Houses

Overview
ArcheAge has a complex housing system, where you are placing houses on "Housing Zone" (on the open world) accessible to everyone, unlike in other MMOs where they are being instanced.

In ArcheAge players can build their own houses, with different types and sizes. They can be used as decoration, storage place, relaxing, crafting, safe spot from PK'ers...

Its possible to set permissions to the houses, like who you want to be able to enter, to use the storage chests, etc. There is a family system in the game too, so not everyone needs to have his/her own house, they can share the same one.

Build A House
Building a house step by step: Acquire a blueprint (buy from NPC) on Mirage Island (See below for list of houses and prices). To get to Mirage Island, you'll need to find a portal. You can find these portals on your map, as the blue swirl. Place down the foundation, rotate as you like while previewing it (after right clicking on the blueprint), to the direction you want the house to look. Each house has a circle of influence around it, where you can place things and have them be protected from theft. The circles must not overlap with other housing circles. Make bundles of 100 wood or stone and carry them to the house, and use them to build the house, keep in mind that more expensive houses need more wood/stone. So get ready to walk a few times from the crafting station to your house, if the house is a bigger one, its advised to ask friends to help you out, since it takes too much time to build it alone. The simplest houses need 200 wood and 200 ore (4 times the walking), while the bigger once few thousand of mats (in CBT4 the biggest house cost 6000 wood and 6000 ore, but as sources tell it was reduced for CBT5, but its unknown to how much). Now when the house is constructed, time to decorate it. Buy recipes from NPC and craft the objects. The housing blueprints or "deeds" are only purchasable using a new currency implemented as part of the new trade system, and NOT the standard gold earned normally. There are silver coins (tear drop coins) and gold coins (Gilda Star Coins).

Destroying, Losing and Taxing Houses
Destroying the houses:

-Southern Continent: Houses built here can't be destroyed, only way to lose them is by not paying the taxes.

-Northern Continent: When the enemy takes over a territory, they can demolish all houses built within a 100m radius from the center of the territory. When a player loses his house, it will be sent to him via mail, so its possible to rebuild it again as it was before, so technically he just lost the housing spot earlier and have to look for a new one.

Tax rates, depends where is your house located:

-Southern Continent: There is a standard tax rate on the main continents set by the developers. The bigger the house, the higher the taxes. It didn't work out a percentage, but it seemed reasonable...ish. For lower level players the amount seems like a lot because the quests don't pay out that much. For higher level players the amount is chump change. Keep in mind that this is for the smallest house, so if you really want a big house expect it to cost you.

-Northern Continent: On the so called PvP Continent the taxes are determined by who owns the territory. Taxes are paid through the mail system and you will be notified a week in advance of when they are due. Payment is either for 1 week or 2 weeks.

Marine Houses
Domy