Regarding that Finaland Interview...

[Aerlana]

He didn't create housing for everyone to have one, he intentionally created housing for FCs and then said he was going to add separate personal housing.

And ... he didnt do a separate personnal housing. we wait again after this promise (one of the quote in my signs...)

Originally, personnal housing was intend for 6 month after FC housing (so for 2.3)
When the patch was soon, he said he had to delay personnal housing (no matter ok. really) and gave us personnal room instead of. (so personnal room ARE NOT personnal housing)
2.38, personnal housing did came in servers. and this time, housing died. not enough houses, amny FC dont have their own. And in HW release, 3x12 ward... 2 years after in SB release 3x12 ward... 4.1 yay, 12 more wards and burning forums due to the bullshit...
Then now... 4.2 came with now 4x18 ward and the promise to get more ward as patch will progress... (4.3 and 4.4 no ward... )


Appartment are NOT the personnal housing, was never announced this way, was a cheap way to solve people wanting house...



THe personnal housing was promised to be not "with" FC housing (other ward, other system like instanced, i dont know we never knew what was in his mind). And he did change his mind "to get living neighborhood" Simply, he did consider if there were FC housing wards, and personnal housing wards, the second kind would be empty from any life, and he did want to avoid it, so he did add the personnal housing in the already existing ward (1=>6) and added ward either for FC and personnal. (just 4.2 did a small change on it.)
*look at the 72 ward* ... Yeah, right, neighborhood are really living ...


But, at least now, he admits that the destroy system of houses are for people paying subscription...

[Kirsten_Rev]

But, at least now, he admits that the destroy system of houses are for people paying subscription...

In fairness to Yoshi-P, they really don't have a lot of choice right now. Under the current system, it's essential that SE ensure at least a nominal level of turnover so that people on crowded servers don't feel completely cut off from housing.

My greater issue, personally, is not with the demo system - it's with the general responses by Yoshi-P, and what I perceive to be a relative lack of empathy and understanding. I have to question whether or not he understands that owning a house is a major goal for a lot of players, a goal that they are not able to properly achieve, particularly if they are seeking medium or large plots. Implicit in this, of course, is the fact that players who do own medium or large plots already can feel trapped into their subscription, because they likely won't be able to get a plot back in the future.

To make matters worse, empathy is free. It doesn't cost a dime for Yoshi-P to respond sympathetically to housing or Glamour concerns, or to acknowledge player perspectives. Consider if his response had been the following:

"I understand that homeowners feel trapped into maintaining their subscription when they may otherwise let it lapse. I want to assure them that we don't like the demolition system either - but we have to ensure some level of turnover so new players get a chance to own a house, too. Rest assured, we're always evaluating the various systems within FFXIV, and if we have an opportunity to expand housing availability enough for everyone to own a home who wants one, we'll be discarding the demolition system right away."

Speaking personally, this response would have been aces for me. Despite committing to nothing, it would have assured me that Yoshi-P understood. I'll settle for that. Most people, provided they understand the desires of their customers, will eventually work to meet them. I have no doubt that Yoshi-P would as well. But it seems that at every turn, he demonstrates that he doesn't even know what we want, what our pain points are - and that's a much more problematic situation.

[Alleo]

And ... he didnt do a separate personnal housing. we wait again after this promise (one of the quote in my signs...)

The sad thing is that a lot about housing are lies.

- FC and private being separate is a lie
- Private housing being cheaper is a lie (and since we are missing important features like more buyable rooms and the workshop we are paying for something that we dont get..)
- Never having a timer or a fee to maintain house is a lie

Then they told us that we would get double the amount of apartments at release but because of server and other reasons we only got half the amount. Also they have talked about making them different sizes but until now nothing of that has happened. Yet at the same time we get more and more housing items in a game where not everyone can have one and where you only get the housing item with the event or with real life money a year later..

Honestly that feature is quite a mess of wrong decisions and lots of lies. I am just not sure how they never saw that wards for FC and private would be a mess...(and having no restrictions on top of that to stop people from owning whole wards..) And now imo they just want to stick with this system because otherwise it would look like they have made a mistake..but this will only get worse. They cant give us new wards all the time yet if the game continues to grow more people want one. So its just living on a big amount of band-aids right now. And should the game ever get less popular and they want to merge servers they will have the problem of not being able to do that because people on one server will lose their housing because of the wards..

[Aerlana]

In fairness to Yoshi-P, they really don't have a lot of choice right now. Under the current system, it's essential that SE ensure at least a nominal level of turnover so that people on crowded servers don't feel completely cut off from housing.

i was one of people really anjoying this reboot, full of hope. There were many promises, or even more some commitment. And it makes a shining future for the game. During ARR i did a lot of defense for FFXIV... the only thing i did not defend was atmas... For all other, i did say the game, the team, their leader needed time to fix themselves... But most promises and commitment was broken, or cheated.


Housing... it is full of trick, broken promises, the content you can get if you are lucky.
The "destroy system" was a COMMITMENT not a simple promises "but this is a thing of the past " he said, it is hard words. he did really show those things as bad things to do.

