You won't BELIEVE who's buying all the FC plots!

OK, you totally will, but now you've got the receipts. TL;DR: FC housing belongs to alts.

With WoW throwing down the housing gauntlet, I thought this might be a good time to throw some statistical shade toward our beloved FFXIV housing market, a.k.a Housing: PVP. This post isn't intended as a complaint, or to shame the players who own dozens (hundreds?) of FC plots (there are plenty of other threads for that). I just wanted to quantify the results of a game system that a) limits a much-coveted resource, b) enforces very few restrictions on acquiring said resource, and then c) actively incentivizes players (by way of mountains of gil from subs) to acquire and hoard said resource.

So I did what any normal human being with a totally healthy relationship to a video game would do: I scraped the public Lodestone profiles of about 50k FCs and their owners across multiple data centers. Let's dig in!

Case Study #1: Mateus (skip down to case study #2 for the truly...interesting...numbers)

I wanted to see what the FC housing ownership data looks like on a "normal" server. Mateus was around before subs were introduced, so the housing was long gone before the sub lords started shopping around. First, let's look at the FC ranks:

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

So far, so normal: a bit of a spike at level 6, the required level to purchase an FC plot, and then a steady march to level 30. Now for the number of members:

https://i.imgur.com/Q8dMa7Sl.png

Still about what you would expect: Mateus has a healthy number of well-populated FCs. Never mind that almost a quarter wouldn't have enough members (4) to qualify to purchase a house if they didn't already have one. And only about 5% of the FC houses on Mateus (182 houses total) are owned by a solo FC! Now let's look at the most interesting stats, for the FC owner's highest combat class:

https://i.imgur.com/tT8Gcwbl.png

93% of the FC houses on Mateus are owned by an owner between level 51-100. Those players are clearly enjoying the game and leveling up! But check out that spike at the bottom end of the graph. That's the 4% of FC houses on Mateus with an owner whose level is 1-15. That's right: the next time you're in a bidding war for an FC plot on Mateus, remember that 120+ houses on Mateus are owned by characters who haven't made it out of their starting cities.

So there are a few eyebrow-raising numbers on Mateus, a standard legacy world. Read on for Case Study #2: Materia.

Materia opened in 2022, several years after FC sub lords had started hoovering up gil and FC housing plots. Today, 3 years after its introduction, the only FC houses left on the entire Materia DC are a handful of plots on one world (Sephirot) in Shirogane and Empyreum. But hey, it's a big ask to play the game past ARR, so that makes sense!

Once again, let's check out the ranks of plot-owning FCs:

https://i.imgur.com/U7vZtDYl.png

Materia's rank chart is almost a mirror image of Mateus; the vast majority of home-owning FCs on Materia are level 6. That's curious, because any number of FC members actively playing the game will level up an FC in fairly short order. But hey, Materia is dead, so maybe it's just harder to rank up an FC? Interesting theory, and of course it would be harder to level a small FC:

https://i.imgur.com/iv2Qylgl.png

Well, there you go - 20% of FC houses on Materia are owned by a solo FC, so naturally it would be tough to level up! Never mind that it takes a matter of minutes to get a solo FC to rank 6 - nothing to see here.

And now we get to the fun part, the FC owner rank:

https://i.imgur.com/6CaURUGl.png

...where we see that 60% of the FC houses (8300 houses) are owned by "baby alts", level 15 and under. But hey, why would they ever want to leave their starting city when (*checks*) almost 300 of them already own a mansion! It's also worth noting that 6 housing wards on Materia are still locked...but those 1800 unavailable (360 houses * 5 worlds) houses are a drop in the bucket compared to the numbers we just looked at.

I hope you have enjoyed this little stroll into FFXIV's FC housing stats. And please try to forget you saw this post the next time you're in a bidding war for a Goblet small - I'm sure only a few of the bidders own dozens of other houses for their level 3 alts.

This is all great tbh, but what exactly are we supposed to get from this that we didnt already know ?

