Instanced Housing?

One of the things I never understood after the issues we had with housing is why the devs didn't choose to go with Instance housing for any and all future housing areas. While yes, there are a lot of small houses available, there are players who after a while, would like to upgrade to a bigger house. This being impossible due to the small amount of medium and large plots available.

Now sure, over the span of time, the devs have added more wards to the existing housing areas, but that only seems to be a band-aid to an ongoing problem. Something that I feel could possibly be solved by making any future areas of housing instanced. So my question to the community is, with the possibility of Ishgard housing may be finally happening in the 5.xx series, would you all prefer for it to be like what we have now with separate wards, or would you prefer for it to be instanced with the choice of upgrading to a bigger plot over time?

They should have both. I don't really care about "showing off" my house (every ward is empty so LOL???). I'd give someone my plot if instanced housing were implemented.

The way EQ2 did housing is one of the better ways to do it. Houses are spread throughout the main cities and they're accessed via the door on the building. They're instanced.

Greatly prefer instanced housing as if it were your own zone. I think this would be great because then they could start you out really early on with basically a FFXI mog inn room, and over the course of the game and upgrading you could add floors, storage, exterior space, new features entirely, and perhaps at a certain point in the story it actually moves to an aetherial zone and then you can control the zone structure through basically creation magic (akin to something something spoiler spoiler).

Want your house in the Azim Steppe? Sure. House in Ishgard, Ul'dah lofts, or Idyllshire? Okay~ Need a floating base, yeah okay, just make sure to collect the aetherial essence of the Sea of Clouds to unlock Floating Island as a ground "base" and sky box option. Making room for gathering and /a lot/ of open world content, since you could go about and imprint/unlock content for the area. Want a chocobo farm? Yeah! Of course! Under the sea? The Kojin tribe has something for you. Final zone (of Shadowbringers) like environment, sure why not! For those not familiar with Wild Star it in essence gives players full control of objects, the skybox, and some ground terrain options and suddenly players can basically create their own zones and cities even.

Did you want to scale, float, and rotate objects however you wanted? Yes you can, why? Because it's your zone, its your creation magic, and if it's a terrible look you're not ruining the content for anyone else because they don't have to come to your space (your silly choices don't affect others, alternatively the extra creative control does allow other players to enjoy your amazing creations).

And you can still have people visit, it's not like just because you're not in a ward that you can't see each other. Could add a leaderboard with the content descriptions SE has been adding (like restaurant), people being able to visit when you're open and even have competitions weekly. Perhaps like the Ishgard system it will prevent someone from repeat winning, at least too often, so new places get a chance even if they're not "top top" (so like housing "seasons", pvp for housing lol).

Allowing players to buy new void spaces and perhaps some other features could even help monetize the system, just don't make it exclusive features please lol. Like if SE wanted they could release a Ishgard loft space "memory imprint" (for creation magic, the space being an empty area with Ishgard structure and a balcony exterior). Players could earn it part of the Ishgard restoration once the server has finished the project and after a while then it would be moved to the cash shop. A bit like seasonal, of course you don't even have to use that space you might rather choose- "Floating Island A and B base" place a house on one of the nodes of A, and a medium chocobo farm on B, decorate both floating islands, and then choose The Sea of Clouds weather pattern".

I really want lol. Houses should be a project that begins early, a project that grows with you, every single player gets one (or account at least), saved and protected if you take a break (I've heard quite a few people will not touch housing because you can lose it), and something that stretches that FF magic into your own world space in those magical FF environments. Like when you get keys to the world in single player FF games with your airship.. I feel housing should be that sort of moment.

Although I do want to say they might be able to find "instanced" and neighborhood in one bundle, such that each plot of land can be owned by multiple people and the server just sort of generates the ward based on rankings and or friends list- such that you're surrounded by your friends and the best houses. Of course you can walk up to any placard in that idea and "load" a specific house. Phasing would be interesting though lol, would need to party up with people or something to sync up- lots of conflict resolution needed (like the issues WoW had/has with phasing).

