<MATERIA> First-Come First-Served AND Lottery Plots

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

FCs are usually going to have members who either already own a house,

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Not on Materia. They locked all housing so nobody has anything.

We really do need to choose between going in on FC house to start a community to help the datacentre, or a personal house.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

. It's going to be rare that every single member of a FC is trying to buy a personal house at the same time the FC is attempting to buy its first house.

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This might be true in an established data centre where housing has been available forever, but in a new data centre where nobody has housing and the housing is freshly dropped with a system that allows anyone with 3 million gil to shoot their shot in a lottery, I think you are being optimistic.

When the data centre opened the lottery was only slated for Empyrean. It's right there in the slides, everyone who moved based their decision on the assumption that, since no statement to the contrary had been made the old wards would open FCFS with no timer as they have done in the past.

SE has acted in bad faith for an entire player base of veteran players who have been handing over their money in the form of a sub for years to maintain a house.

Not only did SE act in bad faith by changing the rules, they have hurt our DC by holding out housing for so long. 90 days only lets the gil farmers grind more and more shell FCs to capture the market.

Housing should have been opened fully FCFS after 30 days. Then Emperyum done like the rest of the world.

I went back in the News section on the Lodestone and checked what happened when they opened Light in EU, they held the housing for FCs for SIX weeks, then opened for personals three weeks later. Going by that time frame we should all be settled in our homes now and awaiting the Ishgard housing lottery launch like everybody else.

I can see the data centre losing a lot of veterans who either go back to their old data centres or simply quit the game in disgust. Then, when the current crop of new players finish the MSQ and the shininess wears off, the servers will be a ghost town - because the long term players who had moved to show support have departed because they were treated with utter disregard after making sacrifices to support the devs.

I have paid a sub religiously now for over 5 years and I can honestly say this is the closest I have been to quitting in that time and it's pretty close right now. I'll see how 6.1 pans out but even if I get the FC a house and replace the personal I gave up and stay, I will never feel the same about the devs.

Well done SE, top job. You've demonstrated your contempt for the OCE player base and created a gil farmer haven. At least when they shut the servers down in a few years it will be at great financial loss to themselves.

I agree, materia shouldn't be in this lottery until at least one round of fcfs.


I don't actually care which plot I get, I just want one. Now instead of just finding an available one (and there will be thousands at open) I'm supposed to hang my hat on a single plot, then hope for RNG.


I also don't get this "oh but new players and players coming back" need to be equal with me. Why? I've been here for 8 years coughing up my money, but suddenly the johnny-come-latelys need to be on equal footing?

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Originally Posted by LunaFancy

This might be true in an established data centre where housing has been available forever, but in a new data centre where nobody has housing and the housing is freshly dropped with a system that allows anyone with 3 million gil to shoot their shot in a lottery, I think you are being optimistic.

When the data centre opened the lottery was only slated for Empyrean. It's right there in the slides, everyone who moved based their decision on the assumption that, since no statement to the contrary had been made the old wards would open FCFS with no timer as they have done in the past.

SE has acted in bad faith for an entire player base of veteran players who have been handing over their money in the form of a sub for years to maintain a house.

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Only one slide I have found in the live letters mention the empyrean and the new housing. Its using the Empyrean as a example and makes no mention of Materia.

I'm really happy that all plots will be lottery (see: "At the release of Patch 6.1, all land available for purchase will be subject to the lottery system.") Here's how it would've looked like if some wards were FCFS at 6.1 launch:

• Selecting your preferred housing plot either through housing maps and YouTube housing area tours, or an alt on another DC.
• Practicing your rush to your housing plot: make sure it take seconds to choose a ward.
• Logging out at the entrance of your preferred housing area
• Repeatedly closing and opening the client to log in the moment the maintenance period ends
• Hoping to be first in queue
• Logging in, loading the housing ward selection screen
• Rushing through the ward lists to find one that's FCFS
• Madly clicking on the ward to enter
• Dashing to your preferred plot
• Madly clicking on the placard to get it before someone else

That is not a positive player experience.


