We are working on a change that will reduce the chance of you viewing a house that is low rated or is not decorated.
Ah thanks! I have gotten tired of empty houses. I just give them the worst rating possible... Also, it would be nice not to have to worry about owners sending you away while you are touring their castle because I always do. Normally when I see a person, I just leave the house right then and there. Also, please make sure that people can't have access to a teleporter that will lead you to a space you can't get out of (like a jail cell, or the middle of a tree, that kind of stuff). Also would this be a reason why Castle Tours was not working yesterday (December 04, 2013)? I could not visit a friend's castle, I couldn't take a tour of any new castles, and I couldn't add a house. If you can't do anything about the teleporters used to trap people, then at least prevent it from happening on castle tours.
I'm glad to read that KI is trying to work on a way to deal with the empty castles. When I first heard of the Castle Tours I was very excited about it and now after spending lots of time going to lots of houses that were empty, or a pet dumping ground or storage unit, I am wondering why I keep trying to find the houses that are suppose to be decorated. I really wish people would stop adding their houses unless they have decorated it or done something to make their place cool to go see. I would like to also add that a good first impression does wonders for getting a good rating. You are more likely to get a better rating if you have your custom signs being welcoming instead of saying something like 'Don't Bug Me'. I went to one house and there was a sign there that I saw just as I appeared stating 'Don't Bug Me' and you know what? I left without bothering to see the house or rate it. If you don't want people there and don't want to be bugged by vistors, don't add your house to the tour.
I agree with many of the comments that it is a great idea, but needs quite a bit of adjustments before this is a part of the game I will spend anymore time on. I have spent several hours each day for six days trying to visit assorted styles of homes and castles.
Most of the places I was sent to either did not comply with the listing, or were completely vacant - except for a pagoda and winterbane right where you enter. I agree that it is not proper that I spent real money to buy winterbane and now anyone can just access it through house tours. Maybe these special dungeons should be rendered inactive for house tours.
I find it hard to believe the currently top rated maze ever got to the top of the list. There is no maze in the entire place! Must be the person has lots of friends voting for free access to winterbane.
I do hope KI does some form of review before allowing a listing to insure that it is in the proper category and is indeed decorated beyond a free dungeon and a few pets running around.
It appears that some players have no idea what category to list their house in. Maybe there should be a mini tutorial a player must read before their first listing.
Also how about reserving the name of the house owner until after grading the house. This would prevent other players from "stacking the deck" for a friend's house thus giving a poorly decorated house with a dungeon enough "votes" to move it to the top of a list.
KI has a great idea, but moved it to the real game way too soon. This should have had more time in the test realm to weed out the flaws.
I will give it awhile and hopefully KI will resolve the issues and figure out a way to display quality houses, not ones that have a free dungeon or a player with lots of friends.
With all my above gripes, I will say that I have seen several fantastic houses and one truly spectacular mystical house. I thank those home owners for a bright light in an almost endless sea of boredom.
Rowan Story Dreamer
Amen, brother! I just love it when people put their house in as a maze house and there is no maze! And no, I'm not serious. I am being sarcastic... I have found a friend's house that has loads of glitches and crazy stuff going. I think that if the players wanted to visit a friend's house, they would do it under the friends slot, thus stopping houses that do not qualify from getting on top. The friend I have mentioned is named Gabriel AshCaller and his house is a storm house. I've seen crazy houses been put as magical or some other random category. My bet is that the owner adds the castle without bothering to go back and actually look at their castle or read the descriptions!
First off I want to say that this is a very cool idea. I love seeing how other wizards have decorated their house.
Two questions though
1st If you have teleporters set up to go to your other houses will random wizards just be able to teleport to those houses or will the only friends allowed to teleport option houses remain in effect for your house that is not added to the tour?
2nd I noticed it still gave me the option to open a bank. Does that mean other wizards can get into your bank and move things to their backpacks or does it automatically open your bank even though you are in another wizards house?
The answer to the first half of your second question is now NO. KI has taken away the option to view your bank at another house. The answer to the answer to the second half is that you get YOUR bank, so as not to be able to steal other's stuff. I think though, that KI should introduce a cloning option so that you may have things that are rare or must be crafted (which costs you pretty much half your gold by the way). I've seen things that I have wanted badly, but can never seem to get! Some examples of these are the Oni Statue dropped from the Jade Oni (I think) and the Standing Kraken Statue dropped by the first boss in the Labyrinth in DS (name escapes me right now). Also, at the end of every year KI should bring back everything that has been retired for a limited amount of 1 month (And I mean the number of weeks btw). Then everyone may have a chance to gain anything they may have missed out on in the past. Also, for December 31st through January 10th, crowns only items should be made to have gold amounts and the amount decreased by a significant amount. These are just thoughts though.
