Nika Talaj

Interesting! I see 3 regions of flat, featureless land reaching toward Sakura (Kakureta Kodachi) -- below, my camera is at the furthest edge of the 3rd region. Only 2 more regions to go until Sakura. There's nothing visible yet from Kakureta Kodachi. Will we finally get a glimpse of what Sakura's coastline will look like? Can't wait!

I caught an unusual parcel that really gave me Tuscan feels - it has no walls in the back, and looks out onto a valley. I wanted to take advantage of the "natural" feel of the landscape, and I love making ponds. I'll be letting this parcel go tonight or tomorrow sometime. The front has a very cute entry with stairs down from the street. If anyone wants to coordinate an abandon time, let Nika know with a personal message here on the forums.

In Firestorm (& other 3rd party viewers, but I'm not sure about LL's viewer), you can use World/Region Tracker to very quickly see if any regions you're interested in have changed their name from SSPnnnn to nnnn without scanning all over the map. To select a region to track, open the world map, click on the region, then hit "Track Region" on the map buttons. It will ask you what you want to call the region - just leave it as SSPnnnn. Then, when the name changes to nnnn, the Region Tracker will show the SSPnnnn line grayed out.

I (and others whom I know) have often done this. But, as happened to Milly, you MUST be prepared to lose it. Currently, to me it actually seems easier to do this than it used to be. It used to seem like there had to be at least two homes of a given theme available for them to show up on the land page. So, to trade a houseboat (for instance) between alts, you (or you and a friend) had to have 2 HBs to toss. Then you would refresh like mad and pick up the HB you wanted, and the spare. HOWEVER, sometimes one HB was already waiting for release, and it would get in the way, and you might miss the one you wanted. NOW, it seems to me that, after you release a parcel, it is almost always, briefly, the next one offered on the land page. Even if the queue has lots of homes in it, I've succeeded in trading a parcel to an alt. After a few minutes, it seems to disappear into the depths with other homes. Of course, your chance of re-catching the one you really want is better if, as Chloe says, there are very few homes of that theme available. It's all part of the GAME of homes. Chasing particular regions or homes, trading them between alts or to friends ... all a game, sometimes you win, occasionally you lose. If you lose, maybe you'll decide to go with a different home that you DID catch - sometimes you unexpectedly find that the home you caught is more fun than the home you were chasing! I've spent much time since 2019 sitting out the GOH ... sometimes for budgetary reasons, sometimes just happy enough with what I have, often too busy in RL. But, so far, I eventually always find that I miss hopping, and trading, and exploring through the GOH.

