Hey all,
I'd like to apologize in advance if this topic had already been covered extensively in the past. I just remembered an old interview with a dev, I watched some time ago.. And he was saying that there were currently no plans to have housing incorporated unless players really demand it.

Just like First person view, I think housing is a signature key point of Elder Scrolls Games and believe it MUST be incorporated in the near future even if it's not out for launch.

What do you guys think?

Also, due to the "global server" and the number of players, we probably wouldn't be able to have houses or guild houses (mansions) in the open world. But I suggest that they could do something similar to FFXIV and simply have instanced residential areas in several cities around Tamriel. Each instance could hold a set number of houses and guild houses and you could have several residential instances for each city. For example, when you enter the residential instance in White Run, you could choose between District 1 to district 20 or so. Each district would be its own instance so even if district 1 is full and there is no more land available to build your house there, you could still potentially build in district 2 or 3 ect.. Also, that way, you could still visit you friend's houses even if they are in a different instance. You'd just need to know which district they are located in when you enter the residential area.., and of course, you'd need to first travel to the city their house is located at...

Anyways.. I really hope that there are plans to incorporate housing shortly after launch.

Their official answer is "not at launch."

To me that means no, but there is still cautious optimism

I LOVE housing. I'm embarrassed to say that I spent lots of money decorating my property in Rift. I absolutely loved rift's housing system. I made a nice, cozy cot over the thunder stormed ocean

Wow bluesnacks! That was a quick reply! Lol.
I don't expect it to be out at launch., but don't you think that we, as a community, should really demand that they work on a housing system to be released shortly after launch?

Well..we're on the forums. We're highly outnumbered unless most of the other people on the game demand it.

True.. However,. Ppl on forums demanded a 1st person view.. And Zenimax delivered..

Housing is a staple part of the Elder Scrolls games and I was surprised to see that they hadn't made any plans for it. Even Blizzard have seen the light in terms of 'housing' for their next expansion, they were surprised at the popularity of instanced farming in MoP and have take it to the next level with the Garrisons feature in Warlords of Draenor - which is essentially on par with a housing system - and that's the WoW community we're talking about. The fact that ESO will take on board an army of not just MMO fans but Elder Scrolls fans, it completely blows me away that they neglected to include Housing, a key feature of Skyrim and Oblivion. I'd be pretty certain they would be taking a long hard look at including it, especially when the SP ES fans start asking were it is at launch.

Thanks for your feedback Salt AU.. I can only hope that if enough ppl express their interest in this thread, that Zenimax will have no choice but add this feature.

This thread is just the latest of a thousand spread over every forum. Player housing is one of the more requested items and will probably be in the game at some point.

This.

Thanks for your replies. Good to know that housing is much in demand.. I don't really follow other threads and haven't been very active here either.

All there is left is for us to hope that Zenimax is reading us loud and clear..

Only way to make housing right is to have a world that is non instanced what so ever and where players can build there houses in defined zones but are able to group the houses as they want. This will be impossible in ESO. Only MMORPG I have played (and I have played almost all MMORPGs sens 1999) where I found housing fun was SWG. But as ESO won't be able to do housing as SWG I have no need or want for housing. It will just be used as a warehouse if it's implanted and I'm fine with just a bank for that.... a big bank vault that is

Yeah.. Housing like SWG will never possible in ESO due to the fact its one mega server with multiple instances..

But having a housing system like I described would still be fun. I'd like to be able to put all my books into a library and display some armors or weapons ect.. Maybe even have a trophy room where I could display achievements or "trophies" from bosses I've killed. Ect..

I would like housing in the game, but its not been designed with it in mind. Meaning it will most likely be instanced housing rather than be in the open world. I hear that guilds can own keep in Cyrodiil so I am happy with that, mainly because I really don't like the instanced housing as seen in LOTRO and Rift etc, where you have to visit another land or pocket realm to go to your home.

Vanguard, SWG and UO along with the old Shadowbane did housing well. The rest is just a bolt on package because its what the players wanted.

