Halas Reborn - General Feedback - Page 7

Waking · 06-29-2010, 05:35 PM

Well, I don't know where to say this but I've been playing for a few weeks, after subscribing. Before that I took over a year off because I think things were going downhill and other games were more interesting.

But, I've been playing EQ2 since about 2 years after release and I think it's a ton of fun, more fun than it was a year ago. I wish the devs would come up with a solution to the item imbalances and fix AFK token earning but otherwise... kudos.

msgnomer · 07-01-2010, 01:09 PM

A few additional comments about the area of Halas.

(1) Initially I didn't pay much attention to what was above my character in the housing/crafting area. I vaguely imagined it was rock and snow. Last night, however, I saw clouds in the area I'd at first thought were "snow veins" in the rocks above. Having realized it was sky peeping through, I realized that some of the large rocks are "floating". They are up there, completely surrounded by sky, and not connected to anything. It doesn't look magical, it looks like a mistake.

(2) If ever there was a place where crafting should be done indoors, it would be new Halas. What artisan can craft well in an open air location with fingers getting stiff from the cold, not to mention half-frozen crafting materials. With all the snow and ice, it would have been a welcome retreat into a traditional crafting house. You can't convince me they don't have the materials there to craft a building suited for artisans to do their best work.

(3) New Halas seems a bit siimple graphically, compared to the original cities. I might have expected the reverse to be true. I'm not sure why there seems to be an effort to more players away from the older cities. I never feel like I've "seen it all" in Freeport or Qeynos, unlike New Halas. I know Halas is supposed to a kind of outpost town, so it's not the level of refinement, it's the level of details. That wouldn't be an issue either for me, except it's now one of two places to start a good character.

(4) I do think New Halas effectively conveys "cold". Enough so that it makes item (2) one reason I wouldn't want to station my character there permanently. My Barbarian had soooo been looking to move to New Halas. I guess she's been a little too spoiled by Qeynos. She will visit on occasion though, and maybe one day if they move crafting indoors she will be tempted.

Barx · 07-01-2010, 01:35 PM

msgnomer wrote:

A few additional comments about the area of Halas.
(1) Initially I didn't pay much attention to what was above my character in the housing/crafting area. I vaguely imagined it was rock and snow. Last night, however, I saw clouds in the area I'd at first thought were "snow veins" in the rocks above. Having realized it was sky peeping through, I realized that some of the large rocks are "floating". They are up there, completely surrounded by sky, and not connected to anything. It doesn't look magical, it looks like a mistake.
(2) If ever there was a place where crafting should be done indoors, it would be new Halas. What artisan can craft well in an open air location with fingers getting stiff from the cold, not to mention half-frozen crafting materials. With all the snow and ice, it would have been a welcome retreat into a traditional crafting house. You can't convince me they don't have the materials there to craft a building suited for artisans to do their best work.
(3) New Halas seems a bit siimple graphically, compared to the original cities. I might have expected the reverse to be true. I'm not sure why there seems to be an effort to more players away from the older cities. I never feel like I've "seen it all" in Freeport or Qeynos, unlike New Halas. I know Halas is supposed to a kind of outpost town, so it's not the level of refinement, it's the level of details. That wouldn't be an issue either for me, except it's now one of two places to start a good character.
(4) I do think New Halas effectively conveys "cold". Enough so that it makes item (2) one reason I wouldn't want to station my character there permanently. My Barbarian had soooo been looking to move to New Halas. I guess she's been a little too spoiled by Qeynos. She will visit on occasion though, and maybe one day if they move crafting indoors she will be tempted.

Do you have a /loc on (1)? I took a character through there before but didn't see any rock that was not connected to something else.

Re: 2: True, but they're not completely outside, they are in the cave where all the housing is which (in theory) would be somewhat warmer than just being outside.

Re: 3: Keep in mind that this is a city that has just had the majority of its buildings built, it can't really be super elaborate for lore reasons alone.

msgnomer · 07-01-2010, 10:23 PM

Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote:

Do you have a /loc on (1)? I took a character through there before but didn't see any rock that was not connected to something else.
Re: 2: True, but they're not completely outside, they are in the cave where all the housing is which (in theory) would be somewhat warmer than just being outside.
Re: 3: Keep in mind that this is a city that has just had the majority of its buildings built, it can't really be super elaborate for lore reasons alone.

