So, here goes for some feedback:
When claimstakes were initially presented, they gave off the impression that they were going to be an extremely vital, mandatory piece of content, which brought forward a couple problems. The biggest problem appeared to be (at least in my opinion) that they were going to be such an important thing that you were required to do *at the very beginning of the game* that they would drastically increase the amount of time it would take before a player could "get into the action," which was the reason many of the former Firefall vets bought into the game. They also made it sound like the game was becoming much more of a survival/crafting game, rather than what the original vision was supposed to be.
The subsequent forum feedback thread and Chief Chat cleared up most of the issues people seemed to have had. At that point, since Grummz had stated that the game wasn't becoming some sort of survival game, the biggest points of discussion seemed to be exactly how important of a feature claimstakes were going to be, and whether or not that importance would draw away from the community-focused bases. People didn't seem to be strictly against claimstakes as a whole, but rather, at what point in the game they would come into play, and how important they would be.
That is the place that I myself was at. I enjoy base building in games, and I never had a problem with the claimstakes themselves (other than some minor issues that Grummz resolved during the CC). However, I didn't feel that they were a feature that should be introduced as the very first thing a player should experience in the game; I would rather they have been something that would come into play after the introduction of the other, more important main aspects of the game: thumping and kaijus. I felt that introducing claimstakes *too early* would have more negatives than positives, but I wasn't against them being in the game.
Now, it seems like Grummz has decided to make them not only completely optional, but also that they should now be a feature locked behind a paywall.
Being completely optional is... okay. Not my preference, but not everyone enjoys housing, so that would remove a point of friction from the players that don't enjoy that aspect of the game. It would also make it so that people who *do* enjoy housing have something they can do in their spare time.
Making it fully optional also removes any pain points the game might have by having a sub-par building system - as much as I *want* the system to be good, this is a feature that some games are built entirely around, and yet still get wrong or implement badly. One of my biggest worries of this feature was in adding a system to the game that would almost be like adding in an entire other game to Em8er. If claimstakes are completely optional, this makes it less important to have this system be "perfect" - players would be more forgiving of the system, as long as it was at least functional. Conversely, if the system is a mandatory one, and it is only at a "functional" level, it can be massively detracting to the game as a whole.
I personally would rather have claimstakes back at a optional-but-important feature of the game. If you want to interact with them, they could provide some solo/small-group content, such as the localized gathering/thumping/defense encounters that Grummz had in mind previously. They would also allow players to set up crafting stations in ways that are more preferable to them, and/or in more efficient designs - even if that only means the crafting area is closer together than in the community bases. Nothing that would give players any sort of major advantage in the game, but they would still provide some gameplay elements and be useful for those that wanted to interact with the system. Their "endgame" usefulness would be relatively low-to-medium, mostly as a place to hangout with friends, or do content that is relaxing/easier but still have some relevance.
If I had to give an example of what I had in mind, I would say it would be like playing ARK with a group of friends: You can have a main base that the group shares (the community bases), but at the same time, you could setup your own personal base in a different location (your claimstake). Both of these would nominally have access to the same crafting stations and storage and whatever else. However, your personal base could have a layout that *you* find better, compared to the group base. Your personal base could be located in a region that gives you better access to certain resources, but lesser access to others, so they balance out. Your personal base gives you an area where you can avoid other players if you want, but still give you content to do.
Now, I could be completely wrong, but from my understanding, the game was supposed to be funded long-term by skin sales, either directly purchased or through the monthly subscription. It was also my understanding that cosmetics were going to be the *only* thing that would be purchasable.
If claimstakes are going to become a completely cosmetic feature, with no gameplay aspects at all, then this might be okay. People will probably complain about it, but they will deal with it, and I'm sure it would get many more people to sub to the game, which means more money for the devs. I am somewhat worried, however, that this would be the start of a trend to put more and more things behind the subscription paywall.
So, a few suggestions:
1. If claimstakes end up being locked behind the subscription, then they should *only* be a cosmetic feature. They should give no benefit to the player - no crafting bonuses, no extra storage, etc. If there are specialized crafting stations at the community bases, I would also recommend those not be available at a claimstake. Basic crafting stations and access to universal storage would be fine. Using the crafting stations at a claimstake should also be limited on a per-character basis - i.e. a tier 1 player using a station at the claimstake of a tier-4 friend should still only have access to tier 1 crafts.
2. If the claimstakes end up being locked behind the subscription, have them also be unlockable using in-game resources. This would put the claimstakes on-par with the skins, since you can unlock those in-game. The resource cost should be substantial, but reasonable enough such that every player could have the possibility of obtaining access.
3. Regardless of whether the claimstakes are behind a paywall, have some sort of auto-demolition feature on them to free up real estate. While the world is supposed to be extremely large, there will inevitably be areas that are more sought after. Personally, I would suggest some sort of "rental" system, along with an actual "usage" period, kind of a modified version of what FF14 uses. For example: keeping a claimstake at a certain spot would require X currency to be paid as a "rental fee" every month to have the claimstake be recognized by the Gatestriders HQ. You would be allowed to pay for the current month as well as one month in advance. There would be a 1-week grace period warning once you go unpaid, after which the claimstake would be removed. Payment during the grace period would include that time in the next months' rental period (i.e. no paying on the last day of the grace period and getting a "free" week; you would then have only 3 weeks remaining till the next payment was due). This would give a reasonable amount of time for players to come back to the game and retain their claimstake (this is one of the biggest complaints of the FF14 housing, where it essentially requires you to keep your subscription active continuously to retain a house, and can be very unforgiving if something happens in real life). The "usage" period would be longer than the "rental" period, perhaps 3 months, where the owner would need to actually set foot in their claimstake in order to keep it. This makes it such that people who do not actively use their claimstake lose it - there is really no point in someone taking up a good spot if that spot is never actively used, regardless of whether the "rent" is paid or not. By having the "usage" period be longer than the maximum "rental" period, you can ensure that this aspect only triggers the demolition for an *active* player that is *not* using their claimstake - an inactive player should otherwise hit the "rental" period trigger first.
Overall, I would be somewhat sad to see claimstakes be made into a cosmetic-only feature, since some of the gameplay elements Grummz described regarding them did sound enjoyable. I would also like to see as few things stuck behind a paywall as possible. I fully support devs making money on their games, but so many games nowadays have monetization that makes them seem more like jobs than games - tons of daily/weekly/monthy quests, battle passes, monthly passes that have to be claimed daily, etc. - and I really hope Em8er doesn't go that route. The more things that are locked behind a subscription, the more it will seem like that.
