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https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8098811/#Comment_8098811
• PC/Mac: NA megaserver for maintenance – April 25, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) - 2:00PM EDT (18:00 UTC)
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8098811/#Comment_8098811
Primary Residence / Housing Limitations and suggestions for improvement
MacCait
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Primary Residence limitation
I just came back to the game after a long time away and thought I would undertake another epic design job and build my small trading guild a guild-hall to use. I purchased Pariah's Pinnacle as the location and set to work designing... until a friend reminded me that the idea won't work as we are limited in ESO housing to having only ONE residence that visitors can visit while a player is offline.
This was a major problem as I had already intricately designed a guild-hall (Earthtear Cavern) for my player guild to use, which they do. As this is my "Primary Residence", it means I cannot design another guild-hall for the trading guild to use.
I spoke to ZOS support and they are going to refund the purchase of 'Pariah's Pinnacle'...
However it's kind of a shame that we have such limitations. Other games that have housing allow ANY visitors to visit ANY residence while a player is offline, as long as they have permissions to do so. It therefore seems like a very unnecessary limitation to only allow ESO players to have one residence that players can visit when you are away.
Is this something ZOS might consider? Either allowing all homes to be visited when the owner is offline, like other games. OR, at the very least, allowing a Secondary Residence to be visited while the player is offline?
Either of these minor changes would greatly benefit the current housing system.
Housing Furniture limited by achievements
After ZOS said they would refund the purchase of Pariah’s Pinnacle, I wondered if there might be another way around the issue of Primary Residence. Perhaps I could put crowns on a new account and design the guild-hall with that?
However, I soon remembered that many of the items I would want for an all-faction guild-hall design would be limited by achievements. While I have those achievements on my account, a new account would not. The grind to achieve all those achievements again would be insane. So it appears there is no viable way around the Primary Residence limitation.
OTHER LIMITATIONS
Without going into the obvious flog the dead horse issues regarding epic huge style homes and the limitation of the small item count/placement… or the need for a Guild-Hall option like ‘Primary Residence’; there are some other limitations to housing that also seem unnecessary. These would be VERY simple to fix and would benefit ZOS and the player.
Limited building materials for Properties with correct Textures
When new houses are released, there are not enough building materials released, that actually match the textures of the new house.
For example, Pariah’s Pinnacle is a great idea, and there are a couple of ice blocks and a couple of iced trees, and a couple of bits of snow, and a couple of bits of ice… however, these are all fairly small given the size of the property and all in all amount to just a few items.
Also, there are ZERO building components to match the texture of the interior; such as stone boulders that match the textures of the inside of the Orcish dwelling. Using any other type of boulder creates an unrealistic stark contrast to the weathered grey stone. This issue is the same for most properties.
Many of the properties, especially the Notable epic sized homes, would benefit from simple building materials such as :
• Much larger Boulders
• Walls
• Stairs
• Glass windows.
• Flooring
• Roofing
These all seem simple to create and would benefit both ZOS and players alike.
Obviously the textures and components are already there as developers have created not only the houses, but all textures are in the game within the game environments. So it’s not so much an issue of more time spent creating items. Releasing more of these and more items of a larger size only encourages the housing part of the game and benefits ZOS in sales.
As Pariah’s Pinnacle is a new and very specific (snow based) product, it really is in need of much more options for environmental furnishings, such as a wider selection of iced trees, larger iced trees, much larger Boulders, more of a selection of Boulders, Cliff edge boulders, larger piles of snow and ice etc.
No actual doors that visitors can use
In other games, when a player visits the home of another, they can walk right up to the door and enter. If more than one friend owns that property, or if the visitor also owns that property, an option pops up, asking the player whose residence they wish to enter. It’s very simple, intuitive, and works.
In ESO, if a player has access as a visitor, the only way they can enter the property is to fast travel by clicking on a players name and visiting ‘Primary Residence’. That’s a shame as it takes away fun from immersion, as well as the fun from being able to see the actual location and front door of a property.