Still I think being able to have housing like Wild Star (or even like some of the other MMORPGs that let you buy locations up, like Swtor but with FFXIV decoration placement) would be better though, just because Final Fantasy games have such magical environments and you can have a much higher level of control and growth when the system is personalized. Though I'm not a fan of taking the rug from underneath people who do like the neighborhood system (and don't want to see it removed because of that). Yet personally I would sell it out in a heart beat for a different system lol (so "both" would be nice since I don't want others to suffer, but I don't think the neighborhood system provides pinnacle benefit and comes with a lot of cons).

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Originally Posted by CazzT

The way EQ2 did housing is one of the better ways to do it. Houses are spread throughout the main cities and they're accessed via the door on the building. They're instanced.

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EQ2 did decorating better, I'll agree to that - but that is the only thing I'd take from it.

I'm not a fan of one door leading to 100 instances.

If people want instanced housing, you have two options in apartments and fc rooms.

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Originally Posted by Keddera_StormMoon

If people want instanced housing, you have two options in apartments and fc rooms.

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People need to stop saying this, its stupid. You cannot crossbreed in an apartment or fc room. You do not have much space in an apartment or fc room either. They're lame and not a housing replacement. If se made them better then that argument would have weight.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

Greatly prefer instanced housing as if you're own zone. I think this would be great because then they could start you out really early on with basically a FFXI mog inn room, and over the course of the game and upgrading you could add floors, storage, exterior space, new features entirely, and perhaps at a certain point in the story it actually moves to an aetherial zone and then you can control the zone structure through basically creation magic (akin to something something spoiler spoiler).

Want your house in the Azim Steppe? Sure. House in Ishgard, Ul'dah lofts, or Idyllshire? Okay~ Need a floating base, yeah okay, just make sure to collect the aetherial essence of the Sea of Clouds to unlock Floating Island as a ground "base" and sky box option. Making room for gathering and /a lot/ of open world content, since you could go about and imprint/unlock content for the area. Want a chocobo farm? Yeah! Of course! Under the sea? The Kojin tribe has something for you. Final zone (of Shadowbringers) like environment, sure why not! For those not familiar with Wild Star basically give players full control of objects, the skybox, and some ground terrain options and suddenly players can basically create their own zones and cities even.

Did you want to scale, float, and rotate objects however you wanted? Yes you can, why? Because it's your zone, its your creation magic, and if it's a terrible look you're not ruining the content for anyone else because they don't have to come to your space (your silly choices don't affect others, alternatively the extra creative control does allow other players to enjoy your amazing creations).

And you can still have people visit, it's not like just because you're not in a ward that you can't see each other. Could add a leaderboard with the content descriptions SE has been adding (like restaurant), people being able to visit when you're open and even have competitions weekly. Perhaps like the Ishgard system it will prevent someone from repeat winning, at least too often, so new places get a chance even if they're not "top top" (so like housing "seasons", pvp for housing lol).

Allowing players to buy new void spaces and perhaps some other features could even help monetize the system, just don't make it exclusive features please lol. Like if SE wanted they could release a Ishgard loft space "memory imprint" (for creation magic, the space being an empty area with Ishgard structure and a balcony exterior). Players could earn it part of the Ishgard restoration once the server has finished the project and after a while then it would be moved to the cash shop. A bit like seasonal, of course you don't even have to use that space you might rather choose- "Floating Island A and B base" place a house on one of the nodes of A, and a medium chocobo farm on B, decorate both floating islands, and then choose The Sea of Clouds weather pattern".

I really want lol. Houses should be a project that begins early, a project that grows with you, every single player gets one (or account at least), saved and protected if you take a break (I've heard quite a few people will not touch housing because you can lose it), and something that stretches that FF magic into your own world space in those magical FF environments. Like when you get keys to the world in single player FF games with your airship.. I feel housing should be that sort of moment.

Although I do want to say they might be able to find "instanced" and neighborhood in one bundle, such that each plot of land can be owned by multiple people and the server just sort of generates the ward based on rankings and or friends list- such that you're surrounded by your friends and the best houses. Of course you can walk up to any placard in that idea and "load" a specific house.

