Developer Diary - Premium Housing

[Cordovan]

Click here for a new dev diary about Premium Housing!

[noradaddy]

There's a typo in the part summarizing the 2 Kinship house types. One says 36 exterior hooks, the other says 63 exterior hooks. I assume the 36 is correct?

[Cordovan]

There's a typo in the part summarizing the 2 Kinship house types. One says 36 exterior hooks, the other says 63 exterior hooks. I assume the 36 is correct?

That is accurate. The one premium kin house has 36, the island has 63.

[Erethal]

The reason it looks like a typo is because it states "it, too, has 180 interior decoration hooks and 63 exterior decoration hooks."

[Cordovan]

The reason it looks like a typo is because it states "it, too, has 180 interior decoration hooks and 63 exterior decoration hooks."

Good point, I'll fix it tomorrow.

[Hendambar]

I really appreciate the Devs taking the time to write these diaries to give us insight to the tremendous work they do for us to have more fun in the game. Thank you!!!

[Fatefoot]

Click here for a new dev diary about Premium Housing!

Thanks Cordovan.

The Dev Diary says:

House Prices on the Cape of Belfalas:

• Stately Houses are available for 145 Mithril Coins
• Luxurious Houses are available for 445 Mithril Coins.
• Deluxe Kinship Houses are available for 745 Mithril Coins.

As there are different prices for houses within each category, that might be seen as misleading. A better wording might be:

House Prices on the Cape of Belfalas:

• Stately Houses are available from 145 Mithril Coins
• Luxurious Houses are available from 445 Mithril Coins.
• Deluxe Kinship Houses are available from 745 Mithril Coins.

Yep I'm nitpicking, but you know your players

[Mecaza]

Click here for a new dev diary about Premium Housing!

Since the area around this new housing estate is minimum level 90, does your character have to be level 90 or can we buy direct from the LOTRO store??

[thinx]

Having a look at the MC prices for premium housing, I would again suggest to rethink store prices and/or TP and MC package sizes.
A premium house requires to go through 2 different store currencies, each of them offering discounts for larger packages - and none of these packages matching the actual cost.

The way the current TP/MC packages are designed, we have an overhead of 30-50% of unused TP/MC if discounted packages are used and a large cost overhead if matching packages are bought.
The same is true for quest packs. The price of 795 TP is completely disconnected from the available TP packages of 600TP or 1600TP.
The choice is 600TP (75% bought, 25% farm), 1200TP (150% bought at exaggerated price) or 1600TP (200% bought at normal price).

The regular approach I see in most stores is to get discounts if I buy more than the average need of a customer. If I want one bottle of water, I can buy one or buy 6 at a cheaper price.
In LOTRO I can buy shop coupons for half a bottle of water (which is not sold), 2 bottles of water, but there is no way to buy one bottle.

As a customer I feel ripped off, as the choice of spending more than I need is taken from me. Either I get nothing (as e.g. 600TP won't buy a quest pack) or more than needed.
I want to be tempted to buy more, not forced. If I am forced, chances are good I do not buy anything at all.

IMO every sale with TP numbers larger than 600 ($7.99 in the store) should be available for direct real money checkout, with discounts for higher numbers.

EDIT: a video for illustration: Scene from "Father of the bride". Of course this also shows that flipping out is not necessary, but still one can ask the questions that come to mind. Why do we have 8 hot dogs and 12 hot dog buns?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYIHLUxzRr8

[Rucagorn]

Vnice, wasnt expecting a housing revamp in this update and even more like this :O *clap*
... just sad that may have to say goodbye to our bree kinship house, been almost 8 years

[Beorthnoth]

Vnice, wasnt expecting a housing revamp in this update and even more like this :O *clap*
... just sad that may have to say goodbye to our bree kinship house, been almost 8 years

Unless I've read things very wrong, you can have these houses in addition to the normal housing; also, I believe you can have more than one premium house.

[siipperi]

Unless I've read things very wrong, you can have these houses in addition to the normal housing; also, I believe you can have more than one premium house.

Kinship can only have one kinship house.

[Bragolos]

Very nice addition, this 'Developers Speak' section! Interesting to read that a zone was already in the works but dismissed for the time being. Makes you wonder what other parts of Middle Earth were already under construction but haven't seen the light of day yet?

[Fatefoot]

Since the area around this new housing estate is minimum level 90, does your character have to be level 90 or can we buy direct from the LOTRO store??

No Mecaza. Tested this in open beta. Level 85 is the minimum "safe" level to enter the region, but the housing area is safe so you can travel to Premium House or Deluxe Kinship house safely at any level. That's why there's a Cape of Belfalas housing broker by the Boar Fountain in Bree.

Just a warning though: if you are not level 85 or above and step through one of the two entrances to the Cape of Belfalas, you will be in a danger zone where even the neutrals will attack you and aggro range is increased enormously so be prepared to die! (As the two stable horses for Dol Amroth and Minas Tirith are outside the gate, you need to be nifty if you wanted to use one of them! )

One question I have NOT found answered yet is whether characters on accounts which have not purchased the Helm's Deep expansion are going to be allowed to travel to a Deluxe kinship house. Also are accounts without the expansion allowed to buy the houses as there is a broker available to them in Bree? I guess we'll have to wait for the update to find out as Cordovan is probably very busy right now!

