Do you like the broken down and damaged look ZOS designs into the majority of their houses?

Jaraal

The vast majority of player homes in ESO have rubble designed into them; broken steps, crumbling walls, missing tiles, and so forth. Do you consider these design elements to be a desirable feature, or an inconvenient nuisance?

Dusk_Coven

Other, please elaborate.

Like Coldharbour, I'd prefer if I could remove various elements.
But at the same time I also understand that there needs to be a lot of static items or performance would just die.
And there's development time in making new terrain pieces -- basically everything in homes is recycled from the game. We're lucky they don't outright copy too much, which is what SWTOR did with their Rishi and train homes -- they copied waaay too much.
I think more community engagement / focus groups would be nice when designing a new home, except ZOS has to juggle that with keeping new projects under wraps -- housing reveal counts as a "wow".

So... overall unless ZOS introduces a new procedure of more community engagement for their housing, we're basically stuck with them recycling what they make for their DLC and cobbling together a home. Same as every other game.

Araneae6537

Other, please elaborate.

It depends on many things, including the degree and type of damage as well as the style of house. A property that is supposed to be an old house or even ancient ruins wouldn’t look right in pristine condition but rubble lying about and which can’t be removed would be too much. As an example, from what I’ve seen of the final wing of HotLC, what bothers me most is the fence feeling claustrophobic and the absence of windows. I would expect the house to show some age.

Adernath

No, I don't like the look!

For me the cellar area of the Artaeum Manor was in particular a big disappointment. I still need to think how to deal with this ruined and dark mess.

Earrindo

No, I don't like the look!

Personally I'm quite tired of all the permanent ruins.
True, not *every* house has this, and in fact some of my favorite homes have no ruins at all, however a large number *are* in a sorry state.
The psijic Villa is a great example. The main house is pristine, flawless even, yet the exterior is an absolute catastrophe, broken walls and pillars everywhere. The basement too, in complete disarray and for no real reason. I blocked the whole thing off because the broken pilasters were too frustrating to hide.
Serenity Falls has rubble strewn over the front stairs, and that's meant to be a big fancy Manor!

Rather than foist these immovable ruins onto us, I would prefer they take similar routes as they did in the Hall of the Lunar Champion.
Yes, that main hall has permanent ruined elements, but at least we got to tidy up the big stuff, and the rest of what's ruined is fairly easy to block or cover.

The final wing of the Hall bugs me in a whole separate fashion though, that fence/balcony is *so* dilapidated that it's going to take a huge effort to make it look less wretched. When item counts are already so low, having to expend dozens of precious slots to cover up the gross, boo radley-esque fence and patio is just insulting.

Anyhow, yes, too many ruins, especially with the last half dozen or so houses that have been released.

kind_hero

Other, please elaborate.

I am hoping for a Homestead 2.0 DLC at some point, where they revamp the housing system.

Why I picked other (my answer would have been NO) :

in some cases I do not mind an aged look for the house... It might be very old, like the Psijic Villa, or rugged like the Orcish houses, however I would like the houses to have upgrade-able modules, like, pay X amount of gold to repair the stairs or the columns, pay X amount to clear the mould (Lucky Cat Landing), pay X gold/crowns to unlock a barn, basement, etc.
Remember the Heartfire expansion in Skyrim? You could customize the layout of your house. Have a greenhouse or a library wing. They could do this, it would be great.

LaughingGremlin

No, I don't like the look!

I agree about the final wing of halls of lunar landing. They should let us take out the fence and other eye sours. We have so few slots in these homes and it’s a shame we to waste them covering overly dilapidated ruins.

Raideen

Other, please elaborate.

I don't mind some of it, but It obviously depends on the area.

What I will say is that I would not want rubble on the floor of a home that was not a removable prop. Thankfully in the Hall of the Lunar Champion we can remove that floor rubble.

Ruined stuff can give the area character, it tells a story "This home was built in the era of the dragon and stands to this day blah blah blah".

I kinda see it both ways. I feel like I understand the art directors intent to make the world feel alive, lived in. But I can also see the players point that they want their homes to be whatever they want them to be.

Perhaps the artists should continue with ruined exteriors to appeal to the lore/story/liveliness of the game, but make the interiors a bit more pristine to appeal to the player?

bayushi2005

No, I don't like the look!

No, no and no. If I want it broken I can add some stones, pebbles, make stuff look damaged, but by the Nine, don't force me to cover all that rubble every single time I get a new house. If ZOS has a "vision", they can always make that "vision" happen by making the rubble/roots/other !@# removable.

Grianasteri

Other, please elaborate.

