Housing prices, share opinions please.

[SFXman]

I didn't want to take part in a thread talking about US whiners so here is a new one focused only on the prices.

Here are the prices:
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=52362634&replies=620

I find these fabulous!

Anyone can get a cottage really but you have to work significantly to get a Mansion.

Actually... the rents are quite damn low, but oh well.

Great stuff imho.

 

[old.Icebreaker]

The prices are ok.

Cottage for most of the ppl

House for rich ppl

Villa for small/medium etc Guilds

Mansion for the big Guilds

 

[Gadd]

i agree the prices are good and well balanced.

but remember the prices will drop after a certain time if no-one buys the plot.

 

[longshot]

Well...

I'm not going to whine or anything, but being more casual than hardcore, I certainly understand where many of the americans are coming from and that concerns me.

The current price setup seems great for all the hardcore players, but unfortunately it also excludes -most- of the casual gamers, with the exception being those who have achieved lvl50 or close over many many months, possibly years.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that this particular group of players is increasing rapidly and that there are now more casual than hardcore players. If this is true, then Mythic probably did the worst possible thing and did so at the worst possible timing to boot.

You see, SWG is about to hit the streets and even though some people have been complaining that it's not solo/casual friendly, I can tell you that it is certainly a lot easier on solo/casual players than any other MMORPG that I've played so far. Heck, over two months of betatesting, I never died once and I was able to get a house and pay the upkeep through casual solo playing.

From what I can gather, this is only going to fuel the desire for casual players to switch to SWG. Bad move, especially here in Europe where we need all the players we can get in order to maintain our English servers. Furthermore, the hardcore players who CAN pay for the houses... well... to be honest, wouldn't it have been better if Mythic had spent their time improving the endgame (RVR), rather than adding fluff? I mean, if you wanna add fluff, then make sure that as many people as possible can get access to at least some of it so that it keeps or even attracts new players.

What's wrong with a 20th lvl character having his own cottage? Mythic could still make it so that at lvl 30, you could have a house... villa at 40 and mansion at 50. Put in guild halls that are bigger than mansions for the guilds... and make several zones with varying lot prices so that there is enough room for everybody.

With such a setup, people would actually have something to work for and look forward to. The current setup just encourages mindless farming and less RVR... and for what? Are the added benefits from housing really worth all that plat? If I -had- a lvl 50 character, I wouldn't even want a house unless I had absolutely everything else I could ever want and nothing else to spend the money on. Heck, I would rather dump 1p on a newbie crafter so he could get somewhere in life than spending it on a cottage.

All in all, my conclusion is that Mythic has wasted their time snd effort on fluff which only for the elite or exploiters can get, which in the end will do nothing to attract new players - heck, it might even drive away people because they feel that this is yet another incident where Mythic is giving them the finger after having made so many promises. As for myself - well doesn't bother me much - I'm an old SWG fan, so that kinda makes it easy for me to decide

 

[Stormm]

from what i gather you can trade in BP's for tokens to buy a house (i think)

what im not sure about is whether you can use BP's (tokens) to pay the rent on it? anyone know...

(buy a house - then also pay rent == odd anyways )

 

[Teh Krypt]

Well as far as I can gather, please correct me if im wrong.

But its 100plat for a LOT and 100plat for a mansion deed. Now the lot drops in price every hour at a rate of 500g. Atm the LOTS are 87plat 500g on one of the US servers. This IMO is too much, as its simply land and you have to buy the house on top of it. So most people will wait a full week (and lose the best locations) before they can even buy a lot...

even if they just want a cottage.

 

[Teh Krypt]

Originally posted by Stormm
from what i gather you can trade in BP's for tokens to buy a house (i think)

what im not sure about is whether you can use BP's (tokens) to pay the rent on it? anyone know...

(buy a house - then also pay rent == odd anyways )

Afink you can't use BP to pay for the house but can pay for the rent. 1bp = 1g.

 

[Teh Krypt]

Originally posted by longshot
Well...

I'm not going to whine or anything, but being more casual than hardcore, I certainly understand where many of the americans are coming from and that concerns me.

The current price setup seems great for all the hardcore players, but unfortunately it also excludes -most- of the casual gamers, with the exception being those who have achieved lvl50 or close over many many months, possibly years.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that this particular group of players is increasing rapidly and that there are now more casual than hardcore players. If this is true, then Mythic probably did the worst possible thing and did so at the worst possible timing to boot.

You see, SWG is about to hit the streets and even though some people have been complaining that it's not solo/casual friendly, I can tell you that it is certainly a lot easier on solo/casual players than any other MMORPG that I've played so far. Heck, over two months of betatesting, I never died once and I was able to get a house and pay the upkeep through casual solo playing.

