Housing in Elder Scrolls Online

hishikiroda

Greetings fellow Travelers of Tamriel!

This post is going to be fairly lengthy, but I feel the ideas presented may hold promise for the game and wanted to make them known to the community to get feedback on them. If enough people like them, maybe they will help Zenimax make a housing system that everyone can love! (not to say that they weren’t going to, but who knows maybe we’ll think of something they hadn’t)

Housing in ESO

There are obviously many different options for how to handle a great housing system, and not everyone will want the same thing. For the most part however, people want options… lots and lots and lots of options. These are my thoughts on how the housing system could potentially be handled, please feel free to comment and let me (and the devs) know what you agree or disagree with!

1.) Location… Location… Location!

I could see this handled in a couple of different ways. Personally I think the best way to go about it would have a variety of the larger cities with instanced areas where 5 – 10 people would have houses on a particular street. If possible players would be able to pick friends to have on their street with them, and as long as those friends both chose each other, they would be on the same street. If this ends up not being possible, then having at least a few random players or NPC’s on the street with you would be fantastic.

Depending on your plans with the game going forward you could make it so that a player could purchase as many homes as they want, and place any style of home in their plot of land as long as they have the blueprint for it (discussed later in the post). If not this, then the player should be allowed to choose one of the cities to purchase one home in, and be able to place any style of house they want. I don’t believe this would break the lore of the game too terribly much since many people can have any race with any faction.

Additionally I believe it would be a fantastic touch to have the possibility of living on a house boat. Obviously this would have some drawbacks like not having any lawn space, and certain features would not be available to them, but… (and I could write up a post about this as well)… I could definitely see something along the lines of ship warfare, guild ships, merchant ships, and personal ships traveling around the oceans being an absolutely amazing addition to the game later on in its life. For the time being though house boats could simply be stationary docked homes.

EDIT: I just now thought of this, and feel it would add some clarification to my ideas. This idea assumes that there is a system where a set amount of player homes are located on an instanced "street" within the game that players can reach from a gate within cities... or within the world.

What you could do is have a section of the street a player is on turn off to the side with another gate or invisible trigger that allows the player to travel to a different "street". The player would get a drop down list of the friends they have added in the game, and be allowed to select one of those friends names to travel to their street. If a friend happens to already live on the player's street then the name could either be greyed out, or have some kind of annotation.

There would also be an option to "Wander" which would allow the player to visit a random street in the game (probably within the same area of the world that the player's house exists in)

Player's in the world would have the ability to designate their home as being one of 4 categories;

Private: Only the player is allowed to visit their home
Friends: Only the player and people on their friends list are allowed to visit
Best Friends: Only the player and a specific list of people are allowed to visit
Anyone: Anyone is allowed to visit this home

2.) Blueprints… The ins and outs!

There would be 2 - 3 different types of blueprint depending on what kind of system you wanted to go with; House blueprints, room blueprints, and exterior blueprints.
House / Room Blueprints:

House blueprints would be to build or re-build homes. I could see these being done in 1 of 2 ways. Either the player starts with a 1 or 2 room home, and that home is designed so that rooms can be added on at particular points in the house via wall sections that would turn into doors when a room is added. The blueprints could be different sizes of rooms, some of them with specific interactable pieces already built into it such as a bar that can be stocked with player created beverages. The different base houses could also have these pre-built pieces to them that players cannot move, but they could use a new blueprint to change the layout of that particular room. Using this method players would take advantage of house blueprints to change the layout of the basic 1 or 2 room house, and room blueprints for the additional side rooms, or even different floors of the house. Of course, any of these blueprints could simply be the shell of a room or house and the player would be able to place all of the objects into it themselves.

Using the modular system, houses would be designed with the option to have specific size rooms attached at certain spots to the main house. This would allow for a variety of setups that the player can choose between and a great amount of customization.

If a modular room system is not feasible then house blueprints could simply be anything from 2 rooms to 10 room homes optionally with multiple floors, that the player would simply build, and once built all rooms of that particular blueprint would then be available. Using either method, changing a house or room blueprint would have a UI popup requiring the player to remove all placed items and place them into their inventory before undergoing new construction.

Lastly I could definitely see a system where players can design their own blueprints with the placement of rooms to be able to sell or use themselves. This could be a relatively simple interface with specific options unlocked as the player progresses.

Exterior Blueprints:
These are the buildings and/or interactables that a player could use for the exterior land area of their housing plot. These will be similar to how the housing blueprints could be used, with a variety of customization options depending on how you go about it.

