Searching for a house

What exactly does useful mean? This line of thinking is very subjective.

I have more than 3 houses that I actually use.... villa (Crows Nest Tavern), patio (Cove Casino) , L shape (personal residence), log cabin for my crafters, small house for storage, large tower I've got a possible event plans for, and a small tower for gating purposes, and the Yew crypts one I bought recently for hunting. Even for houses I use it's a pain in the butt, but it's also convenient and I prefer smaller houses to the huge ones like keeps and such. It would be a little hard to swallow to impose a 3 house limit on many people on this shard, because it's not really necessary.

Well for what it's worth Jack, since you tagged me (or technically, the tower) I figured I'd say something.. I do still use it regularly when I play (which since November has been on the upswing). That place has some sentimental value connected to a story on voldeshard. It's not a heavily traveled rune library here, but it does get traffic, especially during those scavenger hunts.

If I ever were to part with it, I wouldn't put it on the market, I'd contact you first as I know you'd do something interesting with it.

Aris

I'm sure if you tried you could consolidate into 3 homes, no?

No one is holding 15 forts, or 15 keeps, or even 15 towers. If anyone is holding 15 of anything it's likely a player run town like the PS, VOP, or Stormhold areas.

I refresh 14 houses. 4 players have asked me over the years to refresh for them, so long as I remain friended I treat their properties like my own and those properties will never fall. 3 of those 4 players are currently playing but I still hit their signs.

I agree some things need to change. Limiting players to 3 houses seems like it's going from one extreme to the other. Changing the entire IDOC dynamics is another extreme.

A lot of it, and I'm taking this from another persons playbook, has to do with player behavior. You can be a dick and keep the one house blocking fort placement out of spite, sure, but I can also be a dick and hold 15 keeps until the end of time too. It should be known that I do not participate in nor do I condone either action.

A big reason for the price of forts doubling has to do with their rarity. The last time a fort fell it was announced in main chat. You had everyone on the server there, which isn't a bad thing. The problem arises when you have multiple enemies placing blockers and then refusing to do sensible business with each other. I'm willing to bet that spot in the Trinsic Swamps will remain as small blockers forever thus one less fort on the server.

I'm willing to bet that once moats hit you'll see the price of pre-moat forts skyrocket even more, probably same with keeps.

I could, but in all reality if I was forced into it, I would essentially become a UO hermit and stop doing any events and just keep private houses. Imagine what such a rule would do to other player run communities?

I was trying to argue this exact same point a while back on IRC and there are a bunch of folks who agree with it, and a bunch who don't. There are also those that are VERY passionate about it. Elhorno is a very helpful player and is GREAT for this shard, but trying to argue against him made me want to bash my head through a wall. Every single thing I said was countered by something TOTALLY different than what I was saying. As annoying as that was it was actually equally comical to me as well.

Anyways, I agree with you. Also, let's just say nothing gets changed with house mech's, that is fine, but it would be a GOOD thing for the server IF those nice location houses or larger abodes were sold to someone (whatever reasonable price, and totally up to the owner) who would actually utilize them instead of simply refreshing an empty house. Would also make the server appear more "live" as well...not saying forceful sell, but people would be "helping" the server to also appear less bare.

Also - elhorno...I am not trying to be a jerk at all, but was just mentioning how frustrating that conversation was a few weeks ago, lol. I DO understand everyone's viewpoint...I always do.

I guess I fail to see how the proposed change would result prime housing being any different. With the proposed change, ya, some large tower spots would open up. But the prime spots will still be taken. There will still be unhappy players who see undecorated houses and cringe. There would still be people who log in just to refresh.

It is totally subjective, hence putting in several spots from mining to vendoring etc...

Each person finds something else useful.

Welcome back to UOR treehugger.

But there is literally nothing stopping people from doing these things now. I thought this argument was about "prime" (vanity?) homes, which really don't fall into this category. All of these activities can be done in existing available spaces. The best spots in the game are always going to be locked up quickly, and you'll always pay a premium to get them. I don't see how that's unfair. Those large towers and keeps sitting empty and being refreshed are never going to be 'mining houses'...