Well, indeed. I, too, am puzzled as to how LL came up with their "Top Themes". So, as a sometime GOH player and longtime GOH observer, let me offer my completely subjective take on the most popular themes. Oh, and to answer your supposition, 512 parcels are vastly less popular than 1024s. Many of the best sited parcels in the Newbrooke theme are 512s, and that seems to only have had a small mitigating effect. In order of (subjective) popularity, at this moment: New themes, Mediterranean and Ranch (both 2048). Ranch has surprised me with the longevity of its appeal. LL is being very cautious, building more of both themes only when they're sold out - they clearly don't want to end up with a large number of unclaimed PP homes. The demand for Mediterranean homes may be inflated at the moment for two reasons: The Mediterranean release is less than a month old. Personally, I'll be downgrading 2 alts who have Med parcels in the next few days. However, I didn't notice a bump in Ranch availability 1 month after their release. There is no 3-month PP membership (Grrrr!) Stilts-on-Pier and Stilts-on-Water. A small percentage of the 'piers' are more like boardwalks which form a coastline to a land mass. Note that LL is building a large number of Stilts for future release. Houseboats. LL has released a huge number of these, and most are occupied! The dream of living on water is STRONG. LL has a number of these built and not yet released, as well. Stilts-on-Land WITH ANCHORAGE. If LL came up with their list by counting the number of times a given theme is CLAIMED, that might account for their putting stilts-on-land high on their list. Because you go through a LOT of landlocked Stilts-on-Land when you're searching for one whose back decks are over water! Landlocked stilts account for most available Stilts-on-Land. Victorian. Traditional. This theme has a lot of disadvantages (small homes, no soundscape, many boring parcels hemmed in with hedges), and one HUGE advantage: to whit: it was completely built out by hand, no tiles used except for the 9-region "clumps", and the neighborhoods are brimming with unique little design elements. Log Home. Although slightly overbuilt, this theme has surprisingly high occupancy. Personally, I found the "tiles" the moles used to build out this theme VERY charming - wonderful homes nestled in a flowery forest landscape. Plus, volcanoes! And lots of custom-built coastline along both lakes and seas! And a wonderful rail line that is the quickest way to traverse the continent! What's not to love? Newbrooke. Even though these are all Container Homes, they are moderately popular, because they beg to be decorated in contemporary and/or midcentury modes. If LL had chosen a more imaginative version of "contemporary" home, I think it would have been wildly popular. I love the neighborhood designs. I think, before choosing a theme, LL should always complete this sentence: "I've always wanted to live in a ...." ... container home? Not really. Sakura. For my money, the most beautiful of all the themes, and a thoughtful variety of homes. All you people not flocking to Sakura, have your mental health checked 🙃 Fantasy. It hurts my heart that this theme isn't more popular, but ... it isn't. Campers. I found mine charming ... for a while. Chalet. Overbuilt, and land page often clogged with undesirable chalets while lovely ones languish. I'm amazed too. But why not just count them on the map? It's not hard to do - the subcontinents are compact!

Ah, good, thanks, Mini! Am I right in assuming that you're not ALL that interested in shots of landscapes, just as the moles built them? I take many beautiful Belli shots, but probably you already have a LOT of those! Most of my images are not great "community" pics, because my old rig tends to fail to rez if a bunch of avatars are around. If I take a pic of 6 avatars playing around at Treeowatoor, random things will be grayed out. Plus, I don't go to a lot of gatherings, since I'm generally on during SL night. So a lot of my shots are more contemplative, just one or 2 avatars sitting around. I'll send a few of those. Maybe a few oddball landscape shots, too. Just to give you a chuckle!

Excuse me, another size question. I take my pics to disk, so they all need to be resized anyway to be smaller. I'm assuming that they also need to be cropped to be 1:1 or 1:2 ratios, so that when they're uploaded they look correct? Or can they be another ratio, like 3:2? If so, should we put their actual size in the pic title? e.g. "Limestone 12-Dec-2021 1024 x 683"? ETA: nevermind, I'll make all dimensions a multiple of 512. You don't need to mess with individual pics that much.

I doubt gifs are acceptable! From 2021, right after chalet release. You'll have to forgive this ursine nautch dance, I think she was just really attracted to the chalet bears. 🐻 (And yes, that is the bear avatar LL gave out at SL10B. )

Definitely, what a perfect spot for you! And did you notice that the region with the rail loop and no homes next to you is a full region, not a homestead? With docks, now, too? And it's a beautiful parcel. I have no idea how you're ever going to give that one up

This new version of the land page will let anyone, even an avatar who already has a Linden Home, check the availability of all the themes. Just scroll down and click the tile for the theme you're interested in. Note that the order of the tiles seems to change according to ... something relating to how many homes are available in that theme ... but the tiles for themes that are completely unavailable are always on the last page (page 5 on my browser). At the bottom of the page you can select the page number you want. I see 60 Mediterranean parcels available at this moment.

Surely you jest. You're expecting, perhaps, Deckard Cain to stroll out from an invisible portal and engage you in infinite conversations? (Actually, the meme probably predates Diablo. I seem to remember it being tossed around in games of DnD. Wouldn't be surprised if the first T-Shirt uploaded to Amazon said "Stay a While and Listen" on it!) Unlike most themes, in Fantasseria it is particularly rewarding to simply wander and listen. The soundscape is amazing, and quite different in the SL night than daytime.

New regions have been released.