There are more plots going up for sale than active players: 7200 plots total per server across the 5 housing areas.

There hasn't been any word yet, but I think given how Light was FC-only sales first, there's a good chance that the first lottery will also all be FC-only. As FCs must be at least 30 days old to own a house (see condition: "You must have been a member of your free company for 30 days or longer."), we know today how many FCs are possibly eligible for the lottery: if 6.1 drops on 13th April, that's 932 FCs on Ravana who could be eligible by the time the lottery closes on 18th April.

If you've got an FC, you can put in multiple contested bids for the housing plots that you want, and have a backup option on an uncontested plot. If an FC wins multiple plots, then you can choose which plot you want.

As for personal housing:

• If you don't want competing bids and don't care which plot you get, I recommend a mid-range Small plot in a Goblet sub-ward, like Plot 58. Wait until 30 minutes before the entry period ends and find a plot with 0 entries, there are guaranteed to be some somewhere, 7200 plots are going up for sale.
• If you want everyone to know you've got the best party house, go for Mist Ward 1 Plot 5 and take a chance on the beach house of your dreams.

I don't think there will be a lock on personal houses given how few FCs which are eligible to purchase a house in Oceania currently.

Speaking of which, I don't really understand what's the big deal about full lottery in Materia. We are in a unique position where supply is greater than demand and as long as you pick wisely and don't go for a dream plot such as LB 11/41, Mist 5/35, Shirogane/Empyreum 30/60 etc. there will be very few or even zero competing bids. And if you are indeed going for a dream plot, having a lottery makes it fair for those who are going for them instead of only a selected few who can jump into the servers instantly at 6.1 launch.

The issue is that many of us left houses under the impression we could replace them via FCFS when housing launched. Now, instead of having the chance to get the same plot back through having 24 options of that same plot across the wards, we are locked in to ONE chance to get back what we gave up to support the development of the data centre.

Most of us would not have left our houses on the old worlds had it been made clear that this system was going to be in place across all the wards.

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Originally Posted by Damptoe

There's still hope. I'm sure Square Enix just forgot to mention the exception for Materia because we're so small and insignificant.

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Sadly they've made it clear that the lotto will apply to all regional housing areas.

In addition, changes to purchasing methods, such as the lottery system, will be implemented across all residential districts

Aaaand the ultimate punch in the gut. They CONFIRMED we will have to pick between our FC or our private!!

WHY DO YOU MAKE THESE DECISIONS THAT ONLY AFFECT OCE NEGATIVELY? Literally WHY?
NO OTHER DATA CENTER is gonna have this be a big problem because they all have their houses.
None.
Except Materia.
So why do you do this? Why??????

I have to pick between a house for me or a house for my FC but literally why? Who even stands to gain from a stupid rule like this????
Why even add a rule like this? It literally does nothing except screw the OCE players!!!!

I mean, it's fair that everyone gets only one bid.

The fact is there's quite a number of free companies which are solo FCs and allowing the owner to bid for both personal and FC plots would mean double dipping.

No, it is most definitely not fair, and since you can bid using an alt for a FC as well as a personal on your main means in fact it FAVOURS shell FCs. This is how I am going to be bidding for my FC and will still be able to bid on my personal. The only people who are being punished by this are people who haven't got alts. You know, the people who won't be having shell FCs at all.

The fact that we would have to make a choice between and FC house or replacing the house we lost was pertinent to the the decision making process BEFORE we gave up out homes and migrated. And this information was not given to us before we made the decision, which is why we feel conned by YoshiP et al.

You have already stated that you gave up nothing and started an alt on Materia so you have no idea how those of us who moved our mains (you know, the people who actually made a sacrifice to support the devs) feel sucker punched by this.

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Originally Posted by Damptoe

It's clear we're at the bottom of their priorities.

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Meanwhile they are fawning over the JP FCs who are inconvenienced by swapping servers now ahead of time.

