How do People Know Whenever there's a new Lottery?

No lodestone update saying when this happens.

Yet many people just magically happen to know whenever the lotto happens. And it's only when it's almost or already too late that they will even mention it.

Is there some secret discord group that has figured out when the lotto happens and are just keeping it secret to reduce competition? Where are you people finding this out?

CTRL+U > Estate Tab

It tells you what periods (entry/results) are in progress. This is one suggested I had for SE though. I personally feel that there should be an actually TIMER, just like they have on the Individual tab.

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Originally Posted by mauiestlauiest

CTRL+U > Estate Tab

It tells you what periods (entry/results) are in progress. This is one suggested I had for SE though. I personally feel that there should be an actually TIMER, just like they have on the Individual tab.

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Why in the hell would anyone think to do this?

"Bro just push some arbitrary combination of keyboard keys and you'll find this hidden UI that the game never explain or even alluded to existing that tells you the actual information on when a new lotto happens"

And surely the reason other players don't go out of their way to make this information more common knowledge, and only talk about the latest lottery when it's already too late to bid, is CERTAINLY not to reduce potential competition for houses. Surely.

It's not necessarily hidden. I only gave you the shortcut to get to it. It's the Timers tab, and it shows you the timer for most things in the game. In this game, you kind of have to figure things out as you play, something that is frustrating but "encourages community". TBH if you haven't played long enough to figure this sorta stuff out, do you really need a house? (sarcasm of course).

But yeah, it's a very common and frequently used feature for most players.

https://i.imgur.com/nibNqXL.png

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

And surely the reason other players don't go out of their way to make this information more common knowledge, and only talk about the latest lottery when it's already too late to bid, is CERTAINLY not to reduce potential competition for houses. Surely.

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TBH if you just ask any player, they'll tell you. It's really not a matter of hiding it. Most players in this game are really nice and helpful, if you just /shout "Hey, when is the next lottery period" someone will tell you (tbh a lot of players in the game love having the correct answer for everything so it won't take you long to find an answer)

But that's besides the point. I definitely wouldn't blame other players, I would blame Square Enix for their shortcomings in not providing a detailed timer for the different lotto periods.

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Originally Posted by mauiestlauiest

*snip*

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It's literally hidden. There is nothing the game does to inform you of this feature before or after you've unlocked access to housing districts.

"In this game, you kind of have to figure things out as you play"

No that's having a critical source of information be hidden and made impossible to find out on your own other than by sheer accident

"something that is frustrating but "encourages community"

What community? Disparate discord cliques are not a community

"TBH if you haven't played long enough to figure this sorta stuff out, do you really need a house? (sarcasm of course)."

xD XD XD XD xD "HAHAHAHAHAHA you didn't know about the thing that is critical to finding out when a new lottery starts, which only me and other cliques know about but kept to ourselves to avoid competition and could never have figured out yourself through normal means HAHAHAHAHA" xD XD XD XD XD XD XD

"But yeah, it's a very common and frequently used feature for most players."

I severely doubt this.

I'm reminded of why I don't talk to anyone in this game.

Jesus christ, relax. You should not be getting this worked up over someone trying to help you. Let's break this down.

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

It's literally hidden. There is nothing the game does to inform you of this feature before or after you've unlocked access to housing districts. No that's having a critical source of information be hidden and made impossible to find out on your own other than by sheer accident

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Hmm... wow. I can't believe Square Enix totally didn't tell us where to find the Estate tab and how to figure out what period the lottery was in when they first revealed information on the lottery....

OH WAIT! They actually did.

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

What community? Disparate discord cliques are not a community

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I mean are you really just upset you're not in a discord housing community? If you just simply google "FFXIV Housing Discord" there are several options you have to join, and all of them will be talking about the lottery. Anyways, "disparate discord cliques are not a community", absolutely not what I was saying. There are plenty of things in this game I have yet to figure out, that SE has not written down anywhere. How do you think people figure things out? They just ask people in major cities or even send /tells to ask questions. It's not hard. Also... isn't this a community as well? Why are you so stuck on discord cliques?

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

xD XD XD XD xD "HAHAHAHAHAHA you didn't know about the thing that is critical to finding out when a new lottery starts, which only me and other cliques know about but kept to ourselves to avoid competition and could never have figured out yourself through normal means HAHAHAHAHA" xD XD XD XD XD XD XD

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LOL. Someone doesn't understand what sarcasm is, which I literally indicated by saying "(sarcasm of course)". I was teasing the whole housing forum attitude that most people have when new players ask questions but... go off....

Anyways, I have to ask every single time when the next lottery period is. It's not just you. I literally said that this is Square Enix's problem and they should fix that. It shouldn't be this way, but it is at the moment.

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

I severely doubt this.

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You doubt that most people use the Timers feature??? Okay...

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

I'm reminded of why I don't talk to anyone in this game.

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And this is probably why you don't know things that a lot of players know. I know most of what I know simply by /shout or asking other players for help, and not assuming they're all in a secret clique, conspiring against "woe is me".

All of what I said aside, good luck on your next bid.

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Originally Posted by mauiestlauiest

[...]In this game, you kind of have to figure things out as you play, something that is frustrating but "encourages community". [...]

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Nice one. The game just doesn't tell you anything. Markers? Mechanics? Crystalline Conflict? Google it! So much has been done by the community or is only on websites like the Lodestone. Also the "timer" only tells you if a lottery is active or not. NOT the TIMER. They really screwed this one up.

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Originally Posted by BRVV

Nice one. The game just doesn't tell you anything. Markers? Mechanics? Crystalline Conflict? Google it! So much has been done by the community or is only on websites like the Lodestone. Also the "timer" only tells you if a lottery is active or not. NOT the TIMER. They really screwed this one up.

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I know, it's upsetting and embarrassing. I was trying to learn Eureka and had to ask questions every 5 seconds because the game quite LITERALLY says "Most of the stuff in Eureka you have to figure out! Ask other players! F you!" The reason I put "encourages community" in quotes, is because it's not me saying this, it's Square Enix.

One of my biggest gripes when I started back playing again, was that I had like 20 different tabs open, every ffxiv wiki site I could think of, reddit threads, random off-shoot websites... It's like, how am I supposed to know ANYTHING? Square Enix does this on purpose. Because when people ask questions or communicate with other players, they make friends. And when they make friends, they want to play more. And when they want to play more... they have to spend $$$. I agree with everyone here, I was just trying to explain the why and the how, not that I agree with it. Just that that's how it is.

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Originally Posted by mauiestlauiest

I know, it's upsetting and embarrassing. I was trying to learn Eureka and had to ask questions every 5 seconds because the game quite LITERALLY says "Most of the stuff in Eureka you have to figure out! Ask other players! F you!" The reason I put "encourages community" in quotes, is because it's not me saying this, it's Square Enix.

One of my biggest gripes when I started back playing again, was that I had like 20 different tabs open, every ffxiv wiki site I could think of, reddit threads, random off-shoot websites... It's like, how am I supposed to know ANYTHING? Square Enix does this on purpose. Because when people ask questions or communicate with other players, they make friends. And when they make friends, they want to play more. And when they want to play more... they have to spend $$$. I agree with everyone here, I was just trying to explain the why and the how, not that I agree with it. Just that that's how it is.

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They did, as you showed above, show the estate tab, but that was 4 months ago. On a single lodestone post. How many lodestone updates have their been? And the information is just buried within one from several months back. That's absurd

And yes I'm very familiar with having to glean information from other players to know how something in this game works when it should be explained or at least hinted at. It's the only reason I figured out how to properly do Fishing Expeditions and rack up maximum points. People have managed to figure out the exact right kind of bait, for the exact right zones, for triggering Spectral. How? Trial and error, which is stupid. There is no other way anyone could've found that out.

While the idea of witholding information for players to figure out things amongst eachother may seem like a neat idea in theory, in practice, what happens is a handful of players will go full sweaty mode and figure everything out and then post that information on some community resource. That's not exactly social, it's relying on a handful of players with far more time and will than most players to figure out what should be actually reasonably able to be understood via throwing shit at a wall until something eventually sticks, no matter how long that takes. It's horrendous game design and shouldn't be a thing.

If you walk to the placard of an empty plot, it'll tell you exact times and current phase. It's unlikely that the cycle is going to change and especially not unannounced. The cycle just silently ran in the background while the winner 0 bug was being fixed.

Next housing lottery starts 19th August 15:00 UTC. Given that data point you can extrapolate all further times.

I also hope they'll add the actual phase end times to the timer menu which is the place I expect to find times in.

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Originally Posted by Ilisidi

If you walk to the placard of an empty plot, it'll tell you exact times and current phase. It's unlikely that the cycle is going to change and especially not unannounced. The cycle just silently ran in the background while the winner 0 bug was being fixed.

