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Comments
And you won't understand the cause of your grief...
...But you'll always follow the voices beneath.
I know we have very differing views on the Gem and Veil part, but I have some agreement with this, even more so that veils can farsee across distances. I think there needs to be a distinction between hiding to remove yourself from direct -active- combat and having the space to be logged in quietly to chat or do other things. (House / city / order tasks etc)
@Atalkez I get what you're saying and I think there could be some changes but I'm having a hard time thinking of how to balance it with the other functionality of ships so that it's not too much of a deterrent to people using them or a wealth barrier. Also, I don't think the argument "that's not what they're supposed to be for" is any better than "that's how they've always been." It should be about what's good for the game, not making sure they match some predetermined intended purpose.
Ships used to be less safe. You could follow somebody boarding and force board without having captain privs. That was mostly removed because people were being complete punks. You can seriously trash a ship if you manage to get inside.
It takes huge effort to build up crew xp and morale, and if a person can kill crew by getting inside, that makes any changes a no-go, in my opinion. But crew will attack a person on a ship if they manage to get aboard, and it doesn't seem fair that the crew can kill you but you can't kill them, so I'm not sure how to make that workable. On the plus side, there would be a lot more use from swashbucklers if they did deter attackers, so that's a good thing. Maybe it should be adjusted so only swashies can kill and be killed? Protect the rest of the crew since their xp is what determines turning and row and order speed.
Also ship trades really are predictable. They do happen all month but there's a big rush in the couple of hours after midnight GMT, which is also when the current crop of pirates tends to operate. Also not a dealbreaker, but people looking to trade already need to watch out for pirates (which I like!). A couple of thieves sitting in their ships at Tasur'ke or Thraasi with shipwarning on and watch 4 spec could wreak havoc on trading. There's a lot of gold involved, it would be tempting.
But, my fundamental disagreement is with the idea that this has to come at the cost of devaluing ships.
I'm of the opinion that having somewhere that is absolutely safe to idle with no consequences is a benefit to the game. And there's no shortage of people who agree with that point of view.
However, I also disagree with the idea of being able to avoid consequences for your own actions.
I'd be more than happy to chat about finding a balance between those two viewpoints. Perhaps; aggression cooldowns, any level of infamy disabling boarding privs, etc?
I had a decent size house in Cyrene that had full upgrades and I loved it. Every room was anti-prism, one room had full regens and privacy. Had news access and stables and different environments. I loved that house but I sank over 5000 credits into building it and that was before the changes to room credits.
I really freaking love my house in the Tundra but I fear that it’ll take me another real life year or two to finish it. The stable upgrade I recently got was 160 room credits and I still need a gate. I have a half dozen Boring, Change This! rooms because the 10k gold fee just to retitle a room brings out the worst of my perfectionism. I am always wanting to change things up and just designing all those rooms, 10k a pop for room descriptions is harsh.
I would love to do so much more with my house but it’s incredibly expensive, more so with a fluctuating player driven comms market and village commodity stores getting deleted where it was cheaper to buy.
I understand the gold sink aspect but it is massively unreasonable for me to have to invest this money. I genuinely miss room credits being available in exchange for 50cr or whatever because I could put my iron elite towards it.
I’d love to see housing be more affordable and have more options for both security and customisation.
Most of all, I’d like furniture fixed to not be so bloody awful to look at. I write most o my furniture into the description because the crafting system so bad.
And you won't understand the cause of your grief...
...But you'll always follow the voices beneath.
Synaptic lock: I do agree with this being very one-sided right now, but I also don't think it should go away. A middle ground is to give bell tattoo another use. If you have the bell tattoo defense already up, TOUCH BELL will tell you if anyone is currently mind locked with you. If the monk who's got you locked has a synaptic lock, it'll won't tell you their name. If they don't, it tells you their name. I'll probably add this to classleads next round, because I think it handles the problem in a balanced way.
Portals: A monolith sigil equivalent, for a hefty comm investment, that can only be dropped in a housing room you own. Can't be mushroomed or picked up, and doesn't decay, similar to the monolith sigils you find in god temples. Means they show up on veilglance and similar. A monolith upgrade is another possibility here but it's a bit less obvious that it's present.
Security: This one's pretty easy. Housing guards. If you can hire guards in your house, complete with buying barracks similar to city barracks, then your house rooms become just as safe as standing on a guard stack. Can include the variety of guard types, so you can protect your homes from trackers with archer guards too. Bonus points if the guards can be customized of course (wtb eagle army defending my island please).
Soul Infiltration: I have less of a problem with this one, but the theft concern is valid. The guards mentioned above, plus locked strongboxes/chests. You should be able to get a lock made at your city's locksmith for a reasonable gold sum, to attach to a strongbox/chest in a housing room you own. Most other decoration-type things you place in rooms can already be protected from theft in one way or another, and mayan crown display cases cover situations where they can't be I think. Maybe more varieties of display cases, like single-item pedestals or mounting racks to show the item's dropped appearance too?
I think ships should probably go away as impenetrable fortresses, and houses be made far more usable. I'm 100% on board with HOUSERETURN, that's pretty fantastic. I also think houses should be given more utility, because right now it's really hard to compete with a ship in terms of value and convenience.
Some of us want more risk, while many people want to eliminate it/keep it eliminated.
The world feels bland right now when there are so many ways to just remove yourself and minimize risks.
Penwize has cowardly forfeited the challenge to mortal combat issued by Atalkez.
Almost every IRE (still not sure about imperian) has a form of safety room where a player can feel secure -but- be isolated. It is almost a necessity for those of us out there that log in from their phones at work or are distracted but want to check in on things or chat. Removing that would also remove a lot of us signing in during those periods.
