Why is buying a house in FFXIV so complicated

Played since 1.0, never once owned a house xD. Everytime i try to buy a house it says its not ready for purchase. Hopefully in 5.0 they add more subdivisions and plots so more ppl can own houses.


Maybe they should do instanced housing like in BDO, where multiple ppl can own the same plot but only the one with the highest interior points will be displayed for outsiders to see.

Hopefully the few days headstart by preordering 5.0 will give me a chance to buy Housing xD. But isn't that bad for those who did not preorder Shadowbringers? lol.

Your on Balmung. Enough said. Even when ishgard housing becomes available. I assume buying a house on the most populated servers will still be close to impossible.

Because of how the game and housing system was made sadly, if ask me they should scrap all of the current housing system and replace it with something like Wildstar had.

But it wont happen ofc.

Housing has been available by crazy walmart black friday style rush every time there has been a new ward added or housing area opened. Usually these times are announced well in advance so you can plan to be online at that time. The only limit there is how fast your pc can load the game and whether or not you're going to hit a queue for getting in and maybe have a network error.

Do ppl who preordered Shadowbringers have an advantage in buying the housing plots there? Or is SE going to block the purchase of houses till its actual launch date?

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Do ppl who preordered Shadowbringers have an advantage in buying the housing plots there? Or is SE going to block the purchase of houses till its actual launch date?

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If i remember right last time with stormblood you could not buy a house right away in the new areas before x time after release, can't remember how long it was.

Nope there shouldn't be an advantage for anyone. It's like when SB had the Shirogane District added, they didn't do it on release day of the expac but waited a number of months before doing it so that everyone had a chance at getting a house in the new area.

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Do ppl who preordered Shadowbringers have an advantage in buying the housing plots there? Or is SE going to block the purchase of houses till its actual launch date?

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The "plan" we were teased with was Ishgard Housing gated behind DoH/L participation/completion, so that would likely be gated behind at least HW. If they add more wards those should be automatically available to those that could currently purchase a house.

(Oops! Quoted the wrong post by accident)

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Do ppl who preordered Shadowbringers have an advantage in buying the housing plots there? Or is SE going to block the purchase of houses till its actual launch date?

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I pretty sure new housing will not be available upon release of the xpac. My recollection was that housing wasn't made available until the 4.1 update for Stormblood and then everyone had equal access to housing based on a first come first serve basis. Later when additional plots were made available they came along with the new rules restricting one FC and one personal house per account per server after the log in fiasco's for purchasing and fan unhappyness. In addition FC's had first crack at purchasing houses as well as those making transfers. I forget how long that was but I believe it was a couple weeks at least before personal plots could then be purchased by 1st time home owners.

It's hard to say if something similar will be in effect when new housing is made available in ShB although the SB model might still apply. I suspect there will be some changes and I doubt that any housing will be locked behind doh/dol participation. Perhaps when the community has completed the rebuilding it will trigger the ability to purchase for everyone. One also has to wonder if apartments will be getting the small, medium and large treatment they hinted at in discussing housing at that time.

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Why is buying a house in FFXIV so complicated?

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Simply, the housing system was not designed for a game with the popularity that XIV garnered, especially post 2.0.

Then, because of limited resources (Time, Money, Manpower etc) as well as not wanting to upset players (People whom have house(s), millions of Gil worth of decorations, whom enjoy Wards etc) it has not been possible for them to overhaul the system to one that is more applicable to a population that the game has.

Essentially, they dun goofed because they didn't expect 2.0 to be popular, nor did they have any reason to after only having XI and 1.0 stats to go off.

Adding more housing wards will only help a little, a few more people will be able to get houses, but ultimately the demand will still far surpass the supply.
People have suggested entirely instanced housing wards, but this wouldn't really help much either, as it'd just create far too many new instances, or won't be all that feasible due to how much of an overhaul to the system it would be.

I think they should expand the options by providing more options for apartments. We currently have what are comparable to an FC room, we could get duplex apartments that are basically a small house internal, and then a penthouse apartment option that’s the same as a medium house. Not everyone who wants a house wants a garden as well, and it'd provide a more appealing middle ground.
This should be much easier than adding housing wards (which they can still do alongside) and be much more effective at boosting supply.

Also, I think Ala Mhigo should be our next housing ward. (after Ishgard if that’s what’s already in the works)
This could make up for the lack of a city hub to explore and expand housing a bit further.
Make it so you can’t buy a house there until 5.0 so you don’t have any story conflicts.

The demand for outdoor zone housing may never vanish, but it would be a lot more acceptable having those as prestige housing if we somehow allowed everyone access to the housing system in some other form.

It's funny that FFXI handles housing better (even if they are not impressive.) Everyone gets an instanced mog-house for free, and it can be slowly expanded. Do the same here! Let everyone start with an apartment they can pay (and/or quest) to expand! Start tiny, expand to large, and eventually huge. Larger apartments could even have their own private instanced garden (for those that still want to have some use for outdoor furniture and harvesting.) And no artificial limits! Every account gets one per server! (yea, make these account bound!)

No doubt instanced housing should have been and should still be a thing, took me like 3 years to get a house.
Best bet would be to take time off work when new or more housing is introduced.. although the first housing expansion in Stormblood was such a mess

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Hopefully the few days headstart by preordering 5.0 will give me a chance to buy Housing xD. But isn't that bad for those who did not preorder Shadowbringers? lol.

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They have not announced any wards being added as of yet and Ishgard was hinted at but we have been given no previews as we were with Shirogane. Unless something pops up on the live letter, I wouldn't expect to even be able to preview the new housing zone until at least couple patches in.

Perhaps the Ishgard one could be made into an instanced housing area? Perhaps FC leaders who complete it (or maybe those who have permission to buy land) who've done the Ishgard rebuilding, could then opt to buy an instanced plot for their FC. Personally, I'd be happy to do that for my FC were that the case. Same for my personal house.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I pretty sure new housing will not be available upon release of the xpac. My recollection was that housing wasn't made available until the 4.1 update for Stormblood and then everyone had equal access to housing based on a first come first serve basis. Later when additional plots were made available they came along with the new rules restricting one FC and one personal house per account per server after the log in fiasco's for purchasing and fan unhappyness. In addition FC's had first crack at purchasing houses as well as those making transfers. I forget how long that was but I believe it was a couple weeks at least before personal plots could then be purchased by 1st time home owners.

It's hard to say if something similar will be in effect when new housing is made available in ShB although the SB model might still apply. I suspect there will be some changes and I doubt that any housing will be locked behind doh/dol participation. Perhaps when the community has completed the rebuilding it will trigger the ability to purchase for everyone. One also has to wonder if apartments will be getting the small, medium and large treatment they hinted at in discussing housing at that time.

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Not everyone had equal acces. They gave FCs first access to plots before they opened it up to Personal homes a few weeks later.

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Originally Posted by disturbedcobra

Not everyone had equal acces. They gave FCs first access to plots before they opened it up to Personal homes a few weeks later.

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I think transfers were allowed when FC's had the go to purchase. Granted new home buyers had to wait. it's been awhile but that is my recollection.

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Do ppl who preordered Shadowbringers have an advantage in buying the housing plots there? Or is SE going to block the purchase of houses till its actual launch date?

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They haven't announced any details, we don't even know if Ishgard housing will be an actual ward or glorified apartments, maybe tomorrow we we find out more info.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

I think transfers were allowed when FC's had the go to purchase. Granted new home buyers had to wait. it's been awhile but that is my recollection.

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Yea, relocation was possible just couldn't buy new plots unless you were part of a 4 member FC. This was also when they implemented the whole 1/1 Personal/FC home per account per world system.

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Originally Posted by disturbedcobra

Yea, relocation was possible just couldn't buy new plots unless you were part of a 4 member FC. This was also when they implemented the whole 1/1 Personal/FC home per account per world system.

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This was for the addition of wards to all housing zones, not the initial shirogane release.

The system needs an overhaul. Houses are really hard to get, and they are also very expensive which kind of goes against the goals for housing they had initially promised.

In the meantime they could provide way better apartment options with much larger interiors.

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Originally Posted by Tatiana

The system needs an overhaul. Houses are really hard to get, and they are also very expensive which kind of goes against the goals for housing they had initially promised.

In the meantime they could provide way better apartment options with much larger interiors.

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I wouldn't consider them expensive at all. Sure, it's not what everyone was told it would be initially, but the prices are not bad. Some glamours and other vanity items cost more than a medium and gil is really easy to get in this game. There is definitely a supply issue though but they don't appear to be interested in making any meaningful changes to the system.

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Originally Posted by Tatiana

The system needs an overhaul. Houses are really hard to get, and they are also very expensive which kind of goes against the goals for housing they had initially promised.

In the meantime they could provide way better apartment options with much larger interiors.

