Hey there! Thanks for getting back to me.

I presumed they were a bot because about thirty minutes after actually managing to successfully buy the house, they were still there clicking on the sign endlessly which implied they weren't physically at the workstation or having to input commands themselves. It really irritated myself and the other person who had been there for roughly the same amount of time. Unfortunately, there's no such way of knowing if that's what they're doing -while- they're doing it but it seemed to be the case. :shrug:

Limit the number of properties that a single player can own
- they already do. 1 FC and 1 personal. they just didn't make it retroactive to players from before the change
I think there are potential alternatives to the RNG timer system currently in place. A lottery, a waiting list (arguably the current system is a waiting list for people who have time to stand next to a sign and break their keyboards, controller or mouse for hours on end). First come, first serve at least ensures that players aren't wasting away next to a placard for unhealthy amounts of hours. Ultimately, that's up to them, of course but these games are designed to be addictive and the 'carrot on a stick' effect is extremely intoxicating for a lot of people. It's a bit grating to see my friends complaining about how they can't get a house, will never have one, etc, and then I go to try and prove them wrong but the system can't appreciate 14+ hours of physical clicking effort. Q_Q

Limit the number of properties that a single player can own
- they already do. 1 FC and 1 personal. they just didn't make it retroactive to players from before the change
Well I'm glad they've done that at least. Guess they can't make it retroactive or it would be extremely unfair, though arguably I'm not very keen on people who are overly greedy about these things. "I have x amount of houses /flex" - plsss staaahp.

Open more wards or more housing areas. It's not hard.
- each ward requires server resources. since they're all open world, its gotta be treated like another open world. so "additional stress" has to be tested and confirmed. it's not hard is definitely a false belief.
Obviously it's a bit ignorant for me to make that statement so I'll elaborate a little. I don't know how their servers work or how big they are, but I imagine they can be upgraded or expanded to facilitate demand. I've had housing in Everquest, Runescape, Guild Halls in Guild Wars, Garrisons in WoW for every player, housing in ToR, entire instanced area in GW2 that are player specific, etc, etc. Obviously all of these games have different parameters and requirements, but FFXIV obviously isn't meeting any reasonable parameter to ensure a fair and stable system. I think the amount of money we put into the game justifies a request for additional work from the developer to spend time refining these systems so they work to an enjoyable standard.

All in all, I'm going to keep trying but I hope they make it slightly less murderous on my hands.