Empy lairs.... Empty hearts

[Shian]

*sigh* I'm reaaly sick of walking by lairs, (I click on them all the time) and noticing how many good size lairs, with good locations have NOTHING built in them!

What is this, the first day players that scrambled for lairs, left years ago and are not coming back?

I can see where plot reclemaition can be hesitant- those that have gotten lairs/plots in a good location and built up things to help the community, (IE the lair underneath crystals has a crystal shaper and a public silo in it) I can see where those would be a sad sight to lose, but I'm a bit bitter at having an odd sized lair just because all the good ones are taken... and have nothing built in them!

Edit: How about adding a small upkeep tax just to check for active players?

[LaughingOtter]

: How about adding a small upkeep tax just to check for active players?

There is one. It's called a paid subscription.

[Shian]

Yes, but those without a currently paid subscription still have lairs and plots taken from the current subscribers and players. I meant something like an in game tax to make sure you log on once ever three months or so.

[Velea]

Why would that matter? Why would it make a difference to those who aren't subscribed? An upkeep tax would effect those who are paying subscribers already, but do nothing to change the problem, at least as I see it.

[CallakDW]

I have to agree with Shian about the lair problem. I've seen a few allready that were never constructed in that I would have loved to have bought and worked on when I returned to Istaria. These abandoned lairs are especially prevelant near the racial cities.

[Shian]

Why would that matter? Why would it make a difference to those who aren't subscribed? An upkeep tax would effect those who are paying subscribers already, but do nothing to change the problem, at least as I see it.

Those that do not pay the tax gets thier land revoked. It's unfair to have a ton of lairs that have nothing in them because some player 4 years ago bought it "intending to do something with it" and stopped playing after 2-3 months.

I counted 7 lairs in between Chiconis and the silver mine alone! As a really young dragon I cannot look very many places, but it seems like every lair I pass has either nothing in it or 1 corridor.....

[CallakDW]

Those that do not pay the tax gets thier land revoked. It's unfair to have a ton of lairs that have nothing in them because some player 4 years ago bought it "intending to do something with it" and stopped playing after 2-3 months.

Those who are not paying on an account are supposed to get it revoked too each reclaimation. Do you know if these people are paying on an account?

[Tcei]

*nods* its everywhere. I've a list of about a dozen lair's that I'd *LOVE* to get, and every last one of em is taken and not built . I plan on snagging one of these lairs once reclaimations happen, and when that happens that will be the absolute last time I ever move...Honest!

[LaughingOtter]

Those that do not pay the tax gets thier land revoked.

How many times does this have to come up?

It's not your place to tell anyone what to do with their property, as long as they are paying their subscription. It's their's, not yours.

Yes, we do need a plot repo to happen, and that's what you should be focusing your energies on. The people who are paying their subscriptions are not the problem. A property tax does nothing but annoy paying players, and those who aren't actively subscribing are going to lose their properties already.

[Shian]

I do not know.... I have not been here long enough to know what dragons are active.... who is a known sleeping dragon. Has there been a plot reclaimation in HZ before? I know multiple games that have been "slated to have one" but for years the devs just didn't do in the hopes they would come back.

This of course, had the paying player suffer- having to look at dead houses for well over three years.

[CallakDW]

I do not know.... I have not been here long enough to know what dragons are active.... who is a known sleeping dragon. Has there been a plot reclaimation in HZ before? I know multiple games that have been "slated to have one" but for years the devs just didn't do in the hopes they would come back.

This of course, had the paying player suffer- having to look at dead houses for well over three years.

Yes there has, but I don't know how often it normally occurs.

[Kerech]

It used to be automatic didn't it? I remember people talking about the plot reclamation script that ran monthly or something? That was apparently shut off when EII took over, which is good, given all the billing problems that were going on.

Those billing problems seem to have been resolved now. I think it's time for a reclamation.

If nothing else, fix it so guild GMs can control guild town plots and reassign them to active members. We have guild lairs sitting idle because the owner no longer plays and the dragons in the guild can't find lairs outside of the guild town to buy. The lairs in question only cost the member 1s to buy, they have not been developed at all, or very little, so the former owner isn't out anything if they lose it. VI should open it up for the GMs to be able to reassign these at their discretion.

[LaughingOtter]

Guild properties get reclaimed too. I expect the delay is due to the Unity issue. If Unity characters are going to be joining Order & Chaos, it's better to wait until after the transfers are done to reclaim plots so the Unity folks can find homes as well.

[Fratricide]

It has already been stated by VI that Plot reclamations are on the To Do list right after the Unity issue is resolved... I know it is upsetting for folks to see places that have nothing done to them.. I hate running by scaffolding above ground on huge plots that it doesn't look like anyone has played for a while...
Wait a minute.. My plot looks like that... >.< I guess I need to get back to work on it..

