Housing

Do you have the chops to create captivating homes in EverQuest II? If so, you might be raking in the bucks very soon. SOE announced that it will begin to test the sale of player studio houses in the beta for GU66.

The team is creating tools, including a new web site, to aid with the sale and purchase of these homes. To encourage interest in sprucing up that old shack, SOE is running a sale on decorations and houses from tomorrow through next Thursday. All decorations will be at least 50% off, the studio promises.

The test begins on April 2nd. SOE says that it wants to get the studio houses out along with GU66 on April 30th.

No, this isn't Star Wars Galaxies revived from the dead. It's actually one of many screenshots of a Star Wars-themed guild dimension in RIFT, painstakingly created for visitors to enjoy.

We've seen plenty of creative examples of player housing in RIFT since Storm Legion added the feature, but this may take the cake. The dimension, which exists on the EU server of Icewatch, includes an Ewok village with AT-ST, a Dewback, an X-Wing, an AT-AT vs. landspeeder, the Millennium Falcon, a Star Destroyer, and even a little Yoda cave. The detail and ingenuity that's gone into this is impressive... most impressive.

The bar has been raised for housing design. Your move, other players.

There is no two ways about it: Every time I started to pen this particular piece, I had to pause. You see, the story behind it all is steeped in emotion; inspiration, joy, pride, sadness, and togetherness are all a part of the heartwarming tale that is simply impossible to not be touched by (or in my case, completely choked up). And it's one that makes me proud to be a part of the EverQuest II community.

Last year we shared with you the story of a young boy whose simple wish for a fun place to play in EQII brought the community together in an unparalleled way. In order to make an extra special place for Ribbitribbit, adventurers, raiders, and crafters left their guilds -- heck, even their servers -- to come aid in what became more than a simple island refuge. It became a multi-house playground that included a Tier 3 guild hall. The sheer volume of enthusiastic participation is enough to make any heart swell. Sadly, shortly thereafter Ribbitribbit lost his battle with cancer, and that same community mourned his passing. Now, one year later, the same organizer who uncorked that first outpouring of generosity has brought players together again to commemorate community, continue philanthropy, and remember those who have been lost.

Today's Tattered Notebook invites you to become a part of this community with a look at Ribbitribbit Day 2013.

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Hyped about ArcheAge? We are too, but as with any MMO, great expectations can lead to great disappointments. That's why we're linking to another fan review of the game's Korean client. While the previous such post was largely high on the game from a dedicated player perspective, this piece at AltTabMe raises more than a few concerns involving AA's combat, sandboxiness, character creation, and more.

While most of the combat complaints can be summarized by the subjectively nebulous it-doesn't-feel-as-polished-as-game-XYZ argument, the sandbox and economic concerns are a bit more concrete. "And like the pirate system that has no reward for serious consequences, the economy has the opposite, high reward with no consequences, except to those who also play the game," the author writes. "Without money sinks and a way to balance out the economy, ArcheAge is heading toward a flatline when it comes to worth."

He also alludes to the possibility that the game's extensive housing and farming systems will be lost in translation from the social gaming culture in Korea to the isolationist achiever mentality prevalent in the West. "When you apply these [housing items] to the real world/game practice you see player-run towns that don't look like towns, but rather more like FarmVille: a homestead of the same resources in bulk, such as goats (which are the most profitable resource) filling every single bit of available space. So you go from being aesthetically pleasing to a resource farm," the writer explains. "The magic of a home and town is lost to min-maxing personal gain. ArcheAge turns into Men Who Stare at Goats."

[Thanks Dengar!]

Ready for some ArcheAge-style gambling? No, it's not lockboxes, but in-game casino gambling looks to be implemented on the game's Korean servers. An article on 2p.com has the details, which are somewhat premature since the author had to sneak into the closed facility via some crafty climbing and judicious use of glider wings.

Inside he found a "spacious hall with lavish decoration" as well as slot machines and three types of exchange trophies, one of which was "obviously [a] blueprint of [a] house." If you're playing the Korean version of ArcheAge, you can check it out for yourself by following 2p.com's map which marks the location on the game's Fantasy Island.

[Thanks Dengar!]

One of the issues plaguing player housing in MMOs is what to do with those houses after the player-owners have left the game or stopped paying for their subscriptions. In Ultima Online, the granddaddy of all MMO housing, your home drops to the ground if you haven't paid your sub in 90 days (and your shardmates can loot all your stuff in a grand free-for-all!). In Star Wars Galaxies, your house stayed standing until it ran out of pre-paid maintenance money, which worked pretty well to help the active players reclaim city space until maintenance was turned off for a few years in consideration for hurricane victims.

Even games with instanced housing feel the space crunch. In Lord of the Rings Online, failure to pay your maintenance fees in-game leads to the eventual return of your lot to the public pool and your having to buy back all your loot from an escrow NPC.

MMO developers are torn between the desire to lure back former players with the promise that their houses are still intact and the desire to keep the world, instanced or not, clear and open for paying or active players. So what do you guys think -- what should be the more dominant goal? If you step away from a game, should your character's home decay? And if it did, would you ever return to the game?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The recent Final Fantasy XIV press event in San Francisco didn't just mean a chance to sit down and play the game amidst a lushly decorated room, although that was certainly on the agenda. It also meant a chance to ask director and producer Naoki Yoshida some questions about the game going forward and the plans for development down the line, diving beyond what we see and into more fine details about the game's mechanics.