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Originally Posted by Meowsalotte

Aaaand the ultimate punch in the gut. They CONFIRMED we will have to pick between our FC or our private!!
<snip angriness>
I have to pick between a house for me or a house for my FC but literally why? Who even stands to gain from a stupid rule like this????
Why even add a rule like this? It literally does nothing except screw the OCE players!!!!

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This is why I'm convinced that the first lottery will be FC only. There's no need to pick between FC and personal housing then.

OCE players are better off with 6.1 launch being FC-only lottery. With so much supply, every FC will be able to afford a house in a housing area that best matches the culture of an FC. It's better that the premium plots are FC-run, it helps bring community to the housing areas and gives a reason for undesirable plots near the FC house to be picked up as personal houses by FC members in subsequent lotteries.

No reason for the second lottery to be FC-only, but I bet they only make sub-divisions be personal lottery because they are slower to sell.


I wonder whether many of the people here have ever tried to buy tickets for a popular concert, or buy a popular good, at release. It's horrible. Lotteries aren't fair either but with limited supply it's unfair in a different, more socially cohesive way than FCFS. There's room for both but let's give lottery a go first for a month or so.

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Originally Posted by KidHeracles

I wonder whether many of the people here have ever tried to buy tickets for a popular concert, or buy a popular good, at release. It's horrible. Lotteries aren't fair either but with limited supply it's unfair in a different, more socially cohesive way than FCFS. There's room for both but let's give lottery a go first for a month or so.

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I wonder if you gave up a home you loved in order to bring your main across to the new data centre so that it wouldn't be 100% sprouts just as much?

It's an awful way to punish us for supporting the new data centre and there is no way to spin it otherwise.

The deception by omission is what needs to be focused on at this point, because it is unforgivable. Had they revealed the lottery system prior to opening the data centre and we transferred anyway then that would be on us, but they never, not once, stated we would not be able to simply FCFS our old houses back on Materia.

The only mention they made of the lottery back then was in relation to Empyreum. It never occurred to me that these devs would be underhanded enough to do what they have indeed done to those of us who trusted them to be transparent. Well fool me once shame on you, I and many others will never trust that they are acting in good faith again, so nice job on on the PR front SE.

I hope you are right about the FC lock, but I don't think you will be. I'm just glad I brought my alt across to help found the FC and he can purchase the house for the FC.

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Originally Posted by KidHeracles

This is why I'm convinced that the first lottery will be FC only.

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Absolute false hope. They will do it like all worlds at once.

On old worlds there is no need to do FC first.

The fair thing for those people who gave up their homes, would have been to open the original cities for all on materia weeks ago.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

Absolute false hope. They will do it like all worlds at once.

On old worlds there is no need to do FC first.

The fair thing for those people who gave up their homes, would have been to open the original cities for all on materia weeks ago.

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At this point the only truly fair thing to do is to reinstate our old plots to us. Give us a different ward than the old ward if there are double ups but give them back to us because we were tricked out of them by deception.

Any other industry would face consequences for such deceptive business practice and you can bet they won't be doing this to the new worlds on the new JP data centres.

maybe we should get a few choice words translated into Japanese and flood the twitch chat during the LL with our protests because clearly they won't hear us any other way.

I've only been around for like 8 months so of course I didn't own a house in JP. I co-ran the FC house, which as only <12 months old, was a small in a sub-division in the Goblet, about the highest turnover there is. I've no attachment to it.

It's all pixels, and you'll get your beloved plot again. Don't tell me though that it's not tempting to upscale, to go for that medium or large, in a premium housing district like Mist or Shirogane.

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Originally Posted by LunaFancy

The deception by omission is what needs to be focused on at this point, because it is unforgivable.

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Square Enix isn't responsible for your assumptions. They said launching Materia DC before 6.1 was a gift to the community that came with strings: housing won't be available until 6.1, which would be released in April. You filled in the gaps with what you wanted to hear and now you're trying to hold Square Enix accountable to your flights of fancy.

I would be very curious to hear how you would fairly handle different players owning the same plot from different servers if it wasn't for a lottery system; I think we've established FCFS isn't fair.

