quit after 7 days - STILL NO HOUSING

[Drkdays]

I've played MMOs for about ten years and in my experience leaving or a server or even an FC is a death sentence for casual friendships. Only the most social friends remain. Even with ways to stay connected, that person on your friends list rarely speaks to you or gets spoken to, unless, as I said, they're really close. Transferring really does mean having to start over with a new group of strangers.

Feasible, yes, but unpleasant.

I thought about getting an apartment. I thought about it really hard! But I just can't bring myself to settle for a small win when I know how limited I will be with it. It just doesn't sit well with me. PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER, itty bitty living space.

And so here I sit, camping yet another placard in the hopes that maybe this time I'LL be the one to click it at the right time.

[Besame]

Been MMOing over 20 yrs and Drkdays, you are right about the fairweather friendships. 99% are just that so hang onto the 1 or 2 that are valuable.

[Jojoya]

I've played MMOs for about ten years and in my experience leaving or a server or even an FC is a death sentence for casual friendships. Only the most social friends remain. Even with ways to stay connected, that person on your friends list rarely speaks to you or gets spoken to, unless, as I said, they're really close. Transferring really does mean having to start over with a new group of strangers.

So again the question is are they really friends or are they acquaintances that you sometimes game with because they happen to be online at the same time you are? I've got friends I met playing WoW that I still talk to to this day even though we don't play WoW, or any other game, together anymore. They are genuinely friends, not just people I got in the habit of playing with because we happened to be online at the same time. I've made a few friends here in FFXIV that will be the same - we talk with each other outside of game probably even more than we do things together in game.

The type of casual gaming acquaintances you're talking about are easily replaced when you move to a new server. They are not truly your friends when that relationship doesn't extend outside of the game into real life. As much as social media distorted the word "friend" in a bid to turn the number of contacts you have into a popularity contest and broaden marketing potential, it has also given us a way to stay in touch with those who are actually friends when changes in life no longer bring us in contact the way we used to be.

So you might have to go to a little effort to make new contacts to play with if you change servers in order to get a house but you won't be losing any true friends. Your true friends will stay in contact with you. And as I also pointed out, as long as you're on the same data center you will be able to continue to play with the same people as you are now. About the only thing you won't be able to continue doing together is going to Ceremonies of Eternal Bonding and SE has already said that's one of their priorities to get fixed.

Final note: Apartments are a far more powerful "living" space now than they were when first added. You're really only as limited as you make yourself. Honestly, give an apartment a try. You may be pleasantly surprised. I got an apartment for one of my alts since buying a house for her is not an option under the current housing policy and it turned into such a nice living space that I can't see her character wanting to live in a house. She's got living room, kitchen, dining, bedroom, bath and attic art studio that feel cozy but not cramped - and I did this before SE added the loft items to the game.

It's certainly better than no housing at all and denying yourself won't get you a house any sooner.

[Brynne]

Final note: Apartments are a far more powerful "living" space now than they were when first added. You're really only as limited as you make yourself. Honestly, give an apartment a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I sort of agree with this, if you're into housing purely for the decorating (personally, I've gotten really into gardening and have a schedule of crossbreeds I cycle through, which apartments are not any good for). As long as you have the gil, getting an apartment doesn't hurt your chances of getting a house - and it gives you something to play with until you can win a plot.

Hopefully there will be more plots freed up after they start the auto-demolition timer up again next week. Server populations might level out a bit more with the free transfer period, too. We'll have to wait and see, though.