Next housing lottery starts 19th August 15:00 UTC. Given that data point you can extrapolate all further times.

I also hope they'll add the actual phase end times to the timer menu which is the place I expect to find times in.

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This is how you know. Thank you Ilisidi for giving the correct information.

If someone wants to know when the current phase ends in their local time, just visit the placard of an unclaimed plot. It will display your local time instead of UTC. Entry periods and claiming periods always alternate. Since we're currently in a claiming period, the next entry period will start one minute after the claiming period ends.

I raise my eyebrow at behavior that considers internet searches to NOT be part of daily life.

We got radio, we got movies, we got TV, we got color TV, we got home computers, we got the internet.

Avail yourselves of internet searches.

Sanity:

1. I don't know this thing.
2. Internet search.
3. I now know this thing and am satisfied.

Insanity:

1. I don't know this thing.
2. Frustration at the knowledge not being handed to me.
3. More frustration.
4. "Where do I complain?"
5. Make the complaint.
6. Have sane members of society explain "sanity", above.
7. More anger and frustration because others aren't understanding my insanity.
8. Be argumentative. Be angry.

Holy crap. I choose 'sanity'. But I guess you do you.

It's a 9 day cycle with 5 days of bidding and 4 days of reclamation. It's not that hard really. If you really want a house getting that information is a minimum for having a shot at one.

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

They did, as you showed above, show the estate tab, but that was 4 months ago. On a single lodestone post. How many lodestone updates have their been? And the information is just buried within one from several months back.

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There was also a post a couple weeks ago when they announced that as of the July 10th-15th lottery the lots in wards 10-18 would be open to private purchase. And then there was a TON of discussion about it.

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Originally Posted by Ilisidi

Next housing lottery starts 19th August 15:00 UTC.

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Im sure you meant to say July. They arent taking a month off, the lotteries will continue running.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

This is how you know. Thank you Ilisidi for giving the correct information.

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Yes but also there was never any incorrect information given (not saying you said that but it feels implied). There are many ways to makes this sandwich, and I actually don't necessarily agree that the whole finding an empty placard is best (I mean, it might be at the moment) because eventually there won't be empty placards (people will buy FC houses up). Or they will be sparse, so... we'll have to search each and every ward in every residential area to find an empty plot in order to find the time? That's not the easiest way. But yes, it tells you specifics.

I guess if any dev is reading this, please add the exact localized entry period/results period on the timers tab as well. We shouldn't have to find empty plots, which after a while, might not exist anyway.

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Originally Posted by Frizze

I'm sure you meant to say July. They arent taking a month off, the lotteries will continue running.

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I meant July. Since nothing interesting is scheduled for July, but many using things expected for August, I'm already mentally in August.

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

Why in the hell would anyone think to do this?

"Bro just push some arbitrary combination of keyboard keys and you'll find this hidden UI that the game never explain or even alluded to existing that tells you the actual information on when a new lotto happens"

And surely the reason other players don't go out of their way to make this information more common knowledge, and only talk about the latest lottery when it's already too late to bid, is CERTAINLY not to reduce potential competition for houses. Surely.

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Duty > Timers > Estate

its not hard to find. and if you actually cared enough to get a house, you would have found it by now.

also. i've never been asked, so i dont have any reason to tell anyone.

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

They did, as you showed above, show the estate tab, but that was 4 months ago. On a single lodestone post. How many lodestone updates have their been? And the information is just buried within one from several months back. That's absurd

And yes I'm very familiar with having to glean information from other players to know how something in this game works when it should be explained or at least hinted at. It's the only reason I figured out how to properly do Fishing Expeditions and rack up maximum points. People have managed to figure out the exact right kind of bait, for the exact right zones, for triggering Spectral. How? Trial and error, which is stupid. There is no other way anyone could've found that out.

While the idea of witholding information for players to figure out things amongst eachother may seem like a neat idea in theory, in practice, what happens is a handful of players will go full sweaty mode and figure everything out and then post that information on some community resource. That's not exactly social, it's relying on a handful of players with far more time and will than most players to figure out what should be actually reasonably able to be understood via throwing shit at a wall until something eventually sticks, no matter how long that takes. It's horrendous game design and shouldn't be a thing.

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or you could have the common knowledge that timers that affects the global world are listed in the Timer menu.

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Originally Posted by Breakbeat

I raise my eyebrow at behavior that considers internet searches to NOT be part of daily life.

