Current state of the residential area's

[Catstab]

The only option is more wards

They know. If you remember the August 2020 announcement ahead of Octobers new wards, se said essentially "Wards require physical servers. Due to covid, we cannot deliver them. We will optimize all existing server space, and add all the wards we can."
So it's very likely that wards 25-30 or at least 25-27 will be released not long after travel restrictions ease.

[Kaiproberts]

They know. If you remember the August 2020 announcement ahead of Octobers new wards, se said essentially "Wards require physical servers. Due to covid, we cannot deliver them. We will optimize all existing server space, and add all the wards we can."
So it's very likely that wards 25-30 or at least 25-27 will be released not long after travel restrictions ease.

They better open all the plots for purchase this time. Giving transfers and FC's first priority is the dumbest thing.

[Jojoya]

They better open all the plots for purchase this time. Giving transfers and FC's first priority is the dumbest thing.

Except it's not. There's FC specific content that's gated by house ownership. FCs should have priority so they can access that content.

Not having the personal moratorium created a mess in 5.35. Houses were gone before most NA players had gotten up for the day. There were a few dozen plots left that were now on a purchase timer because players had bought the house then immediately relocated. A lot of FCs got locked out of a chance to get a house.

What SE does need to change is the length of the personal moratorium. We get plenty of advance warning that the new wards are being added so FCs can be prepared to buy at release. Have the moratorium last one week instead of having 6-8 weeks of half empty wards because all the FCs who wanted a house already got theirs and the additional delay only serves those players making shell FCs to get more houses for personal use.

[LaylaTsarra]

Except it's not. There's FC specific content that's gated by house ownership. FCs should have priority so they can access that content.

They don't need weeks which does nothing but spawn abuse. Personally with new ward additions I don't think they should get any priority. If they get one a day head start at the most. And maybe just maybe they need to remove the FC gated stuff and give it to everyone. Airships and Subs need to go to GC. Those perks generally benefit the leadership and not the general membership anyway.

[Anvaire]

The way i see it is there's three solutions to the housing issue.

1- remove the clicking thing and instigate a ticket system where you place a bid and win the house at random. This makes buying the house Fair, except that bots and gill sellers would just flood the system with alts and probably win due to the number of characters.
2- add more wards - this just ends up in the same cycle. Wards open: A batch of people get the houses they want, a load do not. The clicking war begins again.
3- abolish the housing system in the way it is designed now, or leave it where no further updates will be made, and instead create an instanced version, that you can upgrade as you go along. So it starts as a hut but with enough effort and time, you could unlock a mansion.

There may be other solutions, but these are the ones I can think of.

[Kaiproberts]

The way i see it is there's three solutions to the housing issue.

1- remove the clicking thing and instigate a ticket system where you place a bid and win the house at random. This makes buying the house Fair, except that bots and gill sellers would just flood the system with alts and probably win due to the number of characters.
2- add more wards - this just ends up in the same cycle. Wards open: A batch of people get the houses they want, a load do not. The clicking war begins again.
3- abolish the housing system in the way it is designed now, or leave it where no further updates will be made, and instead create an instanced version, that you can upgrade as you go along. So it starts as a hut but with enough effort and time, you could unlock a mansion.

There may be other solutions, but these are the ones I can think of.

The only option is the second one. Adding instanced housing but allowing others to keep 'real' plots would just divide the community more. They need to dynamically add wards. When one ward fills in a certain area, add another. There would be a lot more houses and bots wouldn't be able to profit because everyone will get a house. That or completely delete all 'real' plots and allow everyone to have an instanced house so it becomes equal and fair for the community (obviously not realistic).