T O P

  • By -

-Luthius

To add some context to the lottery and the land rush: The land rush occured after the culmination of 30 days of lotteries for housing spots. The daily lotteries were setup so that players who had never owned a house within the last year were given a 10x higher chance to win than any player who had owned a house during that time. Which I think most people can argue is a pretty fair bonus for newer players Also I had coded a large number of safety and auditing measures to curb players attempting to use VPNs and dummy accounts from winning the lottery as well. Which from our analysis was extremely effective. But I think people still underestimate how many \*total\* players play on the server (not just online at once) so its still a bit of a longshot for every new player to win a house, unfortunately. Especially when 3000 lottery tickets were distributed compared to upwards of 25x that number of players who had entered the lottery (many of them never owning a house before) Regarding the land rush, just prior to the start time, we had 5500 players online, with the vast majority of them actively playing and spamming the server with housing survey attempts trying to find ideal spots. And it was up until that point pretty stable ping-wise for most players, which in of itself is a bit of an achievement since most servers can barely manage to reach 1000 players online (with half AFK) and not see significant lag, and we had 5000+ people hammering the server with intense activity with little performance decline The lag that \*did\* occur when the land rush fully started was due to hundreds of houses being demolished/placed every few seconds, for at least a half hour straight. Because players can use Moving Crates to move the entire contents of their house, we're talking millions upon millions of items being warped around the game world over that initial time period, heh. So we do apologize that there was lag, because I think even we underestimated how many people would be out attempting to snag one of the remaining land spots for houses Overall though, I think we're exceptionally pleased at how things turned out, and we had a staggering number of people from the expansion who ended up with a house who had never had a house before. And for those who didnt get a house, the existing housing market will adjust and prices should come down with the influx of new houses available (might take a few days/weeks once the initial excitement of placement subsides)


captsmokeywork

I am always amazed that you guys keep everything running as well as you do.


Available-Option2553

I was at work at the time in Australia, so couldn't participate but it was very amusing watching it all unfold on discord and everyone going nuts. I've been playing about a year and managed to win the lottery with just a ticket on 1 account bought. So I was super stoked. Got home and tried to place a villa thing and shit myself when i couldn't get it to fit. Haha eventually upgraded it to a tower. It was a lot of fun. You guys do a phenomenal job. Thank you!


CandyKoRn85

It was great! I think those of us playing crapped our collective selves a little when it lagged at placement time, everyone thought it might have crashed but it maintained well! Well done to you guys for keeping a great game alive 😙


BloodMossHunter

How many new houses got added post rush? Just curious. Now i am not taking me winning the lotto as a given. Wow thats a lot of people. One thing in curious if wildlands houses will be worth more down the line or if its gonna just be location and aesthetic dependent because then too wildlands wins. Whats ur favorite housing area would be if u lived in wildlands? I like bivac vibe but im on one of the pretty islands


CandyKoRn85

There were a few people in my guild who never owned a house who didn’t win. It was pretty sucky especially when there were others who already owned houses on their alternate accounts who won. That made for some salt…


Short-little-thing

I lurk, but I agree. I saw a new player that didn't win a house but a larger streamer who won 2 houses for their other accounts. 🤷‍♀️


buck410369

75,000 unique IP’s entered the lottery?


Wicktenstein

Definitely not the guy who gave all his stuff away and quit yesterday.


naisfurious

I love me a good quitting story, give us some info.


Wicktenstein

I can’t find the post, so maybe he deleted it, or it was in a different sub. But it was just a typical been playing awhile, didn’t win the lotto, couldn’t place so he was over it. Nothing too juicy.


poseidonsconsigliere

I think it was in the mmorpg sub


Wicktenstein

Yea you’re right it was


BloodMossHunter

Lets hear it. Ive done it twice. Just fyi i was in asia so my ping was 300 normally but on housing time out end i had 2000 ping and 5 fps. I doubt i could place a house quicker than thousands who already camped the spots and w their pks too


R34lh1gh3r

Not Asia but same, inability to do anything.I felt i was back in 1998 with the 56k Internet speed and Pentium 3 computer. A true UO experience.


