You're not supposed to stay up all night clicking to buy a fake house in a game..

[Kaiproberts]

We can't have a legitimate transfer/sale system between players because it will be EXTREMELY abused. I don't want to have to pay 15-30 mil for the worst small, no thanks. The only option, to alleviate the problems for everyone, is just to add more wards. Period. Keep adding them until the demand goes down. Keep the 1 house/account/server rule.

[Seleni]

We can't have a legitimate transfer/sale system between players because it will be EXTREMELY abused. I don't want to have to pay 15-30 mil for the worst small, no thanks. The only option, to alleviate the problems for everyone, is just to add more wards. Period. Keep adding them until the demand goes down. Keep the 1 house/account/server rule.

If you look at the old patch notes you’d see that, back in the days, a class 5 small could cost upwards of 40 millions on legacy servers, and they were for FC-only. (Different pricing were set based on servers, likely based on server economy. Cheapest was 4 millions.)

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...af43f3c43828a/

(It’s long. Try searching for “Plot Pricing” on the page.)

Like Dzian said, the neighborhood system was never intended for the entire server population. It’s intended for a select few; something for active FCs with aim for.

Things have changed since then, but it’s obvious that the design can’t handle the large demand. (And for those thinking it’s not an issue for the Japanese servers, there are threads on the Japanese forum on the lack of housing too. It might not be as severe, but the issue occurs there too.)

Improving the instanced housing (apartments), so that people would be more willing to settle for it, is probably more realistic.

On a side note, I’m surprised by how few people were buying the apartments though. Before my character qualified for housing purchase, I was fully expecting the apartments to be full, based on all the threads on the lack of housing. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to buy even an apartment. But as it turned out, the apartments were mostly empty. Only the first 2-3 wards had full/semi-full occupancy in LB. I ended up picking ward based on how easy it was for me to click (I didn’t know they offered shortcut in menu once purchased.)

What’s making the apartments so undesirable as personal housing option? (Beside the lack of yard?)

[Kaiproberts]

If you look at the old patch notes you’d see that, back in the days, a class 5 small could cost upwards of 40 millions on legacy servers, and they were for FC-only. (Different pricing were set based on servers, likely based on server economy. Cheapest was 4 millions.)

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...af43f3c43828a/

(It’s long. Try searching for “Plot Pricing” on the page.)

Like Dzian said, the neighborhood system was never intended for the entire server population. It’s intended for a select few; something for active FCs with aim for.

Things have changed since then, but it’s obvious that the design can’t handle the large demand. (And for those thinking it’s not an issue for the Japanese servers, there are threads on the Japanese forum on the lack of housing too. It might not be as severe, but the issue occurs there too.)

Improving the instanced housing (apartments), so that people would be more willing to settle for it, is probably more realistic.

On a side note, I’m surprised by how few people were buying the apartments though. Before my character qualified for housing purchase, I was fully expecting the apartments to be full, based on all the threads on the lack of housing. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to buy even an apartment. But as it turned out, the apartments were mostly empty. Only the first 2-3 wards had full/semi-full occupancy in LB. I ended up picking ward based on how easy it was for me to click (I didn’t know they offered shortcut in menu once purchased.)

What’s making the apartments so undesirable as personal housing option? (Beside the lack of yard?)

Personally, I want a yard, neighbors, and the ability grow plants. Apartments are tiny and not very good social environments.

[Penthea]

The only option is more wards and not just in Ishgard (because some of us think it is really ugly).

From what I have seen about Ishgard the opinion on its aesthetic seems to be very polarising. In my experience I have found people either adore it or don't like it at all. The Goblet is known to not be popular but most negative opinions about it I have seen have been along the lines of "it's meh" which isn't a strong opinion. But there are players out there who won't really care what house they get as long as they get one.

What’s making the apartments so undesirable as personal housing option? (Beside the lack of yard?)

The space is quite small. Anyone can make an apartment look great with some effort but it doesn't change that your choices in furnishing styles are very very limited compared to a house. Some furniture is so big that it completely dominates the entire area. There needs to be a way to purchase additional floors and/or make the room bigger. Apartments are the exact same size as fc rooms, and it's very telling that in game fc rooms are called "private chambers". They're intended to be a room, not an entire living space.

Lack of tenancy has caused a lot of disappointment among players who want to share their living space with someone, myself included. This makes the social aspect of them more limited than a house. I'm baffled as to why something as basic as this is still missing.

[Kaiproberts]

From what I have seen about Ishgard the opinion on its aesthetic seems to be very polarising. In my experience I have found people either adore it or don't like it at all. The Goblet is known to not be popular but most negative opinions about it I have seen have been along the lines of "it's meh" which isn't a strong opinion. But there are players out there who won't really care what house they get as long as they get one.