Populated servers barely have any multiowners, which is a known fact, they make for a very tiny percentage, and dead servers (on Materia in this case but this also goes for Dynamis) are filled with shell FC's because no one (or barely anyone) wants to make a real FC there as it's a complete graveyard

I respect the time taken to do all this I really do, but I'm really unsure as to what point you are trying to make

This wasn't intended to be news; it's the result of following my nose into data I thought was interesting, and of trying to quantify "exactly how bad is it?". It was partially inspired by a recent post about the disappearance of FC housing on Materia, which *was* news to me. I've heard a number of folks arguing that it's fine for all the FC housing to be bought up for subs because there are so many houses still available...which I guess is true until an entire DC fills up. Or that people are only buying small houses for sub shacks, which is also not true.

Only a matter of time until the other two flappers let loose their gums in here.

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Originally Posted by MakoEyes

Only a matter of time until the other two flappers let loose their gums in here.

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Seems like the first one beat us here :rolleyes:

Nah not sure what this data means, I'm waiting for more layman's terms

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MakoEyes

Only a matter of time until the other two flappers let loose their gums in here.

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Waaaa waaaaa waaaaaaa, that's all you do lol.

If anyone is curious about the situation on Dynamis, here's the data on the worlds where the all the FC housing has been bought up (Seraph & Hali):

https://i.imgur.com/gqjbv0Xl.png

https://i.imgur.com/IWy8JwIl.png

I am also holding out a hope that SE might actually look at the forums (or even their own housing data...). This turns vague complaints about "tons of sub shacks" into "anywhere between 40-60% of all the FC plots on newer worlds". Across all the worlds, that adds up to tens of thousands of plots that could have been available to FCs with characters that are actually playing the game.

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Originally Posted by Shnrnr

If anyone is curious about the situation on Dynamis, here's the data on the worlds where the all the FC housing has been bought up (Rafflesia, Seraph, & Hali):

https://i.imgur.com/EkH0Yurl.png

https://i.imgur.com/bni45ljl.png

I am also holding out a hope that SE might actually look at the forums (or even their own housing data...). This turns vague complaints about "tons of sub shacks" into "anywhere between 40-60% of all the FC plots on newer worlds". Across all the worlds, that adds up to tens of thousands of plots that could be available to FCs with characters that are actually playing the game.

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Now my question is are they winning up these plots uncontested?

Because that would imply there's a supply with no demand.

Should those players have their houses stripped from them Because other players who clearly didn't want them don't like the idea of them having swaths of plots they themselves don't want?

I probably should have said "could have been available" instead of "could be available". I don't imagine that they would ever take away players' existing houses, and I don't think that would be the right solution. But maintaining the status quo (limited supply + few limitations on multi-owning + lots of incentives to do so) just means that many players, especially newer players, will continue to find themselves unable to purchase an FC plot. New players don't necessarily know that their choice of servers might prevent them from ever being able to have an FC plot. For example, it would be nice if something changed before they open up more wards on Materia to give more real FCs a chance to purchase plots.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shnrnr

I probably should have said "could have been available" instead of "could be available". I don't imagine that they would ever take away players' existing houses, and I don't think that would be the right solution. But maintaining the status quo (limited supply + few limitations on multi-owning + lots of incentives to do so) just means that many players, especially newer players, will continue to find themselves unable to purchase an FC plot. New players don't necessarily know that their choice of servers might prevent them from ever being able to have an FC plot. For example, it would be nice if something changed before they open up more wards on Materia to give more real FCs a chance to purchase plots.

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Bismarck : 3524 plots open
Ravana : 2348 plots open
Sephirot : 3054 plots open

Do I need to go on ? What FC are you talking about ? Take a trip to Materia and tell me what FC exactly you are talking about please, the entire region is an absolute ghost town with barely any players. If anything, they should close the region down and send them back to JP or NA for free.

Those numbers are including individual-only plots and wards 25-30, which are unavailable for purchase. Wards 1-24 have no more FC housing, except for a few that opened in the last cycle, or the handful of Empy/Shiro plots that I mentioned on Sephirot.

Subs money is free gil, is free $ via RMT. SE doesn't care enough, because it hurts nobody, but our inflation - this is years old topic now... Anyone arguing that it is in our interest to have 1 guy owning 10 trillion FCs is probably a gil seller.
(Yes I know how long it takes to set it up, it should be available to everyone if you ask me, and the single player isn't the problem anyway)

I don't see why a player would need more than 10 FC's

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shnrnr

Those numbers are including individual-only plots and wards 25-30, which are unavailable for purchase. Wards 1-24 have no more FC housing, except for a few that opened in the last cycle, or the handful of Empy/Shiro plots that I mentioned on Sephirot.