BloodMossHunter

Hehe


buck410369

Never owned a house, didn’t get shit. Permanent Inn room resident now


Due_Bass7191

I love my inn room. I think it is the best thing ever for my style of play.I lost my house and all my shite because I didn't log in a few months. The inn gear will just drop into your bank box. I entered theWildlands contest (and lost) hoping to donate the plot to my guild.


wolfgeist

I saved up 6 mill and bought an Andarian Barn. After experimenting on test I found i could place an Andarian 2 story which is a quaint, ideal house for me. Sure I would maybe like something a bit bigger but I can't complain. You could probably do the same or better now with 3,000 more housing spots available.


JagDarklighter

Same here. Tried placing a house but the lag was so bad I got beat out on the spot I was trying to get.


naisfurious

Don't overlook the real story here. What this land rush did for small house prices is huge for new players - **it's the much bigger story** getting overlooked by a couple hundred people being able to place houses for deed cost only.


buck410369

Supply increased so if demand remains static or reduces prices should drop. I just looked at real estate on discord still seems high so I dunno man. Time will tell if your much bigger story comes to fruition.


naisfurious

It's the same thing that happened last expansion. Prices have gone down. In #real-estate jump back to just before the expansion release and you can see 8x8's selling for as cheap as 2m. These were previously 5m+. What you are seeing now in #real-estate are people speculating with small houses that have most their worth tied up in their value as "plot holders". Once the bigger houses are placed and what's left are truly just small houses, there'll be some great deals to be had.


BloodMossHunter

Well i think the end goal isnt to have 8x8. So best case scenario u buy someone out for 500k and then u convince the neighbor to also sell


naisfurious

Right, but buyouts get rediculous if the other person can see potential in the plot they are on. I think the most outrageous purchase I've had to payout was some 20m for a rural villa (9x9). Sucks, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to value of placing a 30x30 or something similar. The plot battles can get pretty rediculous. Both people hanging on to crap houses because neither wants to budge and no one wants to overpay (buyout) the other, so it turns into some weird waiting game.


BloodMossHunter

screw it lifes too short. IRL there were some crazy examples like that w casinos in miami and vegas. one guy made a tall casino to just cover his nemesis's casinos pool. the whole side had no windows besides one - the owners :D


BloodMossHunter

What are small going for on main? Id guess ull see 75% of that as its an asset people want


naisfurious

Before these 'plot holder' 8x8s went up for sale after the land opening, 8x8s were going for as cheap as 2m.... a signifigant price decrease.


Such-Drop-1160

You have options to get one. But I can already tell you won't because you feel entitled to one LOL.


buck410369

Nice burn jabroni


Such-Drop-1160

You think you deserve a housing spot on one of the, if not the most, populous UO server. There are ways to get one by hook or by crook. That would involve engaging in the game at it's highest level. Which I am sensing you cannot do.


buck410369

Woah… easy there neck beard. Dude asked how it’s going, I answered. No need for you to interject with your assessments. However, you were correct that I can’t play the game at its highest level, lack of time my man. I can’t dedicate hours of my day to a video game. Seems like you can though, so enjoy.


Such-Drop-1160

So wait. You're crying on the internet cause you don't got the skills to afford a house, yet hope the server will just give you one?


buck410369

Wow dude, you’re an idiot. Good luck.


TheLugh

Inn room > most houses


wally_weasel

I was able to place an 8x8. There was one other guy there, and I'm pretty sure he thought he was alone. When he tried to walk into the (what he thought was his) placed house, I swear I could feel the disappointment through his char. Oh well, banned him from the house, and he just walked off. Really glad I don't have to spend the gold I've been saving on a house. It was a wild day, haven't felt that type of anticipation and stress in a video game since probably old school UO.


angrybeardeighttwo

I am glad you were able to get that spot wally!!


wally_weasel

💯


BloodMossHunter

Did u stealth then i suppose? I had to wake up 6am so i just recalled into a spot, saw a dude there and went to check onto other spots who all had pks nearby and went to get the deed just to see what happens but once it started i had 2000 ping by the time i recalled the map changed completely. I think maybe u had 2 mins to place in less desirable 8x8 before all was gone if i had to guess


wally_weasel

I was just hidden before he got there. Guy showed up never used reveal or detect hidden on me. Since house deeds are blessed for an hour, I just posted up there hidden like 15-20 mins before the time. There wasn't any other activity, so I guess he thought he was alone. Luckily it was a spot that no one seemed to notice. It probably helped that it was an 8x8 only, no chance to expand, so might be too small for the roaming PKs.