[Peaches]

How many times does this have to come up?

It's not your place to tell anyone what to do with their property, as long as they are paying their subscription. It's their's, not yours.

Yes, we do need a plot repo to happen, and that's what you should be focusing your energies on. The people who are paying their subscriptions are not the problem. A property tax does nothing but annoy paying players, and those who aren't actively subscribing are going to lose their properties already.

Here here, I for one would NOT want to see a property tax put in. All it does is cause stress as to if I would have enough money to keep paying taxes for it. I say NO to taxes, and as Laughing Otter says, it won't help anything.

[Fratricide]

I remember when I played SWG having a building maintenance... every building you had, had to have maintenance payed on the facility... If your account lapsed.. you still could have several buildings in the game, because others had permissions to your place, and with those permissions they could pay your maintenance. Now.. in that game it kinda made sense, because you could just about literally place a building about anywhere in the world... This game... If I had to pay maint on each building I had.. that would just be a pain.

Paying money to the plot for keeping it... say auto draw the funds from your in hand coin.. wouldn't make sense either... as my char has like 5g atm.. Im sure that my char would be able to hold his plot for quite a while with that.. and who's to say that folks wouldn't just dump coin like that on the plot anyway... As like my buildings on SWG... THEY Still exist even though I haven't had an active account there for at least 1.5 years.. and no one has paid my maint.. I just dumped all my cash on the buildings I had when I played... no need to spend the coin on other things as the clan I was in made everything I really needed...

Anyway.. adding the requirement to continue to pay for a plot doesn't really make a whole heck of a lot of sense as, at least bipeds, put so much cash into buying their plots up front its not even funny...

[Frith-Rae]

As someone who is mostly broke after winning their dream location - putting in taxes is a "no please no" .

However, yes plot reclamations need to happen. They did use to happen more regularly but with the EI purchase fiasco they certainly never knew how to do any of that. Vi has stated they are coming, but they just worked out the billing issues (and some billing issues are STILL being worked on) themselves, and I imagine the Unity issue also needs to be solved before they could be satisfied that a plot reclamation wouldn't harm too many paying customers.

In the meantime - find those lots you want - find out who owns them. Ask around and see if anyone knows wether the player no longer exists or wether they plan to return. You may even find an email address from a still playing friend. PM them here at the forums - who knows - you might catch'em and get a response. Find out what guild they were in and check with the GMs - cuz they may know ift hey plan to return or how long ago they left.

Add'em to your friends list so if they do login - you'll know immediately...

And if none of these works to get in touch with said person, you're no worse off than you are right now - but odds are you'll find SOMETHING out (it may be that "oh that person hasnt' been seen in two years" odds are they aren't paying and the plot will be released.

[Vermithraxx]

Assuming the plot reclaim ever happens, what's the largest plot (dimensions) existant?

I agree, no need for 'taxes', don't give the devs idea for more money sinks like Nadia

Personally, I don't care of a lair sits un-developed, tho I can't imagine why you'd bother owning a plot/lair if you've no intention of devleoping it. I wasn't around when lairs were first brought into the game, but it seem to be exactly what Shain said... a sudden land rush, and everybody abandoned ship.

I remember a thread from June asking peeps to log in and sell back their un-used lairs/plots. The general reply was "We're not paying to log back in to do that". Funny how those peeps suddenly vanished.

Virtrium obviously knows a plot reclaim needs done, their announcement back in June (by Horizons-CS) was obviously an attempt to draw interest back to a stagnant game, it's a shame they haven't followed up on their words with action.

As far as I know, the last (only?) we heard was August 30th:
http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...731#post157731

V: You mentioned it, so I'll ask here... what's the planned timeline for plot reclamation?

H-CS: The paint on the billing system is not even dry...

Here's the plan - we want to figure out a technical solution for Unity players (like Vahrokh and other Unity Players) so they can migrate over to Order or Chaos. We spent some time looking at the problem before tackling billing, but there's work involved and problems we need to figure out. Once we know one way or another (read: we really want to get those character moved over but technical issues have to be dealt with), we'll begin Plot Reclamation.
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We're not as vocal as the Unity peeps, out of sight, out of mind, no updates.

[Arietna]

I have a plot and a lair. I'm currently working on my plot, so my lair looks abandoned.. but it's not.. I *did* some work on it when I was playing my dragon, but I'm taking a break.. I can't be the only one either.

FYI my lair's in Elmnic..

[Kerech]

Same here Arietna. I have a lair and 2 plots (3 accounts). I alternate work between the 3, so any given time 2 of my properties look "abandoned", but they are not.

As long as there is a paying account behind the property, there's no reason for anyone to be upset that it may or may not be in development IMO.