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Tax increase (again) - Quick thought

Not only are the tax changes confusing, arbitrary and bad, they seem to have resulted in a few reports I've witnessed of people not being able to place property, with an error message about 'local tax rates having changed' preventing it. I haven't tried myself as I'm not prepared to waste the tax certs to test things that should have been tested before ever being pushed live...
 
I remember for many years Sparkle said that they would not dare to adjust or touch the property tax system, even if players kept complaining about housing shortage.

Now we are in housing abundance and the tax system is getting fk'd... Go figure.
Sparkle doesn't have the pull he/she once did, everything is up to the whims of the mysterious unseen devs. Who basically functions as some kind of deep state equivalent for ArcheRage.

Who are the devs? Nobody knows...
 
No it shouldn't. This is a sandbox game based on a system of first come first serve. As that if someone wants to hold many places they can.
And your argument of needing land for crops or other uses is invalidated by the fact there is land availabile and has nothing to do with how much 1 person can own.
From what I can understand this is not about there not being land. Rather there isn't open land where you want it.

No that is called economy. Land is a resource to be sold and bought like everything else

This was the official stance way back when land was still relatively scarce... https://na.archerage.to/forums/threads/3-0-updates-land-and-taxation.4962/page-4

I really do wonder what could possibly have happened for it to reverse completely now that it isn't.
 
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I think at this point people have got the message loud and clear, but if you want your customers to stop spending money why not just stop selling the boxes? Once again, changing the rules on a cash shop item after the fact is fucking shitty.
 
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I think at this point people have got the message loud and clear, but if you want your customers to stop spending money why not just stop selling the boxes? Once again, changing the rules on a cash shop item after the fact is fucking shitty.

So this is essentially just about beanstalks and mushroom houses? Should have just limited the amount of those per account in the first place then, like the marketplace pavilions are limited to 3 (red/green/blue), instead of punishing people who already had heavy taxes due to the regular game tax system (which counts 8x8 gardens as full properties for purposes of multiplication).
 
So this is essentially just about beanstalks and mushroom houses? Should have just limited the amount of those per account in the first place then, like the marketplace pavilions are limited to 3 (red/green/blue), instead of punishing people who already had heavy taxes due to the regular game tax system (which counts 8x8 gardens as full properties for purposes of multiplication).
Agreed, should have made it one per account. People put tons of money into those mushrooms and beanstalks, and now they are punished for supporting your server? Nope, doesn't make sense.
 
Yep if they wanted to restrict the number available to players it should have been made a quantity limited cash shop item, instead of throwing them into another shitty drop rate rng box.
 

So this is why my husband and i were kicked off the server?

Here is a full list of my properties as of the day before this update. My tax exempt properties are highlighted in green, public properties are outlined in purple. My tent is listed, but it was a temporary property to grow impatiens for a couple of weeks so is not included in my total weekly tax.
Zeirlynn-AccountProperties.png

My husband had 1 Beanstalk House, 2 Farms (16x16), 1 Pavilion (24x24), and 1 Garden (8x8) from the store. I don't remember exactly what all he had, but those were his only tax exempt properties, and he did not have as many total properties as i did. He had over 20, but less than 30.

Good job finding a solution to stop people from giving you money. Gratz!

Edit:
Just imagine if you would have opened up a discussion about this so we as a community could have found a solution to your annoyance of too much income. We could have discussed things like...
1. Grandfather in all currently placed properties. If you already have them built, they stay the same until you demo them.
2. Allow each account to only place 1 (or 2, or whatever you are okay with) of each tax exempt property. This is already in the game for unbuilt properties, should be easy to add.
3. Add a recipe (basic simple recipe) to revert these bound designs (beanstalk, mushroom) back to 'wrapped' form so they can be sold or traded.
4. No increase in the already-high tax rates for non-exempt properties.

Just imagine if you hadn't just decided to secretly screw everyone over who was following all of your rules and giving you money. What a difference that would have made. Oh well, too late for us.

Edit:
May as well mention it was an award winning Crafting Campus, as following comments have done.
It has also been public for over a year.
Also, feel free to tour all my properties if you like. Everything but the tent is still standing, until the pre-paid taxes run out.

One last edit, in case you were curious what all this land was used for.
My "36 properties" and what each was used for.

Notes:
-Every property owned by Zeirlynn, Zame, Zdiel, and Zneth was open to my husband's family. We shared everything.
-Every 'house' was open to guild, except for the two in the new Secret Mountain Spot, because that was my private get-away.
-Zeirien was steward of a separate family for guildmates and friends. Her properties were open to guild and the separate guild-family.
-All houses and most farms were decorated with live trees, animals, and decor to suit each character's characteristics and personalities.
-All properties were clustered tightly together, adjacent, in the areas listed. Most were clustered adjacent with my husband's properties. (His were not pre-paid and have already started to demo.)

Zeirlynn (Main Character)
Aubre Cradle, Main Homestead:
1. Stone Slate Chalet (Balcony): Her main house. Fishing trophies, special paintings, otherworldly chests, all of her special things. Handicraft, cloth armor, and alchemy tables and boosts, chests of crafting resources and gear upgrade items.
2. Improved Lunar Pavilion Farm: Blizzard bears raised for cubs, goat and cow pens, chicken cage, chests of produce and livestock resources.
3. Improved Scarecrow Farm: Experia sunflowers and pumpkins at night for Zeirlynn and Zeirien. Crop bundles during the day.
4. Scarecrow Farm: Larders, turned in to Solzreed one to three times per week.
5. Storage Silo: Chests of ship part designs, travel journals, extra furniture, and miscellaneous.
Aubre Cradle, Secret Mountain Spot (only had for two months):
6. Raised Mushroom House: Special book chest and all her books from the lore festival. All the mushroom decor and other decorations.
7. Solar Scarecrow Garden: Fishing pond, rose bushes, trees, statues, and my brand new 'Stone Grail With Turret And Flowers.'
White Arden, Lower Cluster:
8. Aspen Treehouse: Because i wanted a treehouse, and we scored a spot big enough to each have one side by side. Larders, duck and goose cages, mining drills, majestic trees, cornucopia crops or cows, farmer and merchant cushions, and all my dragon-related decor items. It was also the port for guild members to access the guild/guild-family farm.
Lilyut Hills, Husband's Cluster:
9. Raised Rose Cottage: The house he gave me when i first started playing. Artistry and printing tables, piano, chests for artistry and regrade scroll items. Ducks, geese, and fruit trees.
10. Solar Scarecrow Garden: Fruit trees, and just filled in the space there.
Ahnimar, Public Crafting Campus:
11. Beanstalk House: Every crafting table and every boost item, and a multi-purpose workbench, for anyone on the server to use. Also had a lot of decor.
12. Stone Spring Villa (Veranda): Decorated as a cabin by the river, had playable music instruments, decorative music instruments, artistry and printing tables, and the double mermaid tub.
13. Advanced Fellowship Plaza: Decorated seasonaly, had the extra merchants from the store, and chests to store all my seasonal decor.
14. Private Sawmill: Public crafting campus.
15. Private Masonry Table: Public crafting campus.
16. Private Smelter: Public crafting campus.
17. Private Loom: Public crafting campus.
18. Private Leatherwork Table: Public crafting campus.
Airain Rock:
19. Lunar Scaregrow Garden: Larders. My only disposable property, but too small and insignificant to change the situation.

Zame
Aubre Cradle, Main Homestead:
20. Stone Slate Cottage: Her main house, full of dwarf-related decor, all her special things, plate armor form and boosts.
21. Gazebo Farm: Chest of mining and logging resources, two bee-hives, her daily quest mining drill, and Zdiel's experia ducks.
22. Stellar Scarecrow Farm: Experia pine trees, crop bundles during the day.
White Arden, Upper Cluster:
23. Miner's Farmhouse: Regal carpentry table and boosts, fruit trees, butterfly bushes, and the mining resources.
24. Improved Scarecrow Farm: Fruit or logging trees.
White Arden, Lower Cluster:
25. Stellar Scarecrow Garden: Used to fill in the little gap in the corner by our treehouses so it wouldn't look so bare, after our neighbor constantly chopped down any trees we tried to plant there.

Zdiel
Aubre Cradle, Secret Mountain Spot (only had for two months):
26. Raised Spring Cottage: Her main house, originally in Diamond Shores. Leather armor form and boosts, and all her special things.
27. Gazebo Farm: Yatas raised for mounts, duck and goose cages, farmer and merchant cushions.
White Arden, Upper Cluster:
28. Rancher's Farmhouse: Dairy cows, sheep, pet animals, weaponry anvil and boosts, pet accessory workbench.
White Arden, Lower Cluster:
29. Improved Scarecrow Farm: Fruit trees and water buffalo.

Zneth (Haranya Firran)
Silent Forest:
30. Swept-Roof Cottage: Her main house, right on the edge of the water, full of cat things, alchemy table and boosts. Open to our east guild.
31. Improved Scarecrow Farm: Experia ducks, sheep, fruit trees.
32. Scarecrow Garden: Filled the space created by the angle of the lake shore, crop bundles and fishing worms.
Diamond Shores:
33. Gazebo Farm: Archeum trees and Auroria water pumps, braziers and twilight trees, husband's experia ducks, chest for archeum, points, and logs.
Ahnimar:
34. Brown Travelers Tent: Used to grow special crops in the specific zones. Temporary, not pre-paid, already demoed.

Zeirien
Aubre Cradle, Main Homestead:
35. Stone Slate Cottage: Her main house, but doubled as a guild/guild-family house. Chest full of goodies for guildmates and guild-family members. Also had her special things, what little she had.
White Arden, Lower Cluster:
36. Gazebo Farm: Maintained for guildmates and guild-family members to grow things until they had their own land established. Another chest of goodies for them.

What would you have me "get rid of" and still have my game the way i play it?
 
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Code:
===============================================================
North Rokhala Castle           Taxes:   Cur. Prev.     Surface:
===============================================================
44x44 Stone Slate Mansion               456  (300)      1936sqm

28x28 Oak Treehouse                     228  (150)       784sqm
28x28 Oak Treehouse                     228  (150)       784sqm

24x24 Gazebo Farm                       228  (150)       576sqm

24x24 Miner's Farmhouse                 228  (150)       576sqm
24x24 Armorer's Townhouse               228  (150)       576sqm

16x16 Raised Slate Cottage              137   (90)       256sqm
16x16 Raised Slate Cottage              137   (90)       256sqm
16x16 Raised Slate Cottage              137   (90)       256sqm
16x16 Raised Slate Cottage              137   (90)       256sqm

16x16 Improved Scarecrow Farm           137   (90)       256sqm
16x16 Elven Forest Hut                   91   (60)       256sqm

  8x8 Solar Scarecrow Garden              8    (5)        64sqm ***
  8x8 Lunar Scarecrow Garden              8    (5)        64sqm ***
  8x8 Stellar Scarecrow Garden            8    (5)        64sqm ***

  8x8 Scarecrow Garden                   46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Scarecrow Garden                   46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Scarecrow Garden                   46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Scarecrow Garden                   46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Scarecrow Garden                   46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Scarecrow Garden                   46   (30)        64sqm
===============================================================
                                       2672 (1755)      7344sqm

===============================================================
Villanelle Chalet              Taxes:   Cur. Prev.     Surface:
===============================================================

28x28 Swept-Roof Chalet                 228  (150)       784sqm

  8x8 Haranyan Private Loom              46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Haranyan Private Leath. Table      46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Haranyan Private Sawmill           46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Haranyan Private Smelter           46   (30)        64sqm
  8x8 Haranyan Private Masonry Table     46   (30)        64sqm

24x24 Improved Solar Pavilion Farm       23   (15)       576sqm ***
===============================================================
                                        481  (315)      1680sqm  

===============================================================
Villanelle Larder Plots        Taxes:   Cur. Prev.     Surface:
===============================================================

24x24 Improved Lunar Pavilion Farm       23   (15)       576sqm ***
24x24 Improved Stellar Pavilion Farm     23   (15)       576sqm ***
===============================================================
                                         46   (30)      1152sqm

===============================================================
Total:                                 3199 (2100)     10176sqm = 52% "monopoly" tax increase
===============================================================
Gold (taxes*2.5g (average AH price)):  7997 (5250)


Cur.   - current taxes (52% increase)
Prev.  - taxes before the new system
***    - tax exempt properties


For illustrative purposes, here are my taxes. This is the North Rokhala Castle, which contains the award-winning Library Pub, this is the award-winning Villanelle Chalet, and the two 24x24 larder plots are self-explanatory.

Does anyone dare to calculate the ludicrous surface area I could've covered with such a huge amount of taxes if I was just placing tax-exempt 44x44 beanstalks and nothing else? Do you really think demolishing the linked plots would improve the landscape?
 
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@Sparkle @Lachesis Is there any option of this being looked over again, so that a solution everyone can be happy with is made? Or are we just grasping at straws here? Please let us know.
Possibly, even though it's likely to be on the back seat for a bit until the more pressing 6.1 issues are ironed out. I'll forward good suggestions if I'll find any as well.
 
So we're a couple months into this change now and Auroria housing is still largely a ghost town of empty properties maintained by people who either quit eons ago or are just sitting on the land just to say they have it. So besides chasing off a handful of people who actively played the game and got their enjoyment from owning a bunch of property, did this change actually achieve anything?
 
So we're a couple months into this change now and Auroria housing is still largely a ghost town of empty properties maintained by people who either quit eons ago or are just sitting on the land just to say they have it. So besides chasing off a handful of people who actively played the game and got their enjoyment from owning a bunch of property, did this change actually achieve anything?

I don't visit other zones than DS often but ye would agree. I have one active neighbour, two that don't use their land, and one that shares it with guild but whose land is empty 75% of the time as well. And that's just the people in close proximity of my bean... While running around doing caches and what not, I see a lot of other empty plots as well, sadly.
 
did this change actually achieve anything?

Nothing good.

It drove off a few community minded people who spent time and money on piecing together their land, and who we won't be getting back. It also did very little in terms of massive private guild/family holdings - Halcy on RU is still controlled by a few people, or perhaps I should say accounts, as I'm sure the two numbers are somehow not the same. Obviously it was planned for RU which has life to it and is busy, but it did real damage to us too (and ironically managed to kill off NyashNyash, one of the few English-speaking guilds on RU).

Our server is emptier now and you could run around Karkasse spamming 44s.

The tax changes are a solution nobody asked for to a problem we don't have.

Forgive me for quoting myself earlier in the thread, but it still applies.
 
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We will consider removing custom Land Tax BUT under 1 condition: when occupied in housing area land reaches 85% - tax will be returned back.
That will help to leave vacant space for new players at the expanse of "land lords" with high number of land spots.​
 
What about removing the tax increase but reducing the maximum time land can be prepaid for? As i see it the bulk of the problem is people who have stopped playing the game but still log in once every 5 weeks to pay their taxes. Reducing the maximum prepay to two(?) weeks would allow for short breaks such as vacations, but be enough of an inconvenience to those that dont play they might finally let the land go.

Also, allowing auroria pumps and flaming trees to be placed on the mainland will alleviate some of the issues with land hoarding in Auroria. The issue is that so many players need archeum and *points for erenor feed/infusions, but theres no land available. More archeum and regrade points in the system will be a huge help for many, particularly with T3 erenor coming eventually. Right now there isnt enough sunlight archeum essence on the market to make even one awakening scroll.
 
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