The devs are actually doing a great job

[HadesNight]

100% agree with the OP.

[Brynne]

I actually do think they're doing a great job with housing, in that they're adding a ton of diverse furnishings and doing their best to cater to player's desires.

But no one could argue that they didn't completely screw the pooch when they combined individual housing with FC housing. It was a terrible mistake, they've been paying for it ever since, and there's no way to fix it.

I agree with everything about this. They really shouldn't have combined FC and personal housing.

IMO the best thing they could do now is introduce a system more suited for personal housing (instanced) and allow players to move their houses into it if they wish. Include incentives like purchasable upgrades and more yard space, and you'll have a lot of players moving, freeing up more space in the wards for those who prefer neighborhoods.

[HadesNight]

I actually do think they're doing a great job with housing, in that they're adding a ton of diverse furnishings and doing their best to cater to player's desires.

But no one could argue that they didn't completely screw the pooch when they combined individual housing with FC housing. It was a terrible mistake, they've been paying for it ever since, and there's no way to fix it.

If you're going to respond to my post, don't take a piece out of context. Respond to the entire thing.
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I genuinely don't get the logic behind why FCs are more deserving than players with housing.

Most FCs are barely decorated and all of the things as a player that you use (summoning bell, crystal bell, etc. ) are in an Inn.

I very rarely see people hanging out in their FC houses. I have 512 people in my FC and even if 50-100 are online... No one is in the large house and ours is decorated and awesome. (We even change the decorations every couple months).

The most use our large amazing FC house sees is when we host glamour contests a couple times a year. At max each day (I sit and craft in mine a lot) there are a couple people outside by the MB/summoning bell and randomly someone will run in to use the company chest (since we have a lot of free goodies for members inside)

Let's talk about workshops... Usually that's the leader or team of leaders using the airships and subs and they MIGHT share the loot with members on occasion but most of the time it's just another way for the leaders to make money. Some is used for events but really people donate so much to events that the gil balance just sits there. The last big expenditure was moving to shirogane. That's it.

I have not seen some great need that makes FCs more important than individuals. The devs make sure all the basics are accounted for on both sides.

What I have noticed in this community though, is this thinking leading to an entitlement spiral. When an FC gets a small house that has all the same basic features, they get on here and complain they should be singularly entitled to a medium or large house, while individuals should only get smalls or apartments.

As a leader of an FC with a large plot and 512 members that hosts server wide events and is trying to grow my community, I really don't get it for how this game as a whole participates in FCs.

And I mean, I give out a ton of free stuff to get people engaged, and it does not result in people using the house more.

I am open to a change in perspective but maybe on my server it doesn't matte but other servers FCs are super engaging?

[Brynne]

I genuinely don't get the logic behind why FCs are more deserving than players with housing.

I can't speak for Beckett, but when I responded to him, I assumed what he meant was that personal and FC housing should have had different systems, and not the same ward system. Not that FC housing was more 'deserving' of houses, but that personal housing should be different from FC housing.

When the wards were introduced, they were FC housing only, and they filled up slowly (probably because players didn't have as much gil as most do now). We were told that personal housing would be different from FC housing, and then they changed their minds and decided to put personal housing in the wards (probably thinking that since the wards were so empty it wouldn't be an issue). This is the part that is the mistake, because the wards are limited and we run into this issue we have now of supply not meeting demand. If personal housing had been a separate, instanced system in the beginning, we wouldn't have this problem.

Don't get me wrong, I love housing in this game. There's a lot to admire about the system, for sure. But they did make mistakes - in this case a very big mistake - and it doesn't help anyone to try and pretend that this isn't the case.

[HadesNight]

I can't speak for Beckett, but when I responded to him, I assumed what he meant was that personal and FC housing should have had different systems, and not the same ward system. Not that FC housing was more 'deserving' of houses, but that personal housing should be different from FC housing.

When the wards were introduced, they were FC housing only, and they filled up slowly (probably because players didn't have as much gil as most do now). We were told that personal housing would be different from FC housing, and then they changed their minds and decided to put personal housing in the wards (probably thinking that since the wards were so empty it wouldn't be an issue). This is the part that is the mistake, because the wards are limited and we run into this issue we have now of supply not meeting demand. If personal housing had been a separate, instanced system in the beginning, we wouldn't have this problem.

Don't get me wrong, I love housing in this game. There's a lot to admire about the system, for sure. But they did make mistakes - in this case a very big mistake - and it doesn't help anyone to try and pretend that this isn't the case.

Ah, if that is the case then yeah I can definitely understand that. Having two separate areas with the same setup would have alleviated a lot of the perceived slight.

