housing got decoration hooks :((

Just like to note that last week's stream had someone asking if we could duel in our Strongholds. The dev looked unsure at each other and said "we'll get back to you on that."

This week, it was asked again and we got a solid "Yes, you can duel in your Strongholds."

The streams and threads like these are very much a part of their development process. They're 'still' deciding what stuff is going to go into them, so be vocal and be clear and be constructive. Give them stuff that they can use and isn't outrageous and you'd be surprised what we can get out of this.

We need a hi-fi console in our houses where we can stream our mp3's through, so other people visiting our houses can listen to our music. Then I can play 'I'm a little teapot' for everyone visiting.

I want this to be playing until the end of times on Nar Shaddaaa.

That would be amazing, but I 'think' it falls outside of the 'not outrageous' stipulation.

That could probably open some serious can of copyright claim worms (we all know how grubby recording companies are all around the world)

I once asked for the moon and got an ice cream cone out of it, mostly to make me shut up as my dad was sick of hearing me talk I think, and I was five. But I took the moral of that story to mean ask for the moon and you'll get something you might like instead, like ice cream cones.

He does, and I find the "devs know best, players are morons" answer (paraphrased) quite insulting. It they had wanted to make a free placement system easier to use they could have had an optional 'snap-to-grid' system like many graphical programs. In any case while that may have been part of the motivation, I think a large portion is the desire of the devs to limit just how much we can change the look and feel of the game. That was hinted at in the first stream (I don't have a time reference, sorry). But hooks are here to stay and we'll have to like it or lump it, it is far too late to change it now.

Something that we may influence is the requirement for the owner to be online before a player can visit a publicly listed stronghold. What is the point of a public listing if players cannot visit at any time?

Dude says - in other words - they went for a system that is both intuitive and accessible to everyone, though he both(!!!) ACKNOWLEDGES and UNDERSTANDS that some people would have liked something a bit more complex, as in, no hooks system. He doesn't beat around the bush or anything but is actually honest about it.

Your translation?

We're all morons as players. Amazing.

When someone is determined to hate the devs and be dissatisfied with anything unless they get exactly what they want, there is really no way to reach them with logic. They're not going to see or hear anything as it actually is, so you might as well not waste your effort on them.

I don't know why developers even put up with it. I would never continue working in an industry where I was treated so badly by those I was working to entertain.

They want decorating to have "variety" while still "making sense"
That free placement is "easy to make difficult" or to "Know where to put things that make sense".
Otherwise it can "get out of control"

He is basically saying the entire TOR community are a bunch of idiots that don't know how to handle free placement. They want you to design within their own limited scope and imagination...And Symmetry is super important for some reason.

A free placement system shouldn't be difficult to implement on top of the already established hook system. All they have to do is allow you to drop an item wherever you are currently standing and allow free movement of that item within the already built UI.

It's not really a matter of "pleasing everyone", it's a matter of EA constantly developing inferior products and expecting us to like it. I hate to have to compare SWTOR to SWG but it just has to be done. I want to mess around with a new housing system that looks, and feels better than the old system. I don't want to wish I could have the old system over the new. SWG's system is just flat out superior to this one. Every house you visited was unique. A hook system inherently restricts creative possibility...and it's just not necessary. The objects seem to behave in a free placement system...but where you place them is restricted by hooks.