[CmdrMagic]

Sorry if I missed this answer somewhere else, but what happens to kinship house purchased storage if we abandoned the house? I am interested in a Premium kin house but we have almost max storage unlocked on our current kin house. Do we lose that storage if we abandon that house to buy the premium one?

[kickman77]

No Mecaza. Tested this in open beta. Level 85 is the minimum "safe" level to enter the region, but the housing area is safe so you can travel to Premium House or Deluxe Kinship house safely at any level. That's why there's a Cape of Belfalas housing broker by the Boar Fountain in Bree.

Just a warning though: if you are not level 85 or above and step through one of the two entrances to the Cape of Belfalas, you will be in a danger zone where even the neutrals will attack you and aggro range is increased enormously so be prepared to die! (As the two stable horses for Dol Amroth and Minas Tirith are outside the gate, you need to be nifty if you wanted to use one of them! )

One question I have NOT found answered yet is whether characters on accounts which have not purchased the Helm's Deep expansion are going to be allowed to travel to a Deluxe kinship house. Also are accounts without the expansion allowed to buy the houses as there is a broker available to them in Bree? I guess we'll have to wait for the update to find out as Cordovan is probably very busy right now!

why would a Helms Deep purchase matter? Any player can travel anywhere in the world. The world is open only quests lock if you have not purchased the area or subbed.

[cdq1958]

Since the area around this new housing estate is minimum level 90, does your character have to be level 90 or can we buy direct from the LOTRO store??

No, if I'm remembering from the last beta, the minimum level is 15. I thought that there was a broker in Bree, but I may not be remembering correctly. I don't recall being able to buy these in any way other than through the broker.

[vilya0809]

Sorry if I missed this answer somewhere else, but what happens to kinship house purchased storage if we abandoned the house? I am interested in a Premium kin house but we have almost max storage unlocked on our current kin house. Do we lose that storage if we abandon that house to buy the premium one?

I was wondering the same thing. Anyone knows an answer?

[Geored]

There is an issue with the new Premium Housing system that causes you to sometimes enter your own house as a visitor, like you would if the house was up for sale.
All decorations are gone, and you cannot toggle decoration mode.
Relogging the same character does not help, but relogging to another character seems to fix it, at least temporarily. So it seems decorations are not lost, just sometimes travels to the void and you temporarily get evicted from your own house. Outside decorations did not seem to be affected.
Issue was bugged.

[Edit: Seems relogging does nothing, so it looks very random when it happens.]

[Mar-Evayave]

One question I have NOT found answered yet is whether characters on accounts which have not purchased the Helm's Deep expansion are going to be allowed to travel to a Deluxe kinship house. Also are accounts without the expansion allowed to buy the houses as there is a broker available to them in Bree? I guess we'll have to wait for the update to find out as Cordovan is probably very busy right now!

Are you referring to the Paths of the Dead instakill unless the epics are done? That is free content isn't it?

I think traveling to/from places after PotD is available for everyone if they are willing to spend MC to swift.

Anyway, premium housing is available for everyone.

Sorry if I missed this answer somewhere else, but what happens to kinship house purchased storage if we abandoned the house? I am interested in a Premium kin house but we have almost max storage unlocked on our current kin house. Do we lose that storage if we abandon that house to buy the premium one?

Storage is shared between your classic and premium housing. As far as I am aware, if you abandon your classic house or get foreclosed on, you still get that space back when you buy a new classic house. I would assume, since the storage space is shared between them, that it is the same for premium.

[vilya0809]

Yes I got my answer on the Facebook. Your new premium house will have the same number of kin chest slot as the former one

[cdq1958]

Sorry if I missed this answer somewhere else, but what happens to kinship house purchased storage if we abandoned the house? I am interested in a Premium kin house but we have almost max storage unlocked on our current kin house. Do we lose that storage if we abandon that house to buy the premium one?

When I tested it, the maximum of your purchased unlocks applied when you abandoned a kinship house then bought another one, whether classic or premium. That said, bugs may have slipped in since then.

[tanlis]

I explored the new houses today and they are nice, but feel a bit sterile. Or it might just be that's how the style of the architecture feels to me. To me the classic housing feels cozier, I just wish it had the big yards, more hooks, and the nicer views that premium housing has.

Would there be any consideration of adding other locations/architecture styles of premium housing? Or maybe a revamp of the classic housing?

Click here for a new dev diary about Premium Housing!

[kickman77]

I explored the new houses today and they are nice, but feel a bit sterile. Or it might just be that's how the style of the architecture feels to me. To me the classic housing feels cozier, I just wish it had the big yards, more hooks, and the nicer views that premium housing has.

Would there be any consideration of adding other locations/architecture styles of premium housing? Or maybe a revamp of the classic housing?

I asked this on the live stream. I would love to see new area for both

Classic could include

• Moria
• Forochel / Misty Mountains (snow areas)
• Rohan / Great River

Premium Could Include

• Lothlorien
• Mirkwood
• Dunland
• Trollshaws
• Erebor

I suggested these as areas ages ago but still have hopes especially for the lothlorien housing (would love a flet in the woods)

[Suza]

Is it true that there is no added storage when buying a Premium house? I have max slots on my regular house, so buying premium only gives me yard and interior slots to use???