The current housing situation...

It's no secret people are upset. It remains to be reiterated that this system is just as trash as the old one. SE chose to release this system where FC's have an even greater chance at getting a plot-- despite the obvious competition with other Companies. Now, people who were fortunate enough to win a plot who previously owned one in an FC ward leaves another open space for FC's exclusively. How on earth is the current ratio fair to personal buyers?

On top of this, you now have to stew until Wed. to even *attempt* to purchase another. I'm almost at the point where I would rather have the placard system back, than having to wait another 7 days for my next attempt. Bugs not-withstanding, I'm just not a fan of how they implemented this. I was all for a lottery system to free up time away from the placard. But, this is a little much. Perhaps a 5 day cycle per period would make more sense? Even with busy schedules, it's not impossible for someone to log in within a span of 48-72 hours or so just to click a few buttons to join a lotto.

As a Roleplayer, there is no way in any amount of Hells my character will *ever* own an island to themselves. If the current plan is to make "Stardew Fantasy" instanced housing to save the personal housing situation. It leaves much to be desired in how I can really express my character, let alone enjoy my time. I absolutely love the neighborhood aesthetic to the housing system, and would much prefer to see other people enjoying is just as well.

This post is not meant to whine, or "Karen." But, simply express my-- and others frustrations. I've put years into this game, and still enjoy it despite the shortcomings. Literally just want to see it do better at this obvious peak in it's lifespan. If devs are going to pull a Blizzard and introduce a slew of new systems this Xpac. Please, actually get community feedback before rolling out something as substantial, and sensitive as player housing. Yes, it's fluff content. But, it's a part of the game so many people including myself are passionate about.

If you as a player refuse to use the island sanctuary because it does not fit your role play that's on you, housing is not ideal atm but at least the sanctuary is something? I really really hope it is as close to instanced housing as we can get but I am not holding my breathe.

I am sad that so many have faced the bugs and I hope the ones who have kept their money in can get their bids counted with a fix, I agree too many wards were given to FC's but I think they did that so large groups of players would get more of the large houses and then they open up what is left to private buyers. That said, we all know most FC houses are simply a gathering place to TP to and it is still basically a private house for the FC master. It's the whole reason I had to go and make an FC to experience the sub/airship content, because every single FC I was in only had 2-3 people decorating and doing the subs. If you want the full housing experience (including subs) you need your own FC house. If you don't care for subs you still need your own house.

Would love for them to add med/large apartments.. people could get really creative with just one big square or rectangular room to decorate and turn into really nice flats.

@Brignadalee (messed up the quote)

To be entirely honest, the quick and easy TLDR is :

You get one chance at a house, 3 times a month, since every entire cycle is 9 days. Which is absolutely pathetic, especially when you count the amount of people you are agaisnt for said plots, you basically barely stand a chance if at all, and this is not even the worst of it, there was a Shirogane plot on NA that had over 200 tickets on it, and take in mind that was for a small Shirogane 44, a plot that is not anywhere to be particularly desired for any special reason, you are basically going agaisnt an army and stand no chance at all.

The placard camping was annoying, yes, the best system was instant relo, you start small, with a goblet house, and then you "upgrade" with instant relo, takes a few days or so, maybe even weeks, but at least its not as RNG as this system is, and in particular not as unfair.

The personal/fc ratio is absolutely abysmal as well and I hope they are ashamed of it, there is absolutely no way there is a need for 18 wards for fc's only. 12/12 or 6 for fc's and 18 for personals seem a lot more fair.

See the apartment idea I think would be a wonderful addition to the game! I absolutely would throw down gil for a medium apartment. The biggest complaints about housing were coming from personal buyers, not FC's. It's just frustrating to see a system like this roll out. Where personal buyers are being pushed further on to the back burner after being burned so many times prior.

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Originally Posted by Brignadalee

See the apartment idea I think would be a wonderful addition to the game! I absolutely would throw down gil for a medium apartment. The biggest complaints about housing were coming from personal buyers, not FC's. It's just frustrating to see a system like this roll out. Where personal buyers are being pushed further on to the back burner after being burned so many times prior.

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Perhaps maybe an apartment idea would work, adding some sort of "personal" balcony area, that gets bigger depending on the size of the apartment, so you can still have your little customizable area even in the outside via an outside garden/balcony, while it still being instanced.

Have we even heard much about the island sanctuary? So far the only trait it seems to satisfy is gardening. And I'm so cynical I bet they'll release entirely different seeds that will only grow in island sanctuary gardens to make sure housing still has the monopoly on crossbreeding.

I really feel the the dev team has always wanted the wards to be for FCs. After all when they first launched no one could buy a personal house (without a shell FC) until after several months and a whole lot of begging. Part of this is a I think because they want the wards to feel alive and I will say back when my FC had a house and the wards were FC only I did run into my neighbors (and FC members) far more often.

That said I completely get the desire for a personal house. I own a small and lost my bid for a house in Ishgard today. Ishgard is a place I've wanted to have a house in since HW so it is disappointing but at least the plot I bid on went to someone and not bid 0.

