Originally Posted by
Velisra
When Ishgard was being restored, I had hoped to see something like this for player housing (and honestly, there's no reason that older wards couldn't be converted to this as well):
Each house in Ishgard is actually a mini instance. When you choose a house, you buy it at the placard, and there are unlimited instances of that particular plot. Once you purchase it, you can decorate the yard as you see fit, and when you get close enough to the plot, you will see your own decorations. You can enter the house just as you do any other housing plot in the game, and your furnishings are there.
At the same time, any other player can purchase that same plot, and it will behave the same way: they've purchased it, decorated the outside, etc. When they roll up to the house, they see their own outdoor furnishings, of course.
The placard acts the same way as the entrance to the apartments does currently, once you've purchased. You can go to your own instanced house, or perhaps visit another by choosing an open one from the list.
In this way, each player can choose their favored location--is it small and cozy, medium with more space, or large to really show the wealth? Is it near the MB and aetheryte? Is it tucked away private in a corner, or have the most awesome view? Each player can have what they want, without camping, bitterness, or the RNG of some lotto system. The ward (note the singular here) would be full of players at all hours, because on the surface, there is only one ward.
The technology already exists in the game for something like this, it seems. You have apartments that are instanced, and you have the game already showing you things (npcs, airships, etc.) that are not visible to other players if they are not on the same quests. Put those things together, and BAM you have a new instanced housing system.
I'm just baffled at this point as to why SE is so bad at this, when they're so good at everything else.