View source for Outlands Patch January 9, 2025

{{PatchData
| Prev = Outlands Patch December 21, 2024
| Next = Outlands Patch January 25, 2025
| publishdate = 2025-01-09
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'''Outlands Patch January 9, 2025''' is a minor update for ''[[Outlands]]''.

This patch introduced house taxes and detailed how they would come into effect on April 15, 2025.

== Housing Taxes ==

Players who have two or more "qualifying" houses across all of their accounts (by OutlandsID) will now be subject to paying Housing Taxes. This system will go into effect on April 15, 2025. Players will not accumulate any taxes until the system goes into effect.

=== Housing Tax Menus ===

If a player either currently qualifies for Housing Taxes, or has past unpaid Housing Taxes, they will see a Housing Taxes section displayed in the center of the Overview Page of the Housing Menu of their houses. Players can click the "Details" button on the Housing Tax section to view a Tax Report menu explaining their Housing Taxes in detail.

Any player can also say the word "Tax" near a Banker NPC in town to view a Tax Report for their houses on their accounts (by OutlandsID).

Players can also shift-click a Banker and select the Housing Taxes context menu entry to view their Tax Report.

=== Qualifying and Exempt Houses ===

By default, all types of Houses and House Boats are considered to be qualifying houses.

However, the following types of houses are considered exempt types:
* Prestige Guild Houses
* Rental Rooms

Exempt House types will never be subject to taxes and will have no impact on Housing Taxes for a player.

=== Who Qualifies For Housing Taxes ===

Only players who have two or more "qualifying" houses across their accounts (by OutlandsID) will be subject to Housing Taxes. Players who only have a single house will never be subject to Housing Taxes.

=== Surface Area ===

In order to determine Housing Tax amounts due for players, their qualifying houses are "ranked" in order of highest to lowest by Surface Area. The Surface Area of a house is based on the Dimensions of the ground floor, i.e (Width * Height).

Example: A house that was listed as 16x22 would have a Surface Area of 16 x 22 = 352 Tiles.

Players can find the Dimensions of a house in the following locations:
* In the Home Surveying Tool menu
* In the Housing Taxes Menu
* In the Outlands Wiki for Housing

=== Ranking Houses ===

Exempt House types (Rental Rooms and Prestige Guild Houses) are never ranked and will never impact Housing Taxes for players. A player's qualifying house with the 1st largest Surface Area is considered their Primary House. A player's qualifying house with the 2nd largest Surface Area is considered their Secondary House. A player's qualifying house with the 3rd largest Surface Area is considered their Tertiary House.

=== Yearly Tax Amounts ===

The amount of Yearly Taxes that are accumulated for each of a player's houses is based on their Ranking, as follows:
* Primary House: None
* Secondary House: Yearly Tax of (100,000 + (5,000 * Surface Area)) Gold
* Tertiary House: Yearly Tax of (1,000,000 + (50,000 * Surface Area)) Gold

==== Examples ====

Example 1:  
A player owns a Castle (31x32) and a Rental Room.

The Rental Room is ignored for Housing Taxes. The Castle is the player's Primary house with 31 x 32 = 992 surface area.

The Castle as the Primary House has 0 Yearly Taxes.

The player owes a total of 0 Yearly Taxes.

Example 2:  
A player owns a Prestige Guild House, a Cambrian Villa (12x12), and an Andarian Abode (16x10).

The Prestige Guild House is ignored for Housing Taxes. The Andarian Abode is the player's Primary house with 16 x 10 = 160 surface area. The Cambrian Villa is the player's Secondary house with 12 x 12 = 144 surface area.

The Andarian Abode as the Primary House has 0 Yearly Taxes. The Cambrian Villa as the Secondary House has 100,000 + (5,000 * 144) = 820,000 Yearly Taxes.

The player owes a total of 820,000 Yearly Taxes.

Example 3:  
A player owns an Andarian Farmstead (31x31), a Compact Stone Keep (20x22), and a Frontier Log and Slate Overlook (14x14).

The Andarian Farmstead is the player's Primary house with 31 x 31 = 961 surface area. The Compact Stone Keep is the player's Secondary house with 20 x 22 = 440 surface area. The Frontier Log and Slate Overlook is the player's Tertiary house with 14 x 14 = 196 surface area.

