Unpopular Opinion - Housing Demolishment should be much stricter

[NekoHina]

.....The problem lies in the amount of plots and SE not taking decisive action against house hoarders. There are some servers with wards owned by one or two people or a large number of shell fcs, which is ridiculous. SE also quietly lifted the restriction on fc house purchase (but did not update the lodestone entry about housing) and many are taking advantage of it, so that's not helping the situation either.

We will get more wards at some point with Ishgard housing, but if we don't see any action taken against house hoarders...it's just going to end up being the same situation in the end, again. There are probably people with shell fcs ready to buy plots there as soon as they become available.

I totally agree with this. I feel that SE dropped the ball when they established the ”one house per account” rule and did not make it retroactive. The rule should apply TO EVERYONE. Players that already owned multiple houses should have had to choose the lot they wanted to keep and the rest should have gone back into the market. SE could have reimbursed the players for the value of the property if they wanted to be ‘fair’, but the understanding was always one house per player. Hoarding houses when they are so scarce is just not right. Yes, I understand that some worlds were nearly empty at the time and neighborhoods were just there for the taking. But common sense tells you that the homes would sell eventually.

Sure, I would love an additional house. I adore the interior decoration part of this game. I had to wait a long time for the house I own. I think it was during the second round of Shirogane housing when I got my home in Uldah, this even though I have played non-stop since the beta. I waited because none were available.

My husband is our FC leader and because we were able to get a company house for everyone, he decided to wait for a long time before getting a personal house for himself. He said he wanted those who had no house at all to have an opportunity before he got one. I wish that those who ‘house hoard’ had more of a mindset like his. If they did, perhaps more players would be able to own a home in Eorzea.

I wish SE would still reconsider making the “one house rule” retroactive. There is no reason they could not. I also wish they would somehow make creating and maintaining a Free Company more complex or difficult so that these shell FCs could not exist so easily. Please SE, I am sure you can come up with measures if you really put your minds to it.

[Anzaman]

I'd be happy to free my medium house if they'd expand apartments.

But haven't heard a thing since couple years ago when they were talking about that, so doubt we'll ever see improvements on them.

[EaMett]

So I can't go on an extended work trip or holiday without losing my house. Cool.
I agree that something should probably be done about these cases but at the same time the timer is fine where it currently is.

[Zwipp]

And secondly, i really think that housing demolish timers should be FAR stricter. 14 days instead of 35 for example, or perhaps instead of requiring someone simply enter the front door, require that the house actually be used in some way....

14 days? Are you kidding? So I should not be able to go on a vacation without losing my house?

If you're inside your house you ARE using your house, you shouldn't have to interact with things in the house to "use it".

That said, I understand your frustration of people buying houses and not decorating them at all. It's something that buggs me as well.
But I still think people should be free to choose what to do with their own houses.

[ForteNightshade]

I don't think that's much of a consolation. If you've lost your house before its your own fault and shouldn't be used as justification as why your current house is stark empty. Seriously? A summoning bell and that's it, basically? Sorry, but you're part of the problem here.

I'll chalk myself into the pool of players who has a house they haven't decorated much at all. Between other distractions, RL drama and whatnot, I just haven't bothered. Now I could give up the plot but doing so means I have essentially zero chance of getting a Medium or Large Ishgard house, which is something I've wanted for years. If Apartments were actually expanded upon or Instanced Housing was made available, I wouldn't have this problem. Alas, neither are. So my choices are... give up a house I bought and lose the relocation feature so you (general) can have it because... you want it? Sorry, I want it too.

Don't blame the players for a bad system. Blame SE for doing almost nothing to fix it.

[ToniRomo]

SE should hire me to go around and judge housing decorations. If I don’t like your decorating job then I get to demolish your house on the spot and ban you for life from buying another house.

[VenKitsune]

So people should lose their house because they haven't "offered you anything" and haven't decorated it to your standards? You do realize some people on this game are dirt poor and probably spent all their money to get the house in first place? This just comes off as an extremely wierd opinion to me.

These houses i was looking at have been around for years as far as i can tell. Plus, you dont have to spend a single gil to decorate your house.

[VenKitsune]

14 days? Are you kidding? So I should not be able to go on a vacation without losing my house?

If you're inside your house you ARE using your house, you shouldn't have to interact with things in the house to "use it".

That said, I understand your frustration of people buying houses and not decorating them at all. It's something that buggs me as well.
But I still think people should be free to choose what to do with their own houses.

Yes maybe 14 days is a bit too strict, but as i say that's just a suggestion and people on this thread focusing on my suggestion for 14 days rather than focusing on the actual problem is a bit...

And well, people SHOULD be free to do what they want with their houses, but with plots being so limited i should think everyone should atleast feel obliged to make use of it, rather than just keeping their plot just for hoarding's sake.

