Adressing the roots of the housing problem

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Originally Posted by Darrcyphfeid

https://i.imgur.com/lTY7VQl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/atR1WI7.jpg

Small houses. Today. They're selling access to the entire housing market, not just the plot.

At some point after Feb 6th, when the wards are all full and people are still thirsty for housing, they'll sell FCs.

Welcome to the FFXIV Housing Market.


Edit: Not trolling these people, for the record. Looking to buy a house for another friend.

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are you aware of the hypocrisy of lambasting a company for not helping solve a problem.. and then supporting the problem ?

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Originally Posted by ThirdChild_ZKI

The safeguard for that is that those micro FCs would need to reach the rank to own a house first. So "overnight FCs" aren't gonna be an issue.

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I've done it solo in a single day. Overnight FCs are definitely a thing.

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Originally Posted by ThirdChild_ZKI

Just to note: The reasons they said they'd wait til just before servers came back up to release housing info (which it seems they didn't anyways) was to prevent things like what were mentioned.

Players can't try to game or work around the system ahead of time if they don't know how.

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Thats exactly why I found it strange that they released most of the information already. Either they dont know that someone can raise a FC that fast, thus hoped that there would not be enough time or we are still missing some important informations..

I know that this might sound strange but I am honestly fine with people creating those FC as long as they want it for a house that they will use and not if they are just flipping it. SE kinda destroyed the chance for personal housing and a lot of people probably waited for a long time to finally have a personal house only to see that the new rule will probably stop this. I own a FC with a a real life friend and my alts too. I used it mostly for more storage and to sell all the goods on my alts. Yet I also used it to finally buy my own FC house that has a small ship and is used. So if people use it and not just try to get it for flipping why not.

It would have been better (imo) if the first three new wards would have been FC only and would have released one week after the patch and the last three wards being FC and Personal from the start which would release two weeks after the patch. This way FCs still have the first chance to own a house but solo players would also get their chance a bit later.

I really feel that there will be at least another huge rage coming after the new house release since the houses would still not be enough. And hopefully this might finally bring SE to consider instanced personal houses..If they had that FC would have all their houses for themselves and every solo player that wants a house will get theirs too. And if they dont plan on introducing such housing then I at least hope that they make more with the apartments. Give us really huge ones and maybe a place for gardening and quite some players would be happy. Doing nothing of that will just leave more and more angry customers..not something you want.

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Originally Posted by SigmaOZ

I demand that SE allows all of my characters to share the same private property!...

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Oh, you demand do you?
Let me know how that works out!

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

are you aware of the hypocrisy of lambasting a company for not helping solve a problem.. and then supporting the problem ?

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Swing and a miss.

I never supported the problem; I explained early in the thread how I obtained my FC house (waiting around for 9 hours and a half hours on Christmas day 2015) and my personal house (auto-demolition actually being turned on). I was also on during Shiropocalypse, aka 4.1, and was one of the people boned by network errors. I didn't even want a Shirogane plot, I just wanted to move my kinda crappy Lavender Beds plot somewhere else.

I'm not really obligated to care if anyone here believes what I've put into other posts in this thread. If I'm a hypocrite for using the Gil I've acquired from Gathering Favors and Materia farming/flipping over the last couple years to put my friends into the system now and save them from this hell, before it's too late, then whatever. I'll embrace it. If I don't buy those houses someone else will - as evidenced by those screencaps showing bids of 15m and 20m on smalls that were not my bids - and, once again, anyone without a house or an FC under their control come Feb 6th is about to have a really bad time.

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Originally Posted by Darrcyphfeid

Swing and a miss.

I never supported the problem;....


If I'm a hypocrite for using the Gil I've acquired from Gathering Favors and Materia farming/flipping over the last couple years to put my friends into the system now and save them from this hell, before it's too late, then whatever. I'll embrace it. If I don't buy those houses someone else will - as evidenced by those screencaps showing bids of 15m and 20m on smalls that were not my bids - and, once again, anyone without a house or an FC under their control come Feb 6th is about to have a really bad time.

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Never said you supported it with your first purchase.
But you're not embracing it, you're denying it.
you are supporting the problem. I don't know what you think I'm swinging at but I'm pointing out your "morals" for this seem very conveniently to not apply when your friends are involved. Yes it's a better reason than "I want more houses to sell to other people".. but you're still part of the problem now.

"someone else will buy them"
"If I don't someone will"
"Might as well , it'll happen anyway"

these are all excuses people tell themselves when they're about to compromise their own morals for convenience. Do whatever you like, but just notice you're doing it.

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

you are supporting the problem. I don't know what you think I'm swinging at but I'm pointing out your "morals" for this seem very conveniently to not apply when your friends are involved.

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I explained myself as clearly as I can, so I'm not sure what more you expect of me? Obviously when I said you swung and missed it was in reference to your jab at my morals/perceived hypocrisy, which you've now reiterated, and... well yeah, my response is the same. Calling me a hypocrite does not devalue my criticism of the new restrictions, and does not invalidate any of my points. There's no point going down this path.