Firstly you could use just one blueprint for the entirety of the plot of land. Each of these blueprints would have a set amount and arrangement spaces available for the player to place something. The spaces where things can be placed would be a variety of different sizes, and each blueprint would allow a different look and placement of those spaces.

You could also simply have an open plot of land where the player simply places different buildings like stables, mining nodes, or a fenced in area for pets.
And lastly, I could also see the potential for the exterior land to have certain un-changeable items on it like those listed above, and exterior blueprints would allow for a different arrangement of those buildings.

3.) Loot! And Stuff! And Things! And Stuff like Things!

This section is comprised of a few different lists concerning various things that I could see adding to the immersive and fun qualities of owning a home. These lists are by no means every single thing that could be considered for the home, but are intended as examples to be built upon and generate ideas.

Room / House Theme Blueprints:
Assuming that you were going to go with the modular room system these would be room and house blueprints that would have a general theme or activity to do in them. They would necessarily be bare-bones and allow for the player to still decorate as much as they want, however these rooms would give players the option of a relatively done room, without having to place everything.
• Rooms devoted to a particular profession, or rooms with a station for each profession all in one.
• Dueling ring – I know that you have said you have no current plans to implement dueling into the game, and while I may not know the reasons, I do know that a lot of people would like the option to have it in. If you still want to keep it out of the general population, then I could see having the option of a dueling ring inside of a home as something MANY people would love.
• Mundus Stones – I know that personally, having to remember and find a particular mundus stone to change the effect could become tiring if someone wants to change it with any regularity, so having something like this in the home could be nice.
• Bedroom(s)
• Kitchen
• Dining Area
• Vault / Gold Storage
• Trophy Room
• Dance Room
• Training Dummy Room
• Library
• Vampric Feeding Room – This could either be an NPC who you capture and chain in the room, or somewhere where you keep caught animals (for those who wish to role play vampires who don’t want to bite humans)
• Werewolf Chain Room – This room would mostly be for roleplaying scenarios, and would allow the player to chain themselves up to a wall when they transform.

Interactables:
• Chairs
• Stock-able bar using player created food and beverages
• Storage containers that are either designated for different things, or that can be personally named
• Lore library shelves that fill up as the player finds lore books
• Candles or other lights that can be turned on or off
• Fireplace that turns on or off
• Armor / weapon dummies and plaques
• Achievement / trophy wall, shelves, room

Decorations:
• Rugs
• Wall styles / wall paper
• Curtains
• Stuffed animals (potential for this to be something requiring the player to hunt down animals and pay to have them stuffed by a taxidermist)
• Planters
• Musician, paid weekly, to play any song the player wishes. Possibly this NPC could be dismissed and summoned whenever required while within the home.
• Ceiling beams and support pillars

Exterior:
These would be potential options to either automatically have on the plot of land, or things that the player can choose to place there.
• Stables – Ideally these would be able to house as many horses as the player can possibly own, and they could simply walk up to the horse, and choose it to ride. You could start off with 2 or 3 spots and have the stables able to expand for more horses. Alternatively you could have a stable that houses 1 or 2 horses, and a small pasture with the rest of the horses.
• Pet Zone – I think the best way to tackle this would be to have a small-ish fenced in area where 2 or 3 pets can roam around in, and the player can view them. There would be a small coop somewhere in the area that would “house ” the rest of the vanity pets that a player owns. Each time the player comes back to the house the pets would have a random chance of being either out or in the coop.
• River for fishing
• Different harvestable nodes on a cool down
• Dueling ring
• Waypoint for quick access to the home
• Garden area
• Trees, stones, bushes, plants, and miscellaneous decorative features

4.) But Captain! I have No Space!

I haven’t yet gotten to play through all of the game yet, so I could be incorrect, but based on my current experience, I would say there is a desperate need for additional storage options. Because of this I would like to place additional emphasis on the idea of having storage containers within the home. There should also be the option for them to be labeled or distinguished in some way for different types of items. These containers would have a limited amount of space, possibly with an option to upgrade them similar to bank and inventory space.
As for the actual items and blueprints and various things that go into the housing system, that will be explained below in the crafting system section.

EDIT: I have recently learned about some of the reasoning behind Zenimax's decision for the current amount of bag space. I can understand their logic behind it, and in reality... at the moment I have no HUGE issue with the amount of space available, I certainly wouldn't say no to a bit more bag space to keep all these neat costumes!

As an addition to that though, there will obviously be additional items added to the game, many of these items will be things that people would like to hold on to for a variety of reasons. As it is I know I have come across quite a few things that I thought would be neat to save, but ended up just scrapping to keep the space open (admittedly much of my bag space issue is entirely my fault). As new items are added to the game, I don't think they would not consider adding inventory space, or changing it in some way... so having some kind of storage in the home is certainly an acceptable request, especially considering how long it will most likely take them to implement a housing system.