OK, here you go. Stand at -314.27 +172.08 -139.47 in the housing area. Look up while spinning around and you should see at least three distinct unattached rocks. Made my little Ratonga nervous just to stand there!

Heedicalki · 07-04-2010, 03:23 PM

New Halas probably has some of the best looking houses out of all the cities.

Jacra · 07-19-2010, 02:05 AM

Ok, I'm late with this but could not play for a few month and just managed to come back few days ago to see Halas life. My impressions after spending there two days:

It looks very very nice, much better then the actual screens posted. Those made me go "Oh please no, just empty space and huge buildings??". I was pleasently surprised. I like the atmosphere a lot and would say you should definitely have whoever did it go over everfrost the same way!

The housing looks awesome, the layout is for once pretty nice, not too much cellar space (who needs cellars???) and a lot of natural looking windows. Very nice.

The quests are diverse and mostly packaged in nice stories. Some of them break out of the common all-the-same quest types and there is a lot of attention to detail I think. The "harvest crystals from the cave ceiling by throwing the pickaxe at the so they crush down" idea was awesome. That you actually pick up the food from the stove or fireplace when someone makes you some as quest reward - very nice and immersive! The movie with the under water cave was great, marking it by the bubbles is nice too.

And the talking-grizzly-pelt was funny. Plus the "cold resistance and protection spell" quest was quite funny too - especially the part where it came to "So I guess (yawn) you want me to be the test object AGAIN right?" - "No way." - "Oh ... really?!?". I expected he died when trying alone though. SMILEY

You see: It is a long time I can remember as much quest content from so many quest in a single area. Well done, I enjoyed this immensely. More of the same please!

The new story teller window is nice too but I find it confusing that there are several New Halas quest lines that will not be hidden when I click at "hide finished quest lines" while there seems to be no more quest left, the story line window does not mention any.

Plus while I liked that the New Halas quests were all connected and dependent on each other for different NPC it is a bit annoying that each sends me to this place A, than to B, than to C - and than the next NPC is willing to give me his quests ... and sends me to A and to B and to C ... A lot of unnecessary running that splits up the story too. I would have liked to understand the story of the jagged dagger (?) island with the ballistas and all better - btw burning the camp was nice! - in one chunk than being send by several NPC there in installments and with all the other quests in between.

MysidiaDrakkenbane · 07-21-2010, 07:53 AM

I love the new Halas look. The housing is amazing and I love how you can look out the windows to see the sea.

Will you be getting character titles in Halas that were in Freeport and Qeynos? I was surprised to see that the writs for the Halas factions, as well as the city itself, didn't have anything on the merchants to purchase in the ways of a title (Like Baroness, Marquess, and the like.) I realize that Halas isn't a royal city, but do you think there will be equivalent titles in the future?

Ciara52 · 09-07-2010, 11:19 PM

Well this is a bit late to be posting but originally I just went over and looked around and said uggg it's to white. And I wanted Queen's colony back.

Anyway this weekend I made a new character and decided to level in New Halas. I have to say the questline is very well done. You can't help but get involved with the story. And whoever wrote the lines inserted some subtle humor SMILEY

I was working on a quest called "Thine eyes only" or something to that effect and the cut scene was really really well done. I never liked the Rime one very much. But this one was good. So though I miss Queen's Colony like I would miss an old show on TV I have to say if you are new or just want to start a new character it's not a bad place to do that.

Wengchun · 09-11-2010, 07:38 AM

This isnt a comment so much as a suggestion. Why not bring the avatars back as questable raids? Something like the quest/raid progression leading up to Darathars Flight back in the day when you got the whole guild involved.

Alvane · 09-11-2010, 01:38 PM

Wengchun wrote:

This isnt a comment so much as a suggestion. Why not bring the avatars back as questable raids? Something like the quest/raid progression leading up to Darathars Flight back in the day when you got the whole guild involved.

This is a thread about NH, not about avatars. You might get better response posting elsewhere such as General Gameplay. And avatars were raids...... they were banished according to lore.

Wengchun · 09-11-2010, 03:24 PM

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

This is a thread about NH, not about avatars. You might get better response posting elsewhere such as General Gameplay. And avatars were raids...... they were banished according to lore.

Thank you for pointing me in another direction for forums. And if they were "banished" according to lore ( Allready knew the reasoning for taking them away ) why is it that it only applied to the avatars when you can still go to Palace of the Ancient One and kill Anashti........ Seems the whole "lore" spin kinda goes out the window now doesnt it

Crickett · 10-01-2010, 12:24 PM

Dear *Red People*

Arguably I don't remember much at all, but I do remember mention of *KILTS* soonishly(tm) being available ingame in the future.