Still I think being able to have housing like Wild Star (or even like some of the other MMORPGs that let you buy locations up, like EQ / Swtor) would be better though, just because Final Fantasy games have such magical environments and you can have such a higher level of control and growth when the system is personalized. Though I'm not a fan of taking the rug from underneath people who do like the neighborhood system (and don't want to see it removed because of that). Yet personally I would sell it out in a heart beat for a different system lol (so "both" would be nice since I don't want others to suffer, but I don't think the neighborhood system provides pinnacle benefit and comes with a lot of cons).

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I love your example. I think for those that want to show off their plots to their friends and others, there could be something like we have now with the privacy option. Also, I agree, I would like for the current housing wards to stay as like you stated, there's a number of people that like the current neighborhood housing. However, just like there are those who would probably stick with the current housing system, I believe there are quite a number of people that would move to the instanced housing area if it meant getting the size housing area they wanted and in the spot they wanted, if going by your example. With all the housing furnishings that exist in the game, it's a shame that one can't decorate their plots the way they want simply because of plot size limitations.

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Originally Posted by Keddera_StormMoon

EQ2 did decorating better, I'll agree to that - but that is the only thing I'd take from it.

I'm not a fan of one door leading to 100 instances.

If people want instanced housing, you have two options in apartments and fc rooms.

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Only that apartments and FC rooms are only instanced in a sense, but still contain the same limitations and problems that the current housing situation presents. Also like the current housing situation, apartments and FC rooms suffer from the issue of availability. While a FC House may never run out of rooms since I doubt there's a FC out there with over 200 members, but for the sake of argument, let's say there is a FC with over 200 members. What happens when there's no more space available for any member 201 and up? Same thing with apartments. I don't think any ward has had a situation with apartments filling up yet, but each ward has a set amount of apartment rooms available.

Saying that if a person wants instanced housing they should just stick with FC Rooms and/or apartments is a slap in the face to many, especially when some of the housing features and furnishings are only available to those who own actual plots. Imagine wanting to decorate the house and you can't because you don't have permission from the FC leader? You can't change any furnishings around nor can you access gardening. You're basically stuck shuffling stuff around in your little box.

When implemented, FC rooms were a band-aid/temporary measure until personal housing was made available. Again, same with apartments. They're a band-aid/temporary measure until they can figure out what to do with housing. Which is sad since the player base has long since figured out how to fix it and yet the devs choose to keep going with the neighborhood design instead.

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Originally Posted by Keddera_StormMoon

EQ2 did decorating better, I'll agree to that - but that is the only thing I'd take from it.

I'm not a fan of one door leading to 100 instances.

If people want instanced housing, you have two options in apartments and fc rooms.

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I would rather have random buildings with doors throughout the city than two in an instanced housing neighborhood which can only be accessed via an instanced building.

If I could have my druthers, I would want a few very large (think Ruby Sea zone size or bigger) neighborhoods scattered around the gaming world that you could have open houses (don't have to zone into them). Then again, I'd prefer to have no load screens at all beyond logging in. But until computers and servers can handle such insane amounts of data, we're stuck with instanced housing.

they need to make apartments expandable. kind of like swtor. Pay an extra amount for a greenhouse or balcony where you can garden....if they are not going to add pots that can crossbreed.

I'm not a computer expert by any means, but wouldn't it generate an unmanageable amount of server load to create that many separate instances in the game? The servers have had trouble in the past with instance based content as it is.

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Originally Posted by KRIPTICON

I'm not a computer expert by any means, but wouldn't it generate an unmanageable amount of server load to create that many separate instances in the game? The servers have had trouble in the past with instance based content as it is.

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instanced housing is only loaded on an as needed basis and there is nothing forcing you to go there enmasse, like a Rauban Housing Extreme. Currently there are many areas similar to that, like the rising stones, waking sands, every apartment and inn room.

