Shroud of the Avatar - Update #13, Housing

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SasqWatch
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It's all about housing.
As promised, we’re ready to reveal more design details. Based on feedback from the forums we’re revealing some details on housing!
Let me jump right into the stuff you guys really want to hear:

  • House maintenance and acquisition can be paid for with in game currency (KS houses have no upkeep cost ever)
  • House deeds can be traded between players
  • Houses are 100% secure for items stored in them though not always 100% accessible due to nasty sieges by evil forces
  • Houses exist in shared spaces (not instanced) and everyone will see your house and its decorations
  • Houses can be decorated both inside and out
  • Houses will be fairly limited but more will be added over time as we grow the world
  • City houses > Town houses > Village houses
  • Vendors for houses will be paid a percentage of the item that they sell (KS vendors will not take a cut of the profits)
Ok, hopefully that answered 80% of the housing questions we've received! For the other 20%, here are details, in written and video form:


More information.
 
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First the shallow stretch goals, now this? Blah.
 
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I remember that entertaining bug in U9 first hand where they give you a room in the LB Castle for just dropping your useless junk - and it crashes the game when there's too much.

I would be much more interested in a toolset to make my own areas. I wonder if anyone has brought this up with him.
 
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Getting a Fable vibe from this game. I hope it's better than that. Time will tell.

I'm not sure why...did you read the interview things with RG today?
 
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I don't get it, is housing really that high of a priority?

I would expect more indepth updates on the off-line single player campaign to convince those skeptics, like me, who do not care about the on-line features or MMO aspects.

Getting a Fable vibe from this game. I hope it's better than that. Time will tell.
Ouch. And I thought that I was being harsh :p
Yes, very cruel indeed :).
 
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I dont't get it, is housing eally that high of a priority?

Housing is very important to the MMO set.

I would expect more indepth updates on the off-line single player campaign to convince those skeptics, like me, who do not care about the on-line features or MMO aspects.

That's because, first and foremost, this game is a quasiMMO. Make no mistake, that's where the focus lies.
 
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ultima now has two sets of fans to appeal to: single-player and MMO. The MMO community outnumbers the single-player community and they want to be catered to same as us. Ignoring them means shutting out a big customer base. If that's a two-by-four to your deepest dreams and wishes, I'm sorry. But that's how things lie.
 
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Housing is very important to the MMO set.
I don't play MMORPGs and I admit being guilty of complete ignorance on the matter.
That's because, first and foremost, this game is a quasiMMO. Make no mistake, that's where the focus lies.
It certainly looks that way as they are not putting much effort in "selling" us the off-line single player experience. I guess it is just "move along, nothing to see here" for me.
 
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Housing is very important to the MMO set.



That's because, first and foremost, this game is a quasiMMO. Make no mistake, that's where the focus lies.

Yeah make no mistake, a forum goer has foretold it. They keep telling us that they want to have as deep as or deeper story then all the other Ultima's. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt before jumping to incorrect assumptions.

Here is a two p art interview that talks about a lot of stuff:

http://www.dagonslair.com/dossiers/interview-richard-garriott-12-shroud-of-the-avatar/
http://www.dagonslair.com/dossiers/interview-richard-garriott-22-shroud-of-the-avatar/

Scroll down for english:)
 
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I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ultima now has two sets of fans to appeal to: single-player and MMO. The MMO community outnumbers the single-player community and they want to be catered to same as us. Ignoring them means shutting out a big customer base. If that's a two-by-four to your deepest dreams and wishes, I'm sorry. But that's how things lie.

I really hate what you wrote. But I think you're right.
 
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The housing sounds great. I'm glad that they are not instanced and everyone can see your house. Hopefully there is a ton of unique, cool lawn ornaments and different things you can display out there.

I'm currently playing LOTRO and just getting into the housing features. It's pretty cool, I can't lie. I enjoy the idea of decorating my home and having others come and see it, or just decorate it for myself. It adds an interesting touch to an RPG. And when the housing is non-instanced, that's even better.
 
I cannot stress reading those interviews I posted enough, you will get a lot of info out of them.

A question and answer that should put some fears at rest:

So since I think of the big thing that is setting Shroud of the Avatar apart from the single player Ultima series is the multiplayer aspect, what would you say to those people who are predominantly single players, to make them want to try the multiplayer aspect?

Yeah, so first I would say, don’t forget you can play this game completely solo player and offline. So if that really is the way you prefer to play, fear not we will support you in playing it and the game is being written as a story driven traditional Ultima style game, so I hope to make you very happy.

That being said, here is why I believe that you should play online even you prefer solo player. Because if you play online, you can still play solo player online. Meaning you don’t see any other player ever in the world but what you do see is all the persistent world changes that all of the players add into the game. And so if for example I’m playing the game solo player and I come back to the town where I live or I’m visiting with some regularity. If a player has built a new blacksmith shop that is producing fantastic weapons, his vendor will be there so I can buy and sell some great new creations he’s created. If we have, we’re hoping the put even the ability for people to make art in the game, if there is a person who is an artist in the game and is maybe creating painting you can put on the wall of your home, you’ll be able to go and see through their vendor of the NPC vendor that is at their shop, the art that they sell. So all of the persistent contribution will download to you as long as you at least play online. And I think that there is no harm even to the solo player experience, I believe it is only beneficial to the solo player experience to see the world grow and evolve due to the contribution of other players.
 
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