Instead, when a player visits a residence and attempts to walk through the front door, they are only given the option to ‘Preview’ the property. However, the ability to preview a property is already in the crown store, and is a much better way to preview as you can fast travel to each of them rather than trek on foot to each location. Therefore is seems unnecessary to have this system, that does nothing to add or benefit players experience, but only limits the experience.
Support for the Property after purchase
Currently many players are hesitant of purchasing properties as once they are bought, ZOS seems to no longer ‘support’ the property, or sometimes makes unwarranted and unnecessary changes.
For example, Pariah’s Pinnacle had a problem where it was snowing indoors. The problem of weather effects inside a house is a long-term issue that hasn’t been resolved on all properties. However, as Pariah’s Pinnacle is a current seasonal limited edition this year, this issue was thankfully fixed. However, Earthtear Cavern, still to this day has an issue of weather effects inside the cavern, even though this is a much older property and the problem has been discussed in great detail and on a great many of occasions.
With the new design of Pariah’s Pinnacle, it feels like ZOS has listened regarding invisible walls, as they have been generous in placing them quite high and at a distance, so that if you fall off the edge you can die, or if you want to build out further, you can. It’s a healthy design. However, other older properties, especially Earthtear Cavern, have invisible walls everywhere, lower than the actual ceiling, and in areas of the Cavern that cause those areas to not even be able to be accessed. The problem has been reported since release, but has never been fixed. Even the odd floating small rock in the water of Earthtear, something that was obviously placed by the designer by mistake, is still there to this day!
It would only encourage players to purchase houses IF they could be confident that support for the property would continue after purchase, and after it was no longer a ‘new’ property.
Overpricing crown store furniture
Some of the exterior furnishings such as boulders and trees are priced quite reasonably, then other items are priced so flamboyantly that many players will not afford them. I’m quite certain that ZOS would make more money from furnishings in the crown store if they were not overpriced. This seems like a limitation that limits not just the player, but also the sales of the items.
Suggestion for weather issues
As all the houses so far are limited in design… many players opt to create buildings themselves from scratch outside in the courtyard of the properties. However, these properties will of course suffer from weather effects. Just an idea, and not sure if this is even possible… but a roof furnishing could be scripted to dis-allow any weather effects underneath it. This would allow players to create structure and buildings outside that would not suffer from leaky roof syndrome.
Edited by MacCait on February 28, 2018 2:25AM I just came back to the game after a long time away and thought I would undertake another epic design job and build my small trading guild a guild-hall to use. I purchased Pariah's Pinnacle as the location and set to work designing... until a friend reminded me that the idea won't work as we are limited in ESO housing to having only ONE residence that visitors can visit while a player is offline.
This was a major problem as I had already intricately designed a guild-hall (Earthtear Cavern) for my player guild to use, which they do. As this is my "Primary Residence", it means I cannot design another guild-hall for the trading guild to use.
I spoke to ZOS support and they are going to refund the purchase of 'Pariah's Pinnacle'...
However it's kind of a shame that we have such limitations. Other games that have housing allow ANY visitors to visit ANY residence while a player is offline, as long as they have permissions to do so. It therefore seems like a very unnecessary limitation to only allow ESO players to have one residence that players can visit when you are away.
Is this something ZOS might consider? Either allowing all homes to be visited when the owner is offline, like other games. OR, at the very least, allowing a Secondary Residence to be visited while the player is offline?
Either of these minor changes would greatly benefit the current housing system.
Housing Furniture limited by achievements
After ZOS said they would refund the purchase of Pariah’s Pinnacle, I wondered if there might be another way around the issue of Primary Residence. Perhaps I could put crowns on a new account and design the guild-hall with that?
However, I soon remembered that many of the items I would want for an all-faction guild-hall design would be limited by achievements. While I have those achievements on my account, a new account would not. The grind to achieve all those achievements again would be insane. So it appears there is no viable way around the Primary Residence limitation.
