The housing system is trash, and other players aren't making it any better.

[Kenky]

The big issue you seem to have is simply your assumption that housing can just "Be added" with no repercussions. Keep in mind that, if ONE server gets extra wards, all servers / datacenters get those wards. Only the NA side of things (and some of the EU) are having a "Housing crisis", while other datacenters (and even some servers on NA / EU) are literal ghost-towns. There's a balance.

Not to mention, if they just "add more housing" it won't fix the issue. It'll delay it. Maybe a week or a month at most of praising SE for "fixing the issue" when it hasn't been fixed at all.

Keep in mind that housing was originally intended for Free Companies ONLY. Apartments and "Personal Housing" was added later on after enough request. Then more wards and another district. It's getting to the point that, even when SE tries to appease the vocal community, it's never enough..

The Timer system we have in place right now works in your favour, as much as you may despise it. At least with this system, you can -see- the plots being sold and have a chance at them. Before, you wouldn't even get to see any vacant plots as they would have been swallowed up the MILLISECOND it unlocked.

There are groups that are trying to help you (NA specifically, though I've heard some EU communities are following suit) get a house by minimizing the "camping time" you submit yourself to. You can't really complain that SE is at fault, when its the players that think they MUST / HAVE to sit online for large periods of time, not stretching, not taking care of themselves.. Just for a bunch of 1s and 0s.

[Leloa]

Can you guys complaining just change servers and buy a house? I just got a house with my alt with no camping or waiting and had some houses to choose from too. Your title is kind of funny too since you are just like any "other player" doing the same thing. You sure aren't making it easy either.

[MistakeNot]

Can you guys complaining just change servers and buy a house? I just got a house with my alt with no camping or waiting and had some houses to choose from too. Your title is kind of funny too since you are just like any "other player" doing the same thing. You sure aren't making it easy either.

At this time I suspect most servers are out of available houses. I know for sure that some servers that had a fair amount of houses available for purchase a few months ago no longer have it - ShB brought in enough people looking for houses that the available ones disappeared.

[Jojoya]

Can you guys complaining just change servers and buy a house? I just got a house with my alt with no camping or waiting and had some houses to choose from too. Your title is kind of funny too since you are just like any "other player" doing the same thing. You sure aren't making it easy either.

You might have choice on the EU worlds. Players on the NA worlds haven't had choice since about 2 weeks after our free transfer period ended in May.

We're packed, with more players than the JP servers but only 24 NA worlds with 103k houses versus JP's 33 worlds with 142k houses. We didn't get the benefit of 2 new worlds to help spread out population and free up housing on crowded worlds like EU worlds did. I don't know if SE ever opened up housing on Spriggan and Twintania but that will help EU even more.

NA isn't getting any help.

NA players stopped reporting NA housing census information because there is nothing worth reporting. Any house that becomes available is bought as soon as the random timer expires. Yay, one player is now happy out of the hundreds still hoping to get a house?

You're not going to see NA players transfer to JP and EU worlds that have houses available when that's going to separate them from their game friends and greatly increase their latency in a game that's already latency sensitive.

So your ill-mannered advice is less than helpful for the NA players who want to have a house while enjoying the game with their friends.

[saxman09]

You might have choice on the EU worlds. Players on the NA worlds haven't had choice since about 2 weeks after our free transfer period ended in May.

We're packed, with more players than the JP servers but only 24 NA worlds with 103k houses versus JP's 33 worlds with 142k houses. We didn't get the benefit of 2 new worlds to help spread out population and free up housing on crowded worlds like EU worlds did. I don't know if SE ever opened up housing on Spriggan and Twintania but that will help EU even more.

NA isn't getting any help.

NA players stopped reporting NA housing census information because there is nothing worth reporting. Any house that becomes available is bought as soon as the random timer expires. Yay, one player is now happy out of the hundreds still hoping to get a house?