I never supported house resellers because I didn't need to, even though doing so would have saved me ridiculous amounts of time and frustration. Square is now being their usual incompetent selves, removing the ability to work within their broken ass system to achieve what me and mine want, so to hell with it. To hell with them.

Once more: If you or your friends want a house in Shirogane, or a medium or large plot in general, cough up the Gil to a reseller before the 30th. Square's response to all of your feedback in 4.1 was to slap you in the face and laugh at you. Reach out and take what you want. You'll regret it if you don't; there's no moral superiority saying "I never caved to the resellers!" when you're still sitting there without a house.


My entire friend circle has homes now. Good luck to the rest of you. Maybe Square will get this right eventually.

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Originally Posted by Darrcyphfeid

I explained myself as clearly as I can, so I'm not sure what more you expect of me? Obviously when I said you swung and missed it was in reference to your jab at my morals/perceived hypocrisy, which you've now reiterated, and... well yeah, my response is the same. Calling me a hypocrite does not devalue my criticism of the new restrictions, and does not invalidate any of my points. There's no point going down this path.

I never supported house resellers because I didn't need to, even though doing so would have saved me ridiculous amounts of time and frustration. Square is now being their usual incompetent selves, removing the ability to work within their broken ass system to achieve what me and mine want, so to hell with it. To hell with them.

Once more: If you or your friends want a house in Shirogane, or a medium or large plot in general, cough up the Gil to a reseller before the 30th. Square's response to all of your feedback in 4.1 was to slap you in the face and laugh at you. Reach out and take what you want. You'll regret it if you don't; there's no moral superiority saying "I never caved to the resellers!" when you're still sitting there without a house.


My entire friend circle has homes now. Good luck to the rest of you. Maybe Square will get this right eventually.

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I've brought up counters to your points, the system IS better than it was. Your original comment said it was worse, I pointed out all the ways it's better. It's not perfect, but it's better.
I'm glad all your friends have houses now.

You will never NEED to support resellers, you seem to be scared that when this new system we've not seen the full details of comes into play your friends will have even less of a chance of getting houses.
It seems we see where your line is: "When there is a threat to my interests."
And now you're encouraging the entire playerbase to "go out and get yours".



I don't claim moral superiority, but I'm not the one saying a company is playing dirty and then buying from the thieves because hey, the price might go up soon.
Morals aren't judged on the outcome, just because you lost out in the end doesn't mean your morals are worthless. You stick to morals because they're what you actually believe, if you don't then they're not really morals, just a facade you're using to have false superiority over someone else. In extreme cases people DIE over morals, this is much less dire but that doesn't make it less relevant.

I see your points of how this isn't perfect. I also see you thinking that this requires some sort of bombastic revolution to show how much we don't want this... well I do.



We'll see 2 weeks from now if the situation gets better or worse. I'll gladly revisit this and post where I was wrong and what could have been improved.

I am just the humble owner of a single small house, I was very pleased to discover after the swimming was added my house is now waterfront property in Goblet and that water is an enormous hot tub!! Still i'm planning to move to Lavender when 4.2 goes live. Hopefully I can get waterfront there as well. In reference to previous players assertations that surely SE wouldn't force players to give up extra homesites, and would rather grandfather them in. I have to say this in response SE CANNOT AFFORD TO ENTERTAIN THESE PEOPLE, the reason for this is the most aggregious offenders across the worlds some of whom have been mentioned here and in other threads. A whole housing ward to 1 couple 16 houses to each of them. SE has to slap them down ferociously to prove to the playerbase they are serious.

I personally believe the day 4.2 goes live and patch is live the first screen these hoarders will see upon login is Please choose the house you wish to keep, upon choosing one all others are demolished 1/3 of house value awarded to each character and all furnishings may be retrieved from npc at your convienience. Don't like it? tough, locking up limited land space to coddle a micro population is inexcusable. Yes please let my alts use my house, omg please add a workshop to personal houses, dammit let my alts make a personal room in my house Awesome!! Anything that builds up the furnishing market is excellent put it in game sign my name to it.

Taking the 2 people example into account SE can smash their housing hoard, 2 people may leave the game $30 a month may leave the game. In exchange 30-32 houses 1/2 of which being FC Only plots potentially please hundreds of other players, there is no loss and only benefit to crushing the greedy.

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Originally Posted by hynaku

At least sounds like there adding small, medium, and large apartment rooms.

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They mentioned that this could be maybe something they can work on after this big housing update in 4.2

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

I've brought up counters to your points

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And I've responded, civilly, to things that I had further comments on. So let's steer well clear of ad-hominems.

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You will never NEED to support resellers, you seem to be scared that when this new system we've not seen the full details of comes into play your friends will have even less of a chance of getting houses.

