Please remove NPC and Hook restrictions from GSH.

[CommanderKeeva]

I have to say, I was really hyped about strongholds but these points made it a huge letdown for me.

 

1. I SPENT TENS OF MILLIONS OF CREDITS TO ACQUIRE EVERY PET IN THE GAME, thinking I would be able to display them. Well, wrong, NPC limit is 25 and all pets, companions and vendors count against it.

 

2. I SPENT MORE TENS OF MILLIONS OF CREDITS TO ACQUIRE COOL ARMOR SETS FOR COMPANIONS, and then holographic comps are either naked, lose their customization or revert to wearing default armor sets.

 

3. I SPENT DOZENS OF CARTEL CERTIFICATES TO PURCHASE NPCS TO LIVEN UP THE STRONGHOLD, yeah guess what, then I can't use them.

 

4. YOU CAN'T DECORATE A STRONGHOLD BEYOND 100% DESPITE THE FACT THAT THERE ARE STILL MANY DOZENS OF UNUSED HOOKS, meaning when I finished decorating the lower level, it turned out that I couldn't even touch the upper levels, without rearranging the lower level.

 

I was really excited about strongholds but the NPC and hook limitations made the experience rather sour. Please, you need to dramatically increase both the NPC and hook placement options. If someone wants to display all pets, all companions and many NPCs to make a cool stronghold, he should be given the option to do so.

 

If a stronghold can support at least 50 players, then should also support at least a hundred NPCs. Also, we should be allowed to put a decoration on every hook, even if it means that we go way beyond 100%.

[Quraswren]

I know the reason behind why they have a 25 limit but I got to admit, when I reached it last night and I had not even decorated all of the second stairwell pedestals, I lost a good bit of interest because there was nothing else I could really put there that looked worth a damn.

 

With that as a limit, I have no reason to buy a second, third or fourth GSH much less spend time on it, I've reach an impasse in it's design and didn't even try.

 

So I left.

[jedip_enguin]

I think your caps lock key is broken.

[Belladoni]

I 100% agree. My stronghold is huge, filled with lots of cool-looking stuff, but is quiet as a tomb and eerily empty-feeling, despite all the decorations. The 25 hook limit is just too few. I have sacrificed several design ideas just to get the look I have, and there is still so much left to do. I can't understand why they would give us so many NPCs to buy, that you then have to basically ignore just to get more companions or pets in.

 

I truly hope this will be looked at again once they have an idea of what the servers can handle. I'd happily give up all the other stronghold NPC hooks if I could consolidate them to my main, if that would help. I think even a boost of just 10 more would be fantastic.

[Infernixx]

Needs MOAR ALL CAPS

[Reno_Tarshil]

I agree with the removal of the npc restriction.

[Oneirophrenia]

If a stronghold can support at least 50 players, then should also support at least a hundred NPCs. Also, we should be allowed to put a decoration on every hook, even if it means that we go way beyond 100%.

 

Honestly, I don't even know why a player stronghold would need to support that many visitors at one time. For a guild stronghold or ship 50 would make sense but I somehow doubt 99.99% of all player strongholds would ever come close to having 50 players.

 

With that said, NPC limit is probably required due to performance issues associated with the inherent limitations of the engine but there is no question that 25 is far too restrictive, especially if animal mounts and pets both count against it. Honestly BW needs to give us some work-arounds such as turning guards into standard non-selectable decorations, not unlike those we see on Korriban outside of the Academy. Or, they could simply halve the visitor cap to 25 (matching the achievement requirement) while correspondingly raise the NPC limit to 50 or even just 40. I would be perfectly content with either of those compromises.

 

As for the number of hooks, I find that the limit is *reasonable* for DK/Coru and Nar Shaddaa though I definitely wouldn't object if BW chose to raise it. However when it comes to Tatooine, the hook limit is absurdly low given the sheer size and layout thus it needs to be raised by at least 50-100.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Oneirophrenia

[branmakmuffin]

3. I SPENT DOZENS OF CARTEL CERTIFICATES TO PURCHASE NPCS TO LIVEN UP THE STRONGHOLD, yeah guess what, then I can't use them.

You did this despite knowing there was an NPC limit.

 

 

4. YOU CAN'T DECORATE A STRONGHOLD BEYOND 100% DESPITE THE FACT THAT THERE ARE STILL MANY DOZENS OF UNUSED HOOKS, meaning when I finished decorating the lower level, it turned out that I couldn't even touch the upper levels, without rearranging the lower level.

100% is generally the maximum you can do on things, in general.

 

[Hebruixe]

I have to agree. While I didn't spend tens of millions like OP, I did spend what I had, and am beginning to question that investment.

