Housing - How should it be monetized?

Thevampirenight · September 2016

I say, buyable using only gold. No crownstore houses but they can make it a dlc making all the houses available for purchase with in game gold after you buy the dlc or sub. That would the the best choice I rather have the housing cost in game gold. Even if its a dlc. No crownstore houses please. Also no crownstore furniture. No just no funiture should only be buyable using gold. Or making it yourself.

jedtb16_ESO · September 2016

Full Paywall - Complete Package

JamilaRaj wrote: »

With utmost brutality. Those who willingly participate ZOS's scams deserve no clemency.

Anyway, the "should be housing monetized to begin with?" debate is already over? Seems I have missed it.

scams?

do you mean the 'should a business be able to monetize it's product' debate?

Erasure · September 2016

If there's a single thing in housing which benefits the player, be it a test dummy, a storage chest, a crafting room, or what have you... it needs to be gold purchasable. Cosmetics for Crowns sticks with the theme, but function should not be tied to additional purchases in a subscription game.

jedtb16_ESO · September 2016

Full Paywall - Complete Package

Erasure wrote: »

If there's a single thing in housing which benefits the player, be it a test dummy, a storage chest, a crafting room, or what have you... it needs to be gold purchasable. Cosmetics for Crowns sticks with the theme, but function should not be tied to additional purchases in a subscription game.

i would agree...

if it were a subscription game...

AzraelKrieg · September 2016

Cazzy wrote: »

All walls do are divide us

Cazzy. Why you do this?

On topic, too many options and it's making my head spin. Just stick it in the crown store or add it to ESO+ and be done with it

MaxBat · September 2016

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Legoless wrote: »

My gold and Crown balances are pretty limited, so I'm hoping it won't be too pricey to get a castle...

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

In game gold.

Other options can apply with game gold as convenience but it should be in game gold primarily

I saw these two comments together and I started thinking ... wait, what would be a realistic amount to charge for a castle? You know, in-game gold.

1,000,000,000?

2,000,000,000?

And what about upgrades?

Think of the gold tempers you'd have to sell just to get a castle!

Thevampirenight wrote: »

I say, buyable using only gold. No crownstore houses but they can make it a dlc making all the houses available for purchase with in game gold after you buy the dlc or sub. That would the the best choice I rather have the housing cost in game gold. Even if its a dlc. No crownstore houses please. Also no crownstore furniture. No just no funiture should only be buyable using gold. Or making it yourself.

Wow, do people really think Zenimax is going to introduce ANY KIND of player housing and NOT lock it behind a pay or sub paywall?

My guess is they will sell them as single items, like mounts, and you'll pay dearly for each one. And furnishings will be separate.

Armitas · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Features

I want people to sub because it is healthy for the game.

I chose limited features because it gives you all the access to housing but withholds the convenience. I think convenience and DLC content should drive the store, not performance such as larger houses, better furniture.

IrishGirlGamer · September 2016

MaxBat wrote: »

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Legoless wrote: »

My gold and Crown balances are pretty limited, so I'm hoping it won't be too pricey to get a castle...

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

In game gold.

Other options can apply with game gold as convenience but it should be in game gold primarily

I saw these two comments together and I started thinking ... wait, what would be a realistic amount to charge for a castle? You know, in-game gold.

1,000,000,000?

2,000,000,000?

And what about upgrades?

Think of the gold tempers you'd have to sell just to get a castle!

Thevampirenight wrote: »

I say, buyable using only gold. No crownstore houses but they can make it a dlc making all the houses available for purchase with in game gold after you buy the dlc or sub. That would the the best choice I rather have the housing cost in game gold. Even if its a dlc. No crownstore houses please. Also no crownstore furniture. No just no funiture should only be buyable using gold. Or making it yourself.

Wow, do people really think Zenimax is going to introduce ANY KIND of player housing and NOT lock it behind a pay or sub paywall?

My guess is they will sell them as single items, like mounts, and you'll pay dearly for each one. And furnishings will be separate.

Hmm ... I would have thought my sarcasm was obvious.

WuffyCerulei · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Features & Aesthetic

Couldn't really choose what to vote for, but housing and features costs should be based on how bloody fancy they are. Want a room at an inn just for storage and whatnot? That shouldn't be too expensive, no more than, say, 15k gold for the base room and some storage.
Want a huge guild hall or a mansion with stables, a banker, lots of storage, and more? You should be paying crowns or lotsa gold for such a fancy place.
Anything between really should be moderate and nothing beyond the actual value of the house. Around both the live servers and the PTS, there's a huge variety of houses, most of which are normal-sized houses with a fence around it. I suspect those won't be too much more than the fancy horses you get from the stables.

Slurg · September 2016

Erasure wrote: »

If there's a single thing in housing which benefits the player, be it a test dummy, a storage chest, a crafting room, or what have you... it needs to be gold purchasable. Cosmetics for Crowns sticks with the theme, but function should not be tied to additional purchases in a subscription game.

I think they'd classify these things as "convenience" items and those can be monetized too without being considered P2W. Because you don't technically get an advantage in gameplay from them. I think they'll do whatever they think will make them the most money without turning too many people off.

Now if they added a rested buff for sleeping in player housing that would be different. In that case housing really needs to be made available through both base game and crown store methods as well as subscription.

I'm thinking they'll do storage chests and/or wardrobes for the houses in the crown store so people can purchase as much as they need. Or at least hoping, since they keep refusing to expand bank space limits.

Cryptical · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Features

Cazzy wrote: »

All walls do are divide us

That episode pissed me off so much I shunned the show for a year, yelled if friends started talking about it - "No. They did NOT do that at canary wharf. That did NOT happen. Shutup shutup shut up."

NewBlacksmurf · September 2016

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

Legoless wrote: »

My gold and Crown balances are pretty limited, so I'm hoping it won't be too pricey to get a castle...

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

In game gold.

Other options can apply with game gold as convenience but it should be in game gold primarily

I saw these two comments together and I started thinking ... wait, what would be a realistic amount to charge for a castle? You know, in-game gold.

1,000,000,000?

2,000,000,000?

And what about upgrades?

Think of the gold tempers you'd have to sell just to get a castle!

Everyone shouldn't be able to buy a big house in town.

Now little shacks or tents outside in the world can be as little as 5,000 gold

If I'm ZOS, I'd really build housing into a major feature that touches
1. Storage
2. Guilds
3. Grouping
4. Crafting
5. Even role playing

I think everyone should have access at first to a nap sack like feature but being in a guild or having more gold and stuff builds up. Castles shouldn't ever be in the crown store either but homes, sure.

Some things need to be game only progression and have length like trait research

MornaBaine · September 2016

I hadn't thought about housing being a DLC. That might actually be kind of cool if you buy the DLC and then have ALL the housing "unlocked" but you still need to be able to group with people who have NOT bought it and bring them into your house. So, not sure if that would work.

j3crow · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Advancement

Tandor wrote: »

To be honest, I don't really have a firm view on this except for two things.

First, the whole concept of player housing should not be put behind a paywall in its entirety. It should be possible to buy the game and get at least an inn room for a limited gold outlay including at least sparce furnishings. If some advanced benefits in terms of larger houses or special furnishings are put in the Crown Store or offered to subscribers that's fine but at least let all players get one foot on the housing ladder without having to spend extra real cash to do so. Where gold expenditure is required it should not be excessive. I don't want player housing to take the form of a few mega rich guild traders owning the best houses while no-one else can even afford the worst ones!

Second, I'm perfectly happy with the concept of paying rent to secure ongoing access but if you miss any payments you shouldn't lose the house, just the ability to enter it until you pay the current rent (but not arrears). Moreover, if you have paid real cash for the house (or anything in it) then it should be yours for keeps without ongoing rent payments or any threat of foreclosure.

If I was asked for the perfect housing model which if implemented fully in ESO would make me a happy bunny indeed then it would be the EQ2 one. In my experience there is no better housing model around, and it is one that caters both for ordinary players as well as specialist house designers who create the most amazing layouts. The worst in my experience is LoTRO and I desperately hope that ZOS don't go down that route of selling us a house with barely a handful of "hooks" on which to hang the furnishings.

I'm excited about player housing, but it really needs to be done well. The sooner ZOS start to share their ideas with us the better.

Well said on all counts. I think this post hits pretty much the right mark on implementation

LadyLethalla · September 2016

Is anyone having difficulty deciding where to live?

Erasure · September 2016

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

Erasure wrote: »

If there's a single thing in housing which benefits the player, be it a test dummy, a storage chest, a crafting room, or what have you... it needs to be gold purchasable. Cosmetics for Crowns sticks with the theme, but function should not be tied to additional purchases in a subscription game.

i would agree...

if it were a subscription game...

Feel how you like about the option, buy it or don't, but people paying for constant access to all DLC and account perks should have access to all DLC and account perks, right? That would include functional house features.

CometStrike · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Advancement

I think the layered model would be best. Offer some base rooms for everyone for ingame gold, unlock the next best thing (small houses and medium features and furniture) with ESO+ (but you still have to buy it with ingame gold or obtain it ingame somehow) and reserve the big palaces and fancy features for crown store

Xandryah · September 2016

IrishGirlGamer wrote: »

I think you left off an option: sub to own.

Like crafting bags, I see this as a Zeni moneymaker.

Hello

Welcome back! I hope you will have healthy fun again in- and offgame

P3ZZL3 · September 2016

If it were up to me, I think @NewBlacksmurf is closest.

1) The actual House
Various Houses, styles, tents, whatever. Range of costs. Open to all and a cost of Gold to purchase as a one off fee. What the amount is I'm not worried about, but it would be accessible to all. It would also be a nominal gold sink for those sitting on 20+m

2) Items in House
A combination of some you can buy in the crownstore, some from a vendor in the town and some that are unique and can only be crafted by lvl50 Craftsman. There would be a new trait, which would effectively be for "House Items". You could even have styles or items drop as a motif system. This would open up the crafting profession and create a valuable market for gold transfer as well. IT would allow all players (Subbed or not) to be able to make, craft and sell items, creating a revenue stream.