OTHER LIMITATIONS
Without going into the obvious flog the dead horse issues regarding epic huge style homes and the limitation of the small item count/placement… or the need for a Guild-Hall option like ‘Primary Residence’; there are some other limitations to housing that also seem unnecessary. These would be VERY simple to fix and would benefit ZOS and the player.
Limited building materials for Properties with correct Textures
When new houses are released, there are not enough building materials released, that actually match the textures of the new house.
For example, Pariah’s Pinnacle is a great idea, and there are a couple of ice blocks and a couple of iced trees, and a couple of bits of snow, and a couple of bits of ice… however, these are all fairly small given the size of the property and all in all amount to just a few items.
Also, there are ZERO building components to match the texture of the interior; such as stone boulders that match the textures of the inside of the Orcish dwelling. Using any other type of boulder creates an unrealistic stark contrast to the weathered grey stone. This issue is the same for most properties.
Many of the properties, especially the Notable epic sized homes, would benefit from simple building materials such as :
• Much larger Boulders
• Walls
• Stairs
• Glass windows.
• Flooring
• Roofing
These all seem simple to create and would benefit both ZOS and players alike.
Obviously the textures and components are already there as developers have created not only the houses, but all textures are in the game within the game environments. So it’s not so much an issue of more time spent creating items. Releasing more of these and more items of a larger size only encourages the housing part of the game and benefits ZOS in sales.
As Pariah’s Pinnacle is a new and very specific (snow based) product, it really is in need of much more options for environmental furnishings, such as a wider selection of iced trees, larger iced trees, much larger Boulders, more of a selection of Boulders, Cliff edge boulders, larger piles of snow and ice etc.
No actual doors that visitors can use
In other games, when a player visits the home of another, they can walk right up to the door and enter. If more than one friend owns that property, or if the visitor also owns that property, an option pops up, asking the player whose residence they wish to enter. It’s very simple, intuitive, and works.
In ESO, if a player has access as a visitor, the only way they can enter the property is to fast travel by clicking on a players name and visiting ‘Primary Residence’. That’s a shame as it takes away fun from immersion, as well as the fun from being able to see the actual location and front door of a property.
Instead, when a player visits a residence and attempts to walk through the front door, they are only given the option to ‘Preview’ the property. However, the ability to preview a property is already in the crown store, and is a much better way to preview as you can fast travel to each of them rather than trek on foot to each location. Therefore is seems unnecessary to have this system, that does nothing to add or benefit players experience, but only limits the experience.
Support for the Property after purchase
Currently many players are hesitant of purchasing properties as once they are bought, ZOS seems to no longer ‘support’ the property, or sometimes makes unwarranted and unnecessary changes.
For example, Pariah’s Pinnacle had a problem where it was snowing indoors. The problem of weather effects inside a house is a long-term issue that hasn’t been resolved on all properties. However, as Pariah’s Pinnacle is a current seasonal limited edition this year, this issue was thankfully fixed. However, Earthtear Cavern, still to this day has an issue of weather effects inside the cavern, even though this is a much older property and the problem has been discussed in great detail and on a great many of occasions.
With the new design of Pariah’s Pinnacle, it feels like ZOS has listened regarding invisible walls, as they have been generous in placing them quite high and at a distance, so that if you fall off the edge you can die, or if you want to build out further, you can. It’s a healthy design. However, other older properties, especially Earthtear Cavern, have invisible walls everywhere, lower than the actual ceiling, and in areas of the Cavern that cause those areas to not even be able to be accessed. The problem has been reported since release, but has never been fixed. Even the odd floating small rock in the water of Earthtear, something that was obviously placed by the designer by mistake, is still there to this day!
It would only encourage players to purchase houses IF they could be confident that support for the property would continue after purchase, and after it was no longer a ‘new’ property.
Overpricing crown store furniture
Some of the exterior furnishings such as boulders and trees are priced quite reasonably, then other items are priced so flamboyantly that many players will not afford them. I’m quite certain that ZOS would make more money from furnishings in the crown store if they were not overpriced. This seems like a limitation that limits not just the player, but also the sales of the items.
