Getting a New House Feels Impossible

[Jojoya]

Owning multiple FCs is not against the rules.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../housing_land/

Players may only own one private and one free company estate per World on any given service account.

* Players possessing housing above this limit prior to patch 4.2 will not be affected by this change.

So yes, it is against the rules if they were acquired after the 4.2 changes.

The problem with relying on GM responses is that GMs don't create the rules. The rules are created by the developers. The GMs are there to assist players having issues with the game, and given limited authority to enforce some of the rules. Other rules are outside of their authority and related issues have to be escalated to those who handle them. The one GM response I've ever seen posted anywhere regarding multiple house ownership rules said it was outside of their authority to enforce.

Any GM response that goes "well if the game lets you do it, it's okay" is patently false. There have been plenty of things the game has let players do just to have SE state doing so was an exploit and actions will be taken against accounts found to be knowingly taking advantage of the exploit (see Ungarmax as a prime example).

Players still need to use common sense - does the game intend for me to be doing this? In the case of multiple FC ownership, the answer is clearly no. The posted rules say we're limited to one FC house per account per world.

What we're running into is a lack of current enforcement of the posted rules, not a rule that doesn't exist. Let's revisit Ungarmax - that exploit had been getting used for players for a year before SE stepped in, fixed it and started banning accounts.

As for the number of houses needed to meet demand, you're correct. Another 500 houses would not be enough on most NA worlds. But it would still be a start until such time as more houses are added.

[PrincessAlice]

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../housing_land/

Go ahead and read above that text for me, please. It says "TEMPORARY Changes to Purchasing Land". The 1 FC restriction was removed ages ago. If you wanted to buy a 2nd FC on your account you're free to. Test it out if you don't believe me. I was the one who reported myself to the GMs and didn't get busted because they didn't find any rules broken. If you see an issue with it you're completely free to report me as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[k99]

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes.../housing_land/

Players may only own one private and one free company estate per World on any given service account.

* Players possessing housing above this limit prior to patch 4.2 will not be affected by this change.

So yes, it is against the rules if they were acquired after the 4.2 changes.

Once again and probably many more times to come, please take caution in how you choose to interpret 'rules' and 'ethics'.

Owning one private and one free company estate per world on any given service account is listed as a technical limitation for each account applied after patch 4.2. No listed consequence for exceeding this amount or any known language/statement from SE indicates that this practice is against the rules and will be met with any form of enforcement or action.

Several users have posted their conversations with GMs regarding multiple house ownership, going as far as to 'turn themselves in' with GMs very clearly and directly stating that such ownership is not a bannable or enforceable offense unless it can be proven to serve as a deliberate disruption to other players. Owning multiple homes is nothing more than a 'violation' of varying player ethics, however selfish it may appear or be to different people.

But please do not needlessly misinform people that it is against the rules to own more houses beyond the technical limitation, be it on the same account with multiple FCs, through multiple separate accounts, or numerous characters. Until SE has made an official statement or entry into the ToS that explicitly details multi-house ownership as being a violation of the rules and ToS, it would be gross misinformation on your part to continue echoing this false fact.

[Kiarin]

The decision to turn off auto-demolish during quarantine was right per se, but was wrong in the bigger scheme of things.
Obtaining a house was difficult even before, and now it is not only nearly impossible - it is outright sadistic.

Gazing 10 hours into the monitor clicking on the silly placard? And even if you zealously do this, you'll have only 10% chance because there are other ten people around doing the same? This is barbarism, a mockery. Even Zepla has made a video about that lately.

The right decision would be to turn off auto-demolish AND improve housing system. There are 1001 possibilites to do it, from auctioneering to gathering "housing points", or a mix of those.

[Jibs]

I didn't realize what many players go through to get a house in this game. Its really quite unhealthy. The lack of sleep, risking wrist or hand injury from spam clicking for hours on end. People resorting to bots to do the work at the risk of getting their account banned. Players sending threats to other players who get the house instead of them. It is really sad how Square has handled housing in this game and I really am starting to think they dont care about the risk imposed on players well being. This new vid by Zepla HQ is really good and some of the stories are just down right sad and creepy on the housing situation. https://youtu.be/6EbUN3Unskw

[Yshtola]

Watch that Lalafell pack their bags and never come back to the thread for being called out, yet again, on sharing misinformation.

[Frizze]

The right decision would be to turn off auto-demolish AND improve housing system. There are 1001 possibilites to do it, from auctioneering to gathering "housing points", or a mix of those.

Ok, sure. But the meeting to decide whether or not to pause the demo timer would have lasted longer then the time it took to implement that change. Since the code is already written for previous disasters, pausing and unpausing the demo timer probly takes one of the devs less then a minute to implement without affecting any of their other work. Any structural changes to the housing system would need to be planned, agreed upon, coded, and tested. The people working on it would have less/no time to be at other tasks, and it could take months to accomplish depending on the scope of the change. None of that is to say they shouldnt continue to make improvements, they absolutely should. Just to say that adjusting the demo timer isnt comparable to making real changes.

[phinal]

I think my biggest issue is the dang timer is so loooooooong! Why cant it be something like 2 hours and just have a click war that doesnt take up to 30+ hours. This is just a small fix until they add more wards to the already in place housing.

[Jojoya]

Go ahead and read above that text for me, please. It says "TEMPORARY Changes to Purchasing Land". The 1 FC restriction was removed ages ago. If you wanted to buy a 2nd FC on your account you're free to. Test it out if you don't believe me. I was the one who reported myself to the GMs and didn't get busted because they didn't find any rules broken. If you see an issue with it you're completely free to report me as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"Temporary" does not mean not in effect.

Please link the notice posted on Lodestone to inform players the restriction was removed.

And yeah, I've opened my own ticket now with the GMs to get a response on why the Lodestone shows a rule implemented in 4.2 and still in effect as of February of this year if GMs are telling players the rule doesn't exist. Have no idea if I'll get response with the way COVID has messed up GM support but we'll find out.

[Sauteed]

I think my biggest issue is the dang timer is so loooooooong! Why cant it be something like 2 hours and just have a click war that doesnt take up to 30+ hours. This is just a small fix until they add more wards to the already in place housing.

It is a bad system. It does take way too long, but it's just random to an extent. could be 1 hour, could be 24 or more. I've been blessed tho, with the 9 - 12 hours ones. Currently I wish Square Enix would come out and officially apologize instead of just doing like I do when I say something embarrassing and clam up and hide my face for like 3 years.