How do people play for 3 years without a house?

The problem with all the people defending this shithole of a system is this: it's predicated entirely on the notion that everyone who wants a house is always online at the same time which, and this is gonna sound weird, is ludicrous.

Let's take this week as a hypothetical. You've been anticipating this for months, you're ready to buy a house. The week before the patch drops, your home catches fire or is ruined in a flood. Now, call me crazy, but the last thing you're going to be thinking about in that situation is "aww, damn, now I won't be able to get a virtual home in mah video game."

Let's say you've been keeping up auto-demolition news. You're waiting for the next round of houses to free up, you're ready to jump in and scoop one up. Suddenly, your kid gets sick. Your job needs you to put in some extra hours. There's been a death in the family. You've been robbed. You've got a project due next week and someone isn't pulling their weight and now you have to make up for it. Your SO wants to go out on a date. Your SO is going thru some serious shit. Your PC or PS4 dies. A truck runs into a pole outside your home and you're cut off from the internet for a week. There's been any one of numarous natural disasters in your area. And so on.

Yes, I'm well aware of how silly this all sounds, but the point is this: there is a limited amount of housing in this game and limited amount of time in the day, however, there is a near infinite amount of circumstances that can distract or even stop you from logging on. So again I say, how hard is it to grasp that maybe...just f***ing maybe it's very easy to play this game for a long time without ever getting a house?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by QueenSophie

Get in line behind people that play more then. Everyone has a real life they are dealing with too. This is a moot point. If you're argument is that you dont play enough, then yes, people who play more deserve them more. Either way, quit complaining and get in line. And if you " just decided" you wanted a house and think you're entitled to one, again, get in line.

---

Clearly you need to fully read statements prior to commenting.

People who play more may not be able to get a house and vice versa. No one deserves a virtual house any more or less than the next guy. It's just a system of supply and demand where supply is far less than the demand. Absurdly less. You can comment on the system being less than perfect without complaining or feeling "entitled". Man your view on things is increasingly bitter as of late.

In the end it changes nothing with what the OP originally addressed. You can go 3 years and decide "Man I should get a house." You can go three days and decide the same. And if circumstances are right, maybe you'll find one, maybe you won't. And as Galaktica said, life situations are always changing. It does not in any way mean some people are less deserving than others. It's a game after all. This is all I can say on this topic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by QueenSophie

Get in line behind people that play more then. Everyone has a real life they are dealing with too. This is a moot point. If you're argument is that you dont play enough, then yes, people who play more deserve them more. Either way, quit complaining and get in line. And if you " just decided" you wanted a house and think you're entitled to one, again, get in line.

---

W-wait...so you're admitting that housing isn't a matter of hard work and preparation. If it was hard work, there wouldn't be a line and it wouldn't come down to dumb luck.

It boggles my mind that there are people who actually defend this setup of housing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by QueenSophie

entitled

---

I'm not sure which is worse, the overuse of this single word as justification or the concept that people not wanting/being able to take time off work for a goddamn video game is them not wanting it "enough."

If you want to say "You didn't want it badly enough because you didn't go to the house selling subreddit and strike a deal," fine. That would be a fair argument prior to 4.2's release. That was a viable alternative for people that couldn't get on for various reasons. But beyond that, no, that's ridiculous. Especially the play more line, wherein it's not how much you play but when you play. Or should we make an internet petition to erase time zones too?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ing-Dono

But wouldn't the amount of people wanting a house stay the same? let's say everybody got up early, and rushed newly released houses, even if those that complain now were to get houses, the others would be stuck without one, and a part of those will start complaining.

It doesn't matter if you rush houses or not, the amount of plots is limited and can't satisfy everyone.

---

Since you apparently didn't read the rest, or maybe just don't understand that it answers what you're talking about, let me quote the rest of that for you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MizArai

If people have played for 3 years and don't have a house, I'd say they don't really prioritize housing, as there have been countless opportunities to own houses, and so many servers had tons of empty houses before the free transfers (though I realize that transferring with money was more difficult back then it was still possible if you were smart about it). I really have almost no sympathy for people who have played a long time and don't have a house. The opportunities were there, people just had to be willing to do whatever (camp wards, transfer servers, take something that was not a dream plot) to get a home.

---

While Hyperion isn't one of the top population servers, we're pretty high up there. I've personally bought 8 houses now on Hyperion between all my moves. And that's for my characters and my FCs. Some were with housing expansions, some were not. If people are looking and diligent, they can find a home, even if it's not a dream home, it will be a home. Everyone has to start somewhere. I only recently came into my dream home (large in the Mists), but I've been a home owner since 3.3. You can own some place, and make it yours while waiting for something better, especially with relocation now.

small edit here - I do feel more sympathy towards people on Balmung, because ffxiv really should have multiple servers that are designated as RP servers so that the community could be spread out better instead of clumped into one server. Transferring from Balmung onto a different server would be a huge loss for a lot of people because they would lose their RP community and have to try to foster a new one, which is a difficult task. So while the possibility to transfer would have made housing an option, it probably wasn't a viable one, and with like 27k players (I think Balmung topped out around there at active players) it would be super, super difficult to find something and have so many other people to compete with.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ryaz

The problem is that housing doesn't really reward accomplishment. It rewards being able to log on at the right time, get lucky in the queue and click faster than the other guy.
(...)

