So Disappointed in Elsweyr Housing

Tigerseye

Sorry, but I have to speak my mind and try to get this off my chest.

From my perspective, Elsweyr has been a HUGE disappointment, housing-wise.

I was just saying to a friend, the other day, that they had a huge, open goal with Elsweyr and they still managed to totally miss it.

The inn room is really nice, but there is no townhouse (or any other house) in that style available, anywhere.

Some people say to me; "At least you have lots of other nice, well decorated houses, already.".

Nice of them to say that, but it's not really the point, is it?

We all paid for a new chapter.

Including housing in a new chapter.

It's simply not good enough that the only "homes" (they're not homes) available in it are extremely gimmicky and badly/illogically designed, when most established housing people just wanted a house they could call home, in the new area.

I could ramble on about what is wrong with it all, but I have already done so elsewhere (no pun intended), so I won't for now.

Aurie

I quite agree.

Jodes Embrace is just a cavernous copy/paste of the nearby Rimmen Palace. Impossible to make into a proper home with all that unnecessary space and massive ceiling height without serious interior building. And with the usual ridiculous 350/700 slots....pfffft.

As for Hall of the Lunar Champion, this is even worse. You go inside, and are immediately confronted with a ruined temple complete with rubble all over the floor. I don't care what the altars reveal, or that the rubble can be removed.....you are still left with a dark, dismal, depressing place.....anything but a home. I've seen dungeons looking more cheerful than that.

We are smack in the middle of Khajiit country. Why couldn't ZOS have given us at least one middle-sized traditonal Khajiit house with a garden, instead of trying to be clever and designing housing that is unlivable without massive alterations and lighting (and all on that 350/700 budget)..

Earrindo

It's the same problem as Summerset.
I am not sure how there became such a schism in housing additions between Morrowind and Summerset. Morrowind had 3 houses base and 1 crown only house. Ald Velothi was smallish, but still good sized with a yard, Lake Amaya was biggish, little too big for 600 but totally doable, and the apartment is Vivec is a bit big for 30 slots, but still, its a good location. Then Tel Galen with 700 slots, a private island even!

Then Summerset comes. And we get another inn room (also quite large for 30 slots) the Town House, which is lovely, but no garden, no landscape. The terrace is alright but pretty sterile. Then the Grotto. My lord, what a miss of the mark. It is WAY too huge for only 700 slots, and it was not at all what anyone was asking for. Folks wanted a ship house, not an impractically massive cave and 1 ship with a lot of broken ships strewn about.
I dont really count the Psijic Villa, but if I did, it is also much MUCH too large for just 700 slots.

Elsweyr at least gives us a free house, sort of, but it is indeed in ruins and somewhat challenging to decorate in a homey, functional way. Another inn room, and then sometime in the future Jodes Embrace, which at this point will probably be limited time only crown housing. The only thing I will say in Jodes Embrace's favor is that the garden is fairly reasonably sized, as is the interior. I don't forsee any trouble making it look livable.

But yeah, compared to Morrowind, the chapter housing took a very steep downward turn and doesnt seem to be recovering.
I think what the devs seem to misunderstand about the numerous, repeated requests for medium sized housing is that what we want are houses that can realistically be decorated fully, with yards and some outdoor space, with many slots to spare where the cap is 700. So a house like Ald Velothi, maybe a bit bigger, with 700 as the cap.
Only time will tell if they will get their housing department sorted out. I am willing to be patient, it took other games years to sort out their housing fully. But it would be nice if they would at least try and make the few new houses they do offer up a bit more bang for the buck, as it were.

Tigerseye

I know, I totally agree.

A medium, or large (but not huge) house would have been so much better.

StabbityDoom

Don’t forget *non crown* medium.

Tigerseye

StabbityDoom wrote: »

Don’t forget *non crown* medium.

Yes.

bluebird

Totally agree. Having completed the zone I can now say that like what, 65% of buildings just have chained dors and are entirely inaccessible? There was plenty of room to create a medium sized townhouse in Rimmen, and it's sad to see that they went with Jode's Embrace instead.

And while the Rimmen Palace that it was copy-pasted from actually has decent sized rooms and living quarters in the back, they cut that all out and left us with 3 giant dark wings that are a pain to furnish and to light (and don't even get me started on the light and the windows ).

