Housing System & Development Suggestions

[Novirae]

Just wanted to let you know you can go past the character limit of each post by editing your post, like for example:

[over the character limit text, can't post] <- copy this for saftey (maybe put it somewhere just in case lol)
[cut down to under the limit] <- posted
[edit post and paste the whole monster, save post] <- victory

Might not worry about that now though since if you delete a post it still leaves a shell post that you deleted it lol (but for the future it might help ^^).

Also while I prefer instanced, my own zone, housing like Wildstar (I haven't put value in the neighbor element, having been in a full housing area for a few years now) I wanted to mention that with the change that a ward grows when full it would be like LotR Online's housing which doesn't have the issues like we have, so.. your solution has been implemented and works .

The British cul de sac thing sounds super cute .

I think if they could get apartments up to the speed of houses (size upgrades, like the floors you suggested) and a balcony/garden area (full garden support and outdoor furnishing) then we'd be in some pretty good shape (still people might want a physical location out there but at least we could start saying things like apartments are quite equal to house). I'm actually curious if Ishgard is going to be fancy places like BDO basically.

Whatever happens I hope that both the barrier to housing can be lowered and the supply raised to meet the new demand, I feel housing is a brilliant concept for an MMORPG (make a home away from home.. have a home!) so it's something I hope they can get everyone into and also then improve on with new systems and interactions.

Best wishes back at you

Thanks so much for the additional info! Wish I'd have known this when I posted hehe, would have saved me panic posting 4 segments but oh well, at least it's all there! I'm note entirely sure what you're referencing with the solution already being implemented but perhaps I'm just reading it incorrectly! I really do hope at least they opt for the instancing option, especially with the potential Ishgard housing as they know that it's such a huge wish from the community. I can't wait to start the rebuilding quests!

Your expansion on the apartments idea sounds lovely and we can only hope! Thank you so much for reading and the constructive feedback, I was super nervous about posting to the forum as I rarely do it but really thankful it's been generally well received so far! I can't emphasise enough that these are only suggestions and thoughts so after a particularly stressful housing weekend I felt the need to at least try to do my bit and take action by posting.

[Shougun]

Thanks so much for the additional info! Wish I'd have known this when I posted hehe, would have saved me panic posting 4 segments but oh well, at least it's all there! I'm note entirely sure what you're referencing with the solution already being implemented but perhaps I'm just reading it incorrectly! I really do hope at least they opt for the instancing option, especially with the potential Ishgard housing as they know that it's such a huge wish from the community. I can't wait to start the rebuilding quests!

Your expansion on the apartments idea sounds lovely and we can only hope! Thank you so much for reading and the constructive feedback, I was super nervous about posting to the forum as I rarely do it but really thankful it's been generally well received so far! I can't emphasise enough that these are only suggestions and thoughts so after a particularly stressful housing weekend I felt the need to at least try to do my bit and take action by posting.

Np .

For already being implemented solution I meant Lord of the Rings (the mmorpg) has a ward system similar to FFXIV but the number of wards automatically increases when one is full. I was just saying a game with a system similar to our own has implemented growing wards, and saying "they have it, it seems to work for them". :P. It's true each game has its own code and so its not like "look all you have to do is copy paste their code" lol if only it was that easy, but it is nice to reference real things sometimes to be proof of concept. So I was just letting you know about another game that sort of fit what you were talking about ^_^.

It'll definitely be interesting to see what happens with Ishgard. Good luck to us all, SE included lol. Really hope something happens, I even wrote a bit on airship housing just as a "maybe this?" lol (even if they add good different instanced housing I still want some more time with airships in some way). Although personally would be in awe of Wildstar (an mmo) housing but that's a complex and big system (albeit very impressive system imo). Full upgrade apartments would be decent though, and something like it "might" be what Ishgard does (we don't know yet to say for sure, could just be another normal ward, or something not housing).

[MizArai]

For already being implemented solution I meant Lord of the Rings (the mmorpg) has a ward system similar to FFXIV but the number of wards automatically increases when one is full. I was just saying a game with a system similar to our own has implemented growing wards, and saying "they have it, it seems to work for them". :P. It's true each game has its own code and so its not like "look all you have to do is copy paste their code" lol if only it was that easy, but it is nice to reference real things sometimes to be proof of concept. So I was just letting you know about another game that sort of fit what you were talking about ^_^.

It'll definitely be interesting to see what happens with Ishgard. Good luck to us all, SE included lol. Really hope something happens, I even wrote a bit on airship housing just as a "maybe this?" lol (even if they add good different instanced housing I still want some more time with airships in some way). Although personally would be in awe of Wildstar (an mmo) housing but that's a complex and big system (albeit very impressive system imo). Full upgrade apartments would be decent though, and something like it "might" be what Ishgard does (we don't know yet to say for sure, could just be another normal ward, or something not housing).

They've stated in the past that it's impossible with how the game is coded to have dynamic wards because all servers have to have the same number of wards. It's an unfortunate way to have things coded. Since every world has to have the same number of wards, they're not going to give Balmung enough houses for everyone when there have been plenty of servers with 1/3 of their wards empty. It just wouldn't be smart financially since all the housing wards also run constantly. :-(

I would LOVE to be able to expand apartments! It's an idea that's been floating around since soon after apartments showed up, and it's something they said they would look into, I'm not sure if anything ever came of it. It would be an amazing idea imo! And since not everyone wants to have an outdoor area of their house, it could help give people their own space without them wanting to buy a house in the wards.

[Shougun]

They've stated in the past that it's impossible with how the game is coded to have dynamic wards because all servers have to have the same number of wards. It's an unfortunate way to have things coded. Since every world has to have the same number of wards, they're not going to give Balmung enough houses for everyone when there have been plenty of servers with 1/3 of their wards empty. It just wouldn't be smart financially since all the housing wards also run constantly. :-(

I would LOVE to be able to expand apartments! It's an idea that's been floating around since soon after apartments showed up, and it's something they said they would look into, I'm not sure if anything ever came of it. It would be an amazing idea imo! And since not everyone wants to have an outdoor area of their house, it could help give people their own space without them wanting to buy a house in the wards.

Oh yeah I know why they said it's impossible and I know it's probably not the cute response but I just give a "so fix it then" to that lol. I mean they said the same thing about chocobos and DF queue but they found a way. I'm not asking them to deliver me the world in two months but I will pound the gentle drum and pray they're doing/figuring something out behind the scenes OR even longer term game in that they consider these things for the next MMORPG they're making. I try not to be rude about it (never my intent), but it's just something I don't think they should be satisfied with it being so rigged. So even if it's literally impossible for them to fix it without rebuilding all of FFXIV (meaning it wont happen ever here) I hope I can be part of the sand storm that makes sure next time they build a system they account for a much higher dynamic growth.

From other bits of info as well you can tell they code the old (every bit of info matters dearly and must be calculated) style, I mean Yoshida has said as much on how they've constructed everything with exact info (I think it was a response to something about their architecture being very memory conscious compared to other games). In a overly drastic (lol) simplification its the good ol' using the string class vs using a character array of exact value.

I think the apartments being improved would definitely help a lot. I also suggested airships in what I feel would be a memory efficient format (compared to housing at least) to further lessen no home concepts in this game or why I attempted to detail a possible glamour book (log) that accounted for most items in the game like WoW (and some other mmos) while being lower memory (I think). So it's not like I want to throw a tantrum and offer nothing, :P. Whenever I have an issue I try to give some concept of what I think might alleviate it. That said I have no intention of stopping to ask them to become dynamic even though I know they said they can't (right now - like they said about chocobos and DF, I believe they can figure it out or will figure it out for their next game).

On housing particularly though its important to me that everyone has a home and I think earlier the better. I think it's just a nice capstone to the whole getaway world away from reality fantasy experience (home in your getaway game), and think it should be capitalized more. Although that doesn't mean I think everything should be given (large mansion everything upgraded sort of thing).. I strongly believe in powerful long progression too.

[Avidria]

• Offering larger apartments would definitely help.
• I keep seeing rumors about Ishgard housing... so that would help, too, even if it wouldn't fix the root of the problem.
• I like the idea of letting tenants have private chambers. Maybe even just... stick a door to them outside the house. Sub-basement apartment. :P
• If we're really going to stick with the ward system, though... I've seen a lot of suggestions for a lottery of some kind on who gets houses that are demolished. It's not ideal, but it's better than bashing your head against your keyboard spam clicking a placard for an entire day to no avail. I've seen similar ward systems with an auction system for this, but then you end up with insane prices on the houses (had a fun time getting a house in Aion...). Maybe a weighted lottery so the first 20 people have higher odds of winning, or something.
• Not sure if it's feasible or even possible, but just... adding more houses to current wards. Or adding new types of plots - plots with more than one house, sort of like a mini apartment/townhouse where 2-3 people can sit on the same plot and you're buying space on it. Same amount of data used probably (idk, not a server expert) but you could fit more houses in less space without having it look too cramped.
• And yeah... some kind of separate FC housing system. Maybe an FC only ward, or large FC apartments, or something like that. Something so FCs aren't competing with solo folks quite as much.

[Novirae]

Thank you so much for all your suggestions, input and replies, really do appreciate you taking the time to read and reply (I will reply at greater length soon, just wanted to say a thank you so far)!