Dev Diary Feedback: Making Houses into Homes

[Saffron]

To make living in Middle-earth more of a virtual reality, we are pleased to introduce player-owned housing to LOTRO!

Read more about housing, then post your comments below!

[Erobor]

Up to 250 instanced neighborhoods to each homestead, so you can settle down near your friends.
Thirty different houses per neighborhood: 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe personal houses, and 16 standard personal houses.

so, only 4*250*(10+16)=26000 accounts per server can have own house?

[Azreal10]

At this point, I will not be buying one. From my perspective, the houses are set ups for heartache.

A high weekly maintenance fee combined with a six week limit on rent prepayment combined with a short time limit on possession escrow means that losing everything I have and all of the effort that went into it is another version of Turbine's "Working as designed".

I don't need that. My life is complicated enough without allowing an MMO to schedule me and then punish me for inactivity.

Turbine is setting itself up for confrontation and conflict and I am not biting this time. I will live under a bridge in a box.

[DarkTemplar]

Betep is right that don't make a lot of houses per server....

How much will it cost and what about maintenance?

I hope the house system will not be like the Ultima Online one...where there were houses EVERYWHERE (including in a supposed-to-be "lost-jungle-inhabited-by-no-one" :P )!!!

[Mikaela1]

Actually I found the prices and rent extremely inexpensive compared to other games.
And I like the fact that people that don't pay lose thier house. Since the houses themselves are not truely instanced they can keep them occupied instead of having tons of houses that people bought and don't use anymore. If someone isn't playing thier game anymore why should there be an empty house on the street that no one can use?

I hate the decoration slot functionality but if you could get it to freeform sometime in the future I'll be happy. Nothing like truely decorating a house any absolute way you wanted and to get creative with current building materials and furniture and create something original.

Personally I would be happy if there was no outside and the homes were really instanced. I think with the ability to have 250 neighboorhoods some will end up extremely empty. On the other hand it sounds like its pretty much set up to convert from one per account to one per character.

Will it be easy to move? How does that work? Is there a choice to get rid of the house and move stuff to escrow and then you can go buy another house? Or do you have to put everything in the house into your inventory first, then delete it, then go buy another?

[Linsyn]

There's something I really need to know: If a buy a normal house (1g), then one day get tired of it and decide to switch to a deluxe/kin one, will I be able to sell the house for the same 1g I bought it for? I really wouldn't want to buy a normal one, just to realize I should have bought a deluxe one and thew 1g in the garbage bin.

[Linsyn]

There's something I really need to know: If a buy a normal house (1g), then one day get tired of it and decide to switch to a deluxe/kin one, will I be able to sell the house for the same 1g I bought it for? I really wouldn't want to buy a normal one, just to realize I should have bought a deluxe one and threw 1g in the garbage bin.

[Erobor]

Actually I found the prices and rent extremely inexpensive compared to other games.

well, some games have basic housing FREE and no upkeep..

And I like the fact that people that don't pay lose thier house.

game suppose to be FUN, not JOB
and risk of losing everything in your house cannot be FUN

I already sugested to make house an instant, not whole neighbourhood..

There's something I really need to know: If a buy a normal house (1g), then one day get tired of it and decide to switch to a deluxe/kin one, will I be able to sell the house for the same 1g I bought it for? I really wouldn't want to buy a normal one, just to realize I should have bought a deluxe one and threw 1g in the garbage bin.

AFIK there is no upgrades for basic house, so..

[Linwe-Elfmaiden]

I bought a small std house on Roheryn. My biggest issues with housing are NOT the cost and NOT the upkeep-- both are reasonable enough and if you don't like the cost or the upkeep, don't buy one. It's not required!

My biggest issues:

1) freeform placement of furnishings -- I want the flexibility to move stuff and place stuff the way I want

2) Anything that involves fire (fireplace, chandelier, wall sconse, candelabra) should be LIT... Hobbit holes come with two lit fireplaces and Human houses only have one!!!!! and if I buy another fireplace, it is not lit. I want these items lit and lighting up my home's interior.