Personally, I don't mind waiting a couple years for a system that everyone can be absolutely stunned and happy with (but if it's sooner I wouldn't complain lol).

5.) So… How We Gonna Do This?

Throughout the game you will have a separate screen bound to a hotkey where you can view your various housing blueprints, furniture, and other housing items. This screen would have to be sorted into different categories such as interior, exterior, crafting, pets, storage, decoration, etc. All housing items would take up no inventory space as long as they are in this screen (more explanation in the next point).

I could see the easiest way of decorating your home being to have a decorate mode that gives you new skills on your skill bar specifically for decorating your home. If there are any guests in the home when you go into decoration mode, the game would either give you a prompt telling you to wait until they leave, or give them a prompt letting them know you would like to decorate, and that they should leave.
During decoration mode the player’s abilities on their skill bar would allow the player to place, move, and rotate items in the home, and place items back in their inventory. If color dies can be applied to various housing items, there could also be a keybind to allow for changing colors.

In order to actually create your home, there are a couple of options for how to go about it; the simple way, and the immersive way.

The Simple Way:
This would be to simply buy a house using gold. It’s nothing fancy, but if you are looking to make it easy for players to get a house without having to worry about gathering all kinds of different items, this is the way to go about it. Using this method the home could simply be already done and built when the player first sees it either using a blueprint that the player provided, or there could be a brief cut scene of the house being built.

The Immersive Way:
This method would be the most gratifying way of getting a home, but also would require more time and effort. Players would have to gather certain amounts of materials in order to build their home, as well as an initial gold cost for the plot of land and labor.

Using this method the different crafting professions would be used to create materials to build the home with, and materials could be found while questing or in dungeons. Once the materials are collected and the land has been bought there could be a more in depth construction cut scene, or even making the player go around and click on various things to actually build the house themselves.

Once the house has been created, the player could be required to gather additional materials at greater and greater amounts to improve or expand upon their home.

6.) Crafters Gonna Craft!

I could see a lot of synergy with the current crafting professions and a good housing system. I also think that adding in a new crafting profession of Drafting would be beneficial not only for the housing system but for other future systems as well (horse armor, guild halls, guild ships, merchant ships, new siege weaponry or defenses, etc.)

The Drafting Profession:
This profession would create blueprints that could potentially allow for a variety of different things. Specifically for the housing system these blueprints would be designs for the various rooms and building layouts. Additionally there would be blueprints allowing players to design enhanced housing items with different looks to them. For example, a basic Orcish dresser would look a certain way, but if a player learned the correct blueprint, they could create a different Orcish dresser with metal around the framework instead of it being all wood.

Alchemy: (aids cooking)
Alchemists would create a variety of decorative plants for inside and outside of the home. They could also create plants that have specific purposes for the cooking skill, like orange and apple trees. They could also possibly create colored dyes if housing items are able to have different color schemes. I know that a dye system is in the works at the time of me writing this, and that system uses achievements… so either using alchemy or that system would work fine for these purposes.

This profession could also create a variety of biological hazards… explained later…

Provisioning:
I don’t really see cooking giving too many additional benefits to the housing system other than being able to stock a bar and make food to sit down and have with invited friends. Maybe something where food created from home could have additional benefits… or creating food for horses, that when fed from a house stable could raise the horses level in that particular category by 2 or more instead of the normal 1 from stables around the world.

Enchanting:
The benefits to the housing system from enchanting would also be rather small. The only thing I could see enchanting doing at the moment would be creating detection crystals and magical traps for the home… explained later…

Woodworking (Synergy with Blacksmithing):
Woodworking would be used to create various wood related items like support beams, desks, tables, bars, etc. This profession would also create minor items that blacksmithing would require in order to create some of their items.

Woodworking would also create a variety of different traps, or pieces of traps the player could use in defense of their home… explained later…

Blacksmithing (Synergy with Woodworking):
Blacksmithing would create different metal related items such as cooking pots, metal furniture, metal support beams, etc. This profession would also create minor items that woodworking would require in order to build some of their items.

Blacksmithing would also create a variety of different traps, or pieces of traps the player could use in defense of their home… explained later…

Clothing:
This profession would be used to create the cloth related items for the home such as drapes, rugs, bedding items, banners, etc.

Inventory Space and the Crafting System:
Items created by the various crafting professions for the housing system would remain in their normal inventory just like regular items would. These items could either be sold, or used by the player.

