I think that I figured out the problem with The Goblet.

I think that I have found the reason that the Goblet is not so aesthetically pleasing as the other housing wards. I am writing this from the perspective of one who LOVES desert themes/the sandstone look, so this is not a "Gwah desert is boring!" thread.

I think the problem with the Goblet is that the main attraction, the "pretty" and "nice" thing is actually too far up and high to be able to see properly from most houses.

By this I mean the windmill and waterfall. The rest of the goblet is just sandstone houses and walls, so not much else to look at there. The main centerpiece of the Goblet seems to be the Windmill/Waterfall. In order to be able to see the 'nice' part of the windmills (The actual windmills themselves) on a 1920x1080 resolution is to zoom all the way in to a first person view then look upwards. If you are looking in a standard 3rd person view, you will only be able to catch the lower part of the windmills which is, like the rest of the goblet, simply repetitive sandstone.

Oh, and the windmill's blades cast shadows at all times of the day/night. This causes, in a dark room, very annoying and frequent lighting changes since the shadows are so big. From someone who is in the goblet about 70% of their in-game time, this is very annoying.

I think that the Goblet could still stand a few redesigns, namely demolishing/lowering the windmill or trying to find a way that it does not cast infernal shadows across the entire ward at all hours of the day.

Maybe aqueducts would look neat, add a bit of actual sand to give it an oasis feel. Mix up the sandstone pattern a bit. Ul'dah is made out of sandstone but is so busy/lively that it does not feel repetitive. In the housing wards it is not nearly as active and just feels bland and repetitive.

This is just my thoughts. I still really like the idea of the Goblet and will stick to it, but all in all these are my thoughts on what could use changing or revamping.

The Goblet's main draw for me is the sky; like wth most deserts the sky is amazing . . . when you can see it. Bad weather is not very flattering to the Goblet.

My Compoany's House is right next to the Central Plaza where the water is and we can see the Plaza's Lake from out front door. So we actually have a really nice veiw.

Our FC purchased the Large Plot 30 which we like to call "The Island" as its completely seperate from the mainland of Goblet. We personally think its the best plot in Goblet due to the View and the fact that if you purchase the neighboring plot (Personal House or Alt) its the perfect "Poolhouse" lol The plot is similar to the Spartacus "House of Batiatus" training grounds with the cliff edge surrounding the property. People need to cross a small bridge to access our land.

The Sky views are amazing from this side of the ward (The best Dusk/Dawn views) and the Windmill is somewhat easier to view from our angle. I havent yet tested this out but i would hope that Skyfishing is accessible from this plot as well. All in all we love the Goblet as it reminds us of the good old FFXI days in Juno.

I like the goblet.. i hate what a pain in the butt it is to get around in there. paths that go to one house, or two. There's no real connectivity. the central market area is too spread out ( on two levels)

albeit i haven's spent much time in there but the layout annoys me a bit. At least in the Mist or Lavender beds i can get around those zones much easier to see houses or find pretty spots.

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Originally Posted by Tinsley

I like the goblet.. i hate what a pain in the butt it is to get around in there. paths that go to one house, or two. There's no real connectivity. the central market area is too spread out ( on two levels)

albeit i haven's spent much time in there but the layout annoys me a bit. At least in the Mist or Lavender beds i can get around those zones much easier to see houses or find pretty spots.

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My house is in the Goblet too (plot 16) and I have to agree with you. The lay out isnt optimal, in the Mist and Lavender beds, all the NPCs are in 1 central location, right next to each. In the the Goblet its actually spread out into 3 sections. The merchant that sells the NPC Vendors (3k each) is right in the center, then north that is the NPC that sells the Furniture, and then north of that on the lower floor is the NPC that sells the crafting mats. They should put all the vendors right in the middle island, its empty enough. But the Goblet is still my favorite, since my starting city is Ul'dah.

I have a personal house on Plot 7- its right next to the MB/Summoning/Aetherite. The only downfall of the plot is when the L plot next to me gets bought and blocks the view of the Windmill. But that's okay, right next to my plot is a pond with seating and from behind my house you can see down into the market below. The layout I'm okay with- it reminds me of actual old european cities with winding roads and tunnels. I kinda wish there were more NPC's around though to make it seem more lively and fit the atmosphere of Uldah being a vibrant and a large population center.

I don't like places devoid of bright colour and vibrancy, I also dislike the over use of yellows, browns and orange in games in general so that might also play a part in why I prefer Grindania's and Limsa's. Limsa is one I guess I prefer location wise but our FC leader really wants a large house in Goblet...so while I chip in small amount towards it I am also saving up for my own house in a location that I don't find quite so depressing. I also find Ul'Dah depressing because of the desert theme, narrow streets and lack of an ocean view or forests and such so Goblet was never going to appeal to me personally.

That's if can ever get one even after patch 2.4 since all the small will be gone once again in minutes of which this will continue to happen until they open up personal housing to all players not just 2% of them because of the reliance on the land grab race system. I have a sneaky feeling even mediums will sell out very quickly in 2.4 since most people never expected in general to have to pay around 30-40m for a personal house prior to 2.38 but now they realise that might need 30-80mil and not 2-5mil to be in with chance to get one after seeing how they handled personal housing in 2.38 and how quickly the small ones vanished so they will probably save up much more vigorously between now and then.

