players owning multiple houses

So there's been an issue with players making ranked up 'dummy' FCs to buy up multiple plots. Obviously this is pretty unfair for everyone else and I assume not what the devs intended considering recently implemented restrictions.

An example on my server: one player has been purchasing dummy FCs to specifically buy desirable plots. They basically stated themselves that they're 'collecting' these plots that people want. Currently, they have 13 houses. This is blatantly mentioned in their search info. Specifically hoarding multiple plots that people want is pretty disruptive to other players's enjoyment of the game. Is this acceptable behavior in this game? I certainly hope not. You don't have to believe me on this account, but this is certainly not an exclusive case attributed to a single player or server.

This is very off-putting behavior that can really ruin the game and I really do hope devs will take this matter more seriously.

I have to wonder how they’re doing this without multiple accounts given the restrictions put in place recently. I’m under the impression that if you are a member of an fc that owns a house, you can’t create/obtain another fc and buy a house with it unless you’ve done so before the last housing update and been grandfathered in, which makes me question how recently this person has updated their search info and how long ago they were flipping. If it’s recent activity, you can report them to see if anything can be done since they are actively making use of a loophole in a system that was intended to prevent them from doing exactly what they are doing. My thought is that by patching the restrictions in, the devs have acknowledged that this is disruptive behavior, so a gm should be able to address it. If not, you’ll at least have done your part in letting SE know that a loophole exists and is being utilized.

I mean, if they're paying for multiple service accounts, I don't see the problem. They're within their rights to do this.

It is indeed another matter with multiple service accounts since usually players aren't dedicated enough to go this far to disrupt other players's gameplay. However, I have noticed that it is possible to obtain multiple houses with dummy FCs while still being able to remain in your current FC. You can essentially pay someone to pass FC lead to an alt of yours and then either acquire that FC's current house or purchase a new one. It seems rather counterintuitive to place a restriction on buying houses but not on owning houses, so I do hope devs will look into this loophole at least, especially since I've contacted GMs and it seems they can't really do much about it either :/

i mean its a move that doesn't look good but again they're working within the rules of the system.

It's doubtful they'd ever be able to correct the loophole, either. If leadership/ownership is transferred to a player, intentionally or not, the system can't just decide "You have too many houses, so we're demolishing one."

If it's the FC that I think you are talking about, then your info is incorrect. That FC has been around since 1.0 and almost all of their plots we're bought before personal housing was introduced. I sort of know them. It's a husband, wife and their son who play. They have 15 houses all together on three accounts. They we're grandfathered in, like the ten other players/crafters on Ultros who have multiple plots that I know of.

Kittypryde is right. Actually, a very high percentage of multiple plot owners have done it by following the rules. Either grandfathered in before the housing rules took effect, or they have alt FC's, which is not against the rules. OP, most servers have dozens of empty plots, so there is no disruption. There are plots in every area on every server for the most part to buy from the game. There was once a time where everyone on the forums was complaining about just being able to have any plot, no matter the size, quality or area. That time is now. The housing crisis is over. Gone is the high relinquish price gouging, gone is the inability to find a plot, and gone is the need to complain about housing.

Yes, matter of fact, I JUST checked Ultros plots available. 167 goblet smalls, 26 mist smalls, one med, and 29 lav beds smalls. No shiros. Obviously larges are hard to come by and take many months of camping every hour to find one. That's how I got mine. Took five months of hard work.

I thought the restrictions prevented you from being made leader of a FC if you were already leader of a FC on another character on the same account to prevent hoarding houses? If not then there should be such a restriction. As for the existing leaders then perhaps once a restriction has been added SE could send a warning email to the FC leaders of companies on multiple characters stating that they have x amount of days in which to pass leadership otherwise the house will be reclaimed?

Adding a few more timers would be a coding nightmare. Just for what....to have 20 more plots freed up? Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Besides, that's what grandfathered in means. All the previous rules that were around for yrs, like being able to have one FC and personal house per up to 8 characters , was totally legal and a part of the rules for almost three yes. So up until around February, anyone could have bought a deluxe account, level up every single one of their characters to 50, rank up their grand company, and get two houses if they had the insane time, and Gil to do so.

As a house designer enthusiast, what is the real tragedy, is seeing hundreds, if not thousands of plots with 5 things in their house max.....for months....if not years...I've lost count how many mediums have one Valentine's day bed, a desk, two chairs and event posters. That's it. Those houses should be auto demolished and given to people who will actually use them.lol

I see lots of open plots still on my server. If can't get one might want transfer to a smaller server. Ones could still have more than one house if they had them before they made the changes.

He's correct tho, I've been seeing a LOT of dummy FC's lately, everyone in them having scrambled nameS and often either lvl 1 or all lvl 20-30 etc ...
All these ppl seem to do is gather materials non stop and they are not responsive so its safe to say they might be bots...
They prolly do that to use the vault as storage for gathered materials knowing they are now set to 999 items wich basicly spells "gold" for gil sellers.
Fairly certain these people are gil sellers.


If I was square enix I would not allow people to own a house unless they send a picture of their identity card with them holding it so you can verify if the holder is indeed the owner of the card.
If the IP of that person doesn't meet the living adress of that person SE would know they are fake accounts.

I want know when is all your alts on same account going to be able to share same private housing. That way don't need to buy more than one room or private house. Think to own 13 fc houses he need to have 13 accounts. To can't see why anyone would want spend 130+ dollars a month on subs for a game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SXTC

He's correct tho, I've been seeing a LOT of dummy FC's lately, everyone in them having scrambled nameS and often either lvl 1 or all lvl 20-30 etc ...
All these ppl seem to do is gather materials non stop and they are not responsive so its safe to say they might be bots...
They prolly do that to use the vault as storage for gathered materials knowing they are now set to 999 items wich basicly spells "gold" for gil sellers.
Fairly certain these people are gil sellers.


If I was square enix I would not allow people to own a house unless they send a picture of their identity card with them holding it so you can verify if the holder is indeed the owner of the card.
If the IP of that person doesn't meet the living adress of that person SE would know they are fake accounts.

---

You would want SE to contact you outside of the game so you can pass a security check that even banks (thesedays) don't tend to carry out? I own a house and if this was the "rule" I would never have bothered. Also if they're sending out cards all over the world would we also have to cover the shipping for these "SE ID Cards"??? There's so much wrong with this suggestion that I'm not even sure if you're trolling or not.

This idea is insane

I think that FCs should be required to have a certain minimum number of active members to own houses of a certain size, because it's way too easy for people to just form a solo FC with the aid of friends so they can occupy extra houses.

I'm already seeing people preparing solo FCs likely in anticipation of the new housing wards opening some time in ShB.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KageTokage

I think that FCs should be required to have a certain minimum number of active members to own houses of a certain size, because it's way too easy for people to just form a solo FC with the aid of friends so they can occupy extra houses.

I'm already seeing people preparing solo FCs likely in anticipation of the new housing wards opening some time in ShB.

---

As if that can't be bypassed anyway :rolleyes: