Player housing poll

[ruralrouteroyalty.7294]

I can't define what a house is. I'm not an architect. /s

[Ember.6478]

Personally, I would just love to have my home instance nodes appear in the "Command Quarters" instance in Arborstone after the story is finished on each character.

[b k.1648]

I quite like the way ESO handled player housing (you can buy instances of varying sizes, add your own NPCs and services, and decorate them yourself) so something inspired by that would be fine by me.

 

I'd also like to see the NPCs in home instances offer repeatable quests, as a replacement for some of the dailies. For example, if your character is a member of the Order of Whispers, you might get a mission to assassinate a particular elite monster; a member of the Durmand Priory might get a mission to locate a treasure in a mini-dungeon somewhere; a Vigil character might get a mission to join the effort against a particular world boss.
Basically, this would be a way to keep your character's backstory relevant outside the story missions.

[Tukaram.8256]

16 hours ago, Excursion.9752 said:

Old Ultima Online player here. Housing was a huge success there. 

I loved the housing in UO. I do not think anyone has beaten their system yet.  Open world housing, and a design tool to make your own house. Set vendors out in front of your house. If there was a local invasion (like giant ants) you can use your house as a rest area for players, provide bandages and food. We held parties, player run events...  It was wonderful.

With the way GW2 set up their servers I do not think open world housing would work. You need to log in to the same server all the time to maintain an open world house. That leaves us with an instanced house. Something they already tried here, and it is pretty useless. 

I have zero interest in an instanced house, so I would rather see the dev time put to something actually useful.

[Alcatraznc.3869]

I just dont see what housing will bring that the game doesnt already have. Passes like Bastion Armistice, the new area I forgot the name or fractal one are example of things that already provides everything you need with an easy access. Personnal instances provide ressources.

 

Housing would just be a customizable house that bring nothing, just place furniture, colour that and that's it. Unless they dare make a solo/group hub with services which would probably angry some people who had to pay for the services mentioned above. 

[Danikat.8537]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm finding this poll really interesting. I'm not surprised that nearly half of players don't want housing, but I am surprised that so many of those who do want it to use the existing home instances, I thought the opportunity to live somewhere new would be more appealing. (Incidentally I don't think placing houses in existing maps would actually be possible in GW2, because of the way servers and maps work, but I wanted to include it because I know it's what some other games have done.)

I also thought having services like the bank and TP would be more popular, but I suppose GW2 is a bit different to other MMOs I've played in that we have easy access to those services anyway. Even if someone doesn't have a lounge pass or any of the instant service items they can go to the PvP lobby or WvW from anywhere in the world.

It will be interesting to see if the poll shifts over time, but at the moment it looks like Anet could create an acceptable housing system for a lot of players (roughly half of those who want housing) relatively easily by designating a section of the home instances to be your character's home and adding the decoration functions from guild halls and some other features. I'm not saying that means they will do that, or should do that, but it's not as extensive as building a whole new system which I suspect is what a lot of people were thinking housing would require.

For what it's worth I'm not sure if I want housing in GW2 or not. The only times I've really felt like I missed it was at a few points in the story when, for RP reasons, I wanted my character to be able to go home for a bit and they couldn't really because they didn't have an actual home to go to. I do enjoy housing systems in some other games, but I'm not sure if that means I want it in GW2 as well. I'm sure I'd use it if it was available though.
 

1 hour ago, Vayne.8563 said:

It's not housing because it's not a house, it doesn't even contain a house. It was never called housing by anyone at Anet. You can't call a fish a bird, but it's still just a fish, even a flying fish is just a fish.

 

If you're a human, can you tell me where you live in that neighborhood? Which house is actually yours? Can you furnish this house?  Can you move anything around at your discretion? 

It doesn't fit the definition of housing even in the loosest sense of the word.  You can repeat it, but it's still not correct.

By that definition several of the houses in Elder Scrolls Online are not houses either because they don't contain a house. They're caves or ruins open to the air, or a meadow, or an open space in a plane of Oblivion (like the Mists).

With 1 exception those exist because players requested them. The original houses were all buildings which look like NPC houses, and 1 cave with some ruins inside. But a lot of people kept asking for different types of 'housing', in particular empty space with no buildings where they could create whatever they wanted. (They also asked for, and got, more structural pieces to build with. Originally players were using wooden docks and planks to make walls and floors, blocks to make stairs etc. so the developers added placeable walls, stairs, floors, even interactive doors to make that easier.)

