Player Housing - I have a vision

RansynBloodway · May 2014

So I'm going to send this to ZOS tonight. Have a read through and tell me what you think. Smile

Player Housing. I know you guys are looking into it, and I am hoping it is still coming out.

I have a very ambitious vision of what I would love to see.

Player Housing that is set in a guild community instance (Sort of like the LOTRO housing communities, only done by guild).

So. In each community, we would have a guild hall, vendors, crafting stations, player bank, guild bank and store and housing for every member of a guild (and yes, that means 500 plots of land per instance).

The kicker I have for this idea would be to have everything upgradable. Player housing starts off as an empty plot of land. Once someone purchases a plot of land, put a tent on it. From there people can purchase upgrades for their houses (extra rooms, more floors, a stable for their mounts, etc), and the bigger the upgrade, the longer it takes to complete (like the trait research system).

The Guild Hall starts off as a small shack, and upgrades for this could be linked into a guild achievement system, and unlockable by completing certain milestones. (EG: Have a trophy hall, where a statue could be placed to mark the guild completing a Trial – with a plaque giving the names of everyone who was part of the group)

I would also love to see guild banners, where we can upload a logo or something and have them display on shields, and banners around the guild hall and Community housing Instance.

I understand that this is a very ambitious idea, but it would promote the following:

- More money sinks in game, to keep currency a valuable commodity and also give players something else to spend their money on.

- More incentive to group up for quests and dungeons, as the more achievements completed means the guild gains something.

- Something else for players to work on once they hit max level.

- A greater sense of Guild pride, as players could see the guild growing

Leijona · May 2014

This sounds more or less interesting. But wouldn't it look a bit odd, if you have space for 500 houses and only need ... 20? Maybe you should have to buy more space as a guild if you need it. Let's say always for 10 houses or maybe 50 houses.

But the over all idea seems to be nice and certainly something different.

Jochamo · May 2014

I very much like the idea of housing in general, and some of your ideas more specifically. However, linking housing to guilds seems incompatible with the five guild / account mechanic.

For example, can I now have five houses?

Wintersage · May 2014

Honestly? I think ZOS won't be bothered to read it.

For myself, I'm all for upgradeable housing. Maybe with some nice vanity furniture pieces as various rewards in and around the world.

frwinters_ESO · May 2014

They have already said to IGN housing is very far away. you probably wont see it for over a year.

Leijona · May 2014

I think he is aware of that sad fact, but as Zenimax is still looking for a good housing concept, we can try to give them some ideas

esoone · May 2014

Sounds great but prob not before ESO2.

JessieColt · May 2014

Player housing seems.. weird.. to me in an MMO.

Sure, if we were restricted to 1 guild, then having a dedicated place in a Guild Hall might make sense.

But in an online environment, where things can, and do, go wrong. Rollbacks anyone? Do players really want the ability to store items in a "house" where they might be lost?

I admit that I haven't done any research, at all, regarding what ZeniMax's intentions might be with bringing in player houses.

It just seems to me that in a Mega Server environment that more could, and probably will, go wrong with housing, then in a restricted environment like multi-servers with limited amount of characters/assets putting drain/load on each server.

Iceman_mat · May 2014

bro..............bro......you ready?

You take your concept and put it into (implemented later) into town on area's close to cities (PVE) or near cyrodil (PVP) or near both (PvE / PvP) were the guilds build the towns and can make personal guild armor with blacksmiths and then trade to other players via merchants / traveling merchants.

But dude why do you have them near cities? well i'll tell you why!

As you level up your town it increase / gives bonus's to nearby cities (I dunno + movement) that are different from each towns "lot" (that can have player housing with previous example) that together assist the players alliance that can help them in pvp thus creating another link between pve and pvp so that if you don't wanna pvp you can still help pvp'ers

The flip side? people wearing items from your town / guild in pvp could give your town / guild "influence / rep" that I dunno decrease build time / costs / w.e that could lead into another skills tree (town management?)

Bam

And for the "f u do my own thing" player, give em tents / mobile single space sleeping areas (customizable of course, life a house) that "if" put near said towns / guild area's, increase regen / "well rested".

-Cheers

RansynBloodway · May 2014

I am definitely aware that player housing is a LONG way off, and honestly, I'd much rather they get a handle on all these bugs first.

But yeah, ZOS seems to take player feedback into account, so I figured it couldn't hurt to get some discussion going around the player housing and how it could work.

Audigy · May 2014

Housing only for guilds is in my opinion not a good idea. Everyone should be able to have a house and not only people in guilds.

Especially with 5 guilds each, players wouldn't value their house enough as they could have multiple.

Iceman_mat · May 2014

1 house per player that can be used to influence multiple guilds. Perhaps make it an instanced thing. Influence could be + fighter guild / mage / undaunted / w.e / w.e.

You as the player would choose which guild to influence.

I was saying take his idea and have the guilds run "towns" in which a "player" could situate their house in and influence that way.

Just a thought.

-Cheers

RansynBloodway · May 2014

I guess the other thought could be, have a different instance per guild, have the player buy a different plot of land for each guild, but have the house and all it's upgrades be the same throughout each. That way you can be active in your 5 guilds, but also feel like your house is progressing.

RansynBloodway · May 2014

Here is a thought that one of my guildies (Scamandros) had. I thought I would post it up.

I do like the sound of that, I too imagined instanced neighbourhoods like LotRO but with guildies, I think that would be cool.
Guild Hall should have lots or novelty interactables like ale kegs, gambling, and customizable scenery to make it feel unique. It would be alot of effort, but I'd also like different architecture for buildings/neighbourhoods like you have an armor style for each race. Alternatively have a varied selection of locations to build your neighbourhood. Things like Traditional wood and stone buildings for a rustic town. Or a hidden cave behind a waterfall/narrow crack in a mountain with a cluster of tents and shacks inside for a ranger's hide-away. The mushroom towers of Morrowind, or tree huts connected by a network of rope bridges in valenwood. Heck even a large flagship out at sea with cabins and communal rooms.
Perhaps have a series of quests for housing that end with having some npc join your household to help populate areas. Rescue some kind of pet, help npcs who repay you by keeping your house well kept while your questing, etc

Most importantly it needs to retain a sense of community with the other players and not just be a second bank like it ends up in some games. Centre them around guilds, make them a suitable rally point for dungeons and whatnot by providing free/cheaper travel to them via say horse/guar drawn caravan rather then wayshrine. Upgrades for banker and craft stations as well conveniently placed