Can we please just have instanced housing already?

[TheForce]

Apartments are FF14's answer to housing for all. They're instanced, dirt cheap and to be honest, worth way more than they cost. So when you say that some players get furnishings that none of which they can use, that's just bulls**t because apartments are so accessible & easy to get.

Estates were not intended to be owned by everybody, they're a luxury item. I mean, think of how easy it is to lose them. We really shouldn't feel entitled to them. And on top of that, it's not like they're absolutely necessary in order to play through the game. Even if they were, there's nothing you can get from having your own estate that you can't get from being a part of an FC with a house or the MB, hell, if you have a friend they can even move you into their house. Please stop trying to make this housing thing seem like such a huge deal, it is not. There are much larger issues that need to be addressed, and thankfully SE realizes this too.

Also, if you're making a request for something, using an entitled/rude tone really isn't the best thing to do. I wouldn't be surprised if SE just skips right over this one. I certainly wouldn't be willing hear someone out who seems to be this unpleasant.

[Shougun]

Working on an extra long post I want to add in relation to this subject.. one that 4 people will read and 1 will like so I don't repeat myself as much xD (like referencing airships or chocobo content), but YES PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF THAL ADD INSTANCED HOUSE(s) <3~~! lol. I see this as one of the best ways we can give housing more power and features and also not take away power and features from those who already own houses.

I would love to see the ability for the game to give powerful feature filled housing for all, and the awesome features we could see from everyone being on that same page.

The tl;dr (~ish) of what I hope to finally get around to writing later is that those who already own a house now own a front or a face in the physical world. These slots will need a player to regularly visit or they will be auto-demolished as they are already. HOWEVER, these house owners will also now own an instanced personal zone and an interior house.

So if I'm explaining it right you can picture this. You buy a physical plot in a current housing ward, it's expensive- it gives you three things. A physical front that's connected to other players that you can decorate and such, a house interior, and the starting of a personal instanced zone. If you lose your place in the public ward you will not lose your house, your house will move exclusively to the instanced portion and your public slot will open up for someone else.

For those who don't buy that physical front this is how it would be- they start out with an apartment sized room for free (I think this is important to make seasonal events more interesting, to entice players to buy housing items and take part in the system, and also will give SE some more money in the cash shop), however they may upgrade their free room in many ways. For example they can spend 500k (price to buy an apartment normally) to get a second floor and some other details. Many upgrades and options made available, to comfortably upgrade yourself in ways you prefer at a schedule you can keep. These players may also upgrade to gain an exterior that is a personal zone, SE being allowed to add more and more features without having to redesign entire housing wards- like getting plots of instanced land and houses even larger than our current large houses. At this point instanced houses have /everything/ the first player has (or at least the potential to have) except the physical neighborhood front. Both players (& FC) may have access to all features of housing, and both will benefit to having a personal zone and all other features related to it. Like for example if in the personal zone you could build a large chocobo farm that lets you breed chocobos well not to worry if you own a house in the ward as you can also have those other features since you have the land for it.

If anyone has watched Howel's Moving Castle (Studio Ghibli film) you can easily picture the magical door in Howel's place, when they turn the knob they can choose where they leave to. So if you turn your knob to your physical housing front you go there, if you turn it to your personal instance you go there (so in Howel's case it'd be his mountain flower garden). Or if you did that FFXI flower girl quest to unlock fast travel with your mog room.



The neighborhood is now exactly for the purpose of the neighborhood feelings, so those who are taking up space but don't want to take part in that system can get out of it and those who want it will be surrounded by others who want it. They will also gain all the unique features of having your own personal space could have (like Wildstar housing system, which gives a lot more customization), owning a physical address doesn't exclude you from the upgrades. In terms of how much customization imagine the last zone in Shadowbringers, using the magic to make a space like that, or a space like Azim Steppe, or a space like Ishgard lofts, whatever- the customization of your own zone that doesn't rely on consenting/disrupting other players goes through the roof. In fact I think that point in the story could be a big upgrading point in the housing system, until then things are more realistic but afterwards... new features like changing your skybox, weather, etc, .

Also as an aside I'd like to see FATEs, events, and other things to encourage people to visit wards and even instanced houses (that are set public), I think it would be quite fun to have those sort of social events. Perhaps housing competitions and leader boards, ways to easily find restaurants, etc.

Unfortunately changing the system such that they have the power to give everyone a space can easily be a monumental task.. so I don't want to make the above sound easy, just that I think having a housing space in a game, having the upgrades be gradual, the power you can have from instanced that you can't have from a public space, the amazing potential of using FFXIV's zones and assets to create your own space (like people in Wildstar created underwater cities, flying palaces, and more), market benefits of everyone having access (in game and out), all of that and more.. I think makes the system very cool and I really wish we had it (instanced houses).

[hasana]

As long as we still have the housing as it is I don't see any problem adding an instanced housing for people that can't get one.

[Driavna]

Apartments are FF14's answer to housing for all. They're instanced, dirt cheap and to be honest, worth way more than they cost. So when you say that some players get furnishings that none of which they can use, that's just bulls**t because apartments are so accessible & easy to get.