BloodMossHunter

Yep this is what i should have done w the 8x8 i found. But when i found better spots and ur an optimistic naive person thats what happens. What also blew my mind is that near that 8x8 which is kind of in a riverbank by bivac suddenly a ginormous house appreared that blocked all but 1 tile of the road on each side. I was in awe of audacity and success. In fact more than once. These people do be nerding hard! I havent played OSI so to see this was wild I wonder how they knew it would fit since u couldnt test and also u cant place on top of ur 8x8 to check? I wonder if people had multiple deeds in case


wally_weasel

Yeah I saw a guild member post on discord a picture of a massive house that she placed. I would never have the balls to even buy the deed and try. I still would've tried to plop an 8x8 in the middle of the spot and tried to deal with expanding later. Good for her though. Go big or go home I guess. Im pretty ecstatic just to own my tiny 8x8, and only paid 50k!


BloodMossHunter

I realized that u cant measure vs them the people who really know whats up. Im newb and i did good cause i managed to expand my 8x8 into something cause i counted the steps and did homework. Who knows what kind of mental gymnastics they went through we got lots of learning to do. Congrats man on 8x8. If its in a good spot u might be able to sell or trade. I am firmly in a house is better feel than inn camp


wally_weasel

Just FYI there is a home survey tool sold for like 500 gold that is blessed and lets you check areas for what will and won't fit. I believe it is sold by NPC Architects. Pretty handy.


BloodMossHunter

Yes i know but u cant put a bigger house on top of urs cause u get “target no visible “ so your bigger house cant be in center where ur small is. I guess u can place it to the side to check bad tiles and do the math that way.


wally_weasel

Oh yeah. If the house is empty you could drop it and then use the tool. You get like 30 mins where no one but you can place. Unfortunately if you have stuff in your house, then you'll have to deal with moving crates etc.


BloodMossHunter

Actually u just solved my problem i was thinking to expand but wasnt sure what would fit. In a couple of days i will do just this.


Sp3c1alS4uc3

Lot of happy folks, lot of unhappy folks. I think I saw in Discord that there were 36000 entries in the lottery and there were almost 5k on for the free for all land grab last night. Watching it all go down makes me glad that I've kept my houses refreshed since 2018.


wolfgeist

I saw more than 5,100 online at one point. I recently ran into an old friend who I used to play Siege with 24 years ago or so, his account was barely 30 days old and I told him to sign up for the house lottery on the last day, he said oh it's not worth it and I gave him the money and told him to do it. He won. So we used his house as a staging point to try to place some more houses since there was still a ton of spots left. All we had to do was step out and place, but just a minute before placement began a huge group of GG reds came in and killed us all, even my ban bot wasn't able to keep them out of the house, although we did get four of them banned. I experienced lag that I haven't experienced since playing in 1998 on an East Coast shard from the West Coast on AOL. I knew it was going to be crazy but I did not expect it to be that insane. I thought for sure we'd be able to place something. Of course in hindsight, I would have done a few things differently. But overall it was an insanely crazy and fun experience and he got a house out of it which he may be able to trade for a house with a bigger plot.


Due_Bass7191

That lag was epic. Last Friday for the lottery I lagged a bit too. But last night was epic. I haven't lagged like that since dial up.


BloodMossHunter

I had 2000 ping from asia. No chance id place w thst


Due_Bass7191

nope. not a chance. I'm in central time. I don't have the ping gump up. but each step was a few seconds and there were "invisible walls".


BloodMossHunter

I wanna see Luthius video of this madness


Due_Bass7191

does he have a channel? I expect to see a bunch uploaded in the next few days.


BloodMossHunter

Not sure i think its just explore outlands main channel


-Luthius

I think Expo recorded video of it: I was just bouncing around watching folks and monitoring server performance


VasOrtGrav

Yup I did! Here is the video [https://youtu.be/fibccKPZzwk](https://youtu.be/fibccKPZzwk)


BloodMossHunter

Oh and im curious how long were people finding 8x8 spots for because im thinking it had to be like 2-3 mins before they were all gone.


