Teresa Firelight

One of the Lindens mentioned that they are seeing a lot of complaints and negativity on the forums about Bellisseria. So I thought it would be FUN to have a thread where we ONLY give positive feedback about Bellisseria. Sure, there are valid complaints or concerns, but please keep them on one of the other threads -- for this thread, please post only things you like or love about Bellisseria. Offhand I could think dozens and dozens of things I like or love about Bellisseria, but for this post I will limit myself to only 5: 1) I love the new houseboats! They combine the best parts of the stilts with the best parts of the houseboats and I particularly love the Dock Holiday one. I also love how they have been doing the new houseboat regions with all of those beautiful plants and trees and grass and stuff near the boats. 2) I love the beautiful mole landscaping in so many of the regions and styles. I especially love the vic neighborhoods, especially the coastal ones and the Trad neighborhoods near the lakes and streams. 3) I love some of the cute little things the moles throw in for us to find when I am out exploring. For example, there is a very cute Hipster Trap located in the park-like areas just outside of the Newbrook community center (and pictured below). There is a balloon ride located along the river in the Chalet area. There are dinosaur bones located along one of the railroad tracks. There are 3-eyed mutant fish in Permaglow. The list goes on... all sorts of fun thing to find. 4) I love sense of community in Bellisseria. I am so glad that we have a Bellisseria Citizens group to socialize and get to know each other. I love that there is a Bellisseria Entertainers and Events group to let us know about parties and other fun things to do. 5) I love that there are resident volunteers (such as the Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucrats or BBB) that create fun things for us to do, such as collecting passport stamps or touring some of the beautifully decorated resident homes. If you have some positive feedback for the moles, lindens or residents who have invested of themselves into Bellisseria, please consider sharing it here in this thread....

Yes there is. And 99% of it focuses on the increase of fees to buy/sell lindens. This is a land forum and I think that discussion about land tier is relevant to this forum.

Actually I am beginning to suspect that LL wants to do away with grandfathered regions and have all regions at the same price.. so they are intentionally gradually eroding the value of the grandfathered regions compared to the regular regions. When I first bought my grandfathered region, I got $100 USD per month discount, but I had to pay $600 USD up front for that. It took 6 months to "break even" from the cost of a normal tier. Then tiers when down but grandfathered regions did not go down and suddenly the savings was only $50 USD a month. Now with the latest price reduction, there is only a $30 USD difference in price. Currently you have to pay an extra $200 USD to keep a grandfathered status if you purchase a grandfathered region from someone else. That means it now takes about 6 and 1/2 months to break even (which is roughly the same as when we originally bought it) so I dont think the transfer fees enter into this. But I would not be surprised if there is a future $20 a month fee drop to regular fees with no grandfathered decrease, which would make the difference only $10. I think they are gradually eroding the value of grandfathered regions in hopes of getting rid of them. Why would they do that? probably because there is a change in management and a change in corporate goals. Remember that back when they did this, they did it to quickly raise capital for some immediate expenses they had. They also had a "sale" on premium annual fees just before they raised those prices... another fundraiser to get working capital. I dont have any inside info on why they needed the capital, but I would guess it had to do with equipment maintenance fees and such. They have since migrated to the cloud, so they probably dont have any need for quickly raising capital to cover big expenses. I am not at all happy about them downgrading the value of grandfathered regions because those of us with it are mostly their highest paying and longest paying customers. But I can kind of see how it makes sense for their business model to try and phase out grandfathered regions.

For this post, I won't discuss how furious I am that they are not reducing grandfathered region pricing. What I will say is that either someone is very bad at math or there is a typo in their pricing for the new "feature" of paying for regions with L$. (I will give LL the benefit of the doubt that there is an error here rather than LL intentionally trying to deceive us about pricing.) They say the price is a fixed 250 L$ per USD. But if you divide any of the L$ prices by the USD price, you get 275 $L per USD. So, which is wrong?? is the price L$ 250 per USD and all the values in the payment table are wrong? or is it L$ 275 per USD and the explanation just above the table is incorrect? If they are indeed charging us L$ 275 per USD, I think paying by lindens is more expensive than cashing out the money and depositing it in your bank. Example: a full grandfathered region is $179.00 per month. The monthly tier according to the table is $L 49,225. If you divide 49,225/179.00 you get 275 L$ per USD, not 250. However if you go to the quick sell (market price) and type in 49,225 -- you get (before fee) 193.58 and after the fee is applied, you get $183.40. and 183.40 is more than the monthly fee of $179.