People say we are being 'self-entitled' by saying we want this security, yet it is also 'self-entitled' to want to constantly have people in arm's reach for you to attack/harass/rob should you wish to. PK and conflict is nice..but jeez that isnt only what Achaea is about.
1. While not everyone always uses ships to avoid consequences, the fact that it is even an option is unfair to those who work to create conflict in this game, which is getting more and more difficult by the day.
I feel that a good middle ground is possible to achieve, where we make houses and ships at least on par with being inside an in-city room. Guards (akin to swashbucklers) are a good suggestion as a deterrent. As for prism and monolith, we just add that to the housing upgrade, and privacy could include synaptic lock. These upgrades are, as mentioned, prohibitively expensive right now and deserve a boost to make them worth the price in the first place.
Even if ships are changed to be in the same area as the harbour, as long as you have those upgrades, you should only be affected by things like radiance or puppetry - which would only happen if you've been in conflict. And even if you die, so what? It's just one death, it's not the end of the world. Yes, it will incur a cost to tighten the security of your property, but at least you have the option.
2. The prism reversal on ships suggests that admin want to keep ships the way they are now, and by extension, the issue of separate non-penetrable areas. If that is the case, then the question of entitlement to 100% safe rooms is moot. They already exist. They can already be bought.
So, the suggestion then becomes to move these safe rooms on-land, into a setting that makes more sense and has broader RP appeal. If I had a choice between getting a ship or getting a house with the exact same utility, I'd 100% get a house each time - because I'm not interested in sailing and it makes no sense for my character's refuge to be on a ship.
Currently this isn't the case because security-wise, the scales are so heavily tilted towards ships that housing just isn't a smart investment at this stage. I and others have persevered because of the RP value, but the cost to outfit and upgrade the house to basic security is astronomical for very little return. Basically, it's just not really worth it right now when ships do everything better.
3. I understand the appeal for a 100% safe room. I don't think urging people to journal or log out for 100% safety is desirable, because they have a higher chance to stay logged off. And I definitely think that them being half-afk or afk but around is still better than the choice of being either 100% engaged with the game or simply not here at all. I get that it can be frustrating in certain circumstances, but I think the possibility of interaction - even if limited - is still better than all or none.
Not being a conflict generator (in that way), of course I would benefit hugely from a 100% safe zone. But I'm trying to take into account the views of bounty hunters, marks, spies etc. That's why I've suggested gating the security options behind high prices (so they're a goal to get but still won't be prolific) and changing it so that you will only be affected if you have recently been in combat or conflict.
I'm not really interested in the viability for theft at this moment. I feel a house is somewhere where you should feel safe in. You should be able to escape conflict (theft is one of this) but not consequences (I can still hunt you if you're at home, it's just harder) at home.
4. I think people deserve the option for security for their items. We currently say that you have to take responsibility for the upkeep of your items simply because the nature of that upkeep relies on a constant presence in Achaea or holding all your valuables, which I think is a poor solution.
People shouldn't be punished for using houses the way they should be used - to keep their items, or even to use them for RP - and having to go dormant. Nothing would turn me off coming back to Achaea more than realising that everything I own has been stolen from use of a Gem of Reincarnation. It's different for shops where a successful breakin is entirely avoidable if the shopkeeper is vigilant. Most house thefts are as a soul (I watched Tiamat do this just yesterday) and require no other ability besides having a gem and the owner being dormant. For prism, people have the option to keep themselves safe with the no-prism upgrade, so that isn't an issue.
Also, as above, people can already achieve this with ships. What I want to do is return that functionality to housing, where it makes sense for people to store their valuables. That's why I support artefact lockboxes or chests.
5. I don't believe ships were ever meant to serve the same scope of function as housing - perhaps it was just a nice add-on option - but the incredible security and utility they were given means that they are now thought of as being superior to housing. As a result, unfortunately, the desirability of housing is now proportionally tied to how well ships double as housing. It requires a rework of mindset to consider that houses should be the level of safety that ships are, while ships should be far more risky because of what they should be used for - sailing and trading.
The costs for both would be justified that way - ships would be expensive because they give you access to new content and can earn you money, while housing provides security and protection. It just doesn't make any sense if the primary use of your ship is for afking and storing your minerals forever.
For the record, what I am supporting is the upgrading of mainland housing to be on par with or better than ships as a house. Ship owners should still have full access to and enjoy the benefits of housing upgrades so they will be on equal footing with house owners if any changes are made.
Stories by Jurixe and Stories by Jurixe 2
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Alternatively, if houses were made a separate area that you had to get perms to go to (same with shipboarding) then that would also be moot.
I agree with the outdoors room thing and hence that is also why I suggested an upgrade for no travel into this room, which effectively nulls track.
Stories by Jurixe and Stories by Jurixe 2
Interested in joining a Discord about Achaean RP? Want to comment on RP topics or have RP questions? Check the Achaean RP Resource out here: https://discord.gg/Vbb9Zfs
If houses aren't made separate areas, they would be purchasable upgrades so that it doesn't come bundled with housing (so infiltration is still available for people who don't put in the effort towards safeguarding), but if you want it, the option is available. That would give characters something to work towards (and if it's a clan housing, a great common goal to save up for).
Having said that, if any of this is implemented I'd really like more shops to produce wood for cheaper <_< though I know the goal is to make all commodities player-produced so we'll see how that goes.
Stories by Jurixe and Stories by Jurixe 2
Interested in joining a Discord about Achaean RP? Want to comment on RP topics or have RP questions? Check the Achaean RP Resource out here: https://discord.gg/Vbb9Zfs