Thread: DELETE the owner of a house dormant over a year....

This is getting to be pretty ridiculous finding a neighborhood with friends. One person i know has been gone almost a year and a half and won't be coming back and his house is STILL there.. was purpose does that serve other than clogging up neighborhoods and not allowing people to have new locations (if they want) or move into a neighborhood near friends? I'm assuming others have ran in to this problem as well.

I honestly don't know why after say a year (which is PLENTY of time) the house is put back onto the market for sale and other people can buy it. There's more reasons to have owners deleted than i posted but that's pretty much the main things. Maybe something to consider in the future please Turbine?

/signed I mean really... it seems like turbine came up with a good system... now enforce the damn thing...

If a person does not pay there upkeep then they lose the house plain and simple... I mean even at L6 you can earn your upkeep in no time... login for an hour once every 6 weeks and pay it... you can go f2p so there are no monthly account charges...

but I am sure that the reason for all these ghost towns is that people no longer play at all... I want to move, but there are just no houses...

Agree, if evicting homes would cause too many problems move them into uninhabited neighbourhoods.

Nope. Instead, Turbine can open up more neighborhoods, or find an alternate solution that doesn't require people to give up their houses. Its been policy for so long and would generate much ill will to have it changed now.

It used to work as you suggest and was changed due to player complaints.

IIRC it was changed to accommodate players serving in the armed forces, who wouldn't be able to play for one or more tours of duty.

If one must leave the game for an extended period of time, it's really not a big deal to lose the house. You pick your items up in escrow and if you still want a house, go set one up again. While we admire and respect those in the armed forces, having to set up a new virtual home - if you still actually care to (and if you return to the game) - is not any great loss.

There are complaints about every aspect of this game. I suspect bowing to complaints about eviction from houses had to do with Turbine really not caring much about housing. I mean, sure, lock up houses forever since they really don't serve any purpose. I would much rather see allowance for paying upkeep for a more extended period of time (which would cut down on complaints from those who go away for just a couple months - which is where I suspect the bulk of complaints came from).

If housing mattered and was intended to foster a sense of immersion and interaction, perpetually locked houses would run counter to those goals and would not happen. The current rule only makes sense insofar as housing doesn't matter.

Heck, there is even a lore precedent. If Bilbo had returned just a day or two later from his jaunt to the Lonely Mountain, Bag End would have been gone forever

Yes, lively neighborhoods would be nice. I've been around a while and haven't even bothered buying a house (and have plenty gold, that isn't the issue).

I have a lifetime Sub. I've been away from the game for about a year and a half. I lost my house, which I'm fine with. None of my things were in escrow for me though. I'm not happy about that.

I was told that my situation did not meet the policy for reimbursement and to have a nice day

I don't want reimbursement, I want my things back!

I'd quite like a house in the same neighbourhood as my kin house. A lot of houses in the neighbourhood are owned by former kin members who haven't logged on in years. As far as I know, many of them didn't even migrate from Codemasters to Turbine so they wouldn't be able to come back now even if they wanted to, yet their houses are still there.

I agree that the houses of people who haven't played for a long time should be released so that current players can buy them. I do think their housing items should be kept in escrow indefinitely, in case they decide to come back. Houses are much easier to replace than housing items.

At the very least, release those houses owned by players who didn't migrate from Codemasters to Turbine.

/SIGNED X 500!

My god i know some people may go on active duty but then before your sent away contact the site saying hay im about to risk my life. Hold my house" I'd wager more then 70 percent of the locked homes are just users who left the game NOT on active duty. OR if there going to be angry have it so hey if your gone for a year you loose your house but heres a housing token so you can buy another house of that rank. And with all the homes opening up it wont be hard to find a new one!"

Its not right when you go into a town and no lie 90% of the bought homes are failure to pay upkeep! ( i say baught since theres a lot of kinship homes up for sale and some places have some standards) Ive been trying to find a deluxe elf home for months. I have the gold saved the furniture bought but I have to wait for new layers to be made becuase every house is locked for upkeep. And knowing once i BUY a home most of the homes in my neighborhood will die similarly is just sad. If they want housing to be more fun and desirable they have to keep it active by weeding the forclosed homes!