I really wish they would just introduce instanced housing for personals. Upgrading the apartments to have larger sizes would be something but I like decorating the outside of houses as much as the inside. I understand that some individual buyers want to live in the wards but I think if they did a full and developed personal housing system that the demand for personal housing in the wards would decrease and they would naturally over time become more FC orientated. If I could have my own instanced medium or large with a garden to decorate and pick the 'zone' for ala Genshin Impact's housing (although it doesn't have to be that large of a zone) I'd be happy to give up my ward house. Tbh I'm not sure why they are so resistant to the idea of instanced housing.

SE tried to fix 1 problem but made another problem thst is much bigger. FCs that have hoarded money to buy multiple tickets.. I have waited since the first rumor of ishgard housing. Saving my gil to buy an FC house. I get my chance only to lose to an FC that dropped 200million in tickets for the house. So now my second option is a plot that has opened up in another district vs all the players that lost in the auction so my chance went from slim to impossible.. I understand the FCFS system was unfair to those at work during those times etc etc. However now this system is making the grind not worth it. You grind for the gil to afford housing just to get a chance to get it at a "fair" chance provided an FC isn't buying multiple tickets for it. They seriously need to rethink the system. Reapproach the whole thing. I would be perfectly happy with instanced housing. Or wards that are auction and wards that are fcfs. Or a whole system all together.. either way the problem of not enough housing for the player base will always be the biggest issue. Not what's "fair" for the players because what is fair would be being able to get housing for the game you pay monthly for.

I'll write it here

I've owned a Large Personal in the mist since HW

I'm still an advocate for burning it all down

Delay Island Sanctuary if necessary and make it instance housing with an upgradeable plot (and allow downgrades if players so choose too)
grandfather in existing plot sizes to the Island Sanctuary

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Originally Posted by Rowde

I'll write it here

I've owned a Large Personal in the mist since HW

I'm still an advocate for burning it all down

Delay Island Sanctuary if necessary and make it instance housing with an upgradeable plot (and allow downgrades if players so choose too)
grandfather in existing plot sizes to the Island Sanctuary

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If you're an advocate for burning it down make a mp4 of you demolishing your house then.

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Originally Posted by Stormpeaks

@Brignadalee (messed up the quote)

To be entirely honest, the quick and easy TLDR is :

You get one chance at a house, 3 times a month, since every entire cycle is 9 days. Which is absolutely pathetic, especially when you count the amount of people you are agaisnt for said plots, you basically barely stand a chance if at all, and this is not even the worst of it, there was a Shirogane plot on NA that had over 200 tickets on it, and take in mind that was for a small Shirogane 44, a plot that is not anywhere to be particularly desired for any special reason, you are basically going agaisnt an army and stand no chance at all.

The placard camping was annoying, yes, the best system was instant relo, you start small, with a goblet house, and then you "upgrade" with instant relo, takes a few days or so, maybe even weeks, but at least its not as RNG as this system is, and in particular not as unfair.

The personal/fc ratio is absolutely abysmal as well and I hope they are ashamed of it, there is absolutely no way there is a need for 18 wards for fc's only. 12/12 or 6 for fc's and 18 for personals seem a lot more fair.

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Thats not a "best" system because it screws over people that had no houses, that others could snipe their desired plot via relocation.

A MUCH shorter lotto cycle could be the best system.

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Originally Posted by localareanetwork

If you're an advocate for burning it down make a mp4 of you demolishing your house then.

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This is about as stupid as the argument "If you're for raising taxes on the rich, why don't you just give all your money to the government now?"

Systemic change is necessary. A handful of charitable players demolishing their houses is going to solve less than 1% of the issue.

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Originally Posted by localareanetwork

If you're an advocate for burning it down make a mp4 of you demolishing your house then.

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I didn't say I was fine with not having a house at all
I'm fine with them deleting Wards all together and replacing them with an instanced housing system where my large plot would get grandfather'd in though

Wards don't really feel alive to me too often, it's usually during player-driven events where there's any life pouring into one. And this aspect can still be retained by placing all personal houses into an instance, while allowing Free Companies to populate the Ward itself. Additionally, I think the fact that only a small minority of the playerbase can participate in the housing system is a larger issue for features that go under development than Lively Neighborhoods (that, to be frank, are never lively unless, again, there's an active FC nearby).

Housing in XIV draws a lot of attention, and does feel like it should be a feature players can participate in without it being limited in supply or as massive of a headache as it is now. The times I have owned houses in game, I loved them -- I'm not as creative or talented at decorating as a lot of folks I know, but it was a nice little thing to pass time with and express myself in my own way in game. That, and it was kind of nice to have a spot to afk with music I liked, being online if someone I knew wanted to do something, while just working on something else. It's a really interesting, fun system and it's an utter shame that so few can actually participate in it.