We're with FFXIV for the long haul: what is happening over these three months is negligible in this multi-decade project Square-Enix has got going on. You'll move on emotionally by the end of April. Is only a game..

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Originally Posted by LunaFancy

At this point the only truly fair thing to do is to reinstate our old plots to us. Give us a different ward than the old ward if there are double ups but give them back to us because we were tricked out of them by deception.

Any other industry would face consequences for such deceptive business practice and you can bet they won't be doing this to the new worlds on the new JP data centres.

maybe we should get a few choice words translated into Japanese and flood the twitch chat during the LL with our protests because clearly they won't hear us any other way.

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There is no deception, you are not assured of getting back the same plot even with FCFS.

Also, reinstating plots is just ridiculous. So all other players on Oceania should be deprived of a plot they wanted simply because you had one in your previous server? Everyone who transferred worlds did so willingly and those who transferred to standard servers instead of new worlds even had to relinquish their old homes with zero compensation (meaning they had to forfeit whatever amount they paid for their own homes which could be up to 50 million gil if they own a large). You were already compensated the full amount of your own plot plus an additional 3 million so you are already in a better place than the others.

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Originally Posted by DeNada

There is no deception, you are not assured of getting back the same plot even with FCFS.

Also, reinstating plots is just ridiculous. So all other players on Oceania should be deprived of a plot they wanted simply because you had one in your previous server? Everyone who transferred worlds did so willingly and those who transferred to standard servers instead of new worlds even had to relinquish their old homes with zero compensation (meaning they had to forfeit whatever amount they paid for their own homes which could be up to 50 million gil if they own a large). You were already compensated the full amount of your own plot plus an additional 3 million so you are already in a better place than the others.

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There was a deception they didn't expect this to be a lottery only DC and I'd be willing to bet the decision to go full lotto was known before. That wasn't made clear before people gave up their homes and in Luna's case a large. He was simply expecting along with a lot of others who gave up houses to be in a FCFS environment just like they did when they opened servers in the EU. Very unfair for SE to put out housing rules after people made those decisions to transfer. They should have known what to expect up front

Easy for lotto proponents to poo poo their expectations but most I'm sure expected FCFS and a split in FCFS and LOTTO for Ishgard.

And if I'm not mistaken you are awarded the devalued price of the plot plus 3 million which is probably less than the price he paid but be that as it may the gil isn't sufficient compensation given you can't simply walk up to a plot and purchase a large at will. I don't think he was initially proposing that he was owed a large plot as a replacement but only expected to be able to complete for one outside of the Lottery. He appears now to be somewhat bitter at this point and I don't blame him given that should have been clearly stated before people made their transfers.

He's not in a better place he gave up a significant house to help populate a DC which i might add has only 5 servers. Try and get stuff to queue here when it comes to raids like Rab, Lighthouse and so on. Housing was a significant factor for many when making that transfer along with the better ping.

Why did those players switch data centers in the first place? What was more important: ping or housing? If the answer was ping, then you switched to a data center that has given you a guaranteed advantage over your previous data center. If your answer was housing - then why did you switch data centers?

It sounds like people assumed that the old system (FCFS) would have stayed in place. If SE explicitly stated it would be FCFS in the new data center and then switched it, that would be a reason to be disappointed. Wasn't this talk of a lottery system out way before Oceania data center opened up? I did a quick google search and found plenty of articles about it. One even quoted Yoshi:

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Yoshida emphasized that the Final Fantasy 14 team built its new lottery system with the potential to implement it in both new and existing areas on an area-by-area basis, and not just in the Ishgard region. The team will also have the power to set entire regions to the lottery-based option or the traditional first come first serve option, if it so chooses. There may also be housing locations that will require players to purchase them as free companies...

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That's dated pre-Endwalker. Seems like players wished something would happen but it didn't happen that way.

For some of us it was to be with our friends, our free companies who may have moved over, or even to find new friends and begin new adventures. To actually be with people who had the same timezone or a similar timezone as us, not those living on the other side of the world.

I also know of NA and EU players who moved over to be with their statics or friends here despite the ping and timezone differences.