The space is quite small. Anyone can make an apartment look great with some effort but it doesn't change that your choices in furnishing styles are very very limited compared to a house. Some furniture is so big that it completely dominates the entire area. There needs to be a way to purchase additional floors and/or make the room bigger. Apartments are the exact same size as fc rooms, and it's very telling that in game fc rooms are called "private chambers". They're intended to be a room, not an entire living space.

Lack of tenancy has caused a lot of disappointment among players who want to share their living space with someone, myself included. This makes the social aspect of them more limited than a house. I'm baffled as to why something as basic as this is still missing.

It still baffles me how there is a lack of server space for housing. Real life housing problems should not extend into a video game; that is the point of playing a video game. I really don't get it.

[Seleni]

It still baffles me how there is a lack of server space for housing. Real life housing problems should not extend into a video game; that is the point of playing a video game. I really don't get it.

Maybe I’m old school (last MMO I played was 8 years ago), but to me MMORPGs had always been a competition among players. There are contents that would only be experienced, let alone cleared, by the top-tier guilds/fc’s. There are mounts and minions only obtainable by a select few (or a lucky few). There are titles most people would never get. And there are legendary weapons that only a few could get while it’s still current content.

The players are promised a chance to go after what they want, but the availability is never guaranteed.

I sort of think of housing the same way. If you have your mind set on getting a rare item, there’s a good chance that you’d end up disappointed (unless you were born under a lucky star.)

Besides, this is a story-focused game that hit you directly in the face with a serious refugee crisis. From a lore point of view, it wouldn’t make sense if the housing were so easily obtainable.

That said, they do need to come up with a better solution than the current placard-clicking hell.

[Divinemights]

It still baffles me how there is a lack of server space for housing. Real life housing problems should not extend into a video game; that is the point of playing a video game. I really don't get it.

Blame on US's high standard cost of living and expenses (rent and labor cost)
Putting server is not as simple as 1 2 3, especially FF14's server structure.

[Penthea]

Maybe I’m old school

I sort of think of housing the same way. If you have your mind set on getting a rare item, there’s a good chance that you’d end up disappointed (unless you were born under a lucky star.)

The system rewards living in certain parts of the world, cheating, being on pc instead of console, and having irl money to splash on extra accounts and/or RMT. This is not old school design. It's incredibly bad design.

Just by being in NA your chances of getting a house are massively reduced, and playing in another region can easily mean trading overall game performance for a house.

[Kaiproberts]

I'll be completely honest; The only thing this system accomplishes is making people absolutely and utterly hate each other.

[Seleni]

The system rewards living in certain parts of the world, cheating, being on pc instead of console, and having irl money to splash on extra accounts and/or RMT. This is not old school design. It's incredibly bad design.

Just by being in NA your chances of getting a house are massively reduced, and playing in another region can easily mean trading overall game performance for a house.

When I said “old school”, I was referring to how I expect resources to be finite in game, and that not everyone can get everything they want; the parts you omitted in the quote.

There’s no question the current placard-clicking system is terrible for everyone involved. But at the heart of the issue is that people are fighting over a finite resource. There will be winners and losers.

If this were a house decoration game, then it’d make sense for everyone to expect housing. But this is an MMORPG. Housing is but one aspect of the game; one that was introduced as one of ultimate goals for players to aim for, even.

It is not realistic to expect this coveted neighborhood housing to become readily available for all players.

With that in mind, I think it would be more beneficial to try and think of ways that could make the house-buying process smoother, or make the apartments more appealing so that players do not feel that they absolutely need a house, and thereby decrease demand. (Yes I know, it’s supposed to be SE’s job. But it won’t hurt to put in suggestions. The more people you can get to brainstorm, the more chances you get at coming up with a feasible idea)

I know the idea of lottery had been shot-down multiple times on this forum, on the basis that removing barrier to entry would increase competition. But if you really want everyone to be on equal footing, there’s probably no “fairer” method than to leaving the decision up to the god of RNG.

Obviously restrictions need to be placed on simultaneous entries. And they can either require full house price as deposit for the entry, or go with less expensive, but non-refundable lottery ticket. (AKA gil sink)

If having lottery every time a plot is vacated is too much burden on the system, they could make it a once per month drawing. Odds of winning will depend on number of plots vacated in the previous month, and the number of entries. If no plots opened upon the previous month, then no lottery is held that month.

Alternatively they could raise the price of housing back up again, adjusted to server inflation level like they did before. But that’s probably going to create a bigger backlash than simply switching placard-clicking model to lottery entry.

IMHO a lottery system is better than having to rely on coffee/energy drinks and dealing with sore arms for days. But maybe that’s because I’m too old to be able to easily recover from long hours of clicking.