After sleeping on it... it's still ridiculous.

http://omedon.tumblr.com/post/701070...sleeping-on-it

The following is a blog copy-paste from the above link.

http://intobolivian.files.wordpress....1/08/rent1.jpg

I have to be honest here, if you expect nothing but advocacy and praise for Square Enix after a lifetime of loyalty from yours truly, you might not want to read this post, because it’s not going to be very validating on that front. I didn’t get to do any gaming yesterday. I did one turn-in of a crafting leve and logged out in bleak, grey absence of gaming morale. I spent all day on the forums trying to get some solace from the united outrage over the housing prices.

There is so much wrong with the “high shelf” approach SE have chosen for housing, I don’t even know where to begin.

*Access itself* on a high shelf is terrible design.

Access is so important. For personal housing, access needs to be the default (not the “privilege”) because players, your local superheroes, shouldn’t be homeless. For GUILD/FC housing, access needs to be the default because it’s a shared experience, that we are capable of kicking each other out of, especially with the whole “if one person RMTs, everyone loses the house,” above and beyond “gkicks happen.” Make the furniture expensive, make housing-based perk unlocks a big FC point investment, but telling a FC they are not good enough to even own a house unless they a) grind the INSANE money and b) trust each other with the time and money of said grind, to this degree, is ass backwards, and 100% wrong in today’s market. I can almost understand the “long term goal” appeal… if it wasn’t something we could easily screw each other out of, and the internet is a den of scum and villainy. Not everyone is in an FC as great as mine!

Fool me once…

I mentioned personal housing, and now I know what you might be thinking: “This isn’t about personal housing, people need to stop lumping this with personal housing,” but here’s the thing… Square Enix has now made a statement to players like me that need to be able to express ourselves to enjoy a game at all, and that statement is “you’ll have to work for it! You need to be invested, we need your $13-15/month, and this is how we get it, by holding what other games grant as a base access level over your head behind a long term grind!” I will not only be at a crossroads in six months when they potentially do this again with personal housing, I am at a crossroads NOW as to whether or not to stay on board and trust them for six months that they will NOT do this again. If I continue to play (and pay) under the assumption that this won’t happen again in six months, and it then does indeed happen, it’s “fool me twice, shame on me!” Every nerve in my Final-Fantasy-trained sense of resource management tells me that I need to make this strategic decision NOW.

It’s a trap!

I’ve already beaten the Admiral Ackbar meme into the ground on the forums, but seriously, this is SO being done to counter RMT, and even perhaps to catch it in the act! You can’t tell me that every purchase over seven digits made in the first month won’t be investigated into the ground! Warring with RMT is the eternal, noble struggle of every MMO that doesn’t counter it by selling their own currency (and even, in many cases, of those MMOs that do), but doing something so blatantly inconveniencing of innocent players as a part of said war is just ridiculous.

Think about the culture!

There’s a really good forum-posted open letter you should read (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Housing-Prices) from a gentleman on the Balmung server, who puts this much better than I will, but the long and the short of my take on it is this: The MMORPG market has established that owning a home, just “a home,” in most games that offer them, is just something that happens, because it’s developed to be experienced, it’s not on a high shelf, and reasonable access is the default. So along comes FFXIV with its FC housing exception to that idea, and everyone immediately thinks they must own it. You don’t have to agree with it, but the existing MMORPG market is a thing, and that’s how we’ve been trained, and that’s how we will see it, and that’s what will be projected within FC communities, and so… it must happen, by any means necessary, or we are clearly doing something wrong. The degree of greedy, mercenary ugliness that will spawn in the race to make this happen will be utterly community damaging. FCs that don’t take the sensible approach (which, thankfully, mine did) and just laugh at the very idea of getting the house beyond their means (Which SHOULD NOT be beyond their means if it’s the entry level house!) will rattle deep and looming collection plates at their members, which will motivate the selling of primal runs, the inflated expectation of not just activity, but money-generating activity, the exorbitant expectations for crafting components on the marketboard, (which no one will pay) not to mention… FC officers holding in their hands more gil than perhaps they’ve ever seen on behalf of their members… and money is power, and power corrupts, and people get hacked… and getting hacked can get you banned (true story, happened to a friend of a friend of mine), and there’s personal housing in six months, and THAT might be expensive, so there’s that to hoard for, but the FC needs your gil, etc, etc… I don’t want to be part of the world where this is all not only happening, (because, let’s face it, that happens anyway) but to an amplified degree of “we should have this, we’re not homeless scrubs” expectation based on a genre standard that goes beyond FFXIV.

So what has my time been worth, then?