Oops! Sorry, looks like 8 new regions, not 6, as of this moment. New Mediterranean regions are being added in the Northeast, east of Amigas Siempre and Alcornoques. They do not yet show on the map, entry is not yet allowed, and not all the houses are rezzed. The river in Doce Cuervos terminates 2 regions above it. The new region above Doce Cuervos looks to me like a replica of Sesame.

Personally, I don't think so. This incarnation of the website SEEMS to show homes being available very soon after they are abandoned. The old land page appeared to "hold" an abandoned home until at least two were available, but I've not seen that happening with the new page. More than once I've seen a single home come available within a couple minutes of it being abandoned.

Why no, since you mention it! I mean to Axel Harbor. Then you can take the elevator up to the passenger train within the Gateway Airport complex. I recommend the West Altonville stop - from there it's a short stroll over to the Linden road in Black region. Turn right onto it, and soon, on your left, you will see a white and green platform owned by Tegg Bode labeled "Vehicle Rezzing Platform" . It has a stairway down to water level in the inland sea there, from which I believe you can boat to the Old World, Snowlands and (if you have navigation talents), Heterocera. Voila. ETA: Btw, the Gateway airport complex is one BIG rez zone. If you wanted to, you could just rez your boat in West Altonville, get on it, and edit it across the Linden road to the water.

The moles have built a LOT of new stilts-on-piers in very desirable coastal locations, but they are not yet ready for release. No telling when they will be released. Meanwhile, there are a lot of very desirable stilts on land available that have their decks over water, so you can moor a boat there permanently. I just abandoned an extremely nice one this evening. Since you are premium plus, if you find a home you like, you can submit a ticket to claim it - they are turning tickets around pretty quickly now. To find a stilt on land you might like, simply scan on the map to see if there are any nice ones available in regions that you like (zoom in and click on the house and you can see the parcel name etc.).

Oops, we did it again

Here's the front patio. Nika is visiting, and discovered that this old couch has a very interesting animation setup - it has several poses called "Guest 1" etc. that are standing poses near the couch, each drinking wine or smoking and talking. Basically, the couch hosts a cocktail party! Litta is looking on skeptically, as is Bernard the cockatoo. Drinking wine and smoking are Nika's main activities in SL, except for the occasional scripting binge, which may explain her disheveled look here. Shortly after this pic was taken, she loudly exclaimed "Let's have a kiki!" and began dancing around. She then passed out on the couch. Nika gets carried away (sometimes literally). Most of the interior is a WIP. Here's the kitchen, in many shades of blue. Litta is holding her head ... not an uncommon pose among Nika's connections. I'm showing this pic of the living room (which will be reno'd when Typhoon is done) just to point out the wall I built to create a small bathroom and bedroom in this Bella Vista. These turned out to be small but pleasant rooms. Note, however, that I did not take the time to find or build a door for the arch leading into the bedroom, using a curtain instead. Litta lives alone, so no matter! She may even take the curtain down. Off the kitchen is a small room that Litta uses for an office/studio. She enjoys doing impossible yoga there, in the sunny splash that looks out onto the front fountain. I really love the Mediterranean theme, and this parcel in particular. They speak to me of blue skies!