I hate traps and glitches and teleporters that make you "stuck" in a room /area with no way out. I will give you just one star (only because I can't give zero, or take any away) If this happens.
i am not the only one bothered by empty, or near empty castle visits. with the understanding that some of the children that play this, click and haven't learned yet.. being patient is always a good start.. that being said, a simple notice that informs the children that they need to "place X amount of items before submitting for tour" would inspire the learner to place more items, and so learn more about placing... and so on...good things happen. i would suggest at least 100 items, where 250 allowed....also another tab to visit dorms. (amazing what can be done with a dorm).. also some have noticed that maze listings are not always a maze. so maybe a - added to the + as a way to suggest a tour for review. perhaps if a hundred votes -, then reviewed for removal or category change. (less harsh than a "report" type review). perhaps with a polite notice to submitter, "category reclassified" ...(maybe even tabs that voters can reclassify, saving wiz the resources?) ...also a must, cycle the listings viewed, in a way that everyone going on random, or daily tour, takes the next one on the list, in the order in which tours were submitted around the world. thus eventually, all will be seen by someone, somewhere in some country, and have chances to receive votes. all too often i have toured the same "random" houses over and over in the course of only an hour of touring.
so dear KI, please adjust the program for us all. and btw, nice job on creating wizard101. 9 stars out of 10, (would give u 10 but want to leave u something left to strive for) lol
I hate traps and glitches and teleporters that make you "stuck" in a room /area with no way out. I will give you just one star (only because I can't give zero, or take any away) If this happens.
Thanks for saying this.
I had done several of those traps in my houses, but that was back when only friends could visit my houses and they could easily port back out to me. It was just a light joke.
But I never thought about it for people on the tours -- that would be a real pain without an owner/friend around to get back out.
I have modified all those "traps" in my houses to give visitors a way out since reading this today. I still may have some gag ports set up for fun -- but now there is always a way out as well, so that the fun actually stays fun.
I would really like to see a browse category houses function that led to a selection screen with different sections.
Menu 1 Browse Categories - This would be listed along with the visit, add and remove buttons
Menu 2 Shop Houses - The shop menu would list the realms of the Spyre. When you click on a realm, it would list the house types you can by from the house shop in that realm along with a preview button for each so that someone can tour the empty version if they want. It would also show a picture of the shopkeeper who sells the house, like a real estate agent listing.
Recipe Houses - The recipe menu would also have the realms with houses that can crafted from recipes bought in those realms, preview buttons, and the recipe shopkeeper's picture.
Crowns Houses - There 13 crown house by my count, so I'd probably have the crown symbol, a button for school houses, a button for unique houses, and whoever's picture would best be associated with the crowns shop (Ambrose? The Hoarder?) From there the next menu would be similar to the ones above.
I think stats would be nice to see on the lists, such as rating, visits, and number of items inside/outside.
I love this update. A part of Wizard101 I like the most is the interior decorating and the grandeur of the houses. Even everything you put into the houses is meticulously designed and placed. When I got bored I would go into the crown shop and preview the houses for fun. With this new update it is just like previewing them, but with decorations and friends. I really enjoy rating them too. This is what I do whenever I want a break from battling, and is very enjoyable.
I love this update. A part of Wizard101 I like the most is the interior decorating and the grandeur of the houses. Even everything you put into the houses is meticulously designed and placed. When I got bored I would go into the crown shop and preview the houses for fun. With this new update it is just like previewing them, but with decorations and friends. I really enjoy rating them too. This is what I do whenever I want a break from battling, and is very enjoyable.
I like the new update to I like it but I never get a break well I will get it one day and I hope everybody gets to rate the houses to if they have time but I wont o well I will when I am lvl 95 so I am trying to lvl up and btw I am ice
There should be another category for museums. Some people have amazing museums set up that have items that have long since retired, and it would be nice to see.
Ki, to address the issue of entryway's being blocked, could there be programming implemented that prompts the user they can not block the entryway of a home on the castle tours, and if there is a blocked entryway, a prompt that stops them from being able to add the castle until it's removed?
A little more clarification on categories might help. There are people that are beyond creative and utilize the various "glitches" to create amazing places. It would be helpful to know which category those type of homes need to be in- Decorated? Magical? Crazy? or maybe even their own...most tourists I've talked to don't like seeing homes that have stuff thrown everywhere with no rhyme or reason so the crazy category wouldn't really be could for this type of home, because it gets skipped by most "tourists" and it runs the risk of getting burried if people don't rate them.
For homes that are clearly mis-categorized or empty, have a button the tourists can press on the rating window that says "incorrect category", "empty", etc. I just don't have a clue as to what would happen after that cause I doubt KI has time to go to all those homes to verify there is an issue and either move them or remove the house from the tour and notify the owner......
Is there a way to see homes that are NOT on the leader board? I've seen some amazing places but because people aren't rating them, they aren't on the leader board and should be above most that are.
Has anyone considered a monthly contest for the homes? Players vote on each type of house,(Massive Fantasy Palace, Sun Palace, Death House, etc) and the one with the most votes for their type receive a decorative housing item like a framed medal. There would have to be rules to keep it fair like no one can win it more than once a year, etc.
Monthly contest? Kimberly is a GENIUS this idea! ~ Eric Darkforge
Don't get me wrong here. On the upside, I think this is a fantastic update, but on the downside, I have to go through about 15 houses before I get to one that is decorated at all! Even the top rated category has a lot of houses that I'm sure some young wizard is very proud of, but really shouldn't be in this category. Is there anyway someone can view -at least the top10 rated houses- to make sure they belong there? I think anyone who has taken the time to decorate their castle can appreciate the fact that a thousand pets in a room do not constitute decorating.
Rowan Story Dreamer
added to the + 
also a must, cycle the listings viewed, in a way that everyone going on random, or daily tour, takes the next one on the list, in the order in which tours were submitted around the world. thus eventually, all will be seen by someone, somewhere in some country, and have chances to receive votes. all too often i have toured the same "random" houses over and over in the course of only an hour of touring.