And the HotLC... I mean, it's free, so at least they don't charge you for it on top of eveything, but you need two other DLC to access the other parts of it! If somebody buys Elsweyr (but doesn't buy two extra DLCs just so they can access an Elsweyr house), they have what to show for it? A free inn and 2/4 of a house. When we bought Morrowind we could get a free inn and two gold-purchasable homes in their entirety without the need for further purchases!

And those were some amazing houses too. The internal divisions of Amaya Lake Lodge, Ald Velothi and the Alinor Townhouse are awesome and do exactly what they should, to be homes that is. HotLC is in ruins(which is another sore spot, really, why do our homes have to have rubble??? And not just the removable kind, that's fine - the walls and windowsills are crumbled and the pillars are chipped) and Jode's Embrace is a 'palace' with the actual residence parts being cut out so it's just three giant reception rooms with a portal to la-la-land.

I was genuinely hoping for a warm and sleek Elsweyr-style home, perhaps a moonsugar plantation house, but nah A dark room with broken windows, a broken house with DLC-locked rooms, and a dark crown-exclusive palace... Elsweyr houses were a huge miss for me too, sadly.

Sharalei

I think they've done a nice job of the free Inn room, and a great job of the palace for those who like massive estates.

Being the eternal optimist, I'm holding out hope for a warm, middle sized, plantation style home, somewhere in Southern Elsweyr. There's hope!

Carl-lan

Put a medium size house somewhere with a view like in the stitches at least. Such awesome landscapes, but bad housing I agree.

bluebird

Sharalei wrote: »

I think they've done a nice job of the free Inn room, and a great job of the palace for those who like massive estates.

Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but three out of the four inn room windows are bugged because they don't light up properly. The palace windows have the same issue, and the middle wing of the house doesn't even have windows so the whole thing is extremely dark, especially when that is made worse by the high ceilings that can't possibly hold any chandelier that would even remotely illuminate the room. I do actually like massive estates and have six manors, so that's not why the interior design of Jode's Embrace is some of the worst compared to other homes - it has an impressive exterior but only three large halls to show for it and the removal of the actual back rooms that exist in the Rimmen palace hugely reduced the utility and potential of the player home.

That said, yes, I'm also hopeful that they manage to come up with some nice house for the rest-of-the-year DLCs, as I've been hoping that the housing system would manage to reawaken my interest, so let's hope there will be a better designed more consistent home for sale next patch! Fingers crossed!

Aurie

bluebird wrote: »

Not trying to be a Negative Nancy, but three out of the four inn room windows are bugged because they don't light up properly. The palace windows have the same issue, and the middle wing of the house doesn't even have windows so the whole thing is extremely dark, especially when that is made worse by the high ceilings that can't possibly hold any chandelier that would even remotely illuminate the room. I do actually like massive estates and have six manors, so that's not why the interior design of Jode's Embrace is some of the worst compared to other homes - it has an impressive exterior but only three large halls to show for it and the removal of the actual back rooms that exist in the Rimmen palace hugely reduced the utility and potential of the player home.

That said, yes, I'm also hopeful that they manage to come up with some nice house for the rest-of-the-year DLCs, as I've been hoping that the housing system would manage to reawaken my interest, so let's hope there will be a better designed more consistent home for sale next patch! Fingers crossed!

This exactly.

RANKK7

Tigerseye wrote: »

I know, I totally agree.

A medium, or large (but not huge) house would have been so much better.

Yes, HOUSE, places designed as houses, designed with a house in mind, not that catacomb thing we got.

Long story short, I very much agree with everything you said here and in other threads, and you said it in good English so I spared time and all.

+1 to this too

Ingenon

I like the little inn room in Elsweyr. It is near a wayshrine, with only the room door to exit, so no other loading screens. When I am exploring and am at the end of a dungeon that I just cleared, often I just want to fast travel out, and get near a wayshrine, bank, and merchant. Great location for a 3000 coin housing, IMO.

StabbityDoom

Go to the home of @theseus420 and look at what they built there. There's so much potential! UNBELIEVABLE how high up they went! Brilliant.

StabbityDoom

Carl-lan wrote: »

Put a medium size house somewhere with a view like in the stitches at least. Such awesome landscapes, but bad housing I agree.