Estates were not intended to be owned by everybody, they're a luxury item. I mean, think of how easy it is to lose them. We really shouldn't feel entitled to them. And on top of that, it's not like they're absolutely necessary in order to play through the game. Even if they were, there's nothing you can get from having your own estate that you can't get from being a part of an FC with a house or the MB, hell, if you have a friend they can even move you into their house. Please stop trying to make this housing thing seem like such a huge deal, it is not. There are much larger issues that need to be addressed, and thankfully SE realizes this too.

Also, if you're making a request for something, using an entitled/rude tone really isn't the best thing to do. I wouldn't be surprised if SE just skips right over this one. I certainly wouldn't be willing to hear someone out who seems to be this unpleasant.

You can't use any outdoor furnishing in an apartment. You can't crossbreed either.

It's also amazing how people use some outliers to demonize a sector of the player base with valid complaints.

[TheForce]

You can't use any outdoor furnishing in an apartment. You can't crossbreed either.

It's also amazing how people use some outliers to demonize a sector of the player base with valid complaints.

I mean, there has to be some incentive to own an estate. You can't have something cost literally sextuple the price of an apartment and have be the exact same thing. And like I said in my first reply, it is very important to remember that estates are luxuries.

[Nabril]

Actually, instancing, if done right could have many more players out in the neighborhood.
Don't put every player in their own private instance like in other games, where you don't see anyone unless you invite them in.

Keep the current housing areas, but instance the entire plots. Each plot could have 1000 different owners, increasing the chance that they'll be running around. When you first enter your development, you see your own house on it's plot, and the others are randomly filled with ones that currently have occupants. (May increase load times though.)

You could choose to see and tour any of the houses on a plot by selecting them from the placard. This would also allow you to select what houses appear near yours. If an owner is out in the yard of a displayed house, you see them there. On hidden instances, you'd only see the owner appear when they walk out into the street.

If you're outside in your plot, you see everyone out in the street or other common areas within view.

No, I like my yard. I would rather not lose it.

[MsQi]

1. The neighborhood system fosters a sense of community.

I understand that some people like the feeling of community. Having been in several different FCs and having played since 1.0, I have never personally seen or experienced any sort of collaboration or interaction within a neighborhood. That is not to say such interactions don't happen, but there is no real way to get non-anecdotal data for this, and I would posit they are pretty rare and would further assert they do not outweigh the negative social impacts of the current system.

2. Instancing housing will draw people out of the world, and they still spend all their time in their home instance.


I don't know if you've been in the open world much in this game, but it's more or less dead anyway, and the systems Square implements actively exacerbate this issue. There remain no compelling reasons to spend time in the world itself.

That being said, why sit AFK at your house, which would ostensibly have no market board or other amenities, and would have no content within it other than your garden, your chocobo, and decorating?

I have rarely seen anyone in the neighborhood around my FC's house, and it's usually just members of my FC. That is of course anecdotal. The fact is the community it could build is gonna be primarily people who have houses. Many people are reluctant to buy houses even if they can, because they know sometimes life happens and they may have to stop subbing for a few months, meaning they could lose everything they put into they're houses including many limited time items. I don't know if there is a way to get back mogstation items, that people spend REAL money on, but most items are lost forever after a couple months.

I don't find that the open world is dead. I always see people around. They need to be wary of many of the mistakes made in other games. I think having vendors and the retainer bell was not the best idea. I hope the market board is never brought into housing (has it?). One of the huge mistakes Blizzard did was to have Mining and Herbing available to everyone in the garrisons. (I know garrisons are not housing, but it is cited as a reason against housing for WoW). The whole garrison thing killed cities and the open world for most of one expansion.

[Vahlnir]

I don't find that the open world is dead. I always see people around. They need to be wary of many of the mistakes made in other games. I think having vendors and the retainer bell was not the best idea. I hope the market board is never brought into housing (has it?). One of the huge mistakes Blizzard did was to have Mining and Herbing available to everyone in the garrisons. (I know garrisons are not housing, but it is cited as a reason against housing for WoW). The whole garrison thing killed cities and the open world for most of one expansion.

There are multiple MBs spread around every ward, though they are positioned closer to some plots than others. I don't think it necessarily encourages people to stay there though, especially when the tax is so high on some higher priced items. If I can save myself 5-30k I will happily teleport to where I need to go to get things cheaper.

[MsQi]

There are multiple MBs spread around every ward, though they are positioned closer to some plots than others. I don't think it necessarily encourages people to stay there though, especially when the tax is so high on some higher priced items. If I can save myself 5-30k I will happily teleport to where I need to go to get things cheaper.

my point is that they are not in the houses or apartments. That is one thing that would encourage people to spend a lot more time in there.

[Vahlnir]

my point is that they are not in the houses or apartments. That is one thing that would encourage people to spend a lot more time in there.

They are in the wards though so there's really not much difference. At pretty much all times it is me, myself and I in the entire housing ward.