A lot of Free to Play MMO's, regardless of what one thinks of the overall quality of those titles, have housing systems where everyone can easily participate in them. It's easy to get a house, it's easy to decorate it and (the systems like BDO's, or New World's) do allow you to feel as if your own little instanced house is out in the world itself (not perfect, mind, but at least you can interface with the system lmao). There's other titles, like Wildstar, that did have instanced housing with incredible levels of customization and you'd walk up to a console that'd open a menu and you could browse the homes that were open (*not unlike apartments in XIV) and then port to one and check it out.

And there's multifarious other games with their systems that do work that should be considered and looked at, IMO.

Right now what we have is barely better than what Aion Online had (it's basically the same, actually. Except Aion Online's housing had /actual/ bidding). Very few people could interface with the system, those who could acted as if it was a status symbol to be able to do so and acted as if those who wanted to have fun with the digital house in a MMO that's blatantly designed around the idea of inhabiting a world was an entitled person who didn't deserve the commodities of a... digital... video game... house.

And, honestly, as any player I tend to wonder what is the point for continuing development on a feature so few can actually participate in? If it's taking away from, potentially, other features or systems that everyone might be able to interface with? What's the point of rewarding housing items for events, when most people can't really use them, which renders the reward for those players useless and meaningless? Why argue for the system to only allow an arbitrary amount of players into it? Who does that really benefit?

If it were possible to maintain the Wards as they are, but everyone could have a house in game if they desired one -- I'd be fine. But that's not the reality, and it's very obvious it won't become one. So, I'd much prefer if the majority of the playerbase could have fun with the system, rather than only what amounts to a handful of players at the end of the day. Plus, the more players involved, the more creative the homes and the more fun it'd be to go around checking open ones out to see what people went with. And, honestly, it'd probably also benefit people who do the interior designing for other players since there's suddenly a huge surge in potential demand for that kind of help.

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Originally Posted by Stormpeaks

@Brignadalee (messed up the quote)

The placard camping was annoying, yes, the best system was instant relo, you start small, with a goblet house, and then you "upgrade" with instant relo, takes a few days or so, maybe even weeks, but at least its not as RNG as this system is, and in particular not as unfair.

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I’d take a lottery any time over the previous system. Not everyone can camp for hours clicking a panel. Many have professional and family obligations.

As for medium and big houses, people were making transactions with real money via third party sites, sometimes over $1k. That was plain wrong. No reason everyone wouldn’t have access to medium and big houses if they’ve raised sufficient gils.

After they’ve fixed their coding for the draws, they should shorten the bidding period to something like 2 days max as the current delay is way too long. The split between Fcs and private housing is also not adequate.

In the end though, the main problem is that the number of available houses is way too low (Most NA and European servers also have about twice the population of JP servers) and the best would be instanced housing. At least they should add a garden area to apartments.

The one thing that made me feel really sad is having to walk up to the placard to redeem my gil. House already build so you know you lost walking up to it.

In my area most if not every plot had <10 bids on it (private). This just shows a little more effort to create more wards, including existing locations would come a long way.

Congratulations to winners, make it a beautiful home!

Housing no matter what game you play has it's pros and cons, obviously. As someone who grew up with the development of this sort of system back in Ultima Online's days. I quickly fell in love with the concept. It's execution, however, unfortunately varies depending on where you go. As a system, I'd die on that hill that Housing is necessary to make an MMO feel more alive. To personalize, and have your own little pocket.

As much as I would prefer to keep the neighborhood system. There also comes a time where we weigh the needs of many over the few. I'm absolutely willing to compromise with instanced housing at this point, if it meant everyone could get an Ishgard house of their liking. The current direction is worrisome, as it clearly places more emphasis on FCs, rather than the biggest complaints that were personal housing.
If you're going to have both systems in a sense, then at least make that system available for more than just an island out in the middle of nowhere. Don't make arbitrary ratios between the two buyer groups for the neighborhood homes that were already plagued with situations like Mateus Goblet. Split it down the middle, and let's move on with this apparent bug.

This is very well put and I agree 100%

Update on feedback regarding the current lotto situation
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...9ca96a154cef76

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Originally Posted by Brignadalee

If the current plan is to make "Stardew Fantasy" instanced housing to save the personal housing situation. It leaves much to be desired in how I can really express my character, let alone enjoy my time. I absolutely love the neighborhood aesthetic to the housing system, and would much prefer to see other people enjoying is just as well.

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1) Island Sanctuaries are not going to be instanced housing. If they were going to perform that function, they would have announced it over a year ago in order to stem the tide of rightfully-angry people. I suspect theyre going to be something like a Golden Saucer full of minigames. At worst, it might be like Doman Reconstruction.

2) The "neighborhood aesthetic" excuse is really uncompelling as a reason not to have instanced housing. I've had both a FC and a personal house over the past 8 years, and the number of people I've seen in either ward, total, is probably less than 100. That's over 8 years. "Neighborhood aesthetic" is something a small amount of people talk about and even fewer people actually make happen.

I'm sad to see this launch is such a poopshow. Such Devastation! Hard to believe they could mess up a number generator, but with SE and Housing, anything goes. :(