Some housing suggestions...

[Esmoire]

To be frank I wouldn't be surprised if you just ended up winning on default for most of the plots because the person just doesn't care anymore. The housing limits are kind of stupid like that, because people will buy a home as an achievement and then move on, maybe meet the log in quota, and never make use of the plot again. I'd imagine FCs would fight to keep their plots and the simple threat of having to engage in combat against a fully loaded or even partially loaded FC would dissuade others from simply trying to overrun everyone.

The main challenge would be time zone differences when a plot gets challenged and how the PvP combat takes place. For example, if someone comes in at non-peak hours to challenge others for plots, they could hypothetically just claim the entire block without some kind of system in place to put a balance on it. Limiting the number of times someone can challenge another for a plot would help (probably once per month per account), and then the system to elect defenders and attackers needs to be set up in a way that makes it realistic for an established, active FC to defend itself. Trying to take a large plot should be like doing a castle siege: It should cost the attacker far more than the defender to take it and the defender should have the right to determine the terms / winning conditions.

I've gotten blowback on the idea, but given the limited number of plots and no real way to reconcile things there has to be a cost to ownership that has meaning. Right now once someone gets in there's zero cost to stay in, which prevents old homes from getting flushed and letting people who want / are ready for buying a home the ability to get in. And yes, there is the argument that instanced housing would solve issues, but I disagree with that assessment because the reason FC houses have value is that they are NOT instanced. Others run through the district and can see the houses that exist, albeit the pain point is that these places are vestigial to the game world and people don't just wander through them as a part of playing the game.

I am sorry you took my post seriously. I actually think using PvP to settle disputes or rights for anything in FFXIV is not a good idea.

[Colt47]

I am sorry you took my post seriously. I actually think using PvP to settle disputes or rights for anything in FFXIV is not a good idea.

Nothing to be sorry for. I knew you weren't serious, but it still gave me fuel to my thoughts. The point I was heading towards in that near the end is that it probably isn't viable for really good reasons (When do battles take place? How does someone stop another from just trolling the crap out of an entire district with battle challenges? How to balance it so its fair to new players vs established ones?)

Right now the really big problem I'm seeing from all these posts is that there's no resources in game that tell someone what an FC house is capable of. Someone is setting up shops in their FC house with mannequins. I've played this game since the beginning and I didn't even know about it. On top of which, if someone builds an FC house in Limsa the only way back to it is via teleportation if they are in Novrandt or some distant land, which makes the local town NPCs the goto for everything instead of the FC abode. I wouldn't be surprised if 90% of most houses get very little traffic at all.