I believe Housing system that allow us to build our own Houses is better than Prefab only

[Knighthonor.4061]

I made a similar thread before, but like to bring the discussion over to the expansion thread, now that Housing is official.

But Rift's dimensions is the perfect system for housing, especially for Guild Wars 2. The Gem store also fits perfect with this system so players can support the development of the game. Thats also important. 

But let's get into why its better than the Prefab house model. 

Well with Rift's Dimensions, you can fully design the house from the foundation using walls, floors and other unique models. Then using other models, you can decorate the house you made, just as you would in a Prefab Only Housing system like ESO and New World. They system like Dimensions allow us to scale models larger and smaller so we can create all sorts of unique buildings.        

         

This not to say, that there isnt a place for Prefab Structures as a object. Fallout 76 allow players to build houses and structures, but also has some Prefab structures that a player can place down and decorate without the need to create the house from the ground up. The perfect system for Housing has both. I dont know how deep Anet is into the development of the Housing System. Hopefully there is time to consider this.

 

Some video examples

 

Edited June 10 by Knighthonor.4061

[Zera.9435]

Yeah that housing feature needs to be expansive with a huge variety of features if they intend to draw in new players.

[quake.9023]

it would be game changing if we are able to build our own house. not prefab. nothing more pointless thn everyones house looking the same

[Malus.2184]

5 hours ago, Knighthonor.4061 said:

Well with Rift's Dimensions, you can fully design the house from the foundation using walls, floors and other unique models. Then using other models, you can decorate the house you made, just as you would in a Prefab Only Housing system like ESO and New World. They system like Dimensions allow us to scale models larger and smaller so we can create all sorts of unique buildings.        

It makes sense in the context of the story that the Homestead is prefab since it's literally a house we get gifted from someone else already living in the cultural style we have.

If it was something we built from the ground up then yes.

[kharmin.7683]

People still haven't learned that the players never get what they wish for when asking things from Anet.

[Dean Calaway.9718]

That's too expensive to implement, if you look at HoT all the way to SotO you'll see a gradual effort to do the least amount possible while convincing players to still buy expansions.

[starlinvf.1358]

11 minutes ago, Dean Calaway.9718 said:

That's too expensive to implement, if you look at HoT all the way to SotO you'll see a gradual effort to do the least amount possible while convincing players to still buy expansions.

and reduction in work force

[Knighthonor.4061]

Well Rift also didnt have a lot a resources and got it done

Edited June 10 by Knighthonor.4061

[nosleepdemon.1368]

As a long time fan of Conan Exiles, and builder of many compact and well fortified bases, I demand the ability to not only be able to build my base how I see fit, but also to attack and destroy everyone else’s bases when I feel like it.

[Danikat.8537]

It would be nice to have both options.

I only tend to build houses from scratch in games where that's required (Valheim mainly). I like the idea of doing it in Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) but I never have, even after getting free 'houses' without existing buildings and with enough space. (The first ones like that were cash-shop only and fairly expensive, which also put me off.)

I would definitely like building pieces though, like walls, floors, roofs, doors etc. because those are useful even if you're just modifying an existing house. In ESO I've got one where I added an extra floor to an area with a very high ceiling, one where I've added some stairs and I just recently used what's technically a roof section to block off part of a large and oddly shaped room (Antiquarian's Alpine Gallery, for the ESO players) to make a study.

[Dami.5046]

Totally thought any housing in this game would be an instance and wasn't 'disappointed' which is a shame.

[Kitty.4806]

This isn't minecraft or Lego fortnite. Rebuild the game engine for Anet and develop all the tools and resources for this yourself xd.

[Ashantara.8731]

9 hours ago, quake.9023 said:

it would be game changing if we are able to build our own house.

It would probably take a lot of effort to alter the GW2 engine in order to make that happen. I doubt we will see this happen. Maybe in the next game.

[Therac.6431]

It is simply impossible at times to discuss this topic with some players. They don't know what a housing system is; their concept of it is vague. Some believe that housing is just an empty house where you place a few objects, and that's it. It doesn't work that way, and I am absolutely certain that ArenaNet is fully aware of this. They have seen classic examples of housing in MMOs. There are games with exemplary housing systems, like Archeage and ESO. The system is complex, detailed, and involves a tremendous amount of work to truly be a housing system. Otherwise, it will be just another Home Instance (as I mentioned in another topic), which would make no sense.

Housing needs to be an environment with a wide capacity for variation. We don't have decorations in GW2 yet, and at launch, the game will need to support this game mode with a wide variety of decorations and furniture. For this reason, I addressed in another topic the importance of having decorations as rewards in existing achievements. Those who have already completed them can place these achievements and start this game mode, while those who haven't completed them can simply spend the next few months working on them. If housing arrives with a predatory Gem Store model and requires crafting with large amounts of material, it will be a game mode that will be dead on arrival. Housing must be friendly to all types of players, from the most humble to the most fortunate. This is where the variety of possibilities in this game mode lies. It cannot be entirely based on Gem Store skins or crafting (which would affect the entire economy). It needs to be something solid, well-structured, where you can also get cool improvements through achievements, like a showcase of the achievements you have already completed in the game.

If ArenaNet's intention as a company that needs to generate revenue and retain players is to use this game mode to bring back/get new players, the effort will have to be exemplary. It is not simple; it is complex and indeed requires great efforts to be successful.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Prefabs are okay, but they really should let us place our own structures or build them from scratch parts if we desire.

[Zebulous.2934]

Welcome to my den of inequity!  The flagilation room is two doors down and to the left. Then we have the asphyxiation suite. Next the room full of furs, and then the room full of ooze.  Would you like the bed of nails or the bed of snails?

[Linken.6345]

6 minutes ago, Zebulous.2934 said:

Welcome to my den of inequity!  The flagilation room is two doors down and to the left. Then we have the asphyxiation suite. Next the room full of furs, and then the room full of ooze.  Would you like the bed of nails or the bed of snails?

would like the room were everything is made of quaggan skins ty.

[Ashantara.8731]

4 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

would like the room were everything is made of quaggan skins ty.

Yuck! 😂

[Tyncale.1629]

After Mounts, Anet has been kinda half kittening it when it comes to new features and game systems. Fishing is the worst offender here, I had high hopes that Anet could bring such a feature to new heights, as they did with Mounts but alas. Even Fishing in Everquest I like better then this.  And then we got all the "hide outs" and hubs, like Eye of the North, Suns Refuge and Arborstone which are completely redundant, AND have associated Masteries with it that are the worst kind of filler I have seen in any MMO. 

I used to feel that once Anet decided to bring any MMO staple to their game (world building and landscaping, Combat, Mounts, Verticality and moving around) they would do it better then most MMO's I have played. But I do not have that feeling anymore. I think it is simply a money thing, they want to bring new features to keep the players happy, but can not sink too much money in it. So we get Housing (thanks anyway, I wanted this)  but most likely not what I had envisioned. 

What I had hoped for:

Lots of options in choosing the type of plot: (jungle, fields, forest, rocky, desert, you name it;

Lots of options in building the house: lots of different (themed) modules would be fine, I would not expect us to completely draw up a wall from scratch;

Lots of options of choosing the "door" to our instance house, like anywhere in the world; from a door in Divinities Reach to Wizards Fief, to an obscure cave in the Crystal Desert, you name it. The world that Anet built is huge and varied and beautiful, it would be a pity if every player had the same entrance somewhere.

A huge amount of decorating options, and most important  of all: a thorough integration of the aquisition of these decorations all through the game. Keywords here are; Looting, crafting, Recipes, no-drop and tradable, Gem store, common, rare and ultrarare items, achievements, rewards for Fishing, events, Races, Boss loot. This would play right into at least my favorite play-style: having stuff to do in the Open World. 

What I am afraid of: One type of house, some decorations, some crafting involved but not very integrated, too few decorating spots, one entrance and then in the future we will get some more options in the type of house, some more decorations (mostly Gem store), if they have development time left.