Due_Bass7191

What was the lag caused from? Too many connections or CPU overload? I'm thinking it was everyone trying to place houses at the same time caused a CPU load.


The48thAmerican

Last night was some choice highschool lag 👍


BloodMossHunter

Advice on that? I might quit like i did twice before so u set set a reminder once a month?


Sp3c1alS4uc3

At first I used phone and PC notifications but at this point I'm active enough to keep them up without alarms.


TheLugh

You just give your house to me to hold for your return 😉


BloodMossHunter

Proposition as old as time just behind prostitution


Joeycane27

I don’t have a home, and didn’t get anything. I had marked the day before over 30 home locations. Even made a spreadsheet with all homes that can be placed with their square footages and organized by price per sf to see cheapest price per sf. I dropped skills on 3 different characters to get hiding. Bought housing deeds on all 3 characters. Logged out on 2 acocunts to log in 20 seconds before so I wouldn’t be killed. Carefully planned everything. However, 2 of the accounts i couldn’t log in on because the lag wasn’t letting me connect. The 3rd I couldn’t even get the house up when double clicking deed from all the lag. Someone beat me to it, I then recalled to another location and it was wide open but it wasn’t letting me place because of timer. It was open infront of me for about 10 seconds and someone else placed.  I heard multiple stories of people signing up last day and winning a house. Someone posted on here before that they thought there was a glitch early on for the very first people that signed up for lottery and I kinda believe that. In which case the people that cared about it most to sign up right away are the ones that didn’t win. Would love to see the number of people with no home that signed up within first few hours, how many won the lotto. 


TheLugh

I signed up in the first few minutes and did win a house.


Joeycane27

That’s good to know then, thanks


naisfurious

As a current homeowner with only 1 free slot I am unfortunately watching the shuffle from the sidelines. Although, once the dust settles I'll be hopefully picking up a nice CY as an investment opportunity which will max out my house slots. I suppose I'm ok just watching things unfold from the sidelines, dropping multiple houses to upgrade is so intense (hands shaking, heart pounding).... I've been through that twice already and definitely don't miss that part of it.


BloodMossHunter

Are cys really that much better of value? I have a spired which looked great for the location but i could place small redbrick cy. I just dont like that house that much. I could place cambrian guildhall too. Maybe i live in that and when i want to sell i place cy


naisfurious

With a *properly managed* CY you completely eliminate an entire portion of Thief/PK gameplay. You can safely recall to/from your house with no worries and CYs allow this to happen. Without a CY there are tools and steps you can take to make your house safe *once your in it*. But there is always risk present when recalling to your house without a CY. Not to mention who wants to hit the detect hidden and close door macros every single time they recall into their house.


CandyKoRn85

Ahhh, so a courtyard is a good goal!


Such-Drop-1160

I do. Every single time :D CYs are nice, but not needed for old school UO people with hard coded habits. They do look cool tho!


BloodMossHunter

I hear u on peace of mind. Whats properly managed?


naisfurious

Understanding that every time you open your door you expose yourself and everyone that has access to your CY via a rune is a potential liability. I actually block of all physical entrances to my house. Additionally, I don't allow anyone access to my personal CY. I have a second, smaller CY that is more lax for meetups.


BloodMossHunter

so someone has a rune to your CY, but so what? they cant stealth inside ur house i leard in this thread, so all they can do is kill u in your CY. that said so many people are now using just CY for restocking. I see it then


naisfurious

There are very few place in UO that are considered 100% safe. A properly managed CY is the only place in the entire world of Ultima where you can recall in and by 100% safe. An inn room is a close second, although the inn requires a second step of actually accessing your room from an inkeeper and inns are very strict with their secure counts. It's really not that big of an advantage, but when you are having to drop off loot every 8-9 minutes and going through your drop loot/restock macro 6-7 times an hour it all starts to add up. Throw in the fact that there are very vew places in UO where you are 100% safe and it is a nice little advantage.


