Instanced "independant" housing

[Beckett]

Man, I've got no interest in moving to an Ishgard housing ward, but if it were in Sea of Clouds I don't think I'd be able to resist.

[Zojha]

What is the point of housing, when you are the only who can see it, only one who can visit, and you are totally alone?

Ask the people who build entire mansions in mod editors for themselves. Or the people who bought Hearthfire or any of the vanilla houses in skyrim. Or the people who kill NPCs to claim a house/castle/bunker as their own.

There appears to be a desire for a personal house or lair that's independent from any notion of community and in fact, many people would rather choose a house in a secluded place over one in the "neighborhood" if given that choice. That said, since we already have "neighborhood housing", it can't exactly hurt to add instanced housing for those who don't care about neighborhood. Although I wager there is a looming fear that this is the vast majority of people and neighborhoods died as a result.

[Ageofwar]

But FFXI had instanced houses, right?

hate to point this out but FFXI's housing system is more like Private rooms rather than instance housing and you could only access your room from your home nation

[Rofel]

hate to point this out but FFXI's housing system is more like Private rooms rather than instance housing and you could only access your room from your home nation

Hmmm I see... thanks for pointing that!

[Titor]

it nullifies the MMO in the MMORPG when it's just you in an instance.

Ok, let us go around the housing ward of my FC house right now...

Current Gallery of all MB/Bells in my ward

Yep, you saw right, in the entire instance it was just me, and two people on the opposite map from my general house (that I think were AFK).


I ran into no one else on my 'tour' through the ward. Not standing outside their house, anything. So the whole instance of LB1 subdivision on Balmung (One of the high population housing-intensive rp servers!) -- there is a grand total of three people in it. Me, and two people afk.

Really feeling that MMO feeling.

At least if it was instanced and I knew it was just supposed to be me + my friends it would not feel so dead/like a ghost town.

[MilaDazol]

I ran into no one else on my 'tour' through the ward. Not standing outside their house, anything. So the whole instance of LB1 subdivision on Balmung (One of the high population housing-intensive rp servers!) -- there is a grand total of three people in it. Me, and two people afk.

Really feeling that MMO feeling.

.

Im also on Balmung and I can tell you Lavender beds ward 2 has many people, as is home of at least 2 of the biggest FCs, "kupo" and "HEC" where I hang out a lot, and even in my personal home, in goblet 8 ward, a lot of people from "Roses" among others are around.

That being said, subdivisions have usually more personal houses than FCs, and because of that, they are a bit more empty.

[AnnietheCat]

Yep, you saw right, in the entire instance it was just me, and two people on the opposite map from my general house (that I think were AFK).

The reason why no one is in most of the wards is because 1)many houses sit abandoned and 2)there's no incentive to hang out there. You can get rest xp from any town and most settlements. New players have leveling to do. Max level players want to hang out with other max level players(in Idyllshire now). There's absolutely no reason to hang out in the wards. I usually go to my personal house or fc house just to craft. But literally no one else is around in either of those areas. So while we want the neighborhood feel, it should also be addressed that it won't feel that way without incentive to chill "at home".

[Titor]

My point being, the current system is not conducive to a community feel but just makes the zone feel empty and like a ghost town. It is no better than instanced housing in its current state, and is actually worse since not everyone could have a house.
I could see if every ward was bustling with life and kinship, but they are not. At least with instanced housing, everyone should be able to have their own house, not just a few.

[AnnietheCat]

Right, but if they want to keep the community, which obviously they do or else they would have instanced it by now, then they should give players incentive to hang out there. Otherwise it will continue to feel empty and barren. SE doesn't /want/ us to have instanced housing, because they're trying oh-so hard to not be like every other MMO(which is biting them in the ass, imho). So because they want to be /oh-so/ different, they refuse to do anything that makes sense. If they like the set up they have, then they need to give players a reason to hang out at their personal or fc estates. A buff, a perk, whatever-just something so that the areas actually feel like the neighborhoods they were /trying/ to make.

And if I sound flippant and irritated, it's directed at SE and not anyone here. I'm fed up with the numerous poor design choices.

[Legion88]

Hi, i was around and just decided to show in and bring in my own thougths to this.

I would prefer the instanced housing for players at all, but i have to explain it a bit, so everyone will understand what i mean.

Keep the housing for FCs like it is at the moment, but remove all privat houses from the actual housing plots. But increase the amount of available things like beds up to the double or triple.
Improve the workshop with workbenches, which you can use like the workshop itself to craft your regular crafts of the crafter you are but with a buff (+10% to craftingstats, maybe).
Restrict the use of the actual workshop (airship/houses/guildbuffs) to crafters at level 50+ or even 60 and/or a specific crafterclass as party leader and/or specific crafterclasses in the party.

Give every player the ability to buy a appartment in the inn of his GC in two sizes, normal privat chamber/first floor of small house and size of small house including basement. Give this rooms the restrictions of the actual rooms and small houses all with a balkony as garden, perhaps as an upgrade.

And finaly, what is with people who wants gardening but don't need a house.
In the gardener guild you can buy a garden spot with place for a huge ( 3-4) amount of beds and a small open hut where you can place a summoning bell and a guild chest. Perhaps let the amount of placeable beds be upgradeable.

Perhaps someone can leave constructive criticism on this and i know most will rant on the appartment idea.