You're not going to see NA players transfer to JP and EU worlds that have houses available when that's going to separate them from their game friends and greatly increase their latency in a game that's already latency sensitive.

So your ill-mannered advice is less than helpful for the NA players who want to have a house while enjoying the game with their friends.

Flipping bingo! Nail on the head! We give them a large portion of thier profits and we get screwed for it!

[Kenky]

Flipping bingo! Nail on the head! We give them a large portion of thier profits and we get screwed for it!

You're screwed for it how, exactly?

You can play the game, you can do everything and get everything the game offers (obviously, some things easier than others.) simply by playing and using the systems given to you. Once again, it's not SEs fault for the playerbase willingly subjecting themselves to torture

You're not obligated to stand at a placard for hours on end, clicking away aimlessly. You're subjecting yourself to that issue because you're adding so much worth and weight to housing when, for a personal house, only has one thing that Apartments don't. Cross-breeding.

Everything else (minus FC-housing. But that's a rather obvious one) can be achieved with apartments.

TL;DR:
You're not screwed for jack. You pay to play the game and you can play the game. No game mechanics / systems are locked behind a paywall.

[RenofManyAlts]

At this time I suspect most servers are out of available houses. I know for sure that some servers that had a fair amount of houses available for purchase a few months ago no longer have it - ShB brought in enough people looking for houses that the available ones disappeared.

Maybe I can offer a bit of hope here!

I am part of an unofficial community which tracks open housing plots and collects plot timer statistics, primarily on Crystal datacenter, with the aim of helping people plot camp in a way that is sustainable for them. (Some of you may have seen our PF ad from time to time!)

• Since June 26th (about 2 months now) we have recorded more than 350 plot openings on Mateus, about half of which have gone to a new plot owner and not to relocation. That's about 2 new purchases per day, though of course they come and go in waves.
  
• On Balmung, we recorded about 70 plot openings from mid-July to mid-August, with 31 of those going to new plot owners -- one new purchase a day, on average, again not evenly-distributed.

And these are only the plots we have caught and which we have purchase data for -- not including the ones we missed or couldn't record the purchase type for, since we rely on volunteers to manually go and look at every ward and subdivision to record new openings.

The upshot of this: there are always new plots opening due to auto-demolition and folks moving servers.

The data we have collected so far has helped people to keep their camp times within more reasonable limits. Even so, with all the people we interact with who are feeling hopeless or worn thin with the plot timers -- some of whom have camped a dozen or more plots without any success (because it is still about 80% luck) -- I am 100% in favor of a lottery system AND instanced housing with gardening support. I would love nothing more than to see our hard work become totally obsolete.

[KayRadley]

Yoshi-P himself promised separation from FC housing and that would not have limits like the MMOs of old. Some forum users still have snippets of these posts in their signature.

Plenty of blame to go around ~

edit: I think I'll keep it around in my signature for easy reference for a bit.

In response to the quote from your signature: while that may have been the intent, the playerbase did kinda screw that much up. While we're lucky to not have to pay a regular "rent" fee for houses, the practice of other players to snag up tons of houses for themselves (like so) and less scrupulous players flipping houses for highway robbery prices necessitated changes, including the auto-demo system.

File this under "reasons we can't have nice things".

(also, you can always buy an apartment, like I did)

[JWag12787]

Honestly? I'd rather plots go for "auction" during the timer period. Highest bid at end of timer wins. People who want it will pay up for it. If it stays up after the timer with no bid, then it just default prices.


I mean, essentially, that's how real housing works, yes? Auction/highest paying buyer?

[KayRadley]

Honestly? I'd rather plots go for "auction" during the timer period. Highest bid at end of timer wins. People who want it will pay up for it. If it stays up after the timer with no bid, then it just default prices.


I mean, essentially, that's how real housing works, yes? Auction/highest paying buyer?

Maybe, but it wouldn't really do much to alleviate the issue. People would still be camping plaques.