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Originally Posted by savageink

instanced housing is only loaded on an as needed basis and there is nothing forcing you to go there enmasse, like a Rauban Housing Extreme. Currently there are many areas similar to that, like the rising stones, waking sands, every apartment and inn room.

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Additionally, instanced zones take up very little space, even when loaded, compared to any zone that has NPCs of any kind. The fewer NPCs present, the fewer scripts that need to be called.

On a related noted, I hope FC features like Airships/Submarines/Workshop are accessible from the Grand Companies/main cities or better still make these features with individual access.

It is really a rubbish system,that such features/content is tied to FC housing or that very few individuals have access to them(usually FC leader and inner circle).

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Originally Posted by TwistedTea

On a related noted, I hope FC features like Airships/Submarines/Workshop are accessible from the Grand Companies/main cities or better still make these features with individual access.

It is really a rubbish system,that such features/content is tied to FC housing or that very few individuals have access to them(usually FC leader and inner circle).

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Agreed, I always thought that access to the workshop features were flawed from the start. It was fine to a degree when people did Diadem 2.0, but when that stop being a thing, they pretty much became another version of Retainer Ventures. I would love to see the workshop features have more availability to them. More types of airships available such as airships from other final fantasy games, additional content added to diadem and eureka such as actual quests with rewards worth the time actually doing said content.

Another thing that an instanced houseing plot would allow is more outdoor decorations to be placed. As it is right now the housing zone loads all the decorations for 20-some houses, with just your house this would make it much better. Maybe we could even have the outside/inside be the same zone so we didn't have to load into the house.

There was post about the garden plots would not grow unless you were present in a instance housing situation as it would not be loaded unless you were there. They needed the loaded zone for garden plots to work so we have the housing system we have now. Don't know how difficult or if they could get them to work in a instance house.

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Originally Posted by Bixillarla

There was post about the garden plots would not grow unless you were present in a instance housing situation as it would not be loaded unless you were there. They needed the loaded zone for garden plots to work so we have the housing system we have now. Don't know how difficult or if they could get them to work in a instance house.

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Maybe they need to detach the weather from garden plots then. All that nets us is a different animation if we tend when it's raining. We can still grow in the flower pots perfectly fine and those are instance bound.

Instanced housing always seemed lame to me. I like the tangibility of how houses are right now.

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Originally Posted by Demetri_Delethorn

Instanced housing always seemed lame to me. I like the tangibility of how houses are right now.

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Then don't use instanced housing? What is the point of this statement?

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Originally Posted by Nuna

They should have both. I don't really care about "showing off" my house (every ward is empty so LOL???). I'd give someone my plot if instanced housing were implemented.

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Both ya, We have a fun time with our neighbors, but for those with empty wards whynot have that option.
Makes sense tbh

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Originally Posted by Demetri_Delethorn

Instanced housing always seemed lame to me. I like the tangibility of how houses are right now.

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As a house owner,every time I see statements like this regarding housing, I assume the following:

1. The people making the statement want housing to be exclusive to feel special.

2. That they want to live in a persistent neighbourhood.

3. House flippers/re-sellers who are worried that the value of the properties they own will go down.

If instanced housing is introduced, it's not like SE will do away with legacy housing.

Hopefully, with instanced housing,everyone can have a house and those who want to live in a 'feel special'/persistent neighbourhood can contest plots in the existing housing wards.

Secondly, under the current system,on populated servers, you have people with multiple personal houses(grandfathered in, etc).

And then there's the fact a single service account can have 8 FC houses.

Just 100 players with 8 FC houses: 800/4320(Total plots on a server iirc) or ~18.52 %

Adding more persistent wards will not fix the problem of house hogging.

With instanced housing, you can guarantee that every individual will get at least 1 personal and 1 FC house.

I don't mind if they add that, as long as old housing stays the way it is and FCs won't be instanced. Would be messed up to take away our houses for a change like this. People weeping about it can have the left over instance houses, I still want to show off.

Since housing areas are most of time (if not always) dead empty, instancied housing would be a very good news. A common area with main aetheryte and shops could even make housing areas more lively.

