The HORRENDOUS State of Housing

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

I am new (1½ months) to the game, and just got house sniped by a reloc after 16 hours (8 of which was logged out and sleeping) so please take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

With all due respect, how did this catastrophe of a market system get okayed? There is a very simple solution and it's relatively easy to implement method that :

• Gives everyone the same chance they have now while maintaining that randomness that is present in the market now.
• Kills any and all unfair benefits from using 3rd party software.
• Allows people who can barely afford the plot the exact same chance at it as someone with a billion gil.
• Allows players to actually play the game without giving them carpal tunnel for just a slim chance to get a plot.

A raffle type system.

1. Plot becomes available.
2. Over the next X to 24 hours (still hidden) non land owners walk up to the placard ONCE and put their name in ONCE and leave.
3. During this time any current land owner can walk up and transfer at any time thus closing the raffle (as is now).
4. A winner is decided via RNGesus (or transfer) and money is immediately taken out. If there is not enough to cover the cost their name gets removed from the pool (they get a message telling them why they didn't get the land) and another pull happens. Rinse and repeat until the purchase goes through and the raffle is closed.
5. Upon the raffle closing, everyone who didn't get picked gets a friendly letter from a Housing NPC explaining why.

Now I can already hear some of you asking "But Ihaf, what if I put my name into multiple pools and my name is pulled more than once?"

Okay, If one of the pulls was for an FC house and one was for a personal house it is a non-issue. If you already have one of the same kind (Personal/FC) you are passed over in the coming draws (or when you win the first one, your name for any like raffles are removed then and not during the later draws).

I am 100% fine with having transfers have that same priority so specific desired plots go to those who want it and let the rest of us fight for the rest. The Firmament is going to solve the SEVERE lack of housing when it gets finished (Assuming that its the same size as the other places).

Now lets take an example where someone REALLY wants House A but is okay with getting House B and they win House B before the House A raffle is drawn. They can then transfer over to House A immediately and everyone in the raffle for House A can put 2 and 2 together (via letter saying there was a transfer and that's why they didn't win the raffle) then go enter into House B's raffle. While this is not ideal (for some), even this is FAR better then the current system which this can still be done in.

Auctions would be a MASSIVE problem here because then only the hyper-wealthy can get housing and if SE were okay with that they wouldn't have implemented the 1 per rule. I do have an idea for that too though.

[Canadane]

If you're so new, why are you looking for a house so earnestly?
There's a lot of other things to focus on first, imo.

Your idea also goes against the grain of their general programming. People are free to suggest things, and obviously SE could program anything, but there's also the realistic idea of how much work they are willing to put into a system that's already established. Big drastic changes likely aren't going to happen. We're more likely to get a new housing district with full ward count than a change to some lotto system.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

If you're so new, why are you looking for a house so earnestly?
There's a lot of other things to focus on first, imo.

I have focused what I want to focus on and right now getting a house is near the top of that list. Not everybody plays the same way.

Your idea also goes against the grain of their general programming. People are free to suggest things, and obviously SE could program anything, but there's also the realistic idea of how much work they are willing to put into a system that's already established. Big drastic changes likely aren't going to happen. We're more likely to get a new housing district with full ward count than a change to some lotto system.

The same programmers who are slashing about 15% (time wise) off of the ARR MSQ list because they USED to think that it should take 9 minutes per quest? The same people who are just now implementing a teleport directly to the Waking Sands? They are not above changing things for the better. That's exactly what a raffle system will do.

[Canadane]

The same programmers who are slashing about 15% (time wise) off of the ARR MSQ list because they USED to think that it should take 9 minutes per quest? The same people who are just now implementing a teleport directly to the Waking Sands? They are not above changing things for the better. That's exactly what a raffle system will do.

It was 9 minutes for a set amount of exp earned.
And you can already teleport to basically right outside the door of the Waking Sands as the boat in Limsa takes you right there.

They are certainly not above putting in some QoL changes. All I'm saying is to keep your expectations realistic. It might not be what you want to hear, but it may help when these things don't happen.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

It was 9 minutes for a set amount of exp earned.
And you can already teleport to basically right outside the door of the Waking Sands as the boat in Limsa takes you right there.