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Housing is actually the cheapest it's ever been now. When it released, larges were over 200mil on balmung, mediums were something like 60-80 mil, or more, and smalls were over 20mil. Gil drops in buckets in this game. I don't crafter or gather for selling, or sell tome mats, and I have over 60 mil and a furnished medium house.

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Why is buying a house in FFXIV so complicated

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Because people are people and have abused the system.

They would buy them and then resell them for even more gil
or just hog entire wards because they can

those 2 points are not mutualy exclusive btw and the second point still happens depite SE's restrictions.

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Played since 1.0, never once owned a house xD. Everytime i try to buy a house it says its not ready for purchase. Hopefully in 5.0 they add more subdivisions and plots so more ppl can own houses.


Maybe they should do instanced housing like in BDO, where multiple ppl can own the same plot but only the one with the highest interior points will be displayed for outsiders to see.

Hopefully the few days headstart by preordering 5.0 will give me a chance to buy Housing xD. But isn't that bad for those who did not preorder Shadowbringers? lol.

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If there is new housing available, it will happen with the 5.1 patch, (as for SB 4.1 for Shirogane) the time that players have time to access the housing area.

The problem today is the fault of those who buy land to sell at 2 or 3 times the base price. You can thank the selfish people who are only looking for profit for a rare commodity, to have so much trouble buying land.

And about to turning personal homes into FC homes, they will not do it because it comes down to the same problem. People could resell the FC and turn it into a personal home, it's still happening for the FC.

I have my house, but I find that the residential areas are really empty, nobody goes there. The only time I saw anyone was at the exit of Shirogane where everyone decorates his house. I would like instantiation zones for what it changes. But Naoki Yoshida likes the idea that people can visit your home, adding logs, goes in that direction.

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Originally Posted by Naoki34

If there is new housing available, it will happen with the 5.1 patch, (as for SB 4.1 for Shirogane) the time that players have time to access the housing area.

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Except the fanfests preceding Stormblood had information and footage on Shirogane. We haven't gotten so much as concept art of a possible new housing area, just a hint at Ishgard getting housing. We'll have to see if they include something in the live letter, but considering the art team seems to be stretched with the new race additions, I would expect to see it pushed at least 2-3 patches in just to preview the area.

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Originally Posted by Naoki34

I have my house, but I find that the residential areas are really empty, nobody goes there. The only time I saw anyone was at the exit of Shirogane where everyone decorates his house. I would like instantiation zones for what it changes. But Naoki Yoshida likes the idea that people can visit your home, adding logs, goes in that direction.

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Look at RuneScape. Has instanced housing (any paid subscription member has it, it's tied to the Construction skill), you can still have it visited by others. This isn't an either-or situation (and dependent on your DM privacy settings on RuneScape, you also limit whether anyone can visit, only friends can visit, or nobody can visit).

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Originally Posted by Dustytome

Except the fanfests preceding Stormblood had information and footage on Shirogane. We haven't gotten so much as concept art of a possible new housing area, just a hint at Ishgard getting housing. We'll have to see if they include something in the live letter, but considering the art team seems to be stretched with the new race additions, I would expect to see it pushed at least 2-3 patches in just to preview the area.

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In any case not day one, yes. I was saying that for people who worry about not being able to access any new housing area because they would not pre-order ShB.

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Originally Posted by Paladinleeds

Look at RuneScape. Has instanced housing (any paid subscription member has it, it's tied to the Construction skill), you can still have it visited by others. This isn't an either-or situation (and dependent on your DM privacy settings on RuneScape, you also limit whether anyone can visit, only friends can visit, or nobody can visit).

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I only repeat the words of Naoki Yoshida for the many times when live, people asked him this question. I am okey for the housing's system, like Runescape, Rift or something else.

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Originally Posted by Naoki34

I only repeat the words of Naoki Yoshida for the many times when live, people asked him this question. I am okey for the housing's system, like Runescape, Rift or something else.

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Yeah, I was just trying to say his words are a bunch of hot air saying the visiting of other houses is why we can't have instanced housing. It can and has been done.

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Originally Posted by Naoki34

I have my house, but I find that the residential areas are really empty, nobody goes there. The only time I saw anyone was at the exit of Shirogane where everyone decorates his house. I would like instantiation zones for what it changes. But Naoki Yoshida likes the idea that people can visit your home, adding logs, goes in that direction.

