DewyMossEmpire Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 As the others have stated, it'll be instanced more likely than not. Planet size taken into accountability, there's just not even close enough room on the capital worlds (which, is also where the housing is most likely going to be confined) for the population on a majority of servers to even distribute, let alone enough space for certain houses. Even then, expecting people to have their own persistant home on a planet would cause very problematic errors in coding and etc. if say, a player server transferred. Overall, taking the amount of time and resources they are looking to use on developing this aspect, I would assume they would stick to instances for practical reasons. I could easily see them instancing it and allowing certain modifications that can be made for the houses themselves, separating the houses from ships through the advanced customization people have been asking for since launch alone. Preferably, I would hope that they would have multiple entrances that lead into the same player instance like Dread Fortress' entrance on Oricon, just to give the area a neighborhood feel to it. Overall though, I am very excited to see this implemented. Being an RPer, any type of sandbox addition into the game will be welcomed, as I would love to see the capital worlds come alive over the Fleets as "the place to be". Would make for better roleplay, instead of confining it to the cantina crap always being prevelant because of the fact there is no other concentrated areas of players besides the Fleet. I am very excited for it too as an RPer, but it would in no way be a sandbox addition at all if it were instanced. It will just be like the ships, an invitation only, tiny little irrelevant space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakugo Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 That would be the ideal scenario yes, but I'm guessing that would be very difficult to pull off considering the way the planets questing zones are set up (not many areas suitable for player housing).... with the exception of maybe Tatooine. Plus I doubt the engine this game uses would be able to handle housing of that scale all on the same instance. However, an entire separate instance that is more open and dedicated to player housing... it may be possible. All of you are forgetting that they CAN make a new area on a planet, everyone forgot Section-X? its not even accessible without the consoles. So worrying about places with open space to build houses is unnecessary. it would take time yes but it would be nice having options to where you want your house and different sizes would also be a welcoming thought. Just go to console you see the Housing dropdown system, choose a planet, choose purchase house. now when you go back to the terminal you choose Housing, dropdown comes up, choose go to home. The scripting can be done, they have the freaking money, they made 139 Million in 2013 of Cartel Market. So we arent even talking about subscribers. They have the freaking money to make the game into something but instead they rather keep making Series cybernetics knock offs from each other and sell it on CM. Or create similar gear to one or another and added Need for Speed Neon Lights to it... but yeah others who are hoping for a decent housing system, or class story progression can just sit here and o/. Lets just hope that if its phased then we at least have options to rearange the place, place items we can get such as holocrons, a sort of mannequin to put hour gear sets on most off all, Legacy banks, for those who subs ended and have another char but its inactive. At least this way we can stop worry about which char to activate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drudenfusz Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I prefer instanced housing. Anyway, my concern is far more how costumaisable will those houses be, I mean were our starships not supposed to be our housing and look how terrible that turned out to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicKat Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I am very excited for it too as an RPer, but it would in no way be a sandbox addition at all if it were instanced. It will just be like the ships, an invitation only, tiny little irrelevant space. TOR planets are far too small for anything but instanced housing. It would require a massive rebuild of planetary zones to fit housing in and since they have done almost no tweaking to any planet since launch, that seems highly improbable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DewyMossEmpire Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Well I've heard that there are in fact plans down the line for the worlds to be opened up, with space exploration & flying mounts & multiple-leveled worlds & all that. Perhaps this will introduce some of that, with more accessible buildings & persistent housing, etc. Or, it could just be instanced & it will be a complete waste of a patch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicKat Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Well I've heard that there are in fact plans down the line for the worlds to be opened up, with space exploration & flying mounts & multiple-leveled worlds & all that. Perhaps this will introduce some of that, with more accessible buildings & persistent housing, etc. Or, it could just be instanced & it will be a complete waste of a patch. Every planet that existed at launch, and every mob on it, is identical to what it was on launch day. They haven't even bothered to change the newbie world "mod station" quest, which was obsolete before launch. Don't get your hopes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELRunninW Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 (edited) The biggest worry I have about the upcoming housing: I would be extremely disappointed if I walked into the new housing environment in SWTOR & saw a big green or red wall. I believe there will be no green wall, you will interact with an object, like elevator lift and just find yourself in the area. Think apartment building. Edited March 18, 2014 by ELRunninW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowrouge Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Perhaps they will do it the way LoTRO does it. Instance to some degree. In LoTRO you enter a phase of player housing but you can enter any house there. You have to be on the admin list to affect anything in the house or remove things. But it leaves it open for others to view and see what you