3) I would like to be able to own one house per character if I choose and can afford it.

4) I would like all characters on the account to have the travel to home skill. (If all characters can own a home then any character that does not could choose which home to get the travel skill for)

5) Kin homes - Kins need an interface for setting kinship dues and for the members to pay in their kinship dues -- with the kin leader having the ability to then use the dues collected for paying the kin house maintenance fees and paying for kin house decor etc. Otherwise this is going to be tricky to manage and a potential nightmare for large kins to be sure everyone is doing their fare share.

Other than the above, housing is amazing -- I am most anxious for it to go live. All of the neighborhoods look awesome and sooo appropriate to the race they represent.

[gildhur]

There's something I really need to know: If a buy a normal house (1g), then one day get tired of it and decide to switch to a deluxe/kin one, will I be able to sell the house for the same 1g I bought it for? I really wouldn't want to buy a normal one, just to realize I should have bought a deluxe one and threw 1g in the garbage bin.

From what I read of the system, I don't think you can "sell" the house. You can only "abandon" it and get back any prepaid upkeep. So make sure you want the one that you buy, otherwise you're out the 1g or 7g.

[Yaksha42]

What rank does a kin need to be to buy a Kin House?

[pichgr1]

what date are the housing supposed to be released?

[Northwoods]

First pass of housing isn't a home. It's far too limiting to be a home. I can decorate a home, make it feel lived in. Hooks make it too sterile, and conform to someone else's idea of where items can be placed, not mine. First pass housing is a place to put a storage chest, and little more.

And I'm really hoping that the free-form decorating we should have received from the start doesn't come only in a paid expansion...

[Greyshot]

You have to have a rank 7 kin to get the kin hall

Release date for Book 11 (and housing) is Oct 24th

[Mikaela1]

I'm not picking on you Betep I just wanted to point some things out.

well, some games have basic housing FREE and no upkeep..

This is true, and it would be nice if there was basic Inn instancing in towns available to everyone and the neighborhoods would be an upgrade to that.

game suppose to be FUN, not JOB
and risk of losing everything in your house cannot be FUN

paying upkeep on a house is NO different than paying for repair costs. Maybe you spent hours and days getting that armour, or maybe not, but if you don't repair it you can't use it and it's worthless. This is just the exact same moneysink. And trust me, I spend a lot more on repair costs..
You don't risk losing anything in your house, just the basic payment made on it. I'll betcha a gold though, that they make some changes to how this works currently sometime soon.

There has to be some risk / responsability to the housing, otherwise it doesn't mean anything and there will be hundreds of ghost neighborhoods. It is by no means whatsever only within the reach of hardcore players, but on the other hand it's nice that not every single person gets it right off the bat.

[Immollatus]

QUOTE: Thirty different houses per neighborhood: 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe personal houses, and 16 standard personal houses.

That is no where near enough deluxe houses, it should have been 16 deluxe and 10 standard houses.

[Mikaela1]

And I'm really hoping that the free-form decorating we should have received from the start doesn't come only in a paid expansion...

This is kind of a condescending statement considering that it had originally been stated that housing itself would come in the first paid expansion. I think we should be pretty grateful that they are giving it to us at all AND it's free content. Not too many companies would do that.

[MrBloodworth]

paying upkeep on a house is NO different than paying for repair costs.

Except if you don't repair your armor, its doesn't vanish after a few weeks or so... Like the stuff in your house will.

[swisskdl]

QUOTE: Thirty different houses per neighborhood: 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe personal houses, and 16 standard personal houses.

That is no where near enough deluxe houses, it should have been 16 deluxe and 10 standard houses.

Better yet, 4 kinship houses, 26 empty lots that you can decide if you want to buy a deluxe or standard house.

[Issianna]

The Homestead neighborhoods look wonderful!! I can't wait to go explore them all even though I know I want the Breeland Homestead for my house.

