Are Houses Worth the Trouble?

Rovelda

Veldrin said:

...

I really miss guilds having much more say than what houses got right now.

What was that "say" that Guilds had and Houses don't have.

Mishgul

guildtalk. Bet you can't do that now.

Xenomorph

Rovelda said:

Veldrin said:

...

I really miss guilds having much more say than what houses got right now.

What was that "say" that Guilds had and Houses don't have.

I'll give you a prime example, from my own experiences as the Guildmaster of the Infernal Knights of Ashtan:

We were able to keep a stranglehold on our class, and ensure that only the most qualified and monitored were able to use Lord Sartan's skills. The creation of Houses was a repugnant turn of events that turned Achaea into a nickel-arcade. Turning classes into a diseased, rotten-crotched whorehouse of a free-for-all made it so unqualified, unauthorized, and unworthy bipedal hominids had the ability to rape our highly coveted Sartan-given Infernal abilities.

After that, it was all downhill. Disgusting, low-IQ prostitutes descended upon Delos in an orgy of corruption, reaching their filthy donut hooks into Achaea's class cookie-jar. After whoring these classes out to any type of bidder, the prestige and honour of being an Infernal Knight were sadly dropped to abysmal standards which to this day have never been recovered.

Take a good long look at the Naga. Like a cancerous, AIDS infested Leper, this once proud organization was never able to recover from its brutal rape.

Idelisa

First word I saw from Xeno's post was orgy.

Edit: Stupid rogue apostrophe.

Rovelda

The solution is easy, Xenomorph: do things in such a way that no more infested low-IQ prostituted lepers will enter your House. Or perhaps something like this was already in place and that is why people said Mhaldor had very few players?

I don't know your House, Xenomorph, but I can see that it is not my style of House, if such a thing exits.  

I've heard of Houses that are not interested in having more players for one reason or another and they are able to keep them so. It is something you can even read about in some City News, like they have the power to decide what class they want for their House and what class they don't want more.  

And if they are true newbies...uff that is only a nuisance and little to contribute. True, I agree.

Xenomorph

It's not that at all. The House is just fine. The problem is, rogue Infernals not in the Maldaathi Knights are permitted to live. The Maldaathi High Lord should be able to telepathically kill and repossess the skills of a non member.

For example. A guy in Ashtan, with zero respect for the ways of the Maldaathi Knights, and with that, Lord Sartan, are free to rape the class and act like complete clowns in the process. You get guys like this that backflip from House to House, or purely as a Rogue, raping any class they want without any sort of governmental control dictating their usage of our skills.

Nobody should be allowed to use our skills but us, certainly not someone that "just plays the game for fun" and wants to moonlight in our class without being carefully monitored and governed.

Look at the Occultists. They horribly got wrecked by Houses, and their once awesome mystique was overnight taken away, and whored out to anyone. These people would write books and babble about the once secret skills.

Its despicable and deplorable. Anathema is not enough. We should have a tyranical deathgrip on -our- skills, and non members that don't bend a knee to the Maldaathi and Mhaldorian Government should be slain and discarded like a used Trojan Magnum in a Motel 6 bathroom. 

Sena

Basically, guilds had power that houses don't have because joining a house is optional, while joining a guild was mandatory if you wanted a class. It was possible to leave the guild after a point and retain your class, but staying guildless was rare.

Nellaundra

Xenomorph said:

It's not that at all. The House is just fine. The problem is, rogue Infernals not in the Maldaathi Knights are permitted to live. The Maldaathi High Lord should be able to telepathically kill and repossess the skills of a non member.

For example. A guy in Ashtan, with zero respect for the ways of the Maldaathi Knights, and with that, Lord Sartan, are free to rape the class and act like complete clowns in the process. You get guys like this that backflip from House to House, or purely as a Rogue, raping any class they want without any sort of governmental control dictating their usage of our skills.

Nobody should be allowed to use our skills but us, certainly not someone that "just plays the game for fun" and wants to moonlight in our class without being carefully monitored and governed.

Look at the Occultists. They horribly got wrecked by Houses, and their once awesome mystique was overnight taken away, and whored out to anyone. These people would write books and babble about the once secret skills.

Its despicable and deplorable. Anathema is not enough. We should have a tyranical deathgrip on -our- skills, and non members that don't bend a knee to the Maldaathi should be slain and discarded like a used Trojan Magnum in a motel 6 bathroom. 

Sylvance

Xenomorph said:

It's not that at all. The House is just fine. The problem is, rogue Infernals not in the Maldaathi Knights are permitted to live. The Maldaathi High Lord should be able to telepathically kill and repossess the skills of a non member.

For example. A guy in Ashtan, with zero respect for the ways of the Maldaathi Knights, and with that, Lord Sartan, are free to rape the class and act like complete clowns in the process. You get guys like this that backflip from House to House, or purely as a Rogue, raping any class they want without any sort of governmental control dictating their usage of our skills.

