Can we have instanced housing please?

My ward is nicely busy, there would be 10 people I see on a regular basis from 4 houses, and they are all friends now. Nice helpful friendly people.

But I understand the desire for instanced housing, and hope SE does it. Our own subscriptions and Mog Station purchases helped the company increase it's profits 22% last year, a bit of this plowed back into more servers to support instanced housing would be nice.

Hopefully if we keep pushing, then after the new USA and EU servers are installed (Thousands and thousands of new housing plots there) SE can then add more servers again for instanced homes.

I could be incredibly wrong, but I feel like a lot of people have a knee-jerk reaction when they hear "instanced housing" because they imagine it can only be like what we get with the inns/apartments. A basic square box and nothing else.

Wildstar you got your own private island that you could play with, including both exterior and interior areas. Or you could join with a 4 of your friends for a mega island. GW2 lets guilds have a HUUUGE instanced zone, pretty much the size of one of their main cities.

I know other games have their own instanced housing versions, but these are the two I'm most familiar with and I think they highlight how instanced housing doesn't necessarily have to suck.

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Originally Posted by Eraden

Is this desire to keep to yourselves a North American phenomenon or does it extend to Japan as well? If not, then I don't think instanced housing would go over too well with the primary player base. I myself have had plenty of guildmates and friends come visit me at my apartment and I have gone to visit theirs. If my situation is an uncommon one, however, then there may be a deeper problem with regards to the North American player base than just a lack of housing.

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Look at me look at me I insulted American's on the internet, can I has cool points??!!!1

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Originally Posted by Eraden

Is this desire to keep to yourselves a North American phenomenon

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I think you may have this backwards. People don't hang in wards because there are no people, so everyone (house or no house) usually congregate in the main cities. I hang out at my house because my friends and I like to relax together in PF in each others plot, but that's the most action we ever see. Even I go to the main cities quite often to socialize.

People want to be where the people are, but the self fulfilling prophecy states that no one will hang en masse in housing wards because there isn't already an established crowd.

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Originally Posted by Conundrum

Look at me look at me I insulted American's on the internet, can I has cool points??!!!1

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It was a serious question. Please keep your snide remarks to yourself. The purpose of my post was not to insult North Americans (of which I am one). I honesty want to know if this phenomenon is restricted to North America. If it is, we need to work on improving this so that we can justify a request for non-instanced housing.

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Originally Posted by LisSquid

I think you may have this backwards. People don't hang in wards because there are no people, so everyone (house or no house) usually congregate in the main cities. I hang out at my house because my friends and I like to relax together in PF in each others plot, but that's the most action we ever see. Even I go to the main cities quite often to socialize.

People want to be where the people are, but the self fulfilling prophecy states that no one will hang en masse in housing wards because there isn't already an established crowd.

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THANK YOU for a response that wasn't snide. You are actually making some good points here. I wonder if putting more features to draw players to wards would improve the ward population.

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Originally Posted by Eraden

THANK YOU for a response that wasn't snide. You are actually making some good points here. I wonder if putting more features to draw players to wards would improve the ward population.

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You're welcome!

I'm not sure if it can be helped at this point, honestly. Aside from big FCs holding a presence, people opening their home up for a venue, and friends having a kickback? The ship for making wards a mainstay of social hub has sailed for NA. I think that's why instanced housing inside the main cities is so appealing, honestly. It's the "neighborhood" feel that actual wards lack, but you still have your abode to retreat to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eraden

Is this desire to keep to yourselves a North American phenomenon or does it extend to Japan as well? If not, then I don't think instanced housing would go over too well with the primary player base. I myself have had plenty of guildmates and friends come visit me at my apartment and I have gone to visit theirs. If my situation is an uncommon one, however, then there may be a deeper problem with regards to the North American player base than just a lack of housing.

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I may be misunderstanding something, but in the games I've played with instanced housing, you can still have your friends come and hang out at your place. I don't see why that would have to be any different in XIV.

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Originally Posted by Skivvy

I may be misunderstanding something, but in the games I've played with instanced housing, you can still have your friends come and hang out at your place. I don't see why that would have to be any different in XIV.

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It's more level of community in the housing wards. Although there were a lot of similarities to the NA wards... The JA wards are/were quite amazing in some places, there is a whole night market in Tonberry (I think) with out of parcel building.

Youtube of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oPC4D-rHqg

I am hoping we get some of this feeling in Materia too, when that housing finally opens, rather than the more subdued and empty way. The number of ex-JA server players does seem higher now all the day-trippers have their 15 days of free gametime and left.

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Originally Posted by Conundrum

Look at me look at me I insulted American's on the internet, can I has cool points??!!!1

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Rushing for those cool points, trips over a lala and faceplants.