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Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Housing questions and conerns
HiddenDaggerInn
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
When a node reaches level three and housing starts, I believe there will be a housing “rush”. Since the initial housing is limited (level 3 node) and “levels” up with the node, won’t this be the most sought after? What’s to stop the large guilds (who will have the most resources at this point) from rushing in and taking ALL of this housing? Will they be able to physically block others from getting close to buy? Will they be able to kill others who come in to buy? Yes there will be other housing that comes in as the node levels, but it seems to me the large guilds will still control the “best” housing.
3
Comments
There will be plots that become way more worth than the initial price but you won't know which ones beforehand. And if all plots in a node have been bought, remember, plots are resellable and for the right price you should be able to get a plot in any node.
If that translates in tons of freeholds suddenly wandering from one node to the next, it could lead to a sudden housing crisis, even if there never was any guild collusion or unfairness really.
I'd love to see those systems tested from all angles in the upcoming alphas/betas so it becomes obvious whether the consequences are working as intended or overburdening.
@Sandman In general though, I would assume theres at least somewhere a plot of land in the world you can nab. At the most extreme, it may involve joining an attack on a node with the intention of leading a mob to the freeholds to destroy them, freeing up housing space in the general area.
"I'll be back" Insert Terminator
But if the price of a house is too high, it's not like they're going to just "fly off the shelf" so to speak. It may take some time before players earn the gold in order to actually purchase a house. Guilds could pool their resources together to purchase one or two houses quickly with plans to pay back their members.
I also believe that when a node levels up and people are around, they will be transported to a safe place while the changes take place. That would allow all players a chance to rush to new housing opportunities. It's not a fix for anything, but at least it gives players a "running" chance!
I also just thought of a way for Mayors to help game the system on housing. According to the alpha footage, the tax rate could be raised all the way to 100%, effectively doubling the price of all goods in the town, including the price of housing. If housing is still available at regular price, it's probably because players can't afford it. And if they can't afford it at regular place, they won't be able to afford it at 2x the price (at least not initially). If a Mayor did this early on, they could "lock out" potential buyers until their friends or guildies came to town and were ready to purchase a house. Then the Mayor could lower the tax rate as low as possible and coordinate with their friends/guildies so they can be ready nab those properties first, and at regular price.
Let's say that we end up with 60 nodes that can have citizenship (from lv 3 to lv 6). It is said that servers will have a total population of 50 000 players (10 000 concurrent). But for the sake of the discussion let's go with 30 000 people. That means that for everyone to have access to housing each node would need to support (on average) 500 people. Maybe a metropolis can do that but a village ? There will be an heck more villages than metropolis. Not to mention that being a citizen of a village is better than nothing but 4th rate down the line. If nodes can only house on average 400 people than 20% of the population is homeless. 300 ? Then 40% is homeless. That is for 30 000 people.
In the case of a metropolis just being citizen is already granting you a truck load of advantages in various ways. With that in mind it would be nice if having a freehold around villages and towns (far away from heavy population centers) would be advantageous. It would give a reason for some of the "power players" to go live in the country side. Which would then increase the value and player traffic of low level nodes.
Question for Steven. Once a server is developed. What is the % of the player base of a full server that will be homeless and without citizenship because there is no housing left in one form or an other.