I know many people who gave up their houses to come here and be with their free companies or friends and they liked the idea that they'd be able to get a house or their old area back. That in exchange for leaving their old houses behind so they could support their friends and help populate a new datacenter they'd have a decent chance of getting their old plots back or just a plot at all in some cases.
We knew it wouldn't be full fcfs because of the demand for lottery, but it would have been appreciated if we were atleast allowed half fcfs and half lottery so it catered to all kinds of people. We have been asking for that and have been overlooked entirely.
Yoshi P said that there would be a lottery system, you are correct, but they said it would be for the Empyreum at first and they would roll it out where they felt fit.

As someone who actually gave up my dream plot to be here I feel spat on.
If I knew it was full lottery when OCE dropped I would not have transferred. Good ping and OCE friends be damned.

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Originally Posted by Taitaibun

For some of us it was to be with our friends, our free companies who may have moved over, or even to find new friends and begin new adventures. To actually be with people who had the same timezone or a similar timezone as us, not those living on the other side of the world.

I also know of NA and EU players who moved over to be with their statics or friends here despite the ping and timezone differences.

I know many people who gave up their houses to come here and be with their free companies or friends and they liked the idea that they'd be able to get a house or their old area back. That in exchange for leaving their old houses behind so they could support their friends and help populate a new datacenter they'd have a decent chance of getting their old plots back or just a plot at all in some cases.
We knew it wouldn't be full fcfs because of the demand for lottery, but it would have been appreciated if we were atleast allowed half fcfs and half lottery so it catered to all kinds of people. We have been asking for that and have been overlooked entirely.
Yoshi P said that there would be a lottery system, you are correct, but they said it would be for the Empyreum at first and they would roll it out where they felt fit.

As someone who actually gave up my dream plot to be here I feel spat on.
If I knew it was full lottery when OCE dropped I would not have transferred. Good ping and OCE friends be damned.

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No Yoshi did not say it would be Empyrean only. I have reviewed the transcripts and slides for past live letters involving the Empyrean and the lotto system. More importantly the live letter on 11/19/2021 states at the bottom they had still not finalized the decision on how many wards would be lotto system. Only time the empyrean and lotto are mention togather, their using the empyrean as an example. Even info related to the oce data center makes no mention of emp being the lotto only ward.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

There was a deception they didn't expect this to be a lottery only DC and I'd be willing to bet the decision to go full lotto was known before. That wasn't made clear before people gave up their homes and in Luna's case a large. He was simply expecting along with a lot of others who gave up houses to be in a FCFS environment just like they did when they opened servers in the EU. Very unfair for SE to put out housing rules after people made those decisions to transfer. They should have known what to expect up front

Easy for lotto proponents to poo poo their expectations but most I'm sure expected FCFS and a split in FCFS and LOTTO for Ishgard.

And if I'm not mistaken you are awarded the devalued price of the plot plus 3 million which is probably less than the price he paid but be that as it may the gil isn't sufficient compensation given you can't simply walk up to a plot and purchase a large at will. I don't think he was initially proposing that he was owed a large plot as a replacement but only expected to be able to complete for one outside of the Lottery. He appears now to be somewhat bitter at this point and I don't blame him given that should have been clearly stated before people made their transfers.

He's not in a better place he gave up a significant house to help populate a DC which i might add has only 5 servers. Try and get stuff to queue here when it comes to raids like Rab, Lighthouse and so on. Housing was a significant factor for many when making that transfer along with the better ping.

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SE is not obligiated to meet your expections or temper them. Not meeting them does not make SE deceptive it makes you fool hearted. As posted above in the 11/19/2021 live letter. No final decision had been made. People made the choice to move without a final answer, should have held off on moving until a answer was given.

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Originally Posted by NanaWiloh

SE is not obligiated to meet your expections or temper them.

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Of course business are expected to meet customer expectations. This is just getting silly now.

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Originally Posted by NanaWiloh

... on 11/19/2021 states...

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What's the 19th month?

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Originally Posted by XiXiQ

Of course business are expected to meet customer expectations. This is just getting silly now.