[Azreal10]

First off, I have never used quotes in a reply so please bear with me if these do not format properly.

paying upkeep on a house is NO different than paying for repair costs. Maybe you spent hours and days getting that armour, or maybe not, but if you don't repair it you can't use it and it's worthless. This is just the exact same moneysink.

I don't agree. If I log out with broken armor for six months, when I come back that same rag-tag armor will be on my charming, though dusty, physique. Not so the case with my house. The house is gone as are all of the possessions within.

You don't risk losing anything in your house, just the basic payment made on it.

Nope. Don’t agree. I am pretty sure everything goes away… poof.

There has to be some risk / responsability to the housing, otherwise it doesn't mean anything and there will be hundreds of ghost neighborhoods. It is by no means whatsever only within the reach of hardcore players, but on the other hand it's nice that not every single person gets it right off the bat.

Not so much. This is digital data. There doesn’t have to be risk for all of my possessions should I one day forget my name for six month or six years before returning. Do I expect my house to be where I left it in a neighborhood of ghost houses? Certainly not. Housing and neighborhood esthetics has nothing to do with this. I do expect the data that was my investment and history in this game… my possessions… to be somewhere where I can find them. I don’t care if they are under the control of Jabba the Hut and he wants his piece of the action to get them out of hock. They had better be somewhere or else … to repeat… this is just a setup for conflict, confrontation and heartbreak. I am not biting.

Betep said it best “game is supposed to be FUN, not JOB and risk of losing everything in your house cannot be FUN.” I stick by that and will not be changing my story any time soon.

[kodacjr]

How about making the house a bit more useful, like enabling your house to decrease or banish the Dread effect that you get when defeated, and maybe that when you log off at your house, your Bonus exp would increase more compare to when logging off anywhere else in the world?

or maybe if you log off in your house and log back in a certain amount of days, then some of your stats are boosted by a percentage or something for an amount of time?

Those things would make the housing idea more appealing to those of us that don't play daily. Maybe even getting rid off the so call fees too (or having renting or buying options?)

Well, thats my "2 cents" on this topic. Hope any of the programmers read this and think about the ideas I mentioned.

[Erobor]

If they want to penalize for not paying upkeep on time, it should not be THAT hard.
I think, access to house should be locked, house location released. To get back access to your house (and what's inside), just pay 10% of house pirce and choose a new location in the same area as penalty. Or buy new house and get your stuff from escrow (but no time limit on when do you want to get stuff from escrow!)

This case, you will not lose your stuff, you just lose access to it until you pay.

[eekamouse]

Pretty sure you don't lose your stuff guys... House yes... Stuff inside it gets mailed to you.

[Templar462]

paying upkeep on a house is NO different than paying for repair costs. Maybe you spent hours and days getting that armour, or maybe not, but if you don't repair it you can't use it and it's worthless. This is just the exact same moneysink. And trust me, I spend a lot more on repair costs..

as others have pointed out, there's a huge difference.

Let me add another perspective...

I try to play fairly often, but due to my job, i occasionally will go a month or more at a shot, where i barely have time to sleep, let alone log into the game to check and make sure my house is still there. It happens suddenly, and i can't plan around it. When the call comes... it comes.

With the deterioration of armor, the wear and tear only happens when i'm actively playing. I'm not paying upkeep on my armor when i *don't* play, and everything goes into stasis until i come back.

With the housing upkeep/rent... i have to pay even for when i'm not able to play. on a basic house 50s isn't so bad per-week, *IF* you're actually playing... because hey, making 50s in a session or two isn't difficult at all... but i really resent the idea that i have to pay that 50s whether i'm there to enjoy or use my house... or not. I'll be actively losing money, even in a best-case scenario where i AM somehow able to log in every couple weeks to make sure my rent is paid.

i don't think i should have to pay for something when i'm not playing the game. I understand that houses need to cycle through, and there should be a limit on how long they can sit empty before being available to another player who potentially wants one... i totally get that. But there's got to be a better way of doing this than to force people to pay weekly even when they're offline and unable to enjoy what they're paying for.