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Originally Posted by KRIPTICON

I'm not a computer expert by any means, but wouldn't it generate an unmanageable amount of server load to create that many separate instances in the game? The servers have had trouble in the past with instance based content as it is.

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It is already the case for Inn room, FC rooms and apartments. There's no reason it be a problem. The only reason is see why they keep things as they are is wards are persistent environment as cities or common maps (that sounds to me as the worst technical choice ever).

I am curious as to why everyone keeps thinking that the current housing system would be scrapped for instanced housing. The old wards would stay there and if they wanted, they could always add new ones if they wanted to the four residential areas that always exist. If anything instanced housing would be infinite giving everyone a chance of owning the size house that they want, instead of farming 30+mil only to find your dream plot taken. This has literally been the argument of the housing situation. People want their dream plot after working their butt off for it, but instead, end up having to settle for that small cottage in the middle of a ward bunch up with a bunch of other small cottages. The point is, people shouldn't have to fight for the houses they want.

You should be able to get what you worked hard for. You should not have to stop enjoying the game, just to camp a plot every time a new housing area goes live, only to possibly miss out on it and have to wait another year or two or three for more wards to be added.

Also, each new expansion brings in an influx of new players, with Shadowbringers probably bringing in the most with all the marketing they did. I can only imagine how some of them may possibly feel, seeing these beautiful housing areas, but having to settle for one of the few small plots that apparently no one wanted or having to settle for an apartment, limiting what you can do with housing.

After owning a house for several months, I realised that I actually preferred my apartment.
1. I wasn't obligated to visit my apartment just to hold onto it, because new apartments will appear if they fill up (which means if I can't afford to play the game for a little while, I'll still have my apartment to go back to).
2. I really didn't need more than one floor as I like making lofts (I like lofts IRL, too)
3. Someone could teleport to my apartment just as easily as they could teleport to my house, which is great.


The only thing I miss about owning a house is the landscaping. So, if they could just give us another door in the back of the apartment, so there's like this little patio/balcony space you could treat like a garden, I would be completely satisfied.



Though, I think it'd be cool if there were different sized apartments/guild halls for a person's personal preferences and/or needs. Like, in .hack//GU, to visit yours or a friend's guildhall, you had to speak with the gatekeeper and select that guildhall's @home. The @homes varied in sizes and outlets (like our version of a workshop for higher tiered guildhalls), too. I don't think instanced housing is a bad idea.


I like having neighbours. Back when wards were more lively and people actually hung out in them, it was a blast. My only worry is that will never happen again with instanced housing (but then it's not happening now so...).

Rather than changing the housing system, I'd rather they expanded Apartments.

Give the option for a Duplex Apartment (size of a small house) and a Penthouse Apartment (size of a medium house).
They'd be instanced, alternatives to owning a full house.

Then, add in Allotments for those who want a garden. (this may be something we're getting in the future?)
Separate, instanced gardens.

Housing can still exist as it is, tailored more for FC's than individuals, but for those who just want their space and functionality, there's cheaper, hassle-free, instanced alternatives.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Rather than changing the housing system, I'd rather they expanded Apartments.

Give the option for a Duplex Apartment (size of a small house) and a Penthouse Apartment (size of a medium house).
They'd be instanced, alternatives to owning a full house.

Then, add in Allotments for those who want a garden. (this may be something we're getting in the future?)
Separate, instanced gardens.

Housing can still exist as it is, tailored more for FC's than individuals, but for those who just want their space and functionality, there's cheaper, hassle-free, instanced alternatives.

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I would be down for something like that. I actually forgot for a moment that you can't lose your apartment. But an expansion on apartments would definitely be nice and most likely warranted.

So a quick question to everyone?

We know that at some point during the 5.xx series we'll be tasked with helping with the restoration of Ishgard, much like how we helped restore The Doman Enclave. The difference being that from what we were told, Ishgard housing may become available sometime after restoration is complete. I'm curious if the current housing system would work with something like that and think it would be unfair to those who actually contributed to the restoration if they didn't at the least get a house of some sorts there.

