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If you're going to make Player Islands the answer to the game's major housing issue (and I hope you are), please make it so that Free Companies can purchase a Company Island! I'd much rather have an instanced housing area for my FC than rely on some sort of lottery system to *maybe* get a house in a public ward. Please, PLEASE, make this an option.
They've said nothing to indicate they have plans to make Island Sanctuary a replacement for or addition to player housing (and it would definitely be to their advantage to state so if they did).
As much as I would love to see a fully enhanced instanced housing system added, SE is too attached to the ward concept. I honestly suggest that you don't get your hopes up.
If SE is smart, they'll go a bit heavy with the number of FC wards at first to make certain waiting FCs are able to get a house. Considering FCs tend to be about 30% of owners, going 40-50% FC purchase wards for the first patch would be a good number to make sure that FCs are getting a house, then some of those wards can be switched to individual purchase with the next patch as FC demand dies out.
From what we know, the island system isn't housing at all because Square Enix doesn't like solutions to problems they create.