Housing crisis is incentivizing RMT

[ForteNightshade]

Why is not viable?

vi·a·ble
/ˈvīəb(ə)l/

adjective
capable of working successfully; feasible.

You're omitting context. Is it viable under the technical definition? Sure. But a system that requires someone to give up their social circle, FC and pay 24$ isn't much of a solution. It only serves to highlight how horrendously mishandled housing is, and it's about time SE did something to fix it.

[Edax]

You're omitting context. Is it viable under the technical definition? Sure. But a system that requires someone to give up their social circle, FC and pay 24$ isn't much of a solution. It only serves to highlight how horrendously mishandled housing is, and it's about time SE did something to fix it.

Still viable. Would I give up my social circle and FC and pay $24 to get a house? The answer is yes. With Discord and World Visit, I would never truly be gone from my social circle anyway.
And this maybe a controversial opinion, but this is the best housing system in an MMO I've ever played. It's riddled with problems and there might be better systems out there, but so far this is the best I've had.

[Solarra]

I think we're getting off the point. It's not really about whether it is reasonable or practical to expect entire FCs to move server if they want to access housing (though really for any FC above 5-6 members, it isn't). The point is that the shortage of housing is encouraging RMT. As the OP mentioned in their first post there is a site where people looking to buy a plot can go and pay either cash or gil for it, usually huge sums. We also have people buying properties on all servers not because they intend to use them but in order to sell them for profit.

And a housing system that locks most players out from anything but the most basic properties, really can't be considered a success. FCs are in the worst position as they need a plot; at least players have the option of buying an apartment.

[Mew_FC]

Every time this thread comes up, it's always about entitled players that don't know any better. If you are complaining about prices now and how it presumably encourages RMT, you clearly forgot everything about 2.1 prices.

[Divinemights]

In a pay to play game, housing of every type should readily available to everyone who wants it, regardless of server population.

Not going to happen until there is a breakthrough with server technology

[RikuShieran]

Every time this thread comes up, it's always about entitled players that don't know any better. If you are complaining about prices now and how it presumably encourages RMT, you clearly forgot everything about 2.1 prices.

It doesn't "supposedly" encourage RMT. It encourages RMT and I've provided ample evidence for you to go and find that out. Though something tells me you're very likely the same people selling those dozens of houses in your signature for real money, at which point my evidence is probably going to be thoroughly ignored by you.

I'm not complaining about prices. I have 30 million gil sitting because there's nothing to spend it on. I'm complaining about shortage.

You're literally the problem with the system, but we're the ones who are entitled haha.

Kindly miss me with that.

[Dualblade]

Of all the problems with housing gil is the least of it, most people who want a house but don't have it already have enough gil to get a Medium, no RMT used at all. Hell I have enough for a Medium house and I don't have a dog in this race.

Plus anyone paying actual money just for a house in-game is both going too far into an obsession over it and just an idiot.

snip

On "missing the point" ...a little bit, yes. Though when I said most people have the gil already for it I also ment if there were any houses for them to get. Hence why gil is the least of these peoples worries with housing.

[RikuShieran]

Of all the problems with housing gil is the least of it, most people who want a house but don't have it already have enough gil to get a Medium, no RMT used at all. Hell I have enough for a Medium house and I don't have a dog in this race.

If you're replying to me, I think you might have missed the point.

There are no houses to buy, particularly in large servers. It doesn't matter how much gil people have by legal means because the only houses that are going to be available are going to be sold under the table for ludicrous prices. I've seen people ask for as much as 30 million for a small plot with an FC attached. Those same people are going to resell their houses for prohibitive prices, sometimes for real money and this isn't even a rare occurance if you go the rounds with this market online.

I wouldn't have a problem if the game was asking even 50 million for a small, so long as that gil is sunk. I have a problem that this gil is being funneled to a select few players who are, literally, being rewarded for being bad people.

[Mew_FC]

It doesn't "supposedly" encourage RMT. It encourages RMT and I've provided ample evidence for you to go and find that out. Though something tells me you're very likely the same people selling those dozens of houses in your signature for real money, at which point my evidence is probably going to be thoroughly ignored by you.

I'm not complaining about prices. I have 30 million gil sitting because there's nothing to spend it on. I'm complaining about shortage.

You're literally the problem with the system, but we're the ones who are entitled haha.

Kindly miss me with that.

I'm gonna break this whole thing down really nicely for you.

The year is 2013. The patch number is 2.1

SE releases 3 housing districts with 5 wards for a total of 450 houses per server. That's a total of 30k+ houses for you.

Fast forward to 2019. Patch is 5.x.

Se has consolidated and reduced prices of housing... twice. Personal housing has severely reduced the amount of available plots for Free Companies despite Square Enix adding more wards and subdivisions to reach 4,320 houses per server. That's almost 300k houses.

No one would even dare to talk about how few plots were available for purchase when housing came out, yet there was a tenth of how many plots are available now. So what's the problem then? Surely it cant be numbers, right?

Oh wait... everyone that reaches lvl 50 meets the requirement to obtain a piece of land. Geez, that truly defeats the original purpose of having something that is difficult to acquire when combined with the dramatic price reductions.

"Yeah the bar is pretty low, but it means more people can enjoy housing" you would most likely reply.

Too bad some players enter their house only once a month in order to keep them. Also, there are people that willingly let their house auto-demolish when they could do the "right thing" and relinquish it right away. Not only is 45 days an extremely long period of time for something so simple to do, but they even warn you ingame and send you emails. I did the math on Gilgamesh and there's at least an entire ward and it's subdivision that are in a total state of limbo, all year long, due to those players who greatly take advantage of the generous demolition timer.

"Sure, but you are the problem" will you most likely repeat.

This has been mostly a one-man endeavor. These FCs have mostly all been levelled up from the ground by myself alone (how many have you?) and not a single FC member or friend has had to pay for any of these despite benefiting from the income they provide us. I've been playing by the rules and actually got rid of the single FC house I unwillingly acquired through a loop hole in the week following patch 4.2. Unlike the players I mentioned above, my FC actually uses all these houses. Therefore, how can we be the ONLY cause of the "problem" you are trying to describe?

Anyhow, if my FC can own the equivalent of a ward on a high pop server, surely anyone who tries hard enough can at the very least, own a single house. We all play by the same rules, some just cry about them instead of doing what has to be done.

~~~

Regarding RMT,

By complaining about RMT and housing, you are inherently complaining about prices. Hopefully you'll understand as you start reading the following.

If you would actually understand how it works in relation to this game, you would know that RMT is being used for literally everything. Mounts, loot, gear, dyes, misc items, furniture, achievements, you name it. You could even argue those 999 gil teleports are "supporting" RMT. Point is, house trading isn't a pillar of RMT. Don't you think it's quite ironic how players are trading houses for 2.1 prices?

The better of two evil was that 2.1 price chart. Sure, RMT had to be partially used, but at least it took out massive chunks of money out of the game right away. Nowadays, gil just changes hands. Over and over and over... I would argue that SE's decision to neuter housing cost is the primary reason as to why you people are complaining. Too much gil in circulation isn't a good thing, especially if you want to actually counter RMT. Combine that with the very minimal requirements for ownership and a very forgiving house keeping system and you end up with the problem you are wrongfully describing as a shortage when the amount of houses as nearly increased by ten times.

\\\

If you didn't figure it out, you wouldn't have any problem owning a house with your 30m if prices stayed the way they were.

[GomJabbar]

I don't know if I buy the "encourages RMT" argument. The game is old enough now that much of the population has hundreds of millions of gil, all earned legitimately. The difficult part is finding a house available in the first place, not earning the gil to purchase it.