MATEUS - Housing System Broken - Login Queue 1300.

Hello to all.

Let me start by acknowledging the activity on these forums in regards to this issue. While I could have posted in another thread, I wanted my voice to be heard.

Housing is a coveted feature in this game and while I'm lucky to have gotten a small, I stand in to speak for those looking to upgrade or even first time buyers fighting Housing (Savage).

I have been a dedicated player for 4 years and I have not a single thing to complain about in this game except for the housing feature.

Anyone can walk into an apartment building and purchase one for a reasonable price, and its instanced! Bravo!
Unlike the apartments, however, the actual housing is limited. 24 wards. 4 city-states, and an unconfirmed fifth. 60 houses per ward. This is around 5,760 houses at present. Single houses, shared with guilds/free companies as well as the individual. So slice that number in half, perhaps a third for the fight between who gets what in terms of FC vs personal.

The competition via gil, via the hidden timers, via the competitivity upon players is ultimately destructive and kills player morale overall.

Housing is treated like a trophy. But if we are to feel as if it is a reward, why can't we all have it? Why can't we all enjoy such a reward?

I've had people relocate to a plot before me only to transfer back out of it. I've had people take a plot relinquished to me via relocation. There are people out there who use third-party resources to macro in and stand by a Placard just to have a chance at purchasing a house without standing there 13+ hours to get their foot LITERALLY in the door.

I can't imagine the individual outrage from thousands of players when they finally logged in to find nearly every house in the three new wards are Taken this morning, or under relocation timers, and more.

The mental stress on the player is heartbreaking. My guild master felt as if she let everyone down because she couldn't get a large house due to the long queue timers. The money wasn't an issue. But it is the impact that this housing system has. She had left crying, and honestly... I've been in her exact position myself. We aren't alone in our experience no matter what size house we get.

Housing, especially on roleplay servers, is in very high demand.

The anxiety, the stress, the heartache, the depression and sadness that follows and equal anger and frustrations do not begin to scratch the surface of what a player must feel when battling the implemented housing system.

We add more furniture, but do we see another increase in item slots to allow us to detail our homes we DO have instead of picking and choosing?
We add more wards to add housing itself, but it doesn't compensate for the player base we have.

It is unbalanced, and that's just saying it in the simplest means possible.

I have lost sleep because every time I closed my eyes I would see my character running up to a placard for a medium Mists and having it stripped from me. By the time I personally logged into the game this morning I never even stood a chance. I'm running on less than two hours of sleep for this game on a Tuesday because of the mental strain alone, and have a long workday ahead.

Yes, I'm complaining. Yes, I'm frustrated. But I'm only hoping through my words that you will hear my voice and understand that the current housing system NEEDS to be revamped.

There are individuals who still have entire wards maintained for housing before the limitation was placed. I've heard stories of a Goblet Ward on Mateus and even some places in Balmung that have taken advantage of this before the limitations were placed. If this isn't a design flaw in of itself, I'm not sure what else it could be. While I'm happy these individuals had enough gil to do such a neat thing, it takes away the already limited chances of another player having the opportunity to experience housing.



It is no longer a request. Change needs to be made.

Instanced housing would be my suggestion toward this.

One can keep the wards and housing around the area as they are but limited the instancing to perhaps the plot itself, barring the user from zoning into the plot itself until they pick the name of the individual who lives at that address. When they do, the housing plot opens up to the exterior and interior decorations the player has. On the outside of this would be what a standard Mists ward could be seen as without the individualized / personalized plot - you know, as it is advertised in screenshots when the wards are first released.

There would be need for auto-demolition timers for it would be a one time buy. No hidden timers. One would have to simply save up enough to purchase the plot at its graded price. Everyone gets a house. Exterior and Interior furnishings don't have to be tampered with in terms of removing things from the game. There will be no mental strain. The limitation of one house per individual per server could be removed.

This would be beneficial for the player base as a whole. It'd give a gil sink, eliminate the need for third-party resources to those that resort to that for purchasing a plot, and present equal opportunity. It would boost morale and the overall skepticism and quizzicality regarding housing, too.

As a player of your AMAZING game, I do not see how this could be a bane to your every growing player base. It might even make a lot of players HAPPIER. They get a dream plot, or a plot that suits them, and everyone gets to revel in an experience that was once coveted and genuinely broken.

The current solution of adding more wards may only pose a harder problem to fix later on because you'll still have the limited housing, and a very outraged player base.

I don't know a thing about game design or the amount of work that it could take to make something like this happen, but you guys have never ever failed in delivering your player base something to enjoy and have been creative in your solutions. I do know that if you were to do something like this....
Just....

Yeah. I think I have said all I could, that the millions of others here haven't said already.