So, the Firmament...

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Originally Posted by Penthea

It's going to be worse than that if the screenshot is any indication. The area is basically varying shades of one colour. At least the Goblet has different coloured cobbled stones, it's built at an oasis and it's surrounded by mountains and cliffs with some greenery. That screenshot only shows monotone grey stone in snowy mountains. There is an almost complete absence of colour and zero variation in terrain.

Unless the facelift it will get will render it unrecognisable from that screenshot, and distinct from traditional Ishgardian architecture, it's going to be very very grey.

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I don't see the need to be worried about it based on the starting point. Think about what the Doman Enclave looked like when we started it - grey and dreary and ruined. There's no reason to be certain it will be like that when it's finished.

On the other hand, Ishgardian architecture is quite grey/muted colours to begin with. It's not the end of the world, especially if there are some colourful decorative elements to brighten it up. People have been asking for Ishgardian housing for ages, presumably based on what the city looks like already.

Ishgard was ravaged with ages of war so it should look gloomy destroyed, but we don't know the design SE has made that we will only see when the area is completed, maybe the place will be a winter wonderland, with renaissance inspired architecture. :cool::cool::cool:

Hopefully it is more useful and creative than the Doman Enclave. For many months now, after the build was complete, I only visit there 1x a week for my whopping 40k turn in. I used to use it on hunt trains as an aetheryte at least lol. Seems a waste (shades of the Eureka fiasco).

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Originally Posted by Penthea

It's going to be worse than that if the screenshot is any indication. The area is basically varying shades of one colour. At least the Goblet has different coloured cobbled stones, it's built at an oasis and it's surrounded by mountains and cliffs with some greenery. That screenshot only shows monotone grey stone in snowy mountains. There is an almost complete absence of colour and zero variation in terrain.

Unless the facelift it will get will render it unrecognisable from that screenshot, and distinct from traditional Ishgardian architecture, it's going to be very very grey.

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Yeah, it looks like... Ishgard? I was hoping would be high up with nice views to dilute greyness but overall looks just like Ishgard. Really not sure what you thought Ishgard was gonna look like tbh, rainbow and forests?. Hopefully will have a few nice views n epic architecture.

Also that screenshot was looking down at empty plots. Hopefully something prettier to see after it drops to get us more inspired. I do have a feeling that it will have "a second Goblet" status tho, unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by Antoine_Lenheim

Yeah, it looks like... Ishgard? I was hoping would be high up with nice views to dilute greyness but overall looks just like Ishgard. Really not sure what you thought Ishgard was gonna look like tbh, rainbow and forests?. Hopefully will have a few nice views n epic architecture.

Also that screenshot was looking down at empty plots. Hopefully something prettier to see after it drops to get us more inspired. I do have a feeling that it will have "a second Goblet" status tho, unfortunately.

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Perhaps those "scientists" will make a magic beautification bubble to cover the area when complete, like the one over the thing outside Idyllshire lol.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I think the issue here is that taking "leading but ambiguous" responses from the dev team as "confirmation" is exactly what happened with male Viera. They gave vague answers to questions that players thought must mean it was coming and they were just being deliberately fake-secretive about it... and look how that turned out.

Yes it looks like it could be a housing ward.

Yes they've given answers that imply it may be coming.

But don't assume it IS coming until they outright say it is, or you still may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

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I'd say the Viera fiasco is a bit different, but not by much, with that it was a bit more media manipulation. But regardless, the Viera and healer controversies made SE realize how they should present their information to the media now, so I doubt anything they are saying is an ambiguous lie. But regardless if it is or not, not getting a housing district is far tamer then locking out the entire gender of a race.

Plus while there is no denying that the Firmament looks like a housing district, we have to remember that this is a game, and assets get reused. They might of just refused residential features for another "resident" district.

Oh..people are being much more pessimistic than I thought! Honestly I'm very hyped for this, and I really hope it's a new housing district! I've been wishing for Ishgardian housing ever since I played HW. I really hope I'm able to live there. :)
Of course it looks dull right now, it's in ruins...it might still be very gray when it's done, but that's Ishgard. I personally love the way Ishgard looks, I'm sure it's aimed at people that think the same. If you don't like it, at least there will be more plots available in older districts when this is out! I'm definitely moving there if I get the chance.

If it's NOT a housing district...I hope at least the area will be more useful than the Doman Enclave.

