The HORRENDOUS State of Housing

[Kamome-chan]

How about you take that cancerous elitist attitude elsewhere? Maybe WoW, I hear that's for children.

How about we go back to before the rng timer where your only chance to get a house is to buy it to a RMT for 10 times its price?

Adults don't complain about not getting a house in a video games either so you can join him wherever he goes.

[LaylaTsarra]

How about we go back to before the rng timer where your only chance to get a house is to buy it to a RMT for 10 times its price?

Hasn't stopped RMT or abusive house flipping sales. They've simply removed it from the private sales category to the FC category and what's worse is that they allow these people weeks if not months of exclusivity when it comes to buying houses while those wanting a private have to sit and wait and hope there are houses left when they finally open them up for private sales.

You can be sure these FC sellers aren't clicking on placards for hours with 20 other people. They simply walk up to the placard during the period of FC only purchases and buy it.

[Kamome-chan]

Hasn't stopped RMT or Abusive selling. They've simply removed it from the private sales category to the FC category and what's worse is that they allow these people weeks if not months of exclusivity when it comes to buying houses while those wanting a private have to sit and wait and hope there are hoses left when they finally open them for private sales.

You can be sure these FC sellers are clicking on placards for hours with 20 other people. They simply walk up to the placard during the period of FC only purchases and buy it.

You can get a house now its not perfect but it's way better.

And maybe its an issue in NA but in EU I've never seen that.

[LaylaTsarra]

You can get a house now its not perfect but it's way better.

And maybe its an issue in NA but in EU I've never seen that.

I have a house and on more than one server. I'm not in the race but the current system needs reform not only from a timer perspective but they need to stop these FC sales and empowering of those who buy entire wards. There is no reason a timer needs to be 12 hours or more or that FC's should have more than a week to buy a house when new houses are released to the community.

This took place during the FC exclusivity period in the 3 new wards on Spriggan in the EU when what private purchases had to wait like 3 months before they had a chance. You can be sure that person didn't have to compete by clicking a placard. They simply walked up to the plot and purchased it outright.

https://i.imgur.com/2jopshK.png

[EaMett]

This is a super old topic of debate. I'm not going to repeat all the stuff that has been said over and over again in similar threads.

On the other hand I'll say this :
- Housing in ff14 has a pvp connotation, getting a house is only as hard as the other players want to make it for you. It's meant to be a challenge, it's meant to reward people who put more time/effort than others. (Raffles wouldn't work, in part, because of this). So if you want to make worthwhile suggestions, it'll have to be a system that statistically rewards players who spend more time than other players while also allowing people that have jobs and lives to come on and have a chance of getting lucky. This eliminates raffles, it eliminates turnins as those would exclusively benefit hard core players and push away more casual players. There's no easy solution here (no instanced housing is not a solution either)
- You may be doing it wrong if you got sniped by a relocation. Your first house should almost always be a small plot in goblet and/or mist. If you spent 16h in a lavender bed or shirogane ward, you set yourself up to get sniped. It's not to say that nobody ever gets their first house there, but you should know going in that you'll be forfeiting that time more often than not.
- Housing as it stands in FF14 is a fight of attrition. It's not something you should bash your head against. It's about using your time wisely, not quantitatively. Currently, demo timers are off, so simply don't house hunt. Do other stuff and wait a few months for the timers to go back up. Make sure you come on when they turn timers on again and make sure you log in 45 days after that as well. You'll get another chance after that when Ishgard hits as well. The most successful people with housing are smart about it and play the game over large periods of time instead of hitting their head against it day in and day out.

[Ihaf_Frethyme]

Yeah, It only has that PvP connotation BECAUSE of the hidden timer that forces people to mash for 12 hours and pray a bot doesn't show up (like what happened to me three times this weekend alone). Or a transfer after 16 hours or waiting. Sorry to say but you have been jaded to just accept the BS "system" that is its current state. You cannot even begin to say that its not 100% RNG based already because of the hidden timer. There is literally no skill involved it that, pure luck. Spending more time does not equal privilege to SE that is obvious as they would have implemenetd a reward system based on proximity or interaction time with available placards (also a bad idea).

Raffles ARE, IN FACT the best and only realistic solution. Random entry time, 1 entry per person, eliminates all benefits from using bots and script programs therefore destroying them.

I would LOVE TO be picky as to which ward I spend my time in but seeing as there are no more than 2 houses available at any given time, that is a luxury that I do not have. Not to mention somebody "misclicked" and "accidentally transferred back to the plot they were just at to buy time for their FC mate who spent all night botting (while I sat there clicking). He eventually got caught and left without issue.

The last bit you contradict yourself. First you say "It's meant to be a challenge, it's meant to reward people who put more time/effort than others." And now you are saying "It's not something you should bash your head against. It's about using your time wisely, not quantitatively." Literally exact opposites.

We are going to have to agree to disagree as again I sense you are simply jaded by the current system and really don't care. Irregardless the "system" in place NEEDS to be readdressed; or even addressed at all. They just seem content on doing NOTHING in hopes the Firmament will solve the issue (assuming its going to be housing). Heres my point, even IF it is and after that the other 4 districts will still be having this issue to which a raffle system will not only correct, but is easy to implement, kills botters, and LETS PEOPLE PLAY THE DAMN GAME!

[PrincessAlice]

I have a house and on more than one server. I'm not in the race but the current system needs reform not only from a timer perspective but they need to stop these FC sales and empowering of those who buy entire wards. There is no reason a timer needs to be 12 hours or more or that FC's should have more than a week to buy a house when new houses are released to the community.