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I'm sorry, but we've seen enough to know where we stand. We absolutely have. I've also been a patron of Squaresoft/Square Enix for more than twenty years, so I feel that I know about what I can expect from them. What I know/feel/expect/insertwordhere:

1.) FCs, people that already have houses, and resellers with two and a half weeks worth of dummy FC prep time get unrestricted first crack at housing with a confirmed date and time
2.) Anyone that does not qualify for Point #1 has to wait. They do not currently, and judging by Christmas 2015 will not period, have a confirmed date nor time when they can join
3.) Auto-demolition is turned off. If you do not buy from a reseller, or for some inexplicable reason someone relinquishes their plot, you have no avenue to qualify for Point #1

To me, it's cut and dry. If you wish to gamble on some eleventh hour hail mary, that's fine.

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It seems we see where your line is: "When there is a threat to my interests."
And now you're encouraging the entire playerbase to "go out and get yours".

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...Yes? I'm once again very confused where we're going here. Are we not all just out for our own (read: ourselves and our friends/family)?

I don't especially care if people here heed my advice/warning, but as I've stated in a previous post I'm pretty insulted by the details Square has given us thus far and feel an obligation - as seen by having more posts in this thread than anyone else - to at least try and give some people a heads-up.

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I don't claim moral superiority, but I'm not the one saying a company is playing dirty and then buying from the thieves because hey, the price might go up soon.

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The price already went up. Square is "playing dirty" insofar that they've legitimately broken their singular promise of making 4.2's house adjustment be fair. Remind me again what's fair about locking people out of housing because they don't already have a plot, and punishing them by not even having the common decency to give them a date or time alongside the one given to FCs/relocators.

And resellers aren't "thieves." They didn't steal houses from people, they competed alongside everyone else (or bought from other, lowballing resellers) and earned/won them. You may call semantics, but, it's ultimately true.

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We'll see 2 weeks from now if the situation gets better or worse. I'll gladly revisit this and post where I was wrong and what could have been improved.

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I'm sure it'll be drowned out by the forums being blasted to high heaven, but sure, bookmark it and we can contrast accuracy levels FOR SCIENCE! when the dust settles.

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Originally Posted by Darrcyphfeid

1.) FCs, people that already have houses, and resellers with two and a half weeks worth of dummy FC prep time get unrestricted first crack at housing with a confirmed date and time
2.) Anyone that does not qualify for Point #1 has to wait. They do not currently, and judging by Christmas 2015 will not period, have a confirmed date nor time when they can join
3.) Auto-demolition is turned off. If you do not buy from a reseller, or for some inexplicable reason someone relinquishes their plot, you have no avenue to qualify for Point #1

To me, it's cut and dry. If you wish to gamble on some eleventh hour hail mary, that's fine.


...Yes? I'm once again very confused where we're going here. Are we not all just out for our own (read: ourselves and our friends/family)?

I don't especially care if people here heed my advice/warning, but as I've stated in a previous post I'm pretty insulted by the details Square has given us thus far and feel an obligation - as seen by having more posts in this thread than anyone else - to at least try and give some people a heads-up.


The price already went up. Square is "playing dirty" insofar that they've legitimately broken their singular promise of making 4.2's house adjustment be fair. Remind me again what's fair about locking people out of housing because they don't already have a plot, and punishing them by not even having the common decency to give them a date or time alongside the one given to FCs/relocators.

And resellers aren't "thieves." They didn't steal houses from people, they competed alongside everyone else (or bought from other, lowballing resellers) and earned/won them. You may call semantics, but, it's ultimately true.


I'm sure it'll be drowned out by the forums being blasted to high heaven, but sure, bookmark it and we can contrast accuracy levels FOR SCIENCE! when the dust settles.

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1. FC's actually need them for full functionality. Relocation removes no houses from the empty pool and the problem is people don't have them, not they don't have a large one. I'll concede that the resellers do get a one up as it stands, my hope is there is a hidden restriction. If I'm wrong this will need to be addressed and I will stand and yell as loud as the next person that this isn't the solution.
2. Yes. Wait for an undetermined amount of time.
3. we do not know that ALL housing is restricted and it wasn't clarified unfortunately, just speculated that ALL housing would have this restriction. Nobody has shown me that existing wards would have this restriction. This may burn down to a different interpretation style on each side. I don't consider something a given unless explicitly stated.


I don't see this as unfair. Personal housing is nice (all crossbreeding gardening results can be purchased from other players) , but FC housing is necessary (nobody wants to join a FC without a house) . FC's need their fair crack at housing.

I'm personally waiting for the "more details" before I pass anymore judgements as I've said.

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Originally Posted by TThibi

I personally believe the day 4.2 goes live and patch is live the first screen these hoarders will see upon login is Please choose the house you wish to keep, upon choosing one all others are demolished 1/3 of house value awarded to each character and all furnishings may be retrieved from npc at your convienience.

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Not 1/3, they deserve the full price they bought it at back. Selfish as it may be, they didn't break the rules and deserve all their money back IF it would come to that.

I think that grandfathering in owners of multiple homes is the right choice. With that said, I also think it could be a good idea to provide some sort of incentive for those owning multiple homes to free them up. Nothing outrageous, just a full refund and something like chocobo feathers to buy mounts or something. In this way, a multi-owner gets a little something for their trouble and more houses become available.