I just spent an entire afternoon riding through all the elven housing areas looking for a vacant deluxe house (well, after a while I was just look for ANY house). I understand Turbine not wanting to anger people who might come back, but after a few years, surely the chances of that are minimal and I would think that allowing any new players who do decide to try out LOTRO to have a shot at a house would be a better move game community wise. At the very least, Turbine could put an option to only show neighborhoods with vacant houses so you dont spend hours and hours riding through the same streets looking for a for sale sign.

SWG had a great idea doing their housing clean ups. Any house that wasn't occupied in a certain time frame was 'flagged for destruction'. It wasn't actually destroyed, just packed up into the players datapad to be opened upon return. They just lost their location. They even made it into an event where you could get Titles, Badges, Items, etc., from doing it. Maybe Turbine could do something similar?

I really don't see the big deal why any player would be upset about losing their house after a few years. I mean sure maybe the players house location was always the one they wanted, but have they ever thought there might be hundreds if not thousands of players just begging for that one spot by the cherry tree? Whats the current house holder going to lose? Yes a spot they wanted, but there are 4 unique housing zones to pick from! Honestly! Are you telling me any player coming back to the game after years wouldn't like the idea of exploring these zones for a new house? They could be surprised and find a even better house by a luxury waterfall by Thorin's Gates or even in a Hobbit Hole by a lake! There's just tons of houses to pick from!

P.S I came back after about 2 years and was perfectly happy to choice a new house, but since it was still there I just stuck with it since one look at the housing options (Deluxe houses for sale, etc) I thought it simply best to just stick to this one with such lack of choice (Number of houses for sale).




Sorry for rant just had to get it off my chest (and shield :P)

I think two years is a long enough time to be gone from the game without paying for a house to finally foreclose and let someone else buy it. I think a year isn't long enough because I know a lot of people who have left for a year for various reasons and come back.

Perhaps a player who comes back after a long hiatus might be upset if they lose their house. But how many currently active players are upset because they cannot get a house at all? Active players should always trump inactive players, especially when it's been more than a year or two. Put the inactive players stuff into escrow and then give them a housing token. Free up homes for current players.

Turbine should not be concerned with inactive players who may return (someday) and who may be upset over losing a house. They should instead be concerned with their active player base and how to make them happy.

So a player who leaves for long periods gets punished by losing their house? Whereas a newly arrived player gains a house only to quit a few months/year later and leave that house abandoned yet again?

I think what should happen is the weekly housing fee should be auto-deducted from a player's "collective" gold tally (i.e. all his characters have some amount of game currency). Thus, a player's home(s) would remain "rented" up and until the point in which their account is out of money/unable to pay the housing maintenance fee.

This would give the housing instances a more "lived in" appearance and yet players wouldn't have to keep logging in very six weeks to pay their housing fee while they're "AFK" from game. This also forces leaving players to make a hard decision... keep their home(s) and risk running out of gold while they're away (from game) or abandoned the house altogether and let it be used by someone who cares/still plays.

If a player's account runs completely out of currency/gold then they should lose their house(s).

Originally Posted by Panahasi

So a player who leaves for long periods gets punished by losing their house? Whereas a newly arrived player gains a house only to quit a few months/year later and leave that house abandoned yet again?

I think what should happen is the weekly housing fee should be auto-deducted from a player's "collective" gold tally (i.e. all his characters have some amount of game currency). Thus, a player's home(s) would remain "rented" up and until the point in which their account is out of money/unable to pay the housing maintenance fee.

This would give the housing instances a more "lived in" appearance and yet players wouldn't have to keep logging in very six weeks to pay their housing fee while they're "AFK" from game. This also forces leaving players to make a hard decision... keep their home(s) and risk running out of gold while they're away (from game) or abandoned the house altogether and let it be used by someone who cares/still plays.

If a player's account runs completely out of currency/gold then they should lose their house(s).

Like this idea but there should still be a cap of time. Someone with near capped gold or even 200gold (something that IS feasible since in the 4 months I've played I managed to get 50 gold from absolute zero on just 1 toon) Even a kinship house at 2 gold a month upkeep would take well over 50months. that's -over 4 years- Now imagine a deluxe or standard with an account pool of gold. with the 400 silver - 1 gold a month upkeep. yea about 10 years pluss. I say use this but with a 1 year 1 week cap if you don't log onto the account at ALL.

Other wize LOVE that idea it really make people question leaving and holding onto a home indefinitely just because they can even if they know they may not comeback.