In order to add an item to a players personal housing inventory, and allow them to place it in their home, they would right click on the item and select to “add to housing inventory”. These items could have a maximum amount that the player can have in their housing inventory. Once items have been added to the housing inventory then they would no longer take up general inventory space and would be consumed.

House and Room blueprints would follow the same basic rule as other housing items, and once added to the housing system the player would be allowed to use them as desired without them going away.

Blueprints that are for the various crafting professions would be consumed after the player has learned how to create that particular item.

7.) I Believe I Mentioned Defending Your Home?

One of the most amazing aspects of creating a housing system would be the benefits and synergy it could have with other systems being developed. At the moment I only have a good idea for the Thieves Guild, but I do have a couple of minor ideas for the Dark brotherhood that could probably be expanded upon later if requested.

Thieves Guild:
I have thought long and hard on just how systems in the game would allow for players to steal from other players in some meaningful and fun way. Sure… you could let people walk up behind other players and try to steal from them… and that would be fine and dandy. However, I believe that you can do so much more, and have the housing system be the backbone for a new kind of strategy PvP.

In order to make this system work, I think there should be a basement that a player could build as their vault. This basement layout would be designed by them using a new interface screen, and would basically be used as a gauntlet that thieves would have to maneuver through to try and steal their gold.

The home player would be able to place traps using a new system where each trap would have a different resource cost to place. Players would get the traps from the various different crafting professions (see… I told you I’d explain it later). There could also be potential for the player to hire guards to help defend their basement vault, and these could even be werewolves or vampires if the player is one of those themselves.

Traps would be able to be upgraded using money and items created by the crafting professions. Traps placed in the home would have some way that they can be disarmed, with varying degrees of difficulty.

The very basic idea behind this PvP game is that homeowners put up a prize of gold, if their defense wins they gain that amount of gold from the thief, and if their defense fails the thief gains that amount of gold from the homeowner.

Player Vs. Player Thieving System:
• The player who owns the home and belongs to the thieves guild creates their trap gauntlet and deposits as much gold as they want into their vault
o They will be able to store as much gold as they want here, but can designate a certain amount as “incentive” to make other people come and try to steal from them. Only the amount that is designated can be stolen, and the rest of the gold will remain unmolested.
o Players can have 0 gold as incentive until they want to place their house into the matchmaking system, at that point they would need to have an amount that players could steal.
o The level of traps and guards that a player is potentially able to place or hire would be based off of their Thieves guild level.

• They then place their house into the matchmaking system.
o They would have a difficulty rating for their home which would be decided by the amount, level, and type of traps or guards in their gauntlet.
o They would have a Profit rating for their home decided by the amount of gold placed versus the difficulty rating. If the player has a very small amount offered as incentive but an extremely hard gauntlet, then the profit rating would be very low.

• A member of the thieves guild can enter the matchmaking system either by talking to an NPC, or by using a similar system to the Alliance War.
o This player would have a rating based off of their thieves guild level. The higher their ranking in the guild, the higher difficulty home they are matched with.
o When a matching home is found for them to try and steal from, they will see an interface that allows them to accept or decline. If they accept they are transported to the basement, if they decline they are placed back into the queue.
 This interface could possibly have basic information about the difficulties that this player will face like number of traps and guards, and amount of gold offered.

• If the person trying to steal from the home is successful, then they will receive the gold offered by the home owner, and be transported back to where they originally were before they transported to the home.
o The home owner will receive a notification that their defenses have failed, and that they should visit their home to re-assess their gauntlet.

• If the person trying to steal from the home fails they will die and be transported to the wayshrine that was closest to them when they were transported to the home.
o Upon death this player would drop an amount of gold equal to either the amount they were trying to steal, or a certain percentage of their current gold.
o The defending home owner would receive a notification that their defenses have prevailed and they should return home to see if the thief dropped anything of value.
o If there is a justice system in the game, then the thief could be transported to jail instead of to a wayshrine.

• Thieves looking to steal from a home will be matched with people in a range around their personal thieves guild level.

Guards in this system:
Player hired guards could be placed on standby, or patrol. Guards on standby would stay in one spot, or in one room and never move far from that unless they are chasing a thief.

Guards placed on patrol would either just move through the entirety of the area, or would patrol set paths on a loop. These guards would de-activate traps for a set amount of time while they pass through, potentially allowing for interesting scenarios where a thief could try and wait for a guard to pass, and then try sneak through the disarmed trap.

Variations for this system:
I could see the potential for a slightly more “open-world” PvP theft system where thieves can walk around streets where players live and try to break into the home, and incorporate the entire home into the thieving system.

There could also be something built into the system where players could specifically designate their home as a multi-player gauntlet, and groups of players would have to navigate through it for the prize. Gold offered and gained would have to be much higher in this scenario.

