Ridiculous Castle pricing

Church

Not sure if that is a glitch or they are just smoking the wrong bong but I play on a fairly dead server, I dont have server transfer deeds to rape my server and sell to other servers, there is almost no merchant base on Baja and to afford a castle upgrade is unreal. I've mined my arse off to get the floor tiles, walls ect for my castle and everyone knows how buggy those things are. and after all that work, they want hundreds of millions for a design someone else did. @Mesanna why lot allow us to plot it and build it like we want since it is being price per tile anyways. 

AmberWitch

I gotta say this is probably one of the sadist moments in the game for me. This has completely taken the wind out of my sails. I'm out of any future contests. I refuse to participate in something that only the very rich can attain.

I was feeling so good about this new wonderful addition. You all had strong buy in from the player base. Now, after all our efforts, poof...

Turning something many of us worked hard to create into a gold sink? Really? I'm feeling like I've been sucker punched and those that know me know that I've always, through thick and thin, been the cheerleader.

Talk about a roller coaster ride...

Respectfully,

Amber Witch
Witch, not Trump

Uriah_Heep

The poll needs one more option:
3.  Don't give a hoot.

I'm missing something here tho...when the voting was done, Tatiana was 3rd place, yet the devs chose 5 castle designs, and hers wasn't one of them?  *scratches head*

Seems odd to me

Arroth_Thaiel

Wait and see how fast castles get converted. Especially on Atlantic. 

Anyone who doesn't have the money to convert will probably be able to sell for a pretty penny now that you can show off how much you have with castle plots. You can really set yourself apart from the masses with a converted castle.

I think castle plots are going to go way up in price.

Melchiah

Don't forget though that you can't even place the new ones - you have to convert an existing keep or castle. That way, you need to buy / build and add the cost of that onto it first!

Even less attainable for new and returning players...

jaytin

Well that's just very odd, so you have to be in the lucky minority to start with to become super elite! 

Arroth_Thaiel

Hey, people don't buy Lambo's and Koenigsegg's to commute with. They want something others don't have. They want to be able to show that they have something special, something that you and I don't. This is probably a great way for the developers to give that extra level of glit to those who desire it, and drain pretty good chunks of gold from the economy at the same time.

This is just playing to basic human nature. Pretty nice move actually.

Hell, they could've sold Castle Convert Tokens through the store for 10k or 20k Sovereigns and made a bunch of cash. I'm just glad they put it in the game as a gold sink.

Captain_Lucky

I'll be waiting to see how this all plays out. Will the conversion actually work? How many items went poof in the conversion, etc. I doubt I'd convert anyway, but I will hold off saying that until I walk through a few of them. If it were an empty plot yeah I'd drop the coin. But to own some other persons dream I don't see that happening. I'd like to know if you can still use stone crafting on the new castles. But I've put so much time into adding floors, etc, to my current castle I'll be surprised if anything will grab me enough to switch. This whole thing went so poorly I'm really super disappointed also. This should have been the coolest thing ever for me but I'm left just totally disappointed. I have 3 accounts and I wonder why? I've logged in about 5 times in the past month. This whole thing has turned me off to the game. I doubt I'll drop accounts but I will be hoping for some form of logic or sanity grips those who can make this right and give us our own "customizable" plot like every other house in the game. They've done next to nothing to address the concerns of castle owners. This should have been so simple and done a year ago with next to zero dev work. Custom plots is really the only reasonable option.

Bilbo

We see where this game is going, lets cater to the ultra rich and the minority player base of UO.  This game is really getting out of hand.  These houses did not cost that much to build on TC so where are they getting this cost for the tiles, what is the most a 18x18 custome house costs.

jaytin

@Bilbo totally agree with you, nobody I know in game is willing or in some cases able to pay those prices, in fact most of them said the new designs were just not worth the cost.

Petra_Fyde

I admit the prices came as something of a shock to me - but when I thought about it a bit I realised. When most of us started a castle was something to aspire to, only the rich could afford them. The main price hasn't changed since 2003 - how long did it take back then to raise that kind of sum? About as long as the new castle prices would take now?
It's not very possible to place a castle now; even on 'empty' shards castle spots are few and far between, and how much do they change hands for on busier shards? 150 mill? more? 

I'll be sticking with my 18 x 18, but on the whole I think the price is in line with the sort of inflation the gold in game has undergone.

Larisa

Contest Housing Pricing

Posted on September 13, 2018 by UO Dev Team

9/13/2018

Greetings,

We have seen quite a bit of discussion relating to the cost of contest housing recently introduced with Publish 101.  Firstly, the cost of contest housing will be uniform across all shards, including Siege Perilous.

As far as the costs of these homes in relation to legacy housing, we want to share with you why these homes cost substantially more than a standard castle.  One of the top 5 most common areas of feedback we receive is that the game world lacks adequate gold sinks to effectively combat inflation within the economy.  One of the most effective ways to combat this is pulling gold out of the game by providing  high end luxury items.  A castle is the most luxurious item Britannia has to offer, and the new designs are the top end of that luxury.  Gold is by no means in short supply, and rallying around the fundraising efforts for luxury items is one of the greatest motivators for group activity in our beloved MMO.  We look forward to seeing the new designs fully decorated as you make them your home.

