Adressing the roots of the housing problem

[Amomomo]

The simple truth is this system being put forward is a step up from what it was. You can hate that its not being implemented in a manner you deem fit, but that doesnt make this a bad implementation.

I strongly agree that though 4.2 changes are not perfect, they are nonetheless improvements. The main purpose of this fixes is to answer housing SUPPLY issues, especially for FCs who have never owned before. Regardless of dummy FCs, number of new small houses should be able to satisfy majority of this issue, in addition to the surplus plots freed up by FC/personal relocation. Yes, amount of housing may still yet be % of the total player population, but please do keep in mind that not all players wants a house!

4.2 does NOT, however, cater for the demands for medium/large housing (only a few hundred in total per world). If you are screaming for the "fairness" of owning larger plots, then 4.2 is not for you. There will be blood, sweat and tears in the upcoming 4.2 war for larger housing (between FCs and personal relocators).

For those arguing for instanced housing and/or complete revamp of the housing system: have you any idea of the amount of resources that will be required? If so, that means every other contents will need to be pushed back. There was plenty of this argument back in 4.1 housing rush. Yes, there is no denial that the housing system may be a mistake from the get-go, but please do not deny dev team's efforts and bash them for trying the fix the issue alongside their packed content release schedules.

Regarding post-4.2 reselling: yes, it will continue - dodgy practices will always find new methods to avoid the system. Several methods can be 1) as mentioned, buy from dummy FCs, 2) sell relocation plots instead of relinquish (making med/large the primary target for horders), 3) having peeps trading/cancelling placard transaction until housing relinquish timer ends, etc etc etc. However, because of the extra effort, the number of house resellers abusing the system WILL BE CUT DOWN, which is the original intent of this 4.2 update. In fact, the new changes will allow diligent players who consistently looking for empty plots better chances in acquiring a house fair and square (regardless of plot desirability).

[Acilith]

Not only are there not enough houses, there's not enough larger sized houses. So even if we did have the proper amount of wards, people would just be popping new wards forever wanting that largest possible plot. I think the only fix is instanced personal housing, maybe leave the wards for FCs.

[Amomomo]

Not only are there not enough houses, there's not enough larger sized houses. So even if we did have the proper amount of wards, people would just be popping new wards forever wanting that largest possible plot.

EXACTLY.

I think the only fix is instanced personal housing, maybe leave the wards for FCs.

I'm all in the support this also. This solution was frequently seen back in 4.1 housing debate. Regardless of objections, there are very very very very VERY limited interactions between house owners in the ward system. Only times where I've seen people gather together was due to FC housing. Sociability of the ward system can only be achieved via FCs - my personal belief.

Of course, making this new system will take no little amount of resources. We can only hope that similar solutions will be achieved some day.

[Krotoan]

It would be counter productive too apply the restrictions only too the wards in 4.2 and beyond. SE wants to stop people from reselling houses so not applying to current wards as well makes the restrictions pointless.

The temporary restriction is for buying personal houses. The server wide change is that you cannot purchase more than 1 personal and 1 FC house per account per server which will now always apply. I fail to see how allowing people to purchase personal houses on old wards makes the restrictions pointless since if they're buying personal houses they won't be able to flip them anyway with the random timed release.

The fact of the matter is that, if I (as an individual) were to re-up some old accounts, and spend a couple days making investments (time, mostly), I could very much use five service accounts to buy 7 (8 if I were to pawn off my current FC house) FC houses on Feb 6th. There's a very clear workaround in there. Depending on server stability, I'd wager I could nab 4 or 5 medium/large houses if I were so inclined*. This is anecdotal, but I'm familiar with two different groups of people on Faerie that resell houses. I don't know them personally, and do not know what they plan to do (or if they care at all), but the potential for abuse is high.

how will 5 accounts hold 8 houses unless you grab houses NOW from resellers? I'm honestly curious how this would work.

[Besame]

This whole process is such a cluster.... I was thinking of relocation but I have decided to keep my Grade 2-medium in the beds.

[Darrcyphfeid]

how will 5 accounts hold 8 houses unless you grab houses NOW from resellers? I'm honestly curious how this would work.

It's pretty straightforward. For simplicity, we have Players A, B, C, D and E.

