Quote Originally Posted by Yshtola View Post
So not only has Square Enix shot themselves in the foot by allowing personal houses to compete against a system that was perfectly suited for Free Companies, they thought it was a good idea to lower the values across the board… twice. If anyone here can explain the reasoning behind lowering the value of a Gil sink when literally every new item that gets added to the game costs more than the previous one, please rise up from your seat, walk down the aisle, climb up the stage and pick up the microphone so everyone can hear your words of wisdom (not).
I have some small experience with multiplayer game design but I'd hardly call myself an expert or even an economist.

Currency sinks only work when players use them. The involuntary ones like repair costs, marketboard taxes, and transport fees need to be cheap enough that it doesn't discourage use or encourage underground economies like GW's ecto trade. Unavoidable ones like repair costs can negatively impact retention and often hit the currency poor players while having a negligible effect on the problem reserves.

Voluntary sinks need to be attractive enough in the first place but also have a sufficient supply to service the demand. The original prices failed the first test because few FC's or people could afford them despite the devaluation timers. Today it fails regardless of price due to a grossly negligent undersupply. This is further exacerbated by the frequent demolition timer freezes which renders that feature pointless.

As designed FFXIV's housing was never and will never be a functional gil sink. All it did was create a retention problem and at least one black market.