This is a huge sticking point for me. I’ve saved, I’ve hoarded, I’ve played regularly, I’ve been smart with my gil, and at the first sign of an official monetary measuring stick, I am utterly humbled, dwarfed and insulted by the numbers attached to housing. Do I think I should be able to afford an FC home on my own? Hell no. Do I think “my money times a few others” should at least be able to get in on the feature at launch? Absolutely, because it’s designed to be experienced, and personal expression is not a goal, it’s a vehicle! (http://omedon.tumblr.com/post/627981...-is-not-a-goal) Now admittedly there are apparently multiple new “gil fountains” being introduced alongside this crazy moneysink, but still, the question remains, what has my saving up to now been worth? Apparently, next to this feature that we have been trained by MMORPGs to think is “just something you get,” not very much, and that’s insulting. That doesn’t encourage me to work toward this goal, that tells me that all of my savings are but a drop in the bucket next to how much I SHOULD have, and that’s insulting. This is not about entitlement, this is about the game being about fun and escapism: fun as in “My character lives somewhere pretty and customized, from which I set out to pursue fun, adventurous goals,” and escapism as in “for reals, I live in a place that’s not so pretty, from which I set out to go to work.” What SE is generating is a situation where we log in and go to work, because housing, FC or otherwise, is just something “we have,” and to have it in their world, that requires a grind, which is work, and not fun. In a game charging monthly, time needs to be powerful and valuable, because it’s what we buy. I’ve spent time, smart time, making a reasonable amount of money, as have many around me, and we’ll still be homeless. That makes my/their time spent utterly powerless. So what am I paying for?

I will not be surprised if I write more about this in a future entry, but that’s enough for this one. This covers some of the major points, to me, and honestly, other points are still being raised on the forums. The truth of the matter, for me, is that I am very interested in personal housing, but this statement about FC housing tells me that I might be spinning my wheels to stick around hoping to own a home, because housing, ACCESS to housing, a creative expression feature, is apparently fair game in the “long term grind” arena… and I can think of very few stances more diametrically opposed to my beliefs when it comes to game design and time investment.

Have I ragequit? No, but I’m glad I downgraded to “entry” subscription, because I could hit that switch at any time now, and the most it will cost me is thirteen bucks and change.

very well put, even if it is another housing thread I am glad you made it.

Agreed, I woke up and i'm still upset about their supposed "class balance", housing and others... I just don't understand what was going through their heads in this patch. I might just have to sleep on it for a week before I can accept it. I told my FC the new last night and 95% were just as upset and they haven't even read all the patch notes yet.

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Originally Posted by Omedon

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So what has my time been worth, then?

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Apparently this varies based on which box you clicked 6 months ago before this was on the horizon.

I'm ok with it as I'm on a relatively cheap server and I'm not a'll that bothered about housing. But I do feel for you guys who has your heart's set on this. I don't fully understand the outrage but maybe I'm not in a really tight FC like you guys.

I logged on for a few hours today and so many people are shouting trying to sell ifrits horn and the likes. Have a lot of people just abandoned the idea of housing altogether?

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Originally Posted by Orihara_Izaya

Agreed, I woke up and i'm still upset about their supposed "class balance", housing and others... I just don't understand what was going through their heads in this patch. I might just have to sleep on it for a week before I can accept it. I told my FC the new last night and 95% were just as upset and they haven't even read all the patch notes yet.

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So let me get this straight, you're fc is upset and they have not read the patch notes which actually say there are cheap housing options?

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Originally Posted by Earthgaia

So let me get this straight, you're fc is upset and they have not read the patch notes which actually say there are cheap housing options?

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You... think 20 million gil for the worst plot of land is a 'cheap housing option'?

/sigh... another damned thread that boils down to a "Give it to me right now at a mega cheap rate that everyone can afford"...

The prices are fine. It gives you something to plan for... in 90 days (Ides of March / March 15th) housing could be up to half off (on select lots that haven't been bought) and around the time of 2.2 (and maybe the PS4 beta on live servers). Yes, a Mansion is a long-term project for most FCs that are "small" by SE's theory on what the size should be. This is also why they are having that recruitment contest, yes?

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Originally Posted by Sovereign

You... think 20 million gil for the worst plot of land is a 'cheap housing option'?

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20 million gils is achieveable for small FC of atleast 50 and above.

FC are meant to be big. Unless if ur thinking FC of 4-5 ppl.. then... u ought to wait for personal housing then.

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Originally Posted by Sovereign

You... think 20 million gil for the worst plot of land is a 'cheap housing option'?

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Well, since that other person is on Faerie, it seems for the low low price of 6,400,000 gil, they can attain the filthiest, horribly located house on that servers market. Rejoice, I guess. Maybe Yoshi will put in a mortgage option so myriad people can foreclose on their overexpensive houses, so art can finally truly imitate life.