This is one of the things I mean when I say everyone has different ideas of what MMO housing means. For some people it's specifically a house - the same type of structure other members of their race live in. (And even then I'm having to be careful with my wording because I'm sure some people could argue that a norn lodge or asuran lab is not a house, but it is where many norn and asura live.) For others it's simply a private space in the game where they get to control how it looks and what's in there and it doesn't actually matter whether it looks or functions like a living space or not.
 

1 hour ago, Tukaram.8256 said:

I loved the housing in UO. I do not think anyone has beaten their system yet.  Open world housing, and a design tool to make your own house. Set vendors out in front of your house. If there was a local invasion (like giant ants) you can use your house as a rest area for players, provide bandages and food. We held parties, player run events...  It was wonderful.

With the way GW2 set up their servers I do not think open world housing would work. You need to log in to the same server all the time to maintain an open world house. That leaves us with an instanced house. Something they already tried here, and it is pretty useless. 

I have zero interest in an instanced house, so I would rather see the dev time put to something actually useful.

On the other hand I really didn't like UO's housing and it's one of the reasons I stopped playing.

Not just because as a casual player I didn't have a chance of affording a placed house (that was more an issue with the lack of gold sinks causing rampant inflation, which I assume they fixed eventually) and couldn't spend the time to stalk a placed house to drop my own down when it disappeared because the owner hadn't logged in enough.

For me the biggest problem is that it ruined any sense of wilderness areas in the game. Everywhere with enough space to put houses down turned into endless messy suburbs of randomly placed houses, most of which were usually empty when I went past. Guilds would use houses to seal off areas with valuable or useful spawns so only they could farm them. Trolls would place houses specifically to get in the way. For me the fact that occasionally someone did something creative with the furnishings or even more rarely was selling something useful at a vendor (which was probably easier to buy from someone outside the nearest bank) didn't make up for ruining what I saw as one of the core aspects of the game itself, which was the ability to explore the world. When they added new areas to the world with an expansion and didn't allow houses to be placed there it was wonderful to get that sense of being out exploring the wilds back. When they announced they were going to allow houses there too it got me thinking it was time to give up on the game. (It wasn't the only reason I quit, but it was a big factor in making me realise it wasn't actually a game I wanted to play.)

[Sugar Min.5834]

Why for those who  are not interested in housing at all, it is still compulsory to answer question 2 and 3, otherwise no vote?

A rigged Poll 👎

Edited April 12, 2022 by Mil.3562

[Danikat.8537]

21 minutes ago, Mil.3562 said:

Why for those who  are not interested in housing at all, it is still compulsory to answer question 2 and 3, otherwise no vote?

A rigged Poll 👎

Because the forum's poll system is very limited and does not allow the option to skip a question.

I did consider using Survey Monkey to make a proper poll with more options, but that would take a lot more time to set up and I don't care that much, plus I'm not sure how many people would be happy with a topic that's mainly a link to an external site, or how to display the results.

But both the other questions have 'other' or 'I don't care' options.

[Sunyavadin.7962]

I'd just like for HIs to get a version of the GH decoration system. Everything else, they serve my desires perfectly well.

 

[Zizou.2358]

Fishing, housing. What the kitten is this? You want to change this game to Afk Wars 2?

[fenriswolfman.5486]

I've only ever casually messed with housing myself but I do like visiting other players instances. Not everything has to be for me... While this is one of the few games I've played where its fairly common to come across people RPing in the wild it would be a boon to that community. And in my experience the rp/housing community will stay until the lights go out. Someone above mentioned Wildstar. While the raiders/pvpers (HARDCORE!!!) were making noise and getting all the attention, the rpers and builders were the real heart of that games community. The same with Rift and many other games over the years.

Im not one of them but I have seen that any genuine effort put into supporting those players is rewarded 100 fold.

[sasya neko.1985]

On 4/11/2022 at 4:46 PM, Fueki.4753 said:

I'd rather have Arenanet spend their resources on different things than a third iteration of housing.

And yes, no matter how much one may dislike Guild Halls and home instances, they are iterations of housing. Until Arenanet officially says otherwise, that is not up to debate.

if you can tell me how i can get a GH on my own without any help whatsoever, sure.

till then, not in a million years.

[Gibson.4036]

A house is not necessarily a home. And in GW2, a home isn't a house. 😄

 

[Kyniel.4706]

The only thing I'm sure I'd like is to make scribing relevant to those who don't play with guilds. Beyond that, whatever Anet design is likely to be better than what I come up with.

[Sobx.1758]

On 4/11/2022 at 4:46 PM, Fueki.4753 said:

I'd rather have Arenanet spend their resources on different things than a third iteration of housing.