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Customers expect businesses to meet their expectations. While customers are important, many times their expectations are unrealistic.

Businesses expect to do what is best for business.

I can't call FCFS unrealistic since it's the system already in use but it is bad for business. It gives an unfair advantage to certain customers over the remaining customers. It helps RMT to flourish in housing along with bot usage (both player and RMT). I doubt SE would lose more than a few dozen players over the absence of FCFS.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

What's the 19th month?

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Some parts of the word use MM/DD/YY instead of DD/MM/YY. It's a reference to the November Live Letter.

This lottery malarkey is a total BS

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

Customers expect businesses to meet their expectations. While customers are important, many times their expectations are unrealistic.

Businesses expect to do what is best for business.

I can't call FCFS unrealistic since it's the system already in use but it is bad for business. It gives an unfair advantage to certain customers over the remaining customers. It helps RMT to flourish in housing along with bot usage (both player and RMT). I doubt SE would lose more than a few dozen players over the absence of FCFS.


Some parts of the word use MM/DD/YY instead of DD/MM/YY. It's a reference to the November Live Letter.

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Appologize for confusion on the date. Yes its nov 19 2021

I am ok with half FFA and Half lottery on materia
if it was only DC with all FFA it would be a super easy target for bots and multi account horders
system is clearly not perfect but its better than waiting 18 hours at a sign just to lose it to a auto clicker or relocater

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Originally Posted by Damptoe

Botters would have no advantage with FCFS. In fact, real players are much more likely to reach a housing plot to snap it up before a dumb bot can. The lottery just gives these RMT and bot users equal odds with a normal player.

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This is simply untrue. Housing bots come in all flavours. FCFS ward rushes favour botters using 3rd party launchers, some of which can directly teleport to the placard etc

Saying this as someone who volunteered to find open plots and to keep track of when those plots sold, from Jun 2019 - Mar 2022 for the House Alerts Discord.

And when it comes to placard clicking with FCFS wards, bots do not lose focus or have to rest like human players.

The lottery system does not address the fundamental problem of supply, especially on NA servers.

But the FCFS system significantly favours bots/automation.

Unfortunately SE has gone for blanket approach of applying the lottery to all regions.

Ultimately, the solution is fully instanced housing so that every player who wants a house can get one.

The existing ward housing can exist alongside the fully instanced housing for players who want 'exclusive'/'prestige' or whatever houses. Those players can fight it out amongst themselves.

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Originally Posted by Damptoe

The point is that none of the placard clicking or focus is relevant for the grand opening when you just need to click the placard once.

I just don't agree with FCFS favouring bots and automation.
Admittedly, I have no experience with the situation in NA and maybe it's more rampant there than JP where my previous experiences with three ward openings were.

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On NA (and EU too I believe) we have an entire underground of bot developers who are actually making money charging players to use their software. These bots are sophisticated enough to auto run to the placard and auto relocate. Including popping speed buffs or mounts as part of the automation.

Some are actually hacking teleporting to the placard. They will get to the placard before you do.

Not to mention all of them are using third party software for their launcher, which is smoother and less clunky than the one SE is using presently. It will give them an advantage logging in faster.

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Originally Posted by Damptoe

However, the situation in NA and OCE is very different.

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That is very true. TBH I don't really have any ideas to offer on that one. I just know that botting is more than placard clicking automation, and absolutely favors those who use bot software in most FCFS situations.

What confuses me is parts that go against each other, not very clear information:

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...5c5bb27b61905c

"Methods of Purchasing Land
Depending on the housing ward, land may be purchased on a first-come, first-served basis, or by lottery.

At the release of Patch 6.1, all land available for purchase will be subject to the lottery system."

I understand the last sentence, but the first one makes it sound like fcfs areas might be coming to some wards/areas (I understand not Ishgard, they want that to be lottery, but the older areas, specially on Materia with 0 taken?)?

Also:
"* Methods of purchasing land and/or purchase availability may vary by World in future updates."

