends me back to EQ2.

I like housing because it grows to show your accomplishments as your character progress. I love any visual indication of success. XD Like Fable and the wall of trophies that you collect from bosses and showing off trophys to villagers for fame. Oh, and the growing money piles in Fable 3.

Devs need to figure out how to do it right. I havent played many games with it, but City of Heroes base system is pretty great. Its not a personal space, but its something. People don't like instancing, but with thousands of players, having a dield of crappy houses just seems tacky unless it were done more like seond life where people could have islands and/or land plots on massive continents. 

I wouldn't care for having an instanced house that no one else would see. There'd be no reason to customise it really, although, it would make for a nice alternative to storage/warehouse places. I always thought it'd be cool to have an airship for a house in an MMO. I think I'll make one in second life now that I have a hankering to do so.

Originally posted by jinxxed0

Devs need to figure out how to do it right. I havent played many games with it, but City of Heroes base system is pretty great. Its not a personal space, but its something. People don't like instancing, but with thousands of players, having a dield of crappy houses just seems tacky unless it were done more like seond life where people could have islands and/or land plots on massive continents. 

 

I wouldn't care for having an instanced house that no one else would see. There'd be no reason to customise it really, although, it would make for a nice alternative to storage/warehouse places. I always thought it'd be cool to have an airship for a house in an MMO. I think I'll make one in second life now that I have a hankering to do so.

Why do people think instanced houses aren't seen?  When someone asks my address in EQ2....I tell them 4 Bayle Court and they GO THERE.....see my front door.....click to visit and click my name and come inside.  What's so invisible about that?  People can see my address if they just are at the broker and want to buy something from me....there's my address....they come to my house and buy it and save from not paying broker's fees that way.....

I don't get why people don't like instanced housing.  Maybe they just haven't seen the way it's done in EQ2?

Plenty of games have housing things to collect for the housing and so on so no? Though i havent bothered with housing in the last few games i played.

Originally posted by just1opinion

Originally posted by jinxxed0

Devs need to figure out how to do it right. I havent played many games with it, but City of Heroes base system is pretty great. Its not a personal space, but its something. People don't like instancing, but with thousands of players, having a dield of crappy houses just seems tacky unless it were done more like seond life where people could have islands and/or land plots on massive continents. 

 

I wouldn't care for having an instanced house that no one else would see. There'd be no reason to customise it really, although, it would make for a nice alternative to storage/warehouse places. I always thought it'd be cool to have an airship for a house in an MMO. I think I'll make one in second life now that I have a hankering to do so.

 

Why do people think instanced houses aren't seen?  When someone asks my address in EQ2....I tell them 4 Bayle Court and they GO THERE.....see my front door.....click to visit and click my name and come inside.  What's so invisible about that?  People can see my address if they just are at the broker and want to buy something from me....there's my address....they come to my house and buy it and save from not paying broker's fees that way.....

 

I don't get why people don't like instanced housing.  Maybe they just haven't seen the way it's done in EQ2?

I don't like instanced housing. I've owned houses in Asheron's Call, Star Wars Galaxies and in Everquest 2, to name a few. Of them all I preferred SWG's housing which was not instanced. I just like the real, smooth transition from overland world in through my door and voila, my house.

The one thing SWG needed was some sort of way (other than instancing) to manage when and where houses could be placed. It would be up to the players to build efficiently within that space to maximize the number of houses placed with GMs stepping in if abuse was clear.

But yeah, I've seen/used EQ2's housing and it isn't close to anywhere of my list of good systems.