LL announced they cut prices on regions from $229 to $209 but they did not make any cut to the grandfathered regions. Those of us with grandfathered regions have paid a large premium for them up front, and have held onto them for MANY years, pay money every month for all that time. The price difference between a grandfathered region and a regular region is ONLY $30 USD a month now. It feels like they are saying, "we dont care about people who have been faithfully paying and supporting LL for a very long time."

Personally I am getting what I wanted from PP: more group slots. I am also getting and enjoying some other perks that did not originally motivate me to upgrade, but are nice. They include free texture uploads, more capacity for offline messages and a second experience (which I am using for a Sea of Fables info hub). I had a bit of sticker shock when the price came in at 2.5 times the price of Premium, because previous statements let me to expect the cost to only be double. It took me several months to come on board. But now that I have upgraded, I am a "happy camper" and plan to continue as a premium plus member.

I wonder how many of these gen1 homeowners are active in SL? some of this may be inactive accounts just waiting to expire. Or maybe even people no longer active in SL who dont realize their premium account auto-renews and who dont want theit finances closely....??

PoH Decorator Tips for 03.02.23 – Corner Kitchens (Article 3 of 4) https://lastditch.typepad.com/belli_parade_of_homes/ This article looks at two modular kitchens by Dust Bunny and Consignment Kitchens and explores how they can work nicely in a Bellisseria home.

I was at the concierge meeting today and one of the Lindens said that LL is actively working on the 2048 homes. He actually saw one... I guess there are some bugs and/or technical issues to be resolved and absolutely no estimate of when they will be released... but they are definitely being worked on. He also said they have some "neat" features (without elaborating on what those features were) and he thinks we will really like them when they arrive.

Aww Hedy. If I ever have a party, I promise I will invite you!

yes I see what you both are saying about "net" costs. But I don't entirely agree -- the fact is that you have to pay the annual up front... if you don't already have the stipend saved from previous years, then you cant count the money from it towards the $99 or the $249 annual fee. You have to actually have to already have that money before you pay the annual fee to cash it in to lower the cost. You cant count money you haven't been paid yet in the cost since you have to pay the whole thing up front. That net calculation works for subsequent years -- providing you put every penny of the stipend back into the account for the next year's fee. But the truth is that most people don't do that, they spend at least some of the stipend money on things like clothing, furnishing, tips at clubs, etc.

actually, an annual Premium Plus is $249 and an annual premium is $99. So the premium plus is 2.5 times the price of a premium, not 3. There are many features in premium plus. Believe it or not, there are people (such as myself) who don't care about the 2048 linden homes, and need premium plus for other reasons. In my case, the number of groups was the deciding factor. I have a need for multiple groups in each of several areas where I am a leader or a volunteer... the BBB, Firestorm, my hair store, etc. Also, as a creator, I find value in the free texture downloads. Some people find value in being able to request a specific house instead of rolling for it and hoping they get lucky enough to land it. If your main interest in premium plus is related to Linden homes and you don't need to request a specific home -- then it doesn't make sense for you to get premium plus yet. But if you happen to want/need one of the other features, then it does make sense to go ahead and get it.

Personally I think the Lindens/moles outdid themselves, a majestic feat of design and innovation. Some amazing firsts... plants and crystals that light up at night, changing seasons. And they designed it with waterways that give at least 1/2 of the houses access to water .. something that residents had been begging for. And they made the area so beautiful with whimsical trees and flowers and clearly put a lot of thought and effort into it. When they first came out, I was in love with them. I could even "live with" the "too large" houses because of all the gorgeous community landscaping. I never did like all those crystals, but I would just derender the larger ones. I noticed that I felt fatigued more at the fantasy areas than at other areas. I remember one day TPing from my fantasy home (which I loved at the time) to a friend's Victorian. And I felt this tremendous sense of relief -- as if I had finally gotten someplace realistic and "normal" looking. It was then that I realized that my visual cortex was overstimulated by the fantasy area. I noted it but did not dwell on it at the time. Then the seasons changed again.. and I did not like the new color scheme. I "waited it out" for the next season change and found that this color scheme did not appeal to me either. So I gave up my fantasy home. I came back later to visit but by then, nothing fantasy appealed to me anymore. I find that pure beauty is not enough for me -- it has to feel RL realistic too. I may be the only person in SL who feels this way, but I do like realism in my second life.

you get a 1024 allowance with a premium account. You can either get a bellisseria home with it or you can use it as 1024 sqM of "free" tier allowance. For example, if you get a 2048 sqM L Mainland, then instead of being charged tier for 2048 SqM, you will only be changed tier for 1024 sqM. If you only get a 1024 sqM mainland parcel, then you will not be charged tier for it, providing you dont get the Linden Home.