^this

We already have home instances, guild halls and player hubs. Using resources for yet another housing thingy seems like a waste.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[Legend of Rogue.5394]

I personally want to be able to farm houses or land like a legendary, each map, zone world has their own look and you will gather the resources, gold, material etc and you can put your own crafting, forge and every part in your own instance. This is basically a guild hall I know but a more persnalized option would be sweet. Maybe a different rendition of guild hall since I know nothing about them.

[Cronospere.8143]

Additional features, i liked how mox and the cats could be added. But for me i really dont care about decorations or such.. 

[Zurmdragon.2015]

For those who think this would take away resources from other projects, take a look at the Mastery tracks of EoD. I think the Devs are running out of ideas. The Skiff is a redundant Skimmer and mostly useful for fishing so far. Jade Bot has a lot of complexities that are a gold sink that requires continual tweaking to get the full range of capability out of it. Fishing is...fishing. Arborstone is a way of doing EotN and Sun's Refuge again. I'm not saying they can't put the resources to better use, but I don't think they will even if housing isn't on the table.

 

There is a lot of potential in housing items for gems, too; look at TOR. Another mark, I think, for a housing system coming in the future. As a lot of discussion here shows, there are many housing system options out there and some potential to tie it to different aspects of the game. We'll see what we see. As a general rule, I like having more things to do in this game.

[Aaricia.9758]

I understand the folks who are saying that they rather the time/energy/resources be used elsewhere in the game as we already have a home instance and guild hall decorating. Those on the side of the fence for housing aren't dismissing the need for the things those on the opposite side of them are asking for---asking for more armor sets, town clothes, and all things fashion wars are absolutely valid asks.

That said, asking for true player housing is also a valid ask. The home instance was a novel idea when the game first launched in 2012; however, there have since been other games who have taken player homes to another level. Elder Scrolls Online, FFXIV, and New World for instance (a lot of stuff in New World was crap, but decorating your home was one thing AGS got right. The. One. Thing.). ANet could pull all the good housing ideas from those games and create something comparable in GW2. 

This doesn't have to be complicated by any means. Guild Halls already have the ability to place assets/decorations around the hall, so bring that same idea to the player's home instance.

• The human instance has plenty of empty homes, one of which could be designated as the player's actual home where they can place items, display armor, and flaunt titles/achievements.
• The Charr home instance has some room available to make into a cozy custom home that functions the same as the human instance.
• The Sylvari home (my least favorite) is a communal pod, so customizing it should be simple. 
• The Norn live in a giant lodge, but having an Eir-style home should be possible somewhere in Hoelbrak.
• The Asura can have a gate to an actual home---maybe make use of the Polymock arena?

But wait, we can simplify it even further. You know that flying castle over Garenhoff (known as Wizard's Tower)? Hello new player housing. 

Shut up and listen for a second while I word vomit all over my keyboard. With the next expansion on the horizon, what if ANet created a side story that brings to light what happens to the citizens who accept Isgarren's invitation to live in the castle. You see, as a townsfolk you can go live at the floating castle---but you'll never be seen again. What if the dark secret of the great and powerful Wizard of the Tower is that he's turning all the people into sentient furniture à-la-Beauty and the Beast. Behold! A new dungeon/fractal/strike mission/raid! During which we battle beautiful but deadly custom furniture and eventually take on Isgarren himself. After defeating the Big Baddie, we get the key to his crib. If ANet wants to make it extra spicy, they can leave behind a magical tome that gives us the option of either freeing all townspeople from their furniture design orrrrrrrrrrrr remove their sentient side thus getting a fully furnished new home. MUAHAHAHAHA. 

Ahem. But yes. With the next expansion, player housing could be done right and it doesn't have to rob the opposers of their desire for fashion wars---but instead it could build upon it. Fashion wars is super fun, but if I'm able to go full HGTV (Home & Garden Tyria Verison), I'd be in heaven.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Aaricia.9758
Cleaning up

[Linken.6345]

48 minutes ago, Aaricia.9758 said:

I understand the folks who are saying that they rather the time/energy/resources be used elsewhere in the game as we already have a home instance and guild hall decorating. Those on the side of the fence for housing aren't dismissing the need for the things those on the opposite side of them are asking for---asking for more armor sets, town clothes, and all things fashion wars are absolutely valid asks.

That said, asking for true player housing is also a valid ask. The home instance was a novel idea when the game first launched in 2012; however, there have since been other games who have taken player homes to another level. Elder Scrolls Online, FFXIV, and New World for instance (a lot of stuff in New World was crap, but decorating your home was one thing AGS got right. The. One. Thing.). ANet could pull all the good housing ideas from those games and create something comparable in GW2. 