What would be the best way for the devs to handle that?

The best solutions would be to expand inn rooms, add a little garden terrace to them, or expand apartments to allow more furniture to be placed there. Houses would still be desirable, but it would give people more options and opportunities.

I really like housing wards as they are, but can understand the frustration for people on super busy servers with 0 housing available.

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Originally Posted by Evogolist

So a quick question to everyone?

We know that at some point during the 5.xx series we'll be tasked with helping with the restoration of Ishgard, much like how we helped restore The Doman Enclave. The difference being that from what we were told, Ishgard housing may become available sometime after restoration is complete. I'm curious if the current housing system would work with something like that and think it would be unfair to those who actually contributed to the restoration if they didn't at the least get a house of some sorts there.

What would be the best way for the devs to handle that?

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We haven't been directly told Ishgard housing is coming at all. The restoration effort is supposed to come with 5.1 unless they're required to push it back. The restoration effort was described as server wide and you'll supposedly be able to earn rewards from contributions. I was surprised they'd make the restoration server wide and I hope players coming in later still get to experience the transformation. I think if Ishgard housing is released it will likely still be a separate pre-announced opening, it will be the usual ward system, people will be reselling the larger plots for hundreds of millions of gil immediately after and the forum will blow up with disappointed housing enthusiasts that didn't get a plot because they got stuck in server queue or kicked from game just before they could get through the placard menu.

I honestly don't think there's a best way for the devs to handle the system they've created. It started off strangling itself when it was on paper. It has been and always will be a supply problem between general supply, district, specific plot locations and size. None of that should be an issue in a digital environment, but they artificially created and continued with that issue from the start. Yoshi was asked in one of the interviews what one thing he'd do differently was and his response was housing. It was a simple response, but I personally interpret it as kind of a "We're stuck with this now" response.

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Originally Posted by Dustytome

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They can keep some wards as they are and add an instancied housing system.

From my point of view :

1. The lore is not a problem : airship and floating islands already provide solutions.
2. The technics? FC rooms, Inn room, apartments are already here. They could even adapt the airships they already designed for the workshop.
3. The design and the 3D modelisation are mostly the remaining part but since designers always do several creations and 3D models can be adapted, I don't believe it can be a problem : solving 3D issues on glamours for races/genders compatibility is a bigger work.
4. The main "pure" creation would be some kind of central aetheryte and its environment : shops and so.

The housing problems are known for a few years now, if they wanted they could solve it. Let's see if Ishgard and Crystarium reveal some surprises. But I don't make myself illusions. And considering their creations for the mog station, the matters of time and money sounds like bad excuse.

All and each ward could be instanced. 3 instances each. Tripling the number of plots and people with houses.

I can't see any other solution in the long term for the housing big issue.

In this, every time you teleport to your house you will go to the instance that it is. And when you need to decide to which ward you want to go, you then choose in each instance of that especific ward you wanna go.

After some time, let's say 2 to 3 years, they could implement more 2 or 3 instances for each ward again.

I guess when they created the ward system they didn't thought that this game would get so many players. When 2.0 launched they had a big issue of congestion on the servers 'cause there are spaces for only 5000 characters per server (hahaha). They had to attend to the issue by creating more space in each server in the first week.

i think they never thought that this game would be such a success as it is nowadays and the housing system went to a big wrong because of the same population problem and lack of future vision...

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Originally Posted by Eldevern

1. The lore is not a problem : airship and floating islands already provide solutions.

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I don't want to spoil anything but for the lore I think we are blazing green light- we are ready for take off, lets do this boisssss lol.

I tried to allude to it without spelling things out in my first post but given our airships and floating islands as you said, given just saying "mother crystal gave us a space", and given something else that I'm dancing on top of but not out right saying because spoils... There isn't a lore wall in any way to instanced housing (our game isn't that "physical" and grounded like that anyways, so even if we didn't have some of the above I'm sure we could find a reason lol.. but we do have the above so.. yeah :D).