Those examples are in no way similar. There isn’t a finite number of minions or loot or gil in this game.

What IS there a finite number of? Houses.

So yes, it is extremely selfish to hoard houses, locking other players out of certain contents in doing so. No, it isn’t selfish to earn gil to buy pets, give to friends, or even buy savage wins. There isn’t a set amount of any of those.

Here’s hoping SE takes away toys from the selfish people.

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

1. FC's actually need them for full functionality. Relocation removes no houses from the empty pool and the problem is people don't have them, not they don't have a large one. I'll concede that the resellers do get a one up as it stands, my hope is there is a hidden restriction. If I'm wrong this will need to be addressed and I will stand and yell as loud as the next person that this isn't the solution.
2. Yes. Wait for an undetermined amount of time.
3. we do not know that ALL housing is restricted and it wasn't clarified unfortunately, just speculated that ALL housing would have this restriction. Nobody has shown me that existing wards would have this restriction. This may burn down to a different interpretation style on each side. I don't consider something a given unless explicitly stated.


I don't see this as unfair. Personal housing is nice (all crossbreeding gardening results can be purchased from other players) , but FC housing is necessary (nobody wants to join a FC without a house) . FC's need their fair crack at housing.

I'm personally waiting for the "more details" before I pass anymore judgements as I've said.

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It would be counter productive too apply the restrictions only too the wards in 4.2 and beyond. SE wants to stop people from reselling houses so not applying to current wards as well makes the restrictions pointless.

Ok, so whats the problem? Im having a hardtime figuring this out cause heres the info Ive heard:

1) 1 House 'type' (private/FC) per world PER ACCOUNT (so no alts). Individuals may only own 1 private and 1 FC house.
2) Theyll be adding around 1400 new plots per server essentially.
3) FCs will be allowed to purchase first, then individual purchases will open up.
4) New rules will apply going forward.

Depending your server, are people anticipating 1400 FCs to spring up and buy houses? 1400 nwe houses popping up is a helluva lot. Is it goign to be all in Shirogane? No. So are people not going to get teh 'exact' house they want? Yes. Thats expected. These changes enable FCs to get housing first, THEN individuals, which is something I hvae no problem with. FCs should get the pick of the litter when it comes to Housing, broadly speaking. Then itll become open to everyone. And chances are good that theyll say "Hey, on So-and-So date, individual purchases for housing will go out!" So its not going to be a random unannounced time most likely.

So assuming that 400 houses get bought up for FCs, that leaves a thousand open houses. Now depending on your realm size, thats a huge deal. Realm average ACTIVE player base varies between 6k-13k, depending where you look. So an extra 1000 houses can be quite a lot depending the server. Even at its worst, 13k, another 1000 houses for individuals is gonna be 7% of the active server population. At its best, its near 15%.

"But the Resellers!!!" What about them? You cant own more than one private and one FC per world now, so if you already own a house, by how the rules look, your SoL. You cant buy a new one. Even if you can, ok so you own a second one. Derp, sucks but Resellers arent going to buy up that many houses as FC houses. And you want to know how you screw resellers who want to make fake FCs on the housing market? By stalling when individuals can buy houses, making it so theres PLENTY of other land to buy so that resellers are fighting in a market with to much supply. Yeah, tis not going to be widespread abuse on the whole reseller point. Good luck trying to sell a Primo FC house when there are 143 other plots around, and you can only buy 1 FC house and 1 Personal house at a time per server.

So, is this the worst thing ever? No. Are they likely to continue adding housing to the game? Yes. Should it be easier now to get a house this time around with new rules in place? Yes. Are you gonna have to really try for it still? Sure. Are you going to get exactly the house you want in Shirogane? Maybe.

But seriously though, please stop acting like this is the worst thing ever and does nothing to help. It may not be the most ideal of solutions currently, but you better be happy its something. Cause the alternative is SE just saying "Screw it, I dont care about your housing needs" and just ignoring you guys.

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Originally Posted by Nicodemus_Mercy

... a multi-owner gets a little something for their trouble ...

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Which trouble? They monopolized a resource and now we have to give them a reward for doing so?

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Originally Posted by Melichoir

And chances are good that theyll say "Hey, on So-and-So date, individual purchases for housing will go out!" So its not going to be a random unannounced time most likely.

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They did the opposite of this Christmas 2015. They gave a date and a time for FC/relocations already.

There's nothing to indicate, beyond your willingness to trust SE, that they will do an announcement and not just have people do another around of potentially sitting around for 9 hours or more again.

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"But the Resellers!!!" What about them? You cant own more than one private and one FC per world now, so if you already own a house, by how the rules look, your SoL. You cant buy a new one. Even if you can, ok so you own a second one. Derp, sucks but Resellers arent going to buy up that many houses as FC houses. And you want to know how you screw resellers who want to make fake FCs on the housing market? By stalling when individuals can buy houses, making it so theres PLENTY of other land to buy so that resellers are fighting in a market with to much supply. Yeah, tis not going to be widespread abuse on the whole reseller point. Good luck trying to sell a Primo FC house when there are 143 other plots around, and you can only buy 1 FC house and 1 Personal house at a time per server.