Talking of new games Shroud of the Avatar housing looks interesting in that the house will exist in many instances yet you will only be playing in one of them. And if you have a shop set up and people visit it in another instances of the one you are actually in they can also buy items from it.

Yea that is fun. However you want people to see it too right? So what will the reason for me to come and visit your house? To name a few reasons I can think of is: I walk by your house and my curiosity takes over and I peek inside, I know you and we decided to group up in your house, You own a vendor in the house that sell items I want to buy from you. In ESO the first option will most likely never happen as the chance we are even in the same instance is quite small. The third option will never happen either as they want to have guild vendors not personal. So the only reason for me to be in your house is if you convince me to come over and have a look at your stuff. IMO you need more and better reasons for people to come and visit your house then that.

I was under the impression you could still trade with ppl one on one regardless of them being in your guild or not.

If that's the case you could advertise crafting services in /shout and provide the players with your district # and address or lot # they can attend to meet you.

Yes... But if there will be housing in ESO they will most likely be instanced. If we are lucky they will make player villages where you have several houses in the same instance but most likely it will be one house per instance. Now if you use /shout you will most likely only be able to address players that are in the same instance as you and are in a relatively close proximity to you. So standing in your house how many players do you think will even know your selling stuff? It would only work if you can use a global trade chat for that. But then again how will the crafting system look like? Is it complex enough where you can have different qualities of an item crafted from the same recipe? If not there is no reason for me to go far out of my way to buy something player crafted.

Yeah.. I really hope it would be huge residential instances with lots of houses. Also, hoping that they'd have a /trade chat which is global so that even ppl who are not in the residential instances can see it..

I kind of hope that truthfully it'd be a mix, options for a neighborhood or out in the country maybe for extra in its own instance. I love having a little plot of land to build a private house out of; never been for neighborhoods in games myself but I do like strolling through them.

It'd probably never happen though.

there could be another option - living with NPC. You could rent a bed / room / field and have your own chest. This option could be enabled when NPC like you for some reason (questing) or when paying (simillar to residential hotel) - but there will never be enough space for all, so expect prices go high. For all other regular players instanced /something/ (hut, sewage, cave).

and back to OP question.

Yes it is megaserver, but it is sliced. It means that it is decision of ZOS how many players will be placed on one slice. Maximum is 2000 (say - I got no idea but just this type of number) players playing simultaneously on one slice, but it is not requirement. The game could be configured for example to 200 - I know it will be too little, but there is complete freedom of decision.

If 200 is too small number (you say how we can raid) then it could be possible to group slices as channels (http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1479417-one-campaign-and-say5-pve-slices/)

So the doors are open for open world housing. Especially it should be possible to have guild houses.

The problem with open world guild houses is the dynamics of guilds (a lot of small, guilds sometimes fall down or merge).

The main decision would be if player is provided house / guild (even without windows) and then allow to decorate exterior and interior at will. But if it is just not build by players from scratch then whole effort of not instanced houses is not worth - better to have one insanced place.

While creating instanced houses is easy - should be done first, the idea of permanent housing might take time becuase it will be difficult and not sure if required.

Again, this.

I know some people find the housing threads annoying, but if we don't continue to speak up then the devs might not deliver. Remember how many threads there were for first person perspective? We got it because people insisted. Housing has been an integral part of any TES game since Morrowind, and until ZOS gives us a definite "Yes, we will release player housing sometime after crime system launches," I think it's important that we keep the discussion going.

On that note... Telvanni mushroom towers? Pleeeease?

I think housing will be implemented in a further update after launch, it makes sense for further progression.

/signed. *jumps up and down making a LOT of noise* Bring in player and/or guild housing, sooner rather than later PLEEEASE!

Seeing as Skyrim saw a housing focused official DLC, you would think they see the desire for player housing of some sort. That is a single player game where you can't even show off your design/trophies, use it as an RP spot, etc. Player housing is a rather simple way to give players a more vested interest in the game.

so i really want to see player housing myself but only if instanced. also i personally dont feel player housing is essential for a elder scrolls feel. before skyrim i dont remember ever having a house in elder scrolls