Hear me out: Paid housing

[Jojoya]

This would punish small fcs by pressuring them to recruit solely because of gil costs. Hard pass from me.

The pressure is there to get gil donations to buy the house in the first place because the FC doesn't have any good ways to get gil without one. The existing marketable items that can be purchased with company credits aren't worth all that much gil because other FCs are likewise selling those items for gil. .

Once a FC has their house, there's no need for the gil donations. They've got gardening plus workshop to make whatever gil they need. Member donations of topsoil (buy with tomestones in Idyllshire if someone can't mine it) and some of the materials need to get the initial airship and subs built is about the limit to the need. Once those are established, a FC should be self-sufficient without member donations by selling what the garden and workshop produce. Having to pay 2 million a month is a drop in the bucket compared to what our FC makes from the workshop, which has the same gil potential regardless of whether a FC has a small or large house.

If a FC has a house and feels strapped for gil, the officers are mismanaging the FC's most valuable asset. All those shell FCs that some players set up to get access to multiple houses? Most of them aren't doing it because they want more houses to decorate. They're doing it because FC houses are gil-making machines.

[Penthea]

If a FC has a house and feels strapped for gil, the officers are mismanaging the FC's most valuable asset.

I agree that if a fc feels strapped for gil that can mean something is amiss. Though fcs rarely need to buy something super expensive super fast because most expensive items are cosmetic. They would rush to get gil on time before new wards are released, or if they're raiders who, for whatever reason, have no time to craft items themselves. And even then crafted gear falls in value quite quickly due to being strong only at the beginning of a tier. Almost everything else that is very expensive is cosmetic.

As things are now the only big expense fcs commonly share is the cost of buying a house.

Once a FC has their house, there's no need for the gil donations. They've got gardening plus workshop to make whatever gil they need.

The thing is these make a lot of money now due to a large number of fcs not regularly engaging in the content that creates those items. If rent became a requirement the amount of fcs creating those items would surge which would mean market prices would fall. Furthermore the majority of what you can get from gardening and the workshop is cosmetic so many players wouldn't buy them while they're expensive due to having the luxury of being able to wait for a better price. SE would have to dramatically advance what a fc house can create in order to make it a feasible option to keep fcs afloat with rent. It could be really cool to see both gardening and the workshop get super complex, but it would be a lot of work for SE to design this in a balanced manner that ensures fcs will always be able to generate enough gil to meet rent fees without granting so much money that the fees become a joke.

[Wrestlefire769]

It's either Mog Station the whole mess for any housing going vacant after a certain point, deal with RMT, or RMT runs the housing situation...

Since SE is too chickenbleep to deal with RMT because some of it's American staff are in bed with them, I think you know where I stand: Mog Station the lot and end this crap.

[Vahlnir]

It's either Mog Station the whole mess for any housing going vacant after a certain point, deal with RMT, or RMT runs the housing situation...

Since SE is too chickenbleep to deal with RMT because some of it's American staff are in bed with them, I think you know where I stand: Mog Station the lot and end this crap.

For being such a conspiracy theorist, you seem almost too willing to bend the knee to their cash shop on this subject. So much for sticking it to "the man"!

[Jojoya]

The thing is these make a lot of money now due to a large number of fcs not regularly engaging in the content that creates those items. If rent became a requirement the amount of fcs creating those items would surge which would mean market prices would fall. Furthermore the majority of what you can get from gardening and the workshop is cosmetic so many players wouldn't buy them while they're expensive due to having the luxury of being able to wait for a better price. SE would have to dramatically advance what a fc house can create in order to make it a feasible option to keep fcs afloat with rent. It could be really cool to see both gardening and the workshop get super complex, but it would be a lot of work for SE to design this in a balanced manner that ensures fcs will always be able to generate enough gil to meet rent fees without granting so much money that the fees become a joke.

Ever heard of Salvaged Accessories?

Because those just paid the rent without using the MB at all. Probably not enough to pay the rent on a large house (if we're going by Themarvin's recommended numbers). Certainly enough to pay rent on a small.

SE doesn't need to do anything period, dramatic or otherwise, to give FCs more ways to make gil for paying rent or for whatever other purpose. FCs need to start using the tools at their disposal once they've got a house.

Again, getting the gil to buy a FC house is the hard part. Once you got that house, a well-managed FC has zero reason to be asking their members to donate gil or items to be sold to raise gil.

[Ludattore]

Dude i am bad as hell in general playing videogames, and i got a house with my friends, just learning plots locations and being patient. You just need time and patient. Be systematic.

If SE introduces the pay-method for houses...it will loose their essence.

[Stormfur]

I like how people making "self-proclaimed smart" ideas when they don't even understand how SE's server infrastructure work at all.
Their server infrastructure is not as simple as one you "pictured" in your head.
Overall Japanese's server technology is behind Western by one generation where Chinese and Korean are already much more advanced than Japanese in this category

How do I know this?
It is from a podcast from one of the Asia game publisher explaining why they are unable to publish FF14 in their country but they can publish WoW instead.
It is due to lack of physical spaces to keep the servers and the high maintenance of the FF14 servers.
Especially SE's approach is go for stability where they are always use server from same manufacturer (this is why you rarely seeing server congestion or failed patch day from FF14)

Just imagine this game publisher is able to host WoW servers but not FF14 due to physical space for server.
The cost of SE is open a dedicated house ward is much costly than you expected.

Oh I don't claim to know how it works, and I'm sure it goes WAY deeper than just "not enough space/resources". And I also know that this game makes a ton of money but it gets siphoned off into other things.

But wasn't that kind of what the Mog Station was supposed to prevent originally though? Keep more of FFXIV's money IN FFXIV? I remember there was a major backlash when it came out too... but if they did away with it suddenly tomorrow people would FREAK OUT because they couldn't get those cherry trees or that school uniform or whatever. If people are willing to throw $25 at an outfit or a mount or whatever, why not something else permanent in-game in the form of a house they can call their own? If it's too cost prohibitive then yes, that answers that, but I still don't get why you can pack 48 people into Castrum without so much as a hiccup, but neighborhoods are asking too much.

To be fair though, I'm one of those people who thinks that everything, absolutely everything, should be obtainable in game without spending actual money. That includes enough housing for everyone.

[Penthea]

If people are willing to throw $25 at an outfit or a mount or whatever, why not something else permanent in-game in the form of a house they can call their own?

Because we're paying for it already. What you're asking for wouldn't be any different to removing Gold Saucer outfits from vendors and putting them in the cash shop.

but I still don't get why you can pack 48 people into Castrum without so much as a hiccup, but neighborhoods are asking too much.

This isn't even apples and oranges. This is apples and fish. You're comparing a zone that has a predetermined appearance that players cannot customise to an area that is customisable to the point that there are literally millions of possible variables in its appearance due to player chosen decor. The amount of information a housing area holds is significantly higher than a non-housing zone of the same size because each housing area is different and almost everything at a plot can be customised in real time. Never mind how a housing area isn't capped at only 48 people per instance. If you think these are similar you may as well start comparing the glamour dresser to combat classes.

[Greyhawk]

Just... stop. No. Proper implementation should have been done in the first place, so now you want us to work around their mistake by paying more for it. Instead of them fixing the issue, we ignore the issue by... paying.

Really?

[Payadopa]

No. We don't need more whaling options.