What ever happened to Ishgard Housing?

[Jojoya]

I still think Ishgard would be a good location for expanding the apartment system to include different sizes of apartments. That wouldn't be hard to explore lorewise (bring in adventurers to help rebuild the city) and shouldn't be hard to implement technically - just put an entrance somewhere in the Pillars.

I just don't see a full Ishgard housing district ever happening at this point.

[Edax]

I agree that it's dumb that they skipped Ishgard, but I think it's highly unlikely that they are ever going to add it at this point. The reason they gave for doing Shiro instead of Ishgard this time was because it didn't make sense to do it there when the story was moving away from the HW zones... that reason will still still stand unless A) the main story circles back there for some reason or other for a good chunk of the next expansion or B) the next expansion doesn't take place in an entirely new city-state (like the last two have.) Which means that the odds of finally getting Ishgard housing are slim to none.

If they're smart, they won't let Ishgard go to waste like other MMORPGs do with their expansion cities. And I think the players would rather have a winter housing option in Ishgard then some teal nightmare in Sharlayan.

[Hasrat]

With the current state of housing, it could even be unlikely that 5.0 will see a new housing zone. Their recent steps to increase housing availability have gone a long way in reducing the demand, to the point that spending the time and resources on new zones may not seem cost effective. To my knowledge, aren't there still available plots/apartments in many servers? Would it be worth dev time to just spread housing even thinner?

[SendohJin]

With the current state of housing, it could even be unlikely that 5.0 will see a new housing zone. Their recent steps to increase housing availability have gone a long way in reducing the demand, to the point that spending the time and resources on new zones may not seem cost effective. To my knowledge, aren't there still available plots/apartments in many servers? Would it be worth dev time to just spread housing even thinner?

Not many servers and in most it's only small plots in Goblet.

New housing zones can help sell expansions. they really screwed up with Shirogane, the new housing zone should not have the same ratio of Large, Medium, Small plots. they should make a new zone with like 10:10:10 plots of each size.

[Edax]

My server has no available housing and I'm pretty sure most players would trade their houses in the Goblet or Beds for a plot in Shirogane. I also would think most would trade their Goblet or Beds plot for an Ishgard plot too. I personally would like to see more medium plots introduced so I can upgrade. There's very clearly a demand for good plots.

[Kittypryde]

Not many servers and in most it's only small plots in Goblet.

New housing zones can help sell expansions. they really screwed up with Shirogane, the new housing zone should not have the same ratio of Large, Medium, Small plots. they should make a new zone with like 10:10:10 plots of each size.

Who cares? Buy that small goblet plot and relocate when you find something better. The game isn't going to just spoon feed you a shiro large 30. Gotta work.

[SendohJin]

Who cares? Buy that small goblet plot and relocate when you find something better. The game isn't going to just spoon feed you a shiro large 30. Gotta work.

Are you missing the whole point that they are not available?

My FC has a large in Shiro that i physically pressed the button to relocate. i have my own Medium plot that i like with no desire to move (because 3 of my closest neighbors are all FC mates).

i'm not concerned about me, there are plenty of people on my server that has no place to move even though they've done plenty of work.

[Jojoya]

Are you missing the whole point that they are not available?

My FC has a large in Shiro that i physically pressed the button to relocate. i have my own Medium plot that i like with no desire to move (because 3 of my closest neighbors are all FC mates).

i'm not concerned about me, there are plenty of people on my server that has no place to move even though they've done plenty of work.

Have you actually toured every single world to know that there are no plots available?

Right now, Coeurl alone could handle every single player who has posted "I can't get a house" in these forums in the last 6 months. Coeurl is not the only world with plenty of available housing. There are other worlds may not have plenty of housing but they usually do have at least a couple of dozen available for new buyers. It's only a handful of high pop worlds that have no housing available so people scramble when the rare vacancy occurs.

You did touch on a good point about how expansion launches send demand skyrocketing. The problem is that's a short term demand generated by players who aren't going to stick around for the majority of the expansion. Adding more wards to meet their short term demand leaves mostly empty wards a few months later after they sate their curiosity and quit.

Better for SE to expand the apartment system since apartments are loaded on entry instead of being a constant drain on server resources the way the wards are. Apartments aren't popular because people want something that feels like a real life home and not just a rental room. Give people size options so they've got areas to decorate that range between what small and medium houses have (not to mention apartments being cheaper than houses), and apartments would become a lot more popular. It's a better housing solution for the transient players who only show up for the first 5-6 months at the start of an expansion then quit until the next expansion is released or who otherwise take breaks from the game for 2-3 months at a time.

That in turn would leave more houses available for those who maintain their subs constantly and want the houses for the things that only come with a house like intercross gardening or who do hold parties and entertain in their yards.

[Zsolen]

The lack of anything Ishgardian life is a big screw you to people that like the atmosphere of either traditional European inspired or also snow themed area. I don't think housing shortage or abundance has anything to do with it.

[SendohJin]

Have you actually toured every single world to know that there are no plots available?

No because I never made that claim.

And a big part of my post was not only the lack of plot availability but the lack of upward mobility for people who can afford to move to large plots. How many Large plots are just sitting empty even on your server because no one can afford it?