True, and lets just say we don't make any changes at all (which is definitely fine). I am suggesting (only suggesting) that anyone who does have a desirable place that is empty that they only refresh, to consider selling it for a handsome profit to a player that would utilize it. I think it would be helpful to the shard appearance and also would indeed make hot spots more active. It would be totally up the player, and no one has to do it, but I think it would be beneficial to all parties for some folks to "let go" of empty desirable spots to benefit all. Also, I have a question for you. PM coming

No there really are things stopping people.

You want a prime spot outside of a mining cave and the guy with the best spot or second or third best spot.

It'll sit there for years being refreshed and unused, no matter the size. Hoping a 3 house limit would allow people to take those types of houses out of their portfolio and let someone with a desire for that spot to buy it or place there.

Im not gana read through the whole thread, but I will say i placed a Tower with a bridgeable small tower in december with the help of corrupt pixels. There might not be alot of tower spots left, but if you look hard enough you might find one....

Totally relevant.

You don't need a tower to mine. You can go place a house next to a mountain in many places right now. Hiji said he's placed 5 towers in the last 3 months, that's a lot. Prime means prime. If you want prime, be willing to pay for it. Nobody needs a prime spot. I don't even know what that means. What one person considers prime can be totally undesirable to another. How many mining houses have gone up for sale here recently? It feels like a lot of great houses in the last week or so...

The problem with not having 'prime' spots available is that this only seems to apply to homes larger than towers, which makes the whole thing laughable. You don't need a keep to have a great mining house. You can go place something great right now. This is silly. If someone wants a keep or a fortress or whatever, well, supply & demand.

Vendors? There's a nice small tower for sale at minoc gate right now, or you could head to the Trinsic gate and choose one of the 2 dozen small tower size spots within a few screens from there to set up a vendor. Endless possibilities.

Every few months we get a swarm of new players who are unhappy about lack of keep/fort/tower space. They run around the map and see so many damn vacant houses. So, problem identified, whether its a problem for you personally or not, idgaf...it IS a problem to some and I agree with them.

So, solution?

How about we create an interactive map so everyone can pin the housing that they own? That would end this argument once and for all. I am on the side that believes there are people with 15 houses, including keeps and forts, and are just sitting on them to control the market. If we do the map thing, we can shut down my side of the argument, OR provide relevant proof that it is indeed what is happening.

Any support for this idea? If so, PM @Pill and tell him he sux.

Thanks you,

Skunk Ape

I feel like you just skip over what I've said to establish your point.

And prime means a small house directly outside of a golem cave or the first house outside of a dungeon or the house closest to a moongate or the one near a cotton farm or a house at yew liches or a small house outside of a high value mining area.

Prime doesn't always mean large. Please understand that.

These high value houses that are just being refreshed over and over are not always supreme large homes. They are the homes that people are interested in and willing to pay for or wait for it to collapse and replace.

The problem is that people that have a large number of homes that log in to just refresh don't go on the forums to sell, they don't let them decay either, so they sit there unused.

The idea being is that it could be a different story with more modest housing limits. Some active player could start a new vendor mall. Or some new player could be the worlds greatest resource gatherer If given the opportunity to own such a spot.

TreeHugger, if prime does not mean large, you can go place what you're talking about right now.

Those are still somewhat prime spots and you'll see them routinely sold on forums.

Even with 3 house limit you'll still see those spots taken. What you'll see less of are people blocking the surrounding areas of their main homes (like I do) or holding houses around the map for things like training, CUB storage, etc.. You'll see less houses in undesirable areas but the prime spots will still be, and always will be, taken. Simply because they are prime spots.

If your argument is that you'll have an easier time placing a tower in the middle of a jungle clearing, then sure, I'll agree with that point.

I used to own several mining houses, when I mined. Probably around a year ago I dropped all of them and within a day or two they were replaced by persons unknown. Just even last week I was at an idoc near a cave where I didn't replace the house and it was replaced by someone else shortly after, and they are selling it too. Point being is that these spots are in the somewhat prime market. Maybe not a fort or keep but definitely something you would place, and hold on to, if there were even the possibility of flipping for a profit.

I don't agree that players are refreshing unused houses (for the most part). Perhaps they aren't used to your standards but that doesn't mean they aren't used. I own two such homes that have 0 decor and 0 items inside. I use them for the sole purpose of buying regs from faction vendors. They are empty houses sitting on guard lines that I will refresh regularly because that's how I obtain regs when I need them. So, from the outside looking in, you're seeing an empty house. In reality it's a regularly used house.