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Originally Posted by Kenky

They don't in Shirogane, Gridania or Limsa either. Yet those are far more 'appealing' places than Ul'dah.

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I completely agree.

Just a few more hours till 5.1...lets start the rebuilding ('',)

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Originally Posted by ERMITANYO

Just a few more hours till 5.1...lets start the rebuilding ('',)

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Rebuilding doesn't start until 5.11. Still a couple more weeks to wait and then we can dig in.

I'm soooo excited lets buiiiiild it...I'm imagining an old command and conquer game where you build your base and farm resources from scratch. :cool::cool::cool:

From what Francel says during the introduction to the Firmament and him specifically asking you about adventurer housing, it really feels like it's going to end up as a housing ward now. SE could just be throwing a curve, but I'll keep my hopes up for my friends who want to move there.

the German patch notes flat out call it a housing district btw

My understanding of it was that it will be housing wards, and servers that complete restoration first will have advance access to the housing.
I do not believe this of course, it is just what it sounded like from what i had read and heard

I'm fairly certain the upgrade process is designed such that we complete all there is for a given patch long before the next patch arrives. The playable area we currently have access to is tiny, as with all the versions of this we've had before (Doman Enclave/Idyllshire/etc.) they've require a patch to expand that playable area before we can continue. We'll fully upgrade this area long before the next patch adds more spaces to upgrade.

As such, I fully expect Firmament Housing to simply be dropped in whatever patch it's scheduled for. Everyone gets it at the same time, because everyone will have finished all the Reconstruction efforts long before the patch that adds the Housing Wards in proper drops.

What I'm hopefully looking forward to, is the revelation that Firmament Plots are effectively purchased with Skybuilder Scrips, rather than Gil. I'm sure the community would love that, so it'd be entertaining to watch. Really though, it would create a barrier to entry that Gil really doesn't provide these days, which would slow down the rate Plots are snapped up. Not to mention it's a fitting reward; You helped with the Restoration, earned a lot of Scrips in the process, so you have an easier time getting a Plot there. Sticking with the current status quo would mean you could effectively put a lot of effort into the whole process, but miss out on Housing there entirely because people who didn't participate at all managed to swoop in first with a fist full of Gil.

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Originally Posted by Nalien

I'm fairly certain the upgrade process is designed such that we complete all there is for a given patch long before the next patch arrives. The playable area we currently have access to is tiny, as with all the versions of this we've had before (Doman Enclave/Idyllshire/etc.) they've require a patch to expand that playable area before we can continue. We'll fully upgrade this area long before the next patch adds more spaces to upgrade.

As such, I fully expect Firmament Housing to simply be dropped in whatever patch it's scheduled for. Everyone gets it at the same time, because everyone will have finished all the Reconstruction efforts long before the patch that adds the Housing Wards in proper drops.

What I'm hopefully looking forward to, is the revelation that Firmament Plots are effectively purchased with Skybuilder Scrips, rather than Gil. I'm sure the community would love that, so it'd be entertaining to watch. Really though, it would create a barrier to entry that Gil really doesn't provide these days, which would slow down the rate Plots are snapped up. Not to mention it's a fitting reward; You helped with the Restoration, earned a lot of Scrips in the process, so you have an easier time getting a Plot there. Sticking with the current status quo would mean you could effectively put a lot of effort into the whole process, but miss out on Housing there entirely because people who didn't participate at all managed to swoop in first with a fist full of Gil.

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The problem is that the scrips currently cap out at 10,000. I can make that in a few hours of work. They'd have to uncap it and charge a high price if they use scrips.

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Originally Posted by Ryaz

The problem is that the scrips currently cap out at 10,000. I can make that in a few hours of work. They'd have to uncap it and charge a high price if they use scrips.

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Nah, they could just implement a token system like we've seen plenty of in the past; 100 Skybuilder Scrips for 1 Skybuilder Token, 10,000 Skybuilder Tokens for a Plot, or something like that. Very easy to circumvent the currency cap.

Imagine you get your ishgard house only to have a paissa, moggle, carbuncle, castle house in your neighbour... the feeling xd

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Originally Posted by Miminming

Imagine you get your ishgard house only to have a paissa, moggle, carbuncle, castle house in your neighbour... the feeling xd

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Well, it's not like we could actually make the housing districts thematically distinct from one another beyond their mere layout or road tiles or not make each lot an identical empty grass lot or the like. That'd be heresy far surpassing that of, say, joining a violent cult centered on the drinking of dragon blood, right?