1. Player A has Master status in eight Rank 6+ FCs on their eight characters. Players B, C and D have characters in each of those FCs. This satisfies the 4-person requirement for FC house eligibility, and any additional caveats (4 characters on unique service IDs).
2. Player A purchases Plot 1. Players A, B, C and D are now no longer eligible to purchase FC houses.
3. Player A kicks Players B, C and D from FC-1. Players B, C and D are now eligible to purchase FC houses.
4. Player A invites Player E to FC-1. Player A gives Master status to Player E. Player A leaves FC-1 and is now eligible to purchase FC houses.
5. Player E now owns a single-character FC and is no longer eligible to purchase FC houses. Because no checks will be done on grandfathered estates to remove them, and because checks would punish any FC that drops below 4 members for any length of time (even 3 very active people), it is assumed no checks will be done on Player E.
6. Player A-2 purchases Plot 2. Players A, B, C and D are now no longer eligible to purchase FC houses.
7. Player A-2 kicks Players B-2, C-2 and D-2 from FC-2.
8. Player A-2 invites Player E-2 to their FC. Player A-2 gives Master status to Player E-2. Player A-2 leaves their FC.
9. Player E-2 now owns 2 FCs with houses and remains ineligible to purchase FC houses.

Just continue that until Player E owns 8 FC houses. All purchased post-4.2. All legitimately, all largely uncontested.

There are ways for SE to combat this. However, those ways will have a dire impact on non-resellers and/or put additional strain on the server by virtue of constantly refreshing to check eligibility status on either an account or instance level. It is far more likely that the only check in place will happen at time of purchase, and as shown, it's hilariously simple to bypass that.


If SE does implement a series of checks for this having spent 3 or so years blatantly ignoring hackers, amongst other things, I might implode.

[Cylla]

This whole process is such a cluster.... I was thinking of relocation but I have decided to keep my Grade 2-medium in the beds.

I've been trying since the release of SB to get a large house. When the relocation system went in, I was like, "Sweet! Now can get a large hopefully." I didn't care where I got it. But nope, the servers bottle necked on the new housing release and Balmung was cleared out all over the board within five minutes.
Now coming to 4.2 and I have very little faith still in getting a large or even a medium. I'd settle for even just that but I'm on Balmung, so yeah...
Already people out to abuse the system by making FC's just so they can get their hands on a house.

Make me wish SE hadn't said anything at all until patch day.

[Krotoan]

It's pretty straightforward. For simplicity, we have Players A, B, C, D and E.

...

If SE does implement a series of checks for this having spent 3 or so years blatantly ignoring hackers, amongst other things, I might implode.

I was originally under the impression nobody could own more than 1 FC house on 1 character, that you could not transfer ownership of an FC with a house to someone that already owned an FC house. Are there examples of this happening already?

if this is the way it goes, This.. would work. Conceded. This would take some time though and quite a bit of coordination. But still yes, not good. .

[Dustytome]

I was originally under the impression nobody could own more than 1 FC house on 1 character, that you could not transfer ownership of an FC with a house to someone that already owned an FC house. Are there examples of this happening already?

if this is the way it goes, This.. would work. Conceded. This would take some time though and quite a bit of coordination. But still yes, not good. .

Characters cannot and will not be able to be in charge of more than one fc at a time, his examples are showing how one player will still be able to gain ownership on multiple characters. Unless there's something behind the scenes unmentioned, the checks seem to all be done at purchase and so after purchase, ownership can be transferred to whomever is in the fc regardless on if they're part of/leader of an fc on another character.

[Krotoan]

Characters cannot and will not be able to be in charge of more than one fc at a time, his examples are showing how one player will still be able to gain ownership on multiple characters. Unless there's something behind the scenes unmentioned, the checks seem to all be done at purchase and so after purchase, ownership can be transferred to whomever is in the fc regardless on if they're part of/leader of and fc on another character.

Missed the 2 on the E. Got it now.
So you can purchase, one by one , FC houses and transfer them to one accounts alts.
on one side this would take a lot of coordination and luck, and likely result in only small house purchases after the first 2 purchases if you're very lucky.
BUT.. this is removing houses from the pool and putting them in the hands of resellers.
This isn't good and will need to be addressed. Hopefully there is something to counter this that hasn't been announced. I know you don't share optimism on this point though.