There could be options for completion to require only getting through the gauntlet alive, or getting through it without being detected at all.

8.) Zenimax… I know Shameless Plugs are Shameless… Buuut…….

I think a housing system, as long as done right would make ESO that much better. I know you probably have plans of your own on the kind of system you would like to create, but I felt that sharing my thoughts on it, and getting the community’s opinions on them may help.

If by some miracle of the divines you find my thoughts intriguing, and happen to have a spot on your team for someone who could throw their face at a housing system and help make it better… I would like to ask for some brief consideration on my behalf.

I believe you have my email, and as long as the signature feature is working correctly, you should also have access to my portfolio website, please take a look, and let me know if you think I could be of any assistance in this matter!

(If this last part is breaking some of the guidelines please let me know and I can take it out, I just thought this would be a fun way to "apply" for a job since I didn't really see anything open on the website :wink )

My new forum post about the dye system soon to be added:
forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/112510/thoughts-on-the-dye-system?new=1

Snowstrider

I want housing soo much... Too bad it will probably take more then one year for them to release it..

Cogo

WoW!

Just......WOW!

First I was against any kind of housing. Also Zenimax confirmed housing will not be in the game and have no plans for it.

But a few weeks ago, they said housing is now in the idea stage, but they need to develop it so it has a unique and good feature and that takes time.

People who read this, do NOT expect anything within a year and beyond

I LOVE you idea, and you made a very good connection to the thieves guild and something I like myself, to have players taking jobs as guards (and I hate pvp).

I had to read it over twice to get it all in. Overall its a fantastic start and I really think Zenimax should contact you for more creativity.

I have a few objections, concerns and questions.

1. Tradeskill made houses makes the most sense, and as you state, it intergrate the world as well. I see this as the only option to build a house. Maybe there need to be another new tradeskill also. Building a house should also be one of the longest projects you can do in the game.

No buying a complete house. You have to build it with crafted mats from several tradeskills.


2. The biggest problem, where do we have the houses? Players should be allowed to build them where they please, since no one owns the land. But this WILL be abused and clogged up. Alternative is a zone where ALL zone into their own house, but then you are the only one who can see it.

To make it easy, there is not enough room to create plots players can build houses on. They would get taken, and then no one else can build any. Not fair.....But nevertheless, good idea!

Anarchy Online style.
This takes care of any abuse and keeps the world beautiful, but negates one of the great things with building a house, that others can see it. And I LOVE your thieves idea.

This is the BIG question. Where will the house be and how will it work interacting with the world, without ruining the world, OR have X spots avalible.


3. Items in the house. First I was gonna scream NOOOO. BUT, there are plenty of items to decorate, bookshelves, maybe to put lorebooks and many fine ideas. My BIG concert and objection is to have any sort of "normal items" that you carry or have in your bank, to be able to stash in your house. Zenimax have explained why there is limited bag/bank space in the game, and it makes very good sense to keep that line.

Storing items in the house is a NO. However, creating a lot of items for the house that only are for house. OR I can go so far that for example, you fish up a trophy fish, earned a honor mark of your kind, etc, could be put in your house for display.

Its VERY important to not let housing be an extended or unlimted bank.

4. Tradeskill stations in your house, in a workshop room? If they are the normal ones, I see no game problem with that. It should take effect even here, and also mats. But yes, good idea and useful for your house, and it works very well with ESO.


5. Rooms. You have some fantastic, crazy and creepy ideas my friend. But to have different rooms for different reasons......ALRIGHT! They all need to be considered what would work with the game.

6. Mundos stone. No. They are part of Tamriel and not some magical stone you can just copy. More mundos stones in the open world is fine, but not in your house. When and if Zenimax adds more, they do it with the whole game included. Let them handle these things.


7. Decorations and exterior. You are right on the correct path. Expand on it. A river! great! But that needs to go together WHERE houses are to be places. But as you suggested so many ideas, the sky is the limit.

I am not sure about a stable......MAYBE a personal stable where you can "park" your horses, but feeding them are placed in the world for a reason. So this would be only for looks.

8. Nodes No, because there is a set number of nudes in the world, places in areas with a balance plan. Lets not mess with that. Your house should not be a farming place for REAL mats.

9. Garden. I love this idea. Dont need to have one, but if you want to build a beautiful garden, you should be able to, but in details, not a big choice. SO players with creative minds could make something really nice. And vice versa.

10. Portal to your home. This would go under "where do we build the houses. It hugely depends on how that question is solved. Also, I do not see a game problem with it, if it costs the same as traveling to a normal gateway.