Nobody should be allowed to use our skills but us, certainly not someone that "just plays the game for fun" and wants to moonlight in our class without being carefully monitored and governed.

Look at the Occultists. They horribly got wrecked by Houses, and their once awesome mystique was overnight taken away, and whored out to anyone. These people would write books and babble about the once secret skills.

Its despicable and deplorable. Anathema is not enough. We should have a tyranical deathgrip on -our- skills, and non members that don't bend a knee to the Maldaathi should be slain and discarded like a used Trojan Magnum in a motel 6 bathroom. 

Whilst I agree with much of the sentiment of your posts here, @Xenomorph I'm just a little concerned by the frequency with which prostitution, genito-urinary disease, and sexual violence feature in your discourse.

Xenomorph

Houses is a touchy subject that has fired me up long before most players were here. The type of player I hate the most is the class hopper that won't bend a knee to authoritarian Houses.

 

I know a lot of players (looks at Ashtan) that would be a Bozo the Clown Class that wields floppy spaghetti noodles --SO LONG as this class was superior to the others, and dominated PK wise--. They have zero self respect and use whatever class is "hot" this week without zero body image. Class hoppers/whores and the ungoverned are in need of authoritarian dictatorship

Rovelda

You and I have such a different view of the world, Xenomorph... I am trying to understand the repercussions of what you say, but it is difficult for me because I don't know if it is mostly Nostalgia for you, or there is so much fact in what you say. Anyhow, I can see that you really feel sorry about it.

I will tell you my opinion about something that you might like: The possibilities of class/city/house combination we can choose as newbies should be reworked. It is all too confusing when we don't know the world. 

Xenomorph

What can I say, children idolize me, and the Garden wants to be like me.

I'll be signing autographs at the mall later if you cats are interested.

Another thread ablaze, my work here is done.

Rovelda

That's much better. I prefer to deal with you....from Outside your House.

Antidas

@Tvistor complaints from victims are always a plus in my book. One of my first HFs in the Naga was from @Balynne (come back bby ) when she was HL because she got so many complaints about me

Synbios

If anything, Houses in a city cannot share classes(Ex. If Templars have Paladins/Runewardens, Crystalline Circle cannot take Runewardens in). I believe this was a much more palatable scenario than...what, Templar Jesters?

Tvistor

Compliments, Antidas. Compliments. If I was getting complaints I'd be high-fiving him. Compliments are worrying.

@Xenomorph I'm not entirely sure if a class being easy to gain access to equates to reducing the prestige of House members. There is still a vast divide between Maldaathi knights (who are pretty much the most knightly and strict of the lot) and certain non-Mhaldorian infernals. The class is there, but the fact they exist doesn't actually detract from the accomplishments of the Maldaathi.

On the other hand, I can't actually think of any argument for them to exist, save it brings in credits for IRE.

Vasool

On the other hand, it opened up some nice RP opportunities that were unexpected.  I can remember at least four separate occasions where I had to approach different rogue Infernals who were wearing knightly titles without earning them. Through the ensuing RP, in each case, they eventually removed the title and the Maldaathi were able to put another victory behind them having protected the sanctity of knighthood yet again.

I also thoroughly enjoyed helping establish and put together a program in Hashan (months and months RL of hard work putting together the different paths and requirements).  I have a lot of respect for those players in Hashan who join the KoH and work at it, considering the RP environment there isn't exactly pushing individuals to do that.  It was initially so successful we even got a denizen Sir Mantufalf, who wanders Hashan, representing the Knights of Hashan.

Nostalgia aside, (and good luck to you guys in the KoH right now, hope you're doing well), @Xenomorph is spot on with what he says.  Not every class in Achaea benefited from autoclass, and the knights and the occultists are two prime examples. IMO, there should be a mix of autoclass and guilds, restricting the more aligned classes to the city/house/guild they belong to, and leaving the rest for everyone to enjoy.

Wynedere

Ebon Fist sounds pretty good. I've heard nothing but good things about them. Perhaps I should have gone with them instead. I would have had I not just gone magi after spending most of Wyn's life as a monk. I wasn't going to switch back on her.

As for the slight change in the thread, I'm not sure where I stand on it. I play Achaea to have fun. If something gets too bothersome to continue, I don't. Of course, I have nothing against those of you who are extremely hardcore concerning your characters, their RP alignments, and such matters. That can certainly be quite enjoyable as well.

Mizik

House credit sales????????

Helloooooooooooo?

Harry!?

Sylvance

Mizik said:

House credit sales????????

Helloooooooooooo?

Harry!?

True, to an extent, but I don't think 15cr every 5 years is going to be a great incentive to joining a House

Mizik

15 cr???? Every 5 years! 

Join a real House, son!

Rovelda

Thank you for explaining this, Mizik. I guess now I need Sena to give details about how this works.

It must be something for High Ranks only, I imagine.