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Nope they are not. I filtered those wards off

And even if those are not all FC plots, having this many open plots as personal is a very clear sign that the population is low to extremes, which honestly is also a good sign that theres no additional housing needed be it for personal or FC's, and certainly not a need to free up housing and remove what people have worked towards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shnrnr

I probably should have said "could have been available" instead of "could be available". I don't imagine that they would ever take away players' existing houses, and I don't think that would be the right solution. But maintaining the status quo (limited supply + few limitations on multi-owning + lots of incentives to do so) just means that many players, especially newer players, will continue to find themselves unable to purchase an FC plot. New players don't necessarily know that their choice of servers might prevent them from ever being able to have an FC plot. For example, it would be nice if something changed before they open up more wards on Materia to give more real FCs a chance to purchase plots.

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Well when are the players accounable?

They clearly don't want these houses but they have someone who dooes. But the players are not accountable for giving that player the opportunity to buy out a whole ward?

I know it took time. And they had enough time to do it uncontested.

The players are complaining about unlimited supply that they don't want anything to do with, And when that supplies taken up , the complaints start

You wont believe which company that does not do anything about this and do not remove grandfathering either......

I'm in a FC House in Empy on Sophia. We were there for two years and in that time only 1-2 more plots were bought (5-6 occupied in zone). In the last few months, the zone was almost completely swallowed with a single generic FC group (although my new neighbour is actually a player FC). There has been a long opportunity to buy Housing on Sophia, which hasn't been taken up. Looks like it won't be now...

There is no FC plots on Sophia. Fc wards are 1 to 9 only. There is plenty of empty housing plots.

But players are desperate for housing right? It's totally not players being picky and entitled. If they want housing, they can go get it.They just don't want it that bad.

People say a lot of things, but they aren't always true. At least this player did the homework to prove out that which many in the community thought was true, but can likely say it is true with the facts to back it up.

Part of the reason we got here was this concept of FC-only housing activities such as airships/submersibles. Box someone out from content and they will find a way into that content. And the other issue is that by making FC housing flagged different from solo housing - it opened the door for players that spend a little bit of time to get around that problem and then bid against few players for many available plots as opposed to bidding against the masses for one plot.

I've always contended that SE has no motivation to resolve housing since it is a guaranteed source of income for them. But if housing was plentiful, people wouldn't be afraid to unsub and lose their plot knowing they could likely get one back when they returned. But, SE gains nothing from that.

I think this really depends on the server. I'm on Zodiark, which is fairly populated and FC plots are very often free in all housing areas.

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Originally Posted by Aidorouge

As someone from Dynamis, I could not in good conscience recommend that anyone transfer to Dynamis.

Coming over here JUST to get a house is foolish because of everything else that someone has to sacrifice to get it, and I don't blame anyone for staying put on Aether/Primal/Crystal instead.

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You are sacrificing nothing but literally 2 minutes of your time. It's not 2004 anymore. There are linkshells discord groups and free server visits. You are more connected than you ever were in the past.


If you don't want to go that's fine, But you don't want a plot that badly over the guy who had 30 accounts ready to buy out half a ward. I mean, a dead server isn't gonna fill up.When you're doing everything in your power to avoid it.

Act that complaints about players not wanting to go to those servers until they filled up and now suddenly the servers are filling and there are no houses left, and suddenly that's not fair, when every chance was given was willingly turned down

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Solowing

You are sacrificing nothing but literally 2 minutes of your time. It's not 2004 anymore. There are linkshells discord groups and free server visits. You are more connected than you ever were in the past.


If you don't want to go that's fine, But you don't want a plot that badly over the guy who had 30 accounts ready to buy out half a ward. I mean, a dead server isn't gonna fill up.When you're doing everything in your power to avoid it.