have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaacone Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Instead of having it be a cash grab off cartel market and instead of just giving it to us it should be kind of a quest to get it. then for customizations they coukd have basic and some special customizations sold at venders. then have other stuff as premium things on the cartel market. also sell some stuff at security key, vip lounge and collectors edition venders. Some features that would be nice in the house would be a mailbox like we saw in the trailer, a hanger for your ship, things that you would find in a house. Some things you could buy could be like minigame stuff such as say arcade games, you could have a tv broadcasting huttball or the world series of pazaak or something. Though most of the stuff I said is unlikely we will find out at what will likely be 2.8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grayseven Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 This isn't a sandbox game like SWG was, so you probably won't see persistent housing. Sorry. I'd prefer instanced housing over persistent anyway since SWG turned Tatooine into Coruscant with housing wherever you went, as far as the eye could see. I suppose they could open up zones for persistent housing but that would be pretty boring as it would be nothing more than a...well, subdivision...with houses and places houses would soon be and nothing else going on. No, I suspect this will be just like EQ2 with rented housing entered via a common "door". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaedusz Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) An instance(or a bunch of them) of a supposed district/districts of Dromund Kaas and Coruscant in which all player houses are located would be nice. So this is basically a mix between the two ideas of persistent and phases. Edited March 19, 2014 by Kaedusz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icebergy Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 They will be instanced, and thank god for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconus-Spawn Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I know they will be instanced. It is the only thing that would work with the current engine and designed environment. However, one of the most interesting things regarding the housing in SWG was the ability to just walk into other people's houses (the ones that were left open) and see their decorations and house design. From a roleplaying perspective, it was terrific. A person can tell a lot about another character by how they designed their house. Also there were no limits to how many people could be inside of a structure. Since SWTOR housing will be instanced, the only people who can enter will be those in your group which means No surprise visits, No large gatherings, No Bounty Hunters coming to collect an RP bounty, etc. While I look forward to the idea of player housing, I am not getting my hope up. I know that it will likely just be a static version of our ships. No customizable interior, No special housing designs (they will all be cookie cutter), and No real purpose to hanging out in a house versus hanging out in your starship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelersWay Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) No. Just no. SWG's housing was far from perfect, but it is the perfect poster boy as to why player housing should never be anything but instanced. It was a bonafide mess and made a mess of each and every planet. SWG fanbois really need to take off the heavily rose-embossed glasses and realize what a complete mess the game actually was and how poorly implemented nearly every feature became. Oh geez, I didn't even think of that. Housing perks off of the CM. The terrifying thing is you're probally going to be right about that........ugh! And I hope to God that they do - this needs to monetized and monetized heavily - I want it to cost big CC just for your character to "use" the facilities in their home. When your character sneezes, I want an automatic deduction of CC from your account. And then I want all the money being taken in from the housing feature to be used towards continuing the class stories. Heck, you know what - let's do take a page from the SWG playbook and require a monthly allotment of CC for you to keep your housing. Edited March 19, 2014 by TravelersWay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandemoniac Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 First of all, let me say that I am NOT letting Bioware get my hopes up with housing. That said, I have wanted housing for a long time and am glad we will finally get something. I would MUCH rather have non-instanced housing, but I think we all know that there's no chance of that happening. I've never played LOTRO but the instanced neighborhoods sound like a reasonable best-case scenario. Instanced could be a lot of fun if it's customizable and just makes this game FEEL A LITTLE MORE LIKE STAR WARS!!!! Give me some lame little house with a big window looking out onto a Cloud City-esque skyline on Bespin or a moisture farm on Tattooine or a Penthouse Apartment for my BH and Smuggler on Nar Shadaa or a beach on Mon Calamari... or just some water on Manaan. I know this game wasn't made for sandbox, but it'd just be nice to have something we can customize ourselves and actually feels like Star Wars... if it's just a parked ship, then yeah, it would've been much better than to just devote resources to other things. But this game has improved A LOT in the last two years, so I have some hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suromir Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 That's what I mean tho, if it is going to be phased off just as the ships are, then I don't even want the player housing, it would just be another wasted patch & a wasted project. I'd love to see this really be a game-changer & give us some wow-factor with persistent housing which have new locations & all that good stuff. Otherwise, like I said, why even bother? it's GOING to be phased off. knock that in some. phased. the more you want to lie to yourself about it being persistent...the more disappointed you'll be. I'll say it again...it's going to be phased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muljo_Stpho Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 My guess for how it could turn out: We'll have a common location accessible to everyone with a couple hallways and maybe a cantina lounge area or something. And these will contain a total of 4 instance doors. They will all lead to an instance of more or less the same apartment anyway (not counting whatever degree of customization we're allowed) but the exact location of a character's door in the hallway will depend on class. It will be like the hangar doors in the spaceports. If they could possibly take it any farther than that... Maybe the hallways of the common area of the apartment building layout could have dozens of different doors and each one could lead to an apartment with a different layout, and they could sell keys (similar to the VIP lounge wristband) for each apartment layout and you have access to whichever ones you have the keys for. (Cheaper keys would unlock the smaller apartments on the first floor. The most expensive key would unlock the penthouse suite on the top floor.