From what I can gather, this is only going to fuel the desire for casual players to switch to SWG. Bad move, especially here in Europe where we need all the players we can get in order to maintain our English servers. Furthermore, the hardcore players who CAN pay for the houses... well... to be honest, wouldn't it have been better if Mythic had spent their time improving the endgame (RVR), rather than adding fluff? I mean, if you wanna add fluff, then make sure that as many people as possible can get access to at least some of it so that it keeps or even attracts new players.

What's wrong with a 20th lvl character having his own cottage? Mythic could still make it so that at lvl 30, you could have a house... villa at 40 and mansion at 50. Put in guild halls that are bigger than mansions for the guilds... and make several zones with varying lot prices so that there is enough room for everybody.

With such a setup, people would actually have something to work for and look forward to. The current setup just encourages mindless farming and less RVR... and for what? Are the added benefits from housing really worth all that plat? If I -had- a lvl 50 character, I wouldn't even want a house unless I had absolutely everything else I could ever want and nothing else to spend the money on. Heck, I would rather dump 1p on a newbie crafter so he could get somewhere in life than spending it on a cottage.

All in all, my conclusion is that Mythic has wasted their time snd effort on fluff which only for the elite or exploiters can get, which in the end will do nothing to attract new players - heck, it might even drive away people because they feel that this is yet another incident where Mythic is giving them the finger after having made so many promises. As for myself - well doesn't bother me much - I'm an old SWG fan, so that kinda makes it easy for me to decide

Well as I see it, TONS of people will want houses and it will leed to endless farming and you HAVE to login every week to maintain the rent, so from the point of mythic, people will stick to the game because they dont want to lose the houses..

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Foundations is aimed at lvl50s that play a lot. Period. The pricing on everything reflects this.

As far as individuals go, in general, the only people that will agree with the pricing are high level crafters, people with bots, or people who are willing to farm a *lot* to get items. Farming =zzzz, not fun.

Guilds will be fine in general, but guilds of lower level players will be left out in the cold until they start to hit 40+.

 

[Cala-more]

Originally posted by Teh Krypt
Afink you can't use BP to pay for the house but can pay for the rent. 1bp = 1g.

wrong the bp are not 4 buying the house they are 4 the rent and maybe some objects

 

[Teh Krypt]

Originally posted by Cala-more
wrong the bp are not 4 buying the house they are 4 the rent and maybe some objects

Erm thats what I said? Or wasnt it clear?

 

[Teh Krypt]

Ok someone tell me if Im right or wrong. But on the US server I had a look and the LOTS (or land) are 87.5 plat and decrease at a rate of 500g/per hour.

Does this mean that you have to buy a LOT for 95plat (or less depending how long you wait) and a mansion for 95 plat?

As far as I can see this is the case as every lot was that price...

 

[old.Belorfyn]

Originally posted by Teh Krypt
Well as far as I can gather, please correct me if im wrong.

But its 100plat for a LOT and 100plat for a mansion deed. Now the lot drops in price every hour at a rate of 500g. Atm the LOTS are 87plat 500g on one of the US servers. This IMO is too much, as its simply land and you have to buy the house on top of it. So most people will wait a full week (and lose the best locations) before they can even buy a lot...

even if they just want a cottage.

I belive that's exactly why it is made like that. If someone wants to pay alot for good spot, they can get it.
If they all were same price from the start, best spots would be taken by those who manage to log into server whenever they come up after patch. And they would probably buy lot for all their alts too and then auction them for high prices (if that's possible)

The week it takes for prices to go low sounds bit long to me though, maybe few days would be more appropriate.

 

[Teh Krypt]

Certainly. Because im sure people wont pay 200plat for a mansion in a good location, if you seriously will.. then you have way too much cash and give me some. ;p

 

[old.Belorfyn]

I think the prices look ok. If something could be changed, perhaps cottages should be bit cheaper so that practically everyone would afford one of those.
Not that it's so high currently either, people just will have to wait until lot prices drop to 1p. I belive there should be enough room in the housing zone that atleast none should be left without a spot. Atleast that's what I remember Sanya saying sometime back and that they'd add more housing zones should they become full.

Prices for houses, villas and mansions look pretty much how they should be: If everyone could afford mansion, there wouldn't be anything special in them.

 

[tris-]

1p for a cottage is nothing and 200g a week is nothing even if your guild only has 10 people in it "oh no 20g a week what ever will i do! i could of gave that to an alt or something" the trouble with yanks is they are only thinking of what they can personally afford, not what a guild of people can afford.

 

[solothores]

Ah well, there were already ppl paying 94p for the lot on the us servers.

 

[dylan32]

I'm also happy with the prices. If they made housing available to everybody who was about level 20, the whole game would become a damn housing estate.