I know you *Red Guys and Gals* are busy, I see alot of new cool stuff coming soonishly(tm) but I have come to remind you that this is the future.

There are 170 posts here http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=454528 requesting *KILTS* and I'm sure there would be more, though it took even me a long time to post about it.

/: Bats his widdle Sarnak eyes and with a sad, sad face looks up into your eyes and says "Pwease sirs, we wants KILTS"

We need them, the robes and pants are of a poor design, even the roughspun dresses are chafing.

Thank you

PS: anything I may have said about an impending *Pox* was said in the heat of the moment....Kilts are cooler

DeathtoGnomes · 10-09-2010, 12:34 PM

As a relatively new eq2 player, my comments of NH are towards houses, there are no doors or even makeshift doors, the cellar is too small, they are over-lit by default, there is no fireplace in the common room, for babarian housing its not designed properly because there is an upstairs, LOL!

Doors should be animal hide dividing each room, or at the very least a normal door leading to the cellar. to keep heat/cold of each room separated to an extent, not to mention limited privacy for those snugglers

Fireplace/fire-pits/braziers (night time heating with coals from the main fireplace) would be in every room.

The cellar area would be long, not square, and divided in half with a door/barrier to the "cold storage" area

Barbarians would not build a 2nd floor, they would tend to build like Vikings - longhouses - mostly single floor. However I can guess the devs didnt want this since it would make too many people feel like trailer trash from the shape.

Lastly lighting inside the housing is too bright by default, why put in chandeliers and hanging candelabras? why put a sconce on the wall? do ya follow me here?

However applying more dwarven and/or Gnomish architecture style to the main/entry room might fix the poor wood look hovels deserve

Alvane · 10-09-2010, 01:20 PM

DeathtoGnomes wrote:

As a relatively new eq2 player, my comments of NH are towards houses, there are no doors or even makeshift doors, the cellar is too small, they are over-lit by default, there is no fireplace in the common room, for babarian housing its not designed properly because there is an upstairs, LOL!
Doors should be animal hide dividing each room, or at the very least a normal door leading to the cellar. to keep heat/cold of each room separated to an extent, not to mention limited privacy for those snugglers
Barbarians would not build a 2nd floor, they would tend to build like Vikings - longhouses - mostly single floor.....
Lastly lighting inside the housing is too bright by default, why put in chandeliers and hanging candelabras? why put a sconce on the wall? do ya follow me here?

Barbarian houses can most certainly can be more than one story. As to doors, etc, make your own. And in GU#58 being live 10-12 you can have your own door and place it where you wish. If you wish to cover them with hides, you can do so. There are several animal skins available in game. And you can always use the layout editor.

Want a fireplace? There are many choices available in game. Find the one you want and make it or have a carpenter make one or two or three or four for you. Then you can place it exactly where you wish. Want it in the center as a "round" fireplace? Want open pit style or closed? Choice is yours.

Barbarians are not Vikings. Barbarian invaders of the 5th century CE came from not Viking areas but through what is now Germany and parts of Russia. They were also known as Huns who came from Mongolia which borders China. There is a Tibetan influence from about the 16th/17th ce. Vikings were Norsemen from areas much futher north of what is called Scandinavia, home of the Goths & Vandals. They also were influential in northern Germany due to proximity of the area. Vikings were "pirates" who attacked British Isles & France for loot. Some went to Western areas of Russia.

If you don't like the lighting, change your settings under options.

BTW, in case you didn't know, the word "barbarian" was coined by the Romans. It means anyone who isn't Roman. Even the Gauls were called barbarians by the great orator Cicero. The Gauls are now known as the Celtic group of people.