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawginole Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 If Squeenix could produce persistent housing in 2002 in FFXI and BW can't in 2014 then there's no hope left for this game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telaan Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) Personally, I'd prefer it to be instanced. I haven't played SWG so I cannot tell how the experience was there - but I'd prefer my house not to be intruded by strangers or invaders (pun intended). The housing system in swg was amazing. You could change the settings for your house: - To allow everyone access. This allowed players to create museums of rare and extinct items, zoos of rare or extinct creatures, shops to sell crafted items from, etc. - Restrict access to specifically listed individuals and/or guilds. This allowed for safe zones from bounty hunters with your bounty, or enemy faction players. This was most commonly seen in faction/guild buff houses. - Restrict access to only yourself. However, the housing in this game will obviously be instanced similar to your hangar. Edited March 19, 2014 by Telaan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Htoob Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 TOR was never designed with persistent housing in mind. The game will not support it. None of the planets are built for it. No planet is large enough. Player housing can only be done one way and that is instanced. I don't see the point. It's going to be a huge letdown to the player base. The resources they are wasting on housing should have been allocated to continuing class stories. Seriously, they have the money to waste on some stupid housing project but calss stories are too expensive? This is a case of doing things azz backwards. Housing will be limited in customization and you are going to be buying items off the CM. You'll probably also have to buy the apartment itself off the CM. I was against the housing idea from the very beginning. I want my class stories to be continued. That is a better use of resources. Yes, class stories would be more expensive to implement than instanced housing. The actors who voiced your character would have to be hired again for time in a recording studio if it's going to be brand new class story content. And I'm sure those actors aint cheap, and finding the time to actually get them into the studio, depending on the actors schedule. Instanced housing would be a lot cheaper for the devs to do, as your house doesn't talk. At least I don't think it will... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heal-To-Full Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I always thought of my ship as my home, TBH. All it's missing is a PvP terminal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iankalo Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) If the housing is going to be phased that would essentially defeat the purpose of housing. It would be no different than just inviting people to your ship. So , in real life , your house door is always open and everyone is free to get in there and look around , touching your stuff , drinking your beer ? ... If you want to get ppl in your house you should invite them. Thats how things work in the real life and SWTOR. I dont want strangers in my Tatooine home!!! Edited March 19, 2014 by iankalo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravager Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) Yes, class stories would be more expensive to implement than instanced housing. The actors who voiced your character would have to be hired again for time in a recording studio if it's going to be brand new class story content. And I'm sure those actors aint cheap, and finding the time to actually get them into the studio, depending on the actors schedule. Instanced housing would be a lot cheaper for the devs to do, as your house doesn't talk. At least I don't think it will... Voice acting is not the problem when it comes to cost—it's the actual design of new areas and deviating choices that attributes to much of the cost: Ohlen began his presentation by dispelling some misconceptions about the creation of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Some journalists and fans attributed much of the upfront cost of TOR to its scripting and voice acting. Ohlen explained that this belief is erroneous: "[Voice acting] was a known entity, and cost was quite low in comparison to the cost of the rest of the project." In other words, BioWare had been there and done that with voice acting already in its other games and budgeted accordingly. However, BioWare did not have a tested platform to build an MMO. Much of the cost was funneled toward creating an engine that supported a team of over 300 people working on it at the same time and adding choice and consequence to the MMO story. "Don't be scared about adding voice over and cool cinematic content," he advised his audience, "but do be careful about adding lots of choice with consequence because that adds to QA cost and development cost and makes it hard to design everything." Edited March 19, 2014 by Ravager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toweleeeie Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 We all know it's going to be phased. Items will mostly come from CM but there will also be drops from Ops too. Maybe an event or rep too. That's what they have been and will continue to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anubiran Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 If we cross our fingers, maybe they will release a new crew skill that can build housing stuff. Like an architect. It would of course be in question how it compare to the other crafting skills out there. Or its something everyone can learn in addition to the other crafting skills, like fishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts