We need another Housing purge

[MomomiMomi]

Well, I still seem to have forum access so I'm just going to poke my little head in here and leave my 2 gil. This will probably be a rant, but I'll try to keep it short and simple.

I am honestly quite tired of people blaming the players and not blaming the system. This problem was created by SE, and over the years they've done nothing but make it worse.

This is a problem that is easily solved, or at least curbed, by simple economic principles: supply and demand. Something which SE seems to have no understanding of. As someone who owned multiple mansions at one time, allow me to offer a little insight into the problems that exist.

The first, and most glaring, issue is one of supply. Non-instanced housing was a mistake. This was the original sin. It comes with some pros, but the cons far outweigh them. That said, SE have done nothing but double down on their design. Fine, I can't say I blame them for not scrapping it and providing something better. The sunk cost would be great.

Here's the part where SE have frustrated me. They know their supply is limited, and yet they've done nothing but increase demand for housing. Let's start at the beginning.

The first thing that created demand for housing beyond what housing offers in its basic form is Gardening. Decoupling gardening from housing would have gone a long way to decreasing demand for housing. They could just have instead made an instanced gardening area. You could even still tie it in to an FC if you wish. There was a time when this was a common request. Well, we all know they didn't.

Then airships were added. Why? These are just ventures. Why tie them in to housing? Again, tie it in to an FC, give us an instanced workshop at Cid's lab or something. Well, again, just like gardening, there's profit to be made. Demand was further increased by this addition.

Okay, so they've made some mistakes. They still had a very simple method to decrease demand. Price. Demand is not only a desire to own something, but also the willingness to pay for it. And here's where they goofed again, and I could do nothing but facepalm. To decrease demand, they could have increased the max price of their reverse auction system. They could leave the minimum price the same, so if nobody wanted to buy the house, it would still cost the same it does now. Forgive the bold, but a lot of people don't seem to understand this part whenever this idea is proposed.

But no. What did they do? They decreased the price of housing, increasing demand further. Housing is so cheap that even those who don't care about it become willing to pay for it just because they can. SE. Please. Please, please, please. You don't have many gil sinks other than housing. Why do you do this? Inflation is rampant because gil is useless. And yet you decreased the price of your ONE large gil sink! This is unfathomable. I can't.

I'm sorry, but I had to get it off my chest.

TL;DR: The simplest and most effective solution to ease the housing situation is to increase the max price of a house, but keep the minimum price the same. This ensures that only those who have a true desire to own a house will buy them, while at the same time not increasing the price of housing once demand has been sated.

While you're at it, for the love of Nald'thal, decouple gardening and airships from housing.

[Kittypryde]

But no. What did they do? They decreased the price of housing, increasing demand further. Housing is so cheap that even those who don't care about it become willing to pay for it just because they can. SE. Please. Please, please, please. You don't have many gil sinks other than housing. Why do you do this? Inflation is rampant because gil is useless. And yet you decreased the price of your ONE large gil sink! This is unfathomable. I can't.

I'm sorry, but I had to get it off my chest.

TL;DR: The simplest and most effective solution to ease the housing situation is to increase the max price of a house, but keep the minimum price the same. This ensures that only those who have a true desire to own a house will buy them, while at the same time not increasing the price of housing once demand has been sated.

While you're at it, for the love of Nald'thal, decouple gardening and airships from housing.[/QUOTE]

Amen. Houses are WAY too cheap. Even if a player doesn't craft, or hunt, or try at all to make any Gil, and blows most of it on glams, he can wing it through the MSQ and make enough for a small cottage. This isn't a good idea on SE's part. A cottage is supposed to take you a LONG time to save up for. I'd say 4-6months minimum. Make smalls 20-30m, mediums 60-100m and larges well over 300m. Then housing will be the proper gil sink that it was intended to be. If my gimp ass can craft and make 500m+ on a medium/large server, then Gil is too easy to come by.

[Paladinleeds]

Amen. Houses are WAY too cheap. Even if a player doesn't craft, or hunt, or try at all to make any Gil, and blows most of it on glams, he can wing it through the MSQ and make enough for a small cottage. This isn't a good idea on SE's part. A cottage is supposed to take you a LONG time to save up for. I'd say 4-6months minimum. Make smalls 20-30m, mediums 60-100m and larges well over 300m. Then housing will be the proper gil sink that it was intended to be. If my gimp ass can craft and make 500m+ on a medium/large server, then Gil is too easy to come by.

Nah, you want to make housing a proper gil sink, add maintenance costs... say 2m a week for a small, 20m a week for a medium, 200m a week for a large. These must be paid within 24 hours of being due or the house is relinquished. Then you have housing as a meaty gil sink. Apartments would have a 200k a week maintenance cost.

[Kittypryde]

Nah, you want to make housing a proper gil sink, add maintenance costs... say 2m a week for a small, 20m a week for a medium, 200m a week for a large. These must be paid within 24 hours of being due or the house is relinquished. Then you have housing as a meaty gil sink. Apartments would have a 200k a week maintenance cost.

LOL that is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard on these forums, or Reddit forums. 200m maintenance a week? Now you are just trolling. Even the most hardcore FCS with 500+ members couldn't maintain that maintenance fee.
The entry fee of a house is simply way too cheap. Let's say that new Ferrari cars were limited to 5000 total, and ALSO had prices drop to $25k each. What would happen? Everyone who thought a Ferrari was out of their reach, can all of a sudden afford, and all 5000 of them would sell out. You would then have millions of angry people. Ferraris NEED to stay 150-300k+up. They aren't a God given right for everyone to be entitled to. Exact same as housing.