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This is a bit murky because you're stuck somewhere between "owning" and "purchasing," without fully nailing either of them.

The fact of the matter is that, if I (as an individual) were to re-up some old accounts, and spend a couple days making investments (time, mostly), I could very much use five service accounts to buy 7 (8 if I were to pawn off my current FC house) FC houses on Feb 6th. There's a very clear workaround in there. Depending on server stability, I'd wager I could nab 4 or 5 medium/large houses if I were so inclined*. This is anecdotal, but I'm familiar with two different groups of people on Faerie that resell houses. I don't know them personally, and do not know what they plan to do (or if they care at all), but the potential for abuse is high.

* I'm not! Put the pitchforks down!

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So, is this the worst thing ever? No. Are they likely to continue adding housing to the game? Yes. Should it be easier now to get a house this time around with new rules in place? Yes. Are you gonna have to really try for it still? Sure. Are you going to get exactly the house you want in Shirogane? Maybe.

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1) Depends on how invested you are in this housing thing. Not all houses are created equally - if they were, we would be in instanced housing - and that inequality will be a bigger or lesser deal depending on who you are. Housing is aesthetic (glamour), and glamour is endgame.
2) Yes. But not for a really long time. This is probably going to be it for 4.X, meaning you have over a year to wait for more (or two months for a select few demolitions).
3) Debatable. I'd argue "No" since, to get a house now, you have to do it personally. You can't get any friends to help (by also trying to buy, and relinquishing later to give it to you). And realistically you only have one chance at one placard since everyone will be standing at various placards based on their amount of investment in #1.
5) Because of relocations, and depending on your server (RIP Balmung), the answer to this is you're probably not getting a Shirogane plot period. Most individuals that relocate, which again they will do before individual purchases are enabled, will be relocating into Shirogane. Most houses available when individual purchasing is enabled will be in the Goblet, following past trends (Shiro >>> Mist >/= LB >> Goblet).

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It may not be the most ideal of solutions currently, but you better be happy its something.

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I'll respectfully decline. "It's better than nothing" is such a low bar, and I'm not even sure they've managed to clear that after drumming up excitement for housing, and then failing to deliver, in two consecutive patches.



Also, as this thread is now located in the Housing forum where I'll be preaching to the choir and markedly fewer people will see it, my interest in posting more has bottomed out.

1) Ive no real reason to believe that SE will create a staggered purchase period and NOT tell us when the window for independant buyers opens up. It will most likely be made known in a small patch note. As in "Hey, after this minor maintanence, youll be able to purchase privately." It would be hugely retarded on SEs part to just open up individual purchases without any form of notification on a staggered purchase period. They have problems, but theyre not diabolical retards.

2) Yes, if you were inclined to go through THAT much work to mass buy houses, yeah you could work aroudn the restrictions. Thing is, most people are not going to go that length. There may be a handful of people who will actually use multiple accounts to get multiple houses. And theyer going to try and do this WHILE actual functional FCs are making their purchases. Are they gonna be duel boxing too? Or grabbing 7-8 friends to run in at the same time as FCs to get that thing?

Just because there are work arounds doesnt mean the system is bad. If you have to expend a lot of effort to do things, it shrinks the pool of people being able to do it easily, thus opening it up more for people doing it by legitimate means. Meaning, chances are youre going to find enough re-sellers be able to purchase FC housing competitively with actual FCs is likely to be small. Im not saying there wont be resellers, Im saying that given current restrictions pushed forward, youre not going to see it be this huge issue. Itll be there, itll suck for some cases, but its not going to be the 'world-ending' issue that people make resellers out to be. Abuse potential is there, though I dont believe it to be "high".

3) Glamours is end game, but that still doesnt make this system the worst thing ever. Its a decent step. They will add more housing over time. Maybe not right now, but theres no saying they wont add another round before the next xpac either. Its going to be EASIER cause they cut down on the average reseller nonsense, and there is a slightly LESS demand now for housing simply because people who wanted houses and got them dont need them currently, and server populations did not increase to overcome that difference. You may compete with getting a particular house, sure, but the number of people wanting a house should be less currently than it was when Shirogane opened up. And as I point out, 1400 new houses per server is not nothing to sneeze at. In some cases, thats almost a fourth of the server population. Assuming you wont get a house means you wont get a house. "Im never going to get the thing I want, so I will not try." Its a self-fulfilling prophecy. Youre not guarenteed a particular plot of land. Thats never been a feature. You have to compete with other players for specifics. But the idea you wont get a house being guaranteed? No, thats bleak thinking.

4) Disagree and decline all you want. The simple truth is this system being put forward is a step up from what it was. You can hate that its not being implemented in a manner you deem fit, but that doesnt make this a bad implementation.

