Originally Posted by
Khryseis_Astra
The sad thing is the reason they usually give for why it’s set up the way it is, is that they’re so attached to the “neighborhood feeling” of the wards, while instanced could actually create that better. Honestly I’d personally be happy with just an instanced plot off by itself with some generic background scenery. But now you have one of the XIV’s biggest competitors in the marketplace, WoW, creating instanced housing that will allow you to create housing neighborhoods with your friends or guildmates! With activities you can do together as a neighborhood!
Meanwhile, here the wards are now restricted to FC, Personal or Mixed, so if your FC is in an FC only ward, you can’t get a house next to your FC house. Even if your FC is in a mixed ward, the lotto makes it impossible to guarantee you a plot next to your FC house. So if you’re lucky enough to get a house at all, you’re living next to strangers you rarely even see, or worse, empty houses just being used for submarine farms. If a ward doesn’t have a really active FC or a venue, it’s pretty much a ghost town. It’s a “neighborhood” in layout only.