See you in Britannia,

UO Team

Uriah_Heep

At least now the ultra rich rares collectors can upgrade their castles to show off their museum pieces.   Oh well...

IBTL

Arroth_Thaiel

Maybe ask Messana if next cycle's custom housing could be made less exclusive (i.e. less expensive)?

Maybe they could create tiers of convertible housing?
10 Mil
100 Mil
300 Mil
800 Mil
1 Plat

Those 1 Plat houses would be (semi?) rare. Quite the thing to show off your rares museum in. What are the highest prices in the rares forums? I mean, you could even make a design that cost 10 Plat. Some would certainly get used, and that gold would be removed from the game.

I said this in the other thread, but these are vanity items. They have no function beyond what a basic castle has. They are just for the show.

(@Uriah_Heep, you beat me. You posted about rares museums while I was typing about rares museums.)

Arroth_Thaiel

jaytin said:

Well that's just very odd, so you have to be in the lucky minority to start with to become super elite! 

I think you nailed it jaytin. Some players don't even have houses, the wealthier do, the elite have castles, and now the super elite have something.

(Plus, Broadsword gets to remove gold from the game, possibly slows inflation, and maybe generates some benefits even for the players without housing.)

Bilbo

So @Petra_Fyde how much did your 18x18 cost you to customize?  I did a Keep on TC and alls I used was the gold they give you.  An 18x18 has app. %50 the storage a Castle has and I will bet you anything that it did not cost you 50M+ to design your house, in fact I bet you you would get back what 1M or less if you demolish your house which is the value of your home and is %100 refundable.  So do these Castle owners get back the cost of the house when they demolish it?

Larisa

I get that they want to add gold sinks...and this by FAR is a big one...BUT...it's not really logical...I know quite a few people are going to buy gold...honestly there is no such thing as a gold sink because the gold just keeps coming in...how do you think RMT'rs sell so much? Because that much is there ALL THE TIME....so NOW you have people paying real money for gold to 3rd party sites that EA/UO/BS will NEVER see a penny of....that makes sense how?

I know I'm straddling the fence with these comments and I do apologize in advance but to first make a contest that caters to the select few that already own a castle and then dwindle that down even FURTHER by only allowing those with billions of gold to utilize the results...I am sure all the RMTrs are dancing for joy right now.

I'm sorry team...but this is a HUGE mistake...if you must put gold sinks in..don't do it this way, you are alienating a very large portion of the player base and we're all you've got!

jaytin

@Larisa well said! So they just made the gold sellers richer, do they even have any idea how many of the few players left can afford to buy a new design, even if they did like them?

Uriah_Heep

jaytin said:

@ Larisa well said! So they just made the gold sellers richer, do they even have any idea how many of the few players left can afford to buy a new design, even if they did like them?

Kinda makes you wanna believe what people say about who the gold sellers are, eh?

Margrette

Larisa said:

I get that they want to add gold sinks...and this by FAR is a big one...BUT...it's not really logical...I know quite a few people are going to buy gold...honestly there is no such thing as a gold sink because the gold just keeps coming in...how do you think RMT'rs sell so much? Because that much is there ALL THE TIME....so NOW you have people paying real money for gold to 3rd party sites that EA/UO/BS will NEVER see a penny of....that makes sense how?

I know I'm straddling the fence with these comments and I do apologize in advance but to first make a contest that caters to the select few that already own a castle and then dwindle that down even FURTHER by only allowing those with billions of gold to utilize the results...I am sure all the RMTrs are dancing for joy right now.

I'm sorry team...but this is a HUGE mistake...if you must put gold sinks in..don't do it this way, you are alienating a very large portion of the player base and we're all you've got!

100% in agreement, Larisa.  I'm sure the gold sellers are ecstatic.

Bilbo

A 31x31 plot costs 525,000 gold and a Castle costs 865,000 so that means the tiles cost 340,000 gold so where are these outrages prices for tiles coming from?

Can any of the contest winners go and check the value of their homes as stated in the housing window.

McDougle

Mervyn said:

I feel I should ask this question:
how many people who own a castle, do not have over 1 plat? 

I don’t see what the problem is at all.

On Atl and maybe europa this might be true every other shard not so much....
and this is another case of something they should have stated up front. this was a contest that benefited very few and now to cut that number even further with unrealistic prices i don't ever want to hear the Dev say we lack the time or resources again after this giant waste of both for such a small segment of the player base...

AmberWitch

Frankly, I'm appalled. People designed these structures thinking they were going to be able to place them, live in them, decorate them, be proud of them. People labored to design and build.

If the Dev team thinks having a gold sink is something they want to have let them design something or have a separate contest for players to design that. But reward the winner(s) with a free winning structure.

This shouldn't be something that is going to make the rich feel richer, the poor feel poorer, the middle class feel poorer.