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Originally Posted by Melichoir

The simple truth is this system being put forward is a step up from what it was. You can hate that its not being implemented in a manner you deem fit, but that doesnt make this a bad implementation.

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I strongly agree that though 4.2 changes are not perfect, they are nonetheless improvements. The main purpose of this fixes is to answer housing SUPPLY issues, especially for FCs who have never owned before. Regardless of dummy FCs, number of new small houses should be able to satisfy majority of this issue, in addition to the surplus plots freed up by FC/personal relocation. Yes, amount of housing may still yet be % of the total player population, but please do keep in mind that not all players wants a house!

4.2 does NOT, however, cater for the demands for medium/large housing (only a few hundred in total per world). If you are screaming for the "fairness" of owning larger plots, then 4.2 is not for you. There will be blood, sweat and tears in the upcoming 4.2 war for larger housing (between FCs and personal relocators).

For those arguing for instanced housing and/or complete revamp of the housing system: have you any idea of the amount of resources that will be required? If so, that means every other contents will need to be pushed back. There was plenty of this argument back in 4.1 housing rush. Yes, there is no denial that the housing system may be a mistake from the get-go, but please do not deny dev team's efforts and bash them for trying the fix the issue alongside their packed content release schedules.

Regarding post-4.2 reselling: yes, it will continue - dodgy practices will always find new methods to avoid the system. Several methods can be 1) as mentioned, buy from dummy FCs, 2) sell relocation plots instead of relinquish (making med/large the primary target for horders), 3) having peeps trading/cancelling placard transaction until housing relinquish timer ends, etc etc etc. However, because of the extra effort, the number of house resellers abusing the system WILL BE CUT DOWN, which is the original intent of this 4.2 update. In fact, the new changes will allow diligent players who consistently looking for empty plots better chances in acquiring a house fair and square (regardless of plot desirability).

Not only are there not enough houses, there's not enough larger sized houses. So even if we did have the proper amount of wards, people would just be popping new wards forever wanting that largest possible plot. I think the only fix is instanced personal housing, maybe leave the wards for FCs.

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Originally Posted by Acilith

Not only are there not enough houses, there's not enough larger sized houses. So even if we did have the proper amount of wards, people would just be popping new wards forever wanting that largest possible plot.

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EXACTLY.

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Originally Posted by Acilith

I think the only fix is instanced personal housing, maybe leave the wards for FCs.

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I'm all in the support this also. This solution was frequently seen back in 4.1 housing debate. Regardless of objections, there are very very very very VERY limited interactions between house owners in the ward system. Only times where I've seen people gather together was due to FC housing. Sociability of the ward system can only be achieved via FCs - my personal belief.

Of course, making this new system will take no little amount of resources. We can only hope that similar solutions will be achieved some day.

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Originally Posted by NanaWiloh

It would be counter productive too apply the restrictions only too the wards in 4.2 and beyond. SE wants to stop people from reselling houses so not applying to current wards as well makes the restrictions pointless.

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The temporary restriction is for buying personal houses. The server wide change is that you cannot purchase more than 1 personal and 1 FC house per account per server which will now always apply. I fail to see how allowing people to purchase personal houses on old wards makes the restrictions pointless since if they're buying personal houses they won't be able to flip them anyway with the random timed release.

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Originally Posted by Darrcyphfeid

The fact of the matter is that, if I (as an individual) were to re-up some old accounts, and spend a couple days making investments (time, mostly), I could very much use five service accounts to buy 7 (8 if I were to pawn off my current FC house) FC houses on Feb 6th. There's a very clear workaround in there. Depending on server stability, I'd wager I could nab 4 or 5 medium/large houses if I were so inclined*. This is anecdotal, but I'm familiar with two different groups of people on Faerie that resell houses. I don't know them personally, and do not know what they plan to do (or if they care at all), but the potential for abuse is high.

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how will 5 accounts hold 8 houses unless you grab houses NOW from resellers? I'm honestly curious how this would work.

This whole process is such a cluster.... I was thinking of relocation but I have decided to keep my Grade 2-medium in the beds.

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

how will 5 accounts hold 8 houses unless you grab houses NOW from resellers? I'm honestly curious how this would work.

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It's pretty straightforward. For simplicity, we have Players A, B, C, D and E.

1. Player A has Master status in eight Rank 6+ FCs on their eight characters. Players B, C and D have characters in each of those FCs. This satisfies the 4-person requirement for FC house eligibility, and any additional caveats (4 characters on unique service IDs).
2. Player A purchases Plot 1. Players A, B, C and D are now no longer eligible to purchase FC houses.
3. Player A kicks Players B, C and D from FC-1. Players B, C and D are now eligible to purchase FC houses.
4. Player A invites Player E to FC-1. Player A gives Master status to Player E. Player A leaves FC-1 and is now eligible to purchase FC houses.
5. Player E now owns a single-character FC and is no longer eligible to purchase FC houses. Because no checks will be done on grandfathered estates to remove them, and because checks would punish any FC that drops below 4 members for any length of time (even 3 very active people), it is assumed no checks will be done on Player E.
6. Player A-2 purchases Plot 2. Players A, B, C and D are now no longer eligible to purchase FC houses.
7. Player A-2 kicks Players B-2, C-2 and D-2 from FC-2.
8. Player A-2 invites Player E-2 to their FC. Player A-2 gives Master status to Player E-2. Player A-2 leaves their FC.
9. Player E-2 now owns 2 FCs with houses and remains ineligible to purchase FC houses.