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One solution: Only one copy of each housing development, and instance the plots themselves. When you arrive, you see your own house on it's plot, and a random selection of houses on all the others. However, each plot could have hundreds of owners, so the odds of seeing players out in the neighborhood would increase.
To visit other houses, you could either just walk into the ones that are showing, or click the placard, pick another one to display there, and tour it.
Also, if you don't like the looks of your neighbor's houses, pick different ones to display on those plots, which would remain selected until you change them again.

Also, your friends could easily buy nearby houses and if everyone displayed each other's houses, you'd see them in their yards, and could just drop in any time.

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Originally Posted by RareItems

Played since 1.0, never once owned a house xD. Everytime i try to buy a house it says its not ready for purchase. Hopefully in 5.0 they add more subdivisions and plots so more ppl can own houses.


Maybe they should do instanced housing like in BDO, where multiple ppl can own the same plot but only the one with the highest interior points will be displayed for outsiders to see.

Hopefully the few days headstart by preordering 5.0 will give me a chance to buy Housing xD. But isn't that bad for those who did not preorder Shadowbringers? lol.

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Well I am sorry to know that but in Chaos DC is really easiy to buy house nowadays Louisouix server still have 474 small plots for sale and Omega server 136.

I dont know why they made it this way, either they are very Incompetent on doing their jobs(developers) or they are pure lazy or maybe they got their work orders to have this kind of system. One thing for sure, there is 0% reason why it shouldnt have been bigger and cheaper. It's pixel's and there is unlimited space for them to work on, not like in real life where there is Not unlimited space(land mass) and for the price, that's just ridiculous, again, this is pixel world and there is nothing stopping them to either make every account have a default house tied to the account(instanced) and then have a option to upgrade the house for a very small amount of money.(could be 2gil or 100gil, there is absolutely no reason to set price range in the millions.)

I played UO from 97 and many years ahead and i had six accounts and i never had any problems of getting a Max size house there in their Open world on all accounts.(maybe they should write to those behind Origin Systems and ask them for developer tips...) lol

Anyway, with a better housing system, they would get many more players and why they dont want that option i dont know. More players = more €/$ for them.

I had an idea before so I'll propose it again...

Instance personal houses but not FC ones.

That way, even if all the plots are taken, you can still get a personal house, but you can still see the active wards and how others decorate their home?

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Originally Posted by SamSmoot

One solution: Only one copy of each housing development, and instance the plots themselves. When you arrive, you see your own house on it's plot, and a random selection of houses on all the others. However, each plot could have hundreds of owners, so the odds of seeing players out in the neighborhood would increase.
To visit other houses, you could either just walk into the ones that are showing, or click the placard, pick another one to display there, and tour it.
Also, if you don't like the looks of your neighbor's houses, pick different ones to display on those plots, which would remain selected until you change them again.

Also, your friends could easily buy nearby houses and if everyone displayed each other's houses, you'd see them in their yards, and could just drop in any time.

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But you'd have random people sat on invisible tree houses hovering over your garden...

@ Simhqe, it is not about being lazy, they are hard working devs it is moreso that they had decided at the time to have housing given a "Community Feel". Reality is housing areas there is rarely any people around interacting.
Instanced could still be done and it would be best but i do not think they are willing to put in resources for it.

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Originally Posted by Derio

Your on Balmung. Enough said.

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You don't even need to be on Balmung to keenly feel the effects of how bad the housing system is. Any moderately populated server is going to have a housing situation that will instil frustration and exasperation.

We need instanced housing so the actions of other players cannot possibly affect your chances of getting a house. Only a system like that can make housing 100% fair and stress-free.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

But you'd have random people sat on invisible tree houses hovering over your garden...

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You would only see people on other plots if you have selected the plot to display. If it was just one of the random ones, then they would just disappear as they moved through the front gate. For your own plot, no one else would appear there unless you had grouped with them.

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Originally Posted by SamSmoot

You would only see people on other plots if you have selected the plot to display. If it was just one of the random ones, then they would just disappear as they moved through the front gate. For your own plot, no one else would appear there unless you had grouped with them.

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I propose a slight variation of your idea. I'm going to refer to RuneScape's system once more. So in RuneScape, you have the portal that leads to the (instanced) house. You get 3 options. Visit own house, visit own house in building mode (redundant for ffxiv), and visit someone else's house. If your house/person's house is at a different location, it tells you where it is (for example, trying to access mine from Rimmington would tell you my house is in Yanille). Same applies here, but replace portal with placard.

I don't think every had problem buying a house. First plot I bought was at lowest price could drop to. Think it was around 1.4mil then when shirogane opened use transfer and bought medium plot and been at for long time now. I notice a lot jp servers have lots and lots of open plots.