So an FC on midgardsormer bought 60 plots...

[Dustytome]

I'm just trying to fathom how 60 people (or up to half that if they all bought personal fc houses too) managed to get through queue and take over a ward and subdivision before anyone else got there. I can see maybe a handful of houses, but the entire same ward/subdivision sounds fishy.

[Apricoth]

I'm just trying to fathom how 60 people (or up to half that if they all bought personal fc houses too) managed to get through queue and take over a ward and subdivision before anyone else got there. I can see maybe a handful of houses, but the entire same ward/subdivision sounds fishy.

This is a valid question. I am curious about that myself.

[HyoMinPark]

I'm just trying to fathom how 60 people (or up to half that if they all bought personal fc houses too) managed to get through queue and take over a ward and subdivision before anyone else got there. I can see maybe a handful of houses, but the entire same ward/subdivision sounds fishy.

Same here, to be frank. That seems astounding. Not only the coordination, but the sheer luck that 60 people managed to get online and get plots with probably little to no issues (like unresponsive launchers or lobby server errors). Is it a particular large/well-known FC that basically said “Ward # belongs to us; don’t touch it, or else”? O.o

That being said, if they’re buying the individual houses as individual players and not reselling them to amass a profit, well, such is allowed. Does it suck for other FCs that would like a housing plot? Absolutely. But it is still allowed; all it really highlights is just how flawed the housing system is.

I don’t think housing should be FC only. Some people don’t want to be in an FC. Why should they be barred access to things like personal housing (no, apartments are not an adequate substitute in their current state—they are little more than FC rooms without added FC housing perks...and more expensive)?

There is a way to come to a compromise with “instanced housing” and “FC only housing”. What could be done is: take the 12 wards already active, turn them into FC wards, or FC “communities”, and create a 13th Ward that contains unlimited instanced housing. It would look just like any other ward, with nice houses, summoning bells, market boards, and tastefully decorated yards in each plot, and players could go up to a placard and purchase/browse houses a la Apartment/FC room style. Yards could be instanced, so players could choose to decorate them if they so chose, as well as be able to participate in gardening; and the interior of the houses would be just like the FC houses in terms of appearance and customization. 720 plots per server for FCs, and unlimited instanced housing for individuals.

Those who already own personal houses would have their houses and yards transferred to the 13th ward in the same plot they previously owned—so, a small in Ward 3, Plot 14 would be transferred to Instanced Ward 13, Plot 14, and could be found via an apartment/FC room-esque list.

That’s just a compromise I think would work. Like I said, I’m not really for limiting housing to just one group or the other (FC versus personal). I think the housing system needs a lot of work, and SE needs to come to realize this, and how much importance a significant portion of the playerbase puts on housing. It needs to be fixed before the next housing ward is released (Ishgard, mayhaps?—whenever that would be), so there isn’t a repeat of this. Especially if the active playerbase grows between Stormblood and 5.0. Otherwise, this entire scenario will only repeat itself. It’s like that saying: those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

anyone knows how long days Auto-Demolishing without build house? I can see the empty plot without build house >_>

Auto-demolition happens after 45 days. If there is no house built on the plot within 45 days, it will be relinquished. For houses already built, owners (or FC members for FC houses) have to enter the estate to reset the demolition timer (which is still 45 days). However, demolition is currently suspended due to natural disasters in the US. I don’t think they’ve reinstated it yet; initially I thought they said it would only last 2 weeks or so, but there hasn’t been any mention of the auto-demolition timer being reinstated (that I’m aware of).