Jaraal wrote: »

The vast majority of player homes in ESO have rubble designed into them; broken steps, crumbling walls, missing tiles, and so forth. Do you consider these design elements to be a desirable feature, or an inconvenient nuisance?

I was tempted to click no, but I guess for some houses and some aesthetics, the broken down, aged look works great. I just feel like I would also like an option for some of my houses, such as the Psijic Villa, to look pristine and well maintained.

An option should be added to allow one to click, "new" or "aged". OR give us the ability to upgrade/repair the house, as in add an upgrade mechanic of some kind.

Langdon64

No, I don't like the look!

No. When I saw Wraithhome for the first time, the polished floor was almost the selling point for me. Then I came to my senses. As beautiful as it is, I'm not spending what will most likely be $150.00 for it. I really wish these homes were sold for gold, or holiday quest rewards.

Sporvan

Yes, I like the look!

I love the broken down look and personally if you count up the amount of houses which incorporates it you will see that there aren't _that_ many.

It's just that most got released recently and now people have goldfish memory of all the pristine houses we've had before...

I love the Elsweyr aesthetic of mixing old with new. It kinda reminds me of travels to Rome.

Alinhbo_Tyaka

No, I don't like the look!

I really don't like everything tending to be in a state of disrepair. While I can understand a broken down wall or damaged pillars in a garden I don't want to see those in my house. I understand some folks might want the look but I think a better way to handle it would be an optional house setting. Better yet just make some broken this or that furnishings we could use to overlay walls, pillars or other things we might want to have in disrepair.

mateosalvaje

Yes, I like the look!

If you don't like something to look damaged, cover it with a plant or painting. Personally, I usually leave damaged things exposed 🕸

swankery

No, I don't like the look!

There is a time and place for each look, depending on what you're going for. The Alinor Ballroom floor has it flaws but flip it and its lovely on the other side. Incorporating more options like this would be really nice. Improving the resolution for some (a lot of) older items would be also on the list.

Aurie

Yes, I like the look!

Oooops only read the title, and assumed it referred to overland houses. Please change title to 'player houses'!

NO I DON'T LIKE IT IN PLAYER HOUSING!!

Overland is different, as most houses are old anyway and it adds to the feeling. However, in player housing it's just terribly inconvenient if not just plain difficult to decorate.

Kittytravel

Other, please elaborate.

I did other because it really depends for me. It bothers me that for example Ebonheart Chateu and Daggerfall Estate are completely immaculate, not a single crack in sight despite both being abandoned.
Then Serenity Falls Estate is over here with two broken pillars and literally no other issues. It just seems odd that you'd make that kind of design choice and not follow through on it. No rotted wood, no cracked tiles, just two broken pillars while the rest of the house is as pristine as the other two.

And considering what occurred in those respective regions it'd make more sense that Ebonheart Chateu be damaged more than Serenity Falls.

Hall of the Lunar Champion being in disrepair is fine by me though due to it's apparent age. We can likely assume it's hundreds if not thousands of years old and it's been uninhabited until we came in the picture.

I kinda wish they would account for more of the history of the houses when considering to use abandoned rubble/ruins or not. Lakemire Xanmeer has rubble but it's not really clear if it was uninhabited or just abandoned by the Murkmire people.

anadandy

Other, please elaborate.

I don't mind it in certain places if it makes sense.

What really bothers me about the trend is all the warped floor boards, janky tiles, etc make placing rugs and such a real pain in the butt. To get a smooth look you have to hover the piece juuuuust above the floor line which makes characters feet sink into it - otherwise you have a random uneven board sticking through the rug.

Shadow_Akula

Eh bout 50/50 on it, some places suit the ruined look, others don’t.

Honestly I’m more bothered by places like Serenity falls and Moon-Sugar meadow having walls/rock walls that have higher ground on the opposite inaccessible side 😐 much more immersion breaking and resource wasting for me, pretty much says “look at that bandits now have easy access to rob your home in the night” wouldn’t care if the land was the same level as inside 1 layer of wall is better than having to build a second layer.

But back to the destroyed/clean discussion:
I think there should be a way to select a design if you will, ok obviously a khajiit house would look weird if it had an orcish styling so maybe have a selection of a specific racial style for each home to choose from (so a selection of khajiit styles for khajiit homes, Breton styles for Breton homes, etc.) some with destroyed textures, some nice and clean looking. Also I understand some places like serenity falls there’s some rubble that cannot be moved so to get around this I simply suggest ZoS make it movable/removable. Don’t think it’d be easy to implement and would be time consuming but I think it’d be worth it in the end especially if they could make it so you could change the style whenever you wanted for say a small gold fee. Could probably be done if the time was taken and money spent for a housing 2.0 update...