Yes, in the current case, it is needed. But the "turnover" is not the main reason, in this finaland interview he did a link between "no sub" and "take appartment". and finally the promises before 4.2 to get more wards in other patches, where it is? Lets go to nothing until 5.0 or 5.1? Why not adding any single ward during HW also?...

And finally, the destroy system should been avoid. How? make a REAL delay to personnal housing. Yes i am happy to get my two houses (stop, i have 2 account è_é). But when i see all the shit ...
I mainly thing about Free Companies... which cant get houses even with the destroy system... (prove this system doesnt do his work )
They did knew how much houses they could add. and simple mathematics did allow them to know it wouldnt be enough for FC + personnal... they did a real, big mistake. With no reason, no excuse.

If we did get appartment in 2.38 instead of houses. most matters around housing wouldnt exists... I wouldnt cry if he said "we dont have ability to release a personnal housing where each player gets 1 house. we prefer delay this to an unknown patch where it will be avaible. please understand. But here is some appartments in addition of personnal room." Sad but... better than what we have now...

Consider if his response had been the following:

I speak not a lot there, more on french forum. and i say one thing there many time :

The matter of FFXIV is not "the cash shop in subscription MMORPG" "the treadmill" "eureka is diadem" or many other things.
I dislike all those things are just symptom of one big matter : the way Yoshida considers the game and the customers.

And those interviews, all the time we facepalm ourself while reading the latest stupidity he said like those... it is just the proof that all other thing i did list (and other i didnt thing while typing) are just different symptom of one ill...

And now imo they just want to stick with this system because otherwise it would look like they have made a mistake..but this will only get worse.

One time will come the game will stagnate (not a lot new player all time) and they will add more and more wards. And so, not a need to destroy system. The matter is : it won't erase years of shittyness ! Like raubahn Xtrem in SB pre-release, i am sure they did nothing else than waiting the people go to sleep... the solution came itself (and then, pippin Xtrem did short show. and another on other patches... ...)

But for housing, during HW, (2 years with NO wards added ! ) i many time said the matters was personnal housing, and i would applause a cancellation of it. YES players/customers would be angry to not being able to use houses anymore. yes. me first, i have two account from ARR and both did get houses. But prefered loosing this, to see all player on the same line, seeing all FC getting houses. And getting improvment on appartment (doing size x3. or being abe to get different size. )

I continue, today, to find this better that what we have. I did stopped one of the houses, and would cry to loose my M houses... but would take the biggest appartment instead of. (it could be even appartment with stairs...)

[Kio]

The thing that bothers me is about Yoshi's stance is that role gear is designed for one and only one of the many other jobs sharing the role. Healer gear is only designed for WHM's in mind. Caster gear is only designed with BLM in mind... However SMN and RDM are now stuck wearing only BLM outfits. RDM and SMN have their own unique looks which aren't ever represented outside of the rare piece of job specific gear. There may be what? 3 actual redmage outfits in the entire game?

I don't mind keeping artifact gear/job quest gear unique to the job. But I think all other gear should be able to glam as people feel fit. It's just so frustrating not being to express my femininity because I don't want to play WHM and am stuck wearing black cowls all the time. White mages aren't the only class who likes white, skirts, and ribbons Yoshi! On the other hand, not all whitemages want those things either.

[Xion136]

The thing that bothers me is about Yoshi's stance is that role gear is designed for one and only one of the many other jobs sharing the role. Healer gear is only designed for WHM's in mind. Caster gear is only designed with BLM in mind... However SMN and RDM are now stuck wearing only BLM outfits. RDM and SMN have their own unique looks which aren't ever represented outside of the rare piece of job specific gear. There may be what? 3 actual redmage outfits in the entire game?

I don't mind keeping artifact gear/job quest gear unique to the job. But I think all other gear should be able to glam as people feel fit. It's just so frustrating not being to express my femininity because I don't want to play WHM and am stuck wearing black cowls all the time. White mages aren't the only class who likes white, skirts, and ribbons Yoshi! On the other hand, not all whitemages want those things either.

The starter RDM gear isn't even a real RDM outfit, it's just mildly recolored items like the Wyverskin boots of striking, pick whatever bliad and a bleh hat. The only "RDM" style is the Duelist AF3 set.

Cannot comment on SMN.

Really everything's designed around those few classes and I do hope next expac we get some more cool RDM stuff....though the Hat is irreplaceable.

[Bahati]

White Mages are over here desperate for anything that isn't a white nightgown. That being said I imagine there are just as many people who want to keep job identity as there are people who want to glamour iconic looks from other classes. Really I don't care either way, it is what it is. I'm more concerned with stale design of the gear I'm supposed to be wearing for my class in the first place.

As for his comment about housing, he's not out of touch, he's saying if you want a house, keep up on your sub. If not, get an apartment. Fair enough. My main issue with this statement is there is not even enough housing for each player who wants one (and wants to remain subbed to maintain it) to have the opportunity.