The Andarian Farmstead as the Primary House has 0 Yearly Taxes. The Compact Stone Keep as the Secondary House has 100,000 + (5,000 * 440) = 2,300,000 Yearly Taxes. The Frontier and Slate Overlook as the Tertiary House has 1,000,000 + (50,000 * 196) = 10,800,000 Yearly Taxes.

The player owes a total of 2,300,000 + 10,800,000 = 13,100,000 Yearly Taxes.

=== Accumulating Taxes ===

Taxes for houses are accumulated on a Daily basis. The Daily Tax amount for each house is (Yearly Taxes / 365). At the start of each day, players accumulate the total combined Daily Tax amounts for all qualifying houses across their accounts (by OutlandsID).

Note: While Yearly Taxes are listed in the Tax Report, that value is only used to calculate Daily Taxes (i.e., there is no end of year "massive" tax for houses).

Players can view their "Amount Owed" from either the Housing Menu or a Tax Report menu. Players can also view how many "Days of Unpaid Taxes" they have accumulated since last paying off their Amount Owed.

=== Paying Taxes ===

Players can pay their Amount Owed at any time they wish (does not have to be daily). To do so, any character on their OutlandsID can click the "Pay Amount Owed" button on either the Housing Menu or Tax Report menu to pay the total amount in Gold from their bank balance. Doing so will reset both the Amount Owed and Days of Unpaid Taxes to 0.

=== Excessive Unpaid Taxes ===

If a player accumulates 30 Days of Unpaid Taxes or more they will be subject to Excessive Unpaid Taxes restrictions. The "Days of Unpaid Taxes" will display in red text if Excessive Unpaid Taxes restrictions are in place.

Players with Excessive Unpaid Taxes have the following applied:
* All houses owned by the player (across their OutlandsID) cannot be Refreshed by anyone (even themselves).
* The player cannot place new houses.
* The player cannot take control of existing houses (transfer/trade/purchase/lottery).

==== Warning Alerts ====

Players with Excessive Unpaid Taxes will receive an overhead warning and sound effect each time they log in or attempt to refresh their houses.

When Co-Owners and Friends of their houses attempt to refresh them, they will receive a system message and sound effect informing them the owner currently has Excessive Unpaid Taxes and refreshing the house is no longer possible.

=== Daily Taxes when Transfering Houses ===

If a player purchases, transfers, or sells one or more qualifying houses during the day, they will still accumulate taxes at the start of the next day based on whatever their highest Daily Tax amount was at any point during that day (but future days will be assessed as normal). This is intended to prevent players from shuffling expensive houses to other players at the end of the day to avoid paying taxes on them.

=== System Going Live ===

The Housing Tax system will go into effect on **April 15, 2025**. Players will not accumulate any taxes until the system goes into effect. Players will see a "HOUSING TAXES ARE DISABLED UNTIL APRIL 15" message in the Housing and Tax Report menus until the system goes into effect. Players will be able to preview what their Housing Taxes would look like in these menus prior to the system going live (to make any plans/adjustments).

=== House Menu Updates ===

The House Menu has been redesigned with a much larger layout and more information displayed in some pages. The functionality of most pages remain largely the same, with a few exceptions.

==== Upgrades Page ====

The Special Page of the House Menu has been renamed to the "Upgrades" Page. The "Expand Housing" button that was previously on the Overview page has been removed, and those features are now available at the top of the Upgrades Page.

==== Ownership Page ====

The Ownership page has been streamlined. Players can now Change House Signs for houses while the house is either Public or Private.

==== Place House for Sale ====

The Place House for Sale page has been redesigned and the "Warning Message" has been rephrased. Players can now see a list of Upgrades unlocked for the house such as "Auto-Stash Mounts Unlocked."

When attempting to Set Asking Price for a house to put it for sale or change price, players will now have to triple-click to confirm their changes.

==== Demolish House and Receive House Deed ====

The Demolish House page has been redesigned and the wording rephrased for better clarity. Demolishing a House requires triple-click confirmation to resolve.