07-01-2010, 01:09 PM	#182
msgnomer Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 825	A few additional comments about the area of Halas. (1) Initially I didn't pay much attention to what was above my character in the housing/crafting area. I vaguely imagined it was rock and snow. Last night, however, I saw clouds in the area I'd at first thought were "snow veins" in the rocks above. Having realized it was sky peeping through, I realized that some of the large rocks are "floating". They are up there, completely surrounded by sky, and not connected to anything. It doesn't look magical, it looks like a mistake. (2) If ever there was a place where crafting should be done indoors, it would be new Halas. What artisan can craft well in an open air location with fingers getting stiff from the cold, not to mention half-frozen crafting materials. With all the snow and ice, it would have been a welcome retreat into a traditional crafting house. You can't convince me they don't have the materials there to craft a building suited for artisans to do their best work. (3) New Halas seems a bit siimple graphically, compared to the original cities. I might have expected the reverse to be true. I'm not sure why there seems to be an effort to more players away from the older cities. I never feel like I've "seen it all" in Freeport or Qeynos, unlike New Halas. I know Halas is supposed to a kind of outpost town, so it's not the level of refinement, it's the level of details. That wouldn't be an issue either for me, except it's now one of two places to start a good character. (4) I do think New Halas effectively conveys "cold". Enough so that it makes item (2) one reason I wouldn't want to station my character there permanently. My Barbarian had soooo been looking to move to New Halas. I guess she's been a little too spoiled by Qeynos. She will visit on occasion though, and maybe one day if they move crafting indoors she will be tempted. __________________ Please visit my dungeons by Hedvika on AB: Hall of Fame: Help Feed the Dragons! (No, you won't be the food!) Look for Poet's Dungeon: The Mad Poet's Release returning soon. ---------- Aluriel's chronicle of a scavanger hunt through 50 player decorated homes and guildhalls:.... http://photobucket.com/AlurielsAdventure

07-01-2010, 01:35 PM	#183
Barx Server: Antonia Bayle Guild: Mayhem Rank: Officers Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Manors of Mithaniel, New Halas Posts: 3,480	msgnomer wrote: A few additional comments about the area of Halas. (1) Initially I didn't pay much attention to what was above my character in the housing/crafting area. I vaguely imagined it was rock and snow. Last night, however, I saw clouds in the area I'd at first thought were "snow veins" in the rocks above. Having realized it was sky peeping through, I realized that some of the large rocks are "floating". They are up there, completely surrounded by sky, and not connected to anything. It doesn't look magical, it looks like a mistake. (2) If ever there was a place where crafting should be done indoors, it would be new Halas. What artisan can craft well in an open air location with fingers getting stiff from the cold, not to mention half-frozen crafting materials. With all the snow and ice, it would have been a welcome retreat into a traditional crafting house. You can't convince me they don't have the materials there to craft a building suited for artisans to do their best work. (3) New Halas seems a bit siimple graphically, compared to the original cities. I might have expected the reverse to be true. I'm not sure why there seems to be an effort to more players away from the older cities. I never feel like I've "seen it all" in Freeport or Qeynos, unlike New Halas. I know Halas is supposed to a kind of outpost town, so it's not the level of refinement, it's the level of details. That wouldn't be an issue either for me, except it's now one of two places to start a good character. (4) I do think New Halas effectively conveys "cold". Enough so that it makes item (2) one reason I wouldn't want to station my character there permanently. My Barbarian had soooo been looking to move to New Halas. I guess she's been a little too spoiled by Qeynos. She will visit on occasion though, and maybe one day if they move crafting indoors she will be tempted. Do you have a /loc on (1)? I took a character through there before but didn't see any rock that was not connected to something else. Re: 2: True, but they're not completely outside, they are in the cave where all the housing is which (in theory) would be somewhat warmer than just being outside. Re: 3: Keep in mind that this is a city that has just had the majority of its buildings built, it can't really be super elaborate for lore reasons alone.

07-01-2010, 10:23 PM	#184
msgnomer Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 825	Barx@Antonia Bayle wrote: Do you have a /loc on (1)? I took a character through there before but didn't see any rock that was not connected to something else. Re: 2: True, but they're not completely outside, they are in the cave where all the housing is which (in theory) would be somewhat warmer than just being outside. Re: 3: Keep in mind that this is a city that has just had the majority of its buildings built, it can't really be super elaborate for lore reasons alone. OK, here you go. Stand at -314.27 +172.08 -139.47 in the housing area. Look up while spinning around and you should see at least three distinct unattached rocks. Made my little Ratonga nervous just to stand there! __________________ Please visit my dungeons by Hedvika on AB: Hall of Fame: Help Feed the Dragons! (No, you won't be the food!) Look for Poet's Dungeon: The Mad Poet's Release returning soon. ---------- Aluriel's chronicle of a scavanger hunt through 50 player decorated homes and guildhalls:.... http://photobucket.com/AlurielsAdventure