The real wall is just money and time :(. The money and time required to develop systems and adjust current systems to make it so "it just works". Which could be substantial in both departments, unfortunately.

I'd hope SE could find some ways to offset the cost by the fact that if EVERYONE has a house then there would be a lot more purchases from their shop for missed out seasonal(s), and they might be able to sell extra space for those who wanted it. Like I imagine the RP community might want to create a network of instances, if the system is creative enough especially- like if someone wanted to extend Ala Mhigo, attempt to make a Castrum (Garlean base), or even a Garlean Warship (though unless SE provides enough creative objects that sounds rather daunting).

Of course if you let people buy more space then it would loop right back into buying more items from the shop, so that'd be a nice loop. Obviously it's not a money guarantee but just trying to offer the idea that it might be able to pay itself off literally given time but also figuratively in that good will of going from a limited system to one that can handle it all (location, size, quantity, creativity, and for those who just can't live without a neighorhood there would probably be a lot more open slots since I strongly imagine most would switch to the more powerful system).

A bit of a tangent but on the topic of airships I actually had thought of it being a sort of less memory intensive "solution" for housing for players who didn't have one, and also for players who didn't want to decorate in such high detail but wanted some control still. Like if you imagine in Skyrim and some other games you buy upgrades to your house that change it's theme and tier but the designers of the game basically decorated it for you (like planning your wedding with a good wedding planner or something). Of course I'd love full control airships too, just thought if SE is absolutely adamant on "can't be done, we can't get everyone their own house, our architecture just can't do it" then maybe a sort of WoW Garrison Airship kind of deal would work out well enough (WoW's Garrison is lower memory and customization to our houses too, though definitely bigger in area since it's a sort of zone space). Made a fairly big "if memory is an issue MAYBE we can have airships for FC and players, for the awesome nostalgia, new unique features, and to act as a home for those without homes": here.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Rather than changing the housing system, I'd rather they expanded Apartments.

Give the option for a Duplex Apartment (size of a small house) and a Penthouse Apartment (size of a medium house).
They'd be instanced, alternatives to owning a full house.

Then, add in Allotments for those who want a garden. (this may be something we're getting in the future?)
Separate, instanced gardens.

Housing can still exist as it is, tailored more for FC's than individuals, but for those who just want their space and functionality, there's cheaper, hassle-free, instanced alternatives.

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Originally Posted by Hazmick

The best solutions would be to expand inn rooms, add a little garden terrace to them, or expand apartments to allow more furniture to be placed there. Houses would still be desirable, but it would give people more options and opportunities.

I really like housing wards as they are, but can understand the frustration for people on super busy servers with 0 housing available.

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I think these are more reasonable solutions, since it'd take less effort (still effort of course, it's not free lol). But at the point of expanding and adding to an instanced system, like apartments, then I'd hope they go wild and not even attempt to keep the heavily limited neighborhood system as the pinnacle of the housing systems.

So I think this is more realistic but I also hope they go far beyond this lol. The limitations in locations and strict controls required are unwanted (imo), and if you want to be limited but near other people then be my guest (starts singing Disney song. . . .), but I also hope another system comes by and makes it pale in comparison.

SE has so many awesome locations and the rate and restrictions that the ward system requires just makes me a bit sad (probably the only remaining thing in FFXIV that just as me go "but y tho /queue frowny face"). I mean in terms of areas you could be in with your housing.. you could almost literally take the Azim Steppe floating platform remove all buildings and then make the area on the platform an area players can put objects on. That castle keep being an optional building players could buy or something. The rest of the "zone" being a backdrop for your living space. That'd be amazing! The near limitless possibilities, handcuffed by our current system.

I'd take an apartment upgrade because I think it could help a lot with the quantity issues people are having (and is more likely lol), but I believe it misses a huge potential upgrade to the housing system- so I personally don't think it's best or most desirable (at least if that was the end point goal, it could act as a stepping stone certainly).