[Skivvy]

LOL that is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard on these forums, or Reddit forums. 200m maintenance a week? Now you are just trolling. Even the most hardcore FCS with 500+ members couldn't maintain that maintenance fee.
The entry fee of a house is simply way too cheap. Let's say that new Ferrari cars were limited to 5000 total, and ALSO had prices drop to $25k each. What would happen? Everyone who thought a Ferrari was out of their reach, can all of a sudden afford, and all 5000 of them would sell out. You would then have millions of angry people. Ferraris NEED to stay 150-300k+up. They aren't a God given right for everyone to be entitled to. Exact same as housing.

Why shouldnt every player have access to a house? We all pay a subscription for this theme park, and yet a majority of the players are blocked from enjoying one of the biggest rides. Even their ancient predecessor managed to give its housing to ALL characters. This is not a competitive game, and there is no reason for housing to be handled in this way - especially considering this is a subscription game.

Stop excusing SE for making a horrible housing system.

[Kittypryde]

Why shouldnt every player have access to a house? We all pay a subscription for this theme park, and yet a majority of the players are blocked from enjoying one of the biggest rides. Even their ancient predecessor managed to give its housing to ALL characters. This is not a competitive game, and there is no reason for housing to be handled in this way - especially considering this is a subscription game.

Stop excusing SE for making a horrible housing system.

Why? Because SE made the mistake of not making instanced housing. They wanted housing to be rare when they chose on the ward system. They have stated tome and time again, that they will not do 100% instanced housing. That means that everyone is not entitled to a house. Yes, it sucks for some players who missed out ir were late to the party. SE made another mistake in letting all size housing be for personal use. They also made another mistake with not upgrading apartment sizes. Housing is better now than in the past, but they made countless mistakes implementing housing for FFXIV. And we have to make the best out of a half assed system.

[Paladinleeds]

Now you are just trolling.

Nope. You can think I'm trolling, but I'm deadly serious with the idea of maintainance fees with regards to making housing a gil sink (what you were suggesting). The numbers I pulled up were arbitrary and came up with the numbers I did on the spot. I may have overshot the amount required, but I assure you I'm not trolling. And for the Ferrari thing, at least in the UK, the insurance is also much higher on sports cars in the UK, as is road tax, etc. So higher maintainance costs also apply there. Thus lending extra credence to the idea I suggested. With adjusted numbers and/or timeframes (so they're more accessible), would you still call me a troll, or would you be more willing to entertain the idea?

[Kittypryde]

Nope. You can think I'm trolling, but I'm deadly serious with the idea of maintainance fees with regards to making housing a gil sink (what you were suggesting). The numbers I pulled up were arbitrary and came up with the numbers I did on the spot. I may have overshot the amount required, but I assure you I'm not trolling. And for the Ferrari thing, at least in the UK, the insurance is also much higher on sports cars in the UK, as is road tax, etc. So higher maintainance costs also apply there. Thus lending extra credence to the idea I suggested. With adjusted numbers and/or timeframes (so they're more accessible), would you still call me a troll, or would you be more willing to entertain the idea?

Honestly, I think the maintenance option would be a great idea. We could either throw Gil, or materials onto the houses. They could wear down like armor etc. This game has almost none of the Gil sinks that ffxi had, which is a bad thing. In FFXIV, we don't have to pay for job spells, arrows, bullets, ninja tools, etc. Gil is almost worthless to the point that SOooooo many players , at least on my server, are swimming in 500m-4x max Gil. We need more Gil sinks, be it minions from vendors that cost 10m, or 50m mounts, super mansions for 300m etc.

[HyoMinPark]

Nope. You can think I'm trolling, but I'm deadly serious with the idea of maintainance fees with regards to making housing a gil sink (what you were suggesting). The numbers I pulled up were arbitrary and came up with the numbers I did on the spot. I may have overshot the amount required, but I assure you I'm not trolling. And for the Ferrari thing, at least in the UK, the insurance is also much higher on sports cars in the UK, as is road tax, etc. So higher maintainance costs also apply there. Thus lending extra credence to the idea I suggested. With adjusted numbers and/or timeframes (so they're more accessible), would you still call me a troll, or would you be more willing to entertain the idea?

Meh, I disagree with the idea of maintenance fees. Using real-life examples doesn’t really sell the idea to me either. I already pay a mortgage IRL; I’d rather not have to maintain one in a video game, too.

[Awha]

Nope. You can think I'm trolling, but I'm deadly serious with the idea of maintainance fees with regards to making housing a gil sink (what you were suggesting). The numbers I pulled up were arbitrary and came up with the numbers I did on the spot. I may have overshot the amount required, but I assure you I'm not trolling. And for the Ferrari thing, at least in the UK, the insurance is also much higher on sports cars in the UK, as is road tax, etc. So higher maintainance costs also apply there. Thus lending extra credence to the idea I suggested. With adjusted numbers and/or timeframes (so they're more accessible), would you still call me a troll, or would you be more willing to entertain the idea?

I rather they increase the price of the plot itself making the buy in own a plot much higher. While not popular I do think the price for large plots are far too low given how few they are. I was able to get one for around 20 mi. I rather housing be a gil sink in the regard to prices outside of maintenance fees.