The latest Parade of Homes Review blog is out.This is the second of four articles on Kitchens that go nicely in Belli Homes. This article features three Linear kitchens that go well in Bellisseria homes, includes a photo, and shares their pros and cons. It also features one budget-friendly modular kitchen that is perfect for those who want an amazing ktichen but have limited finances. PoH Decorator Tips for 02.15.23 – Linear Kitchens (Article 2 of 4) https://lastditch.typepad.com/belli_parade_of_homes/

I dont believe there is. But if there is, it would be something in the "about region" tab and would be independent of the viewer.

Your picture shows some really nice upper cabinets loaded with glasses and dishes and such. Are those part of the Quinn kitchen? If not, what are they from? Thanks

The latest Parade of Homes Review blog is out.This is the first of three articles on Kitchens that go nicely in Belli Homes, and the first article is about corner kitchens. It looks at 4 different corner kitchens you can buy, including a picture and a short discussion on the pros of cons of each model. PoH Decorator Tips for 02.05.23 – Corner Kitchens (Article 1 of 3) https://lastditch.typepad.com/belli_parade_of_homes/

your article made me curious. I am a ranger at Mt Campion National Forest which (among other things) rents some campsites and cabins to pay the tier for this multi-region "public" park. I went to the link you provided and typed in Campion .. and found two entries for Mt Campion.. neither of which had anything to do with our rentals. The first was billed as "Mount Campion National Forest" a 1024 parcel. When I TPed there, it put in in the side of a mountain prim on the very edge of the park ... next to a bunch of 1024 sqM privately owned home parcels.. which does not look anything like the park and is not for rent and has absolutely nothing to do with one of our rental areas. Then I tried the other entry, which was listed as "Mount Campion Caves National Forest" a 34672 sqM area. It's TP did bring me into the park, on one of our main trails, not far from our "Park Information" cave. If they noticed the cave and went inside, that cave does have a small billboard about park rentals. But someone looking for a rental would be hard pressed to know to go in the cave to look for that. The part of the park that it TPed me to is intended as "public" park land for all SL-residents to visit/enjoy. I think the reason that parcel got selected was because of the description section in about land.. which talked about park features and also had the phrase "farm and cabin rentals" in that description. I think the idea of a rental finder is a great idea, but I think that the product still needs more refinement. And it would be a good idea to publish something to the land owners explaining how their AI rental finder works and what keywords to either use or avoid in land name and description - depending on whether they want to be listed or avoid being listed.

I took the tour of Sansara's rivers and lakes .. it was amazing.. but it took a really long time.. I had to divide it into 2 separate days to complete it. I like those automated pods, and I particularly enjoyed that a boat vehicle was used for the time on the water.

It is my fault for bringing it up (that fantasy and sakura stopped appealing to me)... sorry. But since this thread is about the addiction side of owning multiple belli homes, could we please change our focus back to the theme of the thread? And again, I do apologize for making that comment.. it was off topic and it is causing folks to react.

I must have missed something because I dont recall seeing that on this thread.

I would like to invite everyone to the Firestorm Art Gallery sometime during the month of February. We have a collection of pictures taken from this thread on display there. The contributing artists are: * Ina Fairport * Johnny Giotto * June Starlight * Maitimo * Ron Blackwood * Visious Hallow The art gallery can be found here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Firestorm Social Island/189/175/28 (It is a G rated region where newbies enter SL, so please dress accordingly.)

Thank you for your inquiry. The unit is still available and it is in the vendor (the left Ipperwash one). The notecards with available rentals are updated once or twice a week, and this came available after the last update, but will be in the next one if not rented before then. That is why you did not see it in the notecard.

regarding fantasy homes. idk what happened.. it was like a switch got thrown. I loved them when they first came out, but after a month or two, it stopped appealing to me. The same with sakuras.