[MomomiMomi]

Yes maybe 14 days is a bit too strict, but as i say that's just a suggestion and people on this thread focusing on my suggestion for 14 days rather than focusing on the actual problem is a bit...

We've been discussing the housing problem for years. The only thing to go over in this thread is your suggestion. It's a terrible suggestion that would fix nothing and only punish players, making them unable to do things like go on a normal vacation without having to worry about their house.

Your other suggestion, to make more things to do in your house, would only exacerbate the problem by making housing even more desirable. We already have gardening and workshops locked behind housing, which is part of the reason why many people own a house but don't decorate them. And you'd like to add more? This will only make things worse.

I'm not even subbed to the game right now, and your suggestion would not make me lose my house. I have taken the necessary precautions to not lose it.

Band-aid solutions are not the answer. This is a problem that has to be fixed from the root, and the devs are clearly in no hurry to do so. Quite the opposite, they have only made the issue worse over the years.

For every band-aid/change that they have added over the years, it has taken me less than 20 seconds to see what problems are going to arise from them, or how they can be worked around. I don't know who's in charge of their housing, but whoever it is needs to take a step back and take a long, hard look at housing, and has to make some hard changes. Things like making houses more expensive. Yes, a lot of people will not like this, but it's a necessary change if you want the housing market to be anywhere near healthy again.

[Penthea]

For every band-aid/change that they have added over the years, it has taken me less than 20 seconds to see what problems are going to arise from them, or how they can be worked around. I don't know who's in charge of their housing, but whoever it is needs to take a step back and take a long, hard look at housing, and has to make some hard changes. Things like making houses more expensive. Yes, a lot of people will not like this, but it's a necessary change if you want the housing market to be anywhere near healthy again.

While I agree with most of what you said here, I disagree that raising the prices of housing would be beneficial. All that would do is make wealthy players in an even better position to hoard multiple houses due to the market being accessible by less players, and it would encourage RMT.

Plenty of players have enough money to hoard houses but they choose to not do it. I have enough gil to take over half a ward and I'm far from the only person I know who is rich enough to do that. Pricing isn't the problem. The problem is...well they're numerous.

• Acquisition is extremely punishing to first time buyers because of the placard timers. Sure this does make things harder for those who want to buy extra houses, but it makes it harder for those buying their first house as well. The placard situation has actually encouraged botting because it is the best way to compete with other buyers.
  
  
• Relocation makes the above problem worse. Many players have spent hours spamming the placard only to have someone else bypass the placard timer with relocation thus rendering their efforts hopelessly defeated. I am not suggesting relocation be removed, I'm only pointing out how it affects the above issue.
  
  
• Grandfathering...I understand why SE did this but I can't even begin to fully express how strongly I disagree with this. Every account should be following the same rules. There shouldn't be any seniority perks. In some cases grandfathering has allowed players who have taken over wards to continue to do so. And this especially stings if players who have no house see the excess housing of others not even get the most basic furnishings. It just adds insult to injury. (really I do wonder why some people buy several houses only to not sell or use them but that's another topic altogether)
  
  
• Alts can't use the same private home as a main character, and this is why some people buy extra houses. SE have said they would like to introduce this feature so I think it is only a matter of time until we see this. I'm hoping this will come with Ishgard housing.
  
  
• The quiet removal of the limit of fc houses an account can have per server is problematic to say the least. It is common knowledge now that this has been removed, despite the fact that the Lodestone page about housing does not have this updated information. This allows house hoarding within the same account on the same server, even among those who recently got involved with housing. It was frankly a step backwards in improving the situation.
  
  
• Apartments are vastly inferior to houses so they can never feel like an adequate compromise to someone who wants to engage in features only houses have. Never mind how incredibly tiny they are compared to even a cottage. If apartments could be upgraded in exchange for gil for features such as a larger living space, extra floors and an outdoor balcony that can be used like a house's garden, then the demand for housing would reduce. Not to mention that this would be a great gil sink. Apartments in their current state are little more than fc rooms with a free chocobo stable. It's pretty crap, honestly.
  
  
• Fcs cannot make use of apartments so they are locked out of the workshop unless they get a house. Even if SE kept apartments the same but allowed fcs to use them and have access to fc rooms and a workshop, this would improve things. It would make fcs who cannot get a house be less punished by the system. Housing is actually a great tool for building a community in a fc, so the disadvantage of not having a home for your fc can be keenly felt.
  
  
• You cannot do crossplanting with indoor plant pots, so anyone interested in gardening will not want anything less than a house.

SE can do a lot of things to improve the current system without an overhaul. It's depressing because the improvements I have listed have been suggested countless times by other players. People do want these things. SE have plenty of feedback to work from. But they're just not doing anything.

I hope that with Ishgard housing we will see some of the above, but I won't be surprised if we do not. Improving the housing situation is obviously far far far far down their list of priorities.