Just continue that until Player E owns 8 FC houses. All purchased post-4.2. All legitimately, all largely uncontested.

There are ways for SE to combat this. However, those ways will have a dire impact on non-resellers and/or put additional strain on the server by virtue of constantly refreshing to check eligibility status on either an account or instance level. It is far more likely that the only check in place will happen at time of purchase, and as shown, it's hilariously simple to bypass that.


If SE does implement a series of checks for this having spent 3 or so years blatantly ignoring hackers, amongst other things, I might implode.

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Originally Posted by Besame

This whole process is such a cluster.... I was thinking of relocation but I have decided to keep my Grade 2-medium in the beds.

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I've been trying since the release of SB to get a large house. When the relocation system went in, I was like, "Sweet! Now can get a large hopefully." I didn't care where I got it. But nope, the servers bottle necked on the new housing release and Balmung was cleared out all over the board within five minutes.
Now coming to 4.2 and I have very little faith still in getting a large or even a medium. I'd settle for even just that but I'm on Balmung, so yeah...
Already people out to abuse the system by making FC's just so they can get their hands on a house.

Make me wish SE hadn't said anything at all until patch day.

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Originally Posted by Darrcyphfeid

It's pretty straightforward. For simplicity, we have Players A, B, C, D and E.

...

If SE does implement a series of checks for this having spent 3 or so years blatantly ignoring hackers, amongst other things, I might implode.

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I was originally under the impression nobody could own more than 1 FC house on 1 character, that you could not transfer ownership of an FC with a house to someone that already owned an FC house. Are there examples of this happening already?

if this is the way it goes, This.. would work. Conceded. This would take some time though and quite a bit of coordination. But still yes, not good. .

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

I was originally under the impression nobody could own more than 1 FC house on 1 character, that you could not transfer ownership of an FC with a house to someone that already owned an FC house. Are there examples of this happening already?

if this is the way it goes, This.. would work. Conceded. This would take some time though and quite a bit of coordination. But still yes, not good. .

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Characters cannot and will not be able to be in charge of more than one fc at a time, his examples are showing how one player will still be able to gain ownership on multiple characters. Unless there's something behind the scenes unmentioned, the checks seem to all be done at purchase and so after purchase, ownership can be transferred to whomever is in the fc regardless on if they're part of/leader of an fc on another character.

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Originally Posted by Dustytome

Characters cannot and will not be able to be in charge of more than one fc at a time, his examples are showing how one player will still be able to gain ownership on multiple characters. Unless there's something behind the scenes unmentioned, the checks seem to all be done at purchase and so after purchase, ownership can be transferred to whomever is in the fc regardless on if they're part of/leader of and fc on another character.

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Missed the 2 on the E. Got it now.
So you can purchase, one by one , FC houses and transfer them to one accounts alts.
on one side this would take a lot of coordination and luck, and likely result in only small house purchases after the first 2 purchases if you're very lucky.
BUT.. this is removing houses from the pool and putting them in the hands of resellers.
This isn't good and will need to be addressed. Hopefully there is something to counter this that hasn't been announced. I know you don't share optimism on this point though.

I see that it's been covered already, but I'll drop it here all the same.

Another thing that I want to point out is that even going forward FCs and people in the system will have an advantage. If a house is demolished you have that random timer blocking purchases... but you can still relocate into them, because relocating and purchasing are different. So to get a medium or large you would either need no FC to notice the demolition, or you would first need to find and win a small plot somewhere and then relocate using that.

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

I was originally under the impression nobody could own more than 1 FC house on 1 character, that you could not transfer ownership of an FC with a house to someone that already owned an FC house. Are there examples of this happening already?

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We won't have examples until after 4.2 drops, but it works if you follow the path of least resistance. Using their wording in the official translation:

- Player E isn't buying those plots, so until the point of Player E-2 being given Master status they shouldn't be stopped.
- Player E-2 and beyond own FC plots, but technically so too do countless not-jerky-people. If you can't purchase an FC on an alt while your main is in a different FC, then the game counts your main as owning an FC. If you're in an FC on your main and your alt, as far as the game is concerned, you already "own" two FCs. And so, continuing that logical process, there's no difference between Player E and any other player.
- People that are being grandfathered in will own multiple FCs, and the system doesn't seem to be doing anything to them - they specifically say that people owning multiple free company estates can freely relocate (so, no checks there). Unless, perhaps, the person chooses to pass Master status to someone else - then we're in the above scenarios again.