Ruth

Oh yeah. There's the House credits sale. That's a definite plus. My only regret is that I keep forgetting to put them up for sale every Sarapin.

Synbios

House and city credits. If you've secured yourself a reliable source of income from questing and hunting, these are wonderful, wonderful perks.

Rovelda said:

Thank you for explaining this, Mizik. I guess now I need Sena to give details about how this works.

It must be something for High Ranks only, I imagine.

Not necessarily. For instance, Templars allow those in HR5 to purchase House Credits, and I'm assuming that most Houses generally allow members of that House Rank to purchase as well. Just work on your requirements and you'll no doubt get the requisites down so you can purchase House Credits.

Rovelda

And the House has more credits for sale the more members it has? Or is it not depending on that?

Synbios

More or less. If I remember right, when a person buys OOC credits, the House and/or City also gets a tiny bonus to their credit stocks(you can see it on logs as +x credits: Member purchase, but correct me if my info is wrong). Somewhere, someone will buy some credits, and the House and/or City will benefit.

Sometimes, Houses will also take the initiative, using their funds to purchase credits off credit market, or other generous donors will donate credits to the House. 

Azor

Hmm, did I simply "let the problem take care of itself"? Not how I remember it. The "extra requirements" were imposed by Carmain, who my char isn't just going to flatly overrule in his dealings with a subordinate. Carmain is the former HL, Dread Ecclesiarch, former Tyrannus, etc etc. So though I nominally outrank him in the House, it wouldn't have made much sense to do more than offer my opinion (which is what I did), unless Carmain were doing something truly heinous and unacceptable.

And the other thing is, you know, Carmain is an extremely good combatant, and it's a privilege to have him teach you stuff, have him be so set on teaching you stuff, in fact, that he won't pass you on the combat req for what he (with his presumably higher standards) thinks of as sub-par.

Arilles

Well, I dunno, some of the Houses I've been in are great, currently though I'm kind annoyed.

I honestly haven't played in some time, and I never really did the whole Forestal thing, so I decided to make a character in the Sentinels. I read the scrolls I was told to read (AFTER waiting a while thinking, as it used to be, that someone would say "READ THIS, THIS, and THIS."), then, when I announced over HNT that I had read them and was ready to meet someone, no one said a thing and no one came.

I figured, well, maybe with everything thats going on everyones just really busy, so I waited and then spoke up on HNT again. Nothing. So, I waited a while longer, and got a reply, but all they did was ask if I had read the scrolls (WHICH I HAD JUST ANNOUNCED OVER HNT THREE TIMES ALREADY). No one came though, so I just started to hunt through the HHELP INDEX scrolls until I at least found the lessons I needed to learn.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this character or not...

(NOTE: I can certainly understand if everyone really WAS insanely busy, but, there were like 10+ people around at the time.)

Achilles

Synbios said:

House and city credits. If you've secured yourself a reliable source of income from questing and hunting, these are wonderful, wonderful perks.

Rovelda said:

Thank you for explaining this, Mizik. I guess now I need Sena to give details about how this works.

It must be something for High Ranks only, I imagine.

Not necessarily. For instance, Templars allow those in HR5 to purchase House Credits, and I'm assuming that most Houses generally allow members of that House Rank to purchase as well. Just work on your requirements and you'll no doubt get the requisites down so you can purchase House Credits.

This.

Since I took over as HL of the Templars I've gone through and monitored credit purchases (the house gets 5% of all housemember purchases), credit sales (the house essentially subsidizes half the credit price) and the profits from our house shops.  Based on the numbers off the last 5 years, the Templars are keeping a static pile of gold and credits to what they are selling.  More and more people are taking advantage of the new credit sales policy and it gives people a attainable goal each IC year to hunt/quest enough to afford them.

We've also added credit bonuses for more combat oriented accomplishments as the Templars should be the most combat oriented house in Shallam.

Anatral

Arilles said:

Well, I dunno, some of the Houses I've been in are great, currently though I'm kind annoyed.

I honestly haven't played in some time, and I never really did the whole Forestal thing, so I decided to make a character in the Sentinels. I read the scrolls I was told to read (AFTER waiting a while thinking, as it used to be, that someone would say "READ THIS, THIS, and THIS."), then, when I announced over HNT that I had read them and was ready to meet someone, no one said a thing and no one came.

I figured, well, maybe with everything thats going on everyones just really busy, so I waited and then spoke up on HNT again. Nothing. So, I waited a while longer, and got a reply, but all they did was ask if I had read the scrolls (WHICH I HAD JUST ANNOUNCED OVER HNT THREE TIMES ALREADY). No one came though, so I just started to hunt through the HHELP INDEX scrolls until I at least found the lessons I needed to learn.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this character or not...

(NOTE: I can certainly understand if everyone really WAS insanely busy, but, there were like 10+ people around at the time.)

All I can say is :-| Sorry. We're working on that. Send me a tell in game next time you're on and I'll fix you up.