It doesn't take long on these forums to realize the housing situation is fubar'd with many people having theories on what would be the most fair way to allocate the new housing wards. I don't believe in the one house per server suggestions because they go against how everything in this game is designed, nor am I a fan of surrendering all control to the RNGesus lottery, but I'm also a believer that those without housing should have a better chance at getting a house than they currently do. Then there's also the issue of timing and how someone is always at the wrong end of it somewhere and I can't really disagree with that assessment. You either take the day off work or sacrifice sleep or be really lucky to be off and awake at that time of morning...its not really ideal for anyone but everyone can make it work.

So my proposal is a phased rollout of wards throughout the day with restrictions on who can buy what.

Restriction 1: If you own a house on your account or are in an FC with a house then you can't buy a house in an odd numbered ward.

Restriction 2: If you owned a house or were in an FC with a house within the last 30 days then you are still restricted from buying a house in an odd numbered ward.

Restriction 3: If you buy a house or are in an FC that buys a house during the release then you can't buy a second house for 24 hours.

If you're relocating your house, you aren't bound by the purchasing restrictions.

These restrictions will allow anyone who has a house to have a fair chance at getting another but favors those without one by limiting their competition on half the wards. I also think getting one additional house per housing release is a fair compromise between 1 house per account and 1 house per character.

The phased rollout would be opening a ward or subdivision every 45 minutes over a 24 hour time span. This also assumes only 4 additional wards are being added; I may be wrong but the number added doesn't really matter, its the phased release that's important.

12:00am Shirogane Ward 1 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
12:45am Gridania Ward 1 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
01:30am Ul'Dah Ward 1 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
02:15am Limsa Ward 1 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
03:00am Shirogane Ward 2 opens. No purchase restrictions.
03:45am Gridania Ward 2 opens. No purchase restrictions.
04:30am Ul'Dah Ward 2 opens. No purchase restrictions.
05:15am Limsa Ward 2 opens. No purchase restrictions.
06:00am Shirogane Ward 3 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
06:45am Gridania Ward 3 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
07:30am Ul'Dah Ward 3 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
08:15am Limsa Ward 3 opens. Restricted to new home owners only.
09:00am Shirogane Ward 4 opens. No purchase restrictions.
09:45am Gridania Ward 4 opens. No purchase restrictions.
10:30am Ul'Dah Ward 4 opens. No purchase restrictions.
11:15am Limsa Ward 4 opens. No purchase restrictions.
Repeat for subdivisions.

Any houses that are opened up from a relocation are open to all purchasers without restrictions. After 24 hours from the start any unclaimed houses (not likely I know) will be open for anyone to purchase without restrictions.

This would allow anyone to have a chance at a ward at a semi convenient time regardless of their schedule or time of the world. It alternates restrictions and non restrictions so neither group has to wait half a day to get their preference. It rotates through wards and cities so regardless of what your preference is you won't have to wait a huge amount of time or alter your schedule greatly. And one can hope that it would even out the server loads more throughout the day creating a more stable environment.

People still have to compete with the semi randomness of load times and the race against other players, but at least the player remains somewhat in control instead of surrendering everything to a lottery chance.

Based on all the views I've read, I think this is the most fair/least unfair method of releasing the wards. It hurts the fewest people possible and benefits almost everyone.

Thougts?