S.A.96

Dusk_Coven

Other, please elaborate.

Aurie wrote: »

Overland is different, as most houses are old anyway and it adds to the feeling. However, in player housing it's just terribly inconvenient if not just plain difficult to decorate.

Even in overland some places that are well-populated have too many ruined structures to seem plausible.

kind_hero wrote: »

I would like the houses to have upgrade-able modules, like, pay X amount of gold to repair the stairs or the columns, pay X amount to clear the mould (Lucky Cat Landing), pay X gold/crowns to unlock a barn, basement, etc.

Might be a bit more fun to craft a replacement for parts.
As for unlocking -- SWTOR does that. You buy the first room basically, and the rest are behind doors you unlock. Bit of a credit sink too. But with the amount of griping over being nickle-and-dimed and the general mood against ZOS making money, they'd better make it unlocked for Gold with Crowns optional.
A lot of houses could be greatly expanded in this way -- unlocking basements, adding structures, and magical houses could even have portals to rooms not strictly on the housing map (and hopefully with it's own storage -- portal to your furniture warehouse, maybe?)

Sylvermynx

Other, please elaborate.

Just mostly getting into housing, and for the most part the really "ruined" houses aren't my thing for many reasons, not least of which is either price or location.

Though truthfully I'm not into pristine either. For instance, I live in a 35 year old house that we built ourselves. It's hardly pristine, and truly, it never was - as it took us about 6 years to "finish" it. Every once in a while I think about selling this place, then buying a brand new house in a neighborhood somewhere.

At which point reality obtrudes: the point to building this house was to NOT HAVE NEIGHBORS EVER AGAIN. Well, that isn't really what happened - because we do have a few neighbors (though not year-round, as this is a "getaway" for places like Vegas and SoCal). Then again, we do NOT have density like normal developments. We have a half acre of horse property, half of which is meadow, and the house is on the other half with tall fencing to keep the deer out of the garden.... and the dog in the yard.

So I'm okay with my aging house, because it's MY house, and believe me when I say NOTHING changes in it - I get a room set up the way I like and I do not ever "redecorate". If a piece of furniture needs replacing, I find something as close to the piece I'm replacing as possible!

So while I'm okay with some "tatters" in houses in game, I'm also okay with houses that are pristine (not that many that I've seen so far).

Eh - ambivalence is my middle name, prefixed by "I like some of nearly everything". What I don't like is too much of any one thing....

mayasunrising

Other, please elaborate.

I feel that if the look is appropriate to the house then the rubble and such is fine. But if not than no?

kargen27

The one that bothers me most is the loose boards at Sleek Creek.

katanagirl1

Other, please elaborate.

Like some of the others have said, it depends.

Some degree of weathering, decay, and/or vegetal overgrowth looks nice in a lot of cases.

I only own a few houses so I don’t have a lot of examples from which to compare.

sueblue

Other, please elaborate.

It's fine in small doses but when most of the new houses are covered in detritus, it's hard not to get sick of it.

LadyAstrum

As long as I can clear away the rubble etc....

I just wish you could somehow change the walls...like have a couple of cosmetic options. LOTRO used to have...or perhaps still has...the option to change your walls.

I don't like crumbling ruins, but I can appreciate some do. As long as I can clean up...I'm good.

Minyassa

No, I don't like the look!

I keep saying, whenever this comes up, that if I moved into a home that was in the shape some of these places are in, I would either fix it myself or hire someone, because I'm not a slob nor do I love tripping over uneven flooring and spilling my coffee. Also that kind of thing is hell on heating bills; broken walls insulate very poorly.

kaisernick

Other, please elaborate.

As may have said it depends on the house and what i am designing it for.

A vamp, cultist or wearwolf living in a pristine manor would be strange.

Aelorin

Other, please elaborate.

It depends. In the grand psijic villa, i like a broken column.or two.

On the other hand...i really can not get into the worn out style in houses in Elsweyr.

LaughingGremlin

No, I don't like the look!

That’s the problem with some of these Elsweyr homes. Not only are they old and run down but they are moldy and would be a health a hazard in real life.

AWinterWolf

No, I don't like the look!

I don't like it at all, it's horrible to hide, some of it just looks ugly and not really 'lived in' when you consider the fact that you're given no backstory.

Yes, one could argue that you make your own, but if I want to make a house to my design, I would like to have the option to not make it look like a broken ruin, or give me the option to fix the broken ruins.