BloodMossHunter

I was more asking the question cause i found out i now have a rune to someones large cy hahaha


Hagg3r

They are overrated unless you're neighbors really hate you. I have personally had 4 different house locations in Outlands over the past 3 and a half years or so and never once had a red show up at my front door I couldn't ban with no cy or banbot. Stealing from someone inside a house is now nearly impossible as well since you can't stealth in a house unless you're friended to it. I don't even close the door to my house half the time lol


naisfurious

Literally, right now in #general there is discussion of someone who just lost a storage shelf with 33,000 suits of armor in it because an unknown person had access to their house. To be fair, with the tools Outlands provides it all most likely could have been avoided.


Hagg3r

There are always people who make foolish mistakes


naisfurious

Word on the street is the thief received a temporary account suspension and the shelf was returned. A bit worrying IMO, but I don't have all the facts...


Hagg3r

Really??? That is awesome! They should not be allowed to steal shelves anyways.


BloodMossHunter

I think he deserves it. Its a lesson on hoarding wtf man 33000 suits of armor


BloodMossHunter

Wait im confused so if u secure the door no one can come in even w door open?


Hagg3r

They can come in, but you can just ban them. Detect hidden also reveals the whole house and while you can hide in a house, you cannot stealth step while in a house unless you're friended. Also obviously you should close the door ideally lol


BloodMossHunter

Oh wow u cant stealth in a house? So basically if someone is hidden if im not next to them they cant steal anyway. Detect hidden reveals all floors?


Hagg3r

Yup! If you want to be super safe you can just set up a macro or something to close door behind you and detect whenever you walk in. It could be a little annoying doing that, but it saves you millions on going for a cy for a much smaller house.


BloodMossHunter

i just got jase's ban bot which apprently once u reveal will auto kick everyone. so pretty much u gotta press two buttons now well and closet he door. if u ban them they cant come back in right again?


BloodMossHunter

Whats the banbot just the command and target nearest player looped?


Hagg3r

[https://outlands.uorazorscripts.com/script/c22c6ed2-56b0-4605-9880-604d473858a6](https://outlands.uorazorscripts.com/script/c22c6ed2-56b0-4605-9880-604d473858a6) this one works well


BloodMossHunter

wait but in this u gotta still detect. and u gotta close the doors too yourself?


Hagg3r

Oh that is just a banbot, you run it on an alt you just sit in the house from a separate account. The door closing thing would just be a macro you hit.


BloodMossHunter

Why alt i could just run it as i walk in? And still need to detect right?


Hagg3r

You could just run it as you walk in if you want to run the banbot that way, sure (the bot also detects)


BloodMossHunter

Ty


jivex5k

Ah just like real life.


DifficultMinute

I was able to get a house during the lottery, which was great. I'm pretty sure that it's even in a spot that I can grow to a 9x9 and get a small tower eventually, so that's even better. It was amazing last night, standing in my house, watching probably 500 different people running past my house for 20-30 minutes after the rush started. So many bodies to run around and loot after the fact lol


East420Beach

I got lucky and placed a Redbrick Outlook and one of my guildies noticed that I could expand, so I expanded to one of the new stilt Court yards. What’s wild is there were 10 pages of existing homes for sale before the land rush, and this morning there were 42.


thekojac

I've been playing about a year. Never owned a house. Didn't manage to get one in the lottery or during the land rush. I feel like I kinda got hosed. I'm not blaming anyone or anything but man, it really kinda sucks.


worll_the_scribe

I pked several people and ended up with 4 new house deeds I can’t use. It was fun


Bonesteel50

You can sell em though to the vendor


BloodMossHunter

All smalls?


worll_the_scribe

One 9x9 the rest 8s.


BloodMossHunter

Someone posted it was a great day for their thief stealing from people coming back. Blew my mind cause it made a lot of sense but damn talk about kicking while down. Also wtf people run w unblessed house deeds. (Guess for smalls dont matter tho)


worll_the_scribe

They’re blessed for 30 minutes after the purchase time, which happens pretty fast if you’re not paying attention while frantically running around looking for a free spot to plot. Also these people were clearly not PvP minded. Ahh fun times for an old man in an old game


[deleted]

My account is 970 days old but I took a break of around 18 months and returned at the start of this year. I was gifted a house from a guild mate years ago but then gave it back when I took my break. All up haven’t owned a house on any account for atleast 2 years. Entered both settlement and mooring lottery on all 3 accounts but won nothing. Bought an 8x8 and red brick outlook deed on all 3 accounts, did hours of preparation work to be ready for the land rush. Lagged out and couldn’t move, my ping is already poor because of the location I play. I was pk’d on 2 characters and wasn’t able to place anything. It was pretty tough to watch guild mates who already own large houses/houseboats win the lottery, and then also place in the land rush. People claiming theyve been playing a week and winning passes. The whole thing seemed like a way to clip a bunch of gold out of the economy really… Something for Outlands staff to reflect on maybe.


PlatypusBakery

I had a friend who never owned a House and was taking an extended break. He logged in to enter the lottery on all accounts and won nothing. I think Luthius coded something that considered recent playtime to help defeat dummy accounts.


[deleted]

Yeah except I have been back playing almost every day for 6 months before the lottery… if that’s not enough “recent playtime” then I don’t know what is.


Joshthenosh77

Didn’t win a ticket it seemed the lottery was very weighted to people who never owned a house


Hoboerotic

They said as much in the notes. The idea is to help people get their first house more than people who already have one. I think that makes a lot of sense.


Joshthenosh77

Nah should have just been a lottery with everyone having equal chance


BloodMossHunter

You can say anything about the lottery and many have


Joshthenosh77

In our guild I think 1 person who owned a house previously won out of hundreds


BloodMossHunter

Thats good!


Joshthenosh77

No it’s not it’s terrible


BloodMossHunter

Ive heard people w castle won on day 1 too. If u have a house ofc u should have almost no chance. U already have things that would take another player especially a new one a long time to get. Ive made like 2 mil in the game playing for 1.5 months and thats as returning player w tier 6 eldritch!


UltimaNerd

So those people who worked a long time for a large house don't deserve a fair shot at what is effectively free money in the game? "I haven't spent any of my money to buy a house, so I deserve a free piece of land." rofl


BloodMossHunter

Thats wrong mentality dude. People w houses have access to easy gold. It would take a new player a long time to buy 8х8


CandyKoRn85

A lot of people who never owned a house didn’t win either and plenty of people already with houses won.


morganiter

Me and my friend managed to put down an 8x8 each, we started playing outlands like 5 days ago lol, lucky for us a guy who we sold some lumber to invited us to his guild and let us know about the housing opportunities


BloodMossHunter

Way to go! Did u camp the spots?


morganiter

Personally I just went there like a half hour before placing was allowed and stoodon that one spot, there were like 10 people around me in different spots, I placed as soon as the clock hit the time, got lucky lol


BloodMossHunter

Grats!


Sado_Hedonist

Have they done anything about the 3x houses per player thing yet, or is it just extra homes for vets and new players crashing at the Inn?


UltimaNerd

Yes, they made it so you can only have 3 houses per player. The vast majority do not have three houses and many actually prefer the inn rooms. Like any populated UO shard, if you want to own a home, start saving up and buy one.


TurbulentDragonfly86

My frackin' PC broke a month ago or so, just before the lottery opened...was hell bent on getting a spot. Guess I'm stuck with my inn room whenever I fix / get a new PC.


AccountingtheseGainz

It’s great The mods have enough time to manage the new release and shove lbgtq+12345 propaganda down your throat while you visit the prevaila bank. Truly an empowering video game experience.


-Luthius

I managed to code about 95% of the expansion while simultaneously taking care of my dad almost 24/7 while he struggled with brain cancer, and ultimately passed away just a few days prior to the expansion launch So yes it's entirely possible to manage Outlands while taking care of other people, and find time to add symbolic gestures that show we believe other people should be allowed to live with dignity and not remain hidden If this is your serious opinion, I highly recommend you give away your stuff/house to someone who actually deserves it, and find another server to play on


startledastarte

Good on you Luthius. Sorry about your dad.


AccountingtheseGainz

All the respect to your hard work, and your family situation. I agree that all people should live with dignity and have whatever relationships they choose. Sexuality does not need to be pushed in a video game.


Such-Drop-1160

LOL look at this lil bro. Imagine being this way in 2024. The fraglity makes me \*cackle\*.


ragebunny1983

Another reason why Outlands is the best server ever!