This is probably the biggest thing everyone's looking forward to in G14. However, to be honest, I didn't really want to type this up... because is too much things to talk about ="= and I am really... lazy these days. But, anyway, here it is now:
Overview---
First thing first, the basic overview of the functionality of a homestead farm:
Make you home (derrr... yes let's all just forget about the existing housing features <_<).
Self cultivated crops (derr.... yes let's all just forget about the exist farming features <_<).
Self raised livestock.
All kinds of production activity/tools for use.
Locations---
There are 3 different locations you can make your Homstead Farm at:
Uladh
Physis
Filla
*Your farm name can be up to 20 characters e.g. Lon Lon Ranch (1Pt for those who know the reference).
Getting a Farm---
Upon logging in, your character(Lv. 10+) will receive a quest and a private farm ticket. There will also be a new button next to the Action button in the bottom of the game UI. Click on the button and you will be warped to the farm and upon completing the quest you will get Strawberry Seeds and Farming used Dog, no not really(+1Pt for those who know the reference), you will get a Pickaxe and 3 Farming Seed. It is wise to plan where your homestead will be at because different region have different prop/tree/weather effect that will effect your farm.
*And yes, it is 1 farm per character.
Farming, the Rural Life---
Levels:
Farms have levels, the levels are measured in "chicks" (<_<...). As your farm get get more levels, you will be able to build more things and materials/produce will increase etc... And to get the exp, you get exp from building things on your farm and sell farm produces (these produce are not like taillteann farm produce where u can turn them in for gold, in private farm, they are exchanged for exp).
Resource Points:
Each game day you will get 10 resource points (These have to be mined from the Resource Stone in your farm), which is used to gather/build materials/tools in your farms etc... (You can get Huge Lucky Bonus in private farms too).
Farm Resource:
Here, the resource mean the things you need for your farm, like say Build Stone for houses, Seeds for Farm.
Farm Seeds: these can be obtained from Grocery Store PTJ in Tir Chonaill or Dunbarton, Goblin Monster drop in Ciar, etc..
Build Stone: these can be gotten from Golem monster drop in Ciar or Ciar end chests. (They are different from castle building stones).
There are more, but the these 2 are the special ones introduced in G14, the rest is common material like firewood etc...
Produce/Tool:
These are the things that you can build for your farms at different level and the materials needed. One thing to note is that it will take time for the things to be build as well, so don't expect to build up your farm in an instance. Following is just a small list of things you can build
The list will bin in following format:
[Type][Name][Build Time][Value(EXP)][Level Req][Area]
[Material Req]
[None][Resource Stone][None][None][1][All]
[None]
[Production][Farm][30sec][50][2][All]
[Resouce Point 2]
[Production][Well][15sec][100][3][Uladh]
[Common Leather Strap x10, Firewood x5, Resource Point 7, Building Stone x2]
[Production][Desert Well][15sec][100][3][Filla]
[Common Leather Strap x10, Firewood x5, Resource Point 7, Building Stone x2]
[Production][Snowfield Well][15sec][100][3][Physis]
[Common Leather Strap x10, Firewood x5, Resource Point 7, Building Stone x2]
[Production][Chopping Stand][20sec][80][5][All]
[Fine Wood x20, Finest Wood x10, Resource Point 8]
[Production][Spinning Wheel][15sec][50][5][All]
[Avg Wood x10,Tough Thread x10, Small Gem x2, Resource Point 8]
[Production][Loom][15sec][80][5][All]
[Avg Wood x10,Tough Band x10, Large Nails x5, Resource Point 8]
[Production][Furnace][30sec][70][5][All]
[Iron Plate x5, Flint x5, Building Stone x3, Resource Point 7]
[Production][Anvil][30sec][100][5][All]
[Iron Plate x5, Flint x5, Building Stone x3, Resource Point 10]
[Production][Green Herb][10sec][50][4][All]
[Base Herb x30, Resource Point 5]
[Production][Red Herb][10sec][60][5][All]
[Bloody Herb x30, Resource Point 5]
[Production][Yellow Herb][10sec][60][6][All]
[Sunlight Herb x30, Resource Point 5]
[Production][Blue Herb][10sec][70][7][All]
[Mana Herb x30, Resource Point 5]
[Production][Gold Herb][10sec][80][8][All]
[Golden Herb x30, Resource Point 5]
[Prop][Blue Herb][10sec][70][7][All]
[Mana Herb x30, Resource Point 5]
[Building][Home][6Hours][1000][4][Uladh]
[Large Nails x20, Fine Leather x10, Fine Wood x20, Resource Point x30, Build Stone x10]
[Building][Home][6Hours][1000][4][Connus]
[Fire Wood x10, Resource Point x30, Build Stone x30]
In S2, there's also new function to the props where by placing them in specific places they give bonus to your farm, e.g. plant apple tree next to your red herb patch allow you to gather 1 more herb than before (Think SIMCity), and because I am lazy, I am not gonna post them all with all the effects, you'll just see when it gets implemented anyway.
In addition, S2 added paint system, where you can mix your own paint and paint your house's roof etc... to make paint you have to use handicraft skill (rank F will suffice).
The basic formula is herb + 1 bottle of water + ...fish? As an example, Base Herb + 1 bottle of water + fish will give you green paint, bloody herb will give you red paint.
Here's the list of paint you can make:
Green (Base)
Red (Bloody)
Yellow (Sunlight)
Blue (Mana)
Gold (Golden)
White (White)
Black (Garbage Herb...yes they are not useless k!)
Purple (Poison)
Poor Antidote and Mandrake gets left out.
Wait... what if I want... PINK? Well, then you have to use the mixing pot and mix the paints you can make and mix them into the color you want. However, like the good old mabi, you can fail in mixing lololol <_<...
And that's basically all there is to the Homestead Farms, well...mostly anyways, I left out the bookmark feature where you can bookmark your friends farm for easier visit etc... and detailed list of farm items, but I don't really want to type all that long stuff up... As the question like do you need service? That, should be directed to Nexon <_<.