While players will have access to a sizable chunk of the revamped game when the beta goes live on February 25th, there's still a lot that's hidden behind a veil of secrecy. Yoshida's answers help illuminate more details about what's going on in Final Fantasy XIV that might not be playable right now but will be in the near future. And even beyond the foundation that's visible from the beta, the promise of more expansion only adds to the game's overall quality.

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Ahh, l'amore. You can feel it in their air tonight, no? Oh wait, that was Thursday! No matter, 'tis still the season of love and loot in Norrath.

Did I say loot? You bet your barbarian love notes I did! Holidays in EverQuest II may be inspired by their real-world counterparts, but their true purpose lies in supplying us with oodles of special loot. Don't believe me? Just look at the plethora of items available from quests, crafting, and collections during any given celebration. Sure, there are fun lore lines to follow as well, and that aspect certainly deserves a nod, but there is no denying the prominence of holiday paraphernalia that fills our bags, banks, and vaults.

Not that I am complaining, mind you; it's precisely this loot I am after -- specifically, the housing items. As a die-hard decorating nut, I look forward to the holidays like Erollisi Day to get my hands/paws/claws on these unique items offered only during the events. Unfortunately, like many of us plagued by real life, I don't always have tons of time to devote to the festivities, and EQII's holidays are pretty elaborate affairs with a whole lot to do. So to help us both get the most treasure for our time, I've devised this speed guide to getting the holiday goods before the festival ends at 2:59 a.m EST on February 21st.

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Last week, I explored transportation as one avenue of making The Secret World even more of a living, breathing world. Today, my focus is on that one aspect that really can make an MMO a home: actual homes!

It's no secret that I love housing; I've written about it on multiple occasions and livestreamed tours in various games as well. But this isn't just about fulfilling a personal wish list. Adding housing goes beyond making my gaming experience more immersive (though it most certainly does that); it's a method for increasing the longevity of the game. Housing is one of those features that, when done well, binds players to a game, giving them a reason to not only stay in game longer during a play session but stick with the game long term. And I definitely want that for The Secret World.

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I was going to update you fine folk on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, but SOE decided to drop a Fan Faire Live date on us, which sort of mucked up my nefarious plans.

Why do we care about SOE Live? Well, there are multiple reasons, but the most important one is that instead of having to wait until October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Next in early August!

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Apart from the nightmare of Twitter spam that the recent two Lord of the Rings Online dev chats have produced, I'm pretty happy that Turbine's being more interactive with the community and taking on some of these topics head-on. Of course, everyone has his own areas of interest that were probably not covered to satisfaction, but looking through these two chats (December 20th and January 24th), we can deduce a lot of useful information about where LotRO is headed in the future.

Personally, I am pretty excited about 2013 for the game. It feels as if the team isn't slacking at all, and while there are always my wish list items that go unfulfilled, often the devs add cool changes (like the Bree update) that are equally welcome.

So let's sift the wheat from the chaff and see what we come up with from these dev chats as well as the recent producer's letter!

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Turbine's Kate Paiz might be brief in her Lord of the Rings Online producer's letter, but this economy of words holds a treasure trove of ideas for the year. In the letter, she outlines the primary goals for the game in 2013, including a much-requested housing revamp and further expansion into the Rohan region.

Paiz outlines four initiatives for the year. The first is forming a player's council to facilitate discussion and feedback between players and the dev team. The second is adding Western Rohan to the game, initially through a region called Wildermore in the spring and later through a bigger addition in the fall. The third is the aforementioned housing revamp, which will take place later in the year.

The fourth initiative is an effort by the team to make "significant changes" to classes. "We will be making some significant changes to the skills and traits of the Free Peoples classes," Paiz writes. "We'll be pruning out skills that just feel disappointing in play and increasing the potency of others. The end result will be fewer skills, but a more profound impact on moment-to-moment play."

SOE's sixth DLC pack for DC Universe Online has launched today, bringing with it a customizable base system that allows players to build their own lair. Appropriately named Home Turf, this content update bring a housing system that players have been anticipating since launch.

Lairs are much more than housing, though. The Lair's Mainframe allows players to unlock and access new combat abilities, and level 30-or-higher players can duel it out with Lair PvP battles.

Be sure to check out all the details in the latest DLC patch notes on the DCUO forums and skip past the cut for the Home Turf launch trailer.

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MMO player housing usually comes in one of two varieties: instanced or open-world. The Repopulation, on the other hand, will feature both as well as a third option tied to player-owned cities.

The instanced housing will be available to everyone, though players of different factions will be restricted to different housing neighborhoods. Open-world housing will be limited, of course, but players will also be able to buy and sell the plots. Player city housing will feature a similar plot system that is administered by the owner of the city in question.

Above & Beyond Technologies has authored a new blog post explaining The Repopulation's housing systems in further detail. Read all about it at the game's official website.

Yesterday, we brought you the new DC Universe Online trailer that showed off features of the upcoming Home Turf DLC pack. Shortly after that, Jens Andersen took to Twitter to tease players to be on the lookout for a release date for the highly anticipated update. Luckily, the wait wasn't too terribly long; a recent official tweet revealed that Home Turf launches on January 29th.

Legendary players will be able to access all the new content and grab their personal lairs next Tuesday, as can all PC players and US PS3 players who purchase the DLC. The pack will be available to EU PS3 players the next day, January 30th. Following the lead of previous DLC packs, Home Turf will cost $9.99 USD.