Act that complaints about players not wanting to go to those servers until they filled up and now suddenly the servers are filling and there are no houses left, and suddenly that's not fair, when every chance was given was willingly turned down

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I do that with my main alt from Seraph and hangout with the majority of my friends who are in Exodus. I also invite them over to hangout in my home in Seraph at least once every week or two and they show up, you just have to make the effort to bring them over. I do this ever since moving to Seraph and while I do have my og main who now has her own home, I went 7 years without one, so I enjoyed housing with my main alt until last June when my og main won hers in Exodus. Funny thing is I won my small FC plot the lotto cycle before my large personal in Exodus, never had that kind of luck before and since lol. I switch between my two homes when I hangout with friends often so both are actively used and I decorate them often for the game holidays/events. The only minor annoyance I have when traveling out of Seraph is not being able to access my retainers so that takes like 5 minutes to return to Seraph and then to Exodus again and vice versa when I'm playing from my og main from Exodus to Seraph. I hope they release cross DC PF, that would be huge and make Dynamis attractive to move to when you can do content with people from all the other NA DC.

https://i.ibb.co/HLT7nvj5/ffxiv-06072024-203342-251.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/39Q9JnfL/ffxiv-06162024-152635-930.jpg

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Originally Posted by Aidorouge

Having to data center travel every day just to do basic 4-man content isn't ideal, especially when Aether is locked all day long, or how it just means you end up playing on Primal and Crystal instead so you never even get to see your house most of the time or have anyone that will ever come to visit.

And I started on Maduin actually, I even own two houses myself across the street from each other, that stood unclaimed for YEARS because I only got these two in the last few months.

https://i.imgur.com/P07wnsy.jpeg

Hell, I've debated moving AWAY from Dynamis after 2 and a half years because its so dead and having houses here is so... pointless outside of gil from the FC one. I'm speaking from experience when I say it's not really worth it for anyone to transfer here just for a house because they'll more than likely regret it, and the people who don't want to transfer are better off.

All the other wards being gobbled up by shell FCs printing gil is 100% on Square-Enix and not the players, as Square-Enix are the ones who made the decisions to:

Have housing be limited in the first place.
Allow FCs to make gil at all.
Allow people to own multiple houses on a single account.
Made a new data center with zero incentive for anyone to move over, while tricking new players like me into starting there.

It's not on players to make up for Square-Enix's mistakes that's caused a constant housing crisis for those who have been wanting one for years, longer than I've been playing even, and where telling them "just move then" is awful advice because of everything they would have to leave behind while getting back very little in return.

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Yeah honestly, I myself am tired of the excuses for SE's failures and people just going "just move to a dead DC lmao it doesnt matter !!"

Yes it does matter, people are in FC's and some have entire communities on other DC's and just friends in general, people shouldnt have to sacrifice everything just because they want to get a house, Dynamis is bound to stay the way it is, it's obvious no one wants to be there except a minority of players, stop forcing people to move there and telling people to move there if they want a house, most will have to move back to other DC's after because the DC only is good for housing

"well then you dont want it enough"

Yes, most people dont want to sacrifice convenience and friendships/communities because of a house, that doesnt make their complaint any less valid, now instanced housing is a whole different ballpark as I am 100% agaisnt it, but more ward housing is really needed.

I 100% agree, double or triple the wards, different layouts for plots and apts.

I wouldn't mind Apts getting larger, but they can't encroach on plot sizes. I don't think you guys care much for it. But some people keep their subscription to maintain their plot.

WoW isn't doing this out the kindness of their hearts, The WoW token exist, so real money = ingame wealth, and well as they plan to sell items in the shop. They get you via the WoW token to keep up with the economy, or you buy items off their shop.

I maintain my subscription and my plot stays, all for the price of a big mac...But how hard is that when I actively use my house?

If I want to take a break I can do.Youre telling me you cant have you "break" interrupted for 5 minutes to login once every month and a 5 days to walk in a plot you likely logged out infront of?

Are they afraid of losing their plot well?I f they were that worried they wouldn't have forgotten about it over a month ago. Like I did.and I realized I didn't care that much when I lost it. If it was forgotten about that long then it wasn't that important.

They want you to want to upgrade from your apt, and once you do rhey have your subscription on the hook for however much attachment you put into it for however long that sunken cost is able to willingly keep you here.

We are.In a digital age that excuses no water anymore. If you want to reach out to a group, you can in a myriad of ways now. We've gone a long way from Ventrilo and Teamspeak

If yall got time to plug in someone's wifi code, yall got time to data center travel

The white knight, still dying on the weirdest hill.

/shrug

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Originally Posted by MakoEyes

The white knight, still dying on the weirdest hill.

/shrug

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I can't hear you over my 2 plots and 5 apts

I'm going to be getting a 6th apt soon. Tell me more about housing is unobtainable.