This took place during the FC exclusivity period in the 3 new wards on Spriggan in the EU when what private purchases had to wait like 3 months before they had a chance. You can be sure that person didn't have to compete by clicking a placard. They simply walked up to the plot and purchased it outright.

https://i.imgur.com/2jopshK.png

Were you even there? During that time, all other wards were already mostly empty. Also FC exclusivity posed little problem when you can simply buy a plot in any of the other wards with NO TIMER and max devalued price and simply relocate in wards 19-21, which there were already personals there. This was during a time when mediums and larges were still open and at max devalued prices.

[Lucy_Pyre]

Right, but we shouldn't want to replace an RNG based system with an RNG based system. That doesn't solve the underlying issue which is supply vs demand.

The issue that many people have is that spending upwards of double digit hours spam clicking on a placard only to either lose the RNG house buy to someone that showed up 20 minutes prior, or to have someone just up and relocate there before anyone can even manually buy the house, is both frustrating to no end and soul crushing when you've been at it for weeks/months/years on end. I would be completely fine with a raffle, even as someone that's notorious among her friend group for having atrociously bad luck. At least then I wouldn't want to off myself because of how tedious clicking on a placard for hours on end is.

[EaMett]

Yeah, It only has that PvP connotation BECAUSE of the hidden timer that forces people to mash for 12 hours and pray a bot doesn't show up (like what happened to me three times this weekend alone). Or a transfer after 16 hours or waiting. Sorry to say but you have been jaded to just accept the BS "system" that is its current state. You cannot even begin to say that its not 100% RNG based already because of the hidden timer. There is literally no skill involved it that, pure luck. Spending more time does not equal privilege to SE that is obvious as they would have implemenetd a reward system based on proximity or interaction time with available placards (also a bad idea).

It was always pvp based, even before the timer even existed. It's part of the original design and it's that way because there are more players than plots. The timer is a recent addition that really didn't make this anymore pvp than it was before. If anything it fixed quite a few issues in the previous system

Also, that's not how RNG works. If you have a 1% chance of getting heads on an unbalanced coin, flipping it 100 times will give you more chances of getting heads than someone who flips 5 times. AKA: The more time spent on the system > the higher your chance of getting something. Thus it's not completely random, effort and time spent are a big component (not to mention that there are different strategies but more on that later)

The last bit you contradict yourself. First you say "It's meant to be a challenge, it's meant to reward people who put more time/effort than others." And now you are saying "It's not something you should bash your head against. It's about using your time wisely, not quantitatively." Literally exact opposites.

I'm saying that you can optimize your time and increase your odds. This in no way contradicts the fact that the more time you spend the better your odds. It's a comment on the quality of time spent vs the quantity. Think of it this way: (these numbers are fictional, to illustrate), there are strategies where getting a house has a 0.1% probability (say just coming online for a couple of hours and clicking a random placard in shirogane), strategies where it has a 10% probability (staying 16h on a small plot clicking nonstop with no breaks in the goblet), and strategies with a 30% probability (logging in on key times when demo timers are set up again and sitting the full 16h on a small goblet plot clicking nonstop). Someone who does ALL the above has a greater chance at a plot than someone who only does part of it. But if you're smart with your time you'll do something else while you wait for the demo timers to get back up and then use your time wisely there.

We are going to have to agree to disagree as again I sense you are simply jaded by the current system and really don't care. Irregardless the "system" in place NEEDS to be readdressed; or even addressed at all. They just seem content on doing NOTHING in hopes the Firmament will solve the issue (assuming its going to be housing). Heres my point, even IF it is and after that the other 4 districts will still be having this issue to which a raffle system will not only correct, but is easy to implement, kills botters, and LETS PEOPLE PLAY THE DAMN GAME!

I'm not jaded, I'm just pointing out that devs have been extremely consistent with their housing goals over the past 6 years. Housing plot numbers are roughly equivalent to 25-50% of server population depending on how busy your server is. They want it to be limited and they seem to be ok with people fighting it out and it being a status symbol. It's not only normal for some people to feel left out but it's also both expected AND a measure of the feature's success when people complain in the forums about it in the sense that people obviously want in on a limited feature.. Working as intended, just not how you want.

I've been pretty vocal about a few things regarding housing: 1) if you're going to complain about the system, your best bet is to explain why limited housing is a bad mechanic, not that it's "too hard" to get a house since that was the point in the first place and you'll likely be ignored by anyone who matters. 2) if you offer alternatives they should follow the same design as the original system if you want easy adoption by the devs. 3) The placard spamming IS a horrible mechanic and it should be switched around to have plots unlock every 20mn on the hour so that people can do stuff in-between. (as a hotfix at least).

If you want an in-between, a raffle where you can add another entry every 10-20mn would be roughly equivalent. People who spend more time get more opportunities to land the house. This wouldn't change much compared to my suggestion above, it essentially just removes any quick menu clicking requirements, and gives more of a fighting chance to those who only show up for 2 hours, but that's about it. I expect this to be better on player psyches though since people generally understand why they would lose a lottery but not why they would lose at placard clicking.

[SenorPatty]

I just want instanced housing, one per account. Obviously two things that are never gonna happen from the way this game is structured. At least until SE gets to that "remastered/overhaul" phase many mmos go through and even then, I'm still not holding my breath up, simply because the topic is polarized AF. You got a good chunk of peeps who wouldn't give up on open world housing no matter how much gil you paid them and then, there's everyone else. Since the former is already established, I just don't see changes coming to this system.