The Goblet, my FC has a medium house there but often times it's annoying to navigate through each plot, not to mention like what some people have said and even my FC members have said this, it's devoid of bright colour and is too brown to our liking. I mean they did remove some mountains so the scenery is somewhat better but it doesn't feel like there's enough energy to it. Not to mention the view isn't too great...it's alright but there just needs more variety in colour.

There should be more plants and trees around the center lake, imo.

I agree about the Goblet. It's supposed to be an oasis, but it is, without question, the most monochromatic oasis I've ever heard of. My understanding of desert cultures says they like the bright colors as much as possible to break up the color of sand. Unfortunately, all you get in the Goblet is sand coloring and not nearly enough of the oasis/garden theme.

I think if they opened it up so it's actually on top of the mesa like it should be, adjusted some of the views a bit (perhaps by setting it so you don't wind up looking at a boring bit of stairwell on most houses), and gave it more of a real vibrant oasis feel then people would really like it. I know I would.

The overall theme seems less developed compared to the others. Maybe a desert oasis theme would work better.

At night they should have bright lights for the color :3
Also I hate that most houses get a view that's blocked. I know they all can't be perfect but i think if they did something different with the windmill and had a better layout. It would be perfect.

Another thing the Oasis lacks is plants in general, for an Oasis there is just too little green and too few palms. The zone does get beautiful though once all houses start putting Desert Ironwoods and palms in their gardens. My House is in the goblet and I love it. :D
I just wish the zone in general had more larger green plants.

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Originally Posted by mcgoo94

Also I hate that most houses get a view that's blocked. I know they all can't be perfect but i think if they did something different with the windmill and had a better layout. It would be perfect.

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Blocked views are standard for all the cheaper housing lots, even in Gridania and Limsa you can still wind up with a beautiful view of a staircase and your neighbour's back wall.

Goblet is good, but ... Mist and Lbed just better... ^^;

@ the dinner table:
Hamtaruru: Mommie! Mommie!
Shantoto: Yes my darling lalafell? What is it you so urgently wish to tell?
Hamtaruru: Today in school, we learned alot!
Shantoto: New things you say? Do tell, I pray.
Hamtaruru: We learned about history, like how tarus, our Lala ancestors, used to play a game called 'football' with the ancestors of the Roe, the galkas!
Shantoto: Alas, I remember that game, for which I set many galkas aflame! (>_<)
Hamtaruru: We also learned that due to extreme embarrassment at their enslavement in the sex trade, mithras changed their name to Miqos! W-what is sex trade mommie?
Shantoto: ...what else did you learn?
Hamtaruru: Well...I didn't exactly understand this too well either but the teacher said something about the republic of Bastok trying to put a shine on its ghettos and putting into play a plan called 'Project-Goblet"?
Shantoto: Be they words of wisdow or thoughts of a fool! MY the things they teach you kids in school. (O_O)

I dunno if I have crap taste, but I remember the day that housing was first patched in, my best friend and I ran around to all of the different places. When we got to the Goblet, I was very VERY excited. I like it the best out of all of the places precisely because of how "projecty" it looks. It looks like it was carved into the area with a lot more effort than the other two areas, with very little reliance on naturally conforming to the environment. A lot like how Ul'dah itself is a city in the middle a desert, it defies the area around it and thrives anyway.

I dunno but I really like the Goblet just the way it is. It feels more like a wonderland than the other two areas, lots of staircases, passageways, shadows, balconies. I like it just the way it is.

In my opinion the problem with the Goblet is that it's too open. Desert housing areas in real life are never like that, but rather three distinct types: Tent camps (Poor), Multi-apartment palaces (Average), and Palaces (Rich).

So you usually would see a landscape of richer palaces, simpler palaces, and tents in the outskirts.

"But if we all lived in palaces, no one would have a garden."

False. Residential palaces in the Emirates usually have inside gardens (The richest, who have their own palaces isolated from other people with high walls, can have palaces on the front and back).


Here is an example of an inside garden (well, a pool, but gardens would look the same). For a real Sultanate feel, this is what they should have done with Goblet housing really. Not everyone wants the classic fairy-tale house&garden, I would have preferred palaces split in apartments (with amount of chambers varying on housing "size" you can afford) for this very area.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lplL42UNSN...use+Jeddah.jpg

Hmm..i'm forced to repent of my stupidity. The Goblet's absolutely beautiful. As far as faraway imaginary rpgic places go, the Goblets easily at the top.

While waiting for Frontlines to pop in the afterhours, I had a chance to pop over to the Goblet and really give it a look over. And the first thing I noticed above all else was the sunrise. When it breaks over those mountains (when standing by the entrance) there just arent any words. The waterfalls, the windmills, it all gives the look of a distant land. I suppose its an acquired taste though as Limsa and Gridania might be categorized as typical type location one usually looks for. But ya, the desert theme is quite nice.

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Originally Posted by Bluevann

Here is an example of an inside garden (well, a pool, but gardens would look the same). For a real Sultanate feel, this is what they should have done with Goblet housing really. Not everyone wants the classic fairy-tale house&garden, I would have preferred palaces split in apartments (with amount of chambers varying on housing "size" you can afford) for this very area.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lplL42UNSN...use+Jeddah.jpg

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Oh that is -gorgeous-! I would love something that bright and colorful and awesome. Especially if I could get the pool too... I would not hesitate to save for a Goblet house. :D