Housing prices are outrageous, I agree.

But not every FC needs to have a large plot, Maybe most FC's will have to settle for a small or medium plot if they must have housing right off the bat.

We've known for months that housing was going to be expensive, Yoshi stated several live letters ago, for a FC to get a SMALL house it would require 5-8 people to donate all the gil they made from 1-50. ALL THE GIL THEY MADE 1-50.I'm sure that was assumed that people would be doing story and all side quests which net you nearly a million gil if you choose the allagan pieces over the gear rewards. How many people skipped those quests and did FATE instead? Those people passed over hundreds of thousands of gil by doing so.
Then there is the fact that some people started new on a legacy server, they started with a disadvantage, but that was their choice. I have a legacy character sitting at level 1 with 800k brought over from 1.0 but I chose to roll on a non-legacy server and after 3 months of game time I have 800k on that character.
My small FC has 15 members, 5 are regularly active. We were set on buying a large plot on day 1, now after the price reveal we can't outright buy a small on day 1. They are upset of course, I'm bummed too. But maybe we don't need a large house, maybe a small plot is more fitting for our FC size.

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Originally Posted by Johnist

/sigh... another damned thread that boils down to a "Give it to me right now at a mega cheap rate that everyone can afford"...

The prices are fine. It gives you something to plan for... in 90 days (Ides of March / March 15th) housing could be up to half off (on select lots that haven't been bought) and around the time of 2.2 (and maybe the PS4 beta on live servers). Yes, a Mansion is a long-term project for most FCs that are "small" by SE's theory on what the size should be. This is also why they are having that recruitment contest, yes?

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You know every time I read a reply like this I can't help but laugh and shake my head. Sure on our servers the prices will eventually be fine but to sit at your computer and type that people now have a long term goal when they have already been planning from launch and saving from launch and can't even afford the slums for whatever size their free company may be is silly.

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Originally Posted by Seirra_Lanzce

20 million gils is achieveable for small FC of atleast 50 and above.

FC are meant to be big. Unless if ur thinking FC of 4-5 ppl.. then... u ought to wait for personal housing then.

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Not everyone wants an FC that big and according to Yoshi-P when asked about the cost of FC housing his reply was this “I think that maybe 4-5 players, each with one level 50 class could probably buy a house if they put all of their earnings together.” Obviously he was a bit off with that remark.

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Originally Posted by Seirra_Lanzce

20 million gils is achieveable for small FC of atleast 50 and above.

FC are meant to be big. Unless if ur thinking FC of 4-5 ppl.. then... u ought to wait for personal housing then.

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Asked this in another thread also, but one thing i wounder;

Small house + 50 FC members = Cluster F**k?

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Originally Posted by Earthgaia

So let me get this straight, you're fc is upset and they have not read the patch notes which actually say there are cheap housing options?

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hmm lemme rephrase. What I meant to say is I gave them a quick rundown of the garbage that is going on, and they haven't had a chance to read the patch note to face palm themselves yet.

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Originally Posted by ChiefCurrahee

Housing prices are outrageous, I agree.

But not every FC needs to have a large plot, Maybe most FC's will have to settle for a small or medium plot if they must have housing right off the bat.

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We don't want a large house. We were hoping for a medium sized plot. But that's completely out of reach for us at 75 million gil. We can't even afford the smallest, meanest plot, and we've been saving and working for almost 3 months.

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We've known for months that housing was going to be expensive, Yoshi stated several live letters ago, for a FC to get a SMALL house it would require 5-8 people to donate all the gil they made from 1-50. ALL THE GIL THEY MADE 1-50.I'm sure that was assumed that people would be doing story and all side quests which net you nearly a million gil if you choose the allagan pieces over the gear rewards. How many people skipped those quests and did FATE instead? Those people passed over hundreds of thousands of gil by doing so.

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Um, no. I leveled using just quests and dungeons for my first class. Total, I think I made around 300k from quest rewards (probably factoring in things I sold on the Marketboard from drops and whatnot). 300k x 5 is 1.5 million. THE SMALLEST HOUSE COSTS 20 MILLION JUST FOR THE LAND. For the love of god, why can't you see that this is insane?

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Then there is the fact that some people started new on a legacy server, they started with a disadvantage, but that was their choice. I have a legacy character sitting at level 1 with 800k brought over from 1.0 but I chose to roll on a non-legacy server and after 3 months of game time I have 800k on that character.

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So because we're newer players, we should just be shut out of the housing market completely? There are Legacy players that can't afford this!

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My small FC has 15 members, 5 are regularly active. We were set on buying a large plot on day 1, now after the price reveal we can't outright buy a small on day 1. They are upset of course, I'm bummed too. But maybe we don't need a large house, maybe a small plot is more fitting for our FC size.

