What you think...

[AkumaHomura]

"Entitled" Yeah not being able to fully enjoy all the features of a game you pay to play every month is just how it is. How dare we be upset by a arbitrary limit on the amount of people who can enjoy the housing system in this game

[Ilyrian]

"Entitled" Yeah not being able to fully enjoy all the features of a game you pay to play every month is just how it is. How dare we be upset by a arbitrary limit on the amount of people who can enjoy the housing system in this game

Is it arbitrary though? I do wonder.
If they could give everyone a house do you not think it would be in SE's best interest to do so? There has to be legit reasons or that they just don't want to.

[Searban]

Is it arbitrary though? I do wonder.
If they could give everyone a house do you not think it would be in SE's best interest to do so? There has to be legit reasons or that they just don't want to.

The "legit" reason is that Yoshi.P and his team seem to believe that wards are a superior system compared to instanced housing (which traditionally makes it much easier to balance supply and demand) but are unable to deal with issues such as supply and demand disparities or server capacity limitations.

So while there was no "arbitrary" decision to limit the supply itself, that supply is limited a result of an "arbitrary" design decision to pursue a particular housing system model. And while I can certainly see where the devs are coming from and even agree that in many aspects wards are superior to instanced housing, I don't think it justifies maintaining a system that just doesn't work well enough for years while also refusing to consider alternative solutions.

[GutsyBoozetank]

Stupid Wards, can't I just hire some carpenters and have one built in the middle of no where like Coerthas? Only one using that land are monsters and I sorta want to get off the grid anyways...

[Ilyrian]

So while there was no "arbitrary" decision to limit the supply itself, that supply is limited a result of an "arbitrary" design decision to purse a particular housing system model. And while I can certainly see where the devs are coming from and even agree that in many aspects wards are superior to instanced housing, I don't think it justifies maintaining a system that just doesn't work well enough for years while also refusing to consider alternative solutions.

Yes, it does seem very shot-sighted of the developers if this is the case.
As for alternative solutions - what are they? Unless wiping the whole thing and starting from scratch is an option, I can't see how housing will ever be available for all.

[MistakeNot]

The "legit" reason is that Yoshi.P and his team seem to believe that wards are a superior system compared to instanced housing (which traditionally makes it much easier to balance supply and demand) but are unable to deal with issues such as supply and demand disparities or server capacity limitations.

So while there was no "arbitrary" decision to limit the supply itself, that supply is limited a result of an "arbitrary" design decision to purse a particular housing system model. And while I can certainly see where the devs are coming from and even agree that in many aspects wards are superior to instanced housing, I don't think it justifies maintaining a system that just doesn't work well enough for years while also refusing to consider alternative solutions.

It is possible to make a ward system with much higher number of wards. See for example LOTRO which has a similar housing system with various neighbourhoods ( = wards) each with a number of houses in them. Difference is that they have a much larger number of wards. Not infinite, but near enough in practice. Main difference is likely that there each ward is treated as an instance, which might lower server load.

[NanaWiloh]

It is possible to make a ward system with much higher number of wards. See for example LOTRO which has a similar housing system with various neighbourhoods ( = wards) each with a number of houses in them. Difference is that they have a much larger number of wards. Not infinite, but near enough in practice. Main difference is likely that there each ward is treated as an instance, which might lower server load.

The issue with this games ward system is that; Housing interiors are handled by the housing server while the actual wards or outside area is handled by another server. The wards unlike the housing interiors are constantly running, SE has basically back themselves into a corner and do not wish to come out of it. Each world has 108 housing divisions all running non stop!! From a space stand point you could cram almost of the ARR zones into that space

[EaMett]

The "legit" reason is that Yoshi.P and his team seem to believe that wards are a superior system compared to instanced housing (which traditionally makes it much easier to balance supply and demand) but are unable to deal with issues such as supply and demand disparities or server capacity limitations.

So while there was no "arbitrary" decision to limit the supply itself, that supply is limited a result of an "arbitrary" design decision to pursue a particular housing system model. And while I can certainly see where the devs are coming from and even agree that in many aspects wards are superior to instanced housing, I don't think it justifies maintaining a system that just doesn't work well enough for years while also refusing to consider alternative solutions.

I'm pretty sure I read that making housing hard to get was by design. Because they wanted players to feel rewarded when they got one. There's also nothing wrong with this design and it's bound to generate some disappointment (like everything difficult to obtain).
The real problem is that SE did not properly evaluate the difficulty level, and walled it behind the randomness of logging in right after a patch.
But yeah if you're complaining about it being hard you're essentially comforting their design (not you personally). If you notice this housing expansion wasn't about personal houses but FC housing.

[AkumaHomura]

I'm pretty sure I read that making housing hard to get was by design. Because they wanted players to feel rewarded when they got one. There's also nothing wrong with this design and it's bound to generate some disappointment (like everything difficult to obtain).
The real problem is that SE did not properly evaluate the difficulty level, and walled it behind the randomness of logging in right after a patch.
But yeah if you're complaining about it being hard you're essentially comforting their design. If you notice this housing expansion wasn't about personal houses but FC housing.

"We want to give players a sense of pride and accomplishment"

[Madbunny]

"Entitled" Yeah not being able to fully enjoy all the features of a game you pay to play every month is just how it is. How dare we be upset by a arbitrary limit on the amount of people who can enjoy the housing system in this game

Yesterday i wrote something on my blog related to housing, so free to check if you want. It comes from a perspective of a player who was disappointed more than once and not only in FF.