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Originally Posted by Shougun

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SE has so many awesome locations and the rate and restrictions that the ward system requires just makes me a bit sad (probably the only remaining thing in FFXIV that just as me go "but y tho"). I mean in terms of areas you could be in with your housing.. you could almost literally take the Azim Steppe floating platform remove all buildings and then make the area on the platform an area players can put objects on. That castle keep being an optional building players could buy or something. The rest of the "zone" being a backdrop for your living space. That'd be amazing! The near limitless possibilities, handcuffed by our current system.

I'd take an apartment upgrade because I think it could help a lot with the quantity issues people are having but I believe it misses a huge potential upgrade to the housing system, so I personally don't think it's best or most desirable.

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Totally agree! There is an area close to Hawthorne Hut (with a big closed gate) that could be an entrance to a new housing area as well.

It's not hard for them to create more new housing places in already existing areas. What about one of those empty villages near Ishgard (after the end of the thing with the big flying things - talking like that to avoid spoilers). Some places there could become a cold but cozy village for adventurers...

The same goes for some big (and useless) areas in HW. Just make an entrance and when you click on it you will get some wards to go (or not at all). They could create subterranean areas, snowy ones, islands, and so on... just use what we already have!

They don't need to create more only in new maps. There are no rules to follow about this obligation to this 'avant-garde' of new maps.

I'm sort of surprised they didn't make the Sea of Clouds into an instanced housing zone, like the Sky Pirates. Everybody can buy their own floating rock. If they wanted to get fancy, they could populate the zone with houses from your friend list.

Wildstar housing system was one of the best system i saw in mmo, if they could implement the same or similar system to the game, that would be awesome.

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Originally Posted by Dustytome

We haven't been directly told Ishgard housing is coming at all. The restoration effort is supposed to come with 5.1 unless they're required to push it back. The restoration effort was described as server wide and you'll supposedly be able to earn rewards from contributions. I was surprised they'd make the restoration server wide and I hope players coming in later still get to experience the transformation. I think if Ishgard housing is released it will likely still be a separate pre-announced opening, it will be the usual ward system, people will be reselling the larger plots for hundreds of millions of gil immediately after and the forum will blow up with disappointed housing enthusiasts that didn't get a plot because they got stuck in server queue or kicked from game just before they could get through the placard menu.

I honestly don't think there's a best way for the devs to handle the system they've created. It started off strangling itself when it was on paper. It has been and always will be a supply problem between general supply, district, specific plot locations and size. None of that should be an issue in a digital environment, but they artificially created and continued with that issue from the start. Yoshi was asked in one of the interviews what one thing he'd do differently was and his response was housing. It was a simple response, but I personally interpret it as kind of a "We're stuck with this now" response.

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I remember hearing them, either doing the fan-fest mention something something about the possibility of housing eventually being tied to the restoration effort, but I could be wrong as I tend to cycle through certain Youtubers to get a translation of the live letters. So I may have heard it from one of them, which would mean they put out wrong and false information. So my apologies for the assumption if I'm wrong.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

I'd hope SE could find some ways to offset the cost by the fact that if EVERYONE has a house then there would be a lot more purchases from their shop for missed out seasonal(s), and they might be able to sell extra space for those who wanted it. Like I imagine the RP community might want to create a network of instances, if the system is creative enough especially- like if someone wanted to extend Ala Mhigo, attempt to make a Castrum (Garlean base), or even a Garlean Warship (though unless SE provides enough creative objects that sounds rather daunting).

Of course if you let people buy more space then it would loop right back into buying more items from the shop, so that'd be a nice loop. Obviously it's not a money guarantee but just trying to offer the idea that it might be able to pay itself off literally given time but also figuratively in that good will of going from a limited system to one that can handle it all (location, size, quantity, creativity, and for those who just can't live without a neighorhood there would probably be a lot more open slots since I strongly imagine most would switch to the more powerful system).

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Really like this idea. Everyone wins and SE possibly gets additional revenue.

Your thread is amazing and kudos for putting so much thought into it :D :

Airship Content, Bringing Back the Nostalgia & Maybe a Feasible "House" for All(+FC)