They are certainly not above putting in some QoL changes. All I'm saying is to keep your expectations realistic. It might not be what you want to hear, but it may help when these things don't happen.

So a system that allows players to actually play the game isn't QoL? As for the other 2 my point still stands. Maybe if more people like you would stop gatekeeping and actually think and embrace idea that would help more than just yourself the game would get more QoL changes faster. You also have yet to give 1 flaw in my system other than "I don't like it IMO" which is NOT a flaw; it is an opinion and an unsubstantiated one at that.

[Jojoya]

The same programmers who are slashing about 15% (time wise) off of the ARR MSQ list because they USED to think that it should take 9 minutes per quest? The same people who are just now implementing a teleport directly to the Waking Sands? They are not above changing things for the better. That's exactly what a raffle system will do.

The programmers and other developers working on the MSQ revamp likely are not the ones who work on housing related content.

A raffle system doesn't change things for the better. It just changes the nature of the RNG involved. You're still going to end up with one winner and dozens of frustrated losers because there are not enough houses for every player that would like to have one.

Ishgard housing opening will help (even if it's just a continuation of the current system) but it will not solve the problem because there will still be more players per world than houses per world. The only thing that will solve the problem is an instanced system that allows every player and every FC to have a house if they want one.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

The programmers and other developers working on the MSQ revamp likely are not the ones who work on housing related content.

A raffle system doesn't change things for the better. It just changes the nature of the RNG involved. You're still going to end up with one winner and dozens of frustrated losers because there are not enough houses for every player that would like to have one.

Ishgard housing opening will help (even if it's just a continuation of the current system) but it will not solve the problem because there will still be more players per world than houses per world. The only thing that will solve the problem is an instanced system that allows every player and every FC to have a house if they want one.

Firstly, yes it does because it allows people to PLAY THE GAME without sitting there for 24 hours straight clicking constantly praying a transfer doesn't just walk up and snatch it. Instanced housing (as I've said before) depends on their resources and how they do it. But for the wards at already exist and will continue to exist, this raffle system is the best way to go. Stop just parroting ans assuming because it sounds good that how the Flat Earth movement took off. There is no way conceviable way to allow every player and FC a house, THAT is not going to happen. People start and stop all the time and you expect SE to set aside server space just for them? Never going to happen.

[Luna-M]

The same programmers who are slashing about 15% (time wise) off of the ARR MSQ list because they USED to think that it should take 9 minutes per quest? The same people who are just now implementing a teleport directly to the Waking Sands? They are not above changing things for the better. That's exactly what a raffle system will do.

There is quite a difference in removing quests than making a whole new housing system.

Imo they should also make instanced FC districts a thing. If players own a house in their FC district than they can't own a house an non instanced house.
At this point it already seems like a bit of raffle anyways. At least this way players could walk away and do other things.
Although I think players should only be able to enter one raffle at a time.

The problem with that is going away the design SE wants with the wards, creating a housing community. I like how it is now.

Just start charging rent. 10-20% of the max buy-price of the house every month or you lose it. You can pre-pay 2 months in advance. Then also make it sellable for up to 110% of the buy price you initially paid for it. Maybe if we made it less enticing to keep them because there's 0 upkeep there'd be more people willing to admit "I don't actually use this" because it's costing them gil.

That's a terrible suggestion.

You can suggest apartments until the crows come home to roost, but no one's gonna listen because they want gArDeNiNg.

A valid complaint on Apartments, you can't do proper gardening with just 3 (or how many it is now) pots. You can't crossbreed which is essential for gardening.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

There is quite a difference in removing quests than making a whole new housing system.

A whole new housing system would be instanced housing, not adding a raffle draw option to placards with a few textboxes.

[Vahlnir]

A whole new housing system would be instanced housing, not adding a raffle draw option to placards with a few textboxes.

Yep. A raffle just adds more RNG into the mix, and more competition. In the end, the housing system would be in worse shape than it is already so a raffle would solve absolutely nothing.