Suggestion for weather issues
As all the houses so far are limited in design… many players opt to create buildings themselves from scratch outside in the courtyard of the properties. However, these properties will of course suffer from weather effects. Just an idea, and not sure if this is even possible… but a roof furnishing could be scripted to dis-allow any weather effects underneath it. This would allow players to create structure and buildings outside that would not suffer from leaky roof syndrome.
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Jayne_Doe✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭It would be nice if they could at least allow you to assign a property as a guild hall for each of the guilds you're a GM of. This would mean that you could have the cavern assigned to your player guild and the pinnacle assigned to your trading guild. This would then also allow you to have a separate primary residence.
It would also be great if they would allow you to assign houses a "visit" status - meaning that it's a house you'd like for others to visit. So, when someone selects to port to your houses, a pop-up would list all of the houses that you are allowing people to visit.
I agree it would be nice to be able to walk up to a player's home and just walk in the front door, and maybe that could be something that is implemented for your friends, at least. Since one can allow any player to visit their home, if you walked up to the front door, the pop-up would be a long list of all players who would allow you to visit, which could be quite a long list. Limiting it to just your friends would make it more manageable.1 -
Yolokin_Swagonborn✭✭✭✭✭
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Many of the properties, especially the Notable epic sized homes, would benefit from simple building materials such as :
• Much larger Boulders
• Walls
• Stairs
• Glass windows.
• Flooring
• Roofing
YES PLEASE
Perhaps some nicer planks as well so you don't have the planks sticking through carpets issue. But if ZOS isn't going to increase the item limit, releasing some actual stairs would help so much in letting me do what i want to do without maxing out so quickly.
Its fun to make total conversions and add decks and extra levels but all those blocks add up.
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Apache_Kid✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭Lots of great ideas. I would say one of the highest things on my personal priority list is the whole only allowing others to visit your 1 single primary residence. I am in a housing guild with a ton of really creative people who have decorated multiple houses that all look amazing yet they can only show off one of them at a time. I would love to be able to click on someone's name in the guild roster and be able to select any one of their homes. It's a shame that some people spend all this time and money on these houses but are only able to showcase 1 at a time.3 -
Agrivar✭✭✭Just, yes! I agree with everything you suggested.
I have very little to add but thought that I should at least point out the existence of the Port To Friends addon (obviously, only for PC) that allows you to teleport to *any* house a player owns, as long as you have permission to enter. This means that the *functionality* to do this exists in the game systems, and ZOS just needs to fiddle with the *interface* to make it work for everyone. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give us, at the very least, some way of entering a friend's house from the exterior door! So durn immersion breaking.Edited by Agrivar on January 30, 2018 5:44PMPAPSMEAR - Positively Against Paws SMEAR campaign - Say YES to crown crates1 -
MacCait✭✭✭✭✭
✭Just, yes! I agree with everything you suggested.
I have very little to add but thought that I should at least point out the existence of the Port To Friends addon (obviously, only for PC) that allows you to teleport to *any* house a player owns, as long as you have permission to enter. This means that the *functionality* to do this exists in the game systems, and ZOS just needs to fiddle with the *interface* to make it work for everyone. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give us, at the very least, some way of entering a friend's house from the exterior door! So durn immersion breaking.
yes this would be a good addition1 -
MacCait✭✭✭✭✭
✭Come on ZOS... With all these great looking houses coming out, PLEASE remove 'Primary Residence'.
As a designer, I love homestead and creating epic designed houses. With Primary Residence, there is absolutely no point designing more than one home if people cannot view it while you are offline.
Having Primary Residence neither benefits the player or ZOS. It's just a limitation.
Other games may have around 4 residences that other players can visit while you are offline.
If Primary Residence was not a limitation, I'd happily buy more than one notable home and many items from the housing editor. I am quite sure I am not alone.Edited by MacCait on February 28, 2018 2:50AM1