But we will see. 

Edited June 12 by Tyncale.1629

[Albadaran.1283]

It would be nice if we could have both: prefab and building it from scratch ourselves but: I'm afraid that building it ourselves will involve a ton of grinding by finding the right materials, probably including working for achievements. That is not what I like to do.

So basically let's start with the option to buy complete houses. And give an extra feature to create new houses ourselves later.

[Teknomancer.4895]

I expect it to be a mastery track along these lines (and don't forget the extra/redundant crafting discipline):

Homesteader Mastery

1. Taming the Wilds: unlocks the ability to clear and landscape your parcel, allows placement of BL Garden Plots (BONUS: Warclaw's Chain Pull mastery required to remove stumps and boulders).
2. Into the Wood: Unlocks the new crafting discipline, allows you to refine wooden planks into beams, supports and other building materials.
3. Mystic Masonry: Allows you to build stone and brick features.
4. Janthir Drafting: Unlocks blueprints (recipe purchases) allowing you to build flooring, walls, roofing and doors.
5. Janthir's Eye for Design: Unlocks the ability to craft & place objects & decorations.

That would fit the SotO approach thus far to added features, by making it an annoying crafting grind attached to an otherwise useless mastery line. 🙄

Edited June 12 by Teknomancer.4895
link

[Trejgon.9367]

On 6/10/2024 at 8:45 PM, Ashantara.8731 said:

It would probably take a lot of effort to alter the GW2 engine in order to make that happen. I doubt we will see this happen. Maybe in the next game.

Not really, it could already be done to some degree with guild hall tech, the question is if there is enough variety of "decorations" to put up our walls etc. with secondary issue of decoration limits.

Someone mentioned ESO housing system as example of prefabs, but it has a number of houses that are just flat-ish terrain, with a number of "structural" furnishings to let players build their whole thing themselves... the only caveat is that even for full prefabs the limits for furnishings are tight to get whole place properly decorated, not to mention if you are now using half the slots just for the building structure.....

The primary difference between ESO furnishing tech and guild hall decoration tech, is that ESO allows rotation in all 3 axis instead of just the vertical one.

[Linken.6345]

2 hours ago, Teknomancer.4895 said:

I expect it to be a mastery track along these lines (and don't forget the extra/redundant crafting discipline):

Homesteader Mastery

1. Taming the Wilds: unlocks the ability to clear and landscape your parcel, allows placement of BL Garden Plots (BONUS: Warclaw's Chain Pull mastery required to remove stumps and boulders).
2. Into the Wood: Unlocks the new crafting discipline, allows you to refine wooden planks into beams, supports and other building materials.
3. Mystic Masonry: Allows you to build stone and brick features.
4. Janthir Drafting: Unlocks blueprints (recipe purchases) allowing you to build flooring, walls, roofing and doors.
5. Janthir's Eye for Design: Unlocks the ability to craft & place objects & decorations.

That would fit the SotO approach thus far to added features, by making it an annoying crafting grind attached to an otherwise useless mastery line. 🙄

You sure you dont need a mini game to cut down trees and make stone blocks like the chests in SotO?

[Luthan.5236]

I'd prefer something in between. To make it not too complicated while still giving more freedom. A base map where you'd be able to select a few spots to build the house (vs 1 fix spot) - and some upgrades (starting small ... upgrading to bugger) with different styles (different layouters each style) for each race (unlockable maybe). Free placement for the crafted furniture (like in guild halls).

Also this:

Free node placement would be nice. But I kinda would prefer if it made sense somehow. Maybe a small hill and allowing to place the ore there a bit freely (but not letting us place the ore just everywhere). Trees and plants ... a bit more freedom there.

[Teknomancer.4895]

5 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

You sure you dont need a mini game to cut down trees and make stone blocks like the chests in SotO?

That's for one of the later releases, not at launch. 😝

Edited June 12 by Teknomancer.4895