Open Letter to SE:Redesign Apartment Interiors & Make Apartments Relocatable to Plots

[Jojoya]

but at least they would not be locked out of so many features

It's phrases like this that might be twisting players expectations about personal house ownership out of shape.

It's not many features. It's a couple of features. It's a lot of fun if you've got a creative itch you want to scratch, no doubt about it, but it's not a game changer.

You can still garden in an apartment or FC room using flowerpots. You cannot crossbreed to get new seeds (something that most players don't care about and many of those who think they do stop caring once they experience it).

You can still decorate in apartments or FC rooms. You can't place outdoor furnishings.

That's the extent of the differences for a personal house versus an apartment. You still get a teleport to your residence (included with the apartment, must buy separate for a house). You still get access to a chocobo stable (included with apartment, must buy separate for a house).

The differences for a FC are a bit more pronounced because apartments are not an option.

You get a unique place for your FC to meet where others can't intrude (not an option if you're trying to use a member house/apartment since guest access has to be allowed so other members can enter).

You get the opportunity to place a Grade 6 Aetherial Wheel Stand to change up Grade 3 actions not available at the GC QM. Not quite as big a deal as it sounds - takes 72 hours to charge and you can only charge 1 at a time - but definitely a good perk if you plan ahead for special events like Make It Rain (Jackpot III) or an expansion launch (Heat of Battle III so everyone can get their main jobs to level cap a little faster).

You can purchase a workshop for crafting the full housing skins, some of which can be a good way to make gil for the FC.

You can make airship/submersible parts and send your fleet on voyages. As others have said, they're really just a glorified version of retainers but they're still a good way to earn gil for the FC.

But still, not having any of those things is not a massive game changer for the individual player. For FCs, it makes it more difficult for the FC to raise gil without relying on member donations and to find places to meet where other players won't suddenly appear to disrupt but there are lots of FCs that function just fine without a house.

All of that said, we still need a system where any character can get a house if the player wants their character to have one. The game experience is not being enhanced by this limited availability and the resulting Housing Savage PvP/black market sales for both gil and real money.