Sharing my WIP! First a backstory ((skip this paragraph if you're not interested in my bit of RP)). Long ago, Cee & Litta bought a stretch of land on the coast outside of Monterey, CA. It was (relatively) cheap because it was dry and had just a lighthouse and ramshackle manor house. They lived in a condo in silicon valley, and used the house as a family getaway, leasing the land to citrus farmers. Recently, along came LL and bought up all the land in the area, building a large upscale Mediterranean-style subdivision. Litta, now a widow, sold both her condo and most of the land (LL built her one of the new houses as part of the purchase agreement), and moved to Monterey. California has an easement and maintains the lighthouse now. She razed the old house, using only its facade to make a small spa. The new house is furnished with a mix of old furniture from the manor house, and newer items when necessary, like the brand-new kitchen. She loved the fixtures from her old bathroom, tho, and moved them to the new house. The parcel is beautiful. You may ask, why a lighthouse? Well, it's right on the water. And, when clouds gather, mariners really NEED lighthouses! On the right we have a mexican-inspired fountain patio, with a small desert garden. On the left, we have a zen-ish meditation spiral walk that Litta has found very calming when she misses Cee. These two cultural heritages are both very prominent in Northern California. If you walk through the trellis on the left, you'll see a little stone pathway leading over a hill. Litta loves to take a wearable chair and have a beer by the falls just over the hill. Here's the backyard. This small lemon orchard is all that remains of the farmland that Cee & Litta bought. She looks after it assiduously, so the spa is useful for nightly relaxations. The tile path near the spa/goldfish pond lead to the kitchen doors, which are generally open! The spa's stove/fireplace helps when it's chilly. Litta's showing her SL age nowadays, who uses curlers anymore? I suppose she can be forgiven for just letting her bathrobe fall to the floor when she got in. The backyard also features a little bistro patio and a lounge area for larger gatherings. I love the view from here - it beacons to the explorer in me. You may ask, why is the space in front of the lounge area bare? I have a rezzer on the coffee table that can rez small boats in that space, and when a person sits in one, it jumps to a bit of water in my region, just below the waterfall. That water is connected to the open water in Typhoon. As soon as the moles open access to the new regions on the Ranch east coast, Litta will be able to boat from this property to Jeogeot, if she wants! [I'm hoping that when the moles finish Typhoon, there will be a water rez zone ... if so, I'll no longer reserve LI for boat rezzing!] Next post for a few words about the interior.

THIS. I've traded houses among alts many times by trying RIGHT after releasing a home. I know folks in Belli Citizens do this as well, tho they don't post in the forums. (A lot more folks read the forums than post). It's really useful. But I am also in total agreement, some sort of queue-shuffling or random selection needs to be added. In the past, I saw dedicated GOH players with a large number of alts claim and hold a number of homes, just to help others get to regions that were buried in the queues. I think the Chalet queues have sometimes been clogged with a number of less perfect homes, and that has stalled the Chalet uptake more than once. I strongly believe that if LL ever closes the old LH regions, this phenomenon of getting the same unwanted home over and over will discourage a number of users from retaining their Premium memberships.

Weeeeelll, I don't feel as strongly about road connectivity. Mainland roads were designed as sweeping highways to cover large distances swiftly. The roads throughout most of Belli are instead designed as dense neighborhood paths; only the stilts and chalets have a "highway" through them. Once you get into Olde Belli, the Vics, the Logs, the Ranches, the Meds and the Campers - it's mostly twisty little paths that you have to carefully plot your way through to get to a destination. Not suited to distance travel. It is delightful to wander the roads through the Logs, for example ... but very time-consuming. And frankly, were the moles to connect Belli to the mainland highway network, I fear that the pod people may begin agitating to send pods endlessly circling throughout Belli. (Actually, I think that may be impossible at the moment due to no object entry on public lands?) Personally, I'm not a pod fan. That may be my own personal paranoia speaking, tho.

I don't know ... but I know that @Squeaky Mole must have. Where is he, anyway? *looks around, suddenly worried*

WOW this is terrific! As soon as those new regions are open, which appears to be soon (they already have the coast terraformed, train tracks and parcels) ... it will be possible to sail from the Mediterraneans to Jeogeot, Sansara, Satori ... and beyond. I'm gobsmacked at how swiftly this is happening. YAY MOLES!!!!

New Mediterranean regions being built north of the current area. So far, I see a block of 6 regions, not yet showing on the map (or on Shergood's map), above Moules Rouges, Grand Sequoia, and Buckthorn. Not permitted into them yet, so I don't know their names. ETA: They do, however, show on the minimap. Briefly, I saw Abnor on the minimap as well. I must say that the region north of Buckthorn looks really nice, cute little pool area right on the border, good-sized ponds north.

New Mediterranean regions being built north of the current area. So far, I see a block of 6 regions, not yet showing on the map (or on Shergood's map), above Moules Rouges, Grand Sequoia, and Buckthorn. Not permitted into them yet, so I don't know their names.