 

Player housing and guild housing got me extremely excited. And I view decorating as a fun mini game. But it's not as fun as it could be due to the severe restrictions of the hook system and deco # limits. It could be better.

 

GSH needs to be expanded upon and fleshed out. Since the whole point of it is to have a personal headquarters where you can hang out and pass time (right?), adding mini games would be a big step in the right direction. We would have a reason to spend time in our strongholds if there were interesting activities like playing pazaak with our companions, pve gambling games, even something stupidly basic like a pong arcade.

 

It would also be a nice improvement to be able to view chat from any planet we choose, or even multiple chat boxes from different planets.

 

These improvements would make our strongholds a very popular hangout, as we could entertain ourselves with mini games and socializing at the same time.

[branmakmuffin]

GSH needs to be expanded upon and fleshed out. Since the whole point of it is to have a personal headquarters where you can hang out and pass time (right?)

No, the main point of the stronghold system is the tie-in to conquests, and the bottom line of course is to get people to spend creds, time and CCs on it. There's a reason they are called strongholds and not houses.

[venomlash]

Would be nice if they at least TOYED with raising the limit. If it causes server problems, lower them back.

Or sell items on the CM to raise the limit by a set amount. Say, allow 5 more NPCs or 50 more deco hooks per stronghold, and that unlock runs you 200 Cartel Coins. It'll print them some money and give serious players a little extra.

[Hebruixe]

No, the main point of the stronghold system is the tie-in to conquests, and the bottom line of course is to get people to spend creds, time and CCs on it. There's a reason they are called strongholds and not houses.

 

People would spend huge money on mini games. And be more invested in their strongholds if they felt like homes rather than games mechanics.

[Lunafox]

Like others, I've read that the 25 npc limit is because of performance issues. That said, I hope they can find a means of improving it, so that we can have more.

 

More important to me still is the ability to decorate more. If I have hooks and room to do it, why not? I would love to be able to place more items, past the 100% limit.

 

Perhaps an incentive for them to raise our limit, would be to monetize it (secretly, I suspect this is what they're up to anyhow)...like 100 more hooks for 500 cc or something like that. I want to be able to cram more stuff into my home. It looks nice but rather spartan...I would love to be able to cram in more things that I love.

[Aries_cz]

Would be nice if they at least TOYED with raising the limit. If it causes server problems, lower them back.

Or sell items on the CM to raise the limit by a set amount. Say, allow 5 more NPCs or 50 more deco hooks per stronghold, and that unlock runs you 200 Cartel Coins. It'll print them some money and give serious players a little extra.

 

I do believe BW did say they will mess around with it, if it proves to be stable and not causing havoc at 25. But it is still too soon to have any real data on this (GSH launched few weeks ago), and presumably, most of the work is now focused on 3.0.

[EicyLightrider]

Honestly, I don't even know why a player stronghold would need to support that many visitors at one time. For a guild stronghold or ship 50 would make sense but I somehow doubt 99.99% of all player strongholds would ever come close to having 50 players.

 

With that said, NPC limit is probably required due to performance issues associated with the inherent limitations of the engine but there is no question that 25 is far too restrictive, especially if animal mounts and pets both count against it. Honestly BW needs to give us some work-arounds such as turning guards into standard non-selectable decorations, not unlike those we see on Korriban outside of the Academy. Or, they could simply halve the visitor cap to 25 (matching the achievement requirement) while correspondingly raise the NPC limit to 50 or even just 40. I would be perfectly content with either of those compromises.

 

As for the number of hooks, I find that the limit is *reasonable* for DK/Coru and Nar Shaddaa though I definitely wouldn't object if BW chose to raise it. However when it comes to Tatooine, the hook limit is absurdly low given the sheer size and layout thus it needs to be raised by at least 50-100.

 

Inherent limitations of the engine? Lol. SWG let you put over a 1000 items in a house, and that was a decade ago. You could have 500 items in the largest home or the guildhall plus the 700 exrta spaces you got from the collection system.

 

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Housing

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Housing_storage_increase

 

These restrictions are rediculous for a game in 2014, get with it BW. Not when Wildstar's housing is so vast, no reason to be stingy :/

[Bethmora]

Strongholds are a big let down, sorry to all of you who will say its great yada yada yada. Hooks suck, limits suck, my whole idea for decorating my Tatooine house was shot down in flames because of the pet/vendor limit. I would think the mounts would have been a bigger problem then NPC. Yeah its 25 because of a load issue, well then get a better server that can handle the load. I stopped at 56% because im not about dropping crap all over, so until we get a upgrade i dont see me spending time on decorating my house. oh, and No need to do my other 2 houses, those are empty.