07-19-2010, 02:05 AM	#186
Jacra Server: Valor Guild: Twinks Rank: Ehren Twink Loremaster Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 250	Ok, I'm late with this but could not play for a few month and just managed to come back few days ago to see Halas life. My impressions after spending there two days: It looks very very nice, much better then the actual screens posted. Those made me go "Oh please no, just empty space and huge buildings??". I was pleasently surprised. I like the atmosphere a lot and would say you should definitely have whoever did it go over everfrost the same way! The housing looks awesome, the layout is for once pretty nice, not too much cellar space (who needs cellars???) and a lot of natural looking windows. Very nice. The quests are diverse and mostly packaged in nice stories. Some of them break out of the common all-the-same quest types and there is a lot of attention to detail I think. The "harvest crystals from the cave ceiling by throwing the pickaxe at the so they crush down" idea was awesome. That you actually pick up the food from the stove or fireplace when someone makes you some as quest reward - very nice and immersive! The movie with the under water cave was great, marking it by the bubbles is nice too. And the talking-grizzly-pelt was funny. Plus the "cold resistance and protection spell" quest was quite funny too - especially the part where it came to "So I guess (yawn) you want me to be the test object AGAIN right?" - "No way." - "Oh ... really?!?". I expected he died when trying alone though. You see: It is a long time I can remember as much quest content from so many quest in a single area. Well done, I enjoyed this immensely. More of the same please! The new story teller window is nice too but I find it confusing that there are several New Halas quest lines that will not be hidden when I click at "hide finished quest lines" while there seems to be no more quest left, the story line window does not mention any. Plus while I liked that the New Halas quests were all connected and dependent on each other for different NPC it is a bit annoying that each sends me to this place A, than to B, than to C - and than the next NPC is willing to give me his quests ... and sends me to A and to B and to C ... A lot of unnecessary running that splits up the story too. I would have liked to understand the story of the jagged dagger (?) island with the ballistas and all better - btw burning the camp was nice! - in one chunk than being send by several NPC there in installments and with all the other quests in between. __________________ www.eq2wiki.net - Das deutschsprachige Wiki rund um Everquest 2

09-07-2010, 11:19 PM	#188
Ciara52 Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: California Posts: 504	Well this is a bit late to be posting but originally I just went over and looked around and said uggg it's to white. And I wanted Queen's colony back. Anyway this weekend I made a new character and decided to level in New Halas. I have to say the questline is very well done. You can't help but get involved with the story. And whoever wrote the lines inserted some subtle humor I was working on a quest called "Thine eyes only" or something to that effect and the cut scene was really really well done. I never liked the Rime one very much. But this one was good. So though I miss Queen's Colony like I would miss an old show on TV I have to say if you are new or just want to start a new character it's not a bad place to do that.

06-29-2010, 05:35 PM	#181
Waking Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 57	Well, I don't know where to say this but I've been playing for a few weeks, after subscribing. Before that I took over a year off because I think things were going downhill and other games were more interesting. But, I've been playing EQ2 since about 2 years after release and I think it's a ton of fun, more fun than it was a year ago. I wish the devs would come up with a solution to the item imbalances and fix AFK token earning but otherwise... kudos.

07-04-2010, 03:23 PM	#185
Heedicalki General Join Date: May 2010 Location: New Jersey Posts: 3	New Halas probably has some of the best looking houses out of all the cities.

07-21-2010, 07:53 AM	#187
MysidiaDrakkenbane Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 570	I love the new Halas look. The housing is amazing and I love how you can look out the windows to see the sea. Will you be getting character titles in Halas that were in Freeport and Qeynos? I was surprised to see that the writs for the Halas factions, as well as the city itself, didn't have anything on the merchants to purchase in the ways of a title (Like Baroness, Marquess, and the like.) I realize that Halas isn't a royal city, but do you think there will be equivalent titles in the future?

09-11-2010, 07:38 AM	#189
Wengchun Loremaster Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 8	This isnt a comment so much as a suggestion. Why not bring the avatars back as questable raids? Something like the quest/raid progression leading up to Darathars Flight back in the day when you got the whole guild involved.

09-11-2010, 01:38 PM	#190
Alvane Server: Unrest Guild: Old Timer Guild Rank: Member Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,363	Wengchun wrote: This isnt a comment so much as a suggestion. Why not bring the avatars back as questable raids? Something like the quest/raid progression leading up to Darathars Flight back in the day when you got the whole guild involved. This is a thread about NH, not about avatars. You might get better response posting elsewhere such as General Gameplay. And avatars were raids...... they were banished according to lore.