11. More items to put in your house. When taking a 3d thought about this, why not let a blacksmith hang his proud own made Blade over the fireplace, or a shield. Or staff, or many other useable items that isnt in the game yet. This would very much decorate and add to the personal value and look in the house.

I have a demand here, that no one will like. You can put up your famous sword you slained that beast with. But as soon as you do, the item will not be able be be used for any player. It could turn into a "trophy" that thieves could steal, but not something you can store.

Thieves. I love the whole idea, and see no problem with it. If it can be created so there isnt a posibilty to harass someone by constantly breaking in and destroying stuff. This is a complicated feature, but I LOVE IT.

However, this depend huuuugly on how the justice system works, how the thieves guild works, or if any player can decide to be a thief without needing to be part of the thieves guild. Complex question, but an outstanding idea!

I'll stop my comments here, because you made my mind starting to think creative.....and that's not very normal. Options should be many. BUT there is a software issue to consider, which will be in the same question as WHERE, and HOW.

Zenimax have confirmed that player housing was not on their list, but now it is. However, it has to be something very good, goes with the game and ironed out.

I have no idea who you are, but from my MMO experience in MOOs that has housing, you do mix Skyrim with new ideas.....and creepy...a vampire feeding room? Why not....but creepy!

Zenimax should contact you, or you should contact them. In my experience, this is very creative, not a sole agenda to just get a house at any way, and you already come up with a lot of good ways to use the house and make it meaningful.

As long as the house does not interfear with the game, as an extra bank, harvest nodes, etc, then its fantastic......and I think you could come up with more.

Outstanding post. Best idea I have ever seen so far from players in ESO.

Anlaemar

I'm also looking forward to housing. Though like you said, don't expect it any time soon. I'd rather the game get nice and polished first, anyway.

purple-magicb16_ESO

I raised this as an idea very early on in the beta, in a much more simplistic manner. I think that they feel that it may just be too soon yet as it can get very complex as the length of your op indicates. Pretty sure they will go with it at some point though and that it is on their radar. I'm definitly up for taking part in that when it is implemented. I like the way you have articulated it. Very in-dapth, descriptive and well thought out. Devs would do well to pay close attention to your post.

Caroloces

Excellent post! Like another reader said, I need to read it again to absorb all the details, but I enjoyed the wealth of ideas you put forth. Very constructive!

I had an idea that I entered in another post about adding a feature to guilds in which a guild (after meeting certain criteria) would have the option of building a keep, or castle, in which only the members of the guild would have access. The idea originated from the recent demonstration of 3 v 3 pvp combat that was used at E3. I thought that it would be cool to allow friendly players to "joust" with one another to test and modify their skills. There would be no player death involved, but the loser would acquiesce somehow. This is already in place in certain quests where you have to challenge NPCs to a duel (I've encountered 3 quests so far in which this feature was implemented). I can imagine that after a long day out in the field, it would be awesome for players to travel to their "keep", meet with other guildmates, and do things like jousting. A whole new set of emotes could be developed for just such a scenario: /playchess, /drinkmead, etc. etc.

danreckerpreub18_ESO

Firstly... This is freaking amazing, OP. I've had many similar ideas, but I love the thought and detail you put into it all. Another idea that may be nice to tack on...


Another mechanic they could use, would be to allow players to buy small islands off in the middle of nowhere - this could tie in with your 'small player neighborhoods' idea, allowing several players to chip in for what should be a very expensive purchase. Large, rich guilds would be able to purchase entire island chains, with a small 'mainland' for a guild house. (Half a million gold per single-home islands, several million for a guild house, etc)

Cogo wrote: »

Storing items in the house is a NO. However, creating a lot of items for the house that only are for house. OR I can go so far that for example, you fish up a trophy fish, earned a honor mark of your kind, etc, could be put in your house for display.

Its VERY important to not let housing be an extended or unlimted bank.

I must respectfully, and very firmly disagree. I am still curious as to the reasoning behind such points of view. I agree that unlimited bank space is not a technical feasibility, due to the sheer number of items in the game, but why would you be against extending personal storage capacity? As it stands, the lack of inventory space is the single most obnoxious thing in the game for me, and I play a stamina based Nightblade, currently VR6.

The most common argument I see is one of game economy. Personally, I am willing to spend half a million gold on buying a house in the first place, I can't see myself ever spending that much cash on player-sold items, if something costs more then a few thousand gold, chances are I will go farm it myself.

Elaborate player housing such as this would be an excellent manner in which to remove gold from the economy - things might actually be worth selling / buying if gold had meaning beyond repairs, bank, and inventory space. Currently, the single most expensive thing in the game is... Bank space.