[Toweleeeie]

GSH is a complete letdown for me, same as GSF. I hope the next thing is good or I will be unsubbing for the 1st time. Edited September 29, 2014 by Toweleeeie

[Jaedelyia]

Most disappointing things are the naked/underwear/non-geared up hologram of companion and the complete lack of animation for most of them (except a slight breathing). I would love an option to toggle a small animation on them. Nothing fancy, just some arm movement or something. Like some companions are already doing.

[Arkerus]

Inherent limitations of the engine? Lol. SWG let you put over a 1000 items in a house, and that was a decade ago. You could have 500 items in the largest home or the guildhall plus the 700 exrta spaces you got from the collection system.

 

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Housing

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Housing_storage_increase

 

These restrictions are rediculous for a game in 2014, get with it BW. Not when Wildstar's housing is so vast, no reason to be stingy :/

 

And its ridiculous to make statements like that without understanding the actual server technology and architecture.

 

I am NOT saying they made all the right decisions with this engine (we all know it has some major issues) but player numbers are much greater here (SWG was DOA halfway through its life) and server architecture is (most likely) completely different. SWG had lag prone areas just like most MMOs. To say "OMG they did it back in 2004 so do it here!!!!11111" without actually understanding the background architecture or taking into account the popularity difference is just being obtuse.

 

From what I can tell the housing feature in this game is actually a 'dumbed down' version of the development tool. You are actually placing objects in the same manner that developers place objects but since the server needs to track their position (and check interference) it creates a lot of server traffic. There is also something very different about companion objects. They require additional traffic to and from the server. It is most likely due to their interactivity.

 

As for tatooine, its my main homestead. I haven't run into the limit yet. IMO, you have to create an absolute mess out there just to get close. That said, yes, if you spend the time and do fill it (without making a mess) I can see how the limit is a bit low. Perhaps we will see an increase.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Arkerus

[VanderII]

About NPC there are engine problems, so this game can't support more than 25 NPC but i think that Bioware could remove Hook restrictions.

[MeinChurro]

My problem is I have all these wall hooks, and all these wall decorations, but I can't use them! Why give us all these hooks if we cannot use them?! I am also one who thinks the 25 npc limit is too low, it should increase, even slightly, with room unlocks. Hell, I would be paying millions for them anyway. Edited September 29, 2014 by MeinChurro

[VanderII]

My problem is I have all these wall hooks, and all these wall decorations, but I can't use them! Why give us all these hooks if we cannot use them?! I am also one who thinks the 25 npc limit is too low, it should increase, even slightly, with room unlocks. Hell, I would be paying millions for them anyway.

Yeha It'd be great!

 

http://i.imgur.com/hiqeRqy.jpg

[Oneirophrenia]

Inherent limitations of the engine? Lol. SWG let you put over a 1000 items in a house, and that was a decade ago. You could have 500 items in the largest home or the guildhall plus the 700 exrta spaces you got from the collection system.

 

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Housing

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Housing_storage_increase

 

These restrictions are rediculous for a game in 2014, get with it BW. Not when Wildstar's housing is so vast, no reason to be stingy :/

 

Obviously you have not been paying attention to the problems plaguing BW's version of "Hero" engine. If you had played TOR since launch, all it takes is one session of "Ilum trading" for you to see the graphical limitations of this engine. Forget 60 FPS, you'd be lucky to get 5 FPS. It's the same reason behind why TOR operations and war zones are capped at 16 players.

 

The only way BW can bypass these limitations is to scrap the engine all together and start over. That probably isn't possible this far into the game's lifecycle so the best we can hope for is for BW to optimize it and then raise the limits accordingly.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Oneirophrenia

[Deewe]

Obviously you have not been paying attention to the problems plaguing BW's version of "Hero" engine. If you had played TOR since launch, all it takes is one session of "Ilum trading" for you to see the graphical limitations of this engine. Forget 60 FPS, you'd be lucky to get 5 FPS. It's the same reason behind why TOR operations and war zones are capped at 16 players.

 

The only way BW can bypass these limitations is to scrap the engine all together and start over. That probably isn't possible this far into the game's lifecycle so the best we can hope for is for BW to optimize it and then raise the limits accordingly.

Another possibility is to drop all particles effects and have characters replaced with 6 polys cubes and 10kb textures

Edited October 1, 2014 by Deewe

[Darth_Wicked]

Another possibility is to drop all particles effects and have characters replaced with 6 polys cubes and 10kb textures

 

If it kills the lag on the fleet, I'm in for that.