I wish people who complain about having to stay subbed because they are bored/hate the game would just unsub already and give someone who still loves the game a chance at homeownership. SE makes the terms and we either abide by them or we disgree and take our money/time elsewhere.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I wish people who complain about having to stay subbed because they are bored/hate the game would just unsub already and give someone who still loves the game a chance at homeownership. SE makes the terms and we either abide by them or we disgree and take our money/time elsewhere.

And the reason most don't is because they know there is virtually no chance they will obtain a house again when they return. While a friend of mine and I don't hate the game, we've both reached points where we'd like to take breaks, especially during lengthily content lulls. Her more than me. We have a large FC and a medium each. We simply won't ever get these houses again. So even if we decide to raid log, we at least know ours houses will be there when we come back.

[LineageRazor]

"I understand that homeowners feel trapped into maintaining their subscription when they may otherwise let it lapse. I want to assure them that we don't like the demolition system either - but we have to ensure some level of turnover so new players get a chance to own a house, too. Rest assured, we're always evaluating the various systems within FFXIV, and if we have an opportunity to expand housing availability enough for everyone to own a home who wants one, we'll be discarding the demolition system right away."

Unfortunately, this is not desirable, either. Even with infinite housing available, if folks were allowed to keep their houses no matter how long they were away from the game, pretty soon you'd wind up with whole wards consisting of one or two active players and dozens of empty, abandoned houses. Say what you like about whether or not wards are lively places, one way to ENSURE they become dead graveyards is to allow players to maintain their houses indefinitely. Of course, if we had infinite wards, the option opens up of allowing a player to RESTORE their house in a different ward, once they return to the game. Currently, that is not an option. (And, without infinite wards, I doubt it's a realistic idea.)

I have no beef with the concept of demolition. I feel it is a necessary and desirable part of the housing system. My concern is with the method SE has chosen to measure whether a house is abandoned - whether the player sets foot in it. There are many situations in which a player would LIKE to maintain their house, but be UNABLE to do so. Injury, sickness, or military deployment being some good examples. I believe that maintaining an active subscription should be the sole requirement. If a player is paying for the game, then it's reasonable to maintain their stuff. If they stop paying, then why jump through any hoops for them?

[Kirsten_Rev]

Unfortunately, this is not desirable, either. Even with infinite housing available, if folks were allowed to keep their houses no matter how long they were away from the game, pretty soon you'd wind up with whole wards consisting of one or two active players and dozens of empty, abandoned houses. Say what you like about whether or not wards are lively places, one way to ENSURE they become dead graveyards is to allow players to maintain their houses indefinitely. Of course, if we had infinite wards, the option opens up of allowing a player to RESTORE their house in a different ward, once they return to the game. Currently, that is not an option. (And, without infinite wards, I doubt it's a realistic idea.)

This would be one route to go down. I suppose I should clarify: a proper response would involve a promise to get rid of the current* demolition system as soon as possible. FFXIV, by Yoshi-P's own admission, is not built around continuous play, particularly for people who have dozens of hours a week to commit to a game. It stands to reason that game systems should avoid punishing people for sporadic subscription drops wherever possible.

I'd point out too, that most Wards are currently dead as-is. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of time I've seen people in my little corner of The Lavender Beds since I got my house, which was about a year and a half ago now. The current demolition system likely contributes to this issue, actually, as players who are 'effectively' not playing nevertheless maintain a subscription and house for fear of not being able to get one back upon their return.

I have no beef with the concept of demolition. I feel it is a necessary and desirable part of the housing system. My concern is with the method SE has chosen to measure whether a house is abandoned - whether the player sets foot in it. There are many situations in which a player would LIKE to maintain their house, but be UNABLE to do so. Injury, sickness, or military deployment being some good examples. I believe that maintaining an active subscription should be the sole requirement. If a player is paying for the game, then it's reasonable to maintain their stuff. If they stop paying, then why jump through any hoops for them?

For the same reason that they maintain character levels, mount and minion lists, Mog Station items, Glamours, etc: if returning players have little incentive to resubscribe, then the game's bottom line will suffer. Speaking personally, if any life event pushes me to abandon my subscription long enough to lose my house, I'll most likely never be coming back. It is a significant in-game possession for me; in many ways *the* most significant since, unlike character levels or gear, a house sits outside the progression treadmill. It's not in SE's interest for a short-term break to turn into a permanent subscription loss.

I'm curious as to why you think demolition is desirable, by the way. I agree that it's necessary right now from a supply limitation point of view, but there are better ways of maintaining populated wards for those who want living neighborhoods (as I said above, I strongly suspect that the current demolition system actually worsens this issue). Thoughts?

Edit / Addition:

I think it's fairly privileged statement to suggest that players be able to keep their housing if they have a life event that impacts their available play time (injury, sickness, etc.), but not make allowances for players who have financial circumstances arise that force them to cancel the subscription outright for a period of time. I certainly will always be able to afford XIV personally, but I know many people for whom that's not always the case.