I hope that this might help Materia DC out specifically, we have literally no homes. 7000+ per server will take a fair while to fill up, and waiting 5 days each time you attempt, could be weeks or months depending on the RNG and if anythings even left. FC's will have it a bit easier hopefully, as a lot of people from the FC can be bidding on 1 plot, making their chances go up significantly depending on number of bidders.

Do people want empty plots to buy or full wards?? Seems to be some contridication going on..

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Originally Posted by Kirstie

What confuses me is parts that go against each other, not very clear information:

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...5c5bb27b61905c

"Methods of Purchasing Land
Depending on the housing ward, land may be purchased on a first-come, first-served basis, or by lottery.

At the release of Patch 6.1, all land available for purchase will be subject to the lottery system."

I understand the last sentence, but the first one makes it sound like fcfs areas might be coming to some wards/areas (I understand not Ishgard, they want that to be lottery, but the older areas, specially on Materia with 0 taken?)?

Also:
"* Methods of purchasing land and/or purchase availability may vary by World in future updates."

I hope that this might help Materia DC out specifically, we have literally no homes. 7000+ per server will take a fair while to fill up, and waiting 5 days each time you attempt, could be weeks or months depending on the RNG and if anythings even left. FC's will have it a bit easier hopefully, as a lot of people from the FC can be bidding on 1 plot, making their chances go up significantly depending on number of bidders.

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They're saying that the system has been programmed to allow FCFS if SE should decide there is a need for it in the future (and probably once they get an idea of whether the FC changes have managed to curb reselling).

If Materia wards do not fill up fairly quickly via the lottery, SE may choose to switch some of them to FCFS. The lottery doesn't serve much purpose if there are not enough players/FCs interested in buying a plot. Might as well set at least some of them to FCFS if there are still lots of vacancies after the first two lottery periods. SE has a good idea of how many characters and FCs on each world are currently purchase eligible. I'm guessing those numbers are high enough that they wanted to go only with lottery for now so they could gauge actual interest.

I doubt very much that the current NA and EU worlds will be seeing any FCFS at any time in the foreseeable worlds. The new worlds being added in July and August might see FCFS depending on what happens with the Materia worlds and how many players transfer/roll new characters on those worlds once opened.

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Originally Posted by NanaWiloh

Do people want empty plots to buy or full wards?? Seems to be some contridication going on..

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Not really.

Players want empty wards so there's something available when they're ready to buy. Once they've purchased, they want full wards so they aren't staring at a sea of empty plots (I remember that well from 4.2 - it took 10 months for my ward to fill up).

Yeah, if Yoshi-P is going to allocate more plots for free companies like what he mentioned in the last live letter, empty wards are going to be more of an issue then Materia players not being able to secure a house, provided they aren't picky.

Just for perspective, there are only 1K free companies in Ravana, which is the most populous server and there will be at least half of all available or 3.5K plots reserved for FCs most likely.

The empty wards are going to be even more pronounced on smaller servers like Bismarck or Zurvan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Damptoe

Materia likely won't have the same problems with housing supply that other data centres have, so I don't think the lottery serves much of a purpose here.
At best, it should just be an option for those people who might prefer it, even though I think majority FCFS makes more sense for a new DC like ours.

Making all plots lottery-based just delays opening up an entire section of the game that is currently closed off to OCE players.

Other than it taking longer to be able to play a large part of the game, this delays starting up our already slow economy where an entire category of items is unsellable. It delays our ability to build a new community. There is no supply for certain glamour items that come from submarines and airships too.

As a personal side note, crafting without housing merchants is unpleasant and I can't wait to get out of Limsa.

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Limsa aka: Woke town Erpville? Yeah that Limsa hehe. hate that place.

Only 5 personal estate wards.

Square enix is so out of touch that my sides are burning. Ravana doesnt even have enough FCs to fill half of the entire wards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Meowsalotte

Only 5 personal estate wards.

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Six for personals. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 - 1800 plots in total over all housing districts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Meowsalotte

Ravana doesnt even have enough FCs to fill half of the entire wards.

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It will be a sea of empty plots 1-18 and packed to the gills for 19-24.