3) Enchantment/Potion/Cooking Stations
Again, these should be available in game for individuals to purchase through gold. I would use something similar like BDO where you can purchase it for in game gold, but can use it only X times and then it expires. You could issue Crown Store items that are infinite at different levels - giving an revenue stream in to ZoS, but also allowing for an in game economy version.

4) Decon Station
Personally, I think there is a huge risk allowing everyone the ability to do everything in their house. IT would mean the Towns will become empty. Allowing a simple Decon Station would be fine. Woodworking, Blacksmithing and Clothier tables should stay in Town imo.

5) Home Portal.
Not sure if this has been discussed, considered or discounted. Again, I would be inclined to not allow it. Make people travel in to the Housing zone and run to their house. Keep the towns looking busy.

Anyhows, there's my 2 cents and back to work I go

Pez.

Dymence · September 2016

Don't give them ideas. Housing should be base game.

The other DLCs that actually involve gameplay, subs, and crown store items should be more than enough to keep them going.

I don't know when we arrived at the point where we instantly start debating about what kind of payment model it will have, but this is not a good sign if you ask me.

Rex-Umbra · September 2016

Full Paywall - Complete Package

I want to pay once like DLC, I will personally flip and possibly quit if furniture etc is all micro transactions as i want to earn/build my furniture etc.

CherryCake · September 2016

Full Paywall - Complete Package

Open to subscribers or at least a discount, or full payment.

Suter1972 · September 2016

As a company, Zen will of course want to maximise their own profit from a new feature such as housing.

How do they do this? …by maximising the potential market that could buy

So, any newcomers like me or potential new buyers of the game who haven’t got hundreds of thousands of gold will not be able to get a house. We wont see it as a feature to attract us to the game which is what all games need to keep going ie new fresh meat. The only way the field could be levelled is if the crown store was involved some way to allow real money to be used.

The last thing I would want is a dlc that I buy to enable me to ‘unlock houses’, only to find I need 1m in game gold to buy. That is a waste of money.

I think it will end up similar to mounts. Ie ingame gold to buy a small selection of houses but crown store selling other houses that they can continually add in and tempt real money from players. I can also see a basic amount of storage per house, with additional space being bought in game (gold) or crowns tore, as per inventory and bank space.

In terms of actual houses. I think they will copy GTA and have instances of the same house. Ie when you walk in the door, its your own instance. 1000+ people could have the same house in the same location.

Doing it this way its really not that hard to implement as the foundations (forgive the pun) are already in game

lokesgard · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Advancement

Cazzy wrote: »

All walls do are divide us

This made me tear up a little

jao0199 · September 2016

ZOS dont organize things like this.. they just put there and go.

lokesgard · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Advancement

personally I don't care about individual housing but id love a guild house. I think being able to buy the house itself for gold would be best as that way all the guild can contribute, if it was crown only one person would have to fork out real money. And then smaller upgrades can be purchased wth crowns, letting everyone contribute what they can. Also a few dropped trophies etc, to show off trial progressions and such

but I guess I'm dreaming!

Daraugh · September 2016

Full Paywall - Complete Package

I'd like to buy it as a dlc, no paying rent, I want to own my house(s). Personally, I wish it could be tied to questlines for each area. You save a town, they give you a house. You save a city, they give you a manor, save a zone and the king or queen gifts you a castle. I know that way isn't going to happen, since there's never even been a mount as a questline reward, but I can dream! Still, it would be more interesting if it's tied into the game. I could see some decorations being quest rewards and maybe unlock the ability to buy a house at the end of a quest.

Elmour0Fudd · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited Advancement

Erasure wrote: »

If there's a single thing in housing which benefits the player, be it a test dummy, a storage chest, a crafting room, or what have you... it needs to be gold purchasable. Cosmetics for Crowns sticks with the theme, but function should not be tied to additional purchases in a subscription game.

OK so makes sense, but we all know it's going to be a mixed bag.
If a base house allow's a cooking pit or up to the Blacksmith's so you can craft directly there. would you be able to use the guild house to act as a normal bank if the guild makes it available.
Will be interesting to see the final method they use

Easily_Lost · September 2016

Layered Paywall - Limited by Taxation

The reason I chose 'Layered Paywall - Limited by Taxation' is so if you buy a house / room, and you leave the game, your house / room will be available to someone else. The 'rent' would only be in game gold, paid by the week. You may pay multiple weeks in advance.

As far as the original purchase goes it will most likely be from the Crown Store as a base house, and then you can addon more rooms by purchasing them from the Crown Store.

Furniture should be available from the Crown Store and crafted ( the basic furniture should be crafted ).

subtlezeroub17_ESO · September 2016

Full Paywall - Complete Package

Keep housing content as subscription only but everything purchasable using in-game gold. If you go off your subcription, you have no access to your home. Its like a mortgage or rent.

Subscribers get to have everything available to them by paying their $15 a month with no pay walls or extra crap they would have to pay for.

ZoS wins by winning over more permanent subscribers.

Not to mention that more subscribers means ZoS has a bigger budget for more content and thus more content means even more loyal subscribers. This is a cycle of winnage but ZoS must make the right choice.