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We didn't want a large house. We just wanted a house. We can't even afford a small house.

I really wish people like you would stop lumping together everyone in this imaginary category of "people who just want the biggest, baddest house." We weren't even going for that.

I entirely agree with OP. I'm a legacy player, and in 1.0 I had about 6 million. I was never exactly rich, but it was enough to get by comfortably in those days. Then of course with the implementation of 2.0, it was reduced to 600k. I have been judiciously saving since the game launch for housing. I did the story, and the missions. I don't have all my crafters at 50, but I've been making and selling what I can on the markets. I try to avoid teleporting when I can. I've gotten back up to about 2 million, and was thinking that yeah, I'm not super rich, but I'm back at my comfortable ability to get by. I figured I'd surely be able to contribute something to my fc housing when it comes out.

...Nope. Not even a little bit. I'm sure there are plenty of legacy players in my situation as well, and I feel beyond bad for the new players on the legacy servers.

I'm all for long term goals, but this was advertised as 'coming out in 2.1'. So everyone got really excited that it was happening and we made housing plans. Now, even though it's officially in the game, it's so far away from being achievable as to be laughable. It might as well be implemented three months from now as far as I'm concerned. From what I can see, this is just another content stall tactic, but unlike the lockouts, this leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Thank you OP for another great writeup. Expresses my feeling absolutely. The more we talk about this, the better chance they will listen to us.

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Originally Posted by Seirra_Lanzce

20 million gils is achieveable for small FC of atleast 50 and above.

FC are meant to be big. Unless if ur thinking FC of 4-5 ppl.. then... u ought to wait for personal housing then.

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This is why I love you ♥

My FC has 25 members. I think pulling off the 8mil for small plot is easily achievable. Heck I can cover 10% of that by myself. I just hope the small house plot can accommodate 25...lol

Everyone in opposition of the housing prices, go to: JP Forum and 'Like' the OP.

The more centralized the opposition to the ridiculous pricing scheme, the better chance we will be heard!

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Originally Posted by Black91CRX

My FC has 25 members. I think pulling off the 8mil for small plot is easily achievable. Heck I can cover 10% of that by myself. I just hope the small house plot can accommodate 25...lol

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but take 2 secs and if u were on a legacy server that small plot would be at least 25 million... there are several new players on legacy servers because SE never told anyone they would deliberately charge more for being on a legacy server

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Originally Posted by Black91CRX

My FC has 25 members. I think pulling off the 8mil for small plot is easily achievable. Heck I can cover 10% of that by myself. I just hope the small house plot can accommodate 25...lol

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Pretty sure they showed off the small house several months back in a live letter, the Limsa housing one. For 25 people, I would imagine it being like those circus events where a dozen clowns pile out of a comically small automobile. Maybe you guys can schedule 5 man events on who gets the house what day, and lock it out for the rest of the group when their turn is done. We know how much XIV loves lockouts.

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Originally Posted by Nanaya

Pretty sure they showed off the small house several months back in a live letter, the Limsa housing one. For 25 people, I would imagine it being like those circus events where a dozen clowns pile out of a comically small automobile. Maybe you guys can schedule 5 man events on who gets the house what day, and lock it out for the rest of the group when their turn is done. We know how much XIV loves lockouts.

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Haha XD There's a fair amount of truth in this.

Can I get some people to shout/yell this in their worlds (Sarga I already shouted)
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Sorry Reinheart from forums here - I don't usually do this but looking for as much players support on this to have development reconsider the cost of the housing. If you could please go to this JP forum thread talking about land cost being too high and press the like button, I would be much appreciated - http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/127458 - Thank you, and sorry for the long shout/yell - We have 1200 likes so far, lets push it to 2000!
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Thank you!!

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Originally Posted by Reinheart

Can I get some people to shout/yell this in their worlds (Sarga I already shouted)
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Sorry Reinheart from forums here - I don't usually do this but looking for as much players support on this to have development reconsider the cost of the housing. If you could please go to this JP forum thread talking about land cost being too high and press the like button, I would be much appreciated - http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/127458 - Thank you, and sorry for the long shout/yell - We have 1200 likes so far, lets push it to 2000!
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Thank you!!

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I would but I'm right there with ya in Sarg Ul'dah

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Originally Posted by Nanaya

Pretty sure they showed off the small house several months back in a live letter, the Limsa housing one. For 25 people, I would imagine it being like those circus events where a dozen clowns pile out of a comically small automobile. Maybe you guys can schedule 5 man events on who gets the house what day, and lock it out for the rest of the group when their turn is done. We know how much XIV loves lockouts.

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[Truth of mothatruckin Mountains.]