Allowing players to store their things in their own house would simply be an extension of this idea. More gold sinks need to exist for the economy to maintain any semblance of health. As it stands, once a player has most of their space upgrades, they simply accrue gold. The only exception I can think of for this is Respecs, which are expensive to the point of being cost-prohibitive for most players that want to experiment with builds, and a non-issue for players that have builds they are satisfied with.

Cogo wrote: »

there is a set number of nudes in the world

Also, I am considering using this mispelling as my forum quote :P

RedTalon

No sooner then two years from now for housing if I recall a past comment correct by a dev.

Phantax

Liked the OP's ideas but will comment/bump this thread anyway, as player housing in ESO is a massive issue for me !
ESO was hyped as an Elder Scrolls game you play online and yet they completely leave out one of the fundamental parts of an ES game !

+1 for the OP
- 1 for Zenimax ! ! !

Sallington

Threads like this make me miss SWG housing. If only there was more land to facilitate that type of housing in ESO. It would be amazing to be out exploring exploring, and then happening upon someone's house/shack where they have a shop set up.

Great ideas though, OP.

hishikiroda

Hey everyone, thanks for all the responses so far! I intend to respond to a couple of your points specifically once I get home from work and can type on a keyboard

Gern_Verkheart

I don't care about housing right now. In my opinion, they can work on housing after they have fixed the buggy class abilities, and the imbalance between magicka and stamina builds. Until that happens, I don't care about new content.

jquestb16_ESO2

You pretty much described what they have for housing in WildStar

kaosodin

Good post.....hehe lenghty

Sindala

If it takes longer than a year to get housing in ESO, I can see a lot of people moving over to The Shroud of the Avatar. The new Richard Garriott game that is basically a new 3d version of Ultima Online WITH massive housing upon launch fully customisable like UO was and 4 level basements also.

Evergnar

At this point I'd settle for an outhouse.


Nice read though OP. I would love to see race or area specific housing. Tree houses for Bosmer, mud huts for Argonians, gypsy wagons for Khajiit, ect.

Ragekniv

Sindala wrote: »

If it takes longer than a year to get housing in ESO, I can see a lot of people moving over to The Shroud of the Avatar. The new Richard Garriott game that is basically a new 3d version of Ultima Online WITH massive housing upon launch fully customisable like UO was and 4 level basements also.

Thanks for the heads up!

Will have to check it out, Ultima Online was insanely fun! Open world PvP, slaughtering newbies, looting their items and leaving them in their underwear.

Theosis

and here I was thinking we can just buy an address like in EQ, There are so many neighborhoods in the game already, we could just buy or rent a house in one of them but your idea is fan-freakin-tastic

isengrimb16_ESO

Storage/display of at least trophies and costumes is a must - get them out of our bank slots, and let us at least see them, to pick up and play with as we will.

Zepheric

Fantastic post and +1 to you unfortunately ZOS has already commented on player housing and said it would likely be during the 2nd anniversary =(

Giraffon

Originally no housing was almost a deal breaker for me when this game went live, but I've almost come full circle and don't know that I even want it anymore.

The only reason I would want housing at this point is if it offered storage or crafting conveniences.

phtony06b14_ESO

I think housing would do a lot for the game & I like your suggestions. Immersion is what makes Elder Scroll games.

Tavore1138

Loving a lot of the ideas here but one makes my heart sink, as a victim of real life robbery, and that is the idea of being robbed by other players.

Not against it 100% but equally the idea that you could be out questing/battling and some lazy griefer could just steal or damage your stuff would suck.

But you seem to have gone some way to addressing it by making it voluntary and in the form of an attack/defend mini-game which could just work.

isengrimb16_ESO

SuraklinPrime wrote: »

Loving a lot of the ideas here but one makes my heart sink, as a victim of real life robbery, and that is the idea of being robbed by other players.

Not against it 100% but equally the idea that you could be out questing/battling and some lazy griefer could just steal or damage your stuff would suck.

But you seem to have gone some way to addressing it by making it voluntary and in the form of an attack/defend mini-game which could just work.

Didn't read that part. I despise allowing players to steal from one another - it would be a total deal-breaker for me. I'd only be OK with it if, as the quote says, you could opt out of it, and perhaps destroy with Deadric lightning anyone who tried to break into your house.

hishikiroda

Cogo wrote: »

This is the BIG question. Where will the house be and how will it work interacting with the world, without ruining the world, OR have X spots avalible.

