Player housing

mikael74

There are plenty of doors on the houses in Protector's Enclave that does not open, these doors could be instances to player housing.

It could be like this: You right click on the door and choose your name from a list and then you enter the instance that is your personal player housing.

Sounds good, eh?

knightfalz

There would have to be some sort of benefit associated with player housing for that to be interesting.

melodywhr

doors in protector's enclave can serve as foundry quest entrances so that would be problematic. also, the number of those doors compared to the number of players would also be completely unbalanced. player housing would probably have a completely different entrance or a portal that magically whisks you away to your dwelling.

khimera906

melodywhr wrote: »

doors in protector's enclave can serve as foundry quest entrances so that would be problematic. also, the number of those doors compared to the number of players would also be completely unbalanced. player housing would probably have a completely different entrance or a portal that magically whisks you away to your dwelling.

I would hate to be "whisked away" to my house I would much rather use a door, for more then one reason. But, yea, I think the entrances in Protectors Enclave are out of the question.

knightfalz

It could probably done by having players without an active Foundry quest be able to enter their house by clicking on the door (which could serve as the door for any number of instanced houses, removing the number of players versus entrances issue). The interior of the house would be a different instance than the Foundry quest anyway, so I don't see how they would conflict. Multiple players can click on the same door and get different instances of a quest, which may very well be the same door used in another Foundry, that leads to different instances to that quest. It would just be adding more instances to the pile.

mikael74

knightfalz wrote: »

It could probably done by having players without an active Foundry quest be able to enter their house by clicking on the door (which could serve as the door for any number of instanced houses, removing the number of players versus entrances issue). The interior of the house would be a different instance than the Foundry quest anyway, so I don't see how they would conflict. Multiple players can click on the same door and get different instances of a quest, which may very well be the same door used in another Foundry, that leads to different instances to that quest. It would just be adding more instances to the pile.

Yes this is what I meant and I think that it's better if the player gets the feeling that their home is in one of houses in Protector's Enclave instead of going through a portal like you do to the Moonstone Mask.

eldarth

There are also only certain doors that are usable for foundry quests, but that still leaves the problem of having a million users trying to use something like 40 non-foundry doors. If you include tower district, and other zones, you could make probably a couple, few hundred doors available. And since all million or so users are not all active, and of the active ones, not all would want to create player housing, you could perhaps limit each door to a maximum of 25? 30? different players housing instance? So, maybe there are doors then for about 15,000 players? Is that enough? ...I'm guessing probably not.

runebane

eldarth wrote: »

There are also only certain doors that are usable for foundry quests, but that still leaves the problem of having a million users trying to use something like 40 non-foundry doors. If you include tower district, and other zones, you could make probably a couple, few hundred doors available. And since all million or so users are not all active, and of the active ones, not all would want to create player housing, you could perhaps limit each door to a maximum of 25? 30? different players housing instance? So, maybe there are doors then for about 15,000 players? Is that enough? ...I'm guessing probably not.

Not really seeing the problem here. While I don't really like the door system, crowding isn't an issue with it. Its pretty much copied from another game. And you never see anyone standing around outside the doors in that game. It does have more doors, but my point is that it -never- happens.

The thing is they already have the worldmap. It'd be easy to put a spot for your personal house on it. Maybe a guild building as well. After that, it gets complicated. Probably the easiest would be to have houses by invitation only. The owner would have to add a players handle to make it so they could see it. And the visiting player would have to accept. They could also code some sort of housing look up, just like doors I guess.

My problem with just standard doors, is that it limits what the house should be to what is behind the door. While a location on the world map could be any kind of 'home'.

khimera906

How about a small instance that looks like a city street with a few tens of houses from which to pick the house you like. You could get there through a smaller gate so it wouldn't feel like you're getting out of the city. You could only visit your house, your friend's house, or anyone that gives you permission. The instance (city street) would work like a Foundry map - everyone gets there separately or in parties, but the inside of the house would be common for everyone that gets inside, like PE or any other adventure area.
I hope that made some sense

lobo0084

Player housing has been done a number of different ways.

What the op is leading to is a system that was common in EverQuest 2 and certain other games. Various houses in town were 'player' houses, and players could enter the door and go to their home. Other players could enter the same door for a completely separate instance of that home, and you could invite others to join you in your home. These homes used the 'anchor' system to display works of art, achievement trophies and certain lootable items, with a certain degree of customization for the interior of the structure to make it more unique to the player (more decor, not room layout). Crafting tables were the most useful option here.

In Dark Age of Camelot, the system of housing zones where players could build houses in a neighborhood, and each zone was an instanced copy of the others. Your home could be more unique and customized, though, but they still used the same anchor system as EQ. Crafting tables and storage were the most useful options, as well as a teleportation 'Hearth Stone' which you could use to fast travel to.

I've yet to see a game repeat SWG's 'open world' housing system, which allowed far more variety and customization and eventually made the Sony developers cry from coding and lag issues. This system was the most 'necessary', and used a free-float, "anything can be dropped" system that really allowed creative additions. It also contributed to the ghost town feel of the world and lots of wasted space where endless cities of empty houses sat.



Personally, I find player and guild housing so important in my game choices, with more freedoms the better. I would love to see a variety of foundry area where players were able to build their own 'estate' to be created and installed in the many thousands of miles surrounding Neverwinter. Or choose a more accessable, less costly house in-town in housing zones. Or become a noble, and get a house gifted to you in Protectors Enclave itself. The possiblities are numerous.

And the benefits, outside of roleplay and world immersion, could be unique crafting options, extra storage, display of companions and achievements, and access to vendors, etc.

truelokaster

Champions Online (a.k.a Neverwinter alpha) have hideouts (as you can have more than one) for all characters in your account and it comes with a account shared bank (that can have more storage space added with ZEN).

I's like to see the same here.

banaanc

dont really care about housing but would be nice to have everquest kind of housing where u could put your armor sets on display(would work well with collectable system) also might add "workshop" where u could see your crafting, and workers + equipment

maybe add rooms based on character slots where u could make room for your individual characters

eldarth

runebane wrote: »

Not really seeing the problem here. While I don't really like the door system, crowding isn't an issue with it. Its pretty much copied from another game. And you never see anyone standing around outside the doors in that game. It does have more doors, but my point is that it -never- happens.

Didn't mean physical PCs crowding about a doorway -- the problem is if you allow the public entry into "your" home, how do you present that option to the user. If 300 people all chose the same door, and 200 of them mark it as allowing the public to enter, do you then present the PC accessing the door with a 200-item dropdown/menu list? How does the PC then specify which public house they wish to visit.

runebane

eldarth wrote: »

Didn't mean physical PCs crowding about a doorway -- the problem is if you allow the public entry into "your" home, how do you present that option to the user. If 300 people all chose the same door, and 200 of them mark it as allowing the public to enter, do you then present the PC accessing the door with a 200-item dropdown/menu list? How does the PC then specify which public house they wish to visit.

The other game I know of that uses this system has a search feature. It has a dropdown list, but you almost never see all the names. Instead you can search for the person you want to visit. In that game housing is tied into their AH. If they set it up you can visit their house to buy your items at a discount instead of from a broker.

What Neverwinter's housing needs will obviously depend on what they devs have planned. Most people expect them to just tie some storage to it. But they could surprise us. And again, I'll be surprised myself if they use some door in the town instead of the world map.