09-11-2010, 03:24 PM	#191
Wengchun Loremaster Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 8	Alvane@Unrest wrote: This is a thread about NH, not about avatars. You might get better response posting elsewhere such as General Gameplay. And avatars were raids...... they were banished according to lore. Thank you for pointing me in another direction for forums. And if they were "banished" according to lore ( Allready knew the reasoning for taking them away ) why is it that it only applied to the avatars when you can still go to Palace of the Ancient One and kill Anashti........ Seems the whole "lore" spin kinda goes out the window now doesnt it

10-01-2010, 12:24 PM	#192
Crickett Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 445	Dear Red People Arguably I don't remember much at all, but I do remember mention of KILTS soonishly(tm) being available ingame in the future. I know you Red Guys and Gals are busy, I see alot of new cool stuff coming soonishly(tm) but I have come to remind you that this is the future. There are 170 posts here http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=454528 requesting KILTS and I'm sure there would be more, though it took even me a long time to post about it. /: Bats his widdle Sarnak eyes and with a sad, sad face looks up into your eyes and says "Pwease sirs, we wants KILTS" We need them, the robes and pants are of a poor design, even the roughspun dresses are chafing. Thank you PS: anything I may have said about an impending Pox was said in the heat of the moment....Kilts are cooler

10-09-2010, 12:34 PM	#193
DeathtoGnomes Loremaster Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 38	As a relatively new eq2 player, my comments of NH are towards houses, there are no doors or even makeshift doors, the cellar is too small, they are over-lit by default, there is no fireplace in the common room, for babarian housing its not designed properly because there is an upstairs, LOL! Doors should be animal hide dividing each room, or at the very least a normal door leading to the cellar. to keep heat/cold of each room separated to an extent, not to mention limited privacy for those snugglers Fireplace/fire-pits/braziers (night time heating with coals from the main fireplace) would be in every room. The cellar area would be long, not square, and divided in half with a door/barrier to the "cold storage" area Barbarians would not build a 2nd floor, they would tend to build like Vikings - longhouses - mostly single floor. However I can guess the devs didnt want this since it would make too many people feel like trailer trash from the shape. Lastly lighting inside the housing is too bright by default, why put in chandeliers and hanging candelabras? why put a sconce on the wall? do ya follow me here? However applying more dwarven and/or Gnomish architecture style to the main/entry room might fix the poor wood look hovels deserve __________________ 90 Gnome Templar - Najena

10-09-2010, 01:20 PM	#194
Alvane Server: Unrest Guild: Old Timer Guild Rank: Member Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,363	DeathtoGnomes wrote: As a relatively new eq2 player, my comments of NH are towards houses, there are no doors or even makeshift doors, the cellar is too small, they are over-lit by default, there is no fireplace in the common room, for babarian housing its not designed properly because there is an upstairs, LOL! Doors should be animal hide dividing each room, or at the very least a normal door leading to the cellar. to keep heat/cold of each room separated to an extent, not to mention limited privacy for those snugglers Barbarians would not build a 2nd floor, they would tend to build like Vikings - longhouses - mostly single floor..... Lastly lighting inside the housing is too bright by default, why put in chandeliers and hanging candelabras? why put a sconce on the wall? do ya follow me here? Barbarian houses can most certainly can be more than one story. As to doors, etc, make your own. And in GU#58 being live 10-12 you can have your own door and place it where you wish. If you wish to cover them with hides, you can do so. There are several animal skins available in game. And you can always use the layout editor. Want a fireplace? There are many choices available in game. Find the one you want and make it or have a carpenter make one or two or three or four for you. Then you can place it exactly where you wish. Want it in the center as a "round" fireplace? Want open pit style or closed? Choice is yours. Barbarians are not Vikings. Barbarian invaders of the 5th century CE came from not Viking areas but through what is now Germany and parts of Russia. They were also known as Huns who came from Mongolia which borders China. There is a Tibetan influence from about the 16th/17th ce. Vikings were Norsemen from areas much futher north of what is called Scandinavia, home of the Goths & Vandals. They also were influential in northern Germany due to proximity of the area. Vikings were "pirates" who attacked British Isles & France for loot. Some went to Western areas of Russia. If you don't like the lighting, change your settings under options. BTW, in case you didn't know, the word "barbarian" was coined by the Romans. It means anyone who isn't Roman. Even the Gauls were called barbarians by the great orator Cicero. The Gauls are now known as the Celtic group of people.