Been a while since my last suggestion. This one is a relatively simple idea (conceptually, at least). Each section is split up into drop-down tabs for your convenience.
Summary
The core of this idea is to have rentable/purchasable houses/buildings that players can set up base in. They would have preset interiors with customizable paintings, similar to the captains cabin. I believe this is preferable to having heavily customizable houses, as the styles would be unified throughout that city and there would be no work that would need to go into systems for placing furniture and whatnot. These purchasable homes would appear in most if not all major towns/cities, with variations of size and design based on where you are (adhering to the culture/style), replacing some of the currently empty buildings in each town. In each house there would be multiple beds (at least two, more if the house is larger, so small groups can set up base in a house), cooking pot, jewelcrafting station, etc. Additionally, houses could have a small safe that you can store up to a certain amount of galleons in. This would give players who don’t want to join player-made clans a way to store some of their galleons.
Players would have the option to either rent or buy their house, with renting being an ongoing, albiet minimal, fee, and purchasing being a one-time payment of a large sum. This makes potentially only renting a house for a brief period feasible. But for players who want to, purchasing a house would allow them to set up a semi-permanent residence in that city. I say semi-permanent, because the specific building you buy is not “yours”, instead any house of that type in that city would be available to load your house in after purchasing (this is true of renting and purchasing, though a rental would only last so long until you’ve got to pay again).
And, perhaps a controversial idea, but being inside your own house renders you invulnerable to PvP. However, you will be unable to enter your house if you are in combat. The idea is that houses could be truly safe spots for players who either aren’t interested in or aren’t good at PvP, but you couldn’t simply run back to your house if you were in a bad spot.
Couple more minor things
Your galleons would always transfer between safes. So if you rent/buy another house somewhere else, your galleons would be in that safe too. This is primarily a convenience thing, though I also see some merit in letting that be optional, so players could launder money at different abodes. Just a fun idea for those who want to play an outlaw.
And lastly, there are some areas where it makes sense to have strictly rentable properties, such as the lodging area at Sailor’s Lodge, or hotels in each major city that have smaller, less well furnished rooms but are cheaper than renting a house.
Pros/Cons
Pros:
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Would provide players with a way to set up a base on land which, although the game is based around the sea, is a nice thing to have. Some of my personal fondest memories of WoM were hiding out in abandonded buildings.
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Gives players more reason to repeatedly visit certain areas, allowing them to grow more attached to said areas. Giving them a “home city”, more or less.
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Encourages more role-play. Being able to choose more who your character is, instead of necessarily being forced to live on the sea. Simply being able to say “I live in (insert city here)” provides a lot of role-playing opportunities for those who are into that.
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Would provide players with a way to store some extra galleons (very useful for anyone not in a player-made clan, and anyone who simply doesn’t want to store their galleons in their clan for one reason or another).
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I imagine this would be far, far easier to do that clan island building, so this lighter feature could hold over players who want to make bases until clan island building is released.
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In a similar vein, Houses are a more PvE-oriented version of clan island building, which may be more appealing to a lot of players who don’t like PvP/don’t engage with clan features.
Cons:
- It might take some time to code… maybe? Really, there’s one new system at play here, not many (if any) new models. It’s primarily just a healthy reuse of (or perhaps expansion on) pre-existing assets.
Closing thoughts
Overall, while not a strictly necessary feature, player housing is a feature that theoretically wouldn’t require too much work, and could go a long way to making the game feel more grounded in its own reality, while also holding players who want to make bases over until clan base building. And players who want a base but don’t want to engage with clan stuff don’t have to! It’s the kind of feature that, while not being strictly necessary, has a major impact on how players perceive the game and that the game wouldn’t feel complete without.
Thanks for reading.