As fantastic as it would be to allow people to build houses wherever they want to in the world... I feel that an MMO like this one is not the place for that kind of system. There could potentially be specific spots designated for player housing in the world, but the issue comes up of what if 2 people are in a group and both people built a house on that plot of land? What if one wants to visit the other's home? The closest I could see them getting to this would be allowing players to build and take down a small tent or something in the world to rest in.

As far as the housing system for the most part, a lot of the cities have at least some space around the edges where you could probably make an instanced area for player housing. When a player enters that area, they are placed onto their "street", and will only see houses that are on their street. If they are visiting someone else, they would only see the houses on that street. I am sure that they could also do some... rearranging of the terrain if they wanted to create areas other than in cities for housing.

danreckerpreub18_ESO wrote: »

Another mechanic they could use, would be to allow players to buy small islands off in the middle of nowhere - this could tie in with your 'small player neighborhoods' idea, allowing several players to chip in for what should be a very expensive purchase. Large, rich guilds would be able to purchase entire island chains, with a small 'mainland' for a guild house. (Half a million gold per single-home islands, several million for a guild house, etc)

I have had an idea similar to this, though admittedly I never even thought of islands. I could see an idea like that being added very well to the personal / guild ships and new naval pvp combat idea that I have been tossing around in my head.

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

SuraklinPrime wrote: »

Loving a lot of the ideas here but one makes my heart sink, as a victim of real life robbery, and that is the idea of being robbed by other players.

Not against it 100% but equally the idea that you could be out questing/battling and some lazy griefer could just steal or damage your stuff would suck.

But you seem to have gone some way to addressing it by making it voluntary and in the form of an attack/defend mini-game which could just work.

Didn't read that part. I despise allowing players to steal from one another - it would be a total deal-breaker for me. I'd only be OK with it if, as the quote says, you could opt out of it, and perhaps destroy with Deadric lightning anyone who tried to break into your house.

I can definitely understand an aversion to stealing and such. However, I don't know if the amount of people in the game offended by such a system would be high enough to warrant them NOT putting the system in... especially when you compare it to the amount of people who desperately want that system in sooner than humanly possible. I do think that having some kind of system where players who do not want to participate don't have to is a good thing to have though. Luckily, I would assume that their thieves guild system is optional, as well as the thieving elements it would bring to the game.

joshisanonymous

I wish there was a "+Impressive" button. Not because I'm impressed with your ideas (I didn't read a word of that), but because I'm absolutely amazed at the length of that post. You were not kidding when you said it would be lengthy. I even plugged it into OpenOffice: 4300 words. That has to be a record. That was the length of some of my term papers in college.

But I would like to see housing.

hishikiroda

Cogo wrote: »

6. Mundos stone. No. They are part of Tamriel and not some magical stone you can just copy. More mundos stones in the open world is fine, but not in your house. When and if Zenimax adds more, they do it with the whole game included. Let them handle these things.


Zenimax have confirmed that player housing was not on their list, but now it is. However, it has to be something very good, goes with the game and ironed out.

I know some of the ideas I threw into this post were... really... probably not going to happen, but I thought they were fun ideas and wanted to keep them in anyways, like I said, this post is primarily just to get ideas flowing, see what the community wants, maybe give Zenimax some ideas they hadn't thought of (and... maybe a small part of it was an impromptu hire me, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do!)

I am honestly a little confused as to why player housing is something that was not originally on their list of systems they wanted to include in the game. I would assume it mostly had to do with scope creep, and they had to make a decision to just nail down what they had and add in the rest later.

If it was simply because they didn't think that people would WANT housing in their game, then I would honestly be a little worried about the game in the future, because other than balance and bug fixes, housing is one of the things i seem to see requested the most in MMO's

However... with that said... I honestly doubt they never considered it at all, and I think they have done a pretty good job of finding out what their community wants, so I have nothing but high hopes for the future of this game!

hishikiroda

joshisanonymous wrote: »

I wish there was a "+Impressive" button. Not because I'm impressed with your ideas (I didn't read a word of that), but because I'm absolutely amazed at the length of that post. You were not kidding when you said it would be lengthy. I even plugged it into OpenOffice: 4300 words. That has to be a record. That was the length of some of my term papers in college.

But I would like to see housing.

I just laughed so loud that I scared my dog half to death!

Alurria

Love it OP, I was wishing for housing sooner

david271749

I wouldn't expect too much. I'm not going to get my hopes up over something that may never exist. Saying it may come in a year to two years is vague and not promising at all. Look at console the console release thread. It's due in less than six months, and people's questions still haven't been answered. I appreciate how much thought you put into this, OP. I'm just saying no expectations=no disappointments.

fredarbonab14_ESO

Very bright post and a lot of excellent ideas. Applaud your efforts sincerely.

/salute