While you're all correct in that it makes it slightly more cumbersome for your run of the mill individual to begin house flipping (unless they're selling their plot to FCs), all we're really doing is encouraging them to band together (if they aren't already) while simultaneously giving them less competition at the outset to acquire a stock of houses.

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Originally Posted by Cylla

Make me wish SE hadn't said anything at all until patch day.

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Exactly. They shouldn't of said anything until like the day or two BEFORE the 24 hour maintenance They apologized to us about 4.1 and then said they would would make it fair and withhold information. They've already broken that by pushing out personal people from buying a home and also from giving out info early.

People think 1400 homes is plentiful but I think they under estimate how quick they go on Balmung.

Yep!
Now you got people leaving FC's to make their own by either gathering up 4 random people or friends and rushing to get up in the ranks and points to buy a house, only adding more to the chaos. I'm honestly getting tired of it. I know there more information their supposedly withholding until patch notes/patch day but unless it to tell us that a lottery system was put in or something, it just going to be the same bs all over again. What going to happen when they do let people start buying personal housing? There will be none to buy!!

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Originally Posted by Cylla

Yep!
Now you got people leaving FC's to make their own by either gathering up 4 random people or friends and rushing to get up in the ranks and points to buy a house, only adding more to the chaos. I'm honestly getting tired of it. I know there more information their supposedly withholding until patch notes/patch day but unless it to tell us that a lottery system was put in or something, it just going to be the same bs all over again. What going to happen when they do let people start buying personal housing? There will be none to buy!!

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I would not be surprised that there will be an inception date for FC's that is at least a month old or more. I would hope if there isn't that they would consider doing that because the intent is to allow established FC's who didn't have a house to get one and not allow people to work around the system by quickly making one and leveling it before housing release.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I would not be surprised that there will be an inception date for FC's that is at least a month old or more. I would hope if there isn't that they would consider doing that because the intent is to allow established FC's who didn't have a house to get one and not allow people to work around the system by quickly making one and leveling it before housing release.

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I couldn't agree more. I hope that the case in some form or another. These FC that have been around the longest deserve it more than the few who are just doing it to cheat the system to get a house. I can just see the uproar and frustration if that wasn't the case and all these newly made FC's are able to buy a house also. It SE though and all these years with the housing battle, I'm weary over them doing something right for once.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I would not be surprised that there will be an inception date for FC's that is at least a month old or more. I would hope if there isn't that they would consider doing that because the intent is to allow established FC's who didn't have a house to get one and not allow people to work around the system by quickly making one and leveling it before housing release.

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I doubt they are going to write up a whole section of code and alter a lot of existing code just to block people with new FCs for one patch.

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Originally Posted by illgot

I doubt they are going to write up a whole section of code and alter a lot of existing code just to block people with new FCs for one patch.

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I doubt it also, but there a small hope that they may still do something right. Again, we have to remember that not all the information is out yet. Their still withholding information about housing and iirc it was about house purchasing? So who knows, maybe they are getting smart about it now. I'd like to think that Yoshi, who supposedly acted like a normal player on the day of 4.1 patch release and tried to get a house, failing to do so, learned something from a player stand point. If not, well like I said before, incoming rage and frustration...yet again.

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Originally Posted by Darrcyphfeid

If a house is demolished you have that random timer blocking purchases... but you can still relocate into them, because relocating and purchasing are different.

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I was under the impression that the timer blocked both purchases and relocating (ie, the plot is not yet available and is mostly functioning as if it were still taken). Is there a source that clarifies, or will we just find out when the situation comes up?

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Originally Posted by Brynne

I was under the impression that the timer blocked both purchases and relocating (ie, the plot is not yet available and is mostly functioning as if it were still taken). Is there a source that clarifies, or will we just find out when the situation comes up?

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There's no clarification, just what they've put out officially for the translation. Typically if it were to apply to both they would state that something to the effect of "Plots relinquished by owners will be unavailable for purchase or relocation for a limited time."

Whenever they decide to launch the housing website is when we'll learn more.

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Originally Posted by Cylla

I know there more information their supposedly withholding until patch notes/patch day

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found this information

"The promised housing update will come a week after the implementation of update 4.2 and will be rather extensive. Six new wards with respective subdivisions will be added to each housing zone.

Free companies without a house will be prioritized over everyone else. There will be plots designated for free company use, and those will be exclusive to FCs with at least four members.

Individuals will be restricted from purchasing a house for a certain period of time after implementation. The team will gauge the situation and decide when to lift said restriction."

This could be a poor translation or could hint at some additional restrictions few are talking about.

I am a little paranoid about the week between 4.2 and the housing update. I suspect that it is indeed a full week of having those new wards locked and everyone being blocked from transferring or buying houses. The paranoid in me worries that the first week will have random houses coming up on the market or have restrictions like prioritizing FCs without houses.

If all new housing wards stay locked until 5th of Feb, then no worries.

But the underlined statement has me very worried. Are mansions (L plots) going to be locked from private ownership from 4.2 on? It sounds like they want to keep mansions FC only and that will impact any private owner trying to transfer to a mansion.