This is wrong. Even India is trying to do away with the caste system.

Margrette

Mervyn said:

I feel I should ask this question:
how many people who own a castle, do not have over 1 plat? 

I don’t see what the problem is at all.

I have about 130 million gold total across 8 accounts and I own 5 castles (Sonoma, Origin, Lake Austin, Balhae, and Arirang).  I have custom houses on Atlantic, Balhae, Oceania, Mugen, and Siege.  I own exactly one EM event item that I got from going to an EM event on Balhae. 

I've had a vendor up on Atlantic until a day ago when I changed my house there and managed to make about 14 million gold in three weeks by selling mostly crafting resources. (I was selling cheap LRC suits for 10k until someone bought me out to stock their vendor and sell them for 30k.)  I haven't played quite long enough to own any shard shields, so anything I sell on Atlantic I have to go out and gather myself.   I have a shop on Balhae but sales there are exceedingly slow and the castle I have there has a tree in the courtyard so it's probably not convertible anyway.

So, yeah, if I want to convert any of the other castles to one of the new designs, it's going to be a long, long road to making 300 million gold on any of those shards just by regular game play (i.e., excluding EM events which I can't ever get to, transferring gold from another shard since I have no shard shields, sending things to Atlantic to sell, or by buying it from a gold seller).  

At this point, it's hard to even care anymore.  I feel like I'm just one more player who is too stupid to have figured out how to get rich in UO and therefore the dev team doesn't care about me or other people like me.  We're apparently a dime a dozen and there's no need to worry about whether or not we're going to stick around and keep paying and helping to keep the lights on in UO.  We pay our sub fees and little else and therefore we're pretty worthless.

Bilbo

Sadly @AmberWitch this is what UO is turning into.  I am going back to Baja and try to have fun but it is increasingly becoming harder and harder to see this game going in this direction.  The only good thing going is truly the good people of our shard.

ChaosNExus

This is Absolutley obsurd on the pricing of these castles.  We are losing fan base and you have a contest getting the hopes up of all these people.  Then they are ready to place and you put these prices on and say its inflation?  Economy?  Whos economy?  Max should be 5 million in customization.   A regular castle is 865k to place.  Why are you trying to make people leave the game? 

Church

well I have a castle on Baja, I have a collective gold of about 50 mill. I wouldnt even have that if i did not have people transfer pets to Atlantic to sell. That being said, a server should be self serving meaning I shouldnt have to transfer my items to another server just to pay for a house. Baja has very limited vendors so selling anything there is not going to make anyone rich. Using paying customers to develop a home so UO can market it is pretty lame. Farming up enough granite to make a current castle into something had good possibilities but most people who have done this can tell you how bugged it is. things falling through floor tiles, tiles coming unhooked or randomly ending up in the moving crate is a complete mess. I'm all for making a castle into a plot that you can build like a normal house. lots of creativity can be done there. 

on a side note, like todays tokens that you have 2 options to choose from, 1 being deco and the other being something you can build after using it to find a constellation is too funny. talk about useless.  some really crummy things coming from UO lately. 

Arroth_Thaiel

Larisa said:

.....but to first make a contest that caters to the select few that already own a castle and then dwindle that down even FURTHER by only allowing those with billions of gold to utilize the results...

...you are alienating a very large portion of the player base and we're all you've got!

"Select few" cannot also be a "very large portion".

........

Most of the player base isn't going to care about this at all, because they do not own a castle. More of the player base won't care, because they own a castle and can afford to upgrade to a new design. More won't care because they own a castle and aren't interested in upgrading.

This is about a few people, who already own a castle, who are upset they can't afford a bling upgrade. And, they already own castles.

The histrionics in this thread are ridiculous.

-Peace out-

Pitr

Twenty one years of ultima online and it is the second time I say this...
"Dear devs, you can kiss my elven..."
---
Bad move introducing a rich vs poor, special vs common battle in a uo core system... the housing tool.
---
It only makes you... you the devs, look more and more like aristocrats... much like the current monarchic system in Trammel

Rorschach

Obvious trollish posts will be removed without notice. Please be mindful of the terms of service when posting.

McDougle

Arroth_Thaiel said:

Larisa said:

.....but to first make a contest that caters to the select few that already own a castle and then dwindle that down even FURTHER by only allowing those with billions of gold to utilize the results...

...you are alienating a very large portion of the player base and we're all you've got!

"Select few" cannot also be a "very large portion".

........

The histrionics in this thread are ridiculous.

Most of the player base isn't going to care about this at all, because they do not own a castle. More of the player base won't care, because they own a castle and can afford to upgrade to a new design. More won't care because they own a castle and aren't interested in upgrading.

This is about a few people, who already own a castle, who are upset they can't afford a bling upgrade. And, they already own castles.

Once again i point out that the fact that this was done for such a small % of the player base despite the fact that things that do affect the majority of players is always put on back burner due to lack of staff, time and resources to further anger everyone lets make everything as unclear as possible not bother to mention these will be gold sinks with higher cost and it appears break house customizing in the process this is a fail all around