We got radio, we got movies, we got TV, we got color TV, we got home computers, we got the internet.

Avail yourselves of internet searches.

Sanity:

1. I don't know this thing.
2. Internet search.
3. I now know this thing and am satisfied.

Insanity:

1. I don't know this thing.
2. Frustration at the knowledge not being handed to me.
3. More frustration.
4. "Where do I complain?"
5. Make the complaint.
6. Have sane members of society explain "sanity", above.
7. More anger and frustration because others aren't understanding my insanity.
8. Be argumentative. Be angry.

Holy crap. I choose 'sanity'. But I guess you do you.

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Under Insanity, you forgot to add #9.

9. Repeat steps one through nine.

And yes, OP fits all the categories of a narcissistic, insanity-driven forum dweller.

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

It's literally hidden. There is nothing the game does to inform you of this feature before or after you've unlocked access to housing districts.

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You know those red dots on the bottom of your screen?

https://i.gyazo.com/37b2900f026efcbc...c5fd7233ad.png

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Originally Posted by Shibi

You know those red dots on the bottom of your screen?

https://i.gyazo.com/37b2900f026efcbc...c5fd7233ad.png

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The problem with the Lottery information in the Estate Timers is that it only lists what phase of the lottery it is (unless you have an active entry). It doesn't list the date/time the phase ends.

In that respect, it doesn't answer the OP's question of when.

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Originally Posted by mauiestlauiest

CTRL+U > Estate Tab

It tells you what periods (entry/results) are in progress. This is one suggested I had for SE though. I personally feel that there should be an actually TIMER, just like they have on the Individual tab.

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True. However, the moment a player finds a vacant house, they can see the end time right there. If there are no vacant plots, then the timer doesn't matter anyway.

Just check on daily basis... it follows the same pattern

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Originally Posted by dspguy

True. However, the moment a player finds a vacant house, they can see the end time right there. If there are no vacant plots, then the timer doesn't matter anyway.

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"If there are no vacant plots" so, like I said, players shouldn't have to search every single ward in every residential area to CHECK if there is a vacant plot. It's not like the game says "WELP there are NO plots available."

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

In that respect, it doesn't answer the OP's question of when.

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But OP's question wasn't "when is there a new lottery", which yes, would be answered by knowing when the bidding period ends/begins by checking a placard. Their question was "How do People Know Whenever there's a new Lottery?" And using the Timers menu is one of the ways in which people know. They indicated they were never sure when there was a bidding phase in process.

"Yet many people just magically happen to know whenever the lotto happens." But we don't "magically know". I only ever know by asking or checking the Timers tab, which is more convenient than needing to find a vacant plot.

So yeah, it answers OP's actual question, which was how do people know. Not "when".

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

Just check on daily basis... it follows the same pattern

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It's the same timer for all houses. Ctrl +U to see the timer. It will tell you if it's the bidding period or the results period. if it's bidding period, check Aetherytes once to see what's available and then bid at the last minute.

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Originally Posted by mauiestlauiest

But OP's question wasn't "when is there a new lottery", which yes, would be answered by knowing when the bidding period ends/begins by checking a placard. Their question was "How do People Know Whenever there's a new Lottery?" And using the Timers menu is one of the ways in which people know. They indicated they were never sure when there was a bidding phase in process.

"Yet many people just magically happen to know whenever the lotto happens." But we don't "magically know". I only ever know by asking or checking the Timers tab, which is more convenient than needing to find a vacant plot.

So yeah, it answers OP's actual question, which was how do people know. Not "when".

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Did you read the actual post or just the title?

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Originally Posted by YukikoKurosawa

No lodestone update saying when this happens.

Yet many people just magically happen to know whenever the lotto happens. And it's only when it's almost or already too late that they will even mention it.

Is there some secret discord group that has figured out when the lotto happens and are just keeping it secret to reduce competition? Where are you people finding this out?

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Clearly the "when" is also important to the OP.

Now I can go to my Estate timers and get this:

https://i.imgur.com/JbqBrwN.png

Or I can find a vacant plot and get this:

https://i.imgur.com/XTpzoCr.png

Which is doing the better job of telling me when there is a new lottery?

Checking the timers is a "how" that tells me either "now" or "not now".

Checking the placard is a "how" that tells me "when". If I'm planning on entering the next lottery period, I don't have to keep checking Estate timers daily. I already know when.