This doesn't have to be complicated by any means. Guild Halls already have the ability to place assets/decorations around the hall, so bring that same idea to the player's home instance.

• The human instance has plenty of empty homes, one of which could be designated as the player's actual home where they can place items, display armor, and flaunt titles/achievements.
• The Charr home instance has some room available to make into a cozy custom home that functions the same as the human instance.
• The Sylvari home (my least favorite) is a communal pod, so customizing it should be simple. 
• The Norn live in a giant lodge, but having an Eir-style home should be possible somewhere in Hoelbrak.
• The Asura can have a gate to an actual home---maybe make use of the Polymock arena?

But wait, we can simplify it even further. You know that flying castle over Garenhoff (known as Wizard's Tower)? Hello new player housing. 

Shut up and listen for a second while I word vomit all over my keyboard. With the next expansion on the horizon, what if ANet created a side story that brings to light what happens to the citizens who accept Isgarren's invitation to live in the castle. You see, as a townsfolk you can go live at the floating castle---but you'll never be seen again. What if the dark secret of the great and powerful Wizard of the Tower is that he's turning all the people into sentient furniture à-la-Beauty and the Beast. Behold! A new dungeon/fractal/strike mission/raid! During which we battle beautiful but deadly custom furniture and eventually take on Isgarren himself. After defeating the Big Baddie, we get the key to his crib. If ANet wants to make it extra spicy, they can leave behind a magical tome that gives us the option of either freeing all townspeople from their furniture design orrrrrrrrrrrr remove their sentient side thus getting a fully furnished new home. MUAHAHAHAHA. 

Ahem. But yes. With the next expansion, player housing could be done right and it doesn't have to rob the opposers of their desire for fashion wars---but instead it could build upon it. Fashion wars is super fun, but if I'm able to go full HGTV (Home & Garden Tyria Verison), I'd be in heaven.

Yes since Anet have infinite resources lets just do everything. /s off

You see how your post cant become true no matter how much you wish it right?

[Aaricia.9758]

2 minutes ago, Linken.6345 said:

Yes since Anet have infinite resources lets just do everything. /s off

You see how your post cant become true no matter how much you wish it right?

Bruh. I'm not asking for my post to come true, I'm simply pointing out that there are multiple ways in which they could implement player housing. They could add on to the already created home instances, use iconic places around the map as housing options, implement quests to unlock housing, etc. And what do they have to do exactly to please those asking for an actual player home? Copy/paste the guild hall but on a much smaller scale? Oh no. The resources. 

[Raknar.4735]

I'd like housing.
Sounds better to spend the resources there than for another variation of barely played instanced group content.

[Floz.8904]

Dont add housing, give us alliances and a new WvW map and laugh in gems.

WvW > home instance.

[Donari.5237]

I should have read your explanations before voting.  There were so many options I didn't spot the ESO-style one.  ESO (which has been explained by others in this thread) is my ideal, other than the massive amounts of mats needed to craft furnishings and the ghastly high RL price of the houses.

My main worry is that GW2 couldn't do it.  Sure, instanced interiors to fill in houses accessed by open world doors and gates, that's doable.  But ESO's sheer variety of decorations and total flexibility of placement (you can spin them on every access, mount them flush to or clipping into any surface or suspended in the air, jumble them up together to form shapes from parts, eg the many clever ways to simulate sinks) means imagination is the main limit on creating stunning spaces.  They have robust permissions, too, letting you very carefully specify the pool of who can enter, and of those, who can interact with and/or move the decor around.

GW2 guild halls are the sketchiest, palest imitations of this and I deeply fear a housing implementation in GW2 might be more like a limited guild hall than an ESO make-to-order space.

I also voted for houses per character, but what I meant by that may not be what you mean by it.  I don't want each character to have to buy the house instance.  I do want each character able to decorate it to their taste from an account-wide pool, such that entering on that character determines what furniture is inside.  I would also be content with a big enough slate of housing instance options (again, ESO offers this, everything from hole in the wall inn rooms up to sprawling estates, in every racial style and then some) such that each rp alt could have one that I tailored to them.  Of course, I have got over 30 alts now, though not all of them get rp time.  GW2 would need a *lot* of house options for the many-alted like me 😄  But my street rat isn't going to live in my nobleman's manor, my jade mechanist asura isn't going to hang out in a snowy village house, etc.

[Ashantara.8731]

I love how much thought went into this poll -- two thumbs up! 🙂