Editing to add a left out thought: Although, I will say. Instanced housing is not as satisfying in any game as the ability to have a full physical plot.
I personally (I'm one person) would feel like housing is trash and definitely not be as enthused (i am addicted to housing in this game) as I am now if it was just "you can only see my house if i give you the invite and you have to pick it from a list of other indistinguishable realms). I've had housing in other games. I love their ability to customize way better than FFXIV but i absolutely hate the isolationist feel of instanced housing in all games I've tried it in.

I really adore having convos with friends in my yard lol.

So SE, while I'm agreeing that seperate FC wards would be cool, I am not agreeing to instanced housing only for individuals if you happen to look at this lol.

[Brynne]

I personally (I'm one person) would feel like housing is trash and definitely not be as enthused (i am addicted to housing in this game) as I am now if it was just "you can only see my house if i give you the invite and you have to pick it from a list of other indistinguishable realms). I've had housing in other games. I love their ability to customize way better than FFXIV but i absolutely hate the isolationist feel of instanced housing in all games I've tried it in.

This is why I'm in favor of introducing instanced housing as an addition to wards, not to replace them. There are a lot of players who feel the same way you do, and they'd have the option to stay in the wards. There are also players who would prefer the instanced system, and they would move out, leaving space in the wards. If the wards were full, the option is still there to get an instanced house regardless, so no one has to be homeless (and everyone can make use of cute event rewards) and they can wait for plots to open up in the wards if that's what they'd prefer.

[ErysNight]

This is why I'm in favor of introducing instanced housing as an addition to wards, not to replace them. There are a lot of players who feel the same way you do, and they'd have the option to stay in the wards. There are also players who would prefer the instanced system, and they would move out, leaving space in the wards. If the wards were full, the option is still there to get an instanced house regardless, so no one has to be homeless (and everyone can make use of cute event rewards) and they can wait for plots to open up in the wards if that's what they'd prefer.

I 100% think that would be a viable solution. Apartments are already in game, so they could allocate resources into making those larger and introduce the ability to garden. The best thing about apartments is that you don't lose them after 45 days either so people wouldn't have to worry about losing their stuff.

If they decided to fix housing with instanced homes, I really hope they implement this method.

[Beckett]

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Originally housing was only for Free Companies. The devs said they were going to add individual player housing as a completely separate system from FC housing. Then they went back on that and just allowed individual players to buy the same plots as FCs. The ward system was designed to provide housing for all the Free Companies on a server, not for every individual. The decision to combine the two is why many servers don't have enough plots for everyone that wants one, let alone the ability for each player to get their "perfect" plot.

The discussion of whether FCs or individuals are more deserving of houses shouldn't even exist, but it is unfortunately far too late to go back and change things so that FC housing and individual housing are separate. I'm sure if the devs could go back in time, they would have done things much differently.

This is why I'm in favor of introducing instanced housing as an addition to wards, not to replace them. There are a lot of players who feel the same way you do, and they'd have the option to stay in the wards. There are also players who would prefer the instanced system, and they would move out, leaving space in the wards. If the wards were full, the option is still there to get an instanced house regardless, so no one has to be homeless (and everyone can make use of cute event rewards) and they can wait for plots to open up in the wards if that's what they'd prefer.

There's heavy speculation that restoring Ishgard is going to lead to exactly this. I agree with HadesNight that the ward system is better (for those that can get houses) at giving a sense of community and fun, but having instanced Ishgard housing as another option could definitely alleviate some of the population issues.

[Jaywalker]

Hot take: The devs are doing a great job, but not a perfect job because they're human beings and there's always room to improve. We should appreciate that they work hard and have accomplished way more than most devs. If we see spots we'd like improved, it would be worth it for us to give some credit and assume they're on our side (since they haven't given reason to think otherwise) and just be nice about pointing issues out. So basically, don't take frustration out on the devs.

[XiXiQ]

ALL timers are bad. I would much prefer to play the game on my on schedule, not something artificially forced upon me designed to "get me to log in". If the game is enjoyable, I will log in anyway. Any timer/restriction could simply be monthly if they are just doing it for subs.



Housing is also bad - but not due to the usual availablility complaints, it is pointlessly complicated with multiple furniture "types" and restrictions in placement, forcing people to fudge bugs - and works very poorly for ps4/conrollers even without trying to use any of the tricks.


Their recent content adds forcing everyone to form parties without use of the DF is a complete fail, countless things of interest casual players are just left out of. all of Eureka, the higher floors of POTD/HOH, and BLU are the worst examples.


None of this means overall the game is bad, it means there is much room for improvement, and they should be told so.