Personally, I may buy a house for my necromancer, but I'm not that fussed. My other chars will be happy to chip in and get something decent with the rest of the guild. Castles would be cool though...

Anybody know if you can get joint-ownership? Wouldn't mind getting a house for all my alts to share, just to have a central bind, vault and teleporter (if the teleporter can send you to different locations, that would be handy).

 

[Elomiem]

i think u make other people ure partner,then they have the same rights to the house as u

 

[Elomiem]

btw,with that rent thing it looks like here in sweden
if u buy a house here in sweden u still have to pay 3-4 diff taxes on it ;p

 

[Sarnat]

Price of cottage doesn't really matter. It's not like you can afford a lot if you can't afford a cottage. Most of the lots will sell for -+10p I think ;P

 

[sru]

hmmm

With the auction system as it is currently, the average plots are likey to go for 4-8pp. So, with 1pp for a basic cottage as well, this is a _lot_ of coin for many.

Between all my toons, I do not think I could scrape 2pp yet alone 5 or so. Why? Given money away to crafters, people repairing doors, equipment, others in need etc.

Sure, if you are of of (a few?) that horde everything, never donate cash etc. then the housing economy looks good.

For many of us "casual" players, this is not the case. If someone with 3 50's and an assortment of 40's and lower cannot afford housing after over a year in the game, then there is a case for the prices to be set lower.

And, yes, I could farm 24/7 for 2 weeks in DF and probably earn 5-6pp but, guess what, I have a RL. RL >> DaoC

We play this, hopefully for the fun and social aspect. Housing was supposed to add to the fun not cause financial problems.

 

[Flimgoblin]

it'll be hard for a single person to buy their own cottage I think - but even pretty small guilds should be able to afford one together.

 

[Gadd]

Originally posted by Flimgoblin
it'll be hard for a single person to buy their own cottage I think - but even pretty small guilds should be able to afford one together.

yeah.

the prices of the houses (while reasonable) i think should be reduced by 20-50% to make em more affordable (i mean we gotta pay for decoration's and merchants etc)

 

[old.Jable]

97 plat for a lot is a joke.

200g a week rent is a pain too, each week you have to farm 200g before you can start thinking about saving up for add-ons for the house. i know its not that much, but every week? i dont want that commitment

mythic need to come up with some better ideas to keep people playing longer imo. drop the lot price and it would be better, but 97plat is stupid.

 

[Flimgoblin]

200bp is nothing

and noone is gonna buy a lot for 95 plat, which is the point - and also why the lots drop in price.

 

[Sharp Thing]

Originally posted by Flimgoblin
200bp is nothing

and noone is gonna buy a lot for 95 plat, which is the point - and also why the lots drop in price.

thats what you think ^^

 

[SFXman]

Oh, as someone was talking about casual players having a hard time... you wont find a more casual player than me. I hit 50 for the first time maybe... I don't know... some month ago or maybe two and still find these prices reasonable.
Farming 200g a week, heh, could it be any easier?
Do it in one night nps.

As for the lot prices, those are a bit dodgy... you have to be shitting me if even lots used for cottages (which I'd expect be smaller) are nearer to 100 plat?
Someone also talked about 8'ish p lots?
I am confused here...

 

[dukat_lionheart]

hmmm... admittedly i only have a lvl 30 char, and i dont know
how much money a lvl 50 could raise in one night...

but i think that the issue here is that why should we have to raise any amount of money after paying a steep price for the land?

yes, if it was too easy it would seem like a sell out, i agree, but i dont think that the 'rent' should be anything like 200g on the smaller houses.

the reason for this is that i dont like to be rushing about everywhere, i enjoy just messing about in a BG, or just exping with friends, as someone else said, this addon was meant to increase fun, and yet if you have to stop grouping all the time just to raise money for the rent, wont that decrease the fun?

perhaps the smaller types of house could be lower rent, perhaps 50g on cottages, so that yes it lowers your funds to go out buying stuff, but it would not drain you to a point where you need to spend every available second running around farming.

so why not put 'lot' prices up and rent down on the smaller houses?

 

[old.LandShark]

Originally posted by SFXman
As for the lot prices, those are a bit dodgy... you have to be shitting me if even lots used for cottages (which I'd expect be smaller) are nearer to 100 plat?
Someone also talked about 8'ish p lots?
I am confused here...

Personally I agree with you. With the lots, to clear up any confusion, they start at 95p (regardless of location) at release and tick downwards 500g per hour, to a minimum of 1p. This is basically to stop people who aren't at work when it goes live, from grabbing all the best locations.
I just.... happen to think that's BS, look at the number of people who took days off work just to explore SI the day it went live. Be better to have all lots starting at 1p and just make it a goddamn race, it'd be fun!