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Awha

Not sure what feeling of accomplishment one gets from getting a house in game. (...) mostly just a matter of me being in the right place at the right time and also having no life.

---

Hence why I said it backfires. I read about the whole thing having the objective of being difficult and "rewarding" once I started playing, and needless to say, not many people agreed with that view back in the day already.
I agree with you both, it have always being a matter of luck, nothing else :(
(hi5 to no lifers :V)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MizArai

as there have been countless opportunities to own houses

---

Let's say I DID take an oppertunity to buy a house, then the person that couldn't take that oppertunity (because I did) would be left wanting a house, it doesn't change anything, in the end someone is left homeless.

It's easy to say "you just have to prioritize housing" but if there are more people trying their best to get a house than there are plots in existence... what can you (as a player and/or dev) do to get it, and not have someone that does want a house left homeless?



Note: Having played Runescape where every player house is it's own instance, no neighbors, but infinite houses, so this issue doesn't exist there at all. Yes I know there is value in providing the players with a "neighborhood" and all that, but just letting you know where I'm coming from.

i went 2 years with out a house on moogle and got one when i jumped to omega

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Galaktica

W-wait...so you're admitting that housing isn't a matter of hard work and preparation. If it was hard work, there wouldn't be a line and it wouldn't come down to dumb luck.

---

In the case of those who don't use RMT or don't have wealthy friends giving them gil, getting a house can require a great deal of hard work and preparation. But also luck. An enormous amount of luck, maybe even ludicrous amounts depending on your personal real life circumstances and the server you're on. I have a house but I still haven't forgotten how much it stings when you can work your ass off to get a house but still have only a tiny chance to get one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Elamys

It boggles my mind that there are people who actually defend this setup of housing.

---

It's crap. It's getting better but it's still a long way from being acceptable.

Seriously a good bandaid fix would be to vastly improve apartments. Let fcs buy them so they can have fc rooms and a workshop. Add a balcony so players can use the full gardening features, not just the extremely limited indoor pots. Add tenancy so individuals can share them. All of these features already exist in the game in some form. This would help both private owners and fcs a lot. Also apartments are pretty cheap compared to a house so it would be easier for newer players and fcs to access housing features.

Been playing this game since beta.. I still dont have a plot, house, fc room. i sleep at the INN. Its already decorated , hell my chocobo has a fc stable.. nuff'said

I'm so busy with other things in this game I don't think I'd have time to decorate and appreciate a personal house honestly. An FC house supplies my needs with basic materials, gardening and airships. A personal house would be nice in the long run but as long as I don't require it, I don't feel a need to fight to buy one.

I have been playing for about a year now and have a small house on Faerie. Funny thing is I really did not care about housing at all. My best friend in the game needed quick cash to have enough for a medium house, so she asked me if I wanted to buy it off her. I said yes to help her out and suddenly I am now a house owner. It's in a really nice place too with board, crystal and bell right in front of it. I really have not done too much with it since I am not into crafting, and I could have even have upgraded it to a medium if I had wanted to with this last housing run, but I am fine with it being small. And it does look kind of cute with its pink decorations.

I think if you are not on a heavily populated server and really make the effort, it isn't THAT hard to get one of these things. Make friends, get to know people, network. Not everyone who has a house wants to keep it forever and you just might get lucky and find someone willing to let one go for a decent price.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ing-Dono

Let's say I DID take an oppertunity to buy a house, then the person that couldn't take that oppertunity (because I did) would be left wanting a house, it doesn't change anything, in the end someone is left homeless.

It's easy to say "you just have to prioritize housing" but if there are more people trying their best to get a house than there are plots in existence... what can you (as a player and/or dev) do to get it, and not have someone that does want a house left homeless?

---

Let me start off by saying, the housing system in this game is awful. With that in mind, SE is just now getting close to the threshold for the low pop servers where every character and FC that want a house might be able to have one. However, the topic was how can someone play for three years and not have a house if they had wanted one. Not everyone wants a house. Examples A and B below.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by urban

Been playing this game since beta.. I still dont have a plot, house, fc room. i sleep at the INN. Its already decorated , hell my chocobo has a fc stable.. nuff'said

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zephera

I'm so busy with other things in this game I don't think I'd have time to decorate and appreciate a personal house honestly. An FC house supplies my needs with basic materials, gardening and airships. A personal house would be nice in the long run but as long as I don't require it, I don't feel a need to fight to buy one.

---

In 3 years of playing this game there would have been countless opportunities via demolitions, housing expansions, transferring to a less populated server (something I considered at one point so I could have gotten a Mist large sooner since there were open ones on low pop servers back when I was thinking about it), or even paying someone to relinquish their house (some players are reasonable and really only want what they put in it). If in less than 2 years I can purchase 8 homes on a semi-high population server (no, I don't own 8 homes, I have purchased that many, aka I've moved a lot and bought a few FC houses while at it), then someone who has been playing for 3 years should have been able to get 1 (if they really wanted it).

Having an apartment kinda helps. :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JackHatchet

So how do people endure 3 years without a house suddenly "need" one right meow?

---

Lol "endure"? You make it sound as if having a house is just as necessary as having good gear, which it is not. I have an FC room that I am perfectly happy with. Would it be nice to have a house? Sure, I guess. But I'm certainly not going to break my back and go through all the drama that you all go through for it. Way too overrated, and not worth it imo.

On a high pop server, the demand vastly outstrips supply. That means lots of people will never get a house, because that's how math works.

I managed to acquire 4 small houses in tonberry.
First was in lavender beds, acquired through secondary market, got auto demolished due to some technical error that makes me unable to login for three months.
The second one was in goblet (my fave). The third and fourth one was in shirogane through relocation. Maybe I'll move to the mist once I got the budget.

Not sure since I have had a house since they first came out. If didn't have one I just fix up my private fc room or my apartment room. I have never own more than one house always have all my alts share it. Never seen any point owning more than one house per server.

What puzzles me is how nobody cares about apartments. True, they have no garden and ofc they're smaller, but still something to decorate or to put a crafting station/npcs in. I'm personally happy with one, also knowing it's never gonna be demolished if I can't play for a bit.
I did the Mansion war in Aion, the plots war in Archeage, now I don't want such stress anymore, personally.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tlamila

What puzzles me is how nobody cares about apartments. True, they have no garden and ofc they're smaller, but still something to decorate or to put a crafting station/npcs in.

---

Apartments are a feature reduced, more limited version of houses. That's why nobody cares about them.

If apartments were functionally equivalent to a house except instanced, they'd be a way to address the problem. That is not what we have.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tridus

Apartments are a feature reduced, more limited version of houses. That's why nobody cares about them.

If apartments were functionally equivalent to a house except instanced, they'd be a way to address the problem. That is not what we have.

---

Exactly.

I have an apartment that's nicely decorated. But its just too small, really. Just a small square box without even any extra small rooms attached to make it feel more like an actual living space. I can have 4 vendors in there now, but its already cramped with just two. Trying to put all the stuff I've collected in there just makes it look messy and cluttered. Add in the lack of gardening, outdoor decoration and things like training dummies, and no easy way to relocate without manually tearing everything down, spending another 500k gil somehwere else and basically losing the 500k you spent on the original, and it just makes it worse.

I guess what I still struggle with are the people who say "They 'only' play for the housing, but have played for long periods of time without a house, or refused to move to a server where houses were open.

I mean, I'm no stranger to MMOs, I'm very familiar with the concept of server hopping to find the content I want. In WoW I switched a raiding server. If I wanted to RP I went to an RP srever. So why is that people who really "really" wanted houses would sit on a server like Gilgamesh? Especially after they allowed you to cross-realm party-finder. I transfered to Mateus for the house, but Party-Findered with a static. Like living in the burbs!

I recently moved servers, and one deciding factor was the better chance at getting a house.

I have an apartment. Technically I've had one since they were a feature (was in Goblet, but moved it to Shiro when I had to release the old one to server jump), and all they are are FC rooms minus the FC part. It's basically a micro version of smalls with starkly limited features. 2 flower pots, for example.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JackHatchet

So why is that people who really "really" wanted houses would sit on a server like Gilgamesh? Especially after they allowed you to cross-realm party-finder. I transfered to Mateus for the house, but Party-Findered with a static. Like living in the burbs!

---

Because I was torn between the friendships I had on Balmung and my desire for a house? I was incredibly lucky to get both. Also, I roleplay, and there isn't really much place else to go for that. I hear Mateus has a small community there now but at the time, that was not the case.

Nobody should have to choose between their friends and some content they want to participate in. Cross-world party finder is nice, but it doesn't cover everything. I have a number of friends that went to Mateus. I can't do maps with them, I can't have them over to visit my house (and I can't visit theirs) and we can't just hang out together in the world.

When you say it like that. You made it seem like most of your friends went to Mateus anyways. Sounds like a good reason to swap servers and get a house. If you get your friends to move with you--then you don't leave them behind!

Half of my friends are on Mateus and half are on Balmung. Also I have a house on Balmung now. I'm not talking about my personal case in general now as I ended up getting my house before they themselves transferred.