I take dibs on the flophouse

SantieClaws

The great difficulty, as this one sees it, with the Hall of the Lunar Champion is that it is hard to plan your item usage when you do not know what half of the property may look like.

Also three load screens within the property itself? If that is the case then why not set an independent limit for each area?

At first this one was not sure she could make use of this space at all. Luckily a thoughtful walk around her Coldharbour storage attic was the beginnings of the excavation and restoration of our long lost family temple.

This one, from what she has seen, finds that Jode's Embrace will not be a suitable property for her. Too dark inside. Too stony outside. Too glowy in that other bit. It is lovely but just not the right property for this one.

She waits and hopes perhaps for an interesting property somewhere in the south. Somewhere open and warm. Somewhere maybe to grow a little sugar - just a little seasoning for the table you understand yes.

Just a few properties a year are more than enough work for this one. Sugar Island is not yet complete and cannot be so until a significant importation of plants from Elsweyr can be arranged. With that and the temple, not to mention the mysterious still closed wings, there is more than enough work for now.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

NovaMarx

Carl-lan wrote: »

Put a medium size house somewhere with a view like in the stitches at least. Such awesome landscapes, but bad housing I agree.

I fell in love with the Stitches immediately, and am completely heartbroken that I can't technically live there. Seems like a missed opportunity to put a house on one of the cliffs, with a rickety hanging bridge leading to it. *sigh*

Mizael

I would also love to see medium size homes back, buyable with gold of course.We have too many notable ones, most which are crown only, and many of them have problems with being fully decorated.So please make some medium house instead of those mega houses that are crown only.I really liked the elsweyr new furniture but about homes, it feels like we did 2 steps back.

D3AKUs

I guess everyone has their own prioritys. I am absolutely cool with elsweyr. For me Hall of the Lunar Champion is by far the best home in a long time and i cant wait to see what the other two wings will look like but i really hope they offer more open build spots like the first one.
The structural items in elsweyr are amazing and most of the other furniture is great too ( yeah some stuff may have those low res textures but i couldnt care less ) cause the overall aesthetic and looks are really nice.
I enjoy building my own fancy homes way more then building on an already defined work space and when i do work on one of the set homes most of the times i rebuild the surroundings and houses completely anyway so yeah...
give me open spots , wherever , i dont care - just give me open spots to build and i am a happy camper.
If at one point i have an open building spot in every climate, even more variations in structurual items and maybe finally stuff like greenhouses and more farming equipment, instruments, armor and weapon racks and other furniture that is heavily needed and ill be set for life and could build away forever.
If they give us an open spot with every new zone from now on and add one in some of the already existing ones that would be a dream come true really but i guess u got my point now

I can fullyunderstand tho - that other people like to buy cozy prebuild homes to furnish them in their own way and as i said i also like to build in some of those homes from time to time so i am totally for more variation and a better mix with the homes they release in the future chapters and dlc´s. Less monstrous,dark villa size stuff and more realistic reasonable stuff, especially slot wise - like Domus Phrasticus for example or the Ample Domicil, imo two of the best property size to furniture cap homes they have done so far.

bluebird

O. M. G.

General
Improved window lighting for homes in Elsweyr.

This is from the patch notes... If this is true... I will edit my previous comment so that it whines about 1 less thing and I will publically shoutout a huge thanks to whoever fixed it Pls let it be true!

Tigerseye

^ If so, it just shows you that "whining" (otherwise known as customer complaints/feedback) works.

By the way, as a proud customer complainer herself, I'm sure my mum would have been very proud of you all.

As the old saying goes; "It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.".

So, keep on squeaking, guys...

Jayne_Doe

So, do you think the lighting was improved in the Sugar Bowl Suite? I was in there last night and didn't really notice a difference. It still looks like no light is coming in from the three windows on the far wall. But maybe there is a subtle difference?

Tigerseye

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

So, do you think the lighting was improved in the Sugar Bowl Suite? I was in there last night and didn't really notice a difference. It still looks like no light is coming in from the three windows on the far wall. But maybe there is a subtle difference?

Not sure - I will check it now.

Tigerseye

Can't see any light cast on the floor from any of them.

The one next to the door, currently, has a kind of stripe of light across it, but the other three don't even have that.

Tigerseye

By the way - the sun is shining from a westerly direction, at the moment in Rimmen.

So, if anything, the 3 windows should be brighter.

Aurie

Well clearly Sugar Bowl Suite missed out. What about the other two 'homes'?

Nerouyn

Tigerseye wrote: »

Sorry, but I have to speak my mind and try to get this off my chest.

From my perspective, Elsweyr has been a HUGE disappointment, housing-wise.

Total opposite for me.

Compared to the original Khajiit homes the Elweyr ones are magnificent. Even not making that comparison I think they're beautiful.

Morrowind was good IMO except for the Telvanni tumor towers, which are hideous. Also the fact that you could only get a manor by paying crowns sucked hard. Sucked even harder that it was a tumor tower.

Summerset's Alinor style is very disappointing. It looks more gothic european than elven. Way too pointy. The manor is a crashed boat. Erm, ok.

Elsweyr gives every player a free manor - nice - and at least the bits we've seen of that look good.

I think they've also been clever with styling. The Elsweyr style is potentially very busy / blingy for western tastes but the only element of that built into housing is minimal, eg. the doors in Jode's Embrace. They could have eg. gotten carried with intricate detailing on the wood but didn't.

The design is very restrained. Which allows players to style those homes to their own tastes.

This creates a problem for me. One of the things I have always disliked about ESO is the lack of manors I like for the races I like. Elsweyr gives me one for free and there'll be another in the crown store which will probably be hideously expensive and unaffordable, but it's at least theoretically available and something I could maybe have one day.

It's enough that I'm seriously considering going all in on Khajiit and also maybe playing ESO more seriously.

Part of me hates to praise anything destined for the crown store because we all know that kind of thing bumps up the price but I already expect JE to be outside of my price range. And it's nice to be able to give positive feedback.

Tigerseye wrote: »

The inn room is really nice, but there is no townhouse (or any other house) in that style available, anywhere.

Based on discussions and polls we've seen here, there's much greater demand for big homes.

I've not bothered buying any smaller ones unless they're super handy to teleport to because of nearby amenities. I'm not likely to bother either until I've finished decorating all of the bigger homes that I like, which could take a while.

wishlist14

After my experience with the merchant and banker I decided not to purchase the Elsweyr house. I bought the Elswryr furniture pack and that is it for me. I realised I don't need that many houses. I don't have the time to spend in those houses . I have enough houses now that I can improve on with the new furnishings and it feels like the right decision. I have settled into my main notable home. From now on my crowns can go towards styling my characters or pets and mounts.



Not buying houses anymore. I feel free now.

Tigerseye

Nerouyn wrote: »

Elsweyr gives every player a free manor - nice - and at least the bits we've seen of that look good.

It's not a manor (it's not even called a manor!), it's a "hall".

A square, ruined room, with a giant buzzing laserball, with blinding blue laser beams shooting out of it and immovable stone plinths.

The outside (first room) is reasonably pleasant, but you have to tolerate the buzzing laser-room ruin to even get to it.

I think they've also been clever with styling. The Elsweyr style is potentially very busy / blingy for western tastes but the only element of that built into housing is minimal, eg. the doors in Jode's Embrace. They could have eg. gotten carried with intricate detailing on the wood but didn't.

The door in the inn room is very nice (think it's the same as the Jode's one?) - the entire inn room is quite nice, in fact.

That is why I'm disappointed they didn't give us a gold-purchasable townhouse in that style.

The interior of Jode's Embrace, however, is awful.

Truly, shockingly, bad (even by ESO's standards).

It is a cut and paste Rimmen palace, with entire rooms removed, basically.

It doesn't make any kind of logical sense.

The two totally square rooms, on either side of the front of the house, only extend roughly half the depth of the external dimensions of the house.

However, where the palace in Rimmen has locked doors to those back rooms, that we know simply must exist to justify ithe external dimensions, they have just removed them, with no explanation, in this cut and paste abomination.

Then, the entire upstairs is just a corridor, with no rooms off it (even the palace has one, and a hallway!), the outer walls of which are both about 20 feet from the exterior walls of the house, yet they still have windows in them?*

Why would anyone want an illogical corridor as the entire upstairs of their "house"?

The Jode's Plane part is probably quite nice, if you like that kind of thing and the front yard is nice, but that is it.

Anyone who wants a functioning and even half believable inside space is out of luck.

Unless you are in love with the Jode's Plane part, I would seriously suggest you take another, closer, look at that house before paying anything for it.


*As do the back walls of the square, downstairs, rooms; despite not reaching, anywhere near, the back of the house.

Based on discussions and polls we've seen here, there's much greater demand for big homes.

I've not bothered buying any smaller ones unless they're super handy to teleport to because of nearby amenities. I'm not likely to bother either until I've finished decorating all of the bigger homes that I like, which could take a while.

No, I'm afraid it's quite the reverse.

Most people here, when asked, habitually say they want medium sized homes.

They say this due to the furnishing limits.*

Whereas, I always say I want a large, but not huge, home (partly because I don't tend to try to build much, I just furnish).

Besides, a townhouse would/could fall into the large (but, not huge) bracket - particularly if it had a basement, as well.


* ...and of course that is the reason why ZoS will have removed entire rooms from the cut and pasted Rimmen Palace.

To try to avoid these kind of furnishing limit complaints.

As my bf said, when he saw it; it's just lazy.

Tigerseye

Aurelle1 wrote: »

Well clearly Sugar Bowl Suite missed out. What about the other two 'homes'?

No idea - can't face looking at either of them, lol.


Edit: The windows in the square rooms in Jode's Embrace look fairly bright - even the ones which back onto God knows what (the place where you store the bodies?)...

The ones in the corridors between the rooms and the hallway don't.

None appear to cast light on the floor.

Door to right of inn room door was briefly casting light on the floor - other 3 still aren't.

Nerouyn

Tigerseye wrote: »

It's not a manor (it's not even called a manor!), it's a "hall".

A square, ruined room, with a giant buzzing laserball, with blinding blue laser beams shooting out of it and immovable stone plinths.

The outside (first room) is reasonably pleasant, but you have to tolerate the buzzing laser-room ruin to even get to it.

If you're desperate enough to play silly semantic games, that's quite telling.

It has the max furnishings limit. It's a manor.

https://eso.mmo-fashion.com/hall-of-the-lunar-champion/

Also, you're wrong. Which is even more telling.

It's ruined when you acquire it but the rubble is removable furniture. Praise Azurah!

Gives me a glimmer of hope that they may take a second run at some other homes and convert similarly potentially polarising features into furniture pieces.

Tigerseye wrote: »

The door in the inn room is very nice (think it's the same as the Jode's one?) - the entire inn room is quite nice, in fact.

That is why I'm disappointed they didn't give us a gold-purchasable townhouse in that style.

You're allowed to be disappointed. I didn't say otherwise. With another Elsweyr themed DLC later in the year maybe they'll offer one.

But there seems to be not much demand for smaller homes and that's why they've not made any for Summer or Elsweyr.

Tigerseye wrote: »

The interior of Jode's Embrace, however, is awful.

That's your opinion.

My opinion is the polar opposite.

I think it's gorgeous.

Tigerseye wrote: »

It is a cut and paste Rimmen palace, with entire rooms removed, basically.

Could be. It didn't interest me so I barely looked at it.

Even if so it doesn't make JE any less appealing to me.

Tigerseye wrote: »

It doesn't make any kind of logical sense.

The two totally square rooms, on either side of the front of the house, only extend roughly half the depth of the external dimensions of the house.

However, where the palace in Rimmen has locked doors to those back rooms, that we know simply must exist to justify ithe external dimensions, they have just removed them, with no explanation, in this cut and paste abomination.

Kitty litter storage. Obviously.

Seriously though, is there a discrepancy?

https://youtu.be/KrnvByb0gAg?t=182

Where you claim that there are missing interior rooms is in fact solid rock. Presumably the same applies to the other side of the home.

Oops!

Tigerseye wrote: »

Then, the entire upstairs is just a corridor, with no rooms off it (even the palace has one, and a hallway!), the outer walls of which are both about 20 feet from the exterior walls of the house, yet they still have windows in them?*

Why would anyone want an illogical corridor as the entire upstairs of their "house"?

It's not the entire upstairs. There's the hall. Obviously.

Also, entries with stairs